His CEO

'tis the damn season

"She doesn't like pink that much, I think purple would be better."

I paused, turning toward the source of the voice I just heard. "Yejin?" I called out, spotting her and Nara standing in front of a display of baby clothes.

Yejin's eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly glanced at Nara, who seemed just as caught off guard. "O-Oppa," Yejin stammered, clearly not expecting to see me.

My curiosity took over as I took a few steps towards them. "Why are you in the baby section?" I asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Oh." Yejin hesitated for a moment before offering a somewhat nervous smile. "A friend of a friend is having a baby shower soon... and..."

"We're looking for gifts," Nara finished the sentence for her, giving me a bright yet slightly forced smile.

I nodded, accepting the explanation, though something about them struck me as odd. "I see," I replied, trying to shake off the feeling that they were hiding something. "By the way, did the both of you meet Jihyo lately?"

"Jihyo unnie is still busy in Jeju... I think..." Yejin quickly answered. "It's been months since we personally saw each other. You know how workaholic she is."

I nodded again. Jihyo had been distant lately, more so than usual. At first, we exchanged messages and calls from time to time, but as days turned to weeks and even months, I just stopped receiving messages from her. And now, hearing that even her closest friends hadn't seen her in months only deepened the worry that had been persistently taking over me.

"I guess that's true," I said, forcing a smile. "She's always been dedicated to her work."

"Well, that's Jihyo," Nara added, trying to sound cheerful.

"Right," I murmured, my thoughts drifting to Jihyo. There was something they weren't telling me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Well, I'll leave you both to your shopping. It was nice running into you. Call me if you encounter any problems with anything."

"Likewise, Oppa!" Yejin said quickly, her smile still in place. While Nara gave me a nod as they waved goodbye.

As I walked away, I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something was going on. And for some reason, my thoughts kept circling back to Jihyo.

"Hey, are you still with us?"

I blinked, forcing myself to focus. I was in the middle of a meeting with Jiah and the board members of PERSONA. I glanced around the conference room, noticing the impatient expressions on the faces of the board members.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked, trying to refocus.

Jiah sighed, her frustration evident, though she tried to keep her tone neutral. "I was saying that our campaign performance and analytics have been on a steady decline, starting when SJ Media Group took over Gong Hyojin's comeback ad campaign, which was supposed to be our project."

I nodded, but my thoughts were still scattered. The whole room was tense, I could see it in the way the board members shifted uncomfortably in their seats, their gazes flicking between Jiah and me.

One of the board members, an older man with graying hair, leaned forward. "We need to address this immediately. Our analytics are down by nearly 20%, and if we don't turn things around soon, we're looking at a significant hit to our market share."

Another member chimed in, "Mr. Jo, the tabloid rumors surrounding you have also harmed our reputation."

"That issue was addressed five months ago. There's nothing more to worry about," I replied, trying to sound confident.