It was nearing noon by the time the couple finally got out of bed. The pancakes Yujin ordered for breakfast earlier now served as their brunch meal. While they ate, Yujin explained to Xiaoting about what was going to happen to Lee Sookyung and his father. Xiaoting is amazed with how quick Yujin wrapped up this incident. In half a day, she already has the man on his way to prison. That’s impressive and hot.

“As much as I’d like to keep you company today Ting. Duty calls. I have a meeting with the board directors at 3 PM today.” Yujin finished her pancakes and wiped clean of syrup and butter.

“It’s fine dear. We both need to confront the media about our relationship sooner or later.“ Xiaoting noticed Yujin had missed an obvious spot of cream on the side of her face. How it got there, she doesn’t have a clue. She chuckled and brushed her fingers over her cute girlfriend’s face, wiping the cream clean off. She the excess cream clean off her finger. Despite being known as a meticulous boss at work, Yujin is surprisingly clumsy and cute in front of Xiaoting. Xiaoting took pride in that. Only she could see this side of Yujin.

“I should probably do the same.” Xiaoting continued and got up from her chair. She grabbed her bag on Yujin’s sofa and rummaged for her phone. When she turned it not, it was no surprised that notifications flooded the device. She paid no mind and went straight to her contacts in search for her manager’s name.

While Xiaoting was calling Mashiro, Yujin decided to clear the table. She dumped any unfinished pancakes in the bin and washed the plates. When she came back, Xiaoting was sitting on the sofa still in a call. Feeling as affectionate as ever, Yujin decides to grab her work tablet, give her lover a peck on the cheek and lay down on the sofa with her head in XIaoting’s lap. Looking up she saw  Xiaoting’s face smirking down at her. She mouthed ‘love you’ at her and received a 3 word reply the same way. She started preparing documents for subjects she needed to bring up in the upcoming meeting.

Yujin and Yeseo were walking up the stairs leading to the meeting room. She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. Behind this door was a room full of selfish and power hungry old men, allies of her uncle. She put on her business face and opens the door. All eyes were on her. Her eyes scanned the room and sure enough almost all of the board member are present. The person sat on the end of the table was someone she did not expect. It was her grandfather. The owner of the company. The man who made the company as big as it is today and brought fame to the Choi name. Yujin paused for a second before mutter out greetings.

“Apologies for the wait. We can now start the meeting” She signalled Yeseo to hand out the document she prepared to each board member.

As she expected, the board members all complain about losing money because of her reckless behaviour. These men can only think in two ways, enjoy profit or complain. Yujin has dealt with a lot of people of the same character through out the years under her grandfather tutelage. She is not a stranger to the greed of these rats. The main concern they had was the decline in the company stocks that they shared. Yujin had already planned ahead and made sure the stocks won’t fall that far. If these people would actually read the documents for themselves and not just eat up everything the media says, then they too would understand that. Sadly that was not the case. Why did she even put in the effort of preparing these documents.

Yujin explained to them that everything had been taken care off and there is nothing to worry. She was not that incompetent of a business woman. She had already took the time to establish good relationships with major stock holders of the company. She knows them personally and you could even say they’re friends. They know about Yujin preferences and would undoubtedly support her decision. She also invested in other stocks that would rise from the news and plans to sell them now that the prices are significantly higher. With Yeseo and her PR team managing things, the company’s public image was been improved instead.

It wasn’t a complete profit though. A scandal is still a scandal and people would always speak negatively. The total loss from her venture however is around the same as a bad-sales-week. She also added that this number is quite insignificant compared to when other board members had caused scandals in the past. Hearing this, a few board members avoided her gaze and coughed into their hands. She really is getting tired of dealing with people like these. She has plans to change the board members with her own people. She estimates by the time her grandfather hands over the company to her, she’ll have every single board member on her side.

She glanced at her grandfather as he hasn’t spoken a word through out the meeting. With nothing else to discuss, Yujin decided to end the meeting there. As she was about to get up and leave Yujin’s grandfather suddenly speaks up.

“Yujin stay, I need to speak to you.” All heads are turned towards the man. “Last time I checked the only one named Yujin is my granddaughter. Have you decided to change your names?”.

Murmurs of “no” resounded throughout the meeting room as the board members started to leave one by one. Yeseo glanced at Yujin as she was the last to leave, unsure what to do. Yujin nodded at her assistant. With one final glance back, the younger closed her meeting room door, leaving the two Chois alone. It would be a lie to say that Yujin wasn’t nervous. She was sitting in front of her teacher, Choi Baek-Hyeon, the one who taught everything she knows about how to run a company. The man who was never pleased with what she has accomplished, the man who always made her strive for more, the man who pushed her harder than anyone else. Was what she did not enough? Should she have tried harder to make a profit from the scandal? Was there a mistake in the plan she came up with? Was it not enough?

“Grandfather, I-“

“Yujin”. Her grandfather looked straight into her eyes in all seriousness. Yujin took a breath and gulped, preparing herself for the words to come.

“Are you happy?”

“…”. Yujin furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. That was not what she expected. Did she hear that right? Was he asking if she was happy?

Sensing her confusion, Baek-Hyeon asked again. “Are you happy with her? Do you trully love her?”

“Yes, I am. Xiaoting is the light of my world. She is the laughter in my life. She brought color to my grey world where all I did was work and study” Yujin reached for the ring on her finger, feeling the flower pattern under her touch. Baek-Hyeon looks down for a moment, eyes slightly wider only for a split second before returning back to her eyes.

”She is the owner of my heart. I love her so so much, grandfather. I will not give up on her”. Yujin clenched her fist and faced her grandfather with absolute certainty.

Baek-Hyeon closed his eyes and began to chuckle. Slowly, his chuckle began to turn into laughter. If Yujin was confused then, she is lost now.

“I have raised you well child. I thought I had to step in when your relationship came to light but I was wrong. You have done well. Better than I perhaps”

“Th-Thank you grandfather”. It was odd to see her grandfather praising her. She could count on her hand, how often he had done so. She was absolutely relieved that he didn’t ask her to break up with Xiaoting or marry a man of his choosing.

“Yujin, there is something you need to know. It’s about your father”. They never talked about Yujin’s parents if not ever. All she ever hears is that she look a lot like her mother. She doesn’t remember her mother as she died giving birth to Yujin. Her father died when she was young in an accident. Baek-Hyeon took it upon himself to raise Yujin, to make her the next heir as she is the daughter of his eldest son.

“Your father, my son, didn’t die in an accident.”