[Finished]
Jeongguk has it all. He is young, handsome, rich, has a beautiful fiancée. He will soon become a CEO at his father's company, which is one of the most successful companies in Seoul. It would seem that his life is almost perfect. Everythi...
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Jeongguk had the feeling that everything was spinning around him, and the walls of the conference room were shrinking. In an instant, everyone's eyes turned to him, and he stood paralyzed, still hiding his bandaged hands behind his back. He could no longer hear his father's further words, drowned out by the wild rush of his heartbeat and the loud sound of his own blood. He blinked a few times as if he naively believed that if he squeezed his eyes shut tight enough, he would wake up from this nightmare.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
He was supposed to talk to his father today and tell him he wanted to step away from the company. It was supposed to be his first step to break free from this vicious circle he seemed to be stuck in for the last few years, and now he's back to square one. Or maybe even worse. He felt like he was in that fucking wreck again, and there was nothing he could do to get out of it. He felt as helpless as a fourteen-year-old trapped in that crashed car.
He couldn't move, as if his legs were putting down roots, or as if some invisible force was holding him in place. He felt a characteristic pressure in his chest. His breathing became irregular, and he felt his hands damp with sweat despite the bandages on them. He couldn't even register his father's words. It wasn't until Lisa pushed him towards the stage that he realized that everyone else was waiting for the new CEO to say a few words.
With the heart racing in his chest, he entered the stage and looked at his father's face. Mr. Jeon was smiling broadly at him, pointing his hands at the microphone to turn it over to him. Jeongguk swallowed hard, then moistened his lips and gripped the microphone with trembling hands. He looked around the room as if he wanted to spot at least one friendly face in this crowd of strangers, but only unknown eyes stared at him, carefully assessing his every move. He parted his lips gently, letting the troubled breath pass through his trembling lips, and his hand tightened on the microphone, then he looked back at his father.
"I-I don't know what to say..." he began hesitantly, then looked again at the gathered guests, wanting to see his onyx irises among them. "I-I didn't expect it... I mean, I knew that my father always dreamed that TJE would be a family company and that he wanted to entrust it to one of his sons, but I did not expect it to happen so soon... This... I am honored that my father has such a great trust in me and I promise that I will do everything not to disappoint him..." saying that, he smiled nervously, then bowed low and said a quiet "thank you" into the microphone to get off the stage as soon as possible.
The rest was a blur. Everything swirled around him, he felt so sick that he didn't even react when Lisa ran towards him and threw her arms around his neck to kiss his lips, leaving on them the unbearably sweet taste of her expensive lipstick. His ears were buzzing so loudly that he could not hear any words from the mouths of journalists or his associates shaking his hand to congratulate him on his promotion. As his father pulled him to his chest and patted him on the back, he thought he was going to crumble to pieces in his arms. He closed his eyes, trying to contain his attack, though just enough to hide somewhere where no one would see him.
