Kim SeokJin is a powerful CEO in one of the largest companies in the country. His lover is his chief business rival, Kim SongDae. Park JiMin only complicates matters between Jin and Dae with that damn smile of his.
All seven friends work togethe...
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Dae stared into space trying to understand what happened. She finally realized it was no use without more information.
She glanced over at Jimin and her heart ached. He was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. He was wearing his sunglasses, but she had already seen the dark smudges. His jaw was clenched tightly and she knew he was angry and hurt.
" Jimin..." she started in a low voice, " I am so sorry..."
"Dae, don't," he interrupted her, " I meant what I said last night. But seeing you ...like that....this morning was a kick in the gut."
She started to talk again, but he shook his head and she sat to listen. She deserved anything he had to say to her. However, she was not expecting what he said.
"Dae, we have to put all that aside for now. This is a big problem. We will know how big once we get there. Right now the ONLY thing we need to concentrate on is getting iNovis through this and making sure there is no scandal attached to you. Understand?" he asked.
"Very clearly Jimin," she answered.
The rest of the ride was silent, tension building higher as they weaved through the busy traffic.
Dae was surprised when Jimin took a less familiar street and entered KimCom's secure parking area.
He had told Jin to enter the private way, now they were using it as well. That meant the press was already outside.
Jimin parked in the secure garage and sat gathering his thoughts before he turned to Dae.
"You ok?" he asked, taking her hand in his.
At her nod he gave her hand a squeeze and told her, "Right? Let's go kick some ass!"
She smiled and some color flowed back to her face.
Dae exited the car and squared her shoulders. It was time for Kim Song Dae to go to work.
Some of that bravado faded as Jimin led her toward "The Bunker", KimCom's underground conference room. It was a simply furnished room that was equipped with the latest communication and security systems. It was built for use during natural disasters or times of National emergency.
Jin had snuck her down here a couple of times for "private consultations" but it had never been used for official business, until today.
Today when Dae entered she felt the tension in the room immediately.
She and Jimin were the last to arrive. The room was already full with their friends working on solutions to the issues as they were discovered.
The room was large with comfortable couches and chairs arranged to optimize conversation. There was a large desk and a white board dominated one wall. One corner housed a bank of computers and several monitors and one large display screen.
Taehyung and JungKook stood in that corner, bent over the monitors. They were arguing, each pointing to a display.
Dae had never seen Taehyung so angry, JungKook was equally mad and frustrated. They both were in shirtsleeves. It looked like neither had been home since last night.
YoonGi had selected the desk as his spot and several devices and scattered newspapers covered the desktop.
Hobi was on the phone, his face a mask of concern. He was taking notes and gathering the latest information. Jimin went to look over YoonGi's shoulder, assessing the press reports.
Dae's stomach tightened as she looked at each man. Their faces told her all she needed to know. They were all so dear to her.
Sometimes she forgot how very efficient they were at their jobs because they did them so effectively, so quietly. But today, as she glanced around the room she knew there were no others who could discern the truth like these men could.
Finally, she sought him. He was standing behind the bar at the far end of the room.
The only natural light from outside had filtered in from the shatter resistant, bulletproof glass of the skylight shafts. Beyond the bar were other rooms, showers, the bedroom.
Jin stood stone still, staring into the sunlight. He knew when she entered the room, he felt in his bones when she found him.
He closed his eyes and begged for just one more minute before the storm hit, before he had to face her, but there was no more time.
Jin drew a deep breath and turned to her. He felt his heart jolt as he saw the green sweater, his eyes wandering to the spot where he knew his kiss marked her the night before.
He gathered comfort from the fact that she had taken the time to wear the sweater for him. They would face this together.
Dae watched as Jin turned to her. He was every inch the powerful CEO standing there in his dark three piece suit and silk tie.
He was beauty and power and strength. She longed to go to him and wrap her arms around him, but right now he was a world away from her.
She saw his eyes linger on her neck, saw them darken at the memory. When his eyes met her's they were full of promise. They were better together, always had been.
That thought was interrupted by Jimin calling them together for the briefing.
Taehyung gently led Dae to a couch and sat beside her. She hated how he was treating her as if she were fragile.
She nodded at him , "I'm ok....I really am."
He took the hint and gave her space.
JungKook took a side of one couch with Yoongi. Jin the sat in a chair alone, slightly distant from the others.
Jimin positioned himself at the whiteboard while Hobi passed out copies of the reports he had gathered. Finished, he came to flank her on the couch with Tae.
Looking around the room Dae noticed that they had divided the room, facing each other like combatants. She shook her head, that was ridiculous.
Jimin began to speak and the room was silent.
"From the reports we have gathered, in the hours between 2am and 4 am the servers containing the defense documents were accessed. We do not know the exact location of the breach yet. One very low-level document was leaked to the press."
"We received an encrypted email at both security offices this morning that other documents, all more highly classified and dangerous had also been compromised and were at risk for being leaked."
Jimin took a deep breath, worried at how pale Dae had gone.
"Tae and JK are currently tracing the breech and the email. Their teams are determining exactly which documents have been compromised and assessing the risk if they are leaked."
"They have made changes to both systems, independently, to protect any further exposure."
Something about the way he phrased that rang warning bells for Dae.
