Painful Truth | BTS

Chapter One

Jia's POV

I groaned to myself as I heard the familiar sound of my alarm. I lazily moved my hand around with my eyes closed to silence the irritating sound, and when I feel that familiar sensation, I fling it against the wall, and it quickly stops, causing me to sigh in relief.

Ugh. That's so annoying.

I sat up immediately as I remembered I had a meeting at 9 a.m. When I looked at the clock to check the time, my face turned pale.

Shit! It's already 8:35 a.m. and I'm late!

I rushed to the the bathroom as if my life depended on it. I swiftly took a bath and completed my morning routine in 5 minutes. It appears that I set a new record.

It's 8:40 a.m. and I need to be at my company by 9 a.m., and although it's my own company, I do my best to arrive on time, just like my employees. I do not wish to take advantage of my power for selfish reasons; I am a very fair person. Fortunately, my company is not far from my house and will only take 10 minutes to get there, so I decided to take my time when applying my makeup, but I only make it natural-looking because there is no need for me to appear lavish.

It's now 8:47 a.m. and it's time for me to leave, so I rushed to grab my handbag, keys, and phone before heading to the door and leaving the house after ensuring that it was locked because I can't risk leaving my house open, and even though I live in a very safe subdivision with guards patrolling every now and then, I still make sure to leave my house locked and secured. And it's not like the guards are particularly promising so there is a potential that a criminal may outwit them, so it's best to be safe than sorry.

I went to the parking lot, got inside my car, and then left, making sure I hadn't forgotten anything. I arrived at the company ten minutes later and was not late, which made me sigh with relief. I parked my car in the parking lot, took my handbag with my phone inside, and then got out of my car. I hit a button on my car key to lock it, and it beeped to notify me that it was locked, so I placed my keys in my handbag, straightened my hair slightly to ensure that I looked respectable, and then exited the parking lot.

I started strolling inside the company, and everyone greeted me with almost forced smiles on their faces, which made me chuckle mentally since I knew they were afraid of me because I was and still am a very stern CEO. Although I am not very kind when it comes to work, as I previously stated, I am a fair person, so if I need to be strict, I can be that in specific situations.

I entered the elevator and pressed the top floor, 78th floor. As I wait, my phone vibrates, indicating that I have received a message. I got my phone out of my purse and read the message.

SECRETARY JIYEON:
Where are you? They are already here!

I chuckled because it was as if I could hear her scolding me. I looked at the time and saw that it was already 9:04am, which made me sigh since even if I arrived at work on time, my secretary would still lecture me for being late. According to her, I should be at the office by the time the clock strikes 9 a.m. But I'm already almost 5 minutes late. Others in the company envied her for being close to me and able to speak with me casually. But it's just because she already knows too much about me and used that to her advantage to get close to me.

As soon as the elevator opened, I sighed with relief and rushed to my office. As I stood in front of my door, I paused to take a few deep breaths to calm myself before opening it with my typical neutral expression. Indeed, I see that my visitors have already arrived.

"I apologize for keeping all of you waiting," I remarked as I made my way to greet them. To be specific, there are eight of them. They were sitting before, and when they saw me, they stood instantly to greet me with those respectful smiles.

"No, it's okay. We just came early, that's why." A man in his almost 40s reassured me with a genuine smile. I nodded as I put my handbag on my desk as I sat on my chair. I gestured for them to sit on the sofa in front of me, and they all sat with tensed postures, making me frown lightly.

Am I really that scary? I assumed that while I examined them all, they were either looking at the ground or smiling awkwardly at me, but one of them was staring me directly in the eyes with an unreadable face, making me smirk internally. As expected.

"You do know them, right? Bang Sihyuk here was the one who contacted you for an immediate meeting, but they didn't say why because they said they'd tell you personally," Jiyeon continued, referring to Bang Sihyuk, who appears to be in his early 40s. I nodded, "I remember you, Mr Bang, but I thought you'd be coming alone?" I asked, puzzled by the huge crowd of people.

He chuckled, "Well, that was my plan because I didn't want you to feel overcrowded, but then I thought I'd bring them to you so you could understand why I came here." He grinned at me, indicating to the seven males he had brought with him. "I understand." I reassured him with a small smile, moved by his honesty.

"So, can you tell me why you requested an urgent meeting?" I inquired, staring him in the eyes, with a stern expression and a serious tone. "WellㅡOh! How disrespectful of me. Boys, introduce yourselves first." Mr. Bang told them, apologizing to me.

_

I can't even count how many times I had to publish and unpublish it because I simply didn't have the time to think because of school but now we are on a vacation so I'm taking advantage of this to continue this story! Hopefully, I can finish this story before the start of the classes BUT no promises!

I wanted this story to be realistic as much as possible and I'm not really the type to rush a story cuz i've always liked slow burn so if you are not into that, you know what to do : )