Happy Endings ⁘ Chenle

33 ⁘ Favours

since no NCT member is mentioned in this chapter I will use today's picture to remind everyone of my endless admiration for Yuta 

⁘ 33 ⁘

"It was so nice seeing you again!" the CEO of Keylectronics said as she was about to leave Mr Kim's office at the end of their business meeting. 

Da-eun smiled, bowed her head politely. "It was a pleasure, as always," she lied through her teeth, sounding convincing as she did so. 

"Let me walk you out," Ha-min offered but he was quickly stopped by the woman. 

"No, it's fine. I know my way through the building by now," she noted before stepping through the door. "Until next time!" 

"Until next time, Mrs Ohm," Mr Kim said and urged his daughter to say goodbye to the woman once more. She quickly followed his orders by saying, 

"Have a nice weekend, Mrs Ohm."

The woman smiled at her. "Thank you. You too, sweetie." And soon after that, she vanished behind the door. 

The feeling of relief that rushed through the girl once she could finally let go of that stiff posture, the smile and the fake interest was incredible. 

She looked at the clock on the wall, quickly realizing that she would have to head to another meeting in a bit. Sighing, she let herself fall onto the sofa, eyes on the ground. 

She was bored. 

"Da-eun," her father called her name strictly but she didn't bother to look up at him. She knew that he would say what he had to say either way. "What were you thinking?" 

She nodded to herself, somewhat expecting him to bring this up. 

"I could ask you the same thing," she retorted. "You know very well that that woman loves to chat. Business relationships are still relationships, Mr Kim. You should treat them as such." 

"You insulted me in front of her!" he exclaimed, more than angered. 

"I said it how it is," Da-eun corrected him, unable to match his annoyed tone. "All you think about is business. Social interactions aren't your strong suit. She laughed at it. She liked the honesty." 

Agitated, he scoffed. He took a step closer to her as he started rolling up his sleeves to cool himself down. 

"Who allowed you to do that?"

She shrugged. "And who allowed you to keep me here?" she asked in return before gasping when she pointed out, "Oh, right! No one!" She frowned, finally looking up at him. "Your lack of self-awareness is concerning." 

Letting her eyes settle on the clock on the wall yet again, she pushed her hands against her thighs and got up. 

"Now if you will excuse me," she said. "Mr Ryu should be here by now." 

She turned to leave the office, yet was quickly stopped when her father grabbed her wrist, pulling at it harshly to keep her next to him. 

Sighing, she looked down at where he held onto her. 

"Let go," she said tiredly, a little too used to this to be very passionate about it. 

However, Mr Kim was quick to mistake the emptiness in her voice for a lack of respect and her sigh for attitude. It was what justified him to tighten his grip even more as he inched just a little closer to her. 

Through how strongly he had his jaw clenched, the veins on his neck surfaced slightly. He was easy to get angered and hard to calm down - the main reason why Da-eun was done getting riled up when talking to him. It was of no use, after all.