“Sure, sure. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Minae as she stepped on the gas.

“Vice president, did you see the email I sent you? Korea Air wants to set a meeting.”

Minae paused briefly, but she nodded.

“Okay, maybe next week? Not on Monday, I have a thing with Yeol.”

“Should I clear out yor schedule for Monday then?”

“Of course. How about Tuesday morning with the airline?” She questioned as she reached the familiar building with ease, she slowed down her speed and saw the two branch heads already waiting for her.

“That would be great, ma’am. I’ll inform them right away.”

Minae slid down from the car and the two males greeted her with polite bows.

“Good morning, vice president.”

“You wanted to discuss the recent changes, right? The chairman couldn’t come personally, so he sent me instead.” She said apologetically as she followed them towards the building.

“It’s fine, we enjoy having you around, vice president. You’re a lot les strict compared to the chairman.” One of the male joked, Minae chuckled, she was about to reply when her phone buzzed.

She took it out from her purse and her forehead creased.

Details about Park Minae’s past, revealed!

Whirlwind romance with ShinHan heir!

“You. You confuse me.” Baekhyun commented as he sat down across his friend, the two were at one of the SM owned restaurant just nearby the office.

“No, you all confuse me.” He added, Chanyeol shook his head at him as he asked for coffee.

“You guys act so….real, that sometimes I forget you know.” He said as he picked up the menu, Chanyeol smiled and leaned back.

“Don’t forget, I’m just using her. For..all this.” He gestured around them, Baekhyun looked up from the menu, he eyed him skeptically.

“You say that so casually.”

“Because it’s true.”

“You realized how much your father adored her, she was one of the few interns who could keep with him and you saw that as an opportunity.”

“That. And, I needed to protect her. No, I wanted to protect her.” Chanyeol replied, Baekhyun smiled to himself.

“We all did.”

Chanyeol exhaled and puffed his cheeks.

“Sometimes I feel bad, she..could have met someone better, but..she’s stuck with me.” He murmured.

“I don’t think that’s the case. She’s happy now.”

“That’s another thing, Baekhyun. What if I messed things up for her? What if..there’s someone out there that’s just for her, and I’m getting in the way. You guys know how I don’t deserve her.”

Baekhyun was stunned, his forehead creased briefly.

“She’s a ing goddess, Baek. And yet she’s married to someone like me, I can’t help her grow.”

Baekhyun mentally sighed, his friend was hopeless. And he was out of words. Chanyeol did always think of Minae highly, but he never expected these words from his friend.

“You know what, write a song about this. I can’t help you. You both need each other, but go ahead, stay in that bubble with that kind of thinking.”

The meeting went on and Minae kept on glancing at her phone, she had read some of the articles and it bothered her. Some articles mentioned her mother, some talked about her father’s passing, she sighed and looked up again. The numbers and words were all jumbled to her, she couldn’t focus.

“Chanyeol,” She spoke, the room turned quiet and everyone was looking at her.

“I’m sorry, but, go on.” She nodded for them to continue. She picked up her phone and started to go through the articles, old photos of her and Chanyeol started to resurface online. There were also mentions about how she almost immediately took over ShinHan after the wedding.

“What do you think, vice president?”

She looked up and blinked, the males were looking at her expectantly.

“Well, I can’t decide on this on my own, I will discuss this with the chairman as soon as I can.” She promised as she leaned on the table.

“And, we’ll count on you with this one, ma’am.”

Minae nodded, she stood up to shake all of their hands before leaving the room, she took out her phone again and checked the articles.

People were know talking about how Chanyeol never did get involved with ShinHan, instead he pushed his wife to handle all things for him.

“Samonim,”

She halted and looked up, he recognized Chanyeol’s assistant.

“I was just about to call him.” She said as she walked with the male, he nodded back. Minae glanced behind her, there were two more males following them,

“What’s this? I thought it was going to stop.” She murmured as they stepped in the lobby.

“Most of the articles are targeting you, samonim.”

“I know. Chanyeol?”

“He’s still at a meeting, he asked us to accompany you. You’re meeting miss Song, right?”

“Wow, they really must have nothing else to do.” Jinah commented as she pored over the news.

“I’m just worried we'll get caught, Jinah.”

“Caught? People have seen you and Chanyeol in different levels of PDA, I doubt that.”

“Still, I don’t like how they’re looking too much into it.”

“What did Chanyeol say?”

“I haven’t been able to talk to him yet, he’s busy.” She shrugged as she picked up her chamomile tea.

“Ya, what if…what if it’s them again?”

“Them? The Jungs?” Minae exhaled as she looked at her friend, she adjusted the strap of her watch and leaned back on her seat.

“I mean, you are being awarded for something so big, what if Aera doesn’t like that?”

“It’s been almost two years, Jinah. I doubt they even think about me.”

“Min, you don’t get it. You literally defeated her by marrying Chanyeol. That brat always berated you, looked down on you and everything, but you ended marrying ShinHan Banking.”

“Jinah~”

“You don’t understand, there is no way she can drag you down except for using cheap tricks like this.” Jinah stated.

“I just..Jinah, I don’t..want to talk about them.”

“Ya, you of all people have a claim on that company. You are your father’s daughter, no matter how much they try to kick you out.”

Minae looked at her palms and pursed her lips, Jinah sighed, she hated seeing her this way. Minae used to be so optimistic and brave, after what the Jungs did to her, that changed. And it was terrible, after what happened, Minae wouldn’t even let anyone sit beside her. She wouldn’t even speak or smile.

And it took her time to slowly become herself again.

“Hey, you’re stronger now. You’re our Jung Minae, my best friend. You’re Mrs. Park, ShinHan’s boss.”

“I will be never enough for that family, Jinah.”

“Minae, you can’t just let them get away with it. What they did…” Jinah shook her head, not knowing how to continue.

“I just want to live quietly.” Minae murmured.

“Live quietly, well, that’s rich.” Another voice chimed in, Jinah looked up and her eyes narrowed at the familiar looking lady.

Minae glanced up and she paused.

“It’s ironic for you to say that, Minae. You married a public figure, right?” Shim Aera gave her a smile, and Jinah wanted to rip that very smile off of her face.

“Aera.” Jinah halted, her fists curled over her lap.

“Should I say congrats in advance? All of your dreams are coming true, foreshadowing us and even with all these rumors right now, you and your mother are still being a pain to us.” She hummed, Jinah was about to stand when she noticed a familiar figure walk in the building.

“I..I wasn’t behind~”

“Sure, it’s not your fault. People just happen to love talking about you. Because you’re so special, right? Uncle even had to die so that you could shine.” Aera hummed, before Minae could react, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, sorry for being late.” Chanyeold said with a playful smile as he leaned down, he made the girl face him before pressing his lips against hers for a brief moment.

“Jinah.” He grinned at her, Jinah winked back at him. Aera swallowed and looked away as two of his bodyguards joined stood by their table, Chanyeol sat down and looked at the other girl.

“Chanyeol-ssi, how are you?” Aera cleared .

“I’m not even surprised that you still continue to harass my wife up to now, but,” Chanyeol met her gaze evenly, his usually warm and sunny demeanor now gone.

“Please leave the building, this one’s under her name, so, get out.”

“I—I~”

“Oh, and if you’re going to talk about that, it was given to her as a gift. You see, my family cherishes her so much.”

Minae looked away and puffed her cheeks.

“Chanyeol-ssi, I didn’t mean it that way~”

“Get out.”

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