Getting out of work early on Friday didn't really do me any favors, because as soon as I logged into my laptop, I got a load of new emails. And I arrived at work later than usual, leaving me even less time.
When I woke up this morning, I decided not to go to the gym because I wanted to finish Friday's work, which means I have the option of going tonight. The weekend at the spa resort helped my body recover and now I can go to the gym without getting sore.
I finish typing up an email and send it off before opening the next one. I also have a bunch of papers that Kiyara brought me earlier for me to sign. She's doing a good job so far, even though she's a slow learner.
She was better than all the other applicants because I could clearly see in her eyes that she was sincerely applying to work and for nothing else. I don't like it when I have a new secretary and all she does is flirt with me unobtrusively.
Most people think I wouldn't notice because I don't show any reaction, but I'm neither stupid nor blind. And once they get fired everyone wonders why and I'm the bad guy. But it's okay because it's nobody's business.
The reason I fired Tiffany Crawford, the secretary before Kiyara Blue, is that she was using my personal phone number for things outside of work. Not everybody gets my phone number and I trust the people I give it to. So she violated my trust, therefore she no longer had the right to work for me.
I close my laptop and set it aside so I can move on to the papers next. I sign a few of them after reading them thoroughly and checking for errors until then my door is suddenly yanked open.
In comes Camille with Kiyara jogging right behind her. Her purse is hanging on her arm and she is wearing a big smile as her salon-made blonde hair swings from side to side. I get up from my chair as she walks over to me in her high heels like it's a catwalk.
I mean, she's a model so that makes sense.
"Camille?" I half-ask and half-greet. She comes to a stop in front of me and her strong perfume fills my nostrils. At least it's not the same as when we were together.
"Hi, Jungkook." She greets enthusiastically, planting a kiss on each of my cheeks. I clear my throat and then pull back from her greeting.
"Mr. Jeon, I am so sorry. I told her she couldn't just walk in, but she didn't listen." Kiyara says from behind Camille. I can see her fiddling with her hands with apologetic eyes.
"It's not your fault," I reassure calmly and she half-smiles at me.
"Do you want me to get security?" she then asks cautiously, looking between me and Camille.
"Excuse me?" Camille interjects, sounding quite offended. "Do you even know who I am?"
I sigh under my breath and when I look up at Kiyara her expression almost makes me laugh. Almost.
"It's okay, Mrs. Blue. You can go back to your work." I tell her and she nods before walking out of my office and closing the door quietly behind her.
"I never liked any of your secretaries." Camille sighs audibly and sets her purse, which looks like it can't even hold her phone, down on my desk.
"It's her job, Camille," I object, walking back to my chair. "You can't just barge in here like this anyway. What if I was in the middle of a meeting?"
"You never have your meetings in your office." she points out. She's right, I never do. "Besides, I used to do that when we were together."
Yeah and I told you not to do that. "Yeah, but we're not together anymore and I was working," I say instead.
She rolls her eyes before laughing it off, easing the atmosphere. "Fine. I'll knock next time, okay?"
I nod and sink back into my chair. Camille walks around the desk until she's in front of me, compelling me to roll backward in my chair. She lets her rear lean against the desk, now looking down at me in a half-standing position.
She still looks the same, just like she did when we broke up. Maybe her hair is longer and her eyebrows a little bushier, probably following the latest trend.
She smiles down at me and I'm not sure why she's even here. Don't get me wrong, Camille and I didn't part on bad terms so it's not like I'm completely shocked to find her here. I hadn't seen her in a long time, that's all.
And it's not that I don't like her. We had agreed that breaking up would be best for both of us, but we still remained friends. She's been traveling a lot to fashion shows and recently released her own fashion brand.
Sometimes she can be difficult and I can't say Jimin liked her, but it's not like she's a bad person. She has bad personality traits, but all of us do. And being overdramatic is one of them.
"How are you?" she then asks after we've been in silence for a few moments. "We haven't talked in a while."
I nod in agreement. "I've been fine. Just working like always."
"You haven't changed a bit." She smiles, resting her hands on the corner of the wooden desk. "I saw your Vogue copy. You looked very handsome."
"Thank you," I say appraisingly. I was hoping we wouldn't talk about that because I've already gotten too much attention from the October edition. The Vogue photoshoot has made me trend on Twitter again, which Jimin told me last week.
"Okay, I get it. You don't want to talk about it." Camille then laughs. She, along with Jimin, is one of the only people who knows me more than I care to admit. It makes me feel exposed.
"How are you?" I ask instead, not wanting to dwell on the topic.
"I've been in Paris the last few weeks. You know Fashion Week in the fall is always hectic, but it was so much fun," she tells me, and I think back to when she was traveling for several months while we were still together. "I was able to meet a lot of people, influential ones mind you, so that's good too."
"Oh, really?" I ask, my eyes tickling to look at the paper in front of me because it looks like there's been made a mistake.
"Yes! I've met Mona Tougaard, Adut Akech, and even Kaia Gerber." I have no clue who that is. "Cindy Crawford's daughter." she rolls her eyes. "Whatever, I was—"
A knock on the door interrupts her. Am I an asshole for being grateful to whoever is behind the door for sparing me the boring topic of modeling?
"Come in," I call out, shifting my gaze from Camille to the door.
The door opens slowly, revealing Mikayla. I can only see her head as she is still standing outside in the hallway. She looks back and forth between me and Camille, her eyes taking on a worried look.
"Am I interrupting?" she asks and I shake my head.
"You can come in, Ms. Carlson," I say and hear Camille sigh, she doesn't step aside but stays leaning against my desk.
Mikayla walks over to us, though still with unsure steps until she arrives at the side where Camille is not. I only catch a glimpse of Camille looking her up and down before turning to Mikayla.
"I brought the enhanced version of the presentation for the client you asked for," she explains as she holds out the flash drive in her hand in my direction.
I notice how cold her hands are as my fingers accidentally brush against hers when I take the flash drive from her. I stare at it. "I thought I told Ms. Lee to do that?" I ask, my eyebrows drawn together as I look up at her.
"Uh, yeah." is all she replies. The smile on her lips remains, but I can see the slightest shift in her eyes. I've been a CEO and business owner long enough to understand what's going on.
"Do your own work, Ms. Carlson," I say, my voice still calm and low.
She nods and presses her lips into a straight line. When she looks at me instead of the flash drive in my hand, our eyes meet. I think back to yesterday when I was at her parents' house for dinner. She's the same person at work and outside, and I wonder how she does it.
After a few seconds, I break eye contact. "You can go back if there's nothing else."
"No, that's all." she replies and I nod.
Camille shifts, throwing one leg over the other, which causes her skirt to ride up further. I don't have to look to know, it's like she's trying to intimidate and challenge someone. Which is unnecessary because she's nothing to me. And neither is Mikayla.
Mikayla nods one last time, first at me and then at Camille before walking with quick steps to the door. I turn back to Camille and find her already smiling down at me.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't suppose you came all the way out here to ask how I'm doing, did you?" I comment as I realize I still haven't been told the reason for her visit.
"I thought we could have something to eat. Brunch maybe?" she asks, pushing away from the desk.
I look up at her and one of my eyebrows jumps up."You know I don't have anything between breakfast and lunch."
"I know." She smiles, then settles into the leather chair on the other side of my desk. "So you're saying I should get down to business."
"Kind of." I lean back in my chair, now somehow curious about what she wants to talk about.
She crosses one leg over the other and pulls out a tablet from a bigger bag I hadn't noticed earlier. She opens a file and puts it on the table, turned toward me.
"Well, then. So, the reason I came is that I want to talk about my brand," she says. I look at the tablet and see that she has opened the website to her brand.
"I'm listening," I say, encouraging her to continue.
"I don't know if you know that my new collection is coming out for spring. Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck with my collection for spring earlier this year, which dragged my motivation down." She starts, looking up at me in between.
"Things like this can always happen. You shouldn't beat yourself up about it." I comment, but I don't know if she even wanted my encouragement.
"I'm aware of it." she dismisses and I take a mental note not to comment on anything else. "But I realized it wasn't the collection, it was the marketing and the advertising. It wasn't done well and that's something I want to change for my next collection."
"That's good. I agree with you that with such a big work, there has to be good marketing and advertising." I remark and she agrees with me in the form of a nod. "Do you have something in mind?"
"I want you to help me with all the advertising, TVs and internet, and whatever else you guys do," she says.
I ponder for a moment and look back at the tablet in front of me. I have to say that her website needs a bit of refreshing and that certain something in order to be eye-catching.
It's not that I care that Camille and I were once together because that's not a factor in my business, but I don't see anything wrong with it. I think a good commercial and some fixing might help her for her next collection.
"Yeah, I think we can do that," I finally say, scrolling through her collection. The clothes are designed exactly to fit into the current trends, which I wouldn't have expected any different from Camille.
We've worked with clothing brands many times and never had flops with them. Camille can be difficult, yes, and she has many desires and expectations about her work or about anything, but we can compromise.
"Really?" she asks, and I can hear the excitement in her voice, though she tries to hide it. I nod. "I don't have much time left though."
"When does your collection go on sale?" I ask.
"It is planned to be in February. There will be a launch party in December." she leans back in the chair and switches her legs to cross.
"Camille, that's less than two months away," I point out, sighing. I mean, yes, my team works fast, but it's not like we only have Camille's job. We work on dozens of other clients.
"I know, that's why I'm here," she smirks. I lean back in my chair, staring at the ceiling.
I'm willing to help her, but I don't want to put pressure on my team, especially since it's almost the end of the year and many will be taking their days off. I ponder, and her waiting eyes on me don't help clear my thoughts.
"I think we need a meeting with my creative team first to see how much they can do in such a short time. And after that, once we come up with a concept, we'll look at the rest. How does that sound?" when I look back at her, she's still smirking.
"I've always found this serious side of you hot." She flirts, with success shining in her eyes. She knows she got what she wanted. "Actually, I'd love to talk to you a little more about the details, but I have another important appointment in half an hour."
I remember her asking me a few minutes ago if we could have lunch together. But I ignore it. "Are you free tomorrow? You could ask my secretary if she can squeeze you in somewhere between meetings."
"Oh, that's not necessary, I'll just stop by your place tonight. That works for you, right?" she asks as she grabs her bag and tablet and gets ready to leave without waiting for my response. "Great, I'll see you tonight then."
She comes around the desk and plants a kiss on my cheek before making her way to the door, leaving me sighing. She would still come if I told her not to, so it's not even necessary to bring it up.
There's a knock on the door and then Jimin's head pops in through the crack. I nod at him and then he steps fully into my office. Camille and he meet in the middle of the room and I can feel the distaste in his eyes all the way over here.
"Camille Geneviève Moulin," he sings with a fake smile that she doesn't seem to catch as she laughs. "If I hadn't seen you here in person, I wouldn't have believed the rumors of your arrival. What an honor."
He holds out his arms and Camille waves him off as if shy. Then she places a kiss on each of his cheeks, just as she did with me to which he inconspicuously makes a disgusted face at me. I almost chuckle.
"Oh, Jimin. Please don't." she finally says, placing her hair on one shoulder.
"How are you, ma chérie?" Jimin asks. I don't even know why he continues talking to her.
"Comme ci, comme ça." Camille answers and Jimin nods as if he has some idea what that means. He doesn't know French. "I would love to talk to you more, but I have to go now. I'll see you tonight, Jungkook."
And with that, she skillfully walks out of my office in her high heels, leaving me alone with Jimin.
"Did she leave without asking me back how I was doing?" Jimin remarks in disbelief, his thumb pointing at the closed door with a frown written on his face. "And what did she mean by 'I'll see you tonight, Jungkook'?"
I roll my eyes as he changes his voice to mimic hers. Sometimes I feel like Jimin is arch enemies with Camille, even though the two haven't even fought or anything. I know Camille isn't too fond of Jimin, but Jimin tops that.
"She's coming over to talk details about her project," I explain shortly, turning back to my work. I plug the flash drive Mikayla gave me into my laptop and open the presentation I need to review.
"Are we going to advertise her next collection?" he asks as he drops into the leather chair. With his feet on the coffee table in front of it. I just nod, quietly confirming his assumption.
I feel his eyes on me. "What?"
"Ahh, I don't hate her, she's not a bad person." He whines, throwing his head back. Actually, Jimin was one of the few who was happy to see me break up with her. "But she's so difficult and I feel like her whole personality is just being French."
"It's just work, Jimin," I point out. We pick our clients with care and we don't work with everyone, but Camille isn't bad. "It's not like I'm getting back with her."
"No, please don't. I don't even know why you were dating her. She's not your type." he comments as I try to drag the file from the flash drive to my desktop. "Maybe more like Mikayla."
My eyes shoot up to him. "What, why would you bring her up?"
He raises his hands in innocence. "I didn't mean her specifically, just more like her. Just an observation."
"Keep your ideas to yourself, Jimin, and don't ever mention her on a topic like this again," I say sternly, staring back at my laptop. She's an employee and even if she wasn't, things like that wouldn't happen.
"Whatever." he sighs and I know he's rolled his eyes. Then he gets up from the chair. "Thanks to Camille, I forgot why I came here. I wanted to tell you something, but let me come back when I remember."
After he closes the door behind him and leaves me alone in my office, I lean back in my chair and loosen the tie around my neck. This week has already started like a nightmare.
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A/N: I don't know how advertising works so I hope I wasn't writing nonsense here🤡😭
Quick reminder: this is a slow-burn romance book