"Is there anything you needed to urgently see me for, Director Shin Taehyun and Han Jaemin?" Chaerin questioned— her tone being as cold as usual.
As Chaerin sat on one of the couches inside her office, opposed to her was two middle-aged man— Shin Taehyun and Han Jaemin. Tea and snacks of various assortments was served on the glass table.
Extending her hand towards the tea cup, Chaerin raised it up, and bringing it closer to her mouth, she took a small sip out of it. The peppermint tea was the only thing about this situation she was fond of.
A wide grin appeared on Taehyun's face— one that disgusted Chaerin although she did not let that show on her face. Coupled with his servile and annoying personality, Chaerin detested meeting the person.
Beside him was Han Jaemin, Taehyun's devoted lackey. Even if he did not give birth anger within her as much as Taehyun did, she still was not able to stand his presence.
"CEO Jung, you know how both of us are loyal to you and care for you," Taehyun started, "Whatever we will saying right now is merely due to our concern for you."
Hearing the word loyalty from him almost made her scoff. If it was not for the fact that she was the biggest branch for him to hold on to, both of them would not have shown their faces at here and try to please her.
As her entire family tend to avoid these two, both of them latched on to her. As much as Chaerin wanted to do that, she was well aware that both of them were important shareholders and should not be easily offended.
Taking Chaerin's silence as an indication to continue further, Taehyun added, "Right now, lots of shareholders are disappointed in your brother for the recent scandal. You should strike when the iron is hot, CEO Jung.
If you take this opportunity to get engaged to the oldest son of the Leo Group, you would be able to easily snatch that position from your brother. Don't worry! My son is acquainted with the oldest son from the Leo Group, and it would not be difficult to arrange a meeting between both of you."
Placing her tea cup on top of the table, Lee Chaerin crossed her legs, and intertwining her fingers, she placed her hand on the glass table.
"This was the important matter?" Chaerin spoke out, "There is nothing assuring that the oldest son from the Leo Group would be interested in me, and I am currently dating someone. Most importantly, I don't want to take any position from Vice President Jung.
I am fine with my current position. Therefore, please refrain yourself from coming at here and wasting all of our time if it isn't anything important. If you don't have anything to mention, then I would politely ask for you to leave. There is a meeting I need to get to."
Her words managed to evoke anger within both of the man— not that she cared about that— and she noticed how both of them clenched their hands into a tight fist. Turning a blind eye to that, she continued to drink her tea.
Even if she had made it clear a number of times, both of them— mainly Shin Taehyun— would not stop persisting on her marriage and taking the position from her brother.
Jaemin— who remained silent the entire time— said, "Do give this a proper consideration, CEO Jung. Although you don't care about it, your brother might not have the same opinions as you. You are quite capable and a threat to your brother."
"I don't think you have the right to interfere in my family matters. At the end of the day, the decision depends on Chairman Jung, and I will gladly accept whatever he chooses," Chaerin stated.
Her eyes stared at them sternly and showed how she meant those words of her; her gaze also implied how she would not be pleased if they continued to press on the matter further.
Even if Chaerin was younger than them and a female, she appeared to be quite intimidating and domineering to both of them.
°°°
"Finally, they have left," Chaerin said.
A groan escaped from her mouth while she plopped back on her couch. Raising her hand, she rubbed her forehead in order to ease the pain.
At that moment, Kang Minseok stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. His gaze turned softer when he noticed how exhausted Chaerin was while he made his way towards her.
"CEO Jung, you don't need to pay attention to them. Chairman Jung doesn't care about them, and you should do the same as well. This way, you will be only be harming yourself," Minseok spoke out.
"This is nothing," Chaerin voiced out, "I can't act as recklessly as the rest of them. I have already told you about it before."
"Alright, just make sure to take care of yourself, CEO Jung. You appear to be quite pale. Should I cancel the next meeting, so that you can rest?" Minseok raised one of his eyebrows.
Shaking her head, Chaerin pressed her hand on the couch and stood up. Fixing the collar of her shirt, she spoke out, "No, there is no need for that. Recently, I have been postponing a lot of meetings for Chairman Jung. It would not look good on me as CEO if I continue to do so."
Even though Chaerin attempted to look fine by placing a mask of nonchalance, she was unable to completely hide away her tiredness.
Recently she had been overworking herself quite a lot. Right now, her eyes were screaming to her to close them and let herself rest for a while. But believing that she would be able do work perfectly, she did not let her eyes have the satisfaction.
Despite the worry that was present in his eyes, Minseok said, "Alright, CEO Jung."
°°°
The sound of her phone ringing distracted Chaerin from the screen. Lifting her finger from her keypad, she turned left to check her phone. 'Chairman Jung' was written on her phone's screen as her ringtone continued to resonate throughout the room.
Jung Chaerin was well aware on how her grandfather had nothing urgent to discuss about, and there was an urge within her to ignore the ringing phone.
However, in the end, when her grandfather had called her for the third time, she decided to give in, knowing that her grandfather would be disturbing Kang Minseok next.
Receiving the call, she turned her attention to her computer's screen and, as she began to stare at the figures in the screen, spoke out, "Hello, Chairman Jung. How has your health been?"
"Would you have asked me about my health if I did not call you? You brat, do you even care about my health?" Jung Jinyoung questioned— anger perceivable from his tone.
Knowing that her grandfather was starting his tantrum again, a sigh escaped from her mouth, and, recalling the usual reply she gave to those words of her grandfather, she answered, "Chairman Jung, Secretary Kang provides me updates of your health regularly. There is no need for me to ask further."
"If you know about my health that well, why are you asking me now? Anyway, I did not call you to argue with you. About your boyfriend, bring him to the charity event tomorrow," Jung Jinyoung said, "I want to see if that boyfriend of yours exists or not."
Due to being burdened by work recently, that matter had completely slipped out of her mind, and she recalled how she assigned Kang Minseok to find a suitable boyfriend for her.
Wondering whether or not he had made progress on it, she responded, "He is not ready to visit that soon; at least wait for a week more."
"No, I can't wait more; I have been patient for a long time. You either bring the boy tomorrow or else, Jung Chaerin, I will take this matter into my hand and handle it personally," Jinyoung stubbornly said.
Creases appeared between both of her eyebrows, and a frown became evident on her face. As she pulled her lips into a thin line, she fell into silence.
"You brat, why are you not answering? Are you trying to ignore me now?" he questioned.
"I will bring him tomorrow, Chairman Jung," she responded, "I will be hanging up then."
Before Jung Jinyoung was able to say anything, she hung up the call. Looking at her computer's screen, she rubbed her hand on her forehead— an action she had been repeatedly doing these days due to the stress.
Pressing on a few buttons on her telephone, Jung Chaerin made a call to a certain number, and as the other side received the call, she questioned, "Do you remember the task I gave you— about finding me a suitable boyfriend? How has it been going?"
Minseok, from the other side, answered, "About that, CEO Jung, I have found some candidates. But I was planning to do some more searching. They aren't exactly the best."
"That doesn't matter. Just bring the best one later on," she stated, "Chairman Jung just called me earlier and ordered me to bring my boyfriend to the charity event tomorrow. Prepare the contract meanwhile as well."
"Uhm, sure, I will be doing that then, and bring it over in the evening," Minseok spoke out.
°°°
"That brat, she hung up the call on me again! The audacity she has!" Jung Jinyoung stated, glaring at the phone in his hand.
Inside the living room of the Jung family, three members of the Jung family were present. Jung Jinyoung, Han Shinhye, and Jung Hyunmin were seated upon the couch while tea was served before them.
"Father, don't you think that you are pushing her too much? Chaerin is still young, and she is clearly reluctant to get a boyfriend," Hyunmin voiced out.
Nodding her head, Shinhye stated, "Hyunmin is right, Father. I don't want this to have a negative impact on her at the end. You know how she is."
"That girl is too cold and closed off from the world," Jinyoung spoke out, "She needs someone to trust and fall in love with, so that she is able to open herself up. That girl needs someone who will be supporting and loving her unconditionally."
Staring down at her lap, Han Shinhye let out a sigh and expressed, "You are right, but she might not even find a proper man to love this way."
"I don't care about that. Regardless of how it goes, it might add interesting colour to her life," Jinyoung said, "However it goes, it would not turn out to be all that bad. That Jung Chaerin would not let some man hurt her."
Despite those words, three of them were unsettled within themselves. After all, in the end, they truly cared about the girl.