“You careless girl!”

Sehun flinched on his seat as his father tossed the photos on the dining table, Chaeyeon remained quiet, her eyes were on the pictures.

Her forehead creased as she studied the pictures of her and Song Kang.

“I thought you already learned your lesson, didn’t this man cause you trouble? Why are you meeting him alone? At night too!” Mr. Oh said, Sehun could hear the anger in his father’s tone.

“Abeoji, I was just~”

“What if these pictures had been made public? If it weren’t for our legal team catching this…What would the board say? This will affect not only you, but the company as well!”

Sehun leaned over to study some of the photos, his brows went up. Some of them were just Song Kang and his sister seated across each other, talking. But the others were a little strange, Chaeyeon was obviously trying to leave the table but the male was holding onto her.

“Stop it, I’m sure Chaeyeon understands what you’re trying to say. She’ll be more careful now.” Mrs. Oh softly said, wanting her husband to calm down.

“Tell me, why would you meet him? You have people for that!”

Chaeyeon met her father’s gaze.

“You’re a lot more worried about how this will affect the company, not me.” She replied, Sehun looked away and carefully took some of the photos from the table.

“You’ve always been in the public eye, Chayeeon. You and your brother. But this isn’t right. You know that.”

“I just met him for work, abeoji. That’s it.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s how he sees you.” Mr. Oh said as he tossed another photo on the desk, Sehun’s eyes widened.

“Chaeyeon-ah.” Mrs. Oh gasped in surprise, Chaeyeon grimaced and looked away.

“You better clean up your act. Don’t drag the company’s name into this mess.”

The male let out a shaky breath before opening the door to his boss’s office, he quietly walked in and his eyes went to the young director.

“What is it?” His tone was slightly different, on edge. He looked up, his eyebrows scrunched together, the other male gave him a small bow before placing the folders on his desk.

“I got in contact with JS Construction, they will be sending someone from their team this afternoon regarding the dealings.”

“This afternoon?” Shownu repeated, his left brow going up.

“Y—Yes, sir. I did request if they would rush into~”

“I have to wait for them again? Why?” He said, the secretary pressed his lips together. Shownu exhaled and pushed the fodler away.

“Tell them not to bother, we will be pulling out all funding.”

“But, sir, if we do this, then they will be in trouble. They already did hold a press conference about this, and the reason why they were approved because ShinHan will be funding them.” The secretary kindly explained, but the executive remained unflinching.

“This has been delayed for months already, why should I give them another chance? Are we running a charity?”

“No, sir. I’ll get to it right away.”

Shownu didn’t replied, his eyes went to his phone. His frown deepened, and his secretary caught that. His boss has been trying to reach young miss Oh since last night. And he could sense the other male’s frustration.

“Sir, have you been able to reach the young miss? Should I call secretary Yang?”

“No need, we spoke for a bit last night. You may go.” Shownu said as he shut his laptop close, the male nodded and quickly left the room.

Shownu exhaled, he loosened his tie and leaned back onto his seat.

“Sorry, don’t hate me. I left my phone again. In the car.”

“It’s fine. Where were you?”

“E—Earlier?”

“Yes, you left your phone in the car. I’m assuming you went out for dinner?”

“Ah, I—I…was..can I call you back later? I..I’ll call you back.”

Shownu puffed his cheeks, he stood up and walked towards the windows. Normally, he wouldn’t be bothered if Chaeyeon didn’t call him back, she was the type to be busy. But he really needed to talk to her, Aerin reappearing in Busan didn’t sit well with him.

And he didn’t like not telling her things. It was uncomfortable.

He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head.

“She didn’t call me back.” He murmured to himself as he picked up his coffee.

“Yes, we can do that. Maybe, in two weeks?” Minhyuk said to the manager, he was at a meeting with some of the bank’s executives.

“Then, what about the deal with Hankuk Airlines, sir? Will that still push through?”

“I brought that up with the president, we’re still trying to come up with terms to negotiate with them. But, I wouldn’t really….call it a done deal. There’s way too much risks on that one.” Minhyuk said with a small apologetic smile.

“You’re right, director. The market hasn’t been stable lately. It is only right to be careful.”

Minhyuk was about to reply when his phone started ringing, he took it out, expecting it to be Sophia. But it wasn’t.

His brows rose as he saw Sehun’s name on the screen. He tapped on the green icon and brought the device to his ear.

“Sehun-ah, I~”

“I know you’re probably busy, but I don’t know who else to discuss this with.”

There was something in his tone that made Minhyuk stand up, he excused himself from the room and stepped out.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Did you know that Chaeyeon went out to meet Song Kang last night?”

“What?” He almost screeched. Almost.

“I tried talking her out of it, but she was adamant that it was about work. And that she just wanted to clear the air between them.”

“Air?”

“Freaking polluted air.” Minhyuk muttered, he heard Sehun sigh.

“Long story short. They were photographed together, the company’s legal team managed to take care of it before it was..blown out of proportion. Chaeyeon and abeoji had this huge fight this morning.”

“Photos, again?” Minhyuk sighed, and then he paused. Sehun also grew quiet.

“You know about that? Hawaii?” Sehun asked, Minhyuk chewed on his lower lip.

“Shownu hyung told me, but..he didn’t see the need to tell Yeon since he fixed it already.” Minhyuk murmured, he puffed his cheeks.

“Why does he want to die?” Sehun muttered, clearly referring to Song Kang.

“What do you mean?”

“Some of the pictures…I understand why our father was outraged.”

Minhyuk’s brows went up, he was already walking towards his office.

“You need me to talk to her?”

“That’s the problem, she took the Maserati and drove off. She’s not at Style Co., and Wonho hyung doesntt know where she is, she didn’t drop by the shop.”

“Huh?”

“No one’s heard from her since this morning.”

Chaeyeon stepped on the brakes, she put the car on park and pressed her forehead against the wheel and let out a sigh.

Everything had become suffocating, even her brother had nothing to say earlier. And, she too herself was surprised. She never expected for Song Kang to say those things, also what he did next just made her extremely uncomfortable.

She pulled away from the wheel and leaned her head back, she stared at the house’s front doors and pressed her lips together.

“I haven’t even joined them yet, and I’m already being watched.” She muttered to herself, but she knew that it was wrong of her to meet Song Kang alone. But, it was just work.

He was always going to be part of work, and she was certain that it would never change.

But, with the things he had said and done last night, Chaeyeon felt disgusted and somewhat a little afraid. She simply wanted to be somewhere where he couldn’t reach her.

She grabbed her purse and hoodie from the backseat and slid down from the car, she pursed her lips as she walked towards the doors.

“There is no way I could have explained all that over the phone. He’s already annoyed that I couldn’t pick up.” She mumbled to herself.

“I might as well just cancel the contract and pay the fees. I can’t do this.” Chaeyeon murmured, she checked her phone again. Her brother had texted her, asking where she was. While Minhyuk demanded that she call him back right away, plus angry emojis.

“Later. I can deal with that later.”

She just wants to hide behind her Son Hyunwoo.

Chaeyeon quickly typed in the code, the doors swung open and she showed herself in the place. She dropped her things on the couch and quickly made her way to the kitchen.

As she was pouring herself a glass of water, she heard one of the doors upstairs open and close. She paused, and glanced at the digital clock on the oven.

“He’s home?” She murmured, confused. It was just three in the afternoon, Chaeyeon was about to speak when she someone walked in the kitchen.

She stilled as her eyes went to Aerin, the other girl was only wearing one of what seems to be Shownu’s white shirts. She gave Chaeyeon a pleasant smile as she joined her in the kitchen, barefoot.

“I just got out of the shower, I didn’t hear you come in.” Aerin sweetly said as she crossed her arms, Chaeyeon realized that her hair was damp, the girl had was just fresh from the shower.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re usually so tough.” Aerin let out a hearty chuckle as she leaned on the counter and took Chaeyeon’s glass of water.

Chaeyeon took a step back from the table, she wordlessly walked back to the foyer and halted when the doors opened.

“Chaeyeon-ah,” Shownu paused, clearly surprised to see her. He walked towards the girl and was about to kiss her cheek when she pushed him back.

“What~”

“Let her go, oppa. I was in the shower when she came in.” A voice came from the kitchen, Shownu stilled, his eyes went to Chaeyeon again.

“Chaeyeon-ah, I can~”

Chaeyeon simply sidestepped the male and rushed towards her car, Shownu jogged after her but the Maserati was already speeding away from the property.

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