"Oh? You're on the news again," Oh Jaehyun said as he handed his Lady Boss her tablet and some documents.
Chung Ji-Eun looked at the big television screen on the wall of her suite, frowning a little. The screen showed pictures of her and her Father when they had attended various events from about five years ago. Since the paparazzi were not able to take any recent photos of her, they just settled on digging up old news about them and using the images from there.
"Wow... They really can't get past our security personnel, can they?" Jaehyun said. "You've picked your team well."
"Give them a raise," she said nodded, thanking her staff wholeheartedly in her own way. "They're responding very well to pressure. I can imagine how stressed they are handling people like the media."
"I'll go talk to the Manager in charge," Jaehyun nodded in agreement, turning away from the television.
He checked the time on his own phone before calling the Hotel Manager. After the usual pleasantries, he informed the Manager about his Boss' instructions. And just after three minutes, everything had been settled according to her instructions.
He checked his phone again.
3:25 pm.
Jaehyun looked over to where she was sitting and noted her listless form watching the news.
She must be really tired, huh? He felt a rush of worry for her.
She has been working non-stop for the last couple of days, doing conference calls, closing deals, and acquiring resources for her latest venture. Using her inhumane Uberman sleep schedule, she made it possible to be able to close a record of seven deals in just two days and she did it all on her own.
Moving her back to her hotel suite proved to be the only way Jaehyun could convince her to rest a little and eat her meals on time. Since the Group's business review ended and all relevant documents had been approved by her, Oh Jaehyun took it upon himself to move all of her stuff back into her suite. It has been a few days and she's yet to come out of the hotel or to go home, but he supposed she won't be doing either given the amount of work she wants to complete before her actual wedding.
It was from her suite where she watched all the relevant news about her 'wedding' and sufficed to say, that the Song family did not disappoint, really going all out with their announcement.
"Ji-Eun," he moved closer to where she was sitting, spacing out in front of the television. "Do you want to rest for a while before you meet up with your Mother-in-law?"
"What?" Her eyes darted from the screen to his face, mild surprise showing.
Jaehyun opened his phone and checked her schedule.
"You have your dress fitting at 4:30 pm," he said carefully. "I packed everything you need for the fitting, so all you have to do is get changed to go out later."
"Ah," she said. "I'm sorry you had to do that for me."
"Do what?" He asked, a bit confused.
She made a gesture towards her chest and downwards, surprising him and causing his face to turn slightly red from embarrassment. "The underwear," she said. "You must have been embarrassed, Jaehyun."
"Oh, my Lord," he sighed.
'Yes, I did prepare everything. Including the damned undergarments the stylist told me to pick up and pack', he thought.
The stylist had called him yesterday to have him pick up a set of clothes for her to try before her fitting. Thinking nothing of it, he went over and asked to see his 'Boss' clothes. Needless to say, Ji-Eun had a good laugh out of it when he came back, red-faced and sputtering nonsense, all the while trying to un-see everything.
'Well, at least she relaxed a little,' he had thought.
After a few seconds of silence, Ji-Eun sighed and said flatly, "Alright, I'll go..."
Hearing the change in her tone, he checked her expression once again. Seeing her sudden cloudy expression, he immediately put his phone down.
"Something wrong?" He asked, sitting down next to her on the couch.
She looked up at him and smiled weakly.
At that moment, he didn't need to ask her again. That weak smile just told him everything.
"If you're not up to it, we can always reschedule with the stylists," he said. "After all, they're your team too. Your Mother-in-law will understand, won't she?"
Ji-Eun shook her head. "It's not that. I'm just..." Her voice had trailed off and she lowered her head.
"Uncomfortable?"
Without looking at him, she buried her face in her hands and nodded.
Oh Jaehyun felt his heart twitch at her honesty. But he really couldn't voice out his opinion for fear it would derail her thoughts even more.
"You're bound to feel like this for a while," he said, patting her head gently.
"I know," she said, her muffled voice coming through her hands.
They sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts before Oh Jaehyun moved to ruffle her hair. "You can sleep for a while. Maybe you'll feel better after getting some rest. I'll get you some food, so you can eat before I drop you off at the Boutique, alright?"
He was about to stand when he felt a tug on his suit sleeve. He looked down to find Ji-Eun's small hands clinging to his sleeve, her head down and her eyes closed.
"Ji-Eun?" He asked, worried. "Are you okay? Do you feel sick?"
He lifted a hand to check her forehead temperature but stopped when she shook her head.
"Jaehyun," she said in a small voice. "You're off work soon, right?"
While confused by her question, he checked the time again, and answered, "Yeah, I'll be off soon. Do you need me for something else?"
"Jaehyun-ssi," she said, finally looking up at him. "You are going to come with me, right?"
Oh Jaehyun could only stare at her blankly. Are you serious? He wanted to ask her, but couldn't as her tired and nervous eyes reflected on his own.
He let out an uncomfortable laugh.
What use was it that he had avoided their 'family dinner' like the plague because it made him feel uncomfortable as hell if she was just going to ask him to go with her this time? He even earned himself a light scolding from the President for missing it. She didn't say anything when he declined the President's invitation to have him join their 'family dinner', so why would she ask him to accompany her now?
"Ji-Eun."
"Come with me please?" She asked him again. "I really need somebody who's on my side right now. I feel like I'm about to lose my head soon because everything's going so fast. Just... please go with me this time and I promise, I'm not going to ask you to do anything unreasonable again."
His otherwise adamant side crumbled when he heard her words. So, his fate decided, he rubbed his throbbing temple with one hand, while enclosing her small, clinging hand gently with the other.
"Alright, Ji-Eun," he said, reassuring her. "Don't worry. I'll go with you this time."