They met in the morning. Daehyun was getting ready to head out and Jinli was walking in. From a quick glance, it was obvious that she had worn the same clothes she wore the day before. There were circles under her eyes and she barely stifled a yawn.

            “Where were you last night?” His voice was cold and despite the inquiry, completely void of concern.

            Jinli startled and tugged on her ponytail. “Work.”

            He looked her up and down. “Work? And you can’t do it at home? You look like you slept in your office. Unless you were somewhere else. Or with somebody else.” The last part was said in a lower tone but Jinli caught it.

            She glanced up sharply. “Jung Daehyun. I’ll have you know you’re the only two-timing one in this arrangement.” She pushed past him and started up the stairs. “Have a good day at work.”

            “We’re going to need to talk when I get home. So you better be here,” he shouted as she closed the bedroom door.

            Jinli let her hair loose and ruffled it. She scratched angrily at her scalp and flopped down on the bed. It had been a long night, with an early morning call and now she was absolutely exhausted. She had enough on her plate, much less have to deal with Daehyun’s shenanigans. She had no idea what he wanted to talk about. If it was about her disappearance last night, well, he was always never home at night too.

            Her eye caught on the slightly open first drawer on his side of the bed. To the most of her memory, she had never seen him open it. She tried to reason with herself and sustain some self-control. It’s his privacy. Curiosity got the better of her and, after hesitantly glancing at the closed door, opened the drawer slowly.

            There wasn’t much in there. Only a big blue box and a couple of what looked like photographs on top. She picked up the photographs and flipped them over. The first one was of her showing the flower in her back pocket. Without meaning to, Jinli’s heart raced and she scanned through the photos to find the final one. There it was. She had taken it when he was asleep and she definitely was not the one to print them out. Her hands shook as she realized that Daehyun knew what had happened. A low flush spread over her cheeks. How embarrassing. It seemed as if nothing she did could get by him.

            There was a sound downstairs and she quickly placed the photographs back into the drawer and closed it. The bedroom door opened right after and she looked up guiltily. Daehyun was standing there.

            “Catch.” He threw something silver at her and she caught it by reflex.

            “There’s nothing in the fridge, so I figured I’d get you some breakfast. I also left instructions for Eunah to make enough food for the rest of the week. Eat and then get some sleep. You look terrible.” Before she could mutter her thanks, he was gone, footsteps pattering down the stairs.

            Jinli sat there for a long time, staring at the sandwich in her hands. A part of her thought about her diet, but her heart squeezed painfully as she thought about the fact that Daehyun had bought it for her. When she took the first bite, she could feel one tear slide down her cheek.

***

            When Daehyun entered his office, he saw that a party had convened in it before he arrived. Himchan was sitting there, along with Hyosung and his father-in-law. There was a giant pile of papers in front of them.

            “Good morning.”

            Hyosung swung around and gave him a winning smile. “Daehyun!”

            He gave a nervous cough and glanced at his father-in-law but Mr. Cho remained still. “Sit down and go through the numbers with me one by one.” He commanded.

            The entire meeting was spent poring over every transaction. Once in a while they would catch a mistake or two but at the end, there was still a large sum missing. Daehyun glanced up at the elder man and his face was red. “There’s something going on. Why don’t you look more in depth into your new acquirement. A new department will not earn as much as they did in such a few short months.”

            Hyosung bristled. “With all due respect, sir, we closed out the deal in London.”

            Mr. Cho laughed out loud derisively. “Don’t try to pull a wool over my head. The London deal was only partially mediated by you. The majority of the profits still went to TS. May I get your name?”

            “Jeon Hyosung.”

            “I know your boss, young lady. I will remember that name.”

            Daehyun could see a retort coming and silenced her with a look. “Sir, I will look into everything I can. Thank you for coming today.”

***

            “Yes, Dad?” Jinli stared at her phone in surprise. The only time her father called her was when he wanted something.

            “When is the last time you shared a bed with your husband.”

            She nearly choked on the pencil she was chewing. “What? We sleep in the same room.”

            “No, I meant the other thing.” He cleared his throat. “Is there any hope of producing a grandchild soon?”

            “Father. What are you doing? We’re both very career oriented. This is between us and we have decided we wanted to wait a little bit.”

            Her father gave a few short barks of bitter laughter. “So not recently. You better be a little careful. How about you dress up a little? Do you need daddy to send money to buy you a few things?”

            “What is this really about? This is downright humiliating. We are fine.”

            “Fine. Yes because fine would have him sniffing at other skirts.”

            At those words, she tensed. “What do you mean?”

            “Jeon Hyosung. Look her up. Better yet, ask him about it tonight. If there’s nothing going on, I will sell my right hand. Remember. I need him in my palms. If you do anything to mess up this deal, I don’t quite know what I will do with you.”

            Do not cry. Do not cry. Jinli took a deep breath and tried to control her emotions. It was going to be alright. Her hatred for both her father and Daehyun rose each time she tried to cool off and it wasn’t until she let herself cry that she finally felt better.

            Daehyun came home to a silently brewing storm. The table was set up with dinner but only for one. Jinli was nowhere to be found. “Jinli?” He called around and found her in the studio. She was sorting through various patterns and fabrics, completely ignoring him.

            He felt the constant irritation but forced himself to control himself. He needed to be on her good side. “Are you not eating?”

            “Ate already.”

            “Ah. I guess I’m not destined to have company tonight?”

            “There’s no need. You had plenty of company at the office.”

            Her tone caught him off-guard and immediately, his defenses began to rise. “Excuse me?”

            “Really, Daehyun? In front of my dad? Your father-in-law?”

            He really hated her emotional states and this one irritated him the most. “Again, what are you talking about?”

            “My father knows about Hyosung?”

            Immediately, Daehyun thought back to their conduct throughout the meeting. They barely spoke, but then he remembered with a sinking feeling the wrist touches she would place on him and the smiles, and of course her father would pick up on the familiarity.

            “It’s not what you think. We were all in a meeting together. And she may have said my name in too friendly a tone.”

            Jinli smirked. “What was it? Oh, Daebaby,” she mocked in a soft, breathy voice. “You really are something.”

            He blew his breath out. “Think about it what you want. You already know our relationship. I’m going to eat.”

            She resisted the urge to throw the tile in her hand at him. It was time to take her plan to a higher level.

Happy three years with this story!!

I cannot believe it's been three years already but no other story makes me happier to write.

♥♥♥

Much love to all of you and thank you for your continuous support.