Chapter 1    

“Do you think this piece of nonsense will be accepted?” Daeyoung said tonelessly as she threw the file heartlessly to her desk. The young woman picked up the file shakily and apologized.

“Get me a new one tomorrow, if you can’t, be sure to kiss this company goodbye,” Daeyoung said that and walked out of her office leaving the woman.

At the corner of the room, a young man watched the scene and sighed. He walked to the woman and patted the shoulder.

“I have no capability to help you, intern, but stay strong, she may be strict, but I believe she does care about you,” the young man said and the intern bowed at him.

“Thank you Mr. Kyungsoo, I promise I will do my best! I won’t disappoint you!” the intern said determinedly and Kyungsoo smiled.

“That’s good to hear.”

“Are you helping the staffs again?” Daeyoung asked as soon as Kyungsoo entered the car and sat beside her. Her eyes were transfixed with her phone’s screen.

“Not really,” Kyungsoo answered nonchalantly and Daeyoung smirked a little.

“You shouldn’t be that generous, it is business and even the slightest mistake can’t be tolerated,” Daeyoung said while still looking on her phone.

“Yeah, but tolerance is also one of the most important elements in business, agassi,” Kyungsoo replied and Daeyoung chuckled lowly. That marked the end of their conversation.

Kyungsoo stared at the busy street, the rain had just stopped and it somehow created a melancholic atmosphere. Kyungsoo then returned his gaze to his phone and checked their next schedule. A dinner with the Park Group. Kyungsoo smiled faintly and stared at his agassi.

Daeyoung suddenly coughed continuously and Kyungsoo straightened his back, he then took a still sealed mineral water and tissue to her. Daeyoung accepted it gratefully and sipped a good amount of it, when the cough stopped, she handed the bottle back to Kyungsoo and her face was flustered from the cough.

Kyungsoo frowned and patted her back, “I know you’re busy nowadays, but health should always be your top priority.” Daeyoung nodded a bit and muttered an ‘I-know’. Seeing that, Kyungsoo chuckled and stated, “Aren’t you cute, agassi?”

Daeyoung finally turned to Kyungsoo, her face flat but with a hint of faux irritation. She cleared and said, “Let’s get down, shall we?”

Kyungsoo raised his brow only to realize that they had arrived at their destination, a luxurious five-star hotel. The hotel had a large breath-taking garden in front of it and it turned out that Daeyoung, being fond of flowers, didn’t want to miss the magnificent view as she had asked the chauffer to stop the car in front of the path on the garden that would lead them to the hotel.

Kyungsoo closed the door after Daeyoung stepped out and the car took off. Kyungsoo then followed Daeyoung from behind. Daeyoung was the illustration of the word gorgeous, with her goddess-like face, deep coffee eyes, full cherry lips, and porcelain skin, Daeyoung was the dream girl of every man. For such young age, Daeyoung had already been given a big responsibility, she had to take over her father’s business, but she always managed to finish everything and not just like that, she did everything perfectly, not even allowing any flaws. If not for the faint tiredness emitted from her body, Kyungsoo would have thought she was a wonder woman. Well, actually, she was.

But even if business has consumed up our mind, there’s always a space for love right? Kyungsoo silently thought as he watched Daeyoung tucked her lips performing a genuine smile, a smile that didn’t belong to him again.

Only that the space has been taken.

Kyungsoo watched Daeyoung walked quickly and encircled her arms to someone’s body, her fiancé. Kyungsoo then ended his thought as he saw Baekhyun coming from afar with his butler, Sungmin. If Daeyoung was concealing her tiredness, then Baekhyun was the opposite, besides from his handsome face, every gesture he did showed how exhausted he was.

Baekhyun walked to Kyungsoo while still talking with his client. Both Daeyoung and Baekhyun worked at their father’s company and held high position. But being a newbie, Baekhyun was being given a lot of work to assure that he’s ready to hold an even higher position, even though it’s not as high as Daeyoung’s. In the past, Daeyoung also experienced that, only at that time, the work was not as complicated as now.

“Yes, Mr. Lim, we guarantee you our products are the best of the era. You won’t regret placing your investment to this product; it will definitely make a large profit...” Baekhyun continued his conversation while his free hand was doing fist pump with Kyungsoo. That’s the only thing that differentiated the way how the Hwang siblings worked. Daeyoung gained investors by proving to them the satisfying results; Baekhyun, on the other hand, could easily got customers with his sweet but persuasive words. The duo really made a good team in business.

Baekhyun ended his phone call and showed his hyung a victorious smile, Kyungsoo smiled back and ruffled his hair, “Nice one, Mr. Lim is one of the hard-to-get clients.”

Baekhyun nodded knowingly and then looked at her sister and her fiancé who surprisingly had made quite a gap from them, “My, my, what have we done till we are left behind?”

Kyungsoo watched Daeyoung from afar and shrugged, “Dun no, maybe it’s because you’re so slow and I am too mesmerized looking at you.”

Just as soon as Kyungsoo finished that, Baekhyun just could roll his eyes dramatically, shook his head, and muttered, “Sorry, but sometimes I can’t understand why I adored you so much in the past.”

“Kai, are you really returning to Japan?” Daeyoung asked as she turned to look at him.

“Yeah, my relative is getting married soon, besides, it’s just for a week, and again, why won’t you go? If you go, then you don’t have to endure missing me,” Kai ended and smirked.

“I can’t, work is pilling. I think we have talked about it,” Daeyoung said and bit her inner cheek..

Kai’s face hardened and his lips became thin lines, “So, your love for me is not more important that your work?”

“No, it’s not like that, it’s just-“Daeyoung was unable to finish her sentence.

“It’s just this, it’s just that, it’s just everything! Forget about the offer! You love your office more, anyway,” Kai ended his words and left Daeyoung.

Daeyoung bit her lips hard, she felt like crying, but there’s just no tears coming out. Kai was right, she should have spare more time with him rather than pushing herself to work, but she just couldn’t. Daeyoung felt so frustrated that she wanted to burst into lava. However, putting herself together, she managed to put aside every negative thought with a deep breath.

Daeyoung then realized that she had left Kyungsoo behind, so she turned around and found them, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, racing to her way, with Baekhyun’s butler calling them desperately from behind. The scene was quite comical and Daeyoung couldn’t help but to let a chuckle escaped her lips. How long had it been since she watched this heart-warming scene? She didn’t know, one thing for sure, it had been a long time ago, either it’s because she was busy or because she didn’t notice.

They entered the large lobby; the lobby’s design was classy yet sophisticated. Strong white pillars stood as the primary foundation of the building, the wall was cover in gold wallpaper with complex texture, and the floor was made of marble. A receptionist greeted them and led them to the ballroom.

Inside the ballroom, there’s a sea of people from high status. At the middle of the ballroom, there’s a long glass table which length was almost three quarter of the room’s. Above the table was arranged with a variety of delicious feast.

Almost as soon as the Hwangs stepped in the ballroom, every gaze was at them. No wonder, the Hwang was the most influential family in South Korea. Moreover, after Daeyoung with Baekhyun entered the company, everything got even a lot better.

The Hwang siblings and their butlers bowed and the guests preceded their former activity. The group of four walked towards a certain tall young man who was circled by a group of other youngsters. The man saw them and waved.

“Yo, Hwangs!” the tall man called them and the people around him also smiled at them.

“Good evening Daeyoung,” the tall man greeted with his deep voice and brought Daeyoung’s hand to his lips.

“Happy birthday, Chanyeol,” Daeyoung congratulated him and smiled.

Chanyeol turned to Baekhyun and had a hug, “Happy belated day, ma’ fella.”

Kyungsoo did a fist pump and silently wished him good health while Sungmin just bowed at him.

“Good to see you guys coming here! Oh, do you still remember these guys?” Chanyeol drank his champagne while showing his friends.

“Wait, wait, wait. I know, we’re classmates right?” Baekhyun guessed and the other male raised his eyebrow smugly, but nodded in the end. The group resumed talking and laughed some more.

The Hwangs had a really good time with them. Baekhyun was two years younger than Daeyoung, but the talent of talkative mouth did actualy bring a lot of benefits, like friends. They moved on from Chanyeol’s group and met a lot of old friends and talked to them, they also met the owners of large companies. Baekhyun and Daeyoung finally separated to socialize on their own.

Daeyoung decided to settle down and got herself champagne. The party had no longer held the formal atmosphere as the dinner finished. A lot of elders had gone home, leaving the youngsters at the soon-to-be club ballroom. As if on cue, the DJ started the song and everyone hit the dance floor. From afar, Chanyeol signaled Daeyoung to come but she shook her head lightly. Her gaze wandered idly at the people dancing and she sighed. Everyone has changed.

Daeyoung ever thought she was the only one who had changed for the past years, but after talking with almost all of her alumni, she realized that everyone was different, not entirely different, they seemed to add the touch of maturity in every of their gestures, their manner. She still remembered when they were still high scholars, everyone was still oblivious of their responsibility, now, everyone seemed to carry at least one burden on their shoulders. Well, that’s life.

Daeyoung chuckled and sipped her champagne. Daeyoung was about to stand up when she heard a giggle. Daeyoung sat on the cushion near the corridor so it’s actually not so uncommon hearing weird noises, even though for her, it’s inappropriate doing something like that at this high class gathering. Daeyoung’s lips tucked up in a mocking manner and she shook her head. But the next noise completely made her petrify.

It was Kai’s.

Daeyoung hated being a busy-body, but if it’s needed, she was ready to do that. Taking steps that were as silent as possible, Daeyoung slowly walked towards the source of noise. It was dark at the end of the corridor but Daeyoung could make out two figures. Daeyoung took some small steps and she could simply conclude that they were kissing, passionately.

A gushed of dim light found its way to the dark corridor and Daeyoung could see the man who, coincidentally, also looked at her with horrified eyes.

Daeyoung felt her heart stopped pumping for a second. She was unable to utter a word, she just stared at them. Kai pushed the woman aside and walked to her.

“Daeyoung-ah... We-, I can ex-“

“Don’t,” Daeyoung stopped Kai’s hand that was reaching to her face. Daeyoung looked at him, “Don’t, you don’t need to explain, I think what I saw is already a vivid explanation. Thank you for everything...” Daeyoung hesitated to say the next word, but it finally escaped her lips.