A/N: As promised on Twitter, double update today! Also on the previous chapter, it is by no means an insult to people who wait as their jobs, because I know how tough that is. That's why, if you notice, it was YSR who was embarrassed bec she ordered him around. Hope that clarifies! Don't come after me ♥️
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Yoon Se-Ri woke up early that day because her sleeping patterns were still messed up. The day before was beneficial and she already made a couple of deals that would surely help her stores back at home and it made Se-Ri look forward to their upcoming collection.
Additionally, Se-Ri considered the day fruitful because of her conversation with Joo Won as well. She turned over in bed and smiled at the memory.
"Maybe if I wore more of these bright, sparkly objects on me, I would have a better chance to be noticed by you."
Se-Ri lifted her hand to gaze at her engagement and wedding rings. She agreed to this marriage because it was a business matter more than anything and it was convenient for her. If someone told her at the beginning of all this that she would be marrying a man who had such a sweet and tender heart, she would not have believed it.
Yet, here she was now. Looking forward to a future with a good person.
Yoon Se-Ri wasn't sure if this was love yet. After all, they had not uttered those words. However, she felt adored and wanted.
On top of that, she appreciated that they were equals in business. Kim Joo Won never treated her as if she didn't know how to run her company. He spoke to her the way he would speak to any of his other partners when it comes to work and sometimes he would even seek her opinion on things.
She wasn't blind to his horrible choices in clothes. Or how he could act like a child sometimes when they argued. And how lately, to annoy her, he would make up her potential rapper names.
"Lil' Yoon! Let's go home, I'm sleepy," he said one day that he picked her up from work and they had a spat about the golf membership they wanted to get.
Another time, it was a discussion on brussels sprouts which she started picking out from his food. "Yah, don't waste food, Monsta Ri."
"YO! Y. Se-Ri! Dinner's ready!" he would call sometimes.
Yoon Se-Ri chuckled. She was quite certain he was using Google to find out rapper names and tailor it to his needs but she was terribly entertained.
She would rarely have a good comeback these days but the good old threat to unstitch those sequinned clothes still worked. It horrifies him EVERY TIME.
One time, she tried a new one and said, "When you wake up, I would have dyed all your clothes black. Just you wait!"
And when he drops whatever he's holding, crosses his hands over his chest and screams, she just loses it and ends up laughing so much that she falls on the floor.
Joo Won would pout and stomp his feet telling her to stop because she was annoying. Then, eventually, he would help her up and be the one to dust her off. "Get up! You're going to get hives from the dirt. You're lucky I like you more than I like my clothes."
To make it up to him, she took charge of feeding them that night. They didn't even bother with two table settings at that point. They had one plate and one of them would feed the other -- for Joo Won, it was his way to make sure Se-Ri ate more than three bites; for Se-Ri, she discovered that she liked seeing his face light up when she would place the food in his mouth.
That set up also ensured that they would be seated beside of each other, instead of across, and Se-Ri liked that because she loved Joo Won's scent.
She sighed. This was another reason sleeping had been tough. Of course, primarily she was jet lagged. However, she tossed and turned in bed because she missed Joo Won's warmth and drooling on the bed was not as satisfying as drooling all over Joo Won.
Reminiscing their mornings, she remembered a few days before she left when she woke up in his arms but she couldn't move because his legs were draped over her and his arms were wrapped around her waist. "Joo Won, wake up."
"Hmmmmm...."
"Joo Won, I need to go to work early," Se-Ri gently nudged him but he didn't budge.
"Stay here. Let's stay in bed all day," he mumbled, burying his head in the crook of her neck.
His stubble had grown and rubbed against her skin, making her giggle. "Stop that. It's tickling me."
He continues to do so, tickling her further.
"You're going to give me whisker burns!" she complained but laughed.
"Cover it up. Rappers wear layers of clothes anyway," he teased. Making her lay on her back, he straddled her and started tickling her in earnest.
"No! Hahahahaha! Joo Won! Stop!!!! Hahahaha! NOOOOOO hahahahaha!" Se-Ri kept laughing while protesting. He eventually had pity on her and stopped attacking her ribs. When he lay on top of her, they shared a smile and Se-Ri lifted her head a little to show what she wanted.
Kim Joo Won stared at her lips, then her eyes, before going back to her lips. "Can... Can I kiss you?"
"Yes, please," Se-Ri whispered.
Lowering his head, he prepared to close the gap. But his eyes widened, jumped up and pulled her along with him.
"What... what? What's happening?!" Se-Ri asked, shocked at what was going on.
Joo Won flinched. "Morning breath. Let's brush quickly."
They stood in their bathroom, brushing their teeth and giving each other shy smiles knowing that they would be making out after.
And what a make out session that was.
Sighing, Se-Ri stared at herself in the hotel mirror missing Kim Joo Won again. For now, she had to get ready for her breakfast with her father.
***
Kim Joo Won sat in the plane, rubbing his temples. He hadn't slept because he needed to pack for the flight he was able to book which left at around lunch in Seoul.
Would she really sign the papers just because her father asked?
Joo Won knew they had a good father-daughter relationship and Se-Ri had told him before that she had always been obedient, but this should be a different case, right? The two of them were the ones who decided that they would make this work even if they weren't dating before.
He sighed, his troubles giving him a major headache.
At the very least, he hoped she would tell him. His father mentioned that Se-Ri already knows but Joo Won doubted that, so he held out hope that they still had time to discuss it.
"I am taking you out of my will if you don't divorce her," Chairman Kim threatened.
Kim Joo Won stared at his father. "Okay, sure. Just make sure all that money goes to profitable companies or at least foundations that support good causes."
"You're not divorcing her?" Chairman Kim asked, in a gentler tone this time, realizing that his threat was pointless. His son and Yoon Se-Ri had their own power and wealth separate from their families. Should they restrict opportunities in Seoul, Se-Ri's contacts alone would ensure they could pack up and move to another country and live comfortably there.
"No. Abeoji, I've admired her for the longest time and now... it's something more," Kim Joo Won said. "I... I can't just let this end without a fight when I've waited for such a long time for this chance."
"And what if she ends it?"
"She won't," Kim Joo Won said, hoping that his confidence was well placed. "And if she does... well... I'm going to find out why so I could change what is needed. Then, I'm going to marry her again."
***
"Excuse me?!"
Yoon Se-Ri looked at her father incredulously. She could not believe she was hearing this correctly.
"I want you to file for divorce from Kim Joo Won," Yoon Kyung-ho was saying.
"Do you want me to cut off my arm as well?" Yoon Se-Ri asked in an even tone.
"This is not a joke, Se-Ri-ah," her father reprimanded.
"Neither was what I said," Se-Ri returned. Picking up her utensils, she started cutting through her salad. At this point, Se-Ri had lost her appetite but she made a promise to Kim Joo Won to eat more than three bites per meal during the time they would be apart and she made sure she kept it. Additionally, it gave her a distraction from glaring at her father. "May I ask what brought this about?"
Yoon Kyung-ho explained how, in spite weeks of negotiations, the final terms of the merger could not be worked out. "They want more voting rights than we do! That would mean more share in the dividends as well!'
"And divorcing Joo Won solves this how? Do you intend to marry off to another chaebol son?" Se-Ri inquired.
Yoon Kyung-ho stumbled on that. "Well, I... it depends on you. If you still want to. If not, at least you will not be tied into a marriage you did not want."
"Let me just correct you, Abeoji," Yoon Se-Ri stated, carefully. "I was never coerced into the marriage. He may not have been someone I dated but I entered into this marriage willingly. I thought that was clear."
"So you want this? You won't divorce him?" Yoon Kyung-ho.
"I'm saying that the decision to marry was Joo Won's and mine. The decision to split will be ours as well," Se-Ri said. "And I do not see any reason to divorce."
"Se-Ri, I am telling you, divorce that man."
"Abeoji, I respect you and love you," Se-Ri said. "But I didn't follow you when you demanded I join your company because I wanted to build my own. I am not going to follow you now because my marriage does not involve you."
"I set it up!" Yoon Kyung-ho pointed out.
"Yes and I would forever be grateful that you chose a good man for me," Yoon Se-Ri told him. "But when Joo Won and I decided on this, all our terms were about us... our finances, our living arrangements... and how we could make this work. You and his father were no longer part of that."
"We are taking that penthouse back," Yoon Kyung-ho threatened.
"Go ahead," Se-Ri agreed calmly. Make sure you reimburse us back for the all our furniture and fixtures we put in. Also, make sure our clothes are moved properly. If there is a single sequin that falls from Joo Won's clothes, someone is going to pay."
"What? What are you talking about?" Kyung-ho asked his daughter, unsure that he heard her properly.
"Joo Won's pieces with sequins. Not a single one falls off," Se-Ri said.
"And that matters because?"
"It matters to Joo Won," Se-Ri told him. "And Joo Won is important to me."