“Hey…detective?” Yugyeom called out as he lingered by the head detective’s desk.

The older man glanced at him briefly before looking back at the file in hand, “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if there was any new information. I’ve sort of been sitting on my hands lately.” He mumbled. 

The detective rubbed his face, “Right, for the profiles. I don’t know what to tell you, Kim. GOT7 and DS’s teams move like ghosts, no one knows what they look like or who they are. It’s a struggle to even find out where they’re based out of. Anyone who knows who they are either don’t live to tell the tale or have no incentive to flip. We have nothing to give you.”

“I can’t build a profile with this. Everything we know about both their operations are super clinical and methodical. There’s no way to pull any sort of characteristic from that.” Yugyeom said with a frown.

The detective sighed, “I know, but I have nothing for you. We’re doing our best but these are elusive motherers. You just have to wait.”

“Is there anything useful you have on them?” Yugyeom asked, exasperated with restlessness. 

He leaned back in his seat, “Not much. But they have money. Lots of it, but we have no clue where it’s coming from or where it’s being kept. It’s obviously being laundered but gangs are smarter these days, they don’t use laundry mats or salons. If we can track down the money, we could find them. They’re massive operations, so the way they clean and handle their money must be just as complicated and well thought out.”

“Or it’s in the Cayman Islands or a shell corporation.” Yugyeom suggested. 

“It’s possible, but they wouldn’t just have it stored away somewhere it could be found, unprotected. There’s a reason why they evade police capture every single time.” 

                                            -----

Heiran wondered if the men standing in front of her could see the sweat stains under her arms. 

She could definitely feel it. 

Rocking on her heel, she tried to even her breathing as her CEO massaged his temples. When Eun added the meeting on her calendar, Heiran knew what it was about. How couldn’t she? Everyone was talking about it. 

About how she bungled the Samsung merger. 

“I just don’t understand how this happened. Everything was going so well, you assured me of that. Next thing we know, I’m hearing that not only did one of our biggest investments fall through but the merger that my entire company is hinging on also fell through. So, I have a lot of questions, Ms. Seo.”

Her ears were ringing. Her boss’s anger and disappointment had never been directed at her. She was always the one that he praised and complimented. She never ed up this badly and she had nothing to say, no way to defend herself. 

She knew this would happen and that the fallout would be on her lap.

“Sir, I’m not trying to make excuses but I had protected and nurtured the negotiations between SmartLogic and Samsung. I did everything and built a solid relationship. There was a solid relationship but SmartLogic was the one that had an issue with the merger. I can’t really be blamed for the entire termination.” She explained. 

The other men scoffed but her Boss just shook his head, “Exactly. That’s why I’m trying to make sense of why on earth you would let a third party negotiate on their own? The representative from SmartLogic shouldn’t have any direct communication with Samsung let alone multiple meetings discussing terms without our legal team present or any sort of professional support. That was your call and I can’t believe you would be that unprofessional and reckless with an account this massive.”

She gulped rocks down , she didn’t have a comeback for that. “I admit that it was an error in judgement to—“

“Ha!” The VP of Legal laughed condescendingly, “That’s one way to downplay the biggest hit this company has taken.”

Heiran resisted the urge to tighten her fist and deck him across the face. The CEO just sighed, “If that wasn’t bad, there’s been talk.”

“What talk?”

His lips fell into a thin line, “That you haven’t been coming to work without notifying your staff until mid-day. And when you do show up, you leave early, take long lunches, run personal errands, and are overall inaccessible for your staff.”

Her lips parted, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. She felt like a child being scolded for skipping classes, “My team is very capable with minor supervision.”

The CEO scoffed, “Can you really say that after what happened? It’s not your staff I’m worried about. It’s you. What the hell is going on?”

“Sir, I was ill and whenever I leave early, I always stay late or come in early the next day. I make up for missing time.”

“People have stopped coming to you with files. New investment pitches have been sent to me. Have you even noticed?” He balked. 

She gulped. 

This was news to her. 

“Your own people are going over your head because they don’t trust your leadership. Your chain of command has completely broken down and Samsung pulling out is only breaking it down further.” He barked. 

felt dry and she could feel the VP of Legal and Research smirking at her from behind the CEO. Her face was hot, embarrassed that they were here to witness her first major up. Especially after all the dust she had kicked up before. 

“M-My door is always open and I have no idea why they would feel the need to do that.”

The Legal VP scoffed, “Probably because your PA is always here even though he’s personal.”

“I know this is bad.” She said, “But I can talk to my contacts at Samsung and re-negotiate them away from terminating the merger. I can easily find new opportunities to invest that will work in their favour. I can keep them on board. I promise. Just give me a chance.”

He sighed, “I’m afraid you won’t be able to do anything at this time.”

She blinked at him in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“The board is furious about this. They want an internal investigation regarding your handling of the merger as well as the whole auditing thing. It’s a mess. The Board wants to know why you would let your SmartLogic rep negotiate the biggest merger this company has ever seen. We essentially lost millions of dollars in potential revenue not to mention the hours and resources that were wasted managing and maintaining both accounts.” He explained. 

Her eyes widened, “Wait, what?”

“You’re suspended with pay until the investigation is complete."

“Y-You can’t be serious. Sir, an investigation? Is that necessary? I can fix this, I can get the money back and open up communications with Samsung ag—“

He held his hand up, stopping her, “No. The Board can’t risk you doing anymore damage. I can’t risk it. We’ll find someone to step in so that your department is still running but you should gather your things and stay at home until we reach out to you.”

felt numb when he turned to leave before looking over at her with furrowed brows, “I’m very disappointed in you, Heiran.”

Once he walked out, her knees buckled and she leaned against her table in a daze. The VP of Legal smirked, hands in his pocket, “Not so cocky now, huh? Doesn’t pay to be a .”

-----

Jinyoung raised a brow but kept his gaze on his laptop when Yeonhee sat down across his table and waited patiently and silently. 

“What?” He muttered, his fingers fluttering over the keyboard. 

She huffed, “Jeez, sorry. I’ll come back later.”

“No.” He said with a soft sigh, “Stay. What’s up?”

She shrugged, “Nothing.”

“God, you’re annoying.” He grumbled, nudging his laptop aside. “Is this about Mark?”

“ you.” She spat. 

He didn’t flinch, “Oh, how do you think I feel about this? I have to sit here and listen to you whine and pout about how you can’t my best friend on the regular anymore.”

“I never said that I came here to whine.” She fired back with a glare. 

He sighed, “Fine. Whatever.”

He turned back to his laptop, ignoring her and the way she chewed on her lip while eyeing him. “Where is he?”

“Who?” He said, feigning ignorance. 

She narrowed her eyes at him, “You know who.”

“Jackson? I heard he’s at the firing range.”

“Mark!” She yelled, “Mark, okay! You’re right, that’s why I’m here.”

He looked at her and leaned back, “It shouldn’t matter anymore, Yeonhee. If you’re not working on an assignment with him, you don’t need to know where he is.”

“You’re an .” She hissed. 

He just blinked at her, his constant soothing, calmness that he’d bring with him whenever someone came to him with a woe morphed into a prick of anger, “He’ll never take you back. He won’t backslide. You know that.”

“I don’t care. Did I say I wanted him back?” She said indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Exhaustion plagued him, “Okay, Yeonhee. Say whatever you want, but I really hope that you’re okay doing this to yourself. Hope it’s worth it.”

“He likes her, doesn’t he?” 

Jinyoung paused, and sighed, “You’re not owed an explanation. He made a clean break. Whatever he’s doing now isn’t your business.”

“Jesus . You might as well tell me I’m right if that’s your answer.” She muttered. 

He shook his head in resignation, “Go sleep with someone else. If you think that’s what he’s doing, then you should be doing the same.”

She said nothing and he watched her before feeling guilty, “Are you doing okay?”

“ off, Park. I get it.” She snapped. 

He shook his head, “I mean it. I’m not going to feed into this unhealthy hang up you have about Mark, but I want to know if you’re alright.”

“If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t care.” She whispered, “If it was some random girl at a bar he picked up or some gun runner from one of our allies that he hits on, I could ignore it.”

Jinyoung took a deep breath, “Not that I’m admitting that he has feelings for her but, why does it bother you if it’s Heiran?”

“Because I could never be her.”

That was the first truly honest thing he had ever heard her say and it was also the most vulnerable. It twisted his gut uncomfortably. “Oh.”

“I know, it’s pathetic. I could buy all the same things, live the exact same lavish lifestyle, but I’ll never be like her.” Yeonhee said quietly, “If it was anyone else, I’d know that I could still compete. But choosing her, it’s someone better than me. Like I wasn’t good enough, like I never stood a chance.”

It never made sense to him how Yeonhee was so caught up with Mark. As much as she grated his nerves and was more like a nemesis to him, he wasn’t blind. She was pretty and Jackson had been chasing after her for years, as have a bunch of their low-tier allies. She could have a good pick of men if she wanted. Men who would thank her. Instead she chose the one man too emotionally muddled to feel the same way as her.

But Heiran who probably barely thought twice about Yeonhee, turned her into this insecure ball of self-loathing. 

“You and Mark are too different.” He admitted.

She sneered at him, “And you think he and her are the same?”

“I think Mark needs someone who sees him in a different context outside someone from GOT7.” Jinyoung reasoned. "Someone who sees him for all the things that he doesn't want to admit he is." 

She laughed, “That’s not going to be her. He’s an idiot if he leaves GOT7 for her.”

Jinyoung said nothing and just watched her for a while before shaking his head, “I don’t know what you want from me.”

Her bitter smile died and she swallowed deeply, “I’m sorry.”

Sighing, he shut his laptop and grabbed his wallet before standing. He walked to her and kicked the chair, “Get up.”

She looked at him with a confused look, “What? Why?”

“We’re getting ice cream. I need a break.” He said, opening his door.

Opening before frowning, “Wa—“

“Hurry up. You’re buying.”

-----

“You should eat something.” Yugyeom prodded, nudging the plate of pasta towards Heiran who was just laying on the couch with a blanket pulled over her shoulders, blankly staring at the TV.

“Not hungry.” She muttered. 

He sighed, setting the plate down before sitting on the floor to watch her carefully, “You’re not going to tell me about it?”

When he came by to drop off a blender he had burrowed, he expected her to tell him to leave it by her door because she was at work. He didn’t expect her to open the door, hair messed, makeup smudged and a blank stare. 

“There’s nothing to tell.” She muttered, her face pressed into the fabric of the couch. 

He had never seen her like this before, so defeated and moppy. His eyes widened when a realization hit him. Actually, there was one time and only one time that he had seen her act like this. 

“Is this because of Jaebum?”

Her entire body stiffened and her eyes shot to him. Finally, she pushed herself up and refocused her gaze to him, “What?”

“I know he came to see you. Why didn’t you tell me?” Yugyeom asked. 

The throbbing in her head grew. With everything happening at work, she hadn’t even thought about Jaebum crashing into her life and making himself a part of her life all these years later. She could no longer pretend that he didn’t exist. 

And she had to remember that the man she once loved more than life itself, wanted her back.

He still loved her. 

God, she used to pray for the day he wanted her back, too bad it didn't feel as good as she once hoped.

“How do you know about that?” She muttered. 

He raised a brow, “Mark told me.”

“Why are you two talking?” 

“Don’t change the subject. I didn’t know he was even in the city. What did he want?”

She sighed and leaned back, “Me, apparently.”

“What?” Yugyeom said with a laugh, “You can’t be serious.”

She shrugged, “He came to my office and said that he missed me, that he was sorry and that he was better now. Changed.”

“That’s a load of bulls—“

“He said he never stopped loving me.”

Yugyeom fell silent and eyed his friend wearily, “Heiran please.”

“No, I’m not an idiot. I don’t believe him.” She said, quickly waving him off. “I know how much you hate him."

Yugyeom pursed his lips, “I don’t think he’s lying.”

It was her turn to be incredulous, “Excuse me?”

“I knew that he loved you the day he broke up with you. He loved you more than I think you loved him, believe it or not. But how he felt about you has nothing to do with how he felt about having Lucy in his life. That’s why I’ll always hate him.” He said. 

Well, she also hated him for being a gangster that used her to get close to her father. But that was just her.

"None of that matters. I’m not going to take him back or anything. And that’s not why I’m in a mood today.”

He foug