xi. " The Relationship"

“The reason why he is even standing there, with Yein in the same room,

and two expensive diamond and platinum rings bounding them, was because of Jin.”

The young heir sat down, his throat throbbing from having swallowed more pills to keep his headache down along with his regular medication.

He wondered if it was fine mixing medication like this but, he’s never really cared, so the thought didn’t live long in his mind. It died out quickly and within one blink, he drowned more water to get the odd-dry sensation off his throat.

It was Wednesday, he hasn’t checked in, nor showed his face at work the last two days. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but the past two days have been a complete blur. He remembers lying in bed and listening to music as his room was turned upside down.

His room was so empty. There were cardboard boxes stacked one on top of each other that it felt like there were building a replica of the city itself in his room. All his belonging, stuff he is so used to seeing when he wakes up, were in boxes with nicely printed labels on the side.

The feeling of emptiness not so apparent anymore. But the vacant room made him ponder on it once again. The entire weekend was such a blur, he does not recall what he did nor if some of the bits of memories he holds are true at all.

“Call Moobin,” he spoke softly yet firmly, his phone listening to the command and following through with no hesitation.

Jungkook stood in front of his bathroom mirror, looking at his pale and washed out face and wondering what has happened in the last three days.

“Mr. Jeon, good morning,” Moonbin spoke, his voice spoken in a little bit of a shock and worry mixed into one.

“Moonbin, have you been able to hold yourself the last two days?” He asked, his phone picking up his voice from the sink as he was trying to put together his tie properly.

“Yes sir, everything is fine, have you had time to look over the reports?” Moonbin asked, his voice gaining confidence as he was proud he was able to hold down the office without the young boss.

“Yes, I will be heading into work today, I feel better. I will be there during the lunch hour, I want to talk to you over food in my office,” he spoke, pulling his tie into its last knot before pulling it up and fastening the black tie around his neck.

“Yes sir, should I pick up the usual lunch?” Moonbin asked, his voice calm and collected, he knew the conversation was not a bad one, the young boss never liked arguing nor condemning someone for their work over food.

“Yes, thank you Moonbin, I’ll see you in a bit,” he responded, finishing the buttons on his cuffs before ending the quick calls and heading out the door.

“Jungkook-ah?” Yein called out, her voice echoing in the room as Jungkook felt his entire body loosen in one breath.

“What is it?” He asked, his words spoken a bit too firm, they made Yein wonder if he was fine that morning.

“I just came to remind you that Sky needs to be feed before you leave, the moving truck will be here roughly around one and the house should be ready for when you get out of work,” she spoke, her voice calm and soothing.

She’s been staying over in the Jeon household all weekend long, especially the past few days that Jungkook has been in bed, refusing to get up for the slightest thing. Jungkook’s dad insisted and to not start a discussion not argument, Yein accepted and Jungkook honestly didn’t care at all what she did.

She wasn’t a nuisance, she didn’t need special treatment nor attention, she simply was just there and nothing really changed. He began to wonder if that is how it was going to be when they move in officially that afternoon, pure silence, and invisibility.

He kept praying that is exactly what it will be like, pure silence and loneliness. He wished for it so much that he has even refused a fleet of staff to be moved over. He didn’t want any people reporting to his dad, any stuck-up house keeper responding to the CEO rather than him, the true owner of that house.

Yein didn’t even protest, she didn’t look like she had a huge list of staff that she needed. She simply nodded and agreed when his father wanted to start insisting. But with her soft and endearing voice, she seemed to have convinced the man otherwise and the discussion died out.

Jungkook hoped living with Yein, will feel like living alone, but the more he looked at her, the more he seemed to doubt his own desire.

“When we move in, you’re allowed to feed her and tend to her needs,” he spoke, his words spoken through a tightening throat that has never spoken such words.

The pup was precious to Jungkook for many reasons. It was his own companion, at the end of the day, it was his. And unknowingly, he cared for that dog the way he had wished to be taken care off. And he never wanted an outside party interfering in that pup’s life, just like he wishes that no one had interfering in his.

“Okay, is there anything in particular you want to eat tonight?” She asked, her eyes rounding and getting bigger the more she spoke.

It took her a second to realize that she had just been given permission to take care of Sky, something the oldest and most caring house keeper in Jungkook’s life has never been allowed to do.

Jungkook simply cleared his throat, looking away quickly as he was still not used to talking to her so directly and informally.

“You can order out, I like anything that is spicy and has meat,” he spoke, his words a bit stiff as he forced his body forwards to grab his bag and keys.

“Alright, get some drinks on your way back, I’ll take care of everything,” she spoke, her voice soft and simply, simple.

She wasn’t trying hard to do anything, she simply wanted Jungkook to go to work with a good set of mind and knowing, the move won’t frustrate and anger him. She wanted him to know, she wasn’t going to be bothersome, she never wanted to cause any problems.

“Got it,” Jungkook spoke, turning around and facing his fiancé and noticing the shadow that lurked behind his door.

From under the door, the light was blocked by two feet, or from what he could assume. They were spying on him, or rather, the two of them.

He should have known, Yein walked in rather unexpectedly. And whenever she drops by without warning, because she always gives a warning, was because his father was off running his mouth. She was sent there for something, or she went there to prove something.

So, what could it be? What could his father said to have Yein land in his room? What could he have said that requires someone spying on them as if they needed to witness something?

His thoughts begun to build and build more questions and doubts that they were brewing up anger and frustration. His breathing begun to speed up as the grip he had on his bag was suddenly tightening. But just as they begun to build a red ocean of anger, they disintegrated when Yein was tapping her lips.

The bulb at the top of his head lit up and he realized what she was doing.

No one has ever seen them together on a date nor being affectionate to each other. Not even if they are in a room full of hundreds of eyes. As of lately, Jungkook’s father and hers have been doubting the genuine realness of their relationship. Is that what it was?

His father simply wanted prof that their relationship was real as they had made it out to be for the past seven years? Was his father already looking into other possible women he could marry and was now looking for a way to break them up? Is that what this was, a test to see if he could do so?

“I’ll see you later,” he spoke, taking a step forward and taking in a deep breath.

He has never, in his twenty-five years of living, kissed a girl. And he was a bit too nervous and angry to make his first kiss happen there, when someone is spying on them and with someone he doesn’t love.

So, he stretched his hand out, cupping Yein’s face and let his fingers rest on her soft skin for a second. Then he simply calculated the angle, placed his thumb on top of her red tinted lips, and simply kissed the back of his thumb. His lips touched the crease of his thumb, which is way rougher than what his finger tip felt Yein’s lips to be.

When he pulled away, he could see how pale Yein had turned and how cold her skin was. Her eyes were twitching and he could practically hear her heart racing. She was beyond nervous that entire time.

She was trembling and basically sweating nervous and he didn’t even notice it.

But the part that Jungkook could live with was not kissing her. He was sure Yein has never kissed anyone either, and that fact that he didn’t take away her first kiss, made him feel like less of a jerk. When he pulled away, he could feel her release all this pressure and nervousness she had held in so tightly.

On the drive to work, Jungkook begun to think about his relationship with her all over again. And he begun to ask himself how they will both get through a wedding that involves kissing.

Seven years ago, he was introduced to an eighteen year old Yein, Jin came to him with the concern. Since the three were friends when they were children, separated because of their parents, Jungkook felt like he was meeting a whole new person, but Jin still saw the adorable baby Yein he used to take care of.

All Jungkook wanted to do at that time was go to the military and simply, for two years, forget this huge responsibility as the heir of a company. He wasn’t looking for someone to date, let alone marry for business.

But he couldn’t deny the fact that at the time, he was concerned. Simply because he could see at company parties how disgusting and violated he would feel being such a young woman married off to a erted middle-age man just for business.

That was the reason Jin had talked him into dating Yein, or simply putting up an act. Jin pleaded the plan and the lying. But if it wasn’t going to work out, Yein, as soon as she graduates, will be engaged to some twenty-nine year old heir. And the though, the disgusting and purely horrendous thought of it happening, made Jungkook sick he had physically threw-up his dinner that night many years ago.

Jin told him that he’ll talk to his father. The reason why he is even standing there, with Yein in the same room, and two expensive diamond and platinum rings bounding them, was because of Jin.

From what both Jungkook and Yein have said, the first date was at an ice cream shop in Hongdae, but the date never happened. Because once the two fathers encouraged the relationship, all the two heirs had to do was go with the lie and coordinate lies to make sure their stories are the same.

After Jungkook finished university, the talk of a wedding began, but Jin had that covered. Jungkook went off to serve in the military for two years, and when he came back, six years of pretending to be dating Yein had gone by. When Jungkook returned, Jin convinced his father to wait a year or two for Jungkook to adjust to the company again, and so, the wedding was postponed more.

That entire time, many doubted the truth of their relationship. The two fathers had time to think, and both, at some point, found another spouse that would be better and the only thing that kept the lie going was that Jungkook told his father he loved her, and Yein threatened to run-away if she would be forced to break-up with Jungkook. 

By the seven-year mark, Jungkook and Yein were too comfortable lying about their relationship, and the fact that they were both so secluded and uninvolved with each other’s personal lives, they knew that is the way they preferred it.

When he arrived at the office, he expected everything to be fine. He wasn’t the CEO yet, so there was still a higher voice of authority that could calm down a storm of troubles. Moonbin has been able to hold down the office before and he expected the assistant to have everything under control and every department should be like they usually are.

Gossiping and pretending that an hour’s worth of work was truly three hour’s worth of it. He expected fifty percent of the work that needed to be done the past two days will be done, but when he arrived, he was met with something different.

There was a lot of screaming, not out of horror, but out of anger. It sounded like a riot almost, a more well contained riot. The chanting could be heard from the elevator, even before the doors opened, and that only caused this churned of nervousness to wonder into his stomach.

When the doors opened, the noise was tightly held by a grip of silence. All eyes were on him, the floor stopped moving and all he could see was a crowd of workers standing right outside his door. Moonbin had a stack of papers in his grasp and was having a hard time controlling the fifteen workers who were gathered.

“Good morning, what seems to be the problem here?” He spoke softly, his voice firm and confident, but his eyes yelled authority.

He was an expert in talking like a good boss, but looking at his workers with a stern set of eyes that will establish his dominance over them. And upon that question and glare, the workers all begun to feel this cold shower pour on them. Their eyes shifted downwards, no longer in anger and defiance.

“Good morning Mr. Jeon, the engineering department has a couple of things they like to say to you,” Moonbin spoke, his voice exasperated, Jungkook could tell the young assistant has been trying to talk over them and was already losing his breath and his voice.

“Oh, do they? I have an idea as to what this is about,” he spoke, his voice dropping a note and he looked ready to chew the workers up.

“Sir, please understand where we come from,” one of the workers spoke, he was standing front and center as if he was the voice of all of the workers before him.

“I can’t understand how you parade into my department, to my office, demand things to my assistant when you should be working,” he spoke, the entire office holding their breath at his roaring voice.

He didn’t have time to deal with any of this, with anything. And he wasn’t going to let the engineers think they have some right to be this chaotic when he hasn’t even done anything to them.

“Moonbin, please explain what is going on with Ms. Yonsei Top Five,” Jungkook demanded a bit softer, his eyes never leaving the man who was the center of the engineers.

He wanted to see that courage and bravery crumple at the fact that he has no right doing what he is doing. He wants to see that pride wither away because he should be working and not demanding things from person who isn’t even his department’s boss.

“Ms. Kang is a two-year engineer who was put into the new company project. She is committed and talented, having lead a university team who won an international IPRO competition, which awarded her the opportunity to work on an individual project that is not funded by the company. Her work will be funded by Mr. Jeon himself, because he was the one that gave the approval to someone who hasn’t meet the eighty-year requirement,” Moonbin spoke, his voice soft yet sounding beyond intellectual.

And the moment the words reached the worker’s ears, that little light of fighting, disappeared instantly. They realized that the reason that they were fighting Jungkook in the first place was because the company would be funding a two-year engineer’s project, but the company wasn’t going to be funding anything.

“You see, everything will be coming out of my pocket, not even from my budget, my own pocket. I am still a boss, the future CEO and you will respect my dam decisions,” he spoke, his voice projecting and harsh.

His voice fell heavily onto the entire crowd who was witnessing this. They stench of fear was heavy in the room and the only person who was savoring this glorious moment was Jungkook himself.

He felt heavily empowered and satisfied seeing that glimmer of defiance and courage deteriorate and turn pitch black. He was the one in charge and at one word, they could all lose their jobs. It felt like a great buzz, as if seeing them start to beg their apologies was making him drunk with felicity.

He was completely changed, Moonbin even wondered if what they told him was correct. The assistant was told by Jin that Jungkook was sick in bed, not fully to himself and completely out of energy. But the way the young boss stood in front of everyone with the stench of power repelled off his suit, Moonbin doubted the young boss was ever sick.

He made a full one-eighty turn, and was sounding more like the CEO. And that was what made Moonbin gulp with worry. The very same image Jungkook despised about the people in power, was the same one he himself was wearing.

At this rate, Jungkook was sure off to becoming a walking bank.

Curently writing the next chapter because I've kept you guys waiting long enough.

And lets face it, this was more of a chill chapter.

To completely build up Jungkook's mental problem, chapters like this are necessary.

So, still hope you enjoy, happy reading and have a good one.