The meeting had gone well. Jimin had introduced you to a few of his upper management staff. The ones that you'd be working closely with once the deal went through.
"These are my three foreign relations heads. Crystal Soo Jung works with China, Henry Lau handles Canada and some U.S. relations, and Minatozaki Sana helps with Japan."
Each of them bowed and said it was an honor.
"So you don't have an actual customer service department, it's just split into different areas or regions that you do business in?"
"That's correct. We do a lot of business with these three regions in particular, so it made sense to have someone in charge of each."
"In your notes, I thought you said something about having four foreign relations heads." Jimin, to his credit, had provided you with copious notes about the way his company was currently run so that you could determine the best ways to merge those processes into one when you took over. You'd been poring over as much as you could in preparation.
"Right, my Korea head. I had a meeting earlier in the week where I explained we were planning to merge our companies, and they put in their two weeks' notice. I thought it best not to include them."
You nodded slowly.
"If you have a recommendation on your side, we can discuss that. But for right now, this is everyone who knows about the merge."
"You haven't told HR?"
Jimin shook his head. "Not until we know exactly who's staying and what will change for them. Don't want to cause a panic too soon."
"That's fair. So why don't we go around and you three can tell me what you need to start."
"What we need?" Henry repeated.
"Clients that you need to be handled in a particular way, partnerships in the office that you'll be relying on, what kind of meetings you handle with clients, anything that you could need done on a daily basis."
Crystal sat back in her chair. "That's a pretty long list."
"I'm sure it is, but if we're going to be working well together from day one, then I need that information. And it may help me find a replacement for your Korea relations position. Sana, why don't you start?"
The youngest team member seemed surprised you singled her out. But she spent a good few minutes describing her basic job duties and what kind of things her clients expected from her. Jimin sat quietly as Henry and Crystal did the same, letting you lead the meeting how you felt would be most beneficial to you.
At the end of the hour, you thanked them for their time. Jimin walked you out of the building.
"Did you get everything you needed?"
You nodded. "I got a good start, at least. They're all very client-focused. Especially Sana, which is surprising."
"She's young, but no one else was a better fit for the job when my dad offered it to her." Jimin smiled. "So who's your pick for the new head?"
"I'm not telling you in case it doesn't work out. Besides, Yoongi and I need to go over our..." you stopped. "He never showed."
"I thought that was on purpose," Jimin admitted. "So you could make sure you were up to this."
You sighed. "Not on purpose, but it helped a little. Thanks, Jimin. See you at our office in a few days?"
"Of course. And who am I meeting?"
"Yesung for IT and Heechul for HR for now. Our other heads should be joining in later."
"Great. I'm looking forward to it."
When you got home, you immediately went upstairs to find your laptop and start reviewing notes. Notes you'd taken at the meeting today along with Jimin's other notes. You had a few ideas for who to talk to about that position but it wouldn't hurt to see what kind of information you could provide for them to make a decision.
A soft knock dragged you out of your thoughts. You glanced up to see Yoongi standing in the doorway.
"Hey, I--"
"If the next words out of your mouth are "I'm sorry," I really don't want to hear it," you said.
"Noted. I completely forgot--"
"Did your meeting go well?"
"What?"
"With the producer?"
"Yeah, I think so. He's supposed to follow up with me soon."
"Good." You continued looking at things on your laptop. "Anything else?"
Yoongi frowned. "I didn't mean to forget, really."
"It's fine."
"It is?"
"Yeah. You have your own things you're working on. Can't expect you to remember everything, right?"
"If you're mad at me, you can just say so."
"I'm not mad at you. I'm sure you just lost track of time or something."
"You're not going to yell at me or something? Lock me in my studio like you did at the office?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I promise that I'll be at all the other meetings. I'll get any reports that you need. I'll do whatever you need."
"Jimin gave us all his prep information already. I've already started working on the things for our side. You can skip the meetings if your music is more important."
"It's not. Just...give me a minute."
Before you could reply, he was already heading for the stairs. You waited for a minute, then curiosity overtook you. You reached the base of the stairs by the time he'd returned from his studio.
He held out a notebook to you, already opened to a page.
The same page you'd seen before; the one with all the phrases and words scribbled on it.
In the middle was one circled phrase. It had obviously been written over a few times, as the pencil strokes were much darker than the others.
"What is this?" you asked.
"I created a pen name. Or a producer name, I guess you could call it. It's the name I want to be attached to my music when I sign to a label."
Agust D
"I don't understand."
"It's simple. We got married in August, and I was a dick to you in the beginning."
"Are you sure this is the one you want? It's going to remind you of me all the time."
He chuckled softly. "You made me swear not to sell out when I get big, remember? This way, I'll make sure to keep my promise."
"Yoongi--"
"I wouldn't have this chance without you trying to break the contract. It's the least I can do."
You nodded. It was sweet in its own way.
"And I think you should keep the house."
"What about selling it?"
"You're going through enough taking over two companies, so you should at least keep the house. I can get housing through the agency that signs with me. It'd be a lot easier that way."
"Fine. But only if you take this back," you said as you offered him your wedding ring. "It belongs to your family, it's not mine to keep."
"What would I do with it?"
"Hold on to it for your next marriage."
"Can't just be nice to each other, it's always a negotiation around here," he grumbled. You continued to hold out the ring. "All right, I'll take it with me. Just keep it until the divorce is finalized, okay?"
You smiled. "For what it's worth, I appreciate what you're trying to do. And I know you didn't mean to skip the meeting."
"I'll make it up to you."
"How about this? Come to half of the meetings. Use the other time for your songs."
"Counter offer. I come to half, but I have IT record all of them in case I need to know something. That way it's not all on you to remember."
"They can do that?"
"Yeah, Kyuhyun told me that he's recorded meetings to leave....I shouldn't have told you that."
"Wait. Has he been leaving early instead of going to meetings? And Yesung lets him?"
"Yesung says he always finishes his work early and he doesn't have a problem with it as long as he watches the recordings. It's just for their departmental meetings....but I never told you, you figured this out on your own."
You sighed. "Fine, tell them to record them and send you the files. I'll deal with them another day."
"Thank you. For understanding."
You weren't sure what exactly he was thanking you for - not getting mad, accepting his pen name, or agreeing to his "negotiations". But you figured after all you'd been through, you owed him that much.
It was quiet for a few moments. You fiddled with the page of the notebook still in your hand.
"Hey," you said suddenly, "we should do one more thing to annoy our parents. A last hurrah."
He smirked. "I'm all ears."