You Could Call It Love

28

Jimin's POV

"Umm, sir you okay?", Hoseok said after I zoned out.

"Ye-Yeah I am don't worry.", I said while Hoseok gave me a smile and bowed and went to his seat as the meeting started.

We were discussing about how we can increase the profits of the company and the pros and cons of our future company plans. But all that went through my mind was her....

I admit I am jealous but why? Do I really like her?

"So do you like the idea Mr. Park?", our marketing director asked making me snap out of my thoughts.

"Um- Wha-, I mean Ye-yeah I like it.", I stuttered while everyone including Ae-ri gave me weird looks.

"How about you Ms. Jeon?", I managed to ask Ae-ri without stuttering while she nodded.

"Then I think the meeting has come to an end.", Mr. Kang stated.

"Wait, we still have one important thing to discuss.", Ae-ri announced to which everyone who got up sat in their seats again.

"And what is it Ms. Jeon? We have already discussed all of the aspects necessary for our company.", Mr. Kang said raising his eyebrows.

"I was not gonna discuss this but this is more than important. I noticed how the pay gap difference between men and women is upto 39 percent and I think that we should try to atleast lessen this pay gap and I also noticed that there are 65 percent men in our companies while just 35 percent of women. Why is that? I think that we need to work on this aspect too. Instead of prefering men over women, we should start employing both men and women who are actually skilled and intelligent enough to work here.", Ae-ri said sternly while everyone nodded in agreement except Mr. Kang.

I actually agree with what she just said. Its a great step to empower women and give them the same opportunities and the same salary as men get.

"But thats a really absurd idea." , Mr. Kang argued to which Ae-ri raised her eyebrows.

"And what's absurd about that?", Ae-ri asked sternly.

"You know women get pregnant and they take maternal leave so who is gonna work in her place in that time? Thats why there is a pay gap. You should know this now that you are the CEO of this company. Oh I forgot that you became a CEO just because of your dad." Mr. Kang said and scoffed while almost everyone in the meeting room stared at him shook because the way he talked was disrespectful for an employee to speak to their CEO.

"Excuse me! I worked hard to be here but you know what Mr. Kang, I dont need to prove it you and also this is not the issue here. Women work from home in their maternity leave too in our company and the only time we provide no work to them is for maybe just for a month or maximum 2 months after they give birth. So what's the problem in trying lessen the pay gap?", Ae-ri questioned him while she tried suppressing her anger.

"You know the amount of work two women can do, that same work can be done by a man so the gender pay gap is justified.", Mr. Kang stated which left almost all of the people in our meeting disgusted.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? Do You Know What Are You Even Talking? Which world are you living in? Women have reached great heights even more than men now so stop with your orthodox thoughts!", I said angrily while Ae-ri stood shook by my sudden outburst.

"But sir-", Mr. Kang tried saying something.

"And is this how you talk to a CEO? Why can't you use honorifics when talking to Ms. Jeon? Just because she is a women doesn't mean she can't handle this company, she can do it even better then me because she worked hard before becoming a CEO just as me, maybe even more than me and is more than capable of her position. So if you wanna talk to her respectfully then do it or else we don't need people who dont know their limits.", I bursted out angrily while Mr. Kang hanged his head low.