>> Secrets by OneRepublic

Jimin's desperate sobs illuminate the room while Imme only stands tall near the bed, watching and thinking how to make the younger girl stop crying. She's in full regret, not knowing whether what she's done is actually a good or bad idea. 

"Punching him on the face is nothing compared to any worst cause that could occur, Ms. Yu," Imme speaks with her deep tone. 

Jimin breathes in and tries to calm herself down. She wipes her tears with the back of her hands and stare at Imme. "I know... I-I'm really sorry, since I had literally dragged you into my problem," 

Imme do not know what else there, what kind words are there to utter to soothe Jimin so she slowly approaches the girl and kneels before her. She puts a little and sincere smile on her face, 

"Let's try to forget what just happened, okay? I know this gonna be difficult and traumatizing for you, but at least you didn't end up being that man's victim," 

As she tries not to recall the fresh incident, Jimin closes her eyes tightly and can't help but sobbing hardly. 

Imme is really clueless on what to do, or to say at the moment. Hence, she eventually places her on the carpet floor and let Jimin cries as much as she wants. She let her sits on the mattress and waits for the latter to cool down. Until almost an hour afterwards, she feels Jimin's hand on her right shoulder. 

"Thank you, Ms. Imme but I need to go back to my room," Jimin says as her voice cracks. 

Jimin rises from the bed then. 

"If I'm you, I won't be going anywhere yet," Imme mutters as she slowly rises from her sitting position too. 

They exchange glances for a while and Imme can read it from the younger journalist's face that she is still scared. Of course, to encounter such thing as a young woman, of course it won't be easy for Jimin. 

"I owe you this time, Ms. Imme, so thank you," Jimin forces herself to smile while looking up to stare at Imme's face. "You're my hero, I will forever be remembering this," 

Imme shove both her hands into the pockets and nods firmly. 

"Most welcome but if you think you owe me, you wouldn't mind staying here tonight. I don't think it is safe for you to go out there, that bastard could be roaming around or hiring people to find you, Ms. Yu. I have arranged a flight back to South Korea tomorrow morning, I can tag you along for safety reason," 

Jimin feels like a total mess. She realizes what Imme has stated about Mr. Park or her team leader could be probably correct. He's the one who assured her to join him in Japan for special international brand marketing conference but she do not expect there's another reason why he was so eager to have her along. 

Her tears stream down again and Jimin senses her world is stumbling. "I don't know what to do, Ms. Imme," she cries. "I'm the idiot one, I shouldn't be blindly following his order around, I was so stupid," 

Imme sighs while staring at Jimin with her concern eyes. Taking a few steps closer, Imme gently pulls Jimin's into her arms. Her embrace is smooth and tender, and Jimin could hear it clear Imme's calm heartbeat. She feels the fear, anger and regret begin to accumulate earlier but as soon as she's in Imme's arms, all begin to fade away. 

"You didn't know how mad I was. He's lucky I didn't have a gun with me, or not, that guy won't be breathing an air right now," Imme says. 

Jimin releases herself from the embrace and looks up. Her frown makes Imme let out a small chuckle. 

"Bad joke, my apology," Imme caress Jimin's head then, still chuckling. But when her eyes land on the younger girl's chest, she instantly directs her sight down and clears . Imme walks to the closet and pulls out the luggage. 

"Go shower and get changed. I'm a lot taller and broader so this shirt should be comfortable for your tiny body," Imme picks a random shirt from the luggage and shows it to Jimin. When the latter hesitates, Imme raises her eyebrows in confusion. 

"Something wrong with my oversized black coloured shirt, Ms. Yu Jimin?" 

She shakes her head repeatedly before grabbing the shirt from Imme's hand. Her eyes follows Jimin as the girl makes her step towards the toilet. 

That's when Imme has a sudden thought in her mind. She grabs the cellphone on the mini drawer and dials Dayeong, the secretary's number. 

Once her call has been picked up, she can clearly hear the panic from Dayeong's voice. 

"Imme! I've been trying to reach you so many times! Where are you right now???" 

Imme releases a deep sigh and replies, "Please calm down. I'm still in Japan," Imme blows an air from before flopping her body onto the smooth single sofa. "Look, I'm going back to South Korea tomorrow. No excuses, I know you reminded me about this before, but I surely need a break," she switches the phone to her left side and grab a tv remote. 

"But Imme, you and Mr. Cho have schedule tomorrow afternoon, at Tokyo Bay. How do I tell your father about this??? He's going to kill me!" Imme slightly put away the phone as Dayeong shrieks into her eardrum. 

"Ms. Dayeong, just tell him, I'm going back to South Korea. Isn't that simple?" Imme gives her answer casually. "Besides, I have applied two weeks on leave and it has been approved by him earlier, right? But then, that man suddenly forced me to come along. Clearly, he's against the labour law and should be reprimanded though, not me," once the tv is on, Imme increases the volume. 

She holds herself from laughing when Dayeong is whining from the other line. 

"How I wish I'm not the one who needs to deal with this type of family feud, only God knows," Dayeong sighs and furthers, "Alright, consider it's done. I will inform Mr. Cho that, so you can go enjoy your two weeks leave, Imme,"

"Great," Imme smiles proudly then. As she listens to the sound of waterdrops from the bathroom, she quickly returns to her intention calling her father's secretary. "Anyway, I need your little help too," 

"Okay, now what??? Did you get into trouble???" Dayeong's high-pitch tone somehow is deafening but Imme has no choice but to remind her again, 

"Please lower your voice, girl. And yes, I was sort of getting myself into a small trouble," 

Another deep sigh from Dayeong. 

"Here's the deal. I need a full getting to the airport tomorrow morning. From my room until there, a few tough looking men should be better," Imme asks. 

"Tough-looking men? For what???" 

"To protect me and someone from getting killed by yakuzas," Imme's spontaneous answer makes Dayeong falls into a brief silence. 

"You're joking, aren't you?" 

"No, definitely not," 

Dayeong let out the deepest sigh ever then. "Alright, I can manage getting you a few men for this. But promise me, save the rest of the story later once we meet, I want to know everything from A to Z," 

"Got it," Imme clicks her tongue excitedly. "Okay, I owe you this time, Dayeong-sshi. Next time, the whole story will be coming to you!" and she hang up the call. 

"Who you were talking to, Ms. Imme?" Jimin questions her once she's out from the bathroom. Wearing Imme's shirt which is oversized on her body, she awkwardly approaches Imme in the living room while drying out her long hair with the hotel's towel. 

Imme refuses to look at Jimin so she focuses on the tv screen, even though the Japanese late night news is more like a gibberish to her. 

"My daddy's secretary, Jimin-sshi. For our own safety, we gonna have a full double protection for our journey to airport tomorrow morning. Anyway, how do you feel?" she asks.  

Jimin takes a seat on the sofa next to Imme and replies, "Little better? I don't know. Also feel like I'm... dirty," 

Imme shifts her attention to Jimin then. "Whatever you feel, you know you're lucky I punched him on the face first before anything happened. That's one thing for sure, Jimin-sshi," 

She has trouble to mutter anything back but Jimin maintains her posture and gives Imme a little smile. "Yes, I'm lucky you were there to save me for the first place, Ms. Cho. I surely in debt with you," 

The handsome face purses her lips and nods, "I'm still clueless, you know? How you ended up there? I mean, I thought you're here for fashion business. What's with that guy?" 

Jimin does not reply right away. Her expression bitters and Imme notices it. 

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Imme says. 

"No, I want to tell you the reason why I'm here," Jimin gathers her courage. 

Imme nods and spins her body to face Jimin then, showing that she is interested to listen to anything that will come out from Jimin at the moment. 

"Mr. Park is the head editor too in our small company. He's the one who recruited me into the team after I approached him for one of my course assesments last year. Studying and working at the same time is not easy for me. But with his help, I am able to manage myself between study and work. Remember, your first interview with us? He put my name above other experienced student-journalists in the company for it. I didn't think he's being bossy but I consider that as an opportunity to push myself to be better in this field," Jimin begins her story. 

"Wow, and thanks to that bastard we met," Imme comments. 

Jimin covers as she tries not to laugh but Imme asks her to continue, so she proceeds, 

"Recently, Mr. Park always asked me to follow him to any fashion shows which are organized around Seoul with a reason that he wanted me to be a young pioneer in the company. I refused so many times because I was busy with my studies. Until last week I decided to follow him because I was done with my courseworks. I swear, I didn't know he's baiting me to do something like that just to get promoted. As far as I remember, he always addresses about writing with honesty and kindness, never expect him to be this low," 

Imme hums after her brain processes every single word that comes from Jimin. She mutters, "Yeah, that's unpredictable, coming from an ordinary guy like him," 

Jimin pulls the strand of her hair back and sniffs, holding back from crying again. 

"I don't think I can face him anymore but I'm scared," 

Imme brings her hand to Jimin's head and gently caress them. "I got your back, Jimin-sshi. I won't let him walk around freely until he got punished for his crime of trying to sell you to another man. Who knows, probably there were more victims before you?" 

Jimin nods, "I wish I-I'm the last one," 

The older reacts with the same nod afterwards. 

Imme rises from the sofa and grabs a pack of cigarattee from the wooden cabinet near the kitchen counter. She glances at Jimin who still has all eyes on her figure. 

"Hungry?" 

And Jimin shakes her head. But a few seconds later she nods and her face is blushing in embarassment. 

Imme opens the mini fridge's door and takes a moment to observe what's there. Only a few bottles of mineral water and champagne are neatly stacked in the space so she closes it back and walks to the living room again. 

"Let's try to see what they have since it's quite late for dinner," Imme murmurs as she reaches the handle of the phone room. 

Jimin couldn't take her eyes away from Imme while she continues drying her hair. She immerses in her own thoughts while the latter is ordering something for the room service. 

"I hope you are not picky when it comes to food," Imme says as she slides open the door of the balcony. She lits her cigaratte and inhales it deeply before blowing the smoke to the fresh air. Just when she remembers she's not alone in the hotel room, Imme asks, "Do you mind?" while showing the cigaratte that tucked between her index and middle finger to Jimin. 

"I think you're going to turn on the smoke alarm," Jimin replies with her honest tone as she points at the corner of the ceiling. 

Then, Imme realizes what the younger has said is true as she eyes the spot Jimin is pointing at. She crushes the cigaratte with her bare hand, making Jimin's eyes widen. 

"Sorry, and thanks," that's all Imme can say after she throws the crushed cigaratte into the nearest mini dustbin. 

Jimin observes Imme's figure from the back when the latter is standing peacefully at the balcony. Imme's eyes on the dark night sky but Jimin has her full attention on Imme's skinny figure. She is recalling the first time she sees Imme in person, who looked quite healthier than she is now. Jimin wonders if Imme is sick or she's just on an extreme diet. 

"It seems like there's no difference between the air here and the air in our country," she hears Imme's deep voice talking from the balcony, with her body is still backing her. Jimin gets up from the sofa and steps carefully to approach Imme there. 

"Yeah, but everything still feels strange to me," Jimin says, following Imme's act staring at the sky. Right below them is Tokyo's busy streets while the atmosphere on the same floor is just calm and peaceful. "Maybe because I barely know anyone here and I'm far away from home," she adds, looking at Imme's left side profile. 

"What's in your thought, Imme-sshi?" she braces herself to ask the older girl who suddenly quiet on her own. 

Imme glances at Jimin for a moment before she let out a small chuckle. 

"Nothing interesting, Jimin-sshi. It's my random thoughts about people," she mutters and looks at the sky again. 

"Yes, random thoughts about people are somehow uncanny," Jimin comments. "For instance, I had a thought that Mr. Park could be the kindest gentleman I'd ever seen after my dad. It's frightening, Imme-sshi, because sometimes our random thought on people may invites a tragedy," 

Imme responds immediately, "You don't have to take all the blames, it was his choice to do that. He's fully responsible, you know?" 

"Yeah, I know that," Jimin agrees.

They sink into silence as Imme's mind is flying somewhere else while Jimin is her deep thoughts with the continuous flashbacks keep emerging. 

Until, the ringing bell from the hotel door has disturbed them. 

--- 

''This is a bad idea,'' Dayeong mumbles as she glances at Jimin who's standing with fear next to the heiress. ''Yet I managed to get you a full with double protection. You guys not even celebrities,'' 

Imme shows her teeth, ''I know. Things are a lot easier this way,''

Despite her concern about Imme leaving Japan too soon, Dayeong is actually curious of things that happened to the two young women in front of her at the moment. If about Imme's uality, she already has a sense of it since her day one meeting her. 

No need to guess, her charm as a queer woman has captivated everyone, only she's not allowed to express about her personal taste of lover or go public about her ual orientation. 

If it is about Imme and her father's bond, no need to guess either. Mr. Cho is hardly seen with his only child. A life as a company leader, he sacrifices everything based on the reason 'the employees' fate is within his hand'. 

Hence, she tries to relate Imme's self traits with the recent incidents occured; her ditching her father at an important event and her involving in the most unexpected scenario with the beautiful young woman named Jimin. 

''Enough with the staring, please. She's not a mannequin,'' Imme says. ''We have to board now, thanks for the , and I hope we have no enemy tailing us back to South Korea,'' 

Dayeong just nods. ''I've screened through everything of the person you've mentioned earlier, Imme. He's not in the wanted list, zero crime. Let's just hope this person is not dangerous to society,'' 

'''Yeah, I doubt that,'' Imme hisses as she eyes Jimin on her side. 

'''I'll save the story later then, we got to go now,'' she mumbles and pulls the luggage along. 

A few minutes later, both Jimin and Imme's figures disappear from her sight as they enter the departure gate. 

Throughout all her way back to the exit of the airport, Dayeong has a quick monologue, 

''This is my first time seeing Imme with a fine woman,'' she speaks to no one and continues to the last part, 

'''And I wonder if Imme likes her since it's been so many years after Joanne's death. The death of a young girl who had no status and wealth, and forced to secrecy. The death that only few people know,'' she pauses to stare up to the sky.

''Rest well, my best friend Joanne. I'm this close for revenge, and I'll make they pay for everything,'' 

Then, she notices a black sedan not far a way from her standing spot and she curves a little smirk on her face. 

''Cho Industries, it's time to stumble down, forever,''

----

Whoa, it's been so long I haven't been able to do an update. Whoever you are, who still here waiting, thank you. 

I had long drought of job and now I think my life is getting okay again. 

Have a nice dayyyy^^

Sincerely, 

RYAI 2023