"Let me... think about this, and I'll get back to you."
"Okay, I'll be waiting for you," said Taeyong as he looked at Lisa with love.
After Lisa left the restaurant, she headed directly to the hospital. Her little brother didn't wake up yet, so she stayed in the VIP room to look after him.
Meanwhile, her mother's mental state had grown worse. She began acting more anxious, looking like she was about to explode at any moment.
Lisa, exhausted, sat on the bench outside the VIP room and dug her head deep into her arms.
"Lisa."
"Head Nurse," Lisa said with difficulty after she recognized who it was.
"I heard what happened, I'll allow you to go on leave for the next few days. Take care of your little brother first."
"Thank you, Head Nurse."
"I know all about your situation at home. Those in the OB/GYN department put together some money for you, please take it. We'll think of something else if it isn't enough."
"No, I can't take it..." said Lisa as she grew uneasy.
"Take it, it's just a little something from all of us... We all want your brother to get better."
Lisa nodded, as tears emerged from the corners of her eyes.
She begged Kai, but it was futile. She begged her classmates, but they all spoke of conditions. It might be too much to say that it was like pouring salt on the wound, but they sure were opportunistic. She couldn't be more grateful now that her colleagues had done this voluntarily.
The truth was, kindness between humans were mutual. Lisa had fully committed herself in the half-year since she began working in the OB/GYN department. She had done all kinds of dirty work, and often picked up her colleagues' unwanted shifts, so she was very well liked within the department. Even though the Head Nurse was very strict, she was still a very ethical and a kind person.
"I have to run off now. Get yourself together, your brother still needs you." The head nurse turned to leave after she patted Lisa's shoulders.
Just then, a WeChat message suddenly popped up.
Lisa took her phone, looked at it, and saw that it was from Chaeyoung.
"I heard that you've asked Taeyong for money?"
"Yes."
"Don't ask him for money. Don't you know what he wants from you? You're walking into his trap."
"Shouldn't you say that Taeyong walked into my trap instead?"
"Don't be silly, what are you talking about? I'm not kidding. He would never lend money to you for no reason," Chaeyoung replied angrily.
"Yes, he does have conditions. He wants to be engaged to me, and get married within a month."
"Well, what do you think?"
"I want to agree."
"Are you crazy? You want to marry a guy like him? Don't you know what kind of person he is?" Chaeyoung was now very agitated.
"Chae, I have to marry someone anyway, and if I can't marry someone I love, why would anything else matter?"
Chaeyoung grew silent on the other side.
After a few moments, Chaeyoung finally replied carefully, "Lis, have you ever thought about asking Jungkook for help? Maybe he could help you."
"I would rather marry Taeyong than beg Jungkook."
Chaeyoung didn't say anything else after she saw how determined Lisa was.
*
After Taeyong left, he became incredibly happy. He knew that Lisa needed money immediately, and it was only a matter of time before she agreed to his terms.
Therefore, he told his few classmates about this in an attempt to show off.
This piece of gossip quickly spread around to their other classmates, as one told another and so on.
Jungkook was in a business meeting when a friend request suddenly appeared from his WeChat app.
It was his high school classmate, Eunha. Jungkook originally didn't want to respond, but Eunha added a sentence along with her friend request, which attracted Jungkook's attention.
"Lisa is marrying Taeyong."
Jungkook's face immediately grew grim when he saw this sentence.
He slapped his phone on the table with a 'bang', shocking all of JC's executives.
"Mr. Jeon…should we continue with this meeting?" the Vice President asked cautiously.
Without a word, Jungkook picked up his phone from the table and turned to leave.
Mr. Lee, his assistant, quietly waved at the executives, signaling for them to leave.
How could they continue with the meeting when their boss was in a bad mood?
After Jungkook returned to his office, he took off his jacket and tossed it onto the sofa.
Mr. Lee was so afraid that he dared not to speak, and the atmosphere in the office grew incredibly tense.
"Send out the order to cancel all company projects with Triumph Steel Works. Also, warn our clients and partners that JC will no longer be conducting business with any corporations affiliated with Triumph Steel Works."
"President, did you say…Triumph Steel Works? I just want to make sure."
During his time as the president's assistant, this was the first time he heard his boss release such a harsh death warrant, so how could he not take it seriously? But then again, it hadn't been that long yet.
If he remembered correctly, Triumph Steel Works was just a small or medium-sized local construction company.
Perhaps JC's subsidiary real estate companies have collaborated with them?
But then again, how did the owner of Triumph Steel Works manage to offend his boss?
Could it be because of some woman? Or was it some sort of grudge? What caused his boss to be so angry?
"I think you've reached your end as my assistant," Jungkook said coldly.
"President, I'll handle this right now." Assistant Lee ran away in fear, not daring to stay for another minute.
Jungkook looked at the message Eunha sent him on his phone. The side of his mouth twitched in disgust as he said, "You sure are courting death."
Taeyong really did have it coming.
He clearly knew that Jungkook loved Lisa, but regardless, he still chased after her. He clearly asked for it.
Of course, Taeyong really thought that Jungkook's feelings for Lisa had been left in the past.
After all, no one had heard any gossip concerning Jungkook and Lisa after Jungkook had returned to the country.
Aside from Chaeyoung, none of their other classmates knew what was going on between the two of them.
- At Triumph Steel Works Corporation -
Taeyong's father was overwhelmed. He made plenty of phone calls and begged plenty of friends, but all his attempts failed to solve the problem.
It was a true disaster; all of their big clients canceled projects with them because they were terrified of offending Jeon Corporation.
Meanwhile, the only Jeon Corporation's subsidiary company they collaborated with, JC Real Estate, had also declared that it would never work with them ever again.
Their main sources of income had disappeared. Without the support of these major companies, he could only earn a small fraction of their original revenue.
How could he run the company when he couldn't even afford to pay the employees?
"Dad, what's wrong?" Taeyong immediately left his friend's dinner party and returned to the company when his dad called him.
"Something disastrous."
"What's so disastrous? Is it that serious?" confused, Taeyong asked.
His father then told him everything, and in the end, he cursed, "Damn it, how did we offend Jeon corporation? Why would they release a death warrant against a small company like ours? How will we survive? The strong really like to prey on the weak these days. We can't afford to offend JC. I called JC's headquarters to talk to their executives, but they won't even give me a chance. What should we do? We worked so hard to get to where we are today. Will all of it go to waste now?"
Taeyong suddenly remembered something when he heard 'Jeon Corporation'.
"Dad, let me try to deal with this. I've got a classmate at JC."
"You have a solution?" Hints of hope sparked within his father.
"Let me try to talk to him first."
After he spoke, Taeyong left the company in anger.
Then, he sent a message in his high school WeChat group, "Who has Jungkook's number? Send it to me."
He waited a while, but no one answered...
With no other choice and no time to waste, he drove to JC headquarters in a rush.
"I want to see Jungkook."
"Do you have a reservation?" the receptionist asked politely.
"No I don't."
"I'm sorry sir, the president is very busy at the moment. You can't see him without a reservation."
"Stop this act, I'm his high school classmate."
"All the same, sir. Please don't make this harder for me. If you are his high school classmate, then you should be able to reach him yourself. I suggest that you call our president directly."
Taeyong wanted to break in, but JC had extremely tight security; if he couldn't even get through to the first floor, how in the world would he be able to get to the top level, 56 floors from where he was?
*
As Jungkook headed home in his humble Audi R8, Taeyong blocked him at the gates of the parking lot.
If Jungkook hadn't stepped on his brakes in time, he would've run him over.
Jungkook stopped the car with a bad complexion on his face and slowly lowered the car window.
"Get out of the car, Jungkook. Let's talk," Taeyong spat out aggressively.
"I don't think there's anything we can talk about," Jungkook remained full of pride.
The truth was that amongst all of his high school classmates, he didn't care much about anyone other than Lisa.
He was certainly not about to give Taeyong a chance…
"Why did you attack my company? What did I do to you? Why are you pushing us to our deaths?" Taeyong's face was filled with anger.
Jungkook raised his head, his face cold and emotionless, "I'll forcefully acquire your company at a low price within a week, which will force you and your dad into a debt of hundreds of millions of won. By then you won't have any other choice but to commit suicide. Now that's what I would call being pushed to death."
Taeyong's face grew pale after he heard this.
If someone else had said this, he might only laugh and call that person out for boasting.
However, it was Jungkook who said it. He truly would be doomed, given Jungkook's status and position.
Jungkook was the heir of JC, which is one of the top businesses in the country, maybe even one of the top 50 in Asia.
He was capable of destroying a tiny company like theirs in a matter of seconds.
"Jungkook, why are you doing this? After all, we were classmates. Do you… do you still like Lisa? Are you afraid that I will steal her from you?" Taeyong wasn't brainless.
"Steal her from me? You really think highly of yourself, don't you? You think you can compete with me?" Jungkook burst out in laughter.
Taeyong was speechless; he indeed couldn't...
"I will give you one hour to cut all ties with Lisa, or else you'll die horrendously."
After he spoke, Jungkook rolled up the car window and left the company garage…
Taeyong stood dumbfounded on the spot.
He truly liked Lisa and really did want to marry her, but sadly this sweet dream didn't even last for a day.
It seemed like he would never have the luck of marrying his goddess in this lifetime.
*
After Lisa got home, she was just about to wash the clothes she had taken off when her phone suddenly rang.
Once she picked up the phone and saw that it was from Taeyong, she knew what she wanted to say.
She picked up the phone, and before Taeyong could say anything, she said, "I've decided, I agree to your terms. Let's get married. Please transfer me the funds soon, my brother can't wait any longer."
"Li.. Lisa… Sorry, I'm truly sorry." On the other side of the phone, Taeyong's voice sounded somewhat choked up.
"What? Did something happen?" asked Lisa when she heard that there was something odd about Taeyong's voice.
"I… don't think I can lend you that money anymore."
Lisa's heart grew cold when she heard what he said.
"What's wrong, are you worried that I won't keep my promise after I take your money? Don't worry, I will definitely do what I've agreed to," Lisa explained anxiously.
"No, it's not your fault, it's me. Anyways… I'm sorry. I don't even have the face to see you anymore." After he spoke, Taeyong hurriedly hung up the phone without giving Lisa another chance to respond.
Lisa's world crumbled. It took her everything to get that money for her brother's surgery, and now, all her efforts resulted in nothing.
She really wanted to cry.
However, Haruto was still waiting for her inside the VIP Operating Room.
Finally, she decided that she could seek help from the media. She didn't care if anyone laughed at her, because she had to save Haruto's life more than anything else.
Just as she took out her phone to search for the media's contact information, she received a call from the hospital.
"You have to come now, your brother is in grave condition."
"Okay, I'll be there immediately."
- Half an hour later, outside the Asan medical center's VIP room -
"The situation is extremely dire, and the patient can't afford to waste any more time. I suggest that we conduct the surgery now, but I'm not too confident about it. Lisa, the director said you know Dr. Jeon? I would suggest that you ask him to perform the surgery. It's better if he does it. Plus, you wouldn't want to see any post-surgical side effects, right? This really is a matter of life and death. What do you say?"
" Let me think about it."
"There's no time to think. The patient's cerebral hemorrhage is still ongoing. If we waste any more time, he will go brain dead."
"Okay, wait for me, I'll be back."
In the end, her love for her brother defeated all else. She no longer cared if Jungkook mocked her, or if he made her feel uncomfortable.
No matter what, she had to give it a shot… for her most beloved little brother.
- JC Headquarters -
"Mr. Jeon, there's a lady outside to see you. Her name is Lisa," the front desk called.
"Let her in." Jungkook's eyes turned gentle when he heard her name and more so when he thought, she was here to see him.
- Five minutes later -
Lisa knocked on the door to Jungkook's office.
"Come in."
Lisa pushed the door open and walked in.
Jungkook stood before the window, his eyes filled with immense tenderness as he turned around.
Lisa was the only one who had ever witnessed such a soft look from Jungkook.
"You've come?"
"I need to talk to you. It's an emergency."
"Tell me."
After a brief moment of hesitation, Lisa looked at Jungkook as she slowly opened her mouth, "My little brother was in an accident and is receiving emergency care at the hospital. He's suffering from cerebral hemorrhage, and the surgery to fix it is extremely difficult. A second surgery is needed, and none of the doctors in the hospital are confident enough to perform it. The director spoke with me, and he recommended that you should be the main attending for this surgery, and…" Her voice began trailing off.
"Keep going." Jungkook looked at her as she spoke.
"And… the surgery costs over a million won. Even if you perform the surgery, I still have to pay for the medical supplies and equipment. I don't have the money, so could you please lend me some?"
Lisa bit on her lips, and she delivered these two requests with great difficulty.
She thought Jungkook would mock her and make fun of her, or even force her to beg him.
After all, she was the one who abandoned him seven years ago and declared that they were only classmates on graduation day in front of the entire school. This broke Jungkook's heart, and that was why he left the country.
She thought that he would now use this chance to take revenge on her.
However, upon hearing everything, Jungkook only said, "Sure, that's fine."
"Really?" Lisa found it somewhat hard to believe.
In fact, Jungkook already knew what was happening with Lisa's brother. Lisa didn't know that Jungkook had been watching Lisa's every move, and after Eunha sent him that WeChat message, he looked into Lisa and Taeyong's contact history. That was why he issued the death warrant on Triumph Steel Works. Therefore, Jungkook wasn't shocked when Lisa told him of the situation. Instead, he thought of it as an opportunity.
"I could personally perform your brother's surgery, and give you money, but…" Jungkook stopped abruptly.
Lisa grew slightly disappointed. She knew that he had terms and wouldn't help her for no reason.
"Marry me."
"What?" Lisa was shocked.
Did he really mention marriage at a critical time like this?
"Marry me and I'll help you. Or else… no deal." Jungkook was determined.
*
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