I updated once yesterday, so check chapter 7 if you have yet to

Although Sojung seemed to have become nicer to Johnny, that didn't mean she dropped her behavior. Just barely a day after the conversation with Johnny, another employee managed to screw up something.

She stood before Sojung in her office, trembling.

"I… I didn't mean to hand a different document over to a client."

"Do you understand confidentiality in contracts? We offer different clients different terms. Now that one party has seen the terms meant for another client, what would they think?"

“I apologise, Miss Oh. I… I was caught up with some matters and everything got mixed up. I--”

Sojung huffed, “It’s not my problem you can’t perform well.”

She reached for the papers on her desk.

"Mr Jin just wrote in to change the terms of his contract to include all the other terms we have for Mrs Yeo. Now, do you know how much time we have to spend to amend and make sure our client is happy? Not to mention the extra budget we have to spend."

"I'm so sorry… I--"

"I don't want to hear your excuses. I want you to stay behind tonight to finish the new contract for Mr Jin. You don't have to come to work the next three days. You're suspended."

"Miss Oh!"

"Leave my office."

The girl held her tears and bowed before leaving the office. It really was her fault for not being careful enough with her work. She returned to her office and her colleagues crowded around her.

"What happened? What did she say?"

"I have to complete the contract today and I'm suspended for 3 days." She burst into tears. "Why is she so unforgiving?"

Kimmy quickly reached for tissues and pulled the girl to her feet.

"Let's go to the toilet, don't talk here."

 

The duo entered the toilet and crowded around the crying girl.

"You should stop crying, Bora. She's not one to fall for tears." Kimmy sighed. "I cried the other time, she didn't budge. Even Johnny couldn't help me."

"It really was my fault for mixing the documents up but can you blame me?" Bora wiped her tears. "We are all used to Johnny's work hours but now she comes in and changes everything. We need time to get used to things."

Kimmy scoffed.

"She's so strict, she can return to wherever she came from. Don't bring her ideals here."

Bora nodded, “I really don't like how she's handling the company. She's behaving like she owns the place and can dictate us to do anything. Things were different when Johnny was in-charge.”

“I wonder when she'll be leaving. I can't wait. I'll even throw a farewell party for her.”

Sojung flushed her toilet and came out, shocking her two employees.

 

She wanted to drop by the 8th floor to check on the employees' work when she had to go to the bathroom first. Fate has it that she had to overhear the two ladies.

 

They were stunned into silence as they watched her walk over to the sink coolly. She dried her hands and turned to the two with an expression void of emotions.

“Thank you for your kind thoughts, but I won't be leaving the office any time soon. It's true things are different now, but you don't have to like my way of doing things. You just have to do it.”

Her eyes darted between the two nodding ladies.

“If you guys don't like the way things are right now, the door is always open for you to leave. I'm pretty sure there are others who can take over your jobs without a single complaint.”

She sidestepped them and just before she left the washroom, she glanced over her shoulder.

“And it's Mr Seo to you. Not Johnny.”

 

***

 

Sojung returned to her office and shut the door behind her. She leaned against the door and shut her eyes for a brief moment, processing all the words she'd heard over the past few days.

She knew the employees of Kia didn't like her.

I mean, who would like some rando, who just joined the company and would be staying for a short 6 months, dictate your work schedule and life?

 

Johnny returned to the office only to see two of his employees pale in the face, coming from the washrooms.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Bora fibbed.

"It's not nothing. Johnny, Bora got suspended for 3 days for a small mistake. Miss Oh is too much!"

"What did you do?"

"I accidentally gave Mr Jin, Mrs Yeo's contract. Now, he's upset and wants the same terms she has. Miss Oh's upset and…"

"That really was your fault, Bora."

Bora stopped talking. Kimmy huffed in frustration, "But does that really warrant for suspension?"

Johnny sighed.

"I'll try to talk to her, okay? But no promises." 

The ladies nodded, he then went back to his office. He paused outside his door, eyeing her office. He let out a grunt and decided to approach the doors. He knocked.

"Come in."

Johnny entered, Mingyu was standing beside her with his iPad. Sojung noticed the look on his face and turned to Mingyu.

"Finish whatever I just told you to do," she tilted her chin towards the door. "Leave us."

Mingyu bowed, slowly walking over to the door. When he reached Johnny, he made sure to linger there a second longer with a glare that Johnny felt even though he wasn't looking directly at the male. The doors shut.

"Now that Gyu's gone. Why are you here?"

She turned her attention to her computer screen.

"I heard about Bora's suspension."

Sojung scoffed, "I knew it. They would end up complaining to you about what I did. I should have timed how long it took."

Johnny's jaw fell apart, he gaped at the audacity of her behaviour after picking on one of his employees.

“How could you treat the girls that way? They were just voicing their thoughts. It was just a small mistake at that, with the contract."

“I have nothing against freedom of speech,” Sojung gave him a dismissive glance. “As the leader of this company right now, I have to assert a certain level of authority, or they will never draw the line between employer and employee in the workplace.”

"And it's not a small matter," she sent him a cold stare. "Do you have any idea how demanding this client is?"

Her phone started ringing. She saw the Caller ID and turned the screen towards Johnny.

"See, he's calling me again."

She positioned her thumb to answer the call.

"No matter what, you shouldn't abuse your power to suspend people from work." Johnny raked his hair, “You’re being bossy.”

"I don't abuse my authority and I’m bossy because I'm one.” She smirked. "Yes, hello Mr Jin. No, I wasn't ignoring your calls. I was in a meeting earlier."

He took this chance and slowly backed out the door. The moment he closed her office door, he scratched his head.

"Why am I always so powerless around her?"

At this point, his phone chimes and he quickly answered the call.

"Yes, ma?"

"I made dinner. Bring Sojung along tonight."

Johnny dropped his shoulders, "Do I really?"

"What do you mean by that? If you come back, your wife should come too. It's her home now."

"Urgh, fine. I'll tell her. Bye, ma."

He hung up and pushed her office doors open, popping his head in slightly. She angrily ended the call and rubbed her temples.

"What is it?"

"Mom wants us to go back for dinner tonight."

"Okay," she agreed. "Tell me what time to leave later, or any of the guys."

Johnny closed the door again, stunned.

"Well, that was easy."

 

***

 

When the clock struck 6PM, Johnny hovered outside Sojung's door, contemplating if he should knock now or later. He raised his hand to knock when he heard voices coming from inside.

"I'll see you tonight, then. Jaebum-ah, thanks for helping me with this."

Jaebum? Who's that?

His memory flitted back to their wedding day, he seemed to have heard this name before. Just as he was thinking, the door threw open and he stumbled inside.

"Why are you standing outside the door?" Mingyu questioned.

"I… uh, it's 6. My mom wants me to bring Sojung home for dinner."

Mingyu looked over his shoulder for confirmation, she gave him a curt nod and was already starting to pack her things.

"Gyu, I'll be going to PRIMA tonight, you don't have to follow me there. Jaebum's gonna be waiting for me, then he'll send me home. You and the guys take an early night."

Mingyu bowed, "Yes, Young Miss."

Johnny's ears perked up when he heard Jaebum's name again.

"Come on, mom's waiting."

Sojung grabbed her bag and Mingyu escorted her to the parking lots, where she got into Johnny's car. The tall guard gave him a warning look and patted the top of the vehicle before going back to his black sedan.

Johnny shrugged and got into his car, driving off.

Along the way, he kept glancing at the rearview and side mirrors. 

"Why is Mingyu following us? Didn't you ask him to leave early?"

"It's his thing," she said.

He looked at her, she had her eyes closed and arms folded.

"His thing?"

She took a deep breath.

"Mingyu's the head of my team," she smirked. "Be thankful it's not Hoseok."

She fell silent again, Johnny didn't probe further. They reached the Seos, Johnny parked the car and Sojung got out. She waved to Mingyu, who was outside the gate and he drove off.

Johnny let out a huge sigh of relief when he saw that Mingyu finally left.

Driving in front of the sedan was huge pressure.

"Why are you still in the car?" Sojung opened the car door. "Let's not keep your parents waiting."

He nodded dumbly and got out.

 

"Ma, Pa." Johnny greeted his parents, Sojung following behind him. "I've brought Sojung over."

His parents' eyes lit up at the sight of their daughter-in-law and rushed to greet her. Johnny gaped at his parents.

"Hello, your son is here."

Mrs Seo patted her son's head but her eyes were fixed on Sojung.

"How are you? Come, let's go in."

Sojung plastered a smile on her face as her in-laws pulled her into the house. Mr Seo passed his son and pulled him into the house.

 

"How's married life so far?" Mrs Seo asked. "Has my son been treating you right?"

Sojung dabbed her lips with the napkin.

"It's been busy. Youngho's been working hard at the office, you don't have to worry."

His parents exchanged looks and turned to Johnny.

"You've been working at the office?" His mother grinned. "I knew it. Getting married is good for you."

Johnny gave her a fake chuckle before muttering under his breath.

"You have no idea how much of a tyrant she is."

"Hmm? What was that?"

"Nothing, ma."

The Seos realised Sojung and Johnny were sitting quite some distance apart, they kept quiet about it until dinner was over. Sojung was helping to clear the table, Johnny dragged himself to the sofa. His mother watched him disapprovingly. She smacked his thigh, jolting him.

"What?"

"Your wife's clearing the table and you're just sitting here?"

"What's wrong?"

"Have you been treating her like that at home too?"

"Like what?" Johnny sat up.

"Does she cook at home?"

"Yeah?"

"And she does all the cleaning?"

"Yeah? Ma, what's this leading to?"

Mrs Seo hit her son again. "She cooked for you, the least you could do was wash the dishes."

Johnny huffed.

"I want you to bring her out on a date tonight."