"I don't know if Mom-- I mean your wife. I don't know if she told you about the misunderstanding in my room this morning. But she says she wants Grace out of the house. What can we do?" Ann asked Chairman Jiang.
They were both seated comfortably in his office after she had returned from lunch with Tae-Joon and he had returned from Mrs. Shu's restaurant.
"She will have to go," Chairman Jiang said, making Ann widen her eyes in surprise.
"What? You remember she is your daughter, right? Not me. I'm talking about Grace," Ann said, reminding him like he had forgotten.
"Yes. I'm aware it's Grace. But she has never lived on her own before. I think it's time she experienced life away from the family. Maybe that will help her appreciate what she has and be less arrogant," Chairman Jiang said thoughtfully.
"How will she survive? How will I cope without her? I can't fit into her shoes," Ann said with a concerned frown.
"You're not meant to fit into her shoes, Just learn the basics and be a better version of her. I learned you were able to get foreign investors to invest in our lingerie line this time. That's something Grace has been unable to do for years. Don't get me wrong, she is best at what she does, but sometimes her attitude gets in the way of her work," Chairman Jiang explained.
"This is hopefully going to be a temporary situation. You can fill in for her until whatever happened is corrected. But I really want to use this as an opportunity to teach her real-life lessons. Help me do this," He said with pleading eyes.
"Besides, she doesn't know I'm aware anyway. If I should keep her around regardless of her mother's objections, it would be strange to her," Chairman Jiang said with a small smile. Everyone knew he didn't know how to say 'No' to his wife.
"So what about accommodation? We will have to get her a new apartment," Ann said, even though she did not like the idea.
"Or she could easily go back to living with Mrs. Shu. I could get them a big enough apartment and have her live with them as her guardians," Chairman Jiang suggested.
"Why would you do that?" Ann asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Because they're your family, and if they could do such a terrific job of raising you so nicely, I think they can help correct some character flaws in her. Besides, you're now family to me, too, and so are they. Ann, I want you to relax and feel more at home. I will take care of Grace myself. I'm going to ask my wife to give me three days to make other arrangements for her. Within those three days, try to learn as much as you can from Grace," Chairman Jiang told her.
"If that is what you want, sir," Ann said politely.
"You can return to your office. Tell her I want to speak with her right now," Chairman Jiang said as Ann stood up to leave.
"Okay, sir. I'll do just that," Ann said and bowed before leaving.
"Your father wants to speak with you," Ann whispered to Grace as she walked past her into her office.
Grace rose her head from what she was doing and frowned at Ann's back before standing up to follow her into her office.
"What does he want to see me for?" Grace asked Ann curiously.
"You forgot your mother wants you out of the house?" Ann asked, turning her attention to the laptop in front of her.
"Did he tell you something? Anything I need to know?" Grace asked nervously.
"No. You should hurry. I'm not sure he will appreciate you keeping him waiting," Ann said without looking at her. She had made up her mind to develop herself with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Grace looked at her for a while before walking out to meet her father. She walked up to her father's office as she usually did in the past and wanted to go through the door when the secretary stopped her.
"Who are you? And why would you walk past me in that manner?" She asked in annoyance, raising her head from the files on her desk to focus her attention on Grace.
"I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts," Grace said politely, looking down and away from her in embarrassment.
"I take it you want to see the Chairman? Who are you?" The secretary asked, resting her chin in her hand.
"I'm Ann Peters, Director Grace's Personal assistant. She says the Chairman wants to see me," Grace said politely.
"Oh! She has an assistant now? You could have just said so earlier. You can go in," The lady said before returning her attention to the files she had been sorting through.
Grace stepped into the office and saw her father looking at the family picture on his desk.
"Sir, You sent for me," She said politely.
"Yes, please sit down," He told her before standing up from his seat behind the desk and leading her to the comfortable set of sofas in his office.
"I don't want to waste either of our time. My wife needs you out of our daughter's life... I'm sorry this is happening so early after you moved in, but it wasn't expected. And I'm sure you understand," He said, giving her a direct look that made her shift uncomfortably in her seat.
"I'm planning on pleading with her to allow you to hang around for at least three days until I'm able to get you a new place. That should be compensation enough since my daughter seems to like you a lot," He said, giving her a pointed look.
Grace widened her eyes in surprise, and her hands suddenly began to tremble. "Are you saying I can no longer be her Personal assistant?" Grace asked in a shaky voice.
What was she going to do if she had to leave here? She had hidden under the excuse of Ann not ruining her reputation to hang around her home when the true reason was that she couldn't do anything else. This was the life she knew, and she didn't know how she would survive doing anything else.
"It depends on what my wife decides. If she no longer wants you around our daughter, then you would have to go. But you have nothing to be scared of. I will still take care of you as my daughter's friend," Chairman Jiang quickly reassured her when he saw how frightened she looked.
This was probably the best thing he could do for the daughter he loved. The freedom she never had to leave a normal life was what he would give her now. She would be wiser and stronger by the end of the day. He was going to keep his eyes on her and make sure things never got too hard on her, he reassured himself.
"I can explain to her that what she saw was a harmless joke, and I can also tell CEO Wang Tae-Joon about that. Please, I don't want to leave. I can't return to that lifestyle. I just can't," Grace pleaded, close to tears.
"Don't worry, my dear, you'll be fine," Chairman Jiang told her as he dismissed her from his office.