“You must have a lot of your plate. Now, I feel bad for barging in her here.” Jaehyun said, Hana looked up from her desk and shook her head.

“No, I’m glad you came over. How are you?”

“I have two jobs.”

Hana chuckled at his reply, she stood up and joined him as secretary Gu came back with tea.

“Do you have a favorite?” She asked as she sat down across the male.

“I don’t like having to dress up for work, so, I like the other one better.” Jaehyun said before thanking the other male as he poured tea for them.

“But seeing you in this environment is good too. It’s a good look on you.” Hana said, secretary Gu excused himself and stepped out of the office.

“Well, my sister needed me at the company.”

“It’s good that you joined her, unnie’s always been busy before you came.”

Jaehyun nodded, his eyes roamed around the room and she noticed the box of candied fruits on her desk.

“You still eat those, noona?” He said with a grin, Hana followed his gaze and she nodded.

“Rowoon sends a box from time to time. They’re a bit hard to find, do you want~” Hana halted when the doors suddenly swung open, Jaehyun turned around just a familiar figure walked in the room.

“I need to talk to you about something and,” Changmin paused when he realized that the girl was not alone in her office.

“Hyung,” Jaehyun greeted him with familiarity, Changmin smiled and shook the male’s hand.

“I didn’t know you had a guest over,” The older male’s smiled turned into a small smirk, Hana rolled her eyes at him.

“Jaehyun-ah, I didn’t know you two…reconnected.” Changmin hummed, Hana sighed and stood up.

“What brings you here, oppa?”

“Work stuff, but I can go and let you two~”

“It’s okay, hyung. I have a meeting in a bit too. I just dropped by to congratulate noona on her…imminent promotion.”

“Don’t.” Hana hissed, Changmin chuckled as Jaehyun faced the girl.

“I’ll see you then, noona.”

“Thanks for visiting.” Hana walked him to the doors, Changmin saw how Jaehyun reached for her wrist briefly, the male gave it a small squeeze before leaving.

“So, you and the Jung son, again?” Changmin chuckled as he sat down on Hana’s seat. Hana ignored his comment and proceeded to browse through the documents he brought.

“Saeyoon baked some cookies last night.” He jutted towards the box he also brought along.

“Perfect.” Hana beamed at him, her eyes went to the documents again.

“It’s for that Jeollado property you asked about, papers are clean.”

“Thanks, oppa.” She said before plopping down on the leather couch.

“Geon mentioned you had lunch with them yesterday.”

“Yes, I took him out for some shopping.”

“Rowoon was confused because you left in a rush. Are you sure you’re okay?” Changmin asked, Hana could hear his concern from her seat. Her forehead creased; her grandmother’s retirement did bother her. But, the image of Jihye and the other man has been eating her for about twenty-four hours now.

“Yes, I am.”

“It’s good you spend the day with him, Rowoon is always around that Eom girl.”

Hana paused at his words; she her lips before speaking.

“Oppa, you don’t like her much, huh?” She asked without facing him.

“What’s there to like?” Changmin’s reply was quick. Hana sighed at him; the male rolled his eyes.

“Be honest with me, you’re only putting up with her because of Rowoon, right?”

“Oppa, you~”

“Come on, you don’t have to protect her while she’s not here. You owe her nothing, princess.”

Heads turned as the GM Motors CEO passed by, he was joined by the two managing directors and managers of the big Gangnam branch.

“So far, there’s been a demand for sedans, sir.”

“I’ve seen the report,” Rowoon paused, they entered the display room and he scanned over the units being show at the front.

“Some customers expressed that if they could personalize the car’s~”

“Did Hana call?” Rowoon turned to his secretary.

“No, sir.”

“I’m sorry, continue.” Rowoo said to the male as he followed him, his secretary checked his phone again and nodded to himself.

“They spoke regarding the car’s interior, sir.”

“We already offer specifications on that.” Rowoon said, not noticing how most of the female customers were staring at him.

“Yes, we already do. But not for all models, sir.”

Rowoon slowly nodded back, he approached one of the vehicles and unlocked the door, he felt his phone vibrate.

Are you free for dinner? -Jihye

“We’ll wait for you in the conference hall, sir.”

Rowoon nodded and waited for them to leave before typing in a reply. He then faced his secretary, the male looked at him expectantly.

“I called her earlier, but she was not picking up. Is she in her office?”

“Miss Eom, sir?”

“Hana.” Rowoon replied as he looked at the inside the car.

“I called her secretary earlier, he said that the vice chairman had a guest over.”

“A guest?” Rowoon asked as they walked to the next vehicle.

“Yes, sir. Director Jung of Jung Banking Group.”

The GM Daewoo executive paused and faced the male.

“Jung Jaehyun?”

“Yes, sir.”

Rowoon’s brows rose up and he slowly nodded back.

“That’s… new.”
 

Hana cleared as she stood up from her desk, she looked up as the doors opened, two friendly faces appeared.

“Uncles,” She greeted them with warmth.

“We grew worried when we heard you didn’t come to work yesterday,”

“I had some errands, uncle. I’m sorry for making you worry.” She said as she asked for them to sit down.

“Actually, Hana, we’re here because we wanted to tell you that we will respect what your grandmother will decide on.” One of them spoke, Hana nodded back with a small smile.

“And, another thing, your uncle,”

Hana leaned back on her seat, she heard her phone vibrate on her desk.

“He has been meeting the other board members in secret. I think you know what this means, Hana.”

“Yes, uncle. Thank you for the heads up.”

“We are on your side because you and your brother are the remaining Kang children. KangSan should be left with the Kangs, right?”

The two males started to stand, Hana could only nod back, there were times when she knew people didn’t do it on purpose, but their words pressured her.

“Yes, uncles.”

Hana went back to her desk, she plopped down on her seat and closed her eyes. Her forehead creased as her phone buzzed again.

There was so much talk about her family’s company around town now that nauseated her. Rumors about the takeover and the bad relationships in the family were being discussed too, and the media wasn’t helpful too. She had heard her name in the news last night and the hosts talked about her net worth and background.

She picked up her phone and noticed Rowoon’s name on the screen.

How’s your morning so far? -Rowoon

She groaned and slumped down on her seat.

“How do I tell you in a way that you won’t get hurt?” She spoke, she turned her head and saw the framed photograph on her bookshelf. It was during their high school graduation, Rowoon was smiling to the camera with her on his back as Mrs. Kang tried to put on their graduation caps. Hana’s father was in the background with the Kims, laughing at them.

She let out a shaky breath.

“I need to protect you from this.”

“You went around branches today?” Jihye asked as Rowoon pushed the chair for her.

“Yes, I did. We have the quarterly meeting coming up, I just wanted to be thorough. How’d your day go?” He asked as he got picked up the menu.

“We got contacted by Elle Korea, they want us to shoot this group of rookie actresses for their next issue.”

“Oh, that sounds~” Rowoon paused when he saw a familiar white BMW sedan park across the street, Jihye followed his gaze and she saw Hana sliding down from her car.

The girl crossed the street and made her way towards the restaurant they were in.

“Hana’s taking over, huh?” Jihye spoke, Rowoon shook his head at her.

“She hates talking about it,” He said with a chuckle as Hana walked in the restaurant, she approached the counter and started to speak with one of the waiters.

“She’s getting takeout.” Rowoon said, and then Hana’s gaze went to them.

“Make sure you add the garlic bread,” Hana said politely, the waiter nodded back, the girl was about to take a seat when she felt someone looking at her.

“Hana,” Rowoon was waving her over.

Holy .

Of all places, Hana.

Of all freaking places!

Hana looked at Rowoon and nodded back at him, not wanting to join their table. Jihye was waving at her, and Hana felt sick to her guts.

This girl was enjoying dinner with her best friend. Her best friend whom she was cheating on.

“Be honest with me, you’re only putting up with her because of Rowoon, right?”

“Come on, you don’t have to protect her while she’s not here. You owe her nothing, princess.”

Hana’s forehead creased before looking away.

I can’t protect you from this if I don’t tell you the truth.

But, how?

Hana jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Rowoon was eyeing her, stunned with her reaction.

“What are you doing?”

“Chani called, he wants pasta from this place.”

“Join us while waiting then, Jihye wants to say hi.” Rowoon said as he tried to pull her with him, but Hana tugged back.

Rowoon stopped and turned to her again.

“Han,”

“Rowoon…you,” She trailed off as she held onto the sleeve of his coat, Rowoon’s brows rose.

“You said you’d listen to me, right?” Hana spoke, the male blinked at her words.

“What are you~”

“You’ll hear me out, right?”

“Han, of course. Where is this all coming from?” Rowoon asked, now he was worried, the look in her eyes just didn’t seem right. Hana her lips and he let go of him.

“Hey, you two.” Jihye had marched towards them, Rowoon had her eyes on Hana still. Hana turned to Jihye and he didn’t miss how her brows grew knitted together as Jihye reached them.

“Hana, join us for dinner.” Jihye spoke, Rowoon looked at the girl briefly.

“Rowoon,” Hana said meaningfully, not replying to the other girl.

“Let’s wait for your food outside.” Rowoon nodded at her, he sent Jihye a small smile before stepping out of the building with Hana.

“Han, what’s going on?” Rowoon asked as soon as they were outside. Hana let out a breath and pulled away from him.

“Hana, darling, now I’m really worried.” Rowoon made the girl face him again.

“I—I didn’t mean to disturb you two, I guess now’s not the time for a talk?” She said, Rowoon’s brows rose.

“Tomorrow?” She said before he could speak.

“Tonight’s actually good, I can swing by at your house.”

“No, no. Tomorrow, call me.” Hana said quickly, Rowoon’s lips curled up slightly before pulling the girl to his chest.

“I worry about you, Han. I know you hate how are things are turning out right now. But, you are going to be KangSan’s chairman for a while, then Chani can take over once the timing is right. You won’t have to do it for a long time.” He said is soft tones, Hana’s face crumpled, but she nodded.

“Well, if you ever decide that you want to, you can also do that. You can do whatever you want, Han. You know that.” He continued, sensing the tension from the girl.

“You must have a lot of things going on inside there, Hana’s brain.” Rowoon added, Hana didn’t react. Rowoon turned quiet and just soothingly rubbed small circles on her back.

“It’s not just that, Rowoon-ah.” She finally spoke as she pulled away from him.

“What do you mean?”

Hana saw the waiter from earlier step out of the doors with her takeout, Rowoon followed her gaze.

“You’d do anything to protect me, right?”

“Yes.”

“Just know that I’d do the same.” She said before reaching out to pat his cheek, Hana approached the waiter and got her bag of food.

Rowoon exhaled and watched as the girl got inside his car, she honked once before driving off.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++