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"The festival is for two days. Stay is at the hotel nearby—"
"Attorney Min, are you plotting revenge?"
Yoongi sucks in a breath calmly replying. "The food is free."
"So you really are, aren't you?" Jeongguk mutters.
Yoongi sighs, sitting down on the chair in front of Jeongguk's table. "Then you participate in some events—"
"Hyung, do you hate me?"
Oh for fuck's sake.
"Six percent." Yoongi slaps the book in his hand on the table. Jeongguk blinks, confused and scared.
"What—"
"Okay." Yoongi interrupts. "We can negotiate for thirteen if you shut up."
Jeongguk huffs, "You hate me thirteen percent?"
"I like you, thirteen percent." Jeongguk opens his mouth again to whine about it when he's interrupted again. "Too much? It's three then."
Jeongguk glares at the older man, then looks outside his window. The cosiness has started settling in, people covered from top to bottom with spring essentials and rushing to their respective workplaces. It makes Jeongguk think, how does all of this matter? Who cares if he married the daughter of Yoon Daejun? Who cares if he lied about his marriage to not have Minhee get close to him? Who cares?
"You're doing good Jeongguk," Yoongi says. It sounds soft, Jeongguk wonders if his Hyung is cold. "You know...with everything. This fake dating thing too."
Jeongguk licks his lips. He has no option but to do it. The marriage was something Jeongguk didn't care about or think about often but one thing that he didn't want was Minhee moving in with him.
He can't live with anyone else at this stage of his life. He likes to be alone in his house, not caring about anything and thinking about everything without getting asked for answers. If Minhee moves in, not only would it become uncomfortable but it would bring a change in their relationship.
For better or worse? Who knows? And Jeongguk isn't curious to find the answer either.
"The photos of Mrs Yoon surfaced on social media yesterday. People are talking about how genuine you seem with her. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would have thought you guys were actually dating. And did Mrs Yoon personally come to you? I didn't know she was part of the plan either." Yoongi chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief.
Right hyung, if only you knew better.
"Anyway, cheer up! I will see you around." the older man says, waving Jeongguk a goodbye.
Minhee went to lengths to get the public to believe in their relationship. Mrs Yoon isn't the type to bring lunch for a son-in-law from a marriage of benefit. He knows Minhee had sent her here, but for what?
They are already following the itinerary, have simmered down the tension between them which was visible to the public's eye....then why is that, Yoon Minhee, are you putting so much effort into this?
"So you agree...like you are okay with this marriage?" Minhee asks, brows furrowing. "For real?"
She sounds amused, Jeongguk notes. He nods and shrugs, "It's a good union."
What good can come out in a relationship based on half-truths and full lies?
...
"CEO Yoon," Dahyun says on the phone. "The manager of the new pop up store at Gangnam wants to connect with you."
Upon Minhee's permission, Dahyun asks the receptionist to transfer the call to Minhee's telephone in the office, who is worried about why the manager is suddenly asking to be connected directly to her.
"CEO Yoon." the manager says. She sounds a little breathless.
"Yes, Ms Lee. What is the issue?"
"The chairman is on his way here."
Minhee shudders. "And...only two of our employees are here because the rest aren't there...."
"Aren't there? What do you mean?"
There's a pause as if the manager was contemplating. "It happened yesterday morning. I was going to tell the team at the headquarters but—"
"But what, Ms Lee?" Minhee raises her voice, standing up at the same time. "This isn't something you should take your sweet time with!"
There's silence on the other side before Minhee hears a sigh. "I am sorry, CEO Yoon. But what should I do right now? The two employees left behind are still training, they don't know many things."
Minhee groans and hangs up. She asks Dahyun to gather a small team of staff from the stores in the headquarters before all of them drive to the Gangnam store.
The store is special in a way because immediate testing of products has been restricted around Gangnam due to the increasing crowd and traffic. So it's something like a one-stop shopping centre. Minhee's head starts to throb at the thought of facing her father at such an experimental store.
That also before the launch of their new nail colour line that is bound to premiere first in that store. He never visits stores unless very necessary and Minhee doesn't understand why he is now.
It's a hassle, it gives him a reason to publicly point out anything Minhee lacks and surface her company's distrust in her. They reach, and Minhee internally thanks herself for having the headquarters closer to the store than her house.
The employees, as instructed, put up the badges of that store, pretending to be the original staff of today. Ms Lee stands at the door biting her nails. "Mind telling me where the employees are, Ms Lee? And why wasn't it reported to the headquarters as the first thing?" Minhee grits her teeth.
Ms Lee makes a sheepish expression. "I don't know...they just seemed unhappy in general..."
"CEO Yoon. You should see this." Dahyun interrupts, handing Minhee her tablet. Minhee takes it from her, without removing her piercing eyes from Ms Lee who seems to have grown more anxious with time. Minhee looks at the screen then her eyes flicker up at the woman biting her nails. She scrolls through halfway when she raises her hand up to almost throw the tablet on the ground.
Ms Lee flinches, screaming already before the tablet is even thrown. Minhee glares, chest heaving. "Ms Lee, can you explain where this profit from the sales is coming from? That's 10% more than the profit you should gain in a month—"
"The chairman is here." Dahyun interrupts, nodding her head towards the car that stopped across the store. Minhee glares at Ms Lee, indicating to her to shut her mouth before turning towards the door.
Daejun walks inside with his secretary with his hands clasped at his back, observing every detail of the store. He spots Minhee who bows to greet him. Before she can speak anything, Daejun does.
"Is the CEO so free to visit a store at midday like this?"
Minhee exhales. "I wanted to see how it's been doing in person, Dad." She strains her legs to stand straighter if it were possible and her knees have started to throb with pain. Daejun nods and turns towards his secretary who gestures to him to walk inside.
The store is empty at this time of the day, so Daejun casually walks around the store, randomly picking a product or two every now and then. He turns towards the staff once in a while, asks them a question related to it before smiling and nodding. Minhee follows him behind from a small distance, breathing a sigh of relief every time an employee answers him. She is glad that they are trained well to work in such impromptu situations as well.
It's when Ms Lee is briefing Daejun about the new nail colour line, there's a commotion in the other corner of the shop. Minhee hisses, licks her lips thinking nothing should go wrong today because she doesn't want to give a single reason to her father regarding her inability to handle the company.
"I told you, I didn't steal it!"
Minhee sees her father's face twitch but he doesn't turn towards where the noise came from. Minhee decides to see what the commotion is about herself and walks towards that corner.
"What's going on?" she asks Dahyun who is standing there with a staff and two high school girls.
"The girl stole a product but insists that she doesn't."
Minhee sighs and looks over at the counter at her father who is still busy with Ms Lee. It's about time he would want to know the situation, so Minhee needs to settle it fast.
"I didn't." one of the girls said. The staff grits her teeth, "Then let me see what is in your pocket then."
"Why should I show you. You have no evidence I stole it!"
"There are surveillance cameras, right?" Minhee asks, glancing towards her father's direction once again. The staff nods. "Yes but..because this counter is just below the camera, it might be a blind spot."
"I will call the police," Dahyun says, whipping her phone out. Minhee contemplates, she doesn't want to escalate the situation and let it become a hassle.
Wings can afford to lose one product right now but she can't afford to lose the complete trust of her father in her.
"Just send them away."
"Send them away?" the staff repeats what Minhee said, confusion lacing her tone.
"What's the problem?"
Minhee hisses when she hears her father behind her. Oh, this is gonna be so bad. She turns and bows at him before stepping aside to let him walk in. She opens her mouth to speak but gets stopped by Daejun who turns towards the staff. "What's going on?"
The staff seems to hesitate but says, "This student stole a product, sir."
"I told you that I didn't steal anything!" the girl from before says. Her friend looks up at the chairman. Daejun nods, understanding the situation.
"So you're confident you didn't steal it. Right."
Minhee pinches her eyebrows. Did her father mean to make it sound like a statement more than a question?
The girl rolls her eyes, "I didn't. How many times do I have to repeat?" Daejun blankly stares at the girls before stepping towards the girl's friend. "You tell me."
"She said, she didn't steal it." the girl replies. Daejun shakes her head, "Not that, but what you know."
Minhee raises her eyebrows. The situation has definitely escalated and it surely seems to not work in her favour. "She didn't steal." the girl replies, this time tone a little less confident.
Daejun nods and picks up a gloss from the counter. He inspects it before turning towards the staff and orders her to fill a basket with one of every product on this counter. He keeps back the gloss in its place while chuckling, "You're at the age where you want these things. My daughter was like that too."
Minhee tenses at her mention, eyes flickering up at her father. She should probably intervene and handle the situation differently but she can't seem to find the right moment to do so.
"I want to make a deal with you," he says to the friend. "If you tell me the truth, I will give you all the products she is filling in that basket."
The friend looks at the staff filling the basket with random items and her eyes flicker towards the girl accused. The latter shakes her head to gesture to her friend to not fall for such a trap but the friend seems determined to get the products.
"You'll give me all of it, really?"
"Hey!" the girl yells. Daejun nods, assuring her once again. The friend looks at the girl again, contemplating before turning towards Daejun. "Well—"
"Damn it!" the girl interrupts, taking out a lip gloss from her pocket and placing it on the counter. "I was just going to test it out," she says before walking out. Secretary Kang stops her on her way but upon Daejun's nod, he lets her go.
The friend waits there, looking at the chairman. Daejun looks back at her, eyes blank.
"I can take these, right?" she asks, pointing at the basket the staff was holding. Daejun turns towards her completely, chest expanding in authority.
"What have you done?"
The friend widens her eyes, baffled. "You said I can take these if I tell the truth. You got this lip gloss back because of me."
"Did you say your friend stole it?" Daejun asks with a mocking and knowing tone. "You didn't. So, you lost your chance while hesitating for a shallow relationship. If you ask for something when you did nothing, you become a thief too."
The friend scoffs, walking out with a storm, mumbling 'jerk'. Daejun turns, looking at the floor. "The person whose actions overcome the moment of hesitation on the verge of courage survives in this world. Hesitation gets you nowhere," he says before turning slightly in Minhee's direction. "People who have nothing to lose should never hesitate. Hesitation then is self-destructive."
He steps forward, before turning fully towards his daughter. "And when do people have nothing to lose? When they are sure there is nothing that can win them."
Minhee shudders. Her lower lip trembles as she watches her father walk out. Her eyes prick with tears but she holds them back before storming out of the store as well.
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the scene's inspired by she would never know :)