9:07 a.m.

"what do you mean, that type of relationship?" the stout man in thick, large glasses holds his coffee in one hand and a binder of files in the other as he listens to the woman beside him talk.

"for the big boss to put her in that type of position, don't you think it's a little suspicious?" the woman, decked out in a white blouse and an orangey-red pencil skirt asserts as she sips at her own mug of coffee.

"it doesn't matter to me. as long as she does her work well-" the man replies indifferently, and the woman sighs rather loudly from his side, breaking off his sentence.

"you're always so proper. just think about it." the woman begins, setting aside her coffee on the nearby counter as she proceeds to demonstrate her point in the crowded employee's lounge. "a thirty year old woman, yet to be married. a man of the same age, also yet to be married. the woman gets a job right after she comes here, and it's a high position, too. if there isn't something going on between the two, do you think the boss would really trust a woman with being the CFO? that practically everything from finance to HR."

a second man, thin as a stick, approaches the employees gathered in the lounge. "stop gossiping, everyone. she's here." he hisses, and just like that, everyone scatters, like mice in the pantry.

however, the woman and the man who were previously conversing stand their ground.

"what's her name again?" the woman asks, pushing her own thin frame of glasses higher up her non-existent nose bridge.

"it's bae."

the eyes of the three employees widen as irene walks into the room, her secretary behind her.

"bae irene." she repeats with an all-too-professional smile before turning to her secretary, "jisoo, call the marketing department to the meeting room and tell them to prepare to present their current projects in thirty. also, make a hard copy of the company's past project summary in the last five years and have it ready after i visit mr. kim."

jisoo nods from her side. "okay." the pretty little sight responds dutifully before she walks away to complete the task irene has given her.

kim jisoo had been namjoon's personal assistant before namjoon had directed her to work under irene for a few months, and irene could see why. the girl is resourceful and sharp, exactly the way irene likes those underneath her to be.

"please do go prepare for your presentation." irene then says to the remaining people in the room with the slightest gesture of her hand, and the three employees bow before scurrying off like they should have done minutes ago.

irene simply shakes her head as she walks to the stairs of the skyscraper which is namjoon's company. after the traumatizing experience this morning, she wouldn't dare touch the elevator, and by the time she had made her way up two levels to namjoon's entire-floor-sized office, she was still feeling slightly out of her element.

"yixing." she acknowledges her handsome chinese coworker, when she sees him talking with namjoon's new secretary at the door.

"ah, our lovely joohyunnie is here. beautiful as always." the equally well-dressed man gives her a warm, welcoming grin, and irene returns his affectionate greeting with a tight-lipped smile. after all these years, his words still carried the slightest hint of an accent, giving irene a sense of sought-after familiarity in her jarring, new environment.

it also helped that yixing was the quiet yet cheerful, forbearing yet responsible type that irene both admired and appreciated. he'd been one of the few people to earn her trust, and she often envied his ease in creating positive relationships with those around him.

he was the chief operating officer, but he wasn't a holed-up, cold-mannered workaholic like irene was.

"is namjoon in there?" irene asks, and yixing nods.

"he's expecting you. i think that's why he kicked me out of his office unusually early." yixing chuckles good-naturedly.

"thanks, yixing. " irene bids the man a grateful nod as she pushes open the door to namjoon's office.

"nice seeing you again." she hears yixing call out just as the door closes behind her.

irene steps into the neat, spacious office that looks more like a penthouse to see a familiar figure staring out at the city.

when kim namjoon turns to face her, irene is surprised to see that he hasn't aged visibly at all, even though she last saw him five years ago. namjoon had left america to take over his father's company while irene had stayed behind.

they had kept in touch since, and he was a large half of the reason why she had decided to come to her birth parent's country. of course, she had to find her brother, but without namjoon she would have never had the courage to do so in the first place.

"hey, sweet." namjoon grins, an endearing dip of flesh revealing itself on his left cheek. he walks across the room to embrace her, and irene complies with a soft laugh.

"how are you finding things?" he asks when they part, and the two travel to his large desk, each taking a seat across from the other.

"good." irene answers, before adding, "actually, i need to switch out the car you gave me. the one i have right now is too flashy."

"especially when a girl by the name of park joy happens to be your neighbor," irene adds quietly to herself underneath her breath.

namjoon raises an eyebrow. "well, you know where my house is. feel free to choose whichever one you'd like." he brushes away the matter with a simple grant of her request, "or buy a new one, and fetch my checkbook from me when you need it."

irene scoffs at his nonchalance. "you know i'm not really into impractical ways to spend money. besides, this CFO arrangement at your company is only temporary. i'll have a brother to take care of soon, and i don't plan on staying here."

namjoon nods thoughtfully, somewhat wistful. "i have some news on your brother, by the way."

irene shakes her head to stop him from sharing said news, but she pats his hand gratefully. "we'll catch up on coffee later. with yixing, too. but i've got a meeting to run." she says, laughing as namjoon's expression morphs into one of confusion.

"irene, it's been a week since you arrived in korea. you don't have to rush things if you aren't comfortable yet." namjoon suggests, his charming dimple once more surfacing. "besides, you've got me, remember?"

"it may be five years since we last saw each other, but i haven't changed much, kim namjoon. we both haven't changed much." irene says while checking the watch on her wrist. "the point is, you know i can handle everything perfectly well myself, and, as for the meeting, think about it as housekeeping if you must."

"alright," namjoon relents, his deep voice reverberating in the large room. "but just in case, let me know if you need anything, hyunnie." he adds as she turns to leave.

irene lets out a rare grin at the nickname, though normally, she would simply frown. this, however, is the man she has come to call her closest friend, and for that irene makes an exception.

after exiting namjoon's office, once again, irene takes the stairs. jisoo, diligent as ever, is immediately at her side when irene appears at the staircase, handing her a binder full of freshly printed reports.

"thanks." irene acknowledges the girl with a grateful smile. "hope you don't mind sticking with me for a little while. namjoon's work is probably a lot easier."

jisoo shakes her head modestly with a kind smile. "unnie, as long as you're not a picky eater like mr. kim is, then working under you will be a relief."

irene chuckles quietly to herself before entering the meeting room. her smile disappears quickly, however, replaced with a poker face unrivaled by even lady gaga.

because irene did say she'd be doing some housekeeping—and in bae irene's dictionary, that means business.

"in the past five years, the income from our company's PC-related products has steadily declined. has the team considered why this is?" irene opens up the meeting with this question after all the employees present have introduced themselves.

she clasps her hands together on the table as the room directs its attention to the woman in charge of the technological product projects.

"t-the country's t-technological market is very competitive nowadays. as a whole, it is inevitable that we participate in the lowering of product prices to match other companies. therefore we can't prevent a decline in total income." the woman, recognizable as the one who had been gossiping about irene in the employee's lounge this morning, explains with a slight stammer.

irene simply shakes her head. "the company's PC-related products match our competitor's exactly in reference to the year they were created and put onto the market. if the company's investment in marketing these PC-related products have increased, our product sales should increase." irene states to a quiet murmur of approval. "based on the report created one month ago, our marketing investments for these products have increased five-hundred-fourteen million won, which is a thirty-one percent increase from the previous year."

the woman who had previously spoken stares at her hands.

"yet the company's income from these products steadily increase." irene continues ruthlessly, sympathy nowhere to be found in her tone. "you reason that an increase in similar products and a lowering of prices throughout the entire market is the cause of our loss in profit. this is not only a surface-level conclusion, it is also wrong."

jisoo bites her lip to hold back the grin that is desperately tugging at her lips. the girl knew that this was coming since the day namjoon introduced her to irene. when it came to her profession, irene was not only extremely adept, but also brutal in uncovering false interpretations.

"the real reason is that there isn't enough productivity in our product lines. we continue to push outdated products into the market, which cannot by any means match the superiority of other products offered for the same price. our products themselves are at fault, not the market." irene takes a stack of papers out of her binder and tosses it on the glass table. "you have two days to rewrite this report. if you still come to an inaccurate conclusion, there isn't a need to consider investment in PC-related product marketing at all. in fact, there will no longer be obligation from this company to consider investment in you as an employee."

irene closes the binder and hands it to jisoo before rising from her seat. "the same goes for all of you. please correct your reports if need be, and we will discuss them in two days. meeting dismissed."

and with that, she leaves the room—and the people in it—in silence.

the stout man with large glasses is the next to stand, shaking his head as he walks back to his office. with bae irene's understanding of both international and national markets, sensitivity to numbers, and ability to grasp the meaning of such data in such a short amount of time, it's no wonder kim namjoon was so keen on placing her in such a significant position in the company.

in just a thirty minute meeting, the man now understood completely just how meticulously his work would be cut out for him in the future.

---

seungwan waits in the bustling restaurant, thumbing through her files. in a fleeting moment, her dark cinnamon eyes flicker upwards, the bleak rays of light that filter through the cafe's window refracting in them like a kaleidoscope.

that's when seungwan sees them.

four men dressed in identical black suits are suddenly standing at all corners of the restaurant, with another two at the intersection outside the restaurant. one is standing at the telephone pole that can be seen from seungwan's vantage point, and the other is hidden by the multitude of people sifting around the crosswalk.

seconds pass before a man in a long black coat walks through the door, jostling the restaurant's cheerful chimes of arrival, though the emotionless gaze on his face reflects anything but mirth. yet another man follows at his side.

as seungwan watches the men approach her, she suddenly remembers the time she had first met yoongi's strange ensemble. back then, the sight of the men which guarded him had been rather frightening, but it had been two years since that time, and son seungwan is no longer the broken, naive son seungwan she used to be. now, she is quite used to the whole escapade, and quite familiar with its inner workings at that.

in particularly busy places, yoongi brings seven men. when the appointment site is quiet, he brings two.

of the six that are at the restaurant, seungwan recognizes two: woohyun, who is always the closest to yoongi, and sungkyu, who stands quite casually at the telephone pole, a sandwich in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other.

"yoongi. woohyun-ssi." she greets the two men, rising out of her seat with a humble bow.

yoongi moves to seat himself across from her, with woohyun standing stiffly to his side. yoongi, however, dismisses the man with a tap of his finger on the mahogany wood of the table, and woohyun steps back towards the others.

"how have you been, seungwan?" he asks, polite as ever.

sometimes seungwan can't quite tell if the man is bored or entertained. it doesn't help that min yoongi is the opposite of an open book, per se.

"i've been better," seungwan jokes, inwardly cringing when she reminds herself of this morning's events. "you?" she prompts yoongi in return.

he shrugs lazily. "the same as always."

yoongi parts his lips to say something else, but is quickly interrupted as a couple seated at a nearby table bursts into a fight.

"why is she asking him if he loves her or his mother more?" seungwan squints as the whole restaurant stares at the couple, who are spitting at each other furiously. 

yoongi hums in agreement.

"i'm disgusted." seungwan refrains from gagging, crossing her arms over her chest instead when the couple ends up outright making out.

"likewise." yoongi says, and the two irritated spectators simultaneously shake their head.

"um, anyways," seungwan quickly shakes herself back into focus. these are, after all, working hours, and she is, after all, in a professional setting. "here are your tax return summaries, tax payment summaries, and your financial records for the past week."

she slides a manila file folder across the table. "let me know if you have any questions, but i triple checked for errors as always."

"thank you, seungwan." he says before motioning to woohyun, who walks over and takes the papers seungwan had prepared, putting them carefully into a briefcase.

yoongi lets out one of his rare, genuine smiles, and even though it still bears an uncanny resemblance to a simper, seungwan's heartbeat quickens like a hamster in a wheel.

, seungwan thinks. some point along the line, she'd begun to notice the small things about yoongi, and at another point on that same line she'd begun fall for those small things.

seungwan knows the fault in it from the start, however. she can't fall in love with her client, for 's sake—god knows what he actually does for a job, anyways, and plus, she'd have her reputation ruined if she was to do something as unprofessional as date her client.

no, this really cannot be happening, the scarlet-haired beauty reasserts to herself quietly as she wills her heart to stop pumping so goddamn fast. her prayers go unanswered, however, when it continues to beat rapidly and obstinately in a sickening, endless cycle.

it isn't until yoongi grazes his lips over her hand that seungwan realizes she is absolutely, undeniably, hopelessly screwed.

"i'll see you next week." yoongi says, and seungwan barely manages a dazed nod in reply.

"spades, the rest of the house is waiting." seungwan hears woohyun say as yoongi's presence grows farther away, and the men clothed in black retreat along with him.

when yoongi is gone from her sight, his mark on her hand, (or rather, her heart) however, still lingers—and the feeling of min yoongi's lips ghosting her skin is absolutely, undeniably, hopelessly electrifying.