Chapter 57
The place was her safe haven. Her escape, when the world she was moving around seemed to close in around her and it was too much for her to handle.
Tonight was one of those nights. She was again at her breaking point during their weekly conference that seemed to go on forever and in loop because everyone seemed to have something to say one at a time and then all at once and Jennie Kim, President of the Kim Group of Companies, almost had a meltdown and realized that she had never showed that side of her to anyone from work. She was, however, close to slamming her laptop shut to silence everyone inside the conference room. But she didn't. Instead, she excused herself for a moment.
She went outside. There, up in the penthouse of the building to give herself what little room to breathe. Leaving behind her the angry voices of the department heads hurling heated and frustrated denunciations and insults against each other. Like little children opposing once other to win the favor of a teacher. It was senseless, Jennie thought. And a waste of her time and energy. But she was the President and it was her job to hear them all. One at a time and all at once. And when her head started pounding like hell and felt like about to burst open – the spectacular night view of Seoul didn't help her this time – she returned to the conference room on the twentieth floor and immediately called it a day at past ten in the evening. She then told her heads to e-mail her their reports and concerns. "I'll deal with them this weekend," she told them before adjourning the meeting.
"I'm sorry. I had a long day," she told the cat who was looking at her reproachively for her lack of communication. "And I don't know when she will be back, Leo," she added while stroking the cat's head.
She had been spending too many nights now at Lisa's place. Chaeng was generous and kind enough to let her in one night, some weeks ago, when Lisa's bestfriend found her sitting at the bottom of the metal staircase outside and Chaeng was on her way to feed the cats.
"Jennie? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, hey. Nothing...I was just..." and she found herself in tears.
They both did and talked about it over a cup of hot drinks inside Lisa's kitchen that night. She told Chaeng she had a bad day and she hailed a cab just for the heck of it, evading once again her security and the media that seemed to show up wherever she was and found herself standing outside Lisa's building. Chaeng eventually gave her the door passcode. "So you don't have to wait for me on the bottom of the stairs outside. Lucky nobody saw you hailing a cab outside your building and followed you here. I know that the press is still trailing you," the now-pastel-haired Roseanne Park said before leaving her at Lisa's place that night.
They were friends now, after the confrontation that happened inside Jennie's office months ago. There were nights when Jennie would discreetly slip inside Chaeng's bar alone and some nights with Jisoo. She would usually stay until midnight and pay for a drink or two. They would talk, mostly about Lisa.
It had been weeks. She even stopped counting the days since the press con and ever since the international news outlets had started featuring Her Royal Highness Pranpriya and her intentions of actively participating in her royal duties and about the kingdom welcoming the news positively. It seemed that the world was falling in love with Lisa every day. They were gushing about her charm and beauty and those eyes that seemed to capture everyone's hearts now. But more than that, everyone seemed enraptured by Lisa's enigmatic aura and how she had evaded the limelight all those years.
She had changed her hair now, Lisa did. It was now short and dark, like Cleopatra's; the fringe was still immaculately kept, however. The overall effect of Lisa's new look only highlighted those soft round eyes and only made her astoundingly beautiful. So beautiful that she was now considered one of the hottest royals and one to look out for, according to an international magazine.
