005. my worth

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The next day at work, more people were staring at Jihyun and whispering about her. She glared them off, her dark, almost black-like eyes stared them down as she walked from the elevator to her office.

She got started on any new documents for the case for Big Hit before doing any new ones. Her head perked up when she heard a knock on her door, it opened and Jinho stood there.

"Can I help you?" Jihyun asked with an eyebrow raised at the man, clearing finding his visit unannounced and disturbing.

"You wanna explain why your face is on every magazine?" He said, throwing down a few newspapers. Her face was zoomed in, especially the ones of her when she hugged her little brother in the parking lot. She scanned through them and saw a few more of her with the other boys.

"I went out for dinner last night, with my brother and his friends." She rolled her eyes, Jinho sat there in shock.

"You? Related to Jeon Jungkook?" He said with a big grin, he pulled out the chair and sat down, staring at the woman in front of him. "Huh. You two don't look anything alike."

"We have different mothers. I look like mine." She spat.

"Juicy. Anything else?"

"I don't want to talk about my personal life with you. There was a reason I didn't want to involve my work life with my personal one. If you don't have anything work-related to talk to me about, I ask you to leave-"

"Jihyun?" The door swung open and Namjoon stood there. Jihyun stood up. "Oh, sorry, Were you with a client? Your assistant said you were free-"

"No. This is Bi Jinho, he's my partner-"

"I'm technically her boss but she doesn't listen to me quite like the others," Jinho smirked, shaking Namjoon's hand.

"Oh, if that's the case then, they sent me over to ask her to work with us today," Namjoon says, staring at his sister.

"Please, she's all yours." Jihyun started packing up her things, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not an object to be shared, Jinho." The man chuckled before leaving, bidding goodbye to the world star and his partner.

"So... he seems like more than a boss."

"Yeah, he's my partner in most cases."

"I mean... beyond a working relationship." Namjoon said, Jihyun scoffed and grabbed her things, walking out the door with the much taller man.

"He asked me out a few times, he's a playboy, that one."

"I assume you said no since you're speaking about him that way."

"I'm a woman, a young, pretty woman. Do you know what the people would say about me if I dated my boss? They would say that I have everything I earned because of the guy."

"Understandable." He spoke, walking through the lot to the car where their manager had waited for the pair.

"I'm guessing you guys need me because of all the media," Jihyun spoke, Namjoon nodded.

"You know the kind of media in the entertainment industry, always wanting to know everything about the celebrities, who they're dating, the girls they were with. It's just like that."

"Yeah, well, I can get this all fixed in a couple hours. It shouldn't impact you guys a lot."

"The news is already out there and people already have their opinions."

"So what do you suppose we do?"

"You'll just have to wait and see."

♚♚♚

"Are you out of your goddamn mind!?" Jihyun yelled, her English accent thick when speaking. She glanced at the boss and the seven members in front of her. "No, no way in hell."

"It's the only way we can do something and not look like we're covering up. It's our best option, and as our lawyer, I would think that you'd understand that."

"No, don't talk to me about what's in my client's best interest. There are many ways to get what you want without exploiting me on national television."

"We're not exploiting you, we're just introducing you to the world as Jungkook's sister. Who you actually are." She scoffed, crossing her arms as she stared at her brother expectantly. She expected him to defend her but he just avoided her gaze. She rolled her eyes, storming out of the room.

"Jihyun-" She heard before the door slammed shut. Namjoon went after her, telling them to wait in the room. "Jihyun. Wait. Come on." He said, walking after her.

He walked in front of her, making her look at him. Namjoon stared at Jihyun, giving her a look to tell him what was wrong,

"The news has been out for 12 hours and in those 12 hours, they all looked at me differently." Namjoon's eyes softened at her, he knew what she was talking about. His sister went through the same thing once he got famous. "Every ounce of respect I've earned in the two years I worked there, gone. Just because I'm his older sister."

He saw the tears lining her eyes, he hadn't expected her to get vulnerable with him so quickly. He didn't know what to do. She didn't even know why she was letting herself be vulnerable to him.

"It was like they were mocking me. Thinking that 'of course she didn't get to the top by herself, her brother must've done something to help'. Like me and my hard work alone wasn't enough. I'll never gain the respect I deserve, no matter how many cases I win or how good of a lawyer I am, I will never be enough." She said, her voice shaking as she leaned against the wall. Her black blazer hit the white back as her hands gripped the white blouse she wore underneath.

Her eyes widened when she felt arms wrap around her.

"You don't need to be enough for them. They don't deserve a second of your time." He whispered. She let herself wrap her arms around his waist, tightening her grip. She was so touch-starved. She melted into his warmth, wanting to stay there. She liked feeling safe there.

She let herself break down. She never showed signs of it, because she never let herself be vulnerable. She never could afford to.

"No one is ever on my side." She said weakly. Namjoon felt his heart break at how weak her voice sounded.

"That's not true, I'm on your side, Jungkook is always on your side-"

"He's not. He can't be." She said, not pulling away. She closed her eyes, not letting any tears slip out of her eyes. "I didn't see him for 17 years. I barely know him, he barely knows me. The company and you boys are more family than I'll ever be." She felt her throat close up, she hated the topic of family because she never felt like she had one.

"No... don't say that." Namjoon comforted.

"He has his loyalties... the company and BTS is where his loyalties lie. You guys raised him since he was 14, I left him for basically all of his life and it didn't affect him. I'm biologically his half-sister, but I will never earn the title of big sister. Not to him, as much as he wants to believe, I'm not his sister." Tears ran down her eyes, Namjoon's heart ached for her.

She was in more pain than she was letting on, Namjoon could tell.

He knew she wasn't only the confident, strong, fearless woman she always puts up. She is all of that and more, she confident, strong, intelligent, fearless and damaged.

He knew she was damaged. He could feel it as her tears soaked his shirt.

She was damaged and afraid.

She was fearless and afraid.

But of what, he didn't know yet. At least not all of it.

MY LAW • knjWhere stories live. Discover now