License to Cuddle

3

—"Sometimes the best things in life are born from mistakes."

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The next two days passed in a blur of boring meetings, tedious assignments, and late, restless nights. Not to mention coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Jungkook could count on one hand the number of hours he slept over these last couple of days, so he needed copious amounts of caffeine to keep him alert and functioning. He had coffee when he woke up, coffee after the gym, coffee with lunch, coffee to help with the afternoon slump . . . Fuck, that couldn't be healthy. That was also probably the reason he'd been too wired to sleep. But did that stop Jungkook from taking a sip of his stupidly expensive caramel frappuccino?

Absolutely not.

As the sugary sweet drink rushed through his system, Jungkook turned his attention back to the five computer monitors before him. It was just past four in the afternoon on a Friday, meaning that the South Korean Stock Exchange was officially closed for the weekend. Jungkook only had to survive one or two more hours before he could leave, and so long as nothing crazy happened, he wouldn't need to take work home with him for once.

God, what would he do with two days of free time? Try to catch up on sleep, for sure. Maybe pamper himself with a nice face mask. But other than that . . .

Jungkook huffed out a disgruntled sigh. This was why he needed friends; he needed people to go out and do things with. But it was difficult to form lasting friendships when he barely spent any daylight hours outside this office building. And he couldn't forget, of course, how awkward he felt when meeting new people. That tended to make things more difficult, too.

Before he could dwell too long on his lack of a social life, his boisterous colleagues laughed from a few desks away. Jungkook doubted that they found their financial analyses that riveting, so he poked his head out of his cubicle to see what was going on. A group of them crowded around a desk, shoulders shaking as they shared some private joke.

Jungkook knew he was an outsider, but shit. He felt like he didn't belong here at all.

He was debating whether or not to get up—to join his coworkers in an attempt to be friendly—when a shrill voice called out and demanded everyone's attention.

"Jeon, got a sec?"

Jungkook's heart dropped to his stomach. To be personally sought out in front of everyone . . . This wasn't good. And as he spun in his chair, preparing for the worst, he noted the group of his coworkers blatantly watching the scene. They probably knew this wasn't good, too. They probably hoped he was about to get fired.

Fuck.

Jungkook's lips spread into a small, tight-lipped smile as he looked up at his boss. "Of course."

"Good," the woman nodded, leaning a hip against his desk. "Let's talk about the valuation you submitted a couple of days ago."

Oh, no. That was the report that kept him up until three in the morning to meet his impossible deadline. Oh, no. He made a stupid mistake and cost the company millions somehow, didn't he?

"Was everything alright?" Jungkook asked, hearing a barely concealed snicker from one of his eavesdropping colleagues.

"I should ask you that. What did you think of your work?" The woman's face gave nothing away. Her eyes were sharp and assessing, her body language relaxed but still full of authority.

"I, um." Jungkook swallowed, trying his best to tune out the nearby whispers and chuckles. "I thought it was a fair valuation. The company you wanted me to pitch didn't have too many publicly available financials, so I based most of my estimated trends on its market competitors. Then, factoring in its unique product offering with the expected shipping delays from China, I—"