Chapter 28
Jennie
We stayed up so late that we slept in until nearly noon the next day. I knew it was late from the way the sun was streaming into the room when I finally opened my eyes. I pushed Jimin's snoring form off of me and onto Chahee as I rolled over and reached for my phone.
The first thing I saw was the battery notification. 3%. I sighed and reached for the charger as my sleep blurred eyes cleared. Just before I plugged it in, I saw the text from Lisa.
Lisa: Good morning sleeping beauty. I hope this text doesn't wake you up but I mentioned that your friends were in town and Nate invited all of us to the opening of some new club downtown with him and some guys from the design team. Let me know if you're interested. If you ever wake up, that is.
I smiled down at the message and tapped out a reply.
Jennie: Sleeping beauty got a kiss to wake her up, remember? No wonder I slept half the day away. A club opening sounds fun. I'm sure Chahee and Jimin will think so too. Unfortunately, club attire was not on my packing list when I decided to visit my estranged spouse in California.
I hit send and set my phone down.
"Girl, if you do not dim the brightness on your phone, I will slap you in your beautiful face." Jimin groaned from his place between Chahee and I.
"Ugh, it's too late." Chahee snapped. "I'm up."
She sat up on her elbow, covering a yawn with the back of her hand. "What's on tap today?" She asked, looking over at me. Jimin groaned
again and took her pillow, pressing it onto his face and turning over. "Apparently, a club opening." I told her and her eyes widened. Jimin sat
up from the bed, with his eyes darting around frantically.
"A club?" He gasped. "Why didn't you say so?"
I chuckled at the same time that my phone vibrated from the nightstand. I
leaned over and picked it up.
Lisa: I'm sending Kevin home with my card. At this point, I should probably just order you one. Take it and get you and your friends whatever you need for tonight.
Chahee had leapt over Jimin to read the message over my shoulder. I knew this from the loud scream that punctuated the air as Chahee's knee punctuated Jimin's kidney.
"Her card!?" She gasped, eyes wide. Before I could answer, my phone vibrated with another message from her.
Lisa: By the way, I wouldn't be disappointed if some of my hard earned money went to something I could stare at your ass in all night long.
Chahee fell to giggles once she read the message and they didn't stop even as Jimin shoved her off of him and sat back up, rubbing his side and grimacing.
"Off me, Amazon woman!" he snapped. "Good Lord, you're like a lanky jungle cat."
"Shopping!" Chahee screamed, excitedly, completely ignoring Jimin as she leapt from the bed and ran to her temporary closet.
"Showering." Jimin groaned. Still holding his side as he rose from the bed and shuffled off in the direction of his room. "See you both in a bit."
With Chahee and Jimin both busy getting ready for the day, I headed off down the hall towards Lisa's and, I supposed, my room, typing out a response to her as I went.
Jennie: No promises. I think you've stared at my ass enough lately. I've got other assets to display, you know.
I hit send just as Nan called out to me from the kitchen.
"Good morning, Mrs. Manoban." she said. "Would you like for me to make breakfast for you? Or maybe lunch."
"Don't trouble yourself, Nan." I answered with a smile as she came around the corner. "We will grab something quick while we're out. Ms. Manoban is sending us shopping."
She nodded, wiping her hands off on her apron, and then disappeared down the hall. My phone buzzed and I glanced down to see Lisa's reply.
Lisa: Believe me, I know.
Grinning like a foolish schoolgirl, I strode off for the master bath and the enormous shower waiting within.
Chapter 29
Lisa
I shouldn't be texting in a meeting. I definitely shouldn't be texting the sexiest woman in the world about her ass and "other assets". She'd stopped responding about half an hour ago after one last message that she was "hopping in the shower" and I hadn't for the life of me, been able to think about anything but said shower since. Something was wrong with me. Seriously, insanely wrong with me.
I'd been sitting in this room listening to Teddy Park, Danny Lee, and everyone else on the board pick apart Rosé's budget for the last two hours and had hardly been able to focus on a single bit of it. Not that it mattered. She was doing a fine job of defending her work on her own with minimal input from me. But this was going on long enough and I was becoming frustrated in an entirely different way from the way my wife had begun.
"Enough." I said suddenly and Danny stopped in the middle of his question, turning to me in surprise.
I hadn't spoken loudly. I hadn't needed to. I'd said so little the past two hours that I imagined they had forgotten I was there. But I was here. And I was running out of patience for the men who made it their mission to constantly question both the work of my employees as well as of me. I rose slowly at the table, leaning over and bracing myself with both hands on the cool glass.
"Why don't we dispense with the bullshit?" I asked and the board members all raised their eyebrows, looking around at each other in apparent shock, as if they didn't know exactly what I was talking about. I stood up straight, striding to the front of the room, buttoning my jacket as I went and gesturing for Rosé to take a seat. She did so, totally relieved.
"For months now, you have called me into this room nearly every day for hours at a time to discuss the same numbers, the same budgets, the same projections, over and over and over again. I understand that you all have a stake in this company, that you have all invested heavily in our ventures and feel a personal attachment to them. That's good. It means this matters to
