Chapter 1 - Prelude

Everything About Us
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“Surely you don’t expect me to be impressed by that garbage you call a proposal, do you?”

First thing on a Monday morning and the irritated voice of the CEO was the only thing that can be heard from the huge meeting room on the third floor. As he fiercely stared at the poor section chief of the planning department who seem to become smaller and smaller as he stood on the podium, not one soul dared to speak up. 

“It’s the start of the work week, and you have the guts to ruin my morning with your ridiculous presentation. Even my 4-year-old niece can probably do better than you,” he was not yelling, but everyone can sense that hell was about to break loose and they’ll all soon become casualties.

Not able to take the silence anymore, the young CEO reached into the pocket of his suit and took out a tiny hourglass. A harmless little instrument, but everybody shivered at the sight as he flipped it on the table top.

“Five minutes. You all have five minutes to give me something that actually makes sense. Otherwise you may all gracefully get out and receive your last pay checks.”

 

***

 

Thirty infuriating minutes later and the members of the meeting filed out of the room, all eager to go back to their stations to do something and avoid bumping into the grouchy CEO. He had been extremely annoyed by the lack of sensible ideas from the planning teams that he almost fired the entire staff who attended the discussion. On their way to their desks, the frightened employees whispered among themselves about how traumatic the innocent-looking hourglass was and how they’d never want to see it ever again.

The CEO is notorious for always carrying that thing around with him, as he likes to finish discussions quickly and efficiently. The sand inside the hourglass amounts to five minutes, such unbelievably short time to whip up feasible ideas that the businessman would approve of. It also doesn’t help that he’s meticulous as heck, a trait that comes naturally for a third-generation chaebol who is leading in his trade.

“Please believe me when I say that you look nothing short of horrifying when you’re agitated,” the tall blonde man sitting across the grumpy one chuckled as he stood up and straightened his suit, brushing non-existent dust from his shoulders. In return, he received a glare from the other.

“Shut up, Chanyeol. This meeting was supposed to happen last Friday but was postponed due to my urgent business trip. The planning team had a three-day extension yet they still give me a crappy proposal when I return. I thought I might not be able to control myself and wring someone’s neck, to be honest.”

Chanyeol just laughed even more with his statement. His cousin is not such a terrible person, just extremely hard to please when it came to business matters. He walked to where the other was sitting and patted his shoulder. “Loosen up, will you? You don’t want to look so raddled in front of the press later this afternoon.”

Looking as if someone just dropped a boulder on his head, the older sighed loudly and rubbed his now-aching temple. He had totally forgotten about the scheduled press conference. He turned to his amused cousin who is now walking towards the door to head back to his own office.

“Tell my secretary to bring some headache relief meds on my table, will you? This is going to be a long day.”

 

***

 

As soon as he stepped into the room where the press people were waiting, cameras immediately flashed one after the other and the reporters started buzzing their questions at him.

“CEO Kim, are the rumours true that Kim Global is partnering with Oh Corporation?”

“Mr. Kim, the people are eager to know the truth about the spreading news that your company is facing financial struggles”

“CEO Kim! Is it true –“

“Kim Junmyeon-ssi! What can you say about ---“

Voices springing out of everywhere were ringing in his ears all at the same time and making his head throb even more. Geez, why is the press always this eager? And how did they even hear about the upcoming deal with Oh Corporation? He hasn’t even set foot in the podium but they’re already blowing up the roof with their questions.

Maintaining his composure and offering a good-natured smile to everyone, he bowed and started speaking into the microphone in front of him.

“Good afternoon. I am Kim Junmyeon, head director of Kim Global Group. Thank you for taking the time to attend this press conference, albeit on short notice. I’d willingly address your previous questions, but I’m afraid that is not the reason why I called for this. You see, I actually have an announcement,” he said, the smile still lingering in his lips.

Murmurs erupted, in between sounds of furious tapping of keyboards and flashing of cameras. What else could the CEO announce aside from new business acquisitions and possible financial struggles? (Although a financial struggle is probably the last thing that could happen to such a huge and strong business empire)

“I’m glad to inform everyone that I’m about to wed by next month.”

Aaaand there goes the bomb. The murmurs now turned into some kind of shouting match, members of the audience all fighting to get their questions addressed first.

“May we ask who the lucky bride is?”

“When exactly will be the wedding, CEO Kim?”

“Is she also a chaebol like yourself?”

“Is your fiancée Korean, Mr. Kim?”

“Will the press be allowed at the venue of the wedding?”

To all this, Junmyeon responded with yet another intriguing smile. Of course they’ll want to know who the bride is. Of course they’ll want to know even more if she’s a chaebol and which revered family she came from. And of course, they’ll want to know if they’ll be allowed to cover every inch of the event or probably even do a live broadcast of the ceremony.

“For now, I’d like to keep her identity to myself. And if I say she’s a chaebol, I’m convinced you’ll go around investigating every heiress in the country who fits the bill.”

There were disappointed grunts all around, and the press people were probably thinking of how stingy the CEO could be in terms of providing them newsworthy information. True, the wedding news itself is a big catch and will probably set the entirety of South Korea into waves of gossip and intrigue, but a name and face to match the mystery bride would be even better.

“No need to get so worked up about my fiancée’s identity, though. After the wedding, I’ll call for another press conference to formally introduce her. That would be all for today. Thank you for your time,” he stepped away from the podium, bowed once again and immediately stepped out of the room, the last clicking of cameras dying down as the double doors of the conference hall closed behind him.

 

***

 

Hours after the press conference, the news of Kim Junmyeon’s upcoming wedding has become the most popular topic of discussion. Search engines were on the verge of exploding as people repeatedly attempt to find out who the mystery bride is, going as far as investigating whether the CEO had been involved with dating rumors in the past.

The thing is, CEO Kim Junmyeon of Kim Global Group is a man of class, dignity and professionalism. Being the second-eldest among five siblings, he was brought up to be a leader and a shrewd businessman by their father and current chairman of the said empire. All his life, he is being trained to be an heir, and he’s well-aware that getting in

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Bint_yahya
#1
Chapter 11: Wow! Why didn’t I see this story earlier? Anyway! I love it so far ^^ would love to see more updates :’) I’ll be waiting then! Author-nim jjjang!! ❤️
jongfinity
#2
Chapter 9: ooooh can’t wait for the show to begin! hehe
tegomin
#3
Chapter 9: Wow, that was stupid of Junmyeon but I really like where this is headed. Very much excited how they'll pull of that big of a lie to everyone. ๑>ᴗ<๑
jongfinity
#4
Chapter 8: ahahaha junmyeon and chanyeol as cousins though! so funny!!! xD thank you for updating!
jongfinity
#5
Chapter 7: i love love love the storyline!! the plot is so interesting and the way how you describe and portray each character is soooo good! thank you for writing! :D
LeeCaerin
#6
Chapter 5: Waiting for another chapters . Nice story btw
aftermidnight265
#7
Chapter 3: Wow! Thank you for the update
Keep on going, I wish there’ll be more subscriber for you
aftermidnight265
#8
Chapter 2: Omg! This is so interesting,
I laugh and smile, please keep on going! ❤️