It had been two or so hours after her meeting with the son of the Song family. And she was already on her laptop, conferencing with investors from Japan, like she hadn't offered to change somebody's life with just a piece of paper mere hours ago. She felt somewhat indifferent to it. After all, she couldn't be more bothered than the person who received the said offer.
Ji-Eun finished the video call with a smile, "Thank you, Matsumoto-san. I look forward to our actual meeting next week."
After making sure that she left the line last, she finally made a move to close her laptop and leaned back on the soft couch. Sighing, she glanced at the clock.
It's already past 5:00 pm? But... She looked around the hotel suite she was in and contemplated. Do I stay here or drive home? Father's not even home right now.
"And now I'm regretting that I refused to drink earlier..." she whispered to herself.
She stood up and moved towards the master bath and decided to take a nice, long shower.
After her meeting with Song Hyun-Shik, Ji-Eun moved to her personal floor at The Regal Hotel and decided to work in her suite. She had made it so that there were only five rooms on that level. And taking into consideration the number of rooms on this level, one can imagine just how spacious each one was. One was her suite, another was President Chung's suite, a private dining area, an extra VVIP room, and her "for the show" CEO's office.
She can count on one hand just how many times she has been in her so-called office. She had always preferred being in her suite, where the bedroom was made to look exactly like her room at their villa. With the exception of the rather extensive, hotel-like front room, which she used as her makeshift office, she rather liked what the contractors did with her suite. They were so detailed that the carpet was made to be the exact same one as what she had in her original room.
She loved it. It was homey and perfect. And no one bothered her here. Because besides her, her father, and a few selected members of her staff, no one was really allowed to be on this floor. Each person had to take a private elevator and had to have a separate key card to be able to access this floor. Even the person who manned the private dining room had to have his own card.
She did this not to be a snob or anything, but she rather liked being away from prying eyes and inquiring stares. She knew most of her staff didn't know what she looked like, just that she was young and capable. Oftentimes, the staff at the hotel only heard from her through her secretary. And that was enough for all of them. As long as they were doing their job, she was fine with all of them. And as long as she, as their CEO, cared for their workplace, everything was alright.
She was thinking all sorts of things as she stepped out of the bath, wearing a robe and drying herself with a towel. And then she heard the hotel phone ringing from somewhere in the front room.
She walked to the phone. "Yes?"
"Ms. Chung," one of the staff greeted her apologetically. "Sorry to interrupt your evening. Mr. Oh just arrived and is on his way up to see you."
Her eyes went wide and she said excitedly, "Yes, that's fine. Thank you!"
A few seconds later, she heard a light knock on the door of her suite and she all but bounded over.
"Oh Jaehyun!" She exclaimed as she opened the door and saw the young man standing outside.
"Hey, hey..." he clucked disapprovingly, automatically taking the towel on her hand and putting it over her shoulder. "Should you be really answering the door dressed that way?"
The young man was smiling even though he was scolding her. She felt a little relieved seeing him there.
"Oh, shut up..." She dragged him inside. "You came here from the airport? Did you just arrive?" She held onto his suit jacket firmly.
"Yes, I did." He ruffled her still-wet hair.
"Have you eaten?" She studied his face.
"Nope. Drove straight here," he shook his head. "Do you want to go out and eat?"
"Yes, please! Wait... I'm just going to get dressed." She hurried away from the front room and went towards her bedroom.
The young man shook his head and watched her hurry away.
Seemed like she really missed me, huh? He thought as he looked over at the pile of papers at the table. Documents, proposals, research... Has that girl been working after hours? He looked back at her bedroom door.
"Ji-Eun," he called as he started arranging the papers at her work desk. "The contract you asked for, the Hong Kong investors liked it. They sent the signed contract back with me."
There was a thud and a small crash from her bedroom.
"Ji-Eun?" He asked worriedly.
"Yeah? I'm fine. Just excited over what you said!"
He let out a small laugh and turned back to re-arranging her work desk. He must have experienced this a thousand times as he quickly sorted out the papers she needed and piled them accordingly.
"Jaehyun!" He heard her voice from the bedroom.
"Yes?"
"You're off work right now. Please stop fixing my desk!"
What? Does she have cameras in this front room? He wondered as he looked up and around. No, that's impossible. He would have known if there was. At least, he knew she would have told him about it.
"Yeah, okay." He made sure he dropped the final paperwork at the right pile before turning around to sit on the couch. He wanted to remove his wine-colored suit jacket, but he knew as soon as she went out of her bedroom she'd be itching to go. He smiled and closed his eyes for a second.
Although his young and handsome face didn't show it, he was a bit older than the girl inside the bedroom, a few years older, in fact. With his dark, neatly swept hair, gray eyes, and well-built body, he looked every inch like a male model. The way he dressed also accentuated this effect that many had mistaken him for one and scouts would always give him their cards in hopes that he would audition for them. He would ever so politely decline and bow away.
Ji-Eun always had so much fun whenever that happened and she was around.
No, his role and work differ so much from being a model that he found it just absurd that people would think he's in the entertainment business. Not that he didn't think highly of the people in the entertainment business, he simply thought he didn't have what it takes to be in that industry.
With all his skills and face value, he had been Chung Ji-Eun's secretary for the past three years. He smiled at the thought. Yes, that's right. He had been her personal secretary, bodyguard, dear friend, and kind of her loving older brother for some time now.
He met her when she was still a freshman in college. His circle of friends had scoped her out as one of the prettiest freshmen during their heydays. He was naturally interested in her then. When they met face to face, he liked her simple outlook and bright smile that he had even asked her out on multiple occasions. They enjoyed each other's company immensely, but he had some personal issues that he didn't want to share, so when the time came for him to graduate, he tried his best to convince her to remain just friends and part ways.
He worked a lot of jobs since he graduated and had accumulated a rather decent portfolio, which made him brave enough to approach huge, successful companies such as Chung Holdings Ltd., a branch of the Chung Group. Who knew that when he went in for a job interview in Main City, instead of being sent to work in the financial office, he would be drafted to be a personal secretary and marketing personnel for one of the Chung Group's big shots?
Well, he did take up Marketing and Management in college, so... he did get decent grades.
A few months after he was hired, there was an announcement that there would be some sort of reorganization within the Chung Group since the President's only heir was coming to work for the company. She had been a Board Member in name then, but nevertheless, her status and her ability to create and run her own business venture separate from her father declared her worthy to be there. All in all, there were no complaints from the members of the group. They were aware that the President's daughter had about three or four businesses running at that time and that those businesses were climbing up the social and business ladder at such a fast rate that they could just nod and praise the President for having such a successful child.
As soon as the reorganization was completed, he was told that he'd be transferred to the "Lady Chung's" service. In fact, he was told that she had requested it.
Requested? Imagine his shock when he saw who the "Lady Chung" was.
Since then, they started to have this odd sort of relationship wherein they are Boss-Secretary, Lady-Bodyguard, Friend-Enemy, Younger Sister-Older Brother type of thing and they became too familiar with each other. Make no mistake, he still likes her to an extent up to this day. They had dated before, so that was natural for him. But she looked like she was more comfortable with the idea of him being her friend and assistant and that's the reason why he pushed no further. There's also the fact that she's technically her employer and that their status is too different...
He opened his eyes and saw the girl walking out of her room. She had put on an oversized navy blue hoodie, and some denim pants, and was furiously combing out her tangled hair. He noticed her bare feet, so he stood up and walked over to the shoe closet to pick out a suitable pair of shoes.
After picking one out, he walked over to her and handed her the shoes.
"Thank you..." she said, her face contorting with mild annoyance at the state of her hair.
"Ji-Eun-ah," he said as he led her back to the master bathroom and sat her down in front of the vanity. "How about we dry your hair before we go, hmm? It's really cold outside now. You'll get sick."
He picked up the hair dryer, put it on the lowest setting, and hand-combed through her hair.
"I can't believe you haven't thought of drying your hair earlier, silly. Were you that hungry?" He asked jokingly.
She smiled at his reflection.
"I was about to when the receptionist called to tell me you arrived."
"Hmm," he said as he busied himself with her hair for a while. When he was sure that they were finally dry, he ruffled her hair and put away the dryer. He then asked her to brush out the rest, so they could finally go.
"I'll wait for you outside, okay?"
For a time, he knew he had to get away from her intoxicating scent, so he pushed past the bathroom door and decided to just wait for her in the front room.
Simple things like this made him aware of just how close they were. But whether or not Ji-Eun was aware of his lingering feelings, he decided to just leave everything in their pecking order and let her act as she wished.