“I’m not sure,” Jisoo pants.

Her knees have gone weak already and not even a wind blowing, suddenly she falls to the cold concrete floor, tired. She still can’t believe what had happened inside, or why is her heart races so fast, or how in the world her breathe stuck in , suffocating her. It’s not just her legs, it just her entire body fails to reciprocated what her brain wants- all and she wants to cry so hard.

Her life isn't collected yet when a sound awakens her, “Here,” the stranger in front of her said, wrapping her with his jacket.

Jisoo slowly turns her head to take a peek of this man she’s been trusting her fate with. For now, just to make sure she’s not in for another trouble or just maybe, to protect herself from anything similar to what happened inside.

Jisoo goes to his face directly and suddenly gasps knowing who it is.

“Jinyoung-ssi?” Jisoo hitches.

Jisoo knows that eyes, the big squinting eyes. His collar smells like fresh blackberries, the mouth-watering ones. And unlike seven years ago, his hair is not tousled.

“Yes,” Jinyoung replies. “Are you hurt?”

Numb would be the best way to explain her state right now for the said question. It must have been Jisoo’s deepest brain’s work when she raises her hand to the hem of his jacket that sits nicely on her shoulders, tightening it, and says:

“I’m okay.”

She’s not okay, it’s obvious. But, saying you are not okay to your savior, even more, an ex-matchmaking husband, doesn’t give a better picture of her whole situation right now. And with the strength she has left on her feet, Jisoo straightens her body back up and plans on going home, trying to forget anything that had happened. Everything is ruined and nothing will make her better, not even for another watermelon mojito.

“Thank you for helping me, Jinyoung-ssi.” Jisoo smiles weakly. “I’m heading back.”

Jisoo takes off his jacket and hands it to Jinyoung, which Jinyoung doesn’t catch. He doesn’t move a bit.

“Let me take you home,” Jinyoung turns his back. “I have my car.”

For a second, Jisoo startles at what Jinyoung said and believes he was joking. He proceeds to walk the on the pedestrian oath without his jacket and actually leaves his jacket hanging in Jisoo’s hand. He must have taken her words differently, Jisoo thinks.

“No, no. I’m heading back on my own,” Jisoo chases Jinyoung. “You got me wrong!”

An abrupt stop, a glance back, and an unreadable face.

Jinyoung looks back at Jisoo, finding her tone surprisingly weird. Under the neon light, his hardening face creeps Jisoo.

“You’re clearly not okay,” Jinyoung talks in disbelieve. “Your shoulders are shaking, your eyes are watery, and I don’t think your legs can’t hold your body any longer.”

Jinyoung isn’t joking.

Just like seven years ago, the windy night and the sound of cars passing by envelops another cold atmosphere around both of them. Jinyoung only stands still after mocking Jisoo, waiting for Jisoo’s response. It’s true that she’s on the brink of crying her eyes out and her legs don’t do what she wants them to do. She doesn’t want to trouble Jinyoung any longer, can he understand that? Isn’t the jacket more than enough?

Jisoo rides beside Jinyoung in the passenger seat after losing the argument. She indeed needs a ride when everything just falls in the wrong place.

“Thank you again, Jinyoung-ssi,” Jisoo says as they drive to her apartment.

The road is cramped tonight; you can’t expect anything on a Friday night. Jisoo curses herself for wearing such a short skirt, she is indeed not suited with clubs. She tries not to make a sound on her seat, because the man driving on her left side, Jinyoung, has been silently holding his steering wheel, watches the cars in the front move slowly, ignoring her presence. Or so Jisoo thinks.

“Is Paris done?” Jinyoung suddenly asks- index finger on his bottom lips. “You’re a fashion designer now, right?”

Jinyoung hasn’t said a word after he started driving. And the dim light makes it hard for Jisoo to read the atmosphere inside the car. Jisoo tries to check the air on his face, hoping for a glimpse of warmth, yet she finds nothing.  A straight face with no smile. Does he regret taking me home?

“I moved back a year ago,” Jisoo answers carefully. “How do you know I’m a fashion designer now?”

“I saw you in a magazine.”

Again, silence.

“I never get to be in a magazine,” Jisoo replies.

“Not your face, your name.”

There are probably more than 20 people with the same name as her in Seoul alone. Not sure of the entire of South Korea. It’s a nice surprise to know that this stranger she met years ago remembers.

“Well, it’s true,” Jisoo shyly admits.

Jisoo also wants to start a conversation, but unlike Jinyoung, he knows nothing about him. Has he ever been to any magazine?

“You finished master?” Jisoo asks, nervous.

Jinyoung doesn’t answer immediately. He glances to his right, seeing how her fingers fidget on top of her thigh.

“Are you cold?”

“What?”

Jisoo has her eyes widen, looking back at Jinyoung. Didn’t she ask something entirely different just now?

“Are you cold?” Jinyoung repeats what he said. “I think I have a blanket on the back seat.”

Jinyoung’s right hand roams to the back of his seat. Rustling. He then finally gets the blanket he mentioned and hands it to Jisoo. And again, silence.

Maybe he doesn’t want to talk, Jisoo ponders.

The ride seems endless and it has been 20 minutes since they left. Jisoo feels bad about Jinyoung giving her a ride home unknowingly. He could be at home by now if he doesn’t take Jisoo along with him.

“I was with my staffs,” Jisoo speaks again- after a good ten minutes of silence. “I told them to celebrate tonight in a barbeque restaurant. They all decline and said it was no fun.”

Jisoo talks again, this time, she doesn’t really care if Jinyoung is listening or not.

“We had our first runaway this afternoon,” Jisoo is actually happy as she speaks. “It went better than I expected. I mean, no one was harmed, and nothing necessary happens when they all walk the stage.

“The models were beautiful,” Jisoo is now content, grateful.

Jinyoung drives wordlessly as Jisoo talks about her matter. He listens well, but his heart keeps telling him to build a wall between them.

“I graduated 4 years ago from Stanford,” Jinyoung cuts in. “I’m working for my own company now.”

Jisoo, again, startles at Jinyoung’s words. His demeanor is unpredictable and unreadable. It scares Jisoo for bothering him further by her words. Asking him seems a far choice at the moment.

“Are you married, Jisoo-ssi?”

Jisoo’s heart tingles, collecting herself to the man who is not as familiar as he sounds to be.

“I’m not married, Jinyoung-ssi,” Jisoo answers clearly. “Are you, Jinyoung-ssi?”

Jinyoung’s mouth parted a bit by the question, he doesn’t expect her to be blunt about it. Or maybe he has triggered her.

“I’m not,” Jinyoung response. “Not yet anyway.”

Jinyoung inhales, he then continues. “I still haven’t found the right reason to get married. And, I’m sorry if I sound rude just now. I just want to make sure I’m not bypassing someone else’s duty by taking you home.”

Can I just pretend dead now? Jisoo curses herself.

In general, Jisoo is already scared of offending anyone, she’s even more scared to offend someone who’s been nice enough to help her out particularly.

“That’s not what I meant,” Jisoo tries to defend herself. “It just-

“Marrying someone is not something I lightly talk about. And my mom has been pestering me about it ever since I graduated.  I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but it’s a question I don’t particularly like.”

Jinyoung doesn’t talk back after Jisoo’s confession, maybe Jinyoung feels bad about her as well.

Forty-five minutes and endless skyscrapers, Jisoo finally sees the front lobby of her apartment. Jinyoung then pulls his car to the roadside and puts his handbrake on, and slowly shifting to Jisoo’s side.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Jinyoung speaks. “I’m sorry.

“And I’m seriously concern about your condition, are you sure you’re okay?”

If Jisoo has to tell him the truth here, to just hear the warm sound of Jinyoung’s voice all night long, she’s going to say she isn’t okay. But, in her right mind, she knows her relationship with Jinyoung supposed to end seven years ago after the last bite of that tiramisu cake. And she is not fond of the cold atmosphere.

“I’m perfectly fine, Jinyoung-ssi,” Jisoo answers. “Thank you for your care.”

Jisoo pulls off her safety belt and exits the black Land Rover Discovery Sport in a careful manner- knowing she wears a (curse herself) short skirt. After making sure everything is on her hand, Jisoo smiles one last time to the open window.

“Thank you again,” Jisoo inhales the cold air of the night. “You’re still as nice as before.”

Two Years Later

“The meeting will be held tomorrow morning in grandfather’s house, are you ready Jinyoung?”

Jinyoung and his good friend of 11 years, Wonpil, eating their dinner calmly while checking on the important email. It’s probably the most important email Jinyoung has ever received and it isn’t a business email, sort of.

“Is it that private?” Wonpil asks.

“Yes,” Jinyoung answers. “Even my mom isn’t allowed.”

“Quite long until it gets here, huh?” Wonpil snickers.

It is quite long, Jinyoung wonders.

A long-time is something that measured differently for each person, but for the Parks- this.is.long. It’s about a year ago, specifically, a year, one month, and twelve-days ago, Jinyoung has to lose the only role model he has in his life, his dad. No one expected it, he got a heart attack one night in his car on the way home, and everything ended in a flash.

For Jinyoung, that night is scarier than any nightmares he ever had. Park Hyoshin, his dad, was always healthy, not to mention fit and strong for someone his age. His dad never once skip breakfast with his mom if he’s in Seoul. And every weekend, he will always ask Jinyoung for a dinner together, if Jinyoung wasn’t busy enough to put down his notebook. He was everything in his life, and with a blink of an eye, everything was no longer there.

The whole company was a mess. Losing a father wasn’t as much as losing a CEO, apparently. So, without waiting for the funeral, the boards and shareholders sat down for a meeting the following day to pick a temporary CEO to fill in the gap. And, like any other company, the vice president had to take responsibility, for a time that wasn’t mentioned in the meeting.

Not long after, as per Chairman’s order – Jinyoung’s grandfather – the new CEO was hired, and it was none other than Jinyoung’s uncle.

We need to go back a little bit to understand Jinyoung’s “big” family, and more into PK Holdings. As mentioned in the previous chapter, PK Holdings started as a small textile company— and that small textile company is started by Jinyoung’s grandfather: Park Kyung Il. It was founded in 1953, 11 years before Jinyoung’s father was born.

Jinyoung’s father is the oldest of two in the Park’s household, his little brother – Jinyoung’s uncle – named Park Jungshin, is the one that is now inherited the throne. But, Jinyoung’s grandfather never approved of it.

Jinyoung’s father has always been his grandfather’s favorite. He was a bright student, straight As in every subject, the soccer club’s captain, and added to the list, married to his mother. Oh, yeah, his mother is not just a woman or Korea’s Top Ballerina— she is also the daughter of a former South Korean President. It was hard not to like his father.

In many cases, Jinyoung’s father is the only choice to be the next CEO of PK Holdings.

It wasn’t because his uncle didn’t match the criteria his grandfather wanted, his father simply too great to beat.

It was not an easy task, his father worked so hard to create today’s PK Holdings. It takes more than just tears or blood or time, it’s everything. So it wasn’t really a surprise when PK Holdings launched the first commercial CDMA cellular phone in 1996, under PK Telecom. It wasn’t a surprise, compared to the development of third-generation platinum-complex anti-cancer agent, in 1999, under PK Chemicals. The list goes on.

Jinyoung’s father carried the weight of the company with an open shoulder, trusting the help of his partners and staffs, and Jinyoung knows how valuable the company is to his dad. There is a time when he didn’t come home for days, and it was only because of one of his dad’s staff had an accident, and his wife was still in another city. So he volunteered to stay in the hospital, nothing could stop him that day. He loves the company and Jinyoung is ready to take over.

But for his own sake, Jinyoung pleaded to his dad for one independent project— he wanted to build his own company. So after master degree, an internship in PK Tech’s New York, and the military duty— Jinyoung started his own startup.

He had an agreement with his father, give him ten years and he will take over the family business as any chaebols would do. No drama, no “the heirs” situation going, only a father and a son, sipping their morning coffee with a mature conversation.

If only it lasts forever.

This year would be the fourth year since Jinyoung established his startup, the referral recruiting platform that brings a still-offline headhunting industry, online— named MeDemand. It partnered with PK Holdings two years ago, and by the end of last year, its revenue has grown 217%, earning him a global award from The South Korea Startup Scene.

Jinyoung surpasses everyone’s expectation, worse— their ill judgment. The chaebol’s third-generation that won’t fit the CEO’s chair is no longer just the son of the recent CEO, he becomes everyone favorite candidate. Everyone, even the Chairman.

But after his father’s sudden leave, the chairman didn’t come to Jinyoung to give him the chances he always thought he has. It was suddenly his uncle, who was at the moment, not fit for the job. The VP was better, in Jinyoung’s opinion, but his grandfather clearly didn’t want someone who isn’t his descendant to be in that position. So his uncle joined in the legacy.

Jinyoung thought it was a temporary scene, his uncle as the CEO. It wasn’t until his father’s death anniversary came that Jinyoung realized his grandfather had an agenda he doesn’t know. He doesn’t ask, he doesn’t go finding clues, he doesn’t really want to know about that. So just a shallow thought, he can’t fulfill his father’s dream.

Not until yesterday’s email.

It was sent from his grandfather’s private email, the one with his name in both domain and account name. The subject of the email was vague, nothing with a CEO or PK Holdings inside the sentence. Short, yet strong words all in capital letter, “THE PARK’S FAMILY MEETING”.

The email stated that only people that are born under Park Kyung Il can attend the meeting. No words out are allowed, it’s a secret meeting, and everything that will be discussed will be stated on the day of the meeting.

Unnecessary anxiety.

Deep down, Jinyoung knew this day will eventually come. There’s no way his uncle can run the company, not with his problems going around in his life. And just like what Wonpil said, it is quite a long way until the email finally arrives. He has so little time, for that, he will not disappoint his dad and will make everything right again.

And another update. Thank you for everyone support, I'm trying my best to polish this story every time.

Every comment counts.

On a side note, I take inspiration for PK Holdings from SK Holdings. You guys can google it and will find something similar to Jinyoung's family.

BUT, this is all fiction. I'm just taking inspiration for the family background. Everything else happened in the story has nothing to do with SK Holdings.

See you!!