‘Have a seat, Mr. Jung,’ Miss Lee, Sumire’s homeroom teacher gestured at the seat across her desk.

Yunho nodded curtly before sitting down. Sumire wordlessly hopped onto the other one with a scared look on her face.

When Lee was about to open , Yunho held a hand out to stop the teacher from speaking before turning to look at the 11 year old, ‘Anything to confess about before your teacher speaks?’

Sumire thought hard while biting on her index finger. Yunho smacked her hand lightly and frowned hard at how unhygienic that habit of hers was.

‘N-No?’ Sumire bit her lower lip hesitantly.

‘We’ll see,’ Yunho’s eyes were now back on Lee, ‘You may begin.’

‘Right,’ she cleared , ‘Sumire improved significantly in Math. She scored 62 in the previous semester-’

‘62.’ Yunho’s repeated in a lethal tone.

Lee had to swallow twice before nodding her head, ‘Yes, 62, Mr. Jung.’

Yunho looked at Sumire, ‘62.’

‘Y-Yeah?’

‘Carry on.’ Yunho spoke.

‘O-Okay,’ Lee gulped, ‘This final semester, Sumire achieved 80 marks.’

Sumire smiled and began doing some sort of horrible imitation of a Super Junior dance move while bouncing in her seat.

‘80 is dreadful.’ Yunho frowned, ‘You can promote her to the next year, but can you make her repeat her Math syllabus for 5^th grade?’

‘Its an ‘A’, Mr. Jung.’ Lee clarified with a bewildered look on her face.

‘It’s an ‘A’ on the dot.’ Yunho drawled, ‘And as her tutor, I am horrified and truly disgraced.’

Lee looked extremely flustered, ‘I shall speak to the Math Head and make arrangements for that.’

‘Thank you,’ Yunho replied sarcastically.

‘Would you like some tea?’ Lee got up from her chair.

‘I don’t drink tea, I take black coffee, but there’s a time and place for everything and besides,’ Yunho looked at his Franck Muller watch, ‘I have an important meeting in exactly 27.5 minutes, so sit back down, tell me how Sumire behaves in school and her attitude towards learning so we will never have to meet again unless you’re her homeroom teacher next year.’

‘I am ashamed of you,’ Yunho spoke in the car, ‘You did terribly.’

‘I got ‘A’s for all my subjects,’ Sumire pouted, ‘And I rank 24 out of 500 students.’

‘You just scraped though the ‘A’ grade,’ Yunho shook his head disappointedly, ‘You must have been half asleep when revising, either that, or you were watching your bunch of boys dancing while you pretended to study.’

‘I. DID. NOT.’ Sumire huffed in anger.

‘Then?’

Sumire pouted angrily and kept quiet with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

‘I’m being very charitable and even allowed you to be driven back home even though I banned you from- Sumire, what are you doing?’

‘I’m going to jump out of this car so I can just walk home and not hear you nag.’ Sumire unlocked the car door on her side and already had her hand on the handle.

Yunho pressed the safety lock so the kid wouldn’t die from getting crushed under the giant truck’s wheels which was travelling behind his Rolls Royce.

‘You are crazy,’ Yunho spoke flatly.

‘I AM NOT A GENIUS LIKE YOU, JUNG YUNHO!’ Sumire lost it, ‘YOU DON’T KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED TO IMPROVE THIS MUCH OKAY!?’

Technically, Sumire could call Yunho by his name since they were siblings in the first place (though it was pretty rude to do so to someone elder than herself), but Yunho wasn’t going to be a calculative and ground her for that. But the shouting, that, Yunho wasn’t going to let her off.

‘I never expected you to get full marks,’ Yunho responded calmly like he always did and Sumire wanted to smack some reaction out of him, ‘It’s just that it seemed like Lady Luck was on your side so you could score ‘A’s on the dot for 5 out of 8 subjects.’

‘LUCK!? Are you kidding me? I was never the fortunate child! I was abandoned like trash! You weren’t loved but at least you weren’t thrown out!’

Yunho now had a deadly grip on the steering wheel.

‘You knew who your parents were but I-’

‘So you eavesdropped on my conversation with 5 a few nights ago. And what’s the use of knowing who your parents are when they don’t even acknowledge your existence?’ Yunho was doing his best not to shout at the 11 year old, ‘You were loved by my mother even though you weren’t her flesh and blood. Do you know just how unfair that was? Do you?’

Sumire’s heart stopped.

‘Don’t ever bring them up again,’ Yunho did his best to focus on driving them both safely home.

When Yunho and Sumire got back home, fortunately alive and in one piece, Young Mi could sense something terribly wrong from the deadly aura around Yunho.

Yunho locked himself in his room like a rebellious teenager and Sumire broke down in the middle of the livingroom.

‘What happened?’ Young Mi wheeled herself beside the child and patted her back.

‘I s-screwed up big t-time,’ Sumire wailed, ‘Daddy h-hates me for sure.’

‘Did you do something horrible?’

‘I said he wasn’t love by his p-parents,’ Sumire sobbed hard, ‘And a whole l-lot of stuff that was sensitive to him.’

‘Oh Gawd, how could you?’ Young Mi gaped, ‘You better apologise as soon as he comes out from his room.’

She nodded and ran into the bathroom to clean the snort which was coming out from her nose like a waterfall.

It had been 4 days since Sumire made Yunho depressed unhappy and the two were still not on talking terms.

‘Has this ever happened before?’ Young Mi asked Yunho when she was feeding her fishes.

Yunho had his arms propped on the window still as he idly watched the fighting fishes swim around aimless in their moderately sized glass bowls, ‘What happened?’

‘I meant you and Sumire not talking to each other.’

‘Oh, it’s always like that, just that this time round, she also chooses to be antisocial like me.’ Yunho shrugged.

‘Gawd, I never knew you were this childish.’ Young Mi chuckled.

‘Am I?’ Yunho lightly knocked the glass bowl closest to him to annoy the fish.

‘Don’t disturb him, he jumps out when he gets agitated,’ Young Mi lightly chastised the elder.

‘My apologies,’ Yunho muttered.

‘Well, yes, you can quite childish at times.’ Young Mi smiled as she closed the container of fish flakes and placed it at the corner of the window still.

Yunho just kept quiet and watched the fishes.

‘Yunho…do you hate me?’

‘What?’ Yunho straightened up with a faint look of surprise on his face, ‘Why would you say that?’

‘It’s just that…you were rather aloof whenever we spoke on previous occasions.’ Young Mi answered with an embarrassed smile on her face.

‘Oh…’ Yunho frowned slightly, ‘That’s how I treat people in general.’

‘But you’re warmer now.’ She smiled.

‘That’s because you are no longer deemed as a threat.’

‘A threat!?’ She questioned with wide eyes, ‘Seriously!? Do I look like an enemy to you?’

‘People, especially women, are an eyesore to me, except for a special few.’ Yunho answered matter-of-factly.

‘So…I’m now a harmless person right?’ She had a rather uncomfortable look on her face.

‘You’re special.’ Yunho gave her a small smile.

‘R-Really?’ She began laughing nervously. 

‘You’re you, unlike most girls at work who act so unnaturally and throw themselves all over men.’ Yunho shuddered.

‘Oh…’

‘What’s your name again?’ Yunho asked when he got up from his seat.

‘Young Mi,’ she gave a tired sigh.

‘I will try my best to remember your name.’ Yunho replied before disappearing into his room.

It was just half a minute later when she heard something that caused her heart to race.

‘Mi.’

‘Y-Yunho?’ She whipped her head around to see his head poking out from his bedroom.

‘Mimi.’ Yunho repeated, a lot louder this time and she blushed.

‘W-What?’ She stuttered shyly.

There was the slamming of the study room’s door and Young Mi cringed at the loud sound.

‘Just wanted to make Sumire jealous.’ Yunho smirked before going back into his bedroom.

Young Mi was sure Jaejoong was playing around with her because the Editor in Chief sent a bunch of articles for her to edit way past midnight and wanted it in later at 7am in the morning.

She didn’t dare shoot a complain email to him or risk getting a call from the pissed off bipolar of a boss.

So here she was at the dining table, reading though runway reports and beauty section articles at 2am in the morning.

‘Psst, Young Mi!’ Sumire whisper screamed from behind a wall.

The Fashion Assistant turned and looked at the 11 year old.

‘Are you on my side or Daddy’s side?’ She remained latched onto the wall like Spiderman.

Young Mi laughed, ‘Can’t you just go and apologise?’

‘I don’t think he wants to listen or even look at me.’

‘I’m sure he’s willing to do so. He isn’t an unreasonable person, you know.’ Young Mi advised.

Sumire pouted.

‘Just go.’

‘Okay,’ Sumire gave the elder a resigned look, hesitated for a while before knocking on Yunho’s bedroom door.

Yunho was looking though financial statements when there was a knock on the door.

He stopped and studied the clock on his desk.

‘Took her long enough,’ Yunho frowned and proceeded to unlock his door.

Sumire was biting her lower lip and fidgeting nervously.

‘You have exactly 3 minutes to speak or I won’t be able to finish work and sleep by 4.’ Yunho stated flatly with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

‘I’m sorry for hurting you with my careless words.’ Sumire squeezed shut her eyes as she spoke.

The 11 year old felt a pat on her head and she opened her eyes in surprise.

‘Just…don’t ever be so tactless again.’ Yunho replied, ‘Go to bed, it’s way past your bedtime already.’

Sumire beamed, ‘You’re the best Daddy! I love you, good night!’

Yunho’s mouth twitched in mirth before heading back into his bedroom to resume working.

‘Dad, should I pop the champagne or something?’ Young Mi asked with a grin from outside his door.

‘Stop finding excuses to drink,’ Yunho sighed.

There were many changes in Blitz when Yunho and Young Mi got back to work a month later.

Yunho was displeased even before stepping into the building. When he was driving into the premise, he had to abruptly stop his car at the roadside to make sure he was looking at the right building. The once contemporary looking black and white 38-floor office building was now entirely red.

‘Jaejoong, explain why the exterior looks like it was bathed in blood.’ Yunho asked as calmly as he possibly could.

‘Because I like red.’ Jaejoong replied casually before sipping on his coffee.

Then there was silence.

‘And why is my office gone?’ Yunho questioned.

‘It was refurbished to accommodate the project.’ Jaejoong placed the cup back down on his desk before proceeding to rip ‘lousy’ articles violently out of a certain file.

‘I thought it wouldn’t commence until 2 months later?’ Yunho raised a brow.

‘Yunnie,’ Jaejoong looked up at the elder, ‘The other magazines have all started some sort of an e-magazine except for us.’

‘Fair enough,’ Yunho gave the younger a curt nod.

‘Yunnie, I’m doing my best to hold in my anger but I’m about to blow up any second now, so could you please leave before I show you my ugly side?’ Jaejoong gave Yunho an uncomfortable smile.

Yunho nodded and was halfway out of the door when-

‘Good ing morning your fake plastic s, how dare you submit half assed work to me in an attempt to drive me to my premature death! Get your ing unnatural body up to my office in 10 seconds or I’ll personally go down to rip out your implants out and force feed it to your boyfriend in the Finance Department!’ Jaejoong screeched as Yunho chuckled to himself as closed the door behind him.

Young Mi wanted to ask Jaejoong why her desk was gone but when she heard Jaejoong screaming his head off in his office over the phone, she decided to just ask someone else.

It was perfect timing because she saw Yunho walk out of the Editor in Chief’s office with a knowing grin on his face.

‘Dad, do you happen to know where my desk is?’

‘Oh, we’re to start the project now, so why don’t we head up to my ex-office?’ Yunho ignored his employee.

‘Our new department has taken over your office?’ Young Mi laughed.

‘Never argue with Jaejoong’s decisions, just learn to deal with it,’ Yunho muttered and the younger laughed even harder.

‘You need to stay calm alright?’ Young Mi did her best to stifle her laughter.

‘Aren’t I always?’ Yunho drawled.

Young Mi, who had peeped into the department before Yunho did took a deep breath before opening the door fully for both of them to step in.

It was like as if Care Bears were the interior designers because the walls had cloud motifs on them, with occasional rainbows here and there. The floors were carpeted in baby blue, curtains were of pale pink and giant beanbags of several colours served as ‘chairs’ behind actual high school desks.

Young Mi slowly turned to study Yunho’s face. She clapped her hands in awe when she found that the elder still had that poker face of his on.

‘I thought Jaejoong had impeccable taste, but it looks like it only applies to fashion.’ Yunho stated monotonously.

Young Mi chuckled, ‘I’ll let you choose which ‘chair’ you want.’

‘I am going to get a back problem very soon.’ Yunho took the lesser of evils: a peacock green beanbag, ‘They have no support whatsoever.’

‘True.’ Young Mi nodded, ‘Oh dear, high school desks have no drawers, now where do I store my stuff…’

‘Best thing I’ve heard all day.’ Yunho suddenly had an evil smirk on his face and the ex-Fashion Assistant shuddered.

‘LOUISE! WHY THE IS MY DESK AND CHAIR GONE AND REPLACED BY CRAP FROM YUNNIE’S DEPARTMENT!?’ Jaejoong spat the next day at work.

‘According to Blitz’s regulations book section 6, chapter 2 of page 568: The chief employer has the right to provide a conducive work environment for all his/her employees and if it leads to any form of discordance, the employer is to step in to make the necessary changes.’

Jaejoong fumed, ‘So?’

‘Your anger hiders your brain’s ability to think logically.’ Louise gave the Editor in chief a haughty laugh, ‘Allow me to enlighten you then. If you complain about this desk and that bag of beads that hardly passes off as a chair, that means Mr. Jung’s department is to be given proper work desks and chairs.’

‘Yunnie’s acting smart with me, ‘Jaejoong pouted angrily and flopped down onto the beanbag, ‘Kim Fabulous Jaejoong will not back down. I can too play at this game.’

‘Mr. Jung doesn’t need to act smart, he had always been a genius,’ Louise muttered as she made her way out of her boss’ office.

It was a small price to pay by alternating between sitting and lying on the floor for 1.5 days while brainstorming for ideas on what direction the magazine-blog should take because Yunho received an email from his beloved younger brother sooner than expected.

Fine, you win.

‘You look so happy, Dad.’ Young Mi looked up at the elder.

‘I thought I was supposedly impossible to read...’

‘I have somewhat mastered the skill to sense your inner emotions.’ The younger grinned.

‘Is that so?’ Yunho raised a brow, ‘And yes, I am happy. We’ll be getting proper desks and chairs very soon.’

Young Mi sat up and clapped her hands in glee.

Yunho’s phone buzzed and he read the new follow up email from Jaejoong.

Go get your ing desk and chair from the storeroom on level one, .

Yunho chuckled before his phone buzzed once more.

ing return my stuff now too, .

Yunho thought a while before replying Jaejoong.

Go retrieve it by yourself. It’s at the rooftop.

With that, Yunho switched off his phone and smiled to himself.

‘Being rebellious is a great feeling, isn’t it?’ Young Mi grinned.

‘No wonder Sumire rebels so much, it gives you such an amazing adrenaline rush.’ Yunho nodded in agreement, ‘How about we go out for lunch so Jaejoong cannot stomp up here and pull out all my hair?’ 

Young Mi beamed, ‘Is Dad finally bringing his little girl out?’

‘Hurry up and stop asking so much questions,’ Yunho was already out of the door.

Constructive comments/ criticisms are very much appreciated because I'm unsure of how this series is doing so far.

Thanks a bunch!

*sends adorable Pokemon to glomp you guys.