JIMIN POV
"Is there a problem, Mr Jeon?"
I admit it was probably wrong of me to eavesdrop on Jungkook's phone call but he had seemed so agitated when I stepped out into the corridor that I wanted to make sure he was okay.
I hadn't been able to hear too much of what the person on the other end of the line had said but I heard enough to get a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Jeon Jungkook was in the support branch of the marketing department.
I'll admit that I had been keeping an eye on him for awhile.
I found him to be young and inexperienced but eager to learn.
He excelled in his position, completed his work in a timely manner and was well liked by his colleagues.
All good marks of an excellent employee.
Taking phone calls in the middle of a meeting was another story.
I understood emergencies, which was probably why his cell phone had been going off so much during the meeting.
If someone had been trying to urgently get a hold of him, it would also explain why they called the office directly when they couldn't reach him.
Still, it wasn't a good practice.
"No, sir."
Jungkook's cheeks were flushed when he replied and I noticed that his eyes didn't raise any farther than my chest, as if he couldn't bring himself to look me in the face.
"Just a small family problem."
"Do you need to be excused?"
"No, sir."
"If you need some time..."
"No sir, I'm good to go."
Even as I accepted Jungkook's words, I wondered if they were true.
While his cheeks were flushed, the rest of his face was pretty pale.
I had heard a woman yelling at him on the phone.
Having heard a few of the things Jungkook said, I knew he had been speaking to his mother.
I couldn't help wondering what the heated conversation had been about.
"Better get back to the
meeting then."
I grabbed the door and held it open for him and then followed him into the conference room.
I walked to the end of the table and sat down, immediately pulling out my cell phone to send my assistant a text.
"Do a background check on Jeon Jungkook and his family, especially his sister and parents."
"Basic facts or deep dive?" Ari typed back.
"Deep dive."
My assistant Lee Ari was former CIA. She had connections in places I could only dream about.
A basic background check would get me the information just about anyone could find about anyone else.
A deep dive would get me everything else.
"I should have something for
you in twenty-four hours."
I smiled with satisfaction as I set my phone down on the table and looked toward the front of the room where the marketing director was giving his presentation.
I couldn't get out of this meeting no matter how much I wished I could, It was all part and parcel of being the CEO of my business.
But there were times when I could just send someone else.
These things were usually as boring as hell.
My gaze strayed to Jeon Jungkook.
Maybe this one wouldn't be as boring as usual.
At least the scenery was nice.
Jungkook was an average looking man with short strawberry blond hair and a slim build.
I'm pretty sure I saw a smattering of freckles across his nose.
It wasn't until I saw the green doe eyes he hid behind his glasses that I truly realized there was something more to him.
I was fascinated by those eyes.
They weren't deep emerald green but more of a light sea green color.
I had an urge to take off his glasses and just stare into his eyes, I imagined I could do it for hours.
Of course, that could never happen.
He was one of my employees and I had a very firm rule about becoming involved with anyone in my workplace.
It created issues I'd much rather avoid.
I was a bit concerned with how slim Jungkook seemed to be.
He wasn't tall.
I hadn't gotten close enough to him to be sure but I think he stood at least six inches shorter than me.
Even then, a man of his height shouldn't be so skinny.
Maybe it was an image thing for him, I knew some men preferred to be on the thin side.
I had never understood it as a healthy body was a happy body.
Still, it was none of my business.
As long as he did his job to the best of his ability, he could be as skinny as he wanted to and there was nothing I could say about it.
"Sir?"
I glanced up and then realized everyone was looking at me.
"Sorry about that, I was making a list in my head of questions I wanted to ask after your presentation. Please continue."
I knew my cheeks weren't flushed with embarrassment at getting caught staring off into space because I had learned to control that response years ago.
My emotions were very rarely shown on my face.
It was bad for business.
When the meeting drew to an end, I had to quickly come up with a list of questions to ask the marketing director.
Luckily, I could compartmentalize things and was easily able to do that.
I felt good about what we had accomplished in the meeting by the time it was over.
I saw Jungkook gathering up his stuff as I did the same.
I wanted to ask him more about the conversation I had over heard but that didn't seem right.
It had been a personal phone call after all.
I had no business butting in.
Still, I couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong.
I just couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.
Hopefully, Ari would have some thing for me by the time I got back to my office.
I waited until Jungkook left the conference room and then grabbed my stuff and walked out after him.
I smirked when I glanced down.
He had a nice ass even if it was hidden behind baggy slacks.
I watched him walk off, my concern growing when I saw him stagger and grab the wall to support himself.
He seemed to shake it off after a moment and continued down the hallway.
I continued to my office one floor up and made a beeline for my assistant's desk.
"Ari, I want you to order lunch for everyone in the marketing department on me."
"Tell them it's for a job well done on the presentation or some thing but make sure Jungkook gets something to eat."
"Of course, sir." Ari said, already reaching for her phone.
I walked into my office and over to my desk.
After setting my tablet and papers down, I pulled off my jacket and slung it over the back of a chair before walking over to the sideboard to grab a bottle of water from the small fridge hidden inside.
I would have preferred a drink but it wasn't even noon yet, Still I was pretty sure I was going have one by the end of the day.
My level of stress was going up by the second.
People tended to think being the CEO of some big corporation was an easy gig involving brainless bimbo arm candy and attending fundraisers.
It wasn't.
Well, maybe it was in other companies but I'd built this one from the ground up.
It was my baby and I wasn't about to let it go down the drain by not knowing exactly what was going on in my company.
Which was why Jungkook worried me.
* * * *
"I have that background check for you." Ari said as she strolled into my office three days later.
It had been a little more than twenty-four hours but I wasn't upset by that.
If Ari needed that extra time to dig for every scrap of information then it just meant she had found all there was to find.
She handed me the file, which was pretty thick and then dropped into the seat across from me. No doubt she knew I'd have questions.
I flipped the file open and began reading.
I started to not like what I was seeing two paragraphs in.
By the fourth paragraph I was ready to hit someone.
Jungkook's entire family were jerks.
There were several unsubstantiated reports of physical and mental abuse by the father, all aimed at Jungkook.
He had been seen with bruises on several different occasions over his lifetime including right up until recently.
There had even been a few broken bones.
"He's still beating Jungkook?"
Jungkook was twenty-five years old.
"My investigator says he is." Ari replied.
"The last incident occurred last than a week ago."
"Have there been any reports to the police?"
Surely Jungkook had reported it.
"There was one report when Jungkook was in second grade."
"That's when he had a broken arm, The mother convinced the police that he had crashed his bike, which was how he broke
his arm."
I flipped through a few more pages of the report before going back to the first page.
"Any reports to child services?"
"The neighbors reported yelling and banging a few times but nothing ever came of it."
"The mother always backed the father up."
"So basically, they were both abusing Jungkook? The mother emotionally and mentally and the father physically?"
"Basically."
"What about the sister? They're twins, aren't they?"
Ari snorted rudely. "The sister is a real piece of work."
"According to the banking records, Jungkook has been sending her twenty-five hundred dollars a month every month like clockwork since he graduated from the university, which he paid for by himself by working a part-time job and getting a few small scholarships."
So, Jungkook was smart enough to get scholarships.
That was good to know.
I had always thought he was smart, just inexperienced.
"What about the sister's education?" I asked.
"Did she work while going to school or did her parents pay
her way?"
"Oh no, Jai never attended college."
"It might break into her
modeling time."
"She's a model?" I glanced at the picture of Jeon Jai.
I had to admit, she was a looker.
Her brother was prettier.
"Model infers that she has actually been on the cover of something."
"She had one ad for kids' clothes when she was ten years old and has been trying to make her big break ever since then."
"So, no schooling then."
"What about a job?"
"Nope, she's too busy trying to be a model and hunting for a rich husband who will let her live in the lap of luxury for the rest of her life to get a job."
"Seems like Jungkook pays
her way."
My lip curled back in disgust. "She sounds lovely."
"She's a freaking nightmare."Ari replied.
"A couple of weeks ago, she got a loan from some very unsavory people for fifty thousand dollars so she could buy a brand-new wardrobe and fly to Paris in the hopes that she would get a modeling contract at fashion week."
I raised an eyebrow as I glanced across the desk to Ari. "I take it that she didn't?"
"Nope." Ari said with a heavy emphasis on the "p".
"So, parents are lifelong abusive assholes, sister is a money-grubbing bitch with illusions of grandeur."
"Is there anyone in that family that looks out for Jungkook?"
"Just Jungkook." Ari stood up and leaned over my desk.
She flipped through a few of the pages until she came to the one she apparently wanted, She tapped the page. "Read that."
I glanced down at the page Ari had indicated with growing dread.
According to what Ari and her minions had found, Jungkook had been basically supporting himself since he was fifteen years old.
His parents spent all their extra money on his sister.
"The father is an alcoholic that works a dead-end job as a night watchman at a factory down by the docks."
"The mother is a stay-at-home mom that has never had a job in her life, neither has the sister."
"Jungkook seems to be the only gem in the bunch and they are bleeding him dry."
"Bleeding him dry how?" I asked through gritted teeth.
I was seriously not liking what I was hearing.
"Like I said, Jungkook sends a major portion of his money home every month."
"It doesn't leave him much to live on."
I remembered the way he had swayed in the corridor a few days ago.
"I don't think he's eating properly."
I quickly explained what I had seen when Jungkook had swayed after his emergency phone call, as well as what I had overheard while he was one the phone.
"If this keeps up, he's not going to make it."
"So, what do you want to do?" Ari asked because she knew I'd want to do something to fix this.
After growing up the way I did, I had a strong dislike of bullies and these people were clearly bullies.
They needed to be stopped.
"I don't know." I replied, "but it's clear that we have to get him away from those people."
I just wasn't sure how to go about it.
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