a/n: Listening to Easy Love by  SF9 while reading this chapter might help you guys :>

Rowoon went down the marble steps and walked towards the restaurant’s garden, he had his phone pressed against his ear as he waited for Hana to answer.

And she did.

“Rowoon,” She answered, but the girl sounded distracted.

“Is it true?”

“What?”

“Hyung mentioned that you decided on…taking over.” Rowoon chewed on his lower lip.

“Yes, they dropped by earlier. We chatted for a bit.”

“T—That’s good, Han.”

“Yeah.” Hana’s reply was short, Rowoon exhaled, his forehead creasing.

“W—When’s the meeting?”

“Next week.”

“Is that all?” He asked, hoping she would talk more.

“Rowoon, I need to go.”

“O—Oh, okay. Enjoy the rest of you day then.”

The line immediately went dead, Rowoon stared at the his phone’s screen before tossing his phone away from him, the device landed on the bush of flowers with a soft thud.

“Rowoon-ah,”

He turned, Jihye was walking towards him with a curious look on her face. Rowoon’s eyebrows grew knitted together.

She won’t talk to me.

She no longer wants to talk to me.

His lower lip quivered before replying.

“Yes?”

“Our food’s being served now, let’s eat.” Jihye said as she took his hand, Rowoon paused.

“You..seem in a rush.”

“Your cousin seems not in the mood, I don’t think I can eat with them alone.”

“You always say that you don’t want to be with them, I’m not even surprised.” Rowoon commented as he shook her hand away and sidestepped him.

“Rowoon-ah,” Jihye rushed to him, the girl blocked his path before speaking.

“I didn’t mean that, it’s just your relatives can be a bit~”

“You said you wanted to eat. Let’s go inside.” Rowoon sidestepped her again and went inside the building, Jihye let out a shaky breath and followed him.

“Besides, you never did try to get along with them.”

“Did you call the lawyer’s office?” Hana asked as she stepped out of the elevator, she was doing one of her routine rounds at one of their high-end malls.

“Yes, they already have the papers you asked for. They will be dropping by at the house tonight.”

“Make sure you’re there too, and have our legal team free up their schedule. I need them there too.” Hana replied as they moved forward, the two mall managers were right behind her.

“This seems a lot of legal work, vice chairman.” Secretary Gu said carefully. Hana looked at him and nodded, her lips curled up slightly before speaking.

“What I’m about to do will have consequences. My uncle and his two kids, you don’t know what they can do, what they’re capable of.”

“Surely, the chairman’s decision will put them back in their places, they can’t change that, ma’am.”

“Do you know why the Kang residence is not in my name?” Hana asked, the male paused and shook her head.

“I had to transfer it to another person’s name because they almost got us kicked out from there.”

Secretary Gu’s eyes widened, but he slowly nodded.

“That’s why I need to buckle up.” Hana shrugged, and then she faced the two males behind them.

“I’d like to hear about what you have planned for the season,” She said, and then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“You seem busy,” A familiar voice spoke, secretary Gu discreetly moved away. Hana turned and her brows rose.

“You’re early.” She blurted out, the male chuckled.

“I finished my meeting earlier than expected. Am I disturbing you, noona?” He noticed the two males before her, Hana shook her head.

“No, no. We were just about to finish. Can I expect the documents by tomorrow?” She asked them, the two males nodded and excused themselves.

“I wanted to see how you are at work. You’re pretty amazing, noona.” Jaehyun as the girl walked with him, Hana shook her head.

“I’ll get back to you after next week?” She said jokingly, Jaehyun shook his head and looked around them.

“What do you feel like eating?” She asked as they neared the elevator. Jaehyun chewed on the insides of his cheeks as the girl pressed the button on the wall.

“How about something heavy? Stew?” Hana asked again, the doors pinged open and she was about to step in when Jaehyun suddenly spoke.

“Noona,”

She stopped and faced him.

“What is it?”

“You know why I’m doing this, right?”

“What?” Hana looked confused, Jaehyun couldn’t help but smile before continuing.

“Wanting to be around you all the time.”

The KangSan heiress paused, her eyes widened for a brief moment, but she nodded back at him. Jaehyun smiled again, he took the girl’s hand and pulled her into the elevator.

Minhee glanced at her older brother as he continued chatting with the two reporters, they were inside his office having a little meeting for their own.

“So, she wasn’t supposed to go out that night?”

“Yes, that night her parents, my late uncle and aunt, explicitly asked her not to go that party. Well, other than the fact that she’s underage, it was already late.”

The two males continued to type on their laptops with speed.

“This party, was she invited to it?”

“Of course, Hana has always been popular with the wild crowd. Plus, she’s always around a lot of men, didn’t you notice?” Minhee smirked from her seat.

“She’s always been a bit difficult as a child, I remember her mother complaining to our stepmother about it. Hana liked going out way too much.”

“That night, the late vice chairman Kang and his wife had to drive out in the pouring rain because they received a call from a certain club in Itaewon informing them that Hana was drunk and throwing a fit?”

“Yes, that’s all true. I can even have the owner of the club step forward to talk to you.” Mingyu said with a flourish of her hand.

“Why are you telling us all this? I mean, all these years, sir, no one has spoken about the accident.”

“I just want everyone to know the truth, and I want people to know who Kang Hana really is. And, what kind of problems she’s made for the family in the past.” Mingyu said as he picked up his coffee.

“True, if it weren’t for her and her recklessness, her parents would still be alive by now. Our company would be a lot more stable, and it wouldn’t be in the risk of falling into the hands of a reckless brat like her.”

“You and your temper.” Sayeoon murmured as they reached the car park, Changmin rolled his eyes at ther. Chanyeol was at the far back, preparing himself to make a run for it if their eldest cousin starts opening his mouth again.

“Anyway, I had fun. Thank you for paying today, mister Park.” Saeyoon said happily, Jihye smiled at the girl.

“And it’s good to see you, Jihye. I hope you’ll join us at SongAm this year.” She said, she felt Changmin and she elbowed him before he could say anything.

“I had fun, noona.” Rowoon said, but Saeyoon could see that the younger male wasn’t in a good mood.

“I’ll get going first,” Chanyeol said, he was in the process of taking out his car key when he heard a familiar voice.

“I did watch the first movie, but the sequel was legit crap.”

They all turned their heads and saw Hana walking just a few feet away from them, Jaehyun was right beside the girl, his hand was on her back.

“I thought the sequel was okay, but the graphics made it…crappy, yes.”

“Kang Hana,” Changmin chirped, the girl paused and so did the male beside her. Jihye looked away, her forehead creasing.

“Hana, hi. Good to see you. I really have to go, I wasn’t made for all this tension.” Chanyeol said in hushed tones as he bid her goodbye, Han could only watch as he got inside his Audi and sped away. Rowoon swallowed as he looked at the two.

“Hyung, it has been a while.” Jaehyun greeted Changmin warmly.

“I see you’re the one who’s been taking Hana away from us.” Changmin said playfully as he shook the male’s hand.

“We were just about to get lunch. I parked here.” He replied, Hana nodded as she held onto the sleeve of Jaehyun’s jacket, Rowoon’s eyes went to her hand briefly.

“Han, how have you been?” Saeyoon spoke, she could sense the tension between the two friends and it bothered her.

“Very busy, unnie. I’m sorry I couldn’t join you earlier.”

“It’s fine, there’s always a next time.” Saeyoon beamed at her, Changmin looked at his cousin and his lips quirked up.

“Noona, I’ll bring the car around.” Jaehyun said softly, Hana blinked at him and let go of his sleeve.

Jaehyun walked away from them, Rowoon let out a small inaudible sigh as he took out his keys.

“Why aren’t you two talking? Not even a hi?” Changmin suddenly spoke, Saeyoon grimaced and Jihye started to panic.

“We spoke on the phone earlier, oppa.” Hana said lightly, Jihye’s eyes snapped at the girl.

“You didn’t tell me anything.” Rowoon said softly, but his tone was flat.

“It was bound to happen anyway.” Hana said to him, her eyes went to Jihye briefly and she took a small step back.

“You two better fix this, I can’t have you guys being cold to each other. Get rid of what you have to get rid of.” Changmin scoffed, he took Saeyoon’s hand before leaving the three.

“Hana,” Rowoon spoke again, Jihye’s jaw grew taut.

“Rowoon, she doesn’t want to talk.” She tried to take his hand, but Rowoon brushed her off, and her eyes widened in shock.

Hana looked away from the two and then she felt Rowoon’s fingers curl around her wrist.

“Han, come on. Talk to me.” Rowoon said, Hana turned to him and her eyes landed on the Maserati nearing them.

Hana wordlessly shook his hand off her, the car pulled to a full stop beside them and the girl simply got in the front seat without turning back.

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