Tables Turned | JH

Chapter 7: You Smoke?

Knocking on the door that's in front of me, I take a deep breath. I finally hear her call for me to come in and I force my hands to stop shaking as I open the door. I nearly freeze in place when I spot her sat in a desk chair in front of multiple monitors with a cigarette between her lips.

It's funny, honestly. I've never really been afraid much of anyone. Yet here I am, more afraid of this girl sat in the room than I ever was of my father even on a bad day.

Choyeon POV

Looking over at the door, I'm impressed that he's actually exactly on time. Though, a mild feeling of surprise hits me when I realize he's holding a plate of food in his hand.

Probably Jin again.

"You going to come in or just stand there like a fool?" I question as I turn back to the monitors in front of me. I hear him huff in embarrassment before his padded footsteps can be heard heading towards me. I just roll my eyes, tapping the cigarette in hand to knock some of the ash off.

"Here. Figured you should probably eat dinner considering it sounds like tomorrow will be a busy day." He mumbles as he gently sets the plate down on my desk.

I take note of the fact that he didn't bother specifying who particularly it was that thought I needed dinner. Not bothering to verbally respond, I nod in response before turning back to him.

"You said you wanted to see me, yeah?" Jhope speaks as I turn towards him. I nod in response.

"That would be correct. Hopefully you weren't too bothered by my brother and Jimin whilst you were with them. I wanted to discuss your skills for a moment. It'll be important to figure those out in order to apply you properly to the correct job." I inform him before taking a drag off the stick.

"Not at all. They were very kind, Ms. Kim." He answers softly, seeming to eye the stick being held between my fingers before glancing back up to meet my gaze. I smirk mildly at this before offering out the cigarette to him.

"You smoke?" I ask as I hold it out to him. I watch as his tongue pokes out to lightly wet his lips as he glances between me and the stick.

"I do." He mutters as he slips the cigarette into his fingers to take a drag off it before handing it back. As he holds the smoke for a second before blowing it back out without any troubles or coughing, I simply smirk and nod, intrigued by the fact that he really does smoke.

"Anyhow, strengths. Skills. What're you good at?" I question, going back to the conversation. He bites his lip lightly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, Ms. Kim. I didn't really do a ton beforehand. I mainly just attended the meetings that I was told to attend, pick up drugs that needed picked up. Kept people in line if it was deemed necessary." Jhope answers quietly as he keeps eye contact with me. Taking another drag off the cigarette, I purse my lips as I nod.

"I suppose that's not the worst thing. We can always figure that out as we go. It just means that you're still a blank slate. I can work to train that and test it." I inform him as I lean back in my chair, blowing the cloud of smoke out up at him. He just hums an agreement as I offer up the cigarette to him once again.

He doesn't hesitate this time as he takes it, taking a drag off the stick before handing it back once again. I just smirk at the action.

Quick to learn and lose the hesitation. That's a good thing, I guess. Honestly might be better specifically for him that he doesn't but it'll make life go smoother.

"You have a set of monitors in your room if you've not already gone there yet. It's set up to have the basic database with information on everyone in the Empire. As you heard, we have a few meetings tomorrow. Make sure to know who's going to be there and which ones are the troublemakers. Starting tomorrow, we're going to be testing your skills to see where those lie. Don't worry if people aren't your skill, but try to make it so if you can. It'll come in handy." I tell him, tapping the stick to knock more ash off again.

"Of course, Ms. Kim. I'll get right on that." Jhope answers with a small nod.

"I expect nothing less than the best from you. Now go. You've got work to do and we have to be leaving the building by seven tomorrow morning. I don't want you all sleep deprived for the meetings." I say a small wave of my hand to dismiss him, turning back towards the monitors.

He nods once more before turning on his heel and heading towards the door.

"Oh, and Jhope?" I call, turning my head to look back over at him. He freezes mid step, turning his head back to look at me.

"Yes, Ms. Kim?" He questions, a sound of curiosity and worry mixed together.

"It's Choyeon in private." I inform him before turning back to the screens in front of me. Though, not before having caught his surprised expression that brought a small smirk to my lips.

"Of course,... Choyeon." He answers before exiting the room completely.

Once I'm completely alone again, I sigh. Leaning back in my chair once more, I run my hands through my short hair. Groaning quietly to myself, I stub the now short cigarette stick out on my desk before tossing it in the bin beside the desk.

Standing up from the chair, I head over to the kitchen area before kneeling down to get into one of the cupboards. Sitting through the different bottles of wines, champagnes, and whiskeys, I soon pull out what I'm looking for. Grabbing the whiskey bottle of Angel's Envy, I stand back up and set it on the counter. I then reach pull out a glass and fill it up, not caring that it isn't the proper way to pour a glass of whiskey.

Taking it back over to the desk with the bottle itself, I set them both down before sitting once again. Though, before taking a sip of the liquid, I open up one of the drawers on the desk.

"Hmm... Not really in the mood for the highs tonight. Besides, I'm hoping to be done in a few hours." I mumble to myself as I pull out the bottle of Valium pills.

I quickly knock back five of them with the help of the whiskey before shoving the bottle back into the desk drawer. Sighing to myself, I take another sip of the whiskey as I return to work, slowly feeling the numbness provided by the Valium beginning to sink in.

Just another long shitty night of work.