Daehyun was able to gain some more control over the situation at the company when he negotiated to have Hyosung transferred to a liaison department between the two companies. This meant that while she no longer stayed in the company, she reported directly to him regarding any new projects. It was the best he could do to placate both her and his mother.

            There was also a new movie about to be launched, produced by TS and the upcoming premier had garnered positive reactions. All this meant good things for the company. He had managed to calm down his father-in-law by giving him reign over this new project. Slowly, stocks were climbing up.

            Hyosung had given him some passwords and log-ins into the mysterious new account opened and Daehyun had asked Jongup to investigate with a finance team. It was a cause for a breath of relief.

            “Hey, we have a premier tonight. Be my date?”

            Jinli had to admit, Daehyun really was trying. He was a lot nicer on a daily basis. “Well you’re asking much more nicely than you did last time,” she pointed out.

            He only gave her a deadpan look. “So? Are you coming?”

            “Didn’t know I had a choice,” she shot back but she was already heading to her closet. Daehyun smirked and followed her. “Let me see what I have to wear.”

            “How about you let me pick?” He had his hand on the knob of her closet. The two of them exchanged looks and she shrugged.

            “Whatever your heart desires.”

            Daehyun gave her a wicked grin as he opened the door to reveal a long row of dresses. “You look good in red, navy, black, hmm.” He reached all the way in the back and pulled out a dark number with a high slit. “Try this on.”

            “That dress is way too tight and way too everything not appropriate.”

            “Sweetheart, it’s going to be a movie premier. The stars there will be dressed precariously on the fine line between classy and not appropriate. Let’s have you fit right in.” He shoved the dress at her. “Put it on.”

            Jinli swallowed and silently thanked the gods that she had gone on such a vigorous diet. She took the dress and turned to go to the bathroom but Daehyun grabbed her arm. “Here. Right now.”

            She rolled her eyes. Composure. She gave him her best seductive look as she started to undo the buttons on her shirt. It lasted for a few second but even Jinli couldn’t take herself seriously. Halfway through, she burst into laughter. “Stop looking at me!”

            Daehyun had managed to keep a straight face all this while. But at her comment, smiled widely. “Why? Am I making you nervous?”

            “No. But I look stupid. And you’re not even reacting.”

            He had a strange look on his face as he stared at her. “You don’t look stupid. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll look away. Just tell me when you’re done.”

            When she managed to clasp the dress, she cleared . Jinli stood nervously, fidgeting with the material as he gave her a slow once-over. Again, his gaze had lost the old belligerence to be replaced with something more gentle. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Then he nodded in approval. “Perfect for the Madame of TS.”

            She scoffed. Not taking his words to heart was the best way to protect it. “Your turn.”

***

            This was the second time the two of them were out at such a public event together. Daehyun stole glances at Jinli from the corner of his eye. The dress she was wearing hugged her curves and the few strings of fragmented diamonds emphasized them. The high slit fell open to reveal well-toned thighs and he had to admit that he had completely overlooked how hot his wife was in the past eight months since they were married. Acknowledging that it was universal for men to feel a certain pride in what they considered as ‘theirs,’ it was with a weird sense of possessiveness that he introduced Jinli once again.

            The table of male actors was certainly a fun but slightly exasperating experience. They were all young and good looking and very into her. Daehyun definitely caught two of them blatantly staring down her dress when she bent forward slightly to talk to them. When he casually placed his arm in front of her to hold her back, they had given him winks and continued talking, absolutely unabashed. How utterly shameless.

            “Manager Jung, you really should bring your wife out here more. We barely see her around the company.”

            It didn’t help that Jinli had given them bright, charming, slightly shy smiles too. It was easy to see how they all fell for her. Daehyun cleared his throat and smiled thinly before leading her away. “Ahjumma, what were you doing back there?”

            “Back where?” She had the gall to sound innocent.

            “There. Flirting with those actors. Tell the truth. Are they better looking than I am?”
            Jinli burst into laughter and quickly covered with her palm. “I’m sorry, what? Did you just compare yourself to them? Daehyun, I know you have confidence in your looks, but honey, you’re not the one with your face plastered on the silver screens. That’s saying something.”

            His jaw dropped. Was she insinuating what he thought she was insinuating? “Hey. If I wanted to, I can make it on the catwalk too. Just watch me.”

            She crossed her arms, an act that didn’t help with her cleavage, he noted. Her eyebrow arched slightly and she tilted her chin at the carpet. “Go. Walk that.”

            Never mind that the people present were signing a contract with him. Never mind that there were cameras everywhere. Daehyun adjusted his tie so that it hung slightly looser and gave her his best come hither gaze. “Whatever you wish, my lady.” Somehow, someone had alerted the deejay and there was now a beat that accompanied him as he strutted down the red carpet. His friends hooted and so did the celebrities who were clapping and laughing as they tried to take videos of their company’s top manager.

            He reached the end of the carpet and held his fingers together in a neat majestic wave. Then he turned around and walked back to Jinli. “How was that?”

            There was a grudging look of respect in her eyes. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

            Daehyun puffed his chest and winked at her. “I’m a man of many surprises.”

            Later, it could have been the alcohol working but Daehyun turned to stare at Jinli. She already had her eyes closed and was breathing softly. He reached a finger out to touch her. Her nose wrinkled and she let out a tiny sneeze. Daehyun chuckled and pulled the blanket over her before rolling over and falling asleep.

***

            As always, all good things came to an end too quickly and too suddenly for anyone to catch their breath. The next set of bad news came in the form of Yoo Youngjae. His best friend strode into his office with a brow furrowed with anxiety.

            “We’re pretty ed.”

            “Hello to you too.” Daehyun swirled his chair around and stood up. “What’s going on?”

            Youngjae slid a thick pile of calculations and contracts over. “We just caught the head of my department embezzling money. Funny thing is, he denied that it was for him. He said that he was only acting on someone’s orders but refused to tell us more without a warrant on our side. I didn’t want to notify the police before we can solve anything in our company. Who knows if they have bought out the justice department too.”

            Together, the two pored over the evidence that they had obtained. There was indeed an open account that was heavily secured where the money was going to. “Can we find out the origins of this account?”

            Youngjae shook his head. “I’m looking into it. I have Jongup on it too. I know his friends in IT might be able to make more headway than we can. But this is bad because already we have one newspaper calling. It’s the Financial Times. This probably means that whoever is behind this wanted us to catch Manager Lee. He’s just a scapegoat and a way for us to be forced into public attention.”          

            Suddenly, both their phones blared with notifications. Daehyun glanced down and uttered a loud profanity. “We have a hoard of media outside right now. They must have found out you were here. . I need Himchan-Hyung to do his public relations stuff right now.”

            At that very moment, Yongguk came in. “Bad news. We are about to lose the Japan deal we signed a few months ago. Their rep just gave me a call. Apparently all of the rumors are giving us quite a negative reputation even overseas.”

            Daehyun stood up and rang for his secretary. “Call the entire heads of departments into Conference Room 1. We need to have an emergency press conference.” He thought about it before pressing the intercom again. “Please do not inform the department that is working with Mr. Im’s company. I don’t want outsiders on this case.”

            The meeting went as well as it could have. Strategies and press releases were drawn up and drafted. Youngjae was going to head the team of investigations in Seoul and Daehyun scheduled a meeting with his father-in-law. Before the end of the day, he had also sent a text to Hyosung. I need to see you.

            Hyosung was staring at him coldly. “I had already given you all the information I can. At this rate, I feel like you’re suspecting me. If you’re not suspecting me, then you’re using me as a sacrifice because you know the consequences if I were to be found out. I cannot disclose private company information. Surely you of all people are aware of that.”

            He hated this Hyosung. He hated the cold, indifferent, confrontational Hyosung. She was unreasonable and out for blood. Daehyun let out a tiny sigh. Her eyes narrowed as she caught the small sign of frustration. “How dare you get angry at me. I already helped you to the best of my ability. Anything further and you will be asking me to be breaking the law. Why don’t you ask your wife to investigate her father? Or do you not think that old man is trying to bring you down?”

            “Can you please not bring her up?”

            “Why? Guilty conscience?”

            He wanted to protest. He opened his mouth only to close it again. “You know what, forget it. You’re not being logical. I’ll talk to you another time.”

            Her hands went to the table and he narrowly missed the butter knife that was thrown at him. “Go! And don’t turn around and come back! Go home and that useless wife of yours then! Don’t come back and try to lie to me again! You didn’t love me before and you don’t love me now.”

            Daehyun clenched his jaw. He took several deep breaths. He needed a cigarette. He needed a drink. Something sharp hit his head. His hand went to his hair and looked at the fork that had landed next to the knife. It took all of five seconds for him to make up his mind and continue to leave the house.

***

            Daehyun came back, falling drunkenly over the steps as he tried to pull his jacket off. Jinli walked forward to help him and wrinkled her nose. “How many packs did you smoke?” She had just come back from a party of her own and hadn’t changed. If he vomited over her dress… He clung onto her and shook his head.

            He looked at her and smirked a little. The predatory look was back in his eyes. Jinli’s heart skipped a beat. It didn’t take a genius to know why he was like this. “So beautiful,” he whispered.

 She ignored the lurch in her heart. “You’re drunk.” Daehyun grabbed her wrist and kissed her sloppily. His hand d her and she pushed him away. “I’m not Hyosung.”

            This made him stop, as if her name was medication. He stared at her for so long and so intensely that she felt her skin crawl. For someone drunk out of his mind, his gaze was unnervingly steady. “No,” he finally said. “You’re not.”

Ha. I still cannot believe AFF messed up so badly and marked this story as complete.

Gave me such a heart attack. But enjoy guys! There will be ups and downs coming up so I hope you all enjoy ♥