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"So this is Irene," Jennie said as she gestured the brunette beside her. She's currently inside Lisa's office at the 97--he future sister-in-law's up and coming game development company. "She's very reliable and she knows her way around. If only I had a choice I wouldn't hand her over to you."
Lisa folded her arms as she turn to the beautiful girl beside her unnie. Had Jennie not introduced her as her former secretary, the now jet black haired CEO would have thought she's actually the female model the boys hired to promote their launch. She had porcelain skin, a well-defined nose and soft, innocent smile. But her eyes... Her eyes seemed dead. Her brown orbs looked like a deep abyss of nothingness that oddly looked familiar.
"If she's really good as what you say she is, then she's hired," the young boss said as she took her hands out of her pocket to shake the newly hired secretary's hand. "Welcome to The 97."
Irene smiled as she took her new boss' hand and bowed.
"I'm looking forward to working with you, CEO Jeon," she said smiling--too formal to be honest.
With this, Lalisa Jeon turned to DK, who's actually the head of marketing and HR.
"Show her around for me, DK," she said sounding more of a favor rather than an order. "But no hitting on her, okay? And tell the boys to pipe down. I can hear their heavy breathing from here."
The dark-haired male chuckled before nodding.
"It's not every day we get a female member in this company," he defended before turning towards the new employee. "They're all fine men. No need to worry."
"As long as they don't open their mouths, I'm sure they won't be a problem. To me, at least," she retorted shocking the VP. She just shot him an innocent smile that almost made the female CEO burst out laughing.
As the two walked out of the room to start Irene's official first day as the CEO's new secretary, Lisa couldn't help herself but turn to Jennie.
"I like her," she said nonchalantly.
"Why, because she has a sharp tongue too?"
"I prefer the term, she has a way with words," she corrected. "But on a serious note, are you really serious about selling Park Holding to YK? I can talk to my brothers if either one is forcing you."
"Li, you and I both know how hard it is to run a company," she said sitting on the couch inside her quaint office. "Park Holdings isn't doing good these past few years and the only thing I can do to save it and its employees is if we go under YK. Plus, you know I only stepped in as CEO because my parents force me to. You know that my dream had always been designing so I'm planning to put up my own brand. And Taehyung said he'd help me out as long as it makes me happy."
The younger pursed her lips into a thin line before letting out a sigh. It's true that it was a risky move on Jennie's part but that's the thing in life. You have to take risks in order to succeed.
"Well, as long as you're happy, I'm sure you'll do well," she assured making the brunette smile and engulf her into a tight hug.
"Thanks Li. And thank you for hiring Irene. I won't feel comfortable if I leave her with those dirty old men in Park Holdings. She's quite popular."
"Unnie, she's gorgeous. Those dirty old men would feast if you left her there," she said chuckling. "But if that's the reason why you brought her in here, then you must've gone crazy. This place is crawling with men."
"Single, handsome me," she supplied. "I'd rather she be with these fine looking single guys than those ugly married men."
"But judging by how she just talked to DK, I wouldn't worry at all."
"Those ugly old hags have wives that can be pretty vicious. I don't want them terrorizing her or humiliating her. I'd be much more at ease with her working for you," Jennie justified making Lisa nod her head.
"Well, I do like her and I'm in desperate need for a secretary so... thanks! It's quite hard balancing work and Jungkook."
The brunette furrowed her brows as she threw a questioning look towards the younger girl.
"Jungkook? Don't you mean Junghyun?"
"No. I meant Jungkook. And I don't think you'd like it if I tell you the details."
Jennie stifled a laugh as she realized what the younger girl meant.
"Some on, Li. I can handle some juicy bedroom details."
A soft tint of red crept on Lisa cheek remembering how persistent Jungkook has been lately with their midnight adventures. But of course, she's not one to kiss and tell. Also, the idea of her sharing intimate details between her hudband and her to her future sister-in-law was a bit... uncomfortable.
"I didn't think you're into voyeurism, Jen," she said raising a brow in an attempt to brush off the subject. "By the way, how's the wedding preparations? Have you decided on the date yet?"
Jennie shook her head in disappointment as Lisa victoriously dodged her question.
"You're unbelievable," she chuckled but let the subject rest. "We have but I don't think Chae and Jimin would be happy when they find out."
"Why? Didn't you two agreed on it already?"
"Yes but, with the possible launch of my brand, I think our wedding might be pushed to next year."
"Chae's gonna kill you," Lisa said trying to hide her amusement.
The sisters have agreed that Jen can get married this year and Chae will have hers the following year as their parents did not want the younger one to marry before the eldest. And hearing that Jen might push the marriage a year later, Chaeyoung's will be moved as well.
"We can always elope, you know."
Both heads turn towards the office door. A grinning Kim Taehyung--phone on his hand.
Shaking her head, Lisa greeted her twin brother.
"Already missed me?" Jennie teased as she folded her arms facing her soon-to-be husband. "It wasn't that long since you dropped me and Irene off."
"Guilty," he said as he made his way towards the cat-eyed brunette not forgetting to plant a chaste kiss on her dumpling cheeks. "But aside from that, I'm here to pick up my sister. Jin's freaking out."
"Jin? Why? Sooji's not big enough to even find herself a boyfriend," Lisa joked.
Taehyung shrugged. "Jisoo didn't tell me much. She just told me to come over as soon as possible and to tell you to come home too. She said it's about the garden."
"Maybe Jin's having trouble picking out the right topiaries?"
Lisa sighed before turning towards Jennie who just made the sassy comment.
"I hope whatever it is, it better be a life or death situation," she muttered as she grabbed her purse. "I still have a game launch to prepare for."
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Jin brushed his head back as he paced back and forth the study. Jisoo too was restless but she chose to remain calm as she did not want to further stress out her husband.
A dead body was found in their garden. Specifically, a corpse--almost only bones, securely wrapped inside a large black laminated film was found by the workers and are honestly spooked right now. So to avoid any scandal breaking out, she paid the men to not say a word until investigations were done. She explained to them that they will get the remains checked as soon as possible.
"Will you stop pacing?!" Lisa blurted out. "You're making me dizzy, Jin. Just please sit down and we'll figure this thing out. Did you call halmoeni?"
"Yes, and they're on their way back," he said. "Weirdly, she didn't sound shocked. Do you think she had something to do with that body? I mean, judging by the look on that... that corpse, it must've been buried there for years."
"We can get the body analyzed and search for dental records," Taehyung suggested. "But that means we will be involving the cops in the investigation."
"Wait," Jin stopped him. "We need to ask grandma first. What if she knows something about this? If we call the cops, it's like we're purposely tying a noose around our necks."
"Then what should we do? I mean, a dead person was found in our property. That clearly means jail time. And we'll look guilty if we were to turn the body over hours after finding it," the middle Kim argued then turned towards his twin sister who looked deep in thought. "Li?"
Brows furrowed and lips pursed, Lisa thought had her knuckles propped on the table as she stared on nothingness. What if... just what if...
"Li!"
"Huh?" she turned towards Jin, Jisoo, Taehyung and Jennie. "Oh, right. Well I guess the best thing to do here is to report the incident to the police."
"What?!" Jin blurted out. "Are you out of your mind? If we report this to the police, media outlets would have a field day!"
"But I think we would look a lot less guilty if we were to report it to the authorities as soon as possible," he stated. "Those men who found the dead body, they will talk. Even if we pay them, rumors would still go afloat and we'd look like murderers if we were to hide it. If grandma really has something to do with this, we can always tell everyone that it wasn't us. Think about it this way. Since we've reported the incident, people wouldn't outright suspect us since who in the right mind would report a dead body if they knew it was there in the first place, right?"
"You do have a point..." Lisa suddenly muttered. "But..."
What Yoongi revealed to her plus the dead body found in their yard. It's not just plain coincidence. She's positive that the two incidents are connected and she needs her husbands expertise on this. Because to be honest, she had no desire in getting involved in a scandal right before her game launch.
"Li?" Jisoo turned towards the caramel-eyed girl deep in thought. Then she fished out her phone and tapped on it like there was no tomorrow.
"Call the cops, unnie. Report the incident and tell them to keep things quiet. I'll call Eunwoo to help you guys sort out things out in the station and he'll stand as our legal counsel for the time being," she said as she grabbed her coat and purse. "And if grandma says otherwise, lock her in her room. And don't let Wooreum out of your sights."
"Ya, Lalisa. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to save this family's ass yet again."
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"So that's about it," DK said smiling widely at the gorgeous brunette. "Welcome to The 97!"
Irene took another look at the office before turning towards the guy who had this cheeky smile plastered on his face. Before going to this office, Jennie had warned her to lock her heart up securely. At first she did not understand what she had meant but after her short tour, she finally get the necessity of the warning.
The company wasn't as big as Park Holdings as it only had one floor compared to the multi-story building located in the heart of Seoul. But unlike the old building, the environment of The 97 was quite... refreshing. Instead old men in suits, fine looking men in casual outfits roamed the halls. And if they are as good of a charmer as DK here, then she won't have much of a problem working for Lalisa Jeon. But it would be nice to see all these men here in fitted suits.
"So this will be your desk," he motioned towards the vacant table outside the CEO's office. "If you have any problems or questions, you can always call me over there."
DK pointed at the long glass paneled office with around six other tables inside.
"You don't have your own office?" she asked out of curiosity. "I thought you were a VP?"
"Well..." DK adorably scratched his nape. "Well, let's just say we used to was our own spaces but one of the guys pissed Lisa off by bringing a girl in and... let's just say she didn't like 'shagging' around the office. That's also the reason why she didn't like hiring female employees."
"So I'm actually the first?"
DK answered her with a nod. "Technically... yes. Since Lisa's not actually an employee. So I must warn you, the other VP's are... charmers. Notorious, even. But I think you can handle them though. You're quite a character."
"What do you mean by that?"
DK smirked.
"It's a secret," said then placed his hands inside his pockets. "But I'm genuinely wondering why those chocolate orbs of yours are so empty--"
They both turn as one of the guys in the executive room stood up and sprinted out of the room. The guy--if she recalled correctly, was the company's lawyer Cha Eunwoo.
"Ya, what's wrong Eunwoo?" DK called out as the guy passed them.
"There's a situation with the Kim's. Lisa sent an SOS. You should come too," the handsome guy answered before completely leaving the office. DK turned to Irene.
"I guess duty calls," he said following his colleague. "You can leave early for today after you settled in."
Unbeknownst to the man, a pair of curious eyes followed his retreating figure and her lips slowly forming a soft curve.
"Lalisa Kim..." she muttered silently. "You might be more useful than your twin."
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