Jennie
What a shitty day. Nothing but meetings.
Jennie was heading back to her office when she spotted the delivery bag of food that she had ordered for her father, sitting on the edge of his secretary's desk. Assuming Na-yeon was on her break, Jennie grabbed the bag and headed towards her father's office.
I swear if it wasn't for me this man would never eat.
Every day, Jennie made sure to set an alarm in the afternoon to check and see if her dad had eaten. More often than not his answer was no. That or he had ordered something greasy and unhealthy which would often prompt Jennie to swap a salad in its place. She worried about her dad constantly. Ever since her mom passed away, he had thrown himself into work and rarely came up for air. Jennie was so proud of all he had accomplished, but she refused to let him run himself into the ground in the process.
She was skimming over some documents that she needed signatures for when she entered the office, completely unaware of the meeting that her father was hosting. As soon as her eyes lifted from the papers in her hand, she felt eyes on her to the left and found a group of ridiculously good looking people standing off to the side. Not just ridiculously good looking, but unnaturally good looking, like they were created in a lab and not born like the rest of the mere mortals on earth. Their massive muscular builds meant they had to be some sort of security professionals.
When her father started introducing the team, Jennie tried to match the names with each muscular body across the room.
Bambam was the first to be introduced, standing slightly in front of the others. He was tall and broad with scruff on his face and a rugged look. Next to be introduced was Marcus who was quite possibly the largest human being she'd ever seen. He was a few inches taller than Bambam and looked like a bodybuilder. His brows were lowered, but he gave her a half smile, which showed how kind his eyes were beneath that scowl. Hoony was next in line and was about an inch shorter than Bambam, but not nearly as broad. Hoony gave her a wide smile, displaying perfect teeth and looked more like a model than someone who worked in the security industry.
Her eyes continued down the line until they eventually reached Lisa.
Jennie temporarily forgot how to breathe as her eyes landed and settled on Lisa. She appeared to be the youngest and was just as tall as Hoony, but looked like she was chiselled out of stone. She was lean and defined with a square cut jaw and eyes that burned straight through Jennie. She looked Lisa up and down, unable to fully process how attractive she was, but quickly realized how creepy she was being.
Quit being a creep Jennie.
She reprimanded herself, but it was too late. Those brown eyes had locked onto hers and Lisa was giving her a smile that said - "Caught you looking."
How. Mortifying.
"Interviewing security for your campaign trail?" she asked, trying to regain her composure and needing a reason to pull her gaze from Lisa.
"Not entirely. I've hired Bambam and his team as our private security until the election."
Our? Oh God you can't be saying what I think you're saying.
"Private security for the grounds?" she asked flatly, knowing that wasn't what he meant, but hoping it was true.
"Private security for the family... in addition to the grounds security that we already have in place."
I knew it. More security. As if it wasn't bad enough to have only an hour or two to herself without constant supervision, let's take that hour or two and drop it down to nothing... zero freedom... zero independence... zero living. Fan-freaking-tastic.
"Additional security? You cannot be serious. Don't you think that's a little excessive?" Her tone was harsh, but her dad didn't flinch.
"Jennie..."
"Can I speak with you alone for a minute?" She demanded over her shoulder as she turned to leave. Once the door had firmly closed behind them, Jennie made sure her dad knew exactly how she felt about the additional security.
"Are you kidding me dad? More security? Don't you think that's excessive?" she snapped.
"Not at all. Anything that keeps you safe is not considered excessive, at least not to me."
"But additional security? What's wrong with the security I have now? Mino accompanies me everywhere already, and I am perfectly fine," she countered.
"You're right, Mino is doing a fine job, but he is also sitting out in the lobby or sits in the car and waits for you. That's not enough Jennie, not anymore. That team in there are military trained professionals."
"Wait just one second. You want one of them to accompany me everywhere? As in, inside the office and inside the house? Literally everywhere now?"
Jennie was fuming at this point. She was not naive and knew there was value in security, but a constant shadow in every single place that she went including her own home? That was just being excessive.
Why am I being treated like I am too stupid to live and take care of myself? I am aware of the dangers around me, having a stranger sitting in my office, watching me work isn't going to make me any more safe than a stranger sitting in the lobby, letting me have a small amount of independence.
"Then why not increase Mino's pay and have him babysit me? At least I know him." She knew she was being a brat, but to hear that she was being stripped of her last bit of independence after such a long shitty day had sent her over the edge. She supported her dad's rise to power as a politician in South Korea, but she's tired of having to pay the price for it constantly. She was overworked by taking on more at his companies so he could focus on the politics and what little "life" she had been living outside of work was now going to be disrupted and taken from her.
"Jennie-Bug this is non-negotiable. I know you disagree, but it is happening and you need to accept it. If I had done this for your mother..." his voice trailed and cracked.
Jennie's heart sank at the mention of her mother and her anger toward her father dissolved in an instant as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Okay dad... okay... I get it and I'm sorry. I don't like this, but I won't fight you on it." she conceded, squeezing him tightly. Deep down she knew the end of that sentence and knew that it was drenched with truth. If her father had hired private security to watch over her mother... she'd still be alive today.
"I've got some things to finish up here and I'll be home around seven in the evening." she said with a gentle smile before turning to leave.
"You work too hard." he said, grinning at her as she walked away.
"Yeah well my boss is a real jerk." she said, shooting him a wink.
