Ransomed Fiancée (Michaeng)

Chapter 4: Agreement

Chaeyoung

The next morning, we acted like nothing made any different, yet. Miss Myoui brought in a proposal file and placed it carefully on my desk. She went over my schedule, confirming I had another meeting with the Marketing Director Cosmetic discussing the event that would be held in two days. It was a small project that I was assigned to, and I was certain it would go as planned.

I twirled my pen around my thumb, boringly listening to Miss Myoui as she reads the schedule for today. She paused which gained my attention. I perked my ears to her next sentence, "The Chairman is requesting your attendance. 1 p.m. at Blue Plate. He wanted to have lunch with you." Miss Myoui said in hesitancy. My fingers stopped spinning, I froze on my chair. There will be only two reasons for the chairman to summon you. You had either made big mistakes or made a big success. He either wanted to punish you or compliment you. I am not sure whether I'm in the former situation or the latter. From the corner of my eyes was Miss Myoui, looking at me. Her expression was hard to read.

"What's with that dulled-penguin-sickening face?" I asked, eyes squinted at her. She pressed her lips and refused to answer as silence took over us. I bet she was mocking me inside her head and I just caught her. Tsk. That expression seemed very familiar. All employees knew the Chairman and I had bad blood and were in the midst of cold war, same with my step-sister. Although I was known as cruel, everyone knew the Chairman could order me to lick his shoes and I would have no choice but to obey. Like a guard dog, with a collar around my neck. I had an owner. The owner I wished to suppress, the owner I wished to rip into pieces.

I sighed."Take the afternoon off. My place at seven okay?" Her eyes avoid my gaze as if she was thinking of how to decline my demand. Before she could make some excuses, I continued "If you have to go somewhere important, text me. If not, it needs to wait"

"Okay" She breathed out then leave after I dismissed her. It's common knowledge for Son Enterprise to monitor emails and companies cellphone. I had my own phone to which only the select few had the number. There was no point of asking whether Miss Myoui had one as for her, money seemed to be limited. I planned to rectify that today, along with my other errands. I didn't want to take the chance the Chairman had texts and calls monitored, as well. We would get caught if that happened.

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12:30 p.m. I glanced at my wristwatch and stood. Arriving late at an appointment considered a crime in the family, better not appear at all if you were bound to be late even for a minute. The Chairman was always precisely on time. He was, in fact, a perfectionist. I walked to the standing hook rack and grabbed my coat, then slipped into it as I exited my office. At this point, I was already considered late.

When I stepped outside, I turned to Miss Myoui and she had her head on the desk, facing sideways. She was apparently sleeping. An automatic reaction escaped my mouth, a groan. I rounded her desk and stood next to her, crouching as I pointed my finger to her temple, attempting to wake her up. But as if there was a sudden force that stopped me, I sighed and retracted my hand before clasping my wrists behind my back. I took time to study her face, completely forgotten of the important meeting.

There were dark circles under her eyes. Clearly, she wasn't taking proper care of herself, even proper sleep. I wondered what she was doing with her life. She scrunched her nose as she shifted slightly on her chair, eyes remained shut. Involuntarily, the tips of my lips moved upward.

The sound of a warm breeze alarm caught me off guard. I snapped my head towards the company cellphone she had in her desk and hastily smashing the snooze button as hard as I possibly could. She stirred in her sleep, and suddenly jolted up, jumping on her seat. I watched her eyes widened as she looked confused with my presence and closeness. Meanwhile, I was frozen in my place, our distance could be measured by breath away. She broke the awkward eye contact and stumbled to her feet as she took a step backwards.