puzzle piece | jeong jaehyun

28

"Do you have everything?" Jaehyun asked, his hands filled with thick magazine books and a coffee mug balanced between them and his chin as Jinah walked out so he could lock their door.

"Why can't I go to school today?" Jinah asked with a pout and he sighed

"I told you, I have a busy day at work so I'll finish up late. We can just be together today" he said and she hummed, although she was slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be hanging out with her friends today.

Jaehyun turned his head towards the elevator, seeing it already occupied with Yunhui who was busy looking at a work email on her phone while Minhyuk stood by the sensor to hold it open for him. Jaehyun smiled at the small gesture, walking towards him and ruffling his hair with his free hand

"Thanks buddy" Jaehyun said with a smile and Minhyuk send back a toothy grin

"Hi Jae" he said happily and Yunhui lightly glared at the two's interaction, a little upset that Minhyuk was always so excited to see him regardless of any mishaps that happened the day before

"Give me a big smile" Jaehyun teased, laughing a little as the boy gave a wide grin, one of his teeth missing from the bottom.

"Does it still hurt?" Jaehyun asked and he quickly shook his head

"See? No big deal" he said, the last statement a bit more louder so Yunhui could hear. She let out a scoff as he kept up this petty argument

"You kicked a ball in his face—"

"It was an accident. He said sorry" Minhyuk said and Yunhui's patience almost snapped—since when did they form this alliance between themselves?

"Do you want to play some more tomo—"

"No! Okay? The only thing he's sporting for the next few days is that bruise on his lip. So, no. No more football" she said, a silence filling up the elevator between everyone as they were met with her irritation.

Before anyone could add any more, the doors of the elevator opened, letting someone else from the lower floors join them. The rest of the elevator ride continued in a suffocating silence, until they each had went their separate ways. Jaehyun strapped Jinah into her car seat quickly, patiently waiting for Yunhui to drive out of the care park first before he left.

"Why is Minhyuk's mom so grumpy?" Jinah asked curiously and Jaehyun hummed, sipping his coffee occasionally as he carefully brought his daughter through the spinning doors of his office building

"She probably didn't have any coffee this morning" he said, making an excuse for her and Jinah giggled

"You're grumpy without coffee too, daddy!" She said a little loudly and grabbing the attention of some of the people in the building. He awkwardly laughed, patting her back as they walked up the steps to his office. He was greeted by everyone almost every step of the way, majority of them bowing towards him out of respect even if he was much younger than them.

"Morning sir, I've left all the copies for the proposal in the conference room and your meeting with the Editor in Chief has been pushed back by an hour. Soojin is in your office waiting for you" his assistant said before turning towards Jinah and giving her a little wave

"Can you do me another favour?" Jaehyun asked with a dimpled smile and his assistant knew exactly what was coming next

"I'll print out some colouring sheets for her" his assistant said and he smiled with a laugh as he watched Jinah's eyes light up at the sound of it before he went into his office

"Hey, good morning" Jaehyun greeted, slinging his coat over the black couch that was in his office before walking the extra bit towards his desk and placing Jinah on his lap as he sat down

"Hey, I've read up on those style features you emailed me last week so I think I'm all ready to go. I have some ideas too for this season" Soojin said with an energetic smile, ready to start her first day of work as a co-writer. It was a temporary position and Jaehyun wanted to see if she was a good fit before inviting her on board permanently.

"I was thinking, since it's winter, we could play with darker tones and something unexpected for the season—like a pop of green, maybe?" She suggested, bringing a fairly new idea to Jaehyun who preferred to keep things minimalistic in line with the Prada image

"Green for Prada? Bold." he mused, nodding thoughtfully and Soojin pursed her lips nervously as she waited for his response

"Could work, actually. Maybe paired with neutrals for contrast? Why don't you make me a proposal before 12 and I'll see if it works with the Chief" he said with a smile and she nodded

"Here's the sheets" the assistant said, poking into the room as Soojin stood up to leave

"They only had these around" his assistant said, handing over a few sheets of mannequin outlines. Jaehyun looked up at him with a sigh of disappointment, expecting unicorns instead

"Daddy I'm going to draw a pretty dress!" Jinah said happily, grabbing the nearest marker immediately and he quickly stopped her, replacing it with a crayon instead before she let her imagination run wild

"Thanks" Jaehyun nodded to his assistant

"Are you okay?" His assistant asked, his brows raised as he watched him space out. Jaehyun's mind was elsewhere since this morning, replaying the scene with Minhyuk in the elevator. He'd never thought of Yunhui as strict before, but the way she'd shut down Minhyuk's excitement unsettled him.

"Yeah. Just a lot on my mind." he said, snapping back to attention with a quick smile, turning back to his daughter as the two left his office

"Daddy's going to do some work, okay?" He said and she nodded, too occupied with her drawings to care about what her dad was doing.