Chapter 28

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Smoothing out her skirt, Hana steps out of her car and flips her hair over her shoulder. She’s dressed to impress today, her hair done in loose curls and sophisticated heels strapped to the bottom of her feet. She tightens the strap of the purse around her shoulder as she confidently walks into the lavishly decorated French restaurant, confirming her reservation before she’s guided towards a VIP table towards the back. As she settles into her seat, ten minutes early before her meeting with new potential partners for her father’s company, she takes a sip of the water in front of her and crosses her legs.

At promptly 12:25 PM, a group of three men enter the restaurant in freshly pressed suits and expensive watches adorning their wrists. The hostess guides the group towards Hana’s table and she stands up, a polite smile stretched upon her lips. Two of the men raise an eyebrow at the girl in a judgmental manner that she doesn’t quite appreciate. The man in the front of the trio smiles in return and holds out a hand, speaking in Korean, “Hello. Hana, right? I’m Yixing, we’ve been talking on the phone for the past few weeks.”

Even with her heels, Hana’s forced to crane her neck to glance upwards and make eye contact with the male. She smiles and nods, her small hand sliding into his, “Yes, it’s so great to meet you.”

As they all sit down around the table, Hana pours water into the cups for them, handing them out individually. She smiles as she places the cloth napkin over her lap, “Thank you for sparing some time to meet with me today. I’m sure you have a very busy itinerary.”

Yixing takes a sip of water and waves the matter off, “No worries at all. I’m glad we have the chance to try out this restaurant. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

Hana glances at the two men at his sides and curiously asks, “And who are these two gentlemen that have joined you today?”

One man clears his throat, “I’m Mr. Yixing’s secretary and he,” the man points towards their companion, “is our translator. But you don’t need to worry about our names. I don’t think it’s necessary to let someone like you know.”

Hana stiffens and tilts her head with a small smile on her lips, “Someone like me?”

Yixing sighs, “Mr. Jeong, please.”

The man crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. Yixing apologizes, “I’m sorry about that. It’s been a long day for us. I hope you’ll understand.”

“For your sake, I will overlook it,” Hana announces. The man gapes at her confident reply and Yixing blinks at the girl before a small smirk appears on his lips. She’s confident. I like that. 

When the waitress comes over, Hana orders in perfect English without batting an eye. She glances over at the men and asks, “And for you?”

Yixing smiles before looking at the waitress, replying in equally as fluent English, “I’ll have the same as her.” The girl blinks at him in surprise and once the waitress takes her leave, she asks, “You’re fluent in English as well?”

Mr. Jeong scoffed, “Of course he is. He’s fluent in Chinese, Korean, and English, as an heir should be.” Yixing rolls his eyes, “I can speak for myself, Mr. Jeong. I appreciate your concern.”

Yixing fixes his eyes on the girl once more, “Yes, I am. Need to be when you’re in this kind of business. I’m assuming you know that quite well.”

Hana laughs lightly, “All too well.” He grins at her response.

After some small talk, Yixing finally brings up the purpose of the meeting. Hana’s grateful because, if she had mentioned it first, she’s positive that Mr. Jeong would have replied with some sassy comment. She’s not quite sure why the older man is giving her glares throughout the meal or why he continuously keeps whispering to the translator, but it makes her uncomfortable and she can’t help but notice the bald spot appearing on his scalp.

“I believe both of our companies can benefit from this partnership,” Hana says and flashes an amiable smile at Yixing, straightening her posture and crossing her hands on top of the table, “I was glad to hear your willingness to meet me here today. I thought it’d be a better idea to officially meet each other in person. I’m a strong believer in establishing solid relationships before signing into any legal agreements.”

Yixing nods in agreement, “Definitely. I was impressed by your work and your propositions that you laid out in our previous talks. I’m thrilled at the prospect of working with another company that shares the same ideals as me.”

Hana grins and begins to pull out the neat proposal that she had prepared from the night before. Just as she reaches for a pen in her purse, Mr. Jeong’s harsh voice rings through her ears, “I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Yixing. But something about this situation unsettles me. Is this company well-known enough to be sending out a mere young girl to a business call? Frankly, I think this is quite disrespectful of Mr. Park.”

Yixing furrows his eyebrows at his secretary, “Mr. Jeong.”

The man crosses his arms and tilts his head daringly at the girl, “How old are you, anyway? Are you mature enough to be handling professional business matters like this? I personally believe that girls like you should be kept at home until your arranged marriage.”

Hana clenches her hands into fists at her sides as she struggles to maintain her composure. She’s heard this monologue one too many times. Yixing steps in and tries to de-escalate the situation, “I’m sorry, Hana, I’m sure he didn’t mean to sound offensive.”

Hana takes a deep breath and slides the proposal over to Yixing, ignoring the look of disbelief that Mr. Jeong is blatantly throwing at the girl. She opens up to the page that requires Yixing’s signature, “As we discussed on the phone, all of the terms that I mentioned are listed in this document. I haven’t added anything or removed anything from all of the items that we agreed to. I’ll just need your signature here and I’ll have it sent over to my team by tonight.”

Yixing signs without hesitation despite the protests from Mr. Jeong at his side. He has a hunch that this lunch isn’t going to end so pleasantly, so he doesn’t say a word as he slides the file back to the girl. He watches intensely as she packs her things, standing up with a relentless expression on his face. Although he’s only a few years older than the girl, he finds her aura intimidating, especially in this moment where he can tell that she’s furious. He’s just interested in how she’s going to handle it.

Hana holds her expensive, brand name wallet in her hand as she bows to the men, “Thank you for meeting with me here today. I’d love to stay longer, but I have class soon. I’ll be leaving first then. For your time, I will also be paying for the meal.”

She opens her wallet and holds her VIP black credit card in between her fingers. Hana plasters on a fake grin, “Al