He doesn't bite!

❈ | chapter twenty four

“You’ll be fine, don’t overstress. He already told you before that your project is great,” Hyunjin said, putting a plate of sandwiches before her. But an unintentional glance at her phone screen made his eyes widen slightly for less than a second before going back to normal.

“Not great,” she sighed before taking a sandwich and standing up. “I’ll just take a long drive to ease my nerves. See ya.” She waved as she walked away, taking a bite of the sandwich.

“Good luck!” He smiled, even though she couldn’t see him, but his smile eventually disappeared with her.

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"Why the hell are you everywhere?" Jiyu muttered, her mouth agape as she watched Jeongin sitting in the meeting room with a wide smile, swinging in his chair. Clearly, he, she, and Minho were the only early ones.

"You know each other?" Minho asked as he returned the side hug Jiyu gave him before she took her seat.

"Acquaintances," Jeongin answered before looking at Jiyu. "The cosmetics company you’re working for is my family’s. Dad sent me today to represent the company because he knew I could handle some fun."

"Fun?" Jiyu furrowed her eyebrows, but they couldn’t answer her as more designers and managers entered the room—Minjun included.

Everyone started showing their designs for the new line, and Jiyu relaxed as time went by, realizing her design would probably be the best.

Until it was Minjun’s turn.

The moment his design showed up on the projector, her body froze.

It was hers.

Slight changes, but it was hers.

"If we’re targeting women, then we need to catch their eyes with something they love. Burgundy is currently a trend, and we also know how women go insane when it comes to supernaturals—"

"Yah!" Jiyu yelled, standing up as she couldn’t contain her rage anymore, her chair almost falling as she did.

Everyone looked at her with different reactions: calm (Minho), amused (Jeongin), and confused (everyone else).

Minjun furrowed his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

Jiyu scoffed. "Excuse you? Excuse you?! How dare you?! This is my design! You fuc—" Minho raised his hand, silently telling her to stop before she could curse, his calm gaze staying on Minjun.

"Minjun… you know what stealing could cost you in my company? It can cost you your whole career."

"Why are you so sure I’m the one who stole her idea and not the opposite? I think you’re a little biased, Mr. Lee."

"Well, I can answer that," Jeongin said enthusiastically as he raised his arms before hopping off his chair and grabbing his laptop, smiling smugly at Minjun as he connected his laptop to the projector.

"Any version of the designs was sent to me by Minho, as you can see," he scrolled through the files, then clicked on one titled Yang Jiyu. "Jiyu’s first version was submitted by the end of March," he clicked on it, showing the project before editing, followed by many edited versions. "Really impressive if you ask me."

He smiled at Jiyu before looking at Minjun, who looked at him with wide eyes, beads of sweat showing on his forehead.

"Now, let’s see Minjun’s," he clicked his file, showing one version. "One version, submitted ten days ago."

Whispers and judgmental looks filled the room, but it all stopped when Jeongin spoke again, his smile now gone.

"You really thought we would decide our new line’s design through a mere few minutes’ meeting?" He raised a judging brow. "We check every single detail, and the design was already decided before this meeting. We will consider all the good ideas, but the main design will be Yang Jiyu’s."

He smiled when he looked at Jiyu, then his smile vanished again as he looked at Minjun, tutting. "You’re giving me secondhand embarrassment. Know who you deal with next time… dumbass."

Minho chuckled, making everyone look at him before he looked at Minjun.

"There won’t be a next time. You’re required to be in Human Resources, Minjun. Meeting’s over."

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Jeongin was regretting his life decisions and trying to hide his face—and existence—after telling Jisung what happened. He wished the guy had a turn-off button or something; it was like he unlocked a lawyer inside a marketing company.

Meanwhile, Jiyu took her purse without anyone noticing and stood next to the nearest elevator to the Human Resources room, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she leaned her back against the wall.

A click made her look up to see Minjun coming out of the room, his face as pale as death, and when their eyes met, she could sense his anger.
The audacity.

The sound of her heels felt like torture to his ears as she got closer.

"So that’s why you wanted to date me?" she tilted her head as she stopped before him, raising an eyebrow. "Having a beautiful, successful woman so you could manipulate her and take all the results of her hard work for yourself?"

"You’re so full of yourself..." he gritted out, and she smirked.

"Oh, I am," she took another step forward, standing next to him for a second. She looked at him with a lazy smile as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "And we both know that fact, Minjun. From the very beginning... I’m out of your league."

She patted his shoulder before getting into the elevator when it arrived, looking at him with a relaxed face—yet eyes full of hatred.

"Good luck finding a job... and a life."

Then the elevator door closed. She sighed, undoing her hair tie before leaning against the wall and taking out her phone, sending a voice note.

"Minho, I’m taking the day off."

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To be continued...

A/N:

I know you had higher expectations for this chapter :)

I'm sorry for the late update, and actually updates won't be that fast because I genuinely don't find that much time.

I'll try writing another chapter during my off days, but no promises, the next chapters are the most important ones so I can't risk their quality.

Love  you <3