Only You

Chapter 33

He's changed, I realized.

Placing my earbuds in and looking the other way, I tried to blast away my thoughts with music. 

IU's POV

"Lee Hyeyoung."

I stood to bow to the strict and classy looking woman who had just entered, someone that was nearly unrecognizable to me. 

Three others followed behind her, making it clear that my mother was the real boss around here. Lay and Krystal also got up and bowed. 

"Have you all reviewed the necessary information?" she asked, her tone extremely professional.

You'd think that we had no connection whatsoever.

"Yes, we have." Lay answered, handing her his packet. 

She reached out a well manicured hand to receive it, and flipped through the packet with an approving nod.

"This information is highly confidential, so in no situation whatsoever may you speak of this to anyone out of this room."

We all nodded. 

"Since you understand the contracts and how they function, we will now go over the statistics."

I watched absentmindedly as she pulled up charts and graphs on the large screen in the front of the room. Lay and Krystal hung onto every word that my mother said, Lay even looking like he was itching to start taking notes. 

I wanted to put my head down on the table and sleep. 

But I couldn't.

The evening dragged on, and it was well into the night before my mother had finished talking and showing graphs. 

"Any questions?" she asked, her steely gazing piercing each of us in turn. 

Krystal and Lay, who were still wide awake, shook their heads vigorously. I didn't even bother to give any indication that I had heard her, and continued staring out the window with my head propped on my chin. 

"Jieun?" her harsh tone made me tense up momentarily. 

I gritted my teeth. "Yes?"

"Do you have any questions?" she asked, her tone colder than what she had used toward her son and Krystal.

"Yes, actually." I said, matching her tone. "Are you sure you understand all the contracts yourself?"

Her lips thinned, and she stood a bit straighter. "Are you sure you're directing that question at the right person?" 

I rolled my eyes and scoffed slightly. "Still as proud as ever I see, mother."

"You will not address me casually." she said, her eyes flashing dangerously.

Lay, seeing that we were going to start fighting again, intervened by knocking over the fancy pen holder in the middle of the table. How he managed to even reach it, I will never know. 

"I'm sorry." he managed as he scrambled around to pick up all the scattered writing utensils. 

My mother took a slight breath. "We will end here today. Tomorrow, we will start analyzing economic growth strategies to resolve the...debt." she said the last word like she had swallowed too much food in one go, and it was making its way down slowly and painfully. 

I stood up, ready to leave. 

"One last thing," she said quietly. "We booked a room in a hotel for you. You'll find your ride at the entrance of the company."

The four CEO's exited, and we were left there staring at each other. 

"Let's go." Krystal said heavily. She looked exhausted, and stood up without her usual confidence. 

We somehow managed to get out of the massive company, and I stopped just outside the doors, feeling anger starting to creep in the longer I stayed there.

"She said the company was in debt, but she has a limousine just sitting here." I said bluntly. "What's the point of us being here then?" 

I walked stiffly up to the chauffeur, a middle aged man in a black tailored suit. The sleek, black car in my peripheral vision fueling my anger. "Where's the hotel that you need to send us to?" 

He looked at me, then checked something from his pocket. 

"Mis Lee, it's Hotel Baccarat, and it's quite some distance from here-"

"Bullshit." I muttered, not quite feeling like being the usual polite Jieun. Then I immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "Thank you for being here, but I don't think we'll require your services-"

"But madam, I insist that you come with me!" 

I stopped abruptly, startled by his sudden outburst. 

Lay came up from behind me. "Sir, we don't need you to drive us tonight. Would you please give us the address?"

Seeing that he wouldn't be able to redeem himself if he continued arguing, he reluctantly pulled out a slip of paper and scribbled something on it. He handed it to Lay. 

"It's...right across the street." Lay said, sounding skeptical.

We all looked up to see Baccarat in fancy lettering on the giant building across the street. 

I sucked in a deep breath, unable to contain my anger. "Let's go." I said tightly.

Not waiting for anyone, I marched off the sidewalk, onto the road. 

The cries of warning were drowned out by the deafening blast of noise coming from my left, and I was momentarily blinded by the headlights of the truck barreling toward me.