The Bitch & The Bastard | Jaehyun

𝑓𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛

Mrs. Jung was a shrewd woman, sharper than her peers and always the smartest one in the room. There was little that got past her without her noticing but despite her rough edges, she was kind to those whom she loved, only her way of displaying that kindness was a little unconventional.

Dressed in an expensive, grey fitted dress with her short hair tied neatly in a bun and tall heels on her stockinged feet, she was sitting in the President's chair in Jaehyun's office, her face devoid of all emotion.

Across from her, was Jaehyun who had been staring at her dumbfounded for the past minute, unable to comprehend what he had just been told.

'So...' he began, the words stuttering in his mind, 'you mean to say that you drafted those insane conditions on the NDA for Haeyoung?'

Mrs. Jung leaned back leaned back in the chair in response, her expression unchanged.

But Jaehyun was angry, and in front of his mother, barely a child. 'I don't understand... why would you make her do that?'

'Please,' Mrs. Jung snickered, 'that girl does what she wants. I merely suggested it but she made her own decision.'

Jaehyun was having a hard time swallowing the bile that was burning his insides. 'Why would you suggest it in the first place?' he gritted out with difficulty.

'I wanted someone responsible in the office,' she said, evenly, 'and someone who is not a bootlicker around you.'

'Sit back down!' Jaehyun yelled at Jungwoo behind him. In the last hour, Jungwoo had tried to leave multiple times but between Mrs. Jung and Jaehyun, it was nearly impossible to even speak, let alone leave.

'Do you know how much we fought because of you?!' Jaehyun yelled at his mother.

Mrs. Jung raised an eyebrow. 'I don't remember coming to the office to feed words into your mouth, Jaehyun.'

His mother was right and he knew it but Jaehyun was frustrated and more than anything, desperate to contact Haeyoung right now. He had called her every minute of the last hour but she had declined his every attempt.

'I thought you would see the value in her,' Mrs. Jung said, 'but unfortunately, what I saw earlier...'

'I do!' he protested, hating how juvenile his tone sounded. 'I- why are you even here?'

'Oh, right. I was here to congratulate you on the deal,' she said. 'If I was still here, I would have done the same thing.'

The statement did nothing but pinch Jaehyun exactly where it hurt.

'It was all Haeyoung,' he mumbled and it was the truth too. It was her who had informed him of Mr. Moon's partnership plan in the first place and she who had put in the initial work and the final effort to secure the deal for Jung Enterprises.

'I know,' Mrs. Jung said, after a pause. 'That proposal had her mark all over it.'

'You saw the proposal?' he asked, shocked.

'I see everything that goes around here,' she replied, fixing Jaehyun under her gaze, 'and I know what goes on between people too...'

Jaehyun didn't have to ask to know what she had meant; he knew nothing ever went unnoticed by his mother.

'You screwed up, didn't you?' Mrs. Jung asked, her tone suddenly warm.

Sighing, he nodded.

'Now you want to leave and go find her,' she said, seeing how Jaehyun had been frantically tapping the heel of his boot against the floor for the past thirty minutes, his eyes darting from his phone to Haeyoung's office and back to his phone every chance he got.