unrivaled

chapter 12

The next several weeks were terribly busy. 

Both of them were lost in the work and in so doing easily fell into their old rhythms, she pointed out when he was wrong and he proved he was not. 

They eventually came to a place of truce where they could spend time with each other without the hurt spilling over.

As autumn approached so did the yearly rounds of benefits and investor dinners. 

Every year it was the same boring dinners with the same dreary people.  However, as Jimin reminded them every year, these “dreary" people were all potential clients and these “boring” dinners were covered by the media with publicity that money could not buy.

The next event was the Design Gala.  It was an industry celebration that was one of the fun events of the season.  Both companies paid huge amounts of money for tables so that all the staff and designers could attend.

Dae sat looking out her window.  She hated these events for a very personal reasons.

She and Jin always had to be on their most serious and professional behavior. These events always reminded her of her grandfather’s ultimatum.

All these years and all her success leading the company had to stand for something, right? 

She wondered if soon her grandfather would relent about Jin.  Somehow, she doubted it.

She pushed aside the paper she had been reading.

Perhaps it did not matter if her grandfather relented.  According to the gossip columnists, it had been reported that Kim SeokJin, CEO and heir to the KimCom fortune was seeking a suitable wife. 

The paper had several pictures of Jin in the last 3 months attending social events.  Each picture showed him escorting a different girl. 

Dae told herself it was all publicity, lying to herself that it did not hurt to see him smiling in those photographs.
She wondered who Jin would take to the Design Gala.

She refused to believe there was anything serious going on with any of those women in the photographs.  She felt like Jin would have told her If that were so.

With that thought she came back to face the task she had been pondering.  She had a date for the gala. He had asked last minute because his “date of the month" left him to film a drama.

Dae was relieved to have an escort.  All the other men had somehow committed to other dates, each assuming the other would escort Dae.

Today Dae had to travel to KimCom for design approval, and while she was there, she was planning to stop by and casually mention her date and hope Jin did the same. 

Unlike years past, she felt she should give him the courtesy and she wanted to be prepared to see him with someone.

It was close to noon when Dae finished with the designers.  Happy with the good day of work, she headed to Jin's office.  Her head was spinning with ways to persuade Jin to have lunch with her.  It had been a long time since they could relax and spend time together.  She missed him so much.

In the elevator she texted Hobi and asked him to get a private table at the nearby restaurant they loved.

She was happier than she been in weeks as she stepped off the elevator and into Jin's office suite.

Her eyes lit when she realized no one was in his outer office.  Where was his secretary?

Hearing sounds of the computer in his office, she quietly moved to his door, anticipating his reaction when she surprised him.  She felt a pang at how much she had missed being close to him.  Maybe today they could spend the afternoon working on that.

Her breath had already begun to speed up when she rounded the corner.  She saw the long legs propped on the desk.

However, instead of the handmade leather loafers she anticipated, her eyes fell on a pair of red bottom stilettos.

Traveling up she did not miss the black sheer stockings or the flirty skirt revealing much too much thigh or the very low-cut blouse, small, perky breasts on full display.

Her heart dropped in the split second before she could school her features. 

“Alex.  I did not know you were in town.” She calmly stated, none of her anger or resentment present in her tone.

The woman was clearly startled, fumbling with the computer and dropping her feet to the floor.

“Does Jin know you are at his desk?” Dae asked, the challenge evident in her tone.

Dae met Choi HaYoon her senior year of college.  She was one of the elite girls who only socialized with the heirs of other wealthy families.

They lived in the same hall and barely spoke until one Alumni weekend. 

Dae was finally of age and Namjoon had invited her to a party. 

Dae was thrilled to be at the “sophisticated” party until she found a drunken HaYoon clinging to Jin, planting sloppy kisses on his face and neck. 

Dae was horrified at the tears that started to fall as she met Jin's eyes.

She had hoped he would be there, had taken special care with her clothes and makeup.  She turned to leave, missing Jin push the drunken girl away.

Jin had chased Dae halfway back to her apartment before he caught her, grabbing her in his arms, begging her to stop and listen.

She vividly remembered looking up at Jin as he caught his breath, his hands gripping her waist, his eyes searching hers, his dark head bending close.

He had told her he had come that weekend to surprise her, had hoped to see her, that she looked beautiful. 

Dae had stopped listening, too entranced by the warmth of him, his lush lips, his strong hands.

At some point Jin noticed she was not listening and he fell silent.

Gazing down at her, he threw away all caution, all doubt, and gave in to the desire that had haunted him since she was sixteen years old.

Dae stood in his arms, sure it was a dream, watching his mouth and wishing on every star in that clear night sky that he would kiss her.

She lost her breath as his head bent to her’s and gently took her mouth in his. 

Both of them were stunned by the sweetness of that first kiss, clinging to each other, memorizing the feel and the taste they created together. 

That first blush of sweetness soon melted away in the heat that started to build between them.  Jin pulled her closer to him, cradling her head in his hands as he began to deepen the kiss, aching to explore her mouth.

Just as Dae’s lips began to part for him they were brought crashing back to reality by loud, drunken shouts.

NamJoon had followed Jin out of the party and, never one to miss an opportunity, HaYoon had attached herself to him.

Jin gently stepped away from Dae and before he could say anything the couple was right in front of them. 

Always with his impeccable timing, Joon declared it was too late and too  drunk for Dae to be out. 

What the hell did that even mean?

Her brother demanded she go home, while standing there allowing a drunken HaYoon to unbutton his shirt and her own.

Dae was furious, but glancing at Jin she saw him politely nod and offer to escort her home. 

Gone was the man who had kissed her, replaced by the protective best friend of her brother.

Jin had walked her home in silence, hands clasped behind his back, leaving her to wonder if the kiss had been a dream.

HaYoon had Dae in her sights from that night, determined to make connections with Jin – or NamJoon. 

She did not discriminate between them, through the years repeatedly dating, sleeping with, using, dumping or getting dumped by one then the other.

She followed Dae to graduate school in the states where she had lukewarm success as a model. She changed her name to Alex Choi and refused to answer by any other name, insisting she be called Alex.

Anytime someone mentioned an incident from her past, a man she slept with, a woman she betrayed, she claimed no memory, claiming it must have been someone else.

All except Jin.  All those years, all the hurts, all the lies, the one thing she refused to lose her grip on was Jin.

Dae detested her for so many reasons.

She had hurt Joon, more times that she could count, she manipulated everyone around her, she ruined her first kiss with Jin.

But she hated her for keeping Jin on a string all these years.  How she wished he was well and truly done with her.

But she was standing, staring at the obvious proof he was not.