THE BITCH CEO (Im Nayeon)

26

HANS' POV

I couldn't stop smiling, even though Nayeon's eyes were daggers, her expression colder than I'd ever seen.

It was as if she wanted nothing more than to throw me out of the office window.

Almost two weeks had passed since I came back to South Korea, and yet, here she was, giving me the silent treatment.

And two years had passed since I left South Korea, two years of studying business abroad, of preparing myself to take over the empire my grandfather had built.

His businesses, scattered across the globe, were now mine.

Every building, every company, every investment. All in my name.

At first, I didn't want any of it.

I didn't want the weight of his legacy not just being a King in France but also his legacy in business.

But when I turned down the throne, he wouldn't hear of it.

He made it clear that if I didn't accept the throne, i wouldn't decline his businesses.

I did what I had to do and chose the business rather than the throne.

So I went to the US, buried myself in corporate strategy and management, learned the ins and outs of every company he'd left me.

It wasn't easy.

There were times I wanted to give up.

There were times I wished for a simpler life, one where I wasn't tied to every decision of an empire.

But I couldn't walk away.

It has been engraved already in my name before i was even born.

My sisters came to visit me in the States every few weeks, so I never truly felt alone.

But being away from this place, the place I once called home, was harder than I ever expected.

And being away from her?

That was something I couldn't have prepared for.

I hadn't been back to South Korea in two long years, and I'd thought that in all that time, I'd be able to let go.

But nothing had changed.

I'd thrown myself into business and tried to forget what was left behind.

But the truth was, I hadn't moved on. I was still trapped in the past.

And maybe that was the hardest part: realizing it was all my fault.

I was the one who told her to stay away. I was the one who pushed her out of my life, two years ago, without even thinking about the consequences.

I was the one who made myself believe that I was better off without her, that my future didn't need her in it.

But now, standing here, it felt like the years hadn't passed at all.

The emptiness inside me was still there, gnawing at me.

The loneliness that had followed me across the globe, from the quiet of my apartment in States to the boardrooms of Paris, had never gone away.

I had people around me, bodyguards, assistants, colleagues but none of them filled the void she left.

I thought about her every day.

Sometimes, it was just a fleeting memory, a glimpse of her smile, her laugh, the way her eyes softened when she looked at me.

Other times, it was a weight, a constant reminder of how I had thrown everything away, of how much I had hurt her.