all the people present in the meeting room were startled when the ceo abruptly stands, face in obvious annoyance. the person presenting halting and went cold thinking he might've made a mistake in his presentation.
"jiyeon will continue to facilitate this meeting" jungkook says turning to his secretary who was confused but nonetheless nods.
they were just having one of their monthly small meetings with the department heads regarding concerns and monitoring progress so it was something that can easily be relayed to the ceo later. "and have the slides emailed to me later. i have an urgent matter i need to attend to."
all the employees present stood up as they made a bow to the ceo who exits the meeting room without saying another word to them and only gestures for sunoo to follow him.
the younger secretary trailed behind the ceo with his teary eyes as he always gets nervous whenever he was seperated with jiyeon.
"have the private meeting room ready and tell jiyeon to join us after, tell her to just enter the room. i don't want anyone disturbing us in the meeting. you can return to your desk when you're done" jungkook instructs as he walked and inside the lift leaving sunoo nodding as he gave the older a bow with the elevator doors closing.
"prepare private room, tell jiyeonie-noona to follow and no disturbing them. got it" sunoo murmurs to himself as he made his own way to have the room ready.
*
"that was rather quick. i've been trying to set up an appointment with you through your secretary but i guess i should've met up with my dear taehyung instead to be able to talk to you"
"my love, are you alright?" jungkook's attention was on the brunette as he sat beside him and giving him a soft kiss on the forehead.
the madam only scoffs as she took a sip of her coffee. "calm down, mister jeon. i'm not a violent person, taehyung himself could testify to that. right, doll?" she says, eyes on the brunette who obviously was looking uneasy since they sat at the café, his cup of tea untouched. "plus, i'm not stupid to do anything to your husband in your building." she added, noticing how all the employees recognized and gave a small respectful bow towards the brunette.
she also noticed the three bodyguards from a distance keeping an eye on them.
"we'll talk somewhere else private" jungkook spoke again as he took a hold of taehyung's hand and stood.
"of course" madam jennie smiles as she also stood and follows the couple.
the ride up to the ceo's floor was quiet, jungkook had his arm wrapped around the younger's waist while taehyung remained quiet beside him.
jungkook didn't know if it was taehyung feeling overwhelmed, uneasy or the madam had said anything to him.
the doors soon opened with a 'ding', sunoo meeting them with a smile but felt a bit awkward feeling the tension.
"the meeting room is ready, mister jeon" sunoo informs with jungkook giving him a small nod.
"thank you" taehyung speaks giving the younger a smile before they walked ahead.
sunoo remained in his spot as they passed, eyes on the couple's companion seeing her for the first time. he assumes she's someone important as the couple were meeting with her privately.
"oh, you're quite eye catching. you'd make a pretty doll" madam jennie comments with sunoo confused and startled realizing that the woman was talking to him.
"um, i - " sunoo got more alarmed when taehyung was suddenly infront of him, as if shielding him.
"don't talk to him, i'm warning you" taehyung growls, eyes filled with rage as he stares at the madam who only looked at him with her brows raised, amused.
the young secretary just felt confusion and scared with whatever was happening infront of him. other employees present in the ceo's floor also taking notice of the small commotion.
"sunoo, head to my office. there's this file i want you to sort, it's on my desk." jungkook was the first one to speak with the tension.
"ah, y-yes, mister jeon. p-please excuse me" the secretary stutters, clueless and excused himself heading to the ceo's office internally screaming and crying and wanted nothing more than to look for jiyeon.
taehyung took in a breath as jungkook now intertwined their hands, making him calm down.
"calm down, doll. stress is bad for the baby" the madam now talks, eyes darting towards taehyung's clothed stomach. the pregnant male instinctively hovering his hand over his belly.
"let's just talk so you could leave sooner" the brunette says as he eyed the madam and walked passed her, the madam jennie only scoffing not saying another word as she follows.
jungkook sighs as they were finally seated, madam jennie seated across him and taehyung.
jiyeon also had already joined them and was seated at her usual spot during meetings, just at the far back behind jungkook.
"i'm here because i'm looking for someone and upon investigation i found him currently in police custody" madam jennie says, the taekook couple not following as who she was referring to. "i wanted to have a few words with him but the police wouldn't allow me as it seems he offended someone of influence and lo and behold i found out it's one of the jeons."
"and who might that be?" jungkook asked. if anything, he assumed it was someone who offended his father and was sent to jail.
"a person named shin jaehyuk"
the mention of the name made taehyung and jungkook to look at each other.
madam jennie couldn't help but lightly sigh as even her own 'connections' couldn't get her to have a chitchat with the said man; all saying that they were under strict protocol that no one could meet him unless they were granted permission. the only information she got was that mister shin was in prison for offending one of the jeons; she wasn't able to find out who specifically or what had happened for mister shin to end up in jail so she made up her mind to meet the powerful jeons she knows.
"and what do you want with him?" taehyung questions.
"so you do know him" madam jennie confirms as she lightly leans back on her seat, arms crossed over his chest. "i'm looking for someone else, an old doll, yejin"
"yejin?"
"yes, she was a doll at the shop but i kicked her out. she tried to steal from me, money specifically and unending drug plus theft complaints from guests. i gave her a chance, once, thrice but she didn't change." the madam elaborates, an evident frown on her red lips. "i didn't know what happened to her after but a few months later the scandal came up and it was that bitch who leaked to the authorities."
taehyung felt a series of emotions at the information; relieved that they finally knew who got the word out, scared as to what else yejin knows and if she'll reveal his identity and disappointed as the whole thing made his hyungs and noona's loose their jobs due to the ongoing investigations.
although, as for jungkook, the dark haired male was pissed finding out that this yejin girl just wanted to take revenge on madam jennie but made a whole scandal that's involving and stressing taehyung.
"this shin jaehyuk guy apparently recruited yejin and promising her that he'll make her the 'madam' of her own doll shop, sponsor her per se." madam jennie further states, eyeing jungkook whose face only turned grim. "with the scandal too, they wanted to eliminate me as their competitor" she adds scoffing at how silly it sounds.
well, they definitely underestimated her as she'll makes sure they regretted ever clashing with her and her doll shop.
"he wanted to open a doll shop" jungkook mumbled evident anger in his voice. "that disgusting man"
the dark haired male was boiling inside as his mind came to realization - the sudden suggestion of expanding the jeon corporation to take on entertainment companies with mister shin offering to take lead on the new branch plus he also submitted a proposal of 'scouting individuals with potential'.
"also" the madam's posture suddenly changed as she turned to the brunette. "he has someone else working for him, a guy named minki."
this had taehyung startled with jungkook's eyes going wide - 'kim taehyung having sex inside the ceo's office. i have proof'- the pictures posted of the taehyung in the company and were taken in secret at how they were angled, mostly blurry but jungkook could confirm it was in the company.
"jiyeon, have the building in lock down now and tell the guards to hold choi minki."
taehyung felt his body going cold, disgusted and his wide eyes brimmed with tears realizing that he was working closely with that person all along.
choi minki was there, he was always there during his schedules, his photoshoots and even back stage where he felt comfortable with his team. he didn't know when he started and what other photos he has of him and just thinking about it made his head feel dizzy and he wanted to vomit.
he trusted everyone around him in the company, he trusted him.
"tae, my love, are you alright?" jungkook panicked seeing the tears in the brunette's eyes and how he seemed to have a hard time breathing. "my love, look at me... breathe, baby... you're alright" he pressed a kiss on the younger's forehead and wrapped his shaking body in his arms.
madam jennie remained quiet the whole time and no one needed to explain to her what was happening as she already knew.
"we'll end here, let's talk again tomorrow" jungkook says wanting nothing more than to get taehyung home not wanting to put him under more stress.
"i just want to talk to shin jaehyuk to find yejin" madam jennie states.
jungkook sighs. "jiyeon, call yoongi and tell him to set an appointment for madam kim jennie to speak with mister shin" he instructs. "my secretary will call you again when everything is settled" he then turns to the madam who nods.
"okay, we're done" the dark haired male says as he stood with his arm wrapped around the brunette.
"thank you, madam" taehyung managed to mumbled, giving a bow towards the older who didn't say anything with jungkook frowning at this but didn't comment.
the taekook couple were about to exit the room before the madam speaks again.
"about what i spoke with you earlier, i don't know why she's here but she's looking for you" madam jennie says making taehyung to look at her already knowing who she was referring to. "she dropped by a few days ago asking for you and i just told her a guest bought you out of the shop a long time ago."
jungkook was confused as he turned to look at taehyung who only let out a dry laugh. "ha, she abandoned me a long time ago... what else does she want with me..." he shook his head not sparring the madam another glance and walked out of the room with the dark haired male closely behind.
"be careful" were the last words they heard madam jennie murmured before the doors shut closed.
*
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*
a/n
i'm not sure if i'm overthinking or probably because i haven't updated in awhile but i've been thinking of temporarily unpublishing this story - i'm not discontinuing or will stop writing but i kind of want to reread and fix (?) the plot~
to be honest, i would have the occasional feeling of not being entirely satisfied with what i've written so far~ for example how taekook was supposed to meet madam jennie and it took me 30+ chapters haha some of you may know that i'm not the type of person to write with a whole plot in mind but for this book i had 'scenes' already i wanted but the way the story flowed or how i wrote it seemed toooo long for me (i honestly don't know how to explain haha) i also want to write some of the scene suggestions but hasn't been able to since i have to make a story flow for it but i just end up adding other scenes and everything just gets prolonged or idk (again, i don't know how to explain😤😭🤣)
basically i feel like i could've 'structured' this story better??
but yeahhh i've been bothered by this for days😵💫 maybe i might have a change of mindset when i continue writing updates since i've been on and off in updates:'
what do you guys think? 🤧✨ and sorry for the rant haha i just needed to let it out!🙈
see you on the next update~
♡ elle
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: chapter side note
a little chapt explanation since my thoughts are all over the place and i'm not sure if i was able to write this one properly:'
so mister shin was basically planning to start his own doll shop by using the jeon corporation as a 'cover up'. the part mentioned where he proposed to head the 'scouting of individuals with potential' is basically him planning of human trafficking - they'll be hired in the company promised to be actors / modes etc but in turn they'll be working as dolls.
other things about yejin and minki's actions will
be explained in the future chapters:)