Eyes Don't Lie

chapter 18

Wafiyah came to office with a mind that she will study the Japan subsidiary case and see what has they gotten themselves into that jungkook hasn't solved it by now. So she went straight to her and jia's shared office and logged into the computer. She studied their history and all of their annual reports including the market shares and reputation throughout the years. She came to know about many interesting things, about how it became part of Jeon enterprises. Initially it was owned by a Japanese elite who also had casinos and bars, he was jungkook's great grandfather's friend. They had a bet and decided that the winner can ask for the losing party asset which he has to give even if he didn't want to and  the winner happened to be Jeon jihyuk who had his eyes on his friend Rhuji company and went for it. Years passed after that Rhuji gradually became alcoholic and lost his casinos and bar too. Soon he got ill and lost his life too after that no one ever knew about their heir, it became the past that everyone forgot. She was digging more into the matter many things started to make sense and gradually fell into place. She spent hours and hours staring at the screen clicking mouse and keyboard from time to time. The only break she took was for her prayers during zuhr and asr time. When she gave a final look at what she has retrieved from all information she patted herself and decided to share the newfound and surprising verdict. The office door was partially closed so she barged in after knocking on it to announce her presence "Miss jihyun you'll be proud of me once again" she chimes excitedly. jihyun takes her glasses  off she was standing beside a whiteboard which had some kind of flowcharts drawn "wafiyah?" "Are you filming tiktoks miss jihyun?" She asks skeptically looking at the phone on tripod stand. Jihyun chuckles at her silly observation "I'm not filming but I would definitely be a great actress if I ever went into that field" she nods in approval and walk toward her "maybe you'll get mad at me but please don't scold me okay I didn't had bad intentions " jihyun squints her eyes "Okay" wafiyah shakes her head "Okay won't do you've to promise first " "OK Promise " she leans closer before whispering "I logged into Jia's computer and looked into Japan subsidiary case" jihyun stays silent looking at her phone "oh really?" Wafiyah nods enthusiastically "but I studied the case and guess what?" She says making her even curious "you're so dramatic today Wafiyah I've already high blood pressure say it already " Jihyun says because she was too pent up from the morning and now wafiyah is adding more to her curiosity. She looks down acting as if her words hurt her "oh baby I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude" jihyun make her sit beside her but she looks at her with mischievous eyes "you got me wafiyah " jihyun pats her head slightly "Okay Okay so basically I've came up with some possibilities and postulates which may or may not be correct but I'm almost 99 percent sure that they could be the reason " jihyun nods urging her to continue "the downturn of Japan subsidiary is based on the personal grudge and I've proof that leads to this conclusion" she moves the tab toward her and told her about the bet and how they lost everything "leaking firms confidentiality to competitors is an old fashioned way of taking revenge so whoever this man is, he's quite a genius because they have adopted the method of slow poisoning instead of being obvious and upfront. The market trend changes before Sir jungkook announce the news about their product which is why they are still struggling" she looks at jihyun after finishing who was zoned out looking ahead. Wafiyah tries waving her hand to get her out of it " I'm not zoned out " "Then what are you looking at is there some ghost because if that's the case all I need to do is recite Ayat ul kursi once and boom no ghost no fear " jihyun looks at her in confusion "you make sense, your conviction makes a lot of sense I'm so proud of you wafiyah" she smiles wide at the appreciation her eyes crinkled forming into Crescent "told you" she sassed "I'm sure jungkook will be proud of you too" her eyebrows furrowed so jihyun points at the phone "I was in a meeting with jungkook when you came" wafiyah looks at phone horrified  then back to jihyun and stood up "I'm so sorry I didn't know I'll go " jihyun pulled her hand to make her sit back "No worries we were discussing the same thing" wafiyah felt embarrassed, jungkook saw her doing silly things and the thought made her shy. She didn't want to face him rightnow, she can't look at him now but jihyun turned the laptop so they could see him sitting in his office attire with unreadable expressions. She bites her lips nervously what if he gets angry for involving and interceding in company matters without permission "jungkook you heard us right?" Jihyun asks and he replies something she couldn't hear as jihyun had earpiece connected "okay" she heard her say and then removed the Bluetooth connection "Miss wafiyah " it was him making her heart skip a beat "yes?" Like always she replies quietly "what do you suggest now that you sneaked into company's confidential information " he was deliberately trying to scare her because her reactions were just so endearing he couldn't help it. She stared at him wide eyed with mixture of fear and guilt, fidgeting with her fingers as she think of an answer "I'm so sorry" "should we apologize is that what you want to suggest?" She shakes her head frantically "No, No I was apologizing for looking into data without permission" "sorry wouldn't do" he repeats her words from the last night "come up with a solution " he adds quickly because he can't let jihyun know about his feelings. "Send me the list of all important authorities managers and executives" she says "what will you do with that?" He questioned "I'll ask mingyu to look into their background and see if anyone is related to Rhuji " he raised his eyebrow "we have professionals for that" she shakes her head "I don't doubt that but there will be higher chances of getting caught they might suspect but if mingyu does it they don't even know he exists so it won't be suspicious" jihyun also agrees but he was still unsure "he's really skillful if you're doubting his capability then don't I can vouch for him" it angered him but she was oblivious thinking he doubted mingyu's skill so she continued "he has done that before I've seen him and almost blowed my mind how skillfully he retrieved someone's information including the dynasty he belonged to" she chuckles remembering the time mingyu did a background check on man who tried to snatch her hijab. He told her about doing it after few weeks of the incident "I don't need you to vouch for someone else, I will ask park to send the list of team members " she frowns at him all she was trying to do is help and he was getting mad for nothing and if jihyun wasn't here she would have told him better. So she inhales to calm her nerves and not retort back "I think we should ask mingyu to join us" jihyun offers "Go and ask him to hurry up" jungkook says and wafiyah was getting up to call "Not you" jihyun sighs and get up to go after mingyu. Wafiyah avoids looking at screen when jihyun leaves trying to come off busy with something else praying that he wouldn't say anything "Miss wafiyah is your phone broken ?" She looks at him "No it's not" he nods "is it lost then?" Confused she shakes her head "No its here" she shows him to which he nods again "Then why aren't you picking up my calls nor responding to any messages " her eyes widened momentarily before she composed herself "I-i uhm" "why are you stuttering now when few minutes ago you were ready to retort back" she thought of way to get out of this situation being stuck alone with him wasn't very exciting but a momentous torture "you can't always run from me, my serendipity" "Astagfirullah, d-dont you have any modesty or decency" he smiles "I've the one who has it more than anyone I've ever seen" her heart pounds so wildly that it almost hurts her chest she has to put her hand over it to calm it down "I wish you had the slightest of idea of what you do to me, to my heart and mind" wafiyah looks around panicked putting her finger on her lips "please stop don't say things like that I beg you" he sighs tiredly wiping his hands over his face. He was so tired of everything, nothing was working for him and he was just a human he was emotionally and physically exhausted "A-are you u-upset because of me?" She asks her eyes already stinging so she blinks to get rid of the feeling "No you can never make me upset" he futher adds " I'm just tired" "don't worry too much inshaAllah Allah will take you out of this situation he never abandon his servants. Keep your spirits up you're in my prayers " she immediately slaps her hand over her mouth but it's of no use "i-i mean I prayed for the company to be out of any trouble" he nods his head smirking but doesn't say anything. Shortly mingyu and jihyun joins them "Miss jihyun said you were missing me here I am" mingyu enters with a bang and stand beside her, his gaze fell on laptop ruining his mood "she didn't Mr Kim have a seat we need to talk about serious matters " he doesn't sit and look at wafiyah raising his eyebrow "sit" he obliged making jungkook roll his eyes. They discussed the matter and indulged mingyu in it by disclosing the plan. They inform him about his role and what are the consequences relating to it. he thinks tapping his finger over his chin, eyes unfocused "I won't do it for free though" he says stretching his arms "what do you mean?" Wafiyah asks bewildered "it's a risky game my Queen, your knight might face serious threats if they got inkling about my actions" "you're saying as if you're doing it for first time" he grins "you remember" she nods "give me a good deal come on" he says again she looks at jungkook who was giving death stare to mingyu "Sir will give us treat" she chimes and look between both guys "it's a fair deal what else Is good then getting your work done and free food" she reasons "you want that" mingyu asks her, she nods "Ah okay" he says dramatically, jihyun and wafiyah give eachother high five.
Next day Mr park sent him the list and they were all seated in jihyun's office working on their plan. Mingyu had brought his personal laptop and was completely immensed in it. There were total of 7 members and so far non of them were related to Rhuji which rose uncertainty in Wafiyah's mind what if she was wrong and made them go through unnecessary trouble. She looked at the ceiling praying to her God 'Ya Allah please don't let their efforts go to waste, I know you never do that but I suggested it so please help your wafiyah and don't let her be embarrassed in front of them' she was anxious but kept holding it in. Mingyu announced that only one man was left and the rest had no connections to Rhuji neither blood relations nor friends. She sighs scolding herself of coming up with stupid and unreasonable verdict among all of it her prayer alarm went off so she excused herself to go to her office and perform her zuhr prayer and also prayed additional units for getting out of this complication with ease and probity. She raised her hands and supplicated which was less prayer and more please's "Ya Allah, Ya Raheem,Ya wadood please please take us out of this situation, I don't want their efforts to go in vain that too because of me please Allah hear my prayers please please I'm about to go back let it be a good news my beloved Allah" she wipes her hand over her face and folded the mat before going back. As soon she entered the office mingyu looked at her "Wafiyah our treat is due on Mr jeon jungkook" he winks at her but soon swat his eye for doing so "Alhamdulliah Alhamdulliah sum'ma Alhamdulliah" she walks closer to look at the person who was non other than the sales Head of Japan branch "well done mingyu, you deserve a good treat. May Allah help you in your times of difficulty" he looks at her smiling softly "he has already helped me" she raised eyebrow quizzically "By bringing you into my life" it wipes her smile, she takes a step back adjusting her veil nervously "Mingyu I- " he shushed her "don't say anything" cutting her mid sentence "Miss jihyun tell your Boss to book a reservation in expensive restaurant I ain't accepting budget friendly indulgence" jihyun laughs "he's expensive don't worry you won't get anything less than best". Jihyun soon shared the information to jungkook who would rather die than accept the fact that mingyu did an incredible job. The only thing that made him happy was that he will be going back to Korea where his heart's dearest is the thought made him giddy inside. But before anything else he has to deal with the sales manager and find out if he has more allies in the company and market and turned out he used to sell their company's confidential information to different competitors in market for huge amount. The man was sent to jail in fraud case and all his assets were seized and transferred to the Jeon enterprises and the competitors were also sued by jungkook. He wasn't a kind man when it came to business never was he easygoing with people who cheated. He made sure they regret and become source of lesson for the others. He booked the next flight back to Korea as soon everything settled, his heart pounded in its cage thinking of a certain someone. One thing he got to know from the distance was that his desire for her increased, he wanted nothing else then to be able to see her in person, hear her voice. He wanted to watch her as she gets shy and apprehensive the most delightful things to ever exist, when she stutters, in short everything about her was just so endearing and wholesome. He hasn't announced about his return to anyone and also told Mr park and Jia to keep it low who obliged.
Wafiyah was lying on her bed, she looked at Selena who was scrolling through her phone "Selena" the said person hums "Selena" she hums again "Sela" this time she looks at her putting her phone down "what is it?" "I wanna share something " Selena was already halfway across the room and joined her on bed "I'm listening " she bites her lips contemplating where to start, she turns off her side of lamp to make the room less bright another strange habit of her she couldn't open up easily when there was daylight or too much brightness. Selena waits for her patiently letting her collect her thoughts it was seldom she opened up so she waits trying to prepare herself for whatever is coming up "Selena it's about.... i-im so ashamed how do I put this into words" she hides her face "Hey it's okay don't worry don't feel bad" "I'm stuck in a situation, you know mingyu has been acting different lately. He is getting unnecessarily clingy and possessive which is scaring me. On the other hand" she pauses peeking at Selena through her lashes before continuing "jungkook has also shown his interest in me, H-he said t-those words" she closed her eyes tightly covering her face with her shawl "this is so messed up Sela I feel so ashamed and guilty for being the cause of all this for making not only one but two lives hell. I'm so bad Selena I hate myself for this" Selena gently remove the clothing from her face to reveal tear stained eyes cascading on her cheeks "if someone loves you it doesn't mean you're bad it's the opposite, you're worthy of All love wafu don't blame yourself for something you didn't do" she shakes her head in denial "I don't want to be loved in a way that will create plight and chaos. Am I doing something wrong? Am I not setting the boundaries right? Am I too pliant or approachable? There must be some sort of shortcoming from my side which stirred their emotions and gave them hope about our future?" Selena was getting worried about her, she was blaming herself which wasn't acceptable "wafiyah stop blaming yourself" "Then who else is responsible " the pool of tears accumulated in her eyes streamed down again making her lips wobble "it's my mistake I should've been more austere and reserved. How am I going to face Allah, what will he think his servant is doing. I've disappointed him so many times but he still didn't leave me and now it's not my individual problem rather I've 2 other lives involved with me" Selena brought her closer and engulfed her in hug holding her patting her hair "please wafiyah he knows you and he isn't disappointed I'm sure. You cover yourself, talk less and worship your God diligently how can he get mad at you hmm? Don't worry about anything just follow your heart" "I can't and I won't follow my heart, this is wrong in so many ways they aren't even Muslims. There's no future, it will only lead to disappointment and anger of Allah" Selena sighs "I will not allow that and only I can stop this from happening" she wipes her tears, eyes determined and firm as she nods looking at her friend.