AN: Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your support and for reading my story, it inspires me to write even more! And thank you to the commenters who pointed out the Chanyoung/Kim Tan situation. I forgot to mention this in my Foreword, but that's one difference that I will be making from my story and the drama (i.e. Chanyoung and Kim Tan know each other prior to Heirs). Also, you guys will notice a few more differences from the drama as the story goes on (like Bona and Secretary Yoon's friendship, as you'll see in this chapter), so keep that in mind! Again, thank you for the support, and hope you enjoy this chapter!

“How does it feel to be the secretary now, ahjeossi?” Bona asked as she peaked her head into the drivers’ compartment of the limo.

“It feels the same, to be honest. It’s only been a few weeks, but…” said Yoon Jaeho, “Bona-ah, is your seatbelt on?”

The girl laughed as she quickly scrambled back into her seat and Jaeho heard the click of a seatbelt lock.

“But seriously, ahjeossi,” Bona called from the back, “You’ve worked hard and you deserve this! Don’t be afraid to show off, okay?”

Jaeho couldn’t help but chuckle at Bona’s bluntness. He had grown quite fond of the girl over the past year. When she and Tan had first started dating, he was given the task of being their chaperone and went everywhere they did. Sure, she was a little (or a lot) spoiled, had major temper tantrums, and don’t even get him started on how dramatic she could be. But beneath all that, he was pleased to find that Bona still had a pure heart.

He had met his fair amount of young heirs throughout his years working for Jeguk, and he knew when he saw the lost cases; the ones that had fallen and were into the world of greed and deception. But Bona, she was still alive and very much kicking.

“That reminds me, Bona, have you seen my son Chany-“

“TAN!” Bona had rolled down the window upon seeing the second son, and was attempting to open the door despite the vehicle still being in motion.

“Thanks for the ride, ahjeossi! See you later!” Bona chirped as she skipped out of the car to Tan, who looked extremely uncomfortable at her arrival.

Jaeho had a bad feeling about this, and his instincts were never wrong.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m engaged to her. That’s it.”

“This is your worst joke ever, Kim Tan! You could have at least said someone else, not Yoo Rachel.”

“I’m not lying. Our parents committed to the agreement last night. I’m going to marry her.”

There was a still silence, neither knowing what to say next.

 “…Are you okay with that?”

“I guess, I don’t know.”

“You guess? You don’t know? Are you that indifferent to our relationship?”

Tan sighed. “Where did you see us going anyways? I mean, it was fun game while it lasted.”

“A game? This was a game to you?!”

“….”

“You said you loved me. Did you even mean that?”

“….”

The silence was enough of an answer for her.

She turned around on her heel, and started walking. Where she was going, she didn’t know; all she knew was that she needed to get away.

She would not give him the satisfaction of her tears. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her breakdown. She bit her lip and bottled it all in, and then Lee Bona’s heart became as cold as the winter air.

“Good morning everyone! Due to…. unforeseen circumstances, Lee Bona will not be conducting your daily broadcasts anymore. I, Kang Yesol, will be taking over until further notice. Now let’s see here, I think next is the….weather? Give me one second…SUNBAENIM!”

All the students in Jeguk High looked around in confusion as they listened to the sound of rummaging papers that was being broadcast school-wide on their PA system.

Chanyoung clamped his hands over his ears when the piercing sound of microphone feedback erupted.

“Aish, what now? I give up!” and the broadcast ended with a click.

Chanyoung let out a sigh of relief. Lee Bona was not an angel by any means, but he had to admit that she had an angelic voice (when she wasn’t whining, that is). Her broadcasts at school were a big hit, and as far as Chanyoung knew, she loved doing them too.

“Do you think Lee Bona got fired? Maybe Hyoshin sunbaenim finally had enough of her!”

“But come to think of it, I haven’t seen her in class all day. Maybe she’s sick?”

Chanyoung was not the gossiping type, but his curiosity was getting the better of him, and he leaned forward just ever so slightly in his chair to catch snippets of his classmates’ conversations.

 “Hey Kim Tan, what happened with Bona?”

Chanyoung glanced over at the boy in question, who merely kept a blank face and showed no signs of responding.

Bona did not show up for the rest of that day, nor the following days. By her fifth day of absence, Chanyoung was convinced that he would be forced to listen to Yesol’s nails-on-chalkboard broadcast for the rest of his years at Jeguk. He frowned as he listened to Yesol attempting to read an excerpt from Shakespeare in her broken English. His mind began wandering, wondering where the elusive Lee Bona had gone.

Bona did not seem like the type to play hooky, as far as Chanyoung knew. Although she hung out with Tan, Young Do and their group of hooligans, he never saw her partake in any of their antics. He prided himself on being a good judge of character, he had gotten that from this father. But Lee Bona….he just couldn’t seem to put a finger on her.

“Chanyoung-ah, how was school today? I have to stay late at the office today, there might be some leftovers in the fridge. Also, I left a yellow folder with a stack of papers inside on the kitchen counter; I don’t have time today, so I need you to bring it over to SBS headquarters at 7:30PM, someone will be waiting at the front to collect it. Thanks, son!

PS- Don’t even think about taking the car. Korea created the subway for a reason.”

Chanyoung scoffed in disbelief, and crumpled up the letter. He quickly pulled out his phone to call his father, and unsurprisingly, it went straight to voicemail.

Aish, it was just like his father to stick something like this on him. But SBS was way too far to go to on public transportation; plus, it was starting to snow again! He rummaged through the drawer for the car key, but to his annoyance, all he found was a post-it note saying “Nice try, keke.”

He looked at his watch and it was almost six. With a sigh, Chanyoung went to put on his thickest jacket and grabbed the folder on his way out.

Chanyoung rubbed his hands together for warmth as he paced back and forth in front of the huge, brightly lit building. There were many school girls waiting outside with signs and gifts, hoping one of their favorite idols would show up for a recording. They eyed Chanyoung with suspicion, so he made sure to steer clear from them.

He wondered what business his father had at SBS anyways. As far as Chanyoung knew, Jeguk was not involved in the entertainment business, much less SBS itself.

He heard some of the girls squeal, and he whipped his head towards the entrance. The girls were clapping in anticipation as they saw movement behind the sliding doors.

“Yah, I’m not your oppa! And your oppas will not be showing up either, so I suggest you go home and do your schoolwork!” and he watched a petite figure push her way through the disappointed crowd.

“Lee Bona?!”

“You? What are you doing here? Tsk, are you waiting for Girls' Generation?!” the girl in question snapped.

“No, of course not!” Chanyoung shot back, even though he was indeed a huge Jessica fan. “I’m waiting for someone,” and he pulled out the folder to show her as evidence.

He watched as her face went from amused, to shocked, and then confused.  Chanyoung found it strangely endearing, and bit his lip to stop himself from smiling.

“Come with me,” she said abruptly and turned around to head back into the building, not even bothering to check if he was following. He scrambled after Bona, ignoring the protests of the irritated fan girls that tried to squeeze in after them.

As soon as they were inside, Bona ripped the folder from Chanyoung’s hands, and began rummaging through the contents.

“What are you doing? That’s not for you!”

“Secretary Yoon never told me his son went to Jeguk.”

“Give it ba-…Wait, how do you know my father?”

Bona ignored his question. “Tell him thanks for me, and pass this along.” She handed him a tote bag that was emitting a delicious aroma. “I don’t know how to cook, so here’s spaghetti I bought as a token of thanks.”

Chanyoung’s stomach growled loudly, and he eyed the bag greedily.

“Don’t even think about it! That’s not for you.”

“For your information, I just trekked across the entire city, on an empty stomach, to get these papers to you. What are they anyway?”

Bona quickly hid the papers behind her back, and started speed walking towards the elevator. She sped through the security check, and Chanyoung quickly yelled a “I’m with her!” and slipped in between the bewildered guards.

“Yah, stop following me!” Bona yelled as she frantically pressed the “close” button on the elevator. Chanyoung stuck his foot in just before the doors were about to close, and slipped in despite the girl’s protests.

“You don’t show up to school anymore and step down from your radio broadcasts. And now, my father has me coming here to drop off some suspicious papers. I gain nothing from coming here, so the least you can do is give me some information.”

Bona shot him a look, but said nothing. Instead she pressed the button for level 35, and the rest of the ride passed in silence. Chanyoung used this time to observe her, and saw dark bags underneath her eyes, and noticed that the girl looked even paler than usual.

Once the doors opened, Bona weaved her way through the corridors, passing by luxurious recording studios and film sets, to reach a set of secluded doors that were easily dismissible if you didn’t have a sharp eye. Contrary to its bland exterior, the inside was nothing short of extravagant, with custom furniture, a huge full-length mirror running along the entire left wall, and numerous walk-in closets.

“This used to be a dressing room but its location was so inconvenient, nobody ever used it,” Bona said as Chanyoung surveyed the room. He saw a Jeguk uniform hanging inside a closet, and wondered why Bona would keep her uniform here of all places. He turned his gaze to the yellow folder, and looked at Bona expectantly.

With a huff, she opened the folder and the papers in his face.

“It’s homework, okay? Just homework, are you satisfied now?”

“Homework?! I came all this way to drop off your homework?!”

“I never told you to do it!”

“Why is my father doing it?”

“He volunteered to!”

“Why would he do that?”

When she didn’t respond, Chanyoung asked the other question he was even more curious about. “Why can’t you come to class and get it yourself? Why aren’t you going to school?”

More silence.

“Clearly, you care about school; if you didn’t, I wouldn’t be here giving you your homework.”

How can someone be this stubborn, Chanyoung thought to himself.

“How do you think your parents feel about this? Are you trying to disappoint them?”

“They don’t know.”

“What?! How do they not know?”

“I didn’t tell them.”

“Don’t they notice?”

Again, no response. But this time, something clicked for Chanyoung.

“You’ve been coming here instead, haven’t you? Your uniform is here and your books are here.”

She fell into silence again, and Chanyoung frustrations reached a boiling point.

“Lee Bona, when have you ever been silent? This is the quietest I’ve ever seen you, and to be honest, it’s kind of scary.”

Bona glared at him, “This is none of your business. I don’t want to see someone, so I don’t want to go to school.”

Chanyoung laughed in disbelief, “All this because of one person? Who is so important to make you act like this,” but after he said it, he realized he already knew the answer. “It’s Kim Tan, isn’t it? If this is all because you guys had a fight or broke u- OW!” A stuffed little pig had been hurled at him and hit him smack in the face.

“You have no idea what's going on and this is none of your business!” she yelled again as she proceeded to grab her stuffed giraffe as ammo.

“All I’m saying is this isn’t you. You are not the type of person to run away and hide from their problems. You are not the type to let someone step all over you. I don’t know you very well, Lee Bona, and you don’t know me. But as an outsider looking in, your fire is dimming. Don’t let it go out."

The giraffe was thrown, but with significantly less force Chanyoung noticed, as he easily caught it in his hand.  He got up and made his way to the door.

“I’ll see you at school,” he said before exiting.

As soon as the door closed, Bona let out a sigh of relief and collapsed on the couch. She lay there for a long time with her eyes closed, no feeling, just breathing. That was probably the most talking she had done in the past week. She hadn't said much to anyone really, mostly because she had nothing to say. Bona was not proud of how she was acting, and she was embarassed that a complete stranger like Yoon Chanyoung had seen her in this state. Weakness. He had seen her weakness, and that was Bona's greatest fear in life. 

Bona is so strong, Bona is so beautiful, Bona is so perfect. She had grown up hearing this, and that was what she must live by. Chanyoung was right about thing, she realized. She could not let one boy, especially someone like Kim Tan, ruin her. Her feelings had been her demise. She would never make that mistake again, with anyone. 

Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 2! As a side note, the Kim Tan/Yoo Rachel engagement has not been announced yet, so no one knows about it, hence all the questions about Bona's absense. As for Secretary Yoon's involvement, I really liked their interactions in Heirs, it seemed so father-daughterly to me, so I wanted to incorporate that more here too. Lastly, regarding the Kim Tan/Lee Bona relationship, it's definitely a lot more serious in this story (at least in Bona's point of view) than it was portrayed in the drama. 

I have lots of good stuff waiting for you guys, so stay tuned and see how the Chanbo story unfolds!