His eyes fluttered open, slowly but surely adjusting to the early, golden sun that trailed a light ray to the opposite wall. The sound of birds chirping melodically and the soft breathing of the one in his arms made him almost fall back to sleep.
He let out a gentle, silent groan and shifted to face the alarm clock on his bedside table behind him.
6:52, the robotic numbers read. You two were supposed to be up in 8 minutes, but instead of dazing back off to sleep, he decided to start your day off extra early too.
Holding your bare body closer to him, he whispered into your ear, "Y/n..wake up" but it came out as more of a husky, raspy murmur.
Surprisingly, a disturbed groan responded.
Jimin chuckled sweetly to himself, trailing his hand down your arm to entwine your fingers together "Wake up, honey" he now leant down, pecking gently at your exposed neck, making you finally give in.
Sighing, you turned around with a straight face so you could see a grinning - and somehow not groggy - Jimin.
"Why?" You asked rhetorically with narrowed eyes at him, speaking with clear annoyance.
Again, he chuckled, "I wanted to hear your voice first thing in the morning" he pulled you closer to him, up against his bare chest.
"You couldn't wait," you paused, straining to see the alarm clock behind Jimin, "6 minutes?"
"Nope. And plus, I thought we could maybe," his index finger lingered down your body slowly under the bedsheets, making you shiver "continue from last night" he looked about your adorably shy face with a smirk.
Grabbing his sneaky hand, you looked him in the eyes, "The fact that you even have strength after what happened amazes me"
"Hmm, I'm a strong man" he proudly huffed.
"I'll say" you muttered.
"We actually need to go over today's plan"
"Ah, because of the meeting" you recalled.
"Mh hmm, so, let's discuss it over breakfast" He suggested, taking the covers off to grab a nearby robe due to crisp morning temperature - and also because there would be nothing covering what was under the robe - and went to go brush his teeth.
"Hey waitt, I wanna cuddle" you whined.
"Oh so now you want me" was the last thing he playfully said before shutting the door to your shared bathroom.
"Hmph"
~
"Thank you" you smiled at the waiter who placed your plate of fresh, hot food down. Being too tired - and a little lazy - from yesterday, you proposed to eat breakfast outside.
"Oh this looks amazing" you cheered, gleaming down at the neatly arrayed food.
The corner of Jimins lips turned up "If you're done crushing on the food," you gave him a look, "we can talk about the meeting we have today" he joked.
"This food may be better looking than you, so watch it. And yeah, what's the meeting about"
"As if that plate is better looking than me," he scoffed and you raised your eyebrows, shrugging as a motion of uncertainty.
"Ok" he chuckled, "so about a week ago, I reached out to this child vitamin company because they asked to be signed off with their old supporter - being that they were involved in some sort of scandal. So, I gave them an offer to come and work for us, and they were pending until yesterday. At the meeting, we're going to discuss everything that entails working for us so we can officially call them a client."
You swallowed your food, "Are they a big company?"
"Very big. They're the leading child's vitamin company in Korea., which is why this is an amazing opportunity for us. I just hope I won't let our fathers down"
"Hey," you reached over the table, placing your hand atop his that rested on the table, not having taken a bite of his food yet, "there's no way you'll let them down. You're an amazing worker and boss, and I know you'll land these clients"
"Thank you, Y/n"
You grinned, "so the meetings at 1 right"
"Yup. On the dot"
"Got it" you winked and he chuckled.
~
Your eyebrows raised in short surprise, hearing a knock at the door.
"Come in" Jimin said aloud and the mysterious visitor entered the room.
Getting up from your seat, you bowed respectfully.
"It's alright Y/n" Mr Park fluttered his hand as to indicate that you can sit down.
You smiled as a thanks and sat back down, still pivoted to be able to see him as he walked closer to you and Jimin.
"Dad?" What's wrong?" Jimin asked.
"Two things Jimin," he started blatantly, holding up two fingers "one is that Mr Y/l/n told me to tell you that you have the wrong contract."
Jimins eyebrows curved in as he opened his brief case, pulling out the apparently false contract, "how so?"
"Well, the handler's name is wrong and the name of the company"
"Oh," Jimin let out lightly, noticing the informer mistake.
"An honest mistake, can be fixed easily" Mr Park swatted his hand, unbothered, "but Mr
Y/l/n sent the correct document to you about 10 minutes ago"
"Ok, Y/n," you hummed, turning to face Jimin as you finally became mentioned after their talk, "could you quickly print this contract using my pin" Jimin muttered, clicking away at the mouse of his computer, sending the document to the printer.
"Sure" you got up, heading toward the door.
"What I also needed to mention was, are you willing to take up another project?" Was the last sentence before you had left the room completely.
~
Reaching the printer, you were faced with only 4 people in line . Unaware of who they were, you just sighed lightly and joined the back, not saying a word, but checking your watch which read 12:57. Your cheeks filled with air, a little on edge that you wouldn't make it back in time for the strictly appointed meeting.
The first person left the single file and one joined, as you heard footsteps behind you.
"Well, look who it is" A disembodied, yet familiar voice spoke.
"JiHyun?" You asked before you turned around to confirm that it was in fact JiHyun.
"Spot on" He affirmed, a grin on his face, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm just printing something for Jim- Mr Park" you nodded, pursing your lips.
"Awe," He sulked, "I wish I had an assistant. I hate doing all the work by myself." He tusked, "Hey, spontaneous idea," you rolled your eyes playfully at his distinct sarcastic humour, "but wanna be my assistant instead"
"Depends on your price" You played along, noticing another person so leave so it was only 2 people in front of you now.
"Whatever you want" JiHyun replied, rather narcissistically, however you were used to this kind of play of behaviour in the Park family now - well, mainly the siblings.
"Hm, a dog? A house?" You counted on your fingers, catching him off guard with your unexpected answer.
"Um I-"
"A new car?"
"Ok never mind," he snapped, pretending to be irritated, "I'll find someone else"
You giggled.
"No but really, Jimin has mentioned many times about how good of an assistant you are. How you're always on time, how you even finished that pile of paperwork in just one day-"
"Oh, well that" You swatted your hand with a self-centred chuckle of yourself, feeling as if the Park boys infamous ego was rubbing off on you.
He smiled, "Can I ask," he started, "I saw my dad go in the direction of Jimins' office."
You hummed a yes in response.
"He mentioned something about a new project to me, but only brushed over it. Did he say anything about that to Jimin?"
"Well, he did ask if Jimin was up for a new project, but I was out of the room before I heard what it actually was"
"Oh.." he bit his lip, eyes averting to the ground.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, well..it's just that," he exhaled sharply, index finger and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose for a short second before continuing "whenever there's a big opportunity, I'm always second choice, and sometimes, I'm not even considered"
"What do you mean?" You moved forward in the line, only 1 person left to go but you hadn't really acknowledged that, engrossed in this conversation with JiHyun.
"I mean, primarily, I could use right now as an example; Jimin reached out to that vitamin company, and he got the acknowledgement of everyone, but when I land a new client, no matter if they're big or small, I barely get a word"
"I'm sure that's not entirely true. Everyone is busy, and I'm sure Mr Park and my father are proud of both you and Jimin equally"
"Yeah right," He scoffed, "as if you'd know what being second best is like"
"JiHyun, I'm the middle child within 3 siblings. The oldest is an orthodontist, the youngest is going to graduate and work with us, and then there I am, going into a new job which I had avoided for the past 2 years because I was so afraid, been told millions of times to join by my father and had no experience whatsoever with the field of work, and after 2 weeks of being employed here, I didn't get so much as a theoretical pat on the back"
"Alright fine, you win"
"JiHyun," You stepped toward the now unoccupied printer, logging in with Jimins pin, "you are not second best, trust me. You've had your accomplishments, and Jimin has had his. There's no need to compare yourselves, especially when you're including the fathers 'approval'" you air quoted.
"Yeah, yeah you're right," he sighed, nodding. "Hey, what are you doing printing anyway? Aren't you supposed to be at some sort of meeting of something?"
"Well, it's- SHIT SHIT" You spat out cussing, aghast at your watch that read 1:08.
"What? What's wrong?!" JiHyun asked, also suddenly alarmed.
"I'm late for the meeting. Ugh, hurry up!" You unintentionally raised your voice slightly to the printer who was still doing its work.
JiHyun tried to soothe you, putting his hand on your shoulder, knowing if you entered that room of people with a racing heart and rushing mind process, you'd make more a fool of yourself than with a calm state, regardless that you were late, "It's okay, don't-"
"No, it's not" you stole the paper once it finally finished printing, "I'm such an idiot" you muttered to yourself and immediately rushed to the meeting room.
~
Your pulse raced faster than little hand that boomed, ticking every second on your watch.
All the while you attempted to half jog, half run, however in your formal heels it proved to be more of a frustrating challenge.
Finally reaching there, you took a sharp breath, trying to compose yourself though you really expected the worst. About to just jump in there as if it would make a seconds difference, you quickly stopped your clammy hand from turning that door knob, and knocked thrice at the door.
"Come in"
Walking in with a flushed face, pursed lips, trembling knees, you gulped by all the confused eyes on you, "M-My deepest apologies Mr Jung, Mr Choi." You turned to the two men by Jimin at the top of the table, surprised that your voice was more stable than expected.
They both nodded their heads once with poker faces, however.
"Here is the contract."
You walked up to an also domino poker faced Jimin and handed him the contract.
"Why did you take so long?" Jimin sternly asked, failing - if he was - to try and hide his aggravation.
"The printer was broken, Mr Park." You quickly saved yourself, sounding convincing, as you now seemed to be quite a master at untruthfulness due to your past experiences.
"Take a seat, you're lucky you didn't miss anything too important" Jimin glared, voice the same tone as before.
"No need to beat yourself up over it, our printer jams all the time" One of the leading counsels of the vitamin company reassured as you tucked your chair in.
"It's because this one is printing stuff like crazy over there. You'd think he was publishing a novel" the other leading counsel joked, chuckling a bit, and you returned a light, polite smile.
Jimin cleared his throat, "Heh," he let out as to show a at least a little lightness during the situation, "Well, now that we won't be interrupted anymore, let's continue shall we?" Jimin asked rather passive aggressively, glowering at you as your smile slowly but surely disappeared.
𝟚𝟙𝟚𝟘 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤