When we arrived at the hotel the Kim brothers were staying at about an hour later, I was almost tickled to see that it was an Oh Hotel. It made sense though - they probably got a great nightly rate given the number of shares they had.

I was calm now that I was away from the restaurant, and by the time we reached a large conference suite, I felt just like normal. Sehun was now the main focus of my attention, since he had tensed up considerably upon arrival, seemingly feeling the pressure on his shoulders now. Today wasn’t a great day to be either of us, it seemed.

Already there was the lawyer, Zhang Yixing, who I had called on the way here to meet us. When he saw us, he got to his feet and approached us.

“It’s lovely to see you again, Miss Lee,” he smiled at me with a dimpled grin that said there was no cruelty in the world at all.

“And you, Mr Zhang. Were you able to get the contract ready in time?”

The lawyer looked almost mischievous then. “Of course.”

Shortly after skimming through the contract, the four of us were asked to take a seat whilst we waiting for our guests. Mr Zhang placed himself into the corner of the room beside a plant that he seemed to be rather interested in.

“The Kims,” a tall man announced, causing the three of us sitting to turn. Luhan hopped to his feet, smiling happily at the sight of the two approaching men. Sehun’s eyes flicked to me once, a slight pucker of worry between his brows before he too got to his feet, no doubt copying Luhan. I also stood with the other two and waited for the two men to come closer.

If I hadn’t known that they had just come off a plane, I wouldn’t have guessed it at all. Both looked so refreshed that one might have believed that they had just returned from a luxury spa holiday. The older of the two was now no taller than his younger brother, maybe even a little smaller and had his hair styled loosely but smartly. The younger had his hair now styled with a fringe, unlike the last time I had seen him but his smile remained just as bright as always.

“Minseok,” Luhan greeted warmly, holding his hand out to the older of the two. “It’s been too long.”

Minseok nodded his head at this, glancing at the hand. “Yes, it really has since we now greet one another with handshakes.”

Luhan chuckled a little awkwardly at this as Minseok finally took his hand and shook it firmly. “It’s all just formality, isn’t it?”

The younger brother, Jongdae, stepped forwards then, also holding his hand out, “So much for visiting us last summer,” he teased Luhan lightly.

Looking rather abashed, Luhan glanced away. “I know, I know, but business has been pretty hectic,” he motioned towards me then. “But it’s nice we can all meet like this.”

Minseok stepped around Luhan so that he was now standing in front of me, extending a small hand for me to take. “It feels like it’s been years,” he smiled, somehow reminding me of an adorable hamster. It was hard to believe that this was the owner of a multibillion dollar company.

“It has been,” I amended, holding out my hand towards him

“And you must be Oh Sehun,” Minseok said, appraising the tallest among us with slight scrutiny.

Sehun’s eyes glanced towards me once as if to seek verification that his name was indeed Sehun.

“That’s right, Sir,” Sehun politely replied, bowing his head towards Minseok.

“Minseok is fine,” he corrected. “I get enough of being called ‘Sir’ in the office, let’s not do it here, too.”

Sehun nodded, face softening a little at Minseok’s gentle tone.

“I’m Kim Jongdae,” the younger piped up, holding out a hand to Sehun. “We’re used to western life so it’s a little funny for us to be called so formally.”

“Shall we sit?” Luhan suggested then, his hand brushing against my arm slightly.

The older men nodded, each sitting.

“Before we get down to business talk, tell us how you’ve been,” Minseok asked Luhan and I as a seat was lifted out for him.

Luhan shifted a little in his seat. “Mira and I have graduated now, and are both in university.”

“And engaged,” Jongdae added, smiling as he sat down next to a rather tense Sehun. I imagined that the two of us both probably looked a little odd sitting there with our straight backs.

“That too,” Luhan admitted a little awkwardly.

Minseok hummed a little at this. “We can’t say we were surprised when we saw the article,” he pointed to his brother and himself as he said this. “The two of you were dating for a while, weren’t you?”

Again, Luhan looked very uncomfortable at having to lie to two people who had his utmost respect, but he gave a little nod, “That’s right.”

“Have you begun planning the wedding yet?” Jongdae asked me, leaning on his hands. “My mother keeps trying to set up marriage meetings for me but I’m really not interested right now. Not in something arranged, anyway.”

I shook my head, also feeling bad about the lie.

“Are you alright?” Minseok asked, eyebrow furrowing a little as he suddenly became aware of my rather unnatural position.

“Yes, fine.”

Jongdae nodded along whilst Minseok just glanced between the three of us as if he was trying to work out what our relationship was.

No sooner had we all been served a glass of water than Minseok’s curiosity got the better of him. “How do the three of you know one another? I didn’t even know that there was a son to Oh Hotels until recently.”

“Childhood friends,” Luhan said, smiling at the two of us. Sehun nodded along a little awkwardly to this, his eyes fixed almost constantly on me. But it didn’t feel like I was being gawked at, oddly enough.

“Just friends?” Jongdae pressed, his eyes on Sehun as he continued to watch me. At this question, my eyes darted to Sehun’s and I felt myself instantly relax a little at the utter calm he was suddenly exuding my way.

Sehun calmly replied, “Just friends." There was a slight silence, and I thought for a moment that the two brothers might have more questions.

“Now, Mira, would you like to elaborate what you were saying on the phone?” Minseok asked, seemingly satisfied and finally getting down to business. “It was a very interesting proposal you sent to us.”

“The board meeting the day after tomorrow,” I began, my throat feeling incredibly dry so I reached for my water. “I’m wanting to put forward the notion for the removal of the CEO.”

The two brothers shifted a little bit at this statement, and it was Minseok that collected himself first. “You’re not a rash thinker, there must be some sort of reason for this.”

My head nodded again as I reached for my folder, struggling to undo the fastening a little, but finally getting the sheets out. I hesitated right before handing them over, suddenly aware that this would probably be our last chance to back out. But I handed them over in the end.

“As you can see,” Luhan piped in as the brothers’ probing eyes glanced over the sheets. “There are a lot of illegal goings-on, particularly with tax avoidance and stock price manipulation. If this isn’t fixed in some way, the company is set to become financially unstable and risks liquidation. All your investments will be lost, and I’m sure neither of you want that.”

“Then why not just sell our shares?” Jongdae proposed, looking to his brother. “Then we wouldn’t have to be involved in any of this mess at all.”

Minseok was less brash, instead fixing his eyes onto me. “If you want to remove the CEO, I’m curious as to whom you think would replace him.”

I motioned loosely, if a little shakily, towards Sehun. “Either Sehun or his brother.”

Jongdae raised his eyebrows a little at this information. “My, my, Mr Oh sure does like to keep a lot of secret heirs, doesn’t he?”

“What percentage in the company does he have?”

“Six.”

Both brother scoffed a little at this. Jongdae raised an eyebrow, “Only six? How’s he supposed to maintain a company with so little? It would be very hard.”

“We have four percent each,” I told them, pointing between Luhan and I. “And we would gladly hand it back over to him. We have very little interest in the hotel industry.”

“It’s not about interest – it’s about profit,” Minseok added with a hard gaze on the three of us. It made a slight feeling of panic grow within me.

“Fourteen percent is a little better,” Jongdae admitted, considering this. “But I don’t know if it’s enough to secure his position if we were to go for this.”

“Neither is ready to be a CEO yet, so what we’re asking for is a little more than that.”

Minseok leaned forwards a little then, eyes narrowing slightly. “What are you suggesting then?”

Luhan and I exchanged a quick glance, then I looked to Sehun for his final nod of approval. It was given.

“We want you to act as the interim CEO.”

The brothers exchanged a quick glance, then Minseok spoke up, “This is business, not personal in any way. And we are going to treat it as such. We have a large number of shares under our control within Oh Hotels, more than the three of you have together, but it isn’t enough to gain a majority. If the five of us were to join forces, we would have a shot at gaining the majority and it would most likely be enough to stave off any threats.”

“But in return,” Jongdae added. “We would want some sort of guarantee. In order to be the interim CEO, one of us would need to move here; work here. Whilst I think the profit would be enough, we need some sort of guarantee that it’s not just going to be for a couple of weeks. Do you catch our drift?”

Luhan glanced towards Sehun and I as if trying to get our opinions on the matter. We both just sat there silently for a moment. “Could you give us a moment to discuss it?” Luhan asked, making to stand.

Jongdae waved off his attempt. “We’ll leave you alone.”

Once the two brothers had sauntered off to the bar, the first thing I did was exhale. “That could have gone a lot worse.”

Luhan ignored this, his business-side activated. “But the guarantee, what should it be?”

“Can they be trusted?” Sehun interrupted. “I want Kyungsoo to have the option of inheriting it when he’s older.”

“They can be. But you’d have to lay out your plans for the future now to avoid future issues. They’re very honest brothers with their businesses, but they expect nothing but honesty in return. Otherwise they will be completely ruthless.”

“And you’re absolutely sure?” Sehun clarified. “The reason I’m doing this is because of Kyungsoo. If his future isn’t going to be safe, then I don’t want to risk it.”

Luhan shifted a little beside me. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s one hundred percent assured, but I’ve never known nor heard of either of them acting underhandedly. At the end of the day, though, it’s your decision.”

Sehun’s gaze moved to me, his eyes piercing. “What do you think I should do?” he asked quietly.

“I’m sorry but I really can’t think of another way,” I admitted guiltily.

Sehun was silent for a m