CHAPTER 15

She puffs out a breath, her grip on her bag tightening as she stands on new ground. Her eyes scan the area, peering at some signs, some she could read, others she couldn't.

She exits and scans the new area, her eyes catching a girl waving at her from a distance, arms flailing in the air in excitement and she brightly smiles upon seeing her “Stephanie” she breathed out in relief before rushing towards the said person.

As soon as she was within arms reach, Stephanie engulfs her in an embrace

“Hana-unnie!” exclaims the slightly shorter female. Hana chuckles and hugs her back “I missed you too” she says. Stephanie pulls away and looks at her in amazement “Wow, you know Chinese?” “A little” Hana answers.

Stephanie laughs; she was grateful that Hana accepted the invitation, it really would mean a lot to her father aswell but she couldn't deny the fact that her conscience is she clawing on her back because of keeping this as a secret from her own brother. She wanted to let Kris know but her dad's wishes were getting in the way; she didn't know why the old man didn't want to inform his own son about it.

“So, shall we?” Stephanie asks, gesturing to the car waiting just outside. Hana glances at the vehicle for a moment before turning back to her and nodding her head.

As soon as they were out of the door, cold wind hits her face and she breathes out. China, indeed. You're really here, Hana.

Sehun.

Knock. Knock. “Come in” says the voice on the other side of the door; I turn the knob and push the panel, letting myself enter Luhan's office. He looks up from his paper work and I give him a smile “Good morning” I greet him.

He smirks and instead of returning the greeting like I expected him to, he instead asks me “What's so good about the morning?” Geez. How bitter. There's a lot of good things about today; well, everyday is a good day. I have pretty girls to play with, good food to eat, free time from work every now and then and the highlight is I don't go to sleep alone at night.

“Someone's a little sour today” I commented, closing the door and waltzed over to the visitor's chair before sitting down. He breathes out some air and set aside the papers “You know, Yookyoung and I don't get along that well and as much as I like making her life a living hell, it's stressful sometimes”

Right... It always made me wonder though; if he found it stressful, he could have just rejected Kris's bidding and let her be. Yookyoung's not so bad, I mean... I admit, a little annoying since she acts like a spoiled brat –which she is- but she's nice.

“Why don't you just ignore her then?” he doesn't answer. He was quiet for the longest time and even swiveled his chair to the side, so that he was facing the wall instead of me. “Hyung...” I call out to him.

“Sehun, you know how Kris has trust issues... right?”

Huh? Why is he asking me these questions all of a sudden? Ofcourse I know that he has these so called issues, heck he has a lot of issues in life. “Suho told you about her coming, right?” I nod again “Did Suho tell you anything else?”

I shook my head “No... why?” Luhan, you are starting to worry me. He then chuckles to himself and right then I begin to question myself if he has gone insane or something. Perhaps too much stress? “You're creeping me out, you idiot” I tell him.

“Do you know anything?” I ask him. Luhan simply shook his head at me and swiveled his chair back around to face his desk, he pulls out a folder and sighs “Nothing...” Do you take me for a fool? Tch. “And even if I did, I wouldn't tell”

Hmph. “What did you come here for, anyway?” he asks, diverting the subject. I've become curious though and something tells me that Yookyoung's arrival is no ordinary job transfer. Whatever the other reason behind her coming may be, Luhan knows something...

And I want to know what it is. “Just dropping by before going to my office” I smile at him. He rolls his eyes at me “Sure...”

Knock. Knock. “Yes?” he looks past me, eyes fixated on the door. I turn in my seat aswell and spot his secretary –and sister, as he insists on it- “Oh... Ling” Luhan chimes “Do you need something?”

I cast the timid girl a smile and she bows her head out of politeness before stepping into the room “Mr. Kim Minseok called... he says he couldn't contact your phone and you weren't replying to his messages” she informs, keeping her eyes away from me. Expected from a girl like her.

I find it a shame, she has the looks –proof that the Lu family has been taking very good care of her- she has the body, she has the legs even but we really can't have it all. She's as awkward as she is blessed.

Luhan fishes his phone out of his pocket and find out that it had run out of battery “Aish... I ran out of battery. Did he leave anything else?” I stay quiet the whole time. It almost seemed as if I was merely a statue between them; Ling nods her head “He said Ms. Kim Hana has landed safely in Beijing and will be back tomorrow evening”

Hana's in Beijing? I raise a questioning brow at Luhan. He glances at me for a moment before turning to Ling “Thank you, Ling...” and with a bow, she leaves the premises of the private office.

“Hana flew to Beijing? With Kris?” I ask him. He starts to scribble down things onto the folder, half of his attention away from me “She flew alone and Kris doesn't know and you are not going to tell him that”

So, it's a secret trip to China and they're not telling Kris... “Why?”

“Ex-chairman's orders; tell a soul and you will burn in hell, Sehun” I still don't get why I shouldn't tell Kris. My loyalty is to him after all. “It's a dying man's wish, Sehun. I'm serious, take this secret to your grave, arasso?”

Sigh. “Yeah, yeah...” I wave my hand dismissively at him “Tell no soul; I get it... anyway” I get up from my seat and button my coat “I'm heading to the office and... uh, you wouldn't mind if I ask your sister to lunch, right?”

He snorts a sarcastic laugh at me, as if he knew I'd fail before I'd even try. He keeps his eyes fixated on the papers infront of him and spoke “If you get her to say yes, I don't see how that's a problem”

“Tch. Challenge accepted” I told him before walking out.

Kai.

“I need the files on my office before noon, okay?” I smile at female, who was sitting down behind her desk, looking up at me in a daze. She nods her head “Yes, Mr. Kim” “Thanks”

I turn on my heel and walk off to return to my office; I don't know why I have so many female employees in my department but I'm not complaining, as long as they do their work right and cause me no problem at all. It's rewarding too, though. Smirk. Women are my favorite after all.

The faint buzzing of people murmuring fill my ears, the sound of printers pressing ink onto papers fills the air and a mix of typing sounds emitted by keyboards aswell. A typical office scene. As I walk down the hall, past cubicles and working desks, my eyes catch a glimpse of the main glass double doors opening and a person walking in but I keep walking.

New employee maybe. However, I suddenly stopped in my tracks as a yell came across the wide open space “Kim Jongin!” I whip my head towards the direction of the boys, eyes widening as I realize that the person whom I thought was a new employee was no other than...

“Yookyung-ah?” I raised a brow. What is she doing here?

I look around me. All the employees had stopped and turned and the whole floor was in silence; Eherm. “Back to work, guys” I told them and they did as ordered.

Yookyung marches up to me, stopping just a foot away “What are you doing here?” I ask her, pocketing my hands. She raises a brow “Really? Does anyone but Suho know why I'm here?”

I shrug.

“I'm here because of the job transfer” Okay. That's a surprise. Job transfer could only mean one thing and it could only be possible if and only if Kris deemed it so. My brows raise in amusement “Job transfer, huh? Did you do something right?”

She pouts “Yah ~ when you talk, you talk as if I only do wrong things! May I remind you that I am a fashion designer?” “Then what are you doing here?” she frowns some more and lets out a disappointed sigh “Trust me, it's crazy but apparently, my dear cousin placed me under you”

Okay, Kris. I get it, you want to torture me. But what can I do, right? “No wonder there's a new cubicle...” I mumble under my breath. I clear my throat before turning back to her “I see, well, your workspace is over there” I point towards the empty new cubicle “Ms. Liu will be with you shortly to give you a briefing and such, good luck” I pat her on the shoulder and walk past her.

Just as I did, I felt a tug on my sleeve making me turn back around “Yookyung, I have a lot to do --” I was cut off when I saw her watering eyes, her glistening pouting lower lip as she looked at me like a lost puppy.

Mental face palm. “Nice try, Yookyung” I tell her in a blank tone and snag my hand away. “B-but, Jongin --” “If you wanna have your own office, work hard for it and while you're under me... it's Mr. Kim, to you” I give her a wink before walking off.

Seriously Kris... chill.

Sigh.

I exit the department office and stop infront of the elevator, pressing a button and waited.

“If by any chance you pull something on her again while I'm gone, make sure I never find out, otherwise... I might kill you”

My mom once told me that between a good friend and a girl you like, always choose the friend because there are a lot of other women in the world. That's what I always did. I always chose my friends; bros before hoes, I think that's what she really meant.

I've always lived by that.

But it makes my chest hurt. I'm wrong... I know that ever since the beginning of their relationship, I'm wrong. I'm wrong for wanting her, for taking a liking to her and expecting something much more than friendship from her, I've been wrong all along... but then again... what's wrong with loving, right?

If it were me, I would never have liked her but no, despite my denial, my heart still beats fast for her. It's acting to its own accord, not caring if I want it or not, the thing is it just beats fast whenever she's around.

I don't want to give up on Hana... honestly. I really don't want to and it's funny because I know, for a fact, that she will always choose Kris over me. I still want her despite knowing just how much she loves Kris and I still long for her even thought I know that we will never be.

But I am not giving up my friendship either... so as hard as it is, I will forget her and everything I feel for her. I may not know where to start but I know that I'll get there.

Time... right? Because it will always be bros before hoes. Forget her, Kai.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I know I said the next update was on Friday but ohwell, here it is. Another one on Friday then? Kekeke :)