The mess inside the building could be chaotic sometimes but it was nothing compared to the chaos inside Jiwon’s mind. He wanted to be honest with Lia and tell her that those feeling hidden inside of him, that most the time were just randomly fished out when they were too caught in between their feelings, were real. Everything seemed to tell otherwise but with the restriction his father had put him up to, he couldn’t just freely come up to her and ask her to start dating him just like that.

There were words left to say when she left that office but he couldn’t simply call her back in to say the words he had the chance to. He missed his chance, yet again. Instead, he got up from his chair and walked out of his office, ignoring the fact Lia had stood up yet again, to ask him what he needed. Lia rolled her eyes at his behaviour and sat back down. This was probably the part of him she hated the most. He avoided her too often when she tried to get him to talk seriously to her.

‘’I swear, I hate you sometimes, Kim Jiwon.’’ Lia cursed under her breath while punching her password on the keyboard of the computer right in front of her. Their relationship was just getting too out of hand and poor him had no idea over how it was going to be affected in just a couple years.

‘’Lia, cancel the meeting at twelve’’ he asked as he came back inside the office about then minutes later. The female nodded her head firmly, jotting it down so she could take care of it when she looked through his schedule. She was waiting for him to leave but instead, he stopped right in front of her desk, tapping his long fingers against the wooden object where all her belongings were held. She was getting pissed at him and his behaviour but acted out professionally by taking a deep breathe and tilting her head up to meet his gaze.

He looked different from ten minutes ago, maybe the pile of concern over their conversation had grown a bit more and made him realize that she was human and no other than that - she would eventually get tired if he kept just delaying the moment he’d step up and admit his feelings. ‘’We are going out for lunch.’’ he didn’t even ask her but then again, all for him was granted just like that, even if he had to fight, his challenges seemed always less hard than hers.

‘’I’m not free during lunch, I need to get your schedule rearranged and get some paperwork done, sir.’’ this indicated him just how mad she actually was. She was ditching him for work when it was usually the other way around, work was ditched for him. She was even coldly calling him sir when they were having an informal conversation between the two people they were out of work, those two, in love with each other. She didn’t seem to car.

With a sigh, he turned around, taking small steps towards the door as if he wanted her to stop him but she didn’t. Lia sighed once his door was closed - she knew he would just nag at her to come along with him even if she didn’t want to go. Being aware of this only made her work quicker as the clock announced she had two hours to get all the tasks she had to perform, done.

‘’Lia, I’m going out.’’ Jiwon announced after two hours. She was ready as well. In fact, she was standing up, waiting for him. That earned a gentle smile from him who unexpectedly reached for her hand to hold it in his. His hand was cold despite having the heat on to warm up the place. To neutralize that, her hands were warm as could be. His fingers finding their way in between hers got the female a bit surprised but a smile ripped through her lips. She felt comfortable enough about it.

‘’I want you to come with me, today.’’ he told her, using his thumb to caress the back of her hand while he took a peek at her, hoping she wouldn’t disapprove the idea just yet as he still had things to say. Worry could be seen, carried in her eyes though and her words were about to let him know that she didn’t want to interrupt a family moment but he didn’t let her get even started with that ‘’I want my father to know about us.’’ her heart skipped a bit at what he just said. She started at him, surprised with what he just promised her to the point she stared at him for a second, waiting for him to confirm it and his half smile was enough to make her believe it and bury her head on his chest.

His chuckle invaded her hears - it made her feel happy. But how come he changed in just ten minutes? She was confused with all of this but she also had things to talk out to him and this was less one thing she would have to talk or worry about. Jiwon would later on reveal why he was being like this, probably during lunch since they were supposed to grab it together anyway. ‘’Let’s get going, shall we?’’

Jiwon was nice the whole day, he was actually acting warm the whole day, something he never really did - it was weird but comforting. Lia felt happy with his little affection demonstrations. He even got her a dress, after lunch. But before any of them could blink, it was time to go back - time flew by the two of them like it was no big deal.

The couple parted after they arrived as Lia was assigned with a group, leading the team as it was a monthly thing she was supposed to do. Even though she was not the CEO’s secretary, she was still on her the evaluation of the trainees that were brought in. She never really let the company now. They were pretty nice, according to her reports and she wasn’t disappointed in them.

Jiwon, on the other hand, was busy with the meetings he had scheduled for the afternoon but his head was somewhere else. He agreed to join his parents for dinner. His brother would be there and so would his brother’s wife. It worried him, of course as he had had some kind of crush over this female and maybe seeing her after so long, engaged to his brother, would get him quite lost. Yes, he had Lia to himself but he couldn’t ignore the fact he had a thing for his brother’s fiancée. She was beautiful, caring and it was almost impossible not to like her.

His brother had followed a different path as Jiwon’s father wasn’t worried over the company - he actually let his children follow their own paths and it ended up having Jiwon running up for CEO, which was something he was actually happy for. His brother didn’t share the same excitement when it came to that kind of business.

‘’That’s all, you worked hard.’’ Jiwon called out after the last meeting of the afternoon. He had canceled the meetings he was supposed to attend later as well since he had convinced Lia to come with him to the dinner he was invited to. She had to get ready and so had he but he also needed some psychological preparation for what he was going to face and how he was going to do it. Things between him and his brother were fine now but back when he was dating his fiancée, Jiwon had tried his luck with her. It was the old excuse of love being blind - he wasn’t able to choose who he fell for.

Lia walked into Jiwon’s office, finding a tired and frustrated Jiwon. He was sitting on his recliner with his head full of thoughts he didn’t want to think about anything in that moment but he had decisions to make. He just needed to face his brother like nothing happened back when he was dating that woman. And that woman should be greeted the same way he would greet anyone he is not totally comfortable with, formally.

‘’Jiwon, are you sure this is what you want?’’ Lia was just nervous over all of this, seeing him like this made her doubt it even more. She had pressured him to accept the invitation, not through words but through her actions and he had given in to her, that easily. He didn’t look alright and she could call out quite a few reasons for it. ‘’You...don’t have to go.’’ she continued as she closed the door behind her, walking up to him yet again. He got up, smiling to her a bit as he shrugged his shoulders at the thought of throwing away all the effort he just had to make in order to convince himself to step inside that living room with his family.

‘’I do have to do this.’’ he told her, cupping her cheeks as he somehow thanked her inside his mind, for being stubborn and making him understand that it was something he had to do, sooner or later. He was no longer a kid and things like this could just get harder later on.

‘’Come on, I want to show off my beautiful girlfriend to them.’’ he whispered to her after a long pause for thinking. Lia couldn’t help but smile at his words. Of course she felt happy over this. He made her feel like a kid yet again, it was almost mean how he had her heart in his hands since he could crush it so easily without her permission. She simply wouldn’t be able to take it away on time and he wasn’t totally aware of that. His smallest action could get her to a no returning point. And after this night, their relationship could either stay strong or be thrown away, getting ruined and crashing down to show the world just how fragile it actually was.

With a gentle kiss over her lips, he sealed the promise he made to himself - the night would go smoothly - and the one he made to her, the one he was supposed to keep - his father would know of the relationship Jiwon and Lia shared - he couldn’t let her down.

The couple headed to his house since he was caring enough to get her a new dress for this special occasion. Both of them showered and got dressed into their formal clothes that honestly, were a bit uncomfortable for them. But in all honesty, the environment would be worse since they were supposed to feel comfortable around his family and they weren’t. The slightest. They lied to his parents when they said they were just friends out of the many times they were asked that question and little did Jiwon know that this little lie he told his father would come back to haunt him.

‘’Look at you, all dressed up and stuff…’’ Lia as she walked up to him, straightening his tie. The male smiled as he noticed the dress fit her like a glove. She looked beautiful but the heels she wore made her almost surpass his height, making him pout. She chuckled, shaking her head ‘’And you still don’t know how to fix your tie..’’ she commented, straightening his tie as she laughed to herself while he enjoyed this.

‘’What about you, hm? You look gorgeous.’’ he complimented her, kissing her forehead as he was satisfied with what he just said. Lia blushed a bit but before she could say anything else, the male kissed her lips, gently as ever only getting her to smile.

‘’I love you’’