Hate To Love You | JinKook

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jungkook reached up to tug on the bowtie around his neck. He winced uncomfortably, subtly readjusting the tie before it choked him out. He could hardly breathe and it wasn’t just the tie.

Since he arrived at the Governor’s annual gala, all attention had shifted from the actual person of interest which was the Governor and the cameras focused on him, reporters throwing questions at him and speaking above one another. They wanted to hear his own side of the story on Hanuel’s assault.

"Out of the way!” Lee had said sternly, before pulling him through the red carpet and into the building, but that didn’t take away the spotlight from him. All eyes in the hall fell on him, curious and assumptious. But mostly, they kept their words to themselves, but a few daring ones approached him after his parents had disappeared into the party to mingle.

“Did he really force himself on you?” Mrs. Cha, wife of the Minister of Health, had said, her well-trimmed brows raised. “Hanuel’s a good kid. I can’t imagine him doing something like that.”

“Maybe you got the wrong idea. I don’t think he meant it to be an assault. You could have misunderstood his actions,” said another woman, whose face barely moved despite speaking for three whole minutes and laughing in between. So many adults but a few matured ones.

He wanted to get away from there, but this was his punishment for keeping quiet on the whole incident. He would accompany his mother and father to every event they went to for the next three months, without complaining.

“You’re going to take over the enterprise any day soon. You need to start acquainting yourself with the movers and shakers in the industry,” his father had said. To him, having Jungkook accompany them was not just a punishment but a means to create a bond between Jungkook and the people that could help him navigate the business world in the future.

Jungkook understood that. He’d been doing that since he was born. Learning how to manage his father’s empire, which was scary as hell considering the magnanimity of it. There were twenty supermarkets, fourteen restaurants, ten apartment complexes and eight hotels around the world, all of which Jungkook would be in charge of some day.

More times than he could recall, he’d thought about that day when it would finally happen. When the mantle would finally be passed down to him and he’d get to prove whether he had it in him to run an empire or run it to the ground.

And to be honest, he wasn’t ready and he didn’t look forward to that day.

Jungkook dropped his almost full glass of cocktail on the bar counter and excused himself from the midst of a couple of kids of affluent figures in the society like him, and made his way to the restroom. He just needed a minute away from the loud talks and cameras and inquisitive comments and fake smiles. He needed to breathe.

Luckily, the restroom was empty. He made his way to the mirror, staring back at his reflection. His mother had had his suit tailor-made from Milan by a reputable fashion designer. It was a black three-piece suit, that fitted his slim physique so well.