“I will not be receiving anyone this morning.” Alessa stated flatly before going in her office, her secretary was about to reply but the young executive already shut the door to his face.

“I should send out a notice. No one should bother her today.” He murmured to himself before going back to his desk.

Alessa sighed as she shook off her blazer, she stepped down from her heels and walked towards the floor length windows.

“Uhm, vice president?” Her secretary’s voice echoed from intercom receiver, she glanced behind her.

“You might want to check the tabloids.”

Alessa didn’t reply, she just picked up her phone and her eyes doubled in size as saw the photos of her and Chanyeol from last night.

“This is why she was here.” She murmured, she flinched as she browsed through the images again.

Just a simple night out with friends turns into this?

I was just saving their asses from that idiotic bar fight!

Why am I blushing here?

She groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose, her mother’s words were still echoing in her head.

“Ma, I don’t know what her family does, okay? And I don’t want to unless she~”

“You’re telling me that you allowed your brother to continue his relationship with that girl?”

“Ma, don’t~”

“I will not allow this, I will not let some unknown girl be with my son.”

“She’s not like that ma, I know what you’re~”

“I will be home soon, if you can’t take care of this matter, then I will.”

Alessandra exhaled and shook her head, she plopped down on her seat and glanced at the pile of reports before her.

“First the bar fight, next Ahee and Lucas, now, Seolah and my supposed secret relationship with a business partner. Life is good for Alessa.” She deadpanned before closing her eyes.

“Wow, you are in trouble.” Baekhyun commented as he looked at the article again, he was inside his friend’s office.

“The groundbreaking is tomorrow. I’m still in the process of having tis articles taken down,” Chanyeol replied.

“Why aren’t you releasing a statement? Just rectify the whole thing.”

“If I do that, it will just add more flames to the fire. Look at the photo.” Chanyeol said, his usual light and happy tone was replaced by irritancy. Baekhyun grinned to himself and leaned down on the couch.

“Did you talk to her?”

“I was..on my way to see her earlier, but something happened.” Chanyeol said without looking up from his computer.

“Something happened? Why in the world would Seolah not want to talk to you about this?” Baekhyun replied, he was feigning confusion.

“Seolah? I was at Alessa’s office.” He replied in a direct manner, his friend chuckled.

“You know, it’s funny how she seems to be the priority here, I mean, Seolah is the fiancé, right?”

Chanyeol paused, he looked up from the screen and met his friend’s gaze.

“What you said last night,” He stood up and walked towards the Lotte executive, Chanyeol looked away and loosened his tie.

It was something he died when he felt uncertain, and a guy like him was rarely uncertain.

“You said you were in trouble. Why?”

“Baekhyun-ah, don’t~”

“You’re interested in her.” He stated, Chanyeol shut his mouth tightly before speaking.

“So, what if I am?”

Baekhyun smiled and patted his friend’s shoulder.

“Then, go get her.”

“We’re talking about Alessandra Wong, you idiot.” Chanyeol said as he stood up, he grabbed his coat and put it on.

“No, we’re talking about Alessa. Your Alessa.” Baekhyun hummed, the latter rolled his eyes at him.

“Shut it.” He groaned before leaving the office, Baekhyun chuckled and followed his friend out of the room.

Alessa looked at the company’s publicist then at her secretary.

“Things aren’t looking so well, vice president. They already are talking about how vice chairman Park is already engaged…and, to be honest, it’s put you in a negative light.” The young woman spoke carefully. Alessa leaned back on her seat and crossed her arms.

“We still have…that, ma’am.” Her secretary spoke up and gestured towards the ring on Alessa’s finger.

Alessandra followed his gaze and looked at the diamond ring thoughtfully, she couldn’t exactly think straight. Her mother talking about Lucas and Ahee in such a harsh way bothered her, she didn’t see anything wrong about the girl. She was nice, could handle her brother and was actually very well-mannered.

She sighed and looked away, the other two in the room panicked in their seats. They could sense the tension coming off from her, and everyone knew what could happen when their boss isn’t in a good mood.

“I’ll deal with that later, for now, don’t release anything.” She said with finality.

“Yes, vice president.”

“For now, I want you to…look into Ahee.”

At her words, her secretary grew surprised, it took him a few seconds before replying.

“The young master’s…girl—girlfriend?”

“Do it silently, make sure Lucas doesn’t find out.” She muttered before standing up, the other two rose from their seats.

“Yes, I will. And, vice chairman Park has called quite a few times, ma’am.”

Alessa paused, her jaw grew taut before facing the man again.

“I’ll..talk to him later, for now, I also want you to check on my mother, the moment she gets on a plane to Seoul, notify me.”

“So, why am I still seeing this?” Chanyeol’s arctic tone could be heard from across the room. His secretary and two of Lotte’s public relations officers looked down.

“This has been up since late last night, I already said I want them taken down.” He demanded, Chanyeol was rarely in a bad mood, he was usually calm and relaxed at work, very approachable to others, but today, he was agitated.

“We know, vice chairman, we have all hands on deck with this one, sir. But the people from their side~”

“I don’t care what those gossip sites say, shut them down.” He said flatly, his secretary sent pleading looks towards the two PR heads.

“S—Shut them down?” One was stunned, Chanyeol loosened his tie, his crossed his arms and leaned back on his seat.

“Do you want me to do it on my own?” He replied, the male quickly shook his head.

“They’re already painting vice president Wong to be the bad person here, I don’t understand why you couldn’t act quickly.”

“Well, our main concern is you~”

“I don’t care what your reasons are, I want those websites and the writers behind those articles be taken down, if they refuse to,”

“Tell them Lotte will be coming for them. And they wont stand a chance.” Chanyeol snapped, he stood up and walked out of his office.

His secretary sighed and watched as the two PR staff scampered away from the room, he knew his boss could be terrifying. But he had a feeling that the source of his discomfort wasn’t because what might happen to his engagement, it was probably because of the WongShen lady.

“Does he like her? I’ve never seen him this angry.”

Chanyeol folded the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and leaned against the elevator walls as it went down. Seolah had been trying to call him ever since the incident this morning and he had no plans on talking to her yet.

It was confusing, he knew that the two women met each other during college, but what he heard from earlier was confusing.

Alessa never mentioned any tension between them, she was even helping him sort out his problems with Seolah.

So, why?

He was already crossing the lobby when he heard people murmuring, he halted and looked up. Alessa was in the process of sliding down from her Rolls, she paused when she saw him.

Chanyeol felt his stomach drop, he felt himself tense as they girl walked towards him. There was this serene look on her face, being calm despite what was happening around them.

“You were there earlier, you wanted to talk?” She spoke carefully, Chanyeol’s fists curled.

I’m in trouble, Alessa.

“With the whole scandal thing, I just want you to know that I’m already working on it. I already spoke with my~”

“I know; I wouldn’t expect less from you.” He intervened, Alessa paused, a little taken aback.

“I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” She asked him, Chanyeol shook his head at the girl.

“Uhm, well, I should get going. I’m sorry for taking~” She stopped when Chanyeol took hold of her hand, she blinked at him.

“Stop apologizing, it’s not~”

“Lao po, you shouldn’t be here.”

Chanyeol stopped, he looked past Alessa’s shoulder and saw Dylan walking towards them, he had a smug look on his face. Alessa was stunned to see the younger male in the lobby, Chanyeol’s jaw clenched and unclenched.

“We should go. You shouldn’t be seen with him.”

The Lotte heir understood enough Chinese to get what he was saying, and his grip on Alessa’s hand tightened.

“Dylan, we were~”

“Come on.” Dylan stretched his hand to her, Alessa turned to Chanyeol expectantly.

“No, we’re still talking.” He replied without looking at her, his eyes were on the tall male.

Alessa turned to Chanyeol.

“Chanyeol, please, we can talk later. He’s right, I shouldn’t be here. If people see us together again they will~”

“You confuse me, you know that, right?” Chanyeol said to her, Alessa halted, confused.

“I—I don’t understand, what are you~”

“I’ll fix this, I’m sorry about Seolah attacking you like that I’ll talk to her.” He said as he let go of her hand, Alessa was about to reply when Chanyeol gingerly cupped her cheek with his palm.

“See you tomorrow.” He said, his voice dropping an octave lower. And then he turned away from her and headed straight for the elevator.

Dylan wanted to celebrate his victory, but Alessa was already dragging him across the lobby.

Chanyeol exhaled as soon as the elevator doors closed before him.

That was close, Park Chanyeol. Too close.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++