Youjung paced nervously in the waiting room as Donghyuk observes her from where he was sitting. “Jagi, don’t worry too much. You’ll be fine,” he reassures and stands up to lead her to take a seat.

They both had prepared for this conference over a span of a month, ensuring that every little detail was taken care of so that the whole plan was as flawless as possible. Spending every single second awake or when Youjung wasn’t at university had lead them to grow closer. Every now and then, a cute nickname or skin ship would appear, leaving both of them flustered at first but now they were slowly growing accustomed to it.

The news of all investors, the media and the owner, Donghyuk’s father, present at this conference had increased the cold sweat forming on her brow and she kept rubbing her hands against her dress that complimented her features. “I think it’s better you did the presentation,” she says, giving a pleading look.

“Look you’ll be fine,” the male reassures once again, pushing her hair behind her ear.

After that outburst in the office with Youjung and Minji, he tried hard to not let his anger get the better of him. He soon realized that he needed the girl around him to calm him down and reason out with his stubborn mind. His employees had noticed the change in their CEO and rumours had spread far and wide across the industry and media, causing all the attention to be turned upon the young and handsome CEO.

“You’ve turned soft,” she mentions and he smiles.

“You turned me into a pile of softness,” he teases, knowing that it will divert her focus.

“You’re so cheesy,” she simply says before leaning back in her seat, getting comfortable. “Thanks.”

“Not an issue. Just repaying back what you usually do to me,” he replies before flipping through one of the gossip magazines provided.

Tabloids of him had decreased to zero after Youjung had entered his life. Whatever had been thrown his way, being the father of some unknown girl, seen with female celebrities and having pictures of him being intimate with some of his female workers, never worked against Youjung as she calmly received the situation and would clear up the misunderstanding with Donghyuk privately, never commenting unless the media urged for one.

“Youjung-ssi,” the interviewer grabs the girl’s attention. “Netizens have noticed the fact that there is no picture circulating around where Donghyuk-ssi and you have expressed skin ship with one another other than his arm being around your waist. How would you explain that?”

She smiles knowingly that only Donghyuk could pick up. “I would like to thank the Netizens for picking it up since I wanted to explain myself but didn’t have a chance,” she started, the smile never leaving her face. “Donghyukie and I never found the need to openly show our affection for one another. We prefer a private relationship where we lie low.”

“That’s weird. Forgive me for saying this but your fiancé was known as the playboy of the industry before you came along. His relationships were something that was exposed to the public clearly. What is so different with the other girls and you?” the interviewer probes.

“Donghyukie and I simply talked about how we wanted our relationship to be like since we respected one another, which I am a hundred percent he did for the other girls previously associated with him,” Youjung explains.

“Whose idea was it to have not-so-public relationship?” the interviewer asks, leaning forward.

“It was both of our ideas. Donghyukie has matured and simply wishes for a relationship that isn’t under the eyes of everyone in Korea,” she clarifies professionally that leaves Donghyuk quite smug just watching her. “I simply am a more reserved person. I am very blessed that Donghyukie understands that and accommodates to me.”

“I bet the Netizens aren’t having that much fun recently,” Youjung mentions as Donghyuk looks up to her with a raised brow. “I’ve seen the comments online, they’re missing their tabloid playboy prince~”

“Well tabloid playboy prince have retried for now,” he simply replies without thinking twice.

She gives a disapproving, about to open when Minji appeared and informed them of the start of conference and that the emcee was already up on stage, relaying the information and introduction. “You’ll do fine, jagi,” he whispers before planting a soft kiss on her temple, sensing her muscles relaxing once again as his arm at his usual place supported her and providing the comfort she needed.

The doors in front of them were opened and everyone’s attention were on the both of them, even though she was freaking out and just wanting to curl up, her face didn’t betray her with a polite smile plastered. Donghyuk on the other hand had his face stoic, facing forward, a stark difference from what he used to be and it showed that this conference meant business. When Youjung stepped onto stage, whispers were heard while Donghyuk took his seat right at the front before giving an encouraging look to her with a smile that was reserved for her.

She smooth out her dress before greeting and thanking everyone, officially starting the conference. “This conference has been held to propose a change in the working system that Kim Industries had taken pride in for the past ten years,” she starts and immediately, more whispers were heard.

She swallows thickly before anxiously looking around the room filled with stern faces and disapproving looks. Her eyes landed on Donghyuk who gave her his comforting smile. Just pretend I’m the only one here. He seemed to say and she takes another deep breath. “The working system that Kim Industries have adapted is widely and internationally known across the world, the pyramid structure. Take a look behind me,” she says as the screen behind her lit up. “The very common structure used in companies that has the owner, board of directors, CEO, department heads, team leaders then finally employees. But this is something that doesn’t work anymore in this century.”

She made eye contact with a few of the directors who looked curious but not fully hooked on, a sense of achievement resided in her as a more confident smile was presented. “In this current society, what everyone seek for is efficiency. Everyone wants everything instantly and this new system that CEO Kim and I have created is to be believed will improve efficiency and reduce cost at the same time, earning more profit for the company that benefits everyone in the long run.”

“As we’re speaking, Kim Industries have lost more than twenty-five percent of their potential clients from dissatisfaction received in the paperwork that indicates everything to nothing. After some research, it is found that the problem lies in the company themselves. We are competitive but in the wrong department. Instead of encouraging the company as a whole to compete against rival companies, internal conflict is prominent,” she says, attracting everyone’s attention and focus at this moment. “But this isn’t anything that can’t be fixed. I propose that we take each worker in his or her specialized department and regroup them together to work in groups. Projects would be assigned to each group and every member in there will have to pull their end if not, the project would be unable to continue.”

“This will be a good indication as to who has been slacking off and would eventually be laid off if their attitude and work ethic is not changed. Hence, reducing human resources. Since there is every worker from each department in the group, efficiency would increase due to easier communication. After some time, a bond would form within the group, improving the teamwork within the company. With teams, the amount of space in the building is reduced and we are able to rent them out,” she explains before looking at the audience once again and there were people nodding at one another in agreement as Donghyuk offered a pride smirk as she smiles to return it.

Once her presentation was finished, questions were opened to the floor. Nervousness set in as she glanced around the room for a raised hand. When the segment was about to close, a hand near the back shot up. “Miss Min, your proposal is simply saying that you want to fire people that are incompetent but isn’t that the CEO has been doing for the past one year in his position?” the guy states behind a camera. “From reliable sources, he has been firing people without finding out the truth. At least more than fifty percent of your employees are fresh undergraduates with no whatsoever experience because of your fiancé’s temper.”

Everyone looks over to Youjung, waiting for an answer. “I will not deny that my fiancé had been firing people without finding the truth and that is wrong on his part. On behalf of him, I apologized to all the workers who had been innocently accused for situations that they had no say in. They are free to come back to be re-interviewed and possibly get a position. As for the inexperienced workers, that can be solved by training classes provided by the company,” she states with an air of firmness and respect. “This was actually one of the reason we started to plan this structure within the company so that CEO Kim would be able to clearly see who has been slacking off and errors in human resources would be reduced to possibly zero.”

When no rebuke came, she looked around with a grateful smile. “Thank you all for coming. There are refreshments outside so please enjoy. Anymore questions, feel free to ask me,” she ends the conference with a bow and more photos being taken.

Donghyuk immediately was by her side when she got off the stage as he encircled his arms around her to hug her tightly as flashes went around them. He pulled back slightly and pecked her forehead before flashing a small smile, looking at her in the eye. “You did great, jagi,” he whispers and a flush crept up her cheeks as she returns the smile.

“I’ve learnt from the best.”