Forever Yours

25: Stress

×November 2022×

"Have fun. I'll see you when you get back in a week." I lean up and peck Jungkook's lips.

"I will have fun. I love you. See you in a week." He kisses me again, making it a little longer this time.

I pat his chest and he pulls away from me, and picks up his backpack. "I love you too."

He leaves and I start to get ready for work. He isn't heading to the airport right away, they have one last meeting and rehearsal at the company before he leaves for Qatar.

Once I'm dressed and ready, I call out to Bam and he comes trotting up to me, sitting so that I can attach his leash. I've started taking Bam into the store with me. He mostly stays in the office with me, but he does come out on the floor when I do. My customers love him and so do my staff. Some of my girls were intimated at first, but they warmed up once he was there a few times and they realized he is a sweetheart.

He wears a different collar than Jungkook has ever posted him in and the one he wore on In The Soop so that he isn't as easily found out and I also call him by his nickname in the shop that he luckily responds to just as well as his name. Jungkook spoils him rotten and when he was a puppy I started calling him prince. He took to it just as well as his name and Jungkook agreed that it was safe to use that in place of his name while I'm out with him in public.

Bam and I head down to the car and once we get to the shop my opener is already there, waiting for me by the back door. I get out, going around to get Bam as well as my bag before going over to the door. "Sorry Ji-Hye, Prince didn't want to get out of bed this morning."

"That's okay boss. You named him Prince for a reason."

I chuckle "That I did."

I unlock the door, holding it open for Ji-Hye who steps inside quickly. It is November, so it's quite honestly fucking cold outside.

Following behind her, we both head down the back hall and she clocks in before heading up front to start opening duties while I head for my office. I've spent more time in here than usual, needing the privacy in order to try to work out deals with this new investor and the brands he wants me to stock.

Bam gets let off his leash once inside my office and he almost immediately goes and lays down in his bed that is in the corner. I sit at my desk, logging into my computer, instantly sighing at the number of emails in my inbox. So I start sorting through them, my stress level getting slightly higher with each one I read.

Throughout the day, even through the closed office door, I can hear my employees going about their duties. They do their best not to bother me, knowing the circumstances at hand, which I am incredibly grateful for. They are more excited than me at this point. All of them know it is a big deal, a few know that they will be considered for the position of running this store while I get things up and running at the other, if this all works out. Luckily I can trust them to handle things, I only ever check over them when it comes to the cash count or when we have new stock come in. Purely out of assurance for myself that everything is good here rather than concern that they have done something wrong.

I hear from Jungkook before he boards the plane and when he lands, and then both of us are so caught up in work, the 6-hour time difference also affecting things, we practically don't speak at all the entire time he is away. I do manage to get the time to watch his performance, and the next morning I hear my girls squealing over it together when the store is empty, making me smile fondly every time.

It always makes me smile to hear people talk about how good he is at something. It makes me proud that somehow that man is my fiancé. I get to watch him grow on a personal and professional level from an intimate perspective. To hear other people speak so highly of him, knowing just how much work he has put in, swells my heart with pride. The day he came back, I pretty much completely forgot.