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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Something about the way he phrased that rang warning bells for Dae. What was Jimin not saying?
"Who did it?" Jin asked, his voice deadly quiet. Dae knew he was entirely focused on this one issue right now.
"We don't know," Jimin answered.
"You don't KNOW?" Jin thundered back at him.
That caused Tae and JK to both move and begin talking at once, voices angry and accusing.
Jimin called for quiet and continued.
"No, we do not know yet," Jimin answered.
Jin stood and began cursing and demanding answers. Dae had never seen him this furious.
Everyone began talking at one, voices explaining or accusing, growing louder to be heard.
Hobi looked over at Dae, trying to sort information from the chaos. He felt her begin to shake against him.
He discreetly took her hand and squeezed, then firmly said "Stop!"
Everyone stopped and took deep breaths.
"This is getting us nowhere," Jin complained. "We have to have some theories."
Jimin nodded, "We do. But you're not going to like them," he answered.
"Like them? Damn it Park JiMin I don't PAY you to decide what I will like or not like. I PAY you to organize this information into something that will be acceptable to my board and to the public. To do that you have to fucking understand it! And it is obvious to me that you do not understand a damn thing!!" Jin spat, standing to pace the floor.
Dae's mind was racing to try to control the situation before it got out of hand. She did not miss the fact that Jin had just demanded protection for his board and company and his alone.
But the fuse was lit now and the two men were both too close to the edge of their controls.
Jimin smirked and Dae's hands curled into fists. That look meant that he had taken off the gloves and was about to be brutal with the facts. She did not think she was prepared for this.
"Ok Jin, pardon me, CEO Kim, here are the three most plausible theories as I understand them. Surely your security chief will correct me if I am wrong." he started. That earned him a hard glare from JK.
"First, someone in this room leaked the document," he ticked off one finger.
As shouts and denials filled the room, he raised his hand. "Mr. Kim asked for the theories remember? That would be the simplest to investigate. All of you have access to the system and probably passwords. YoonGi and I have access to you. One of us could easily be able to grab the documents and leak them later. This is also the easiest to disprove since we are each other's alibis basically for the time frame last night when the breach occurred " he rationalized.
Disgruntled nods indicated agreement.
Dae whispered "that's not the only reason," trusting each of these men with everything she had.
"Second, someone else inside one of the companies infiltrated the system and managed to hack into the documents," he continued.
At that, Tae and JK began to argue with each other and then with Jimin, again raising voices and creating confusion.
Jin went on the attack. Asking each of the security chiefs point blank questions, getting rapid fire answers.
Furious, he turned on Jimin. "See? You are so full of bullshit!! These two have our security on lock. There is no way and no reason for one of our employees to do this. You are just spouting off your usual nonsense. "
"You really are good for nothing but standing in front of the camera and looking pretty! You have no freaking clue what you are talking about so stop making up stupid shit to try to make yourself look good and pad your paycheck," Jin practically spit out the words.
Dae had reached for him at this point and called his name, but he was too far gone.
"I TOLD Dae we should not have hired you!" Jin finished, face flushed and fists clenched.
Jimin stood still as he felt his grip on his control slipping.
Where Jin's rage burned like a wildfire out of control, scorching everything in its path, Jimin's rage was ice.
He felt himself grow cold and knew Jin had pushed him into a dangerous frame of mind. He no longer cared.
He knew he was good at his job, he knew some of this anger was personal, he knew Jin was frustrated and probably scared.
He processed all those factors calmly and rationally and found he truly did not have it in him to give a damn about any of them.
He wanted to remind Jimin that he "paid" him, and only that because Dae insisted? Kim SoekJin was about to get the full value of what he paid for.
Dae felt sick to her stomach as she watched Jimin's face. She had only seen him like this twice.
He was brutal in his attacks and seemed to have no care that his words left scars. She could see him weighing what he was going to say and deciding to do it.
She reached and grabbed on to Hobi's hand, trying to desperately think of a way to stop what was about to happen.
"Oh, but Mr. Kim," Jimin said, his voice quiet and calm, "I told you there were 3 theories. I want to make sure you get what you paid for." Pausing to pick up his device from the table, he turned back to Jin.
"The third theory is that you were so busy screwing your business partner that you left the project vulnerable...."
He did not finish his sentence before Jin and Tae both rushed him, YoonGi stepping in front of Jimin to slow the attack.
JK grabbed Jin and pulled him back, his curses ringing out in the thick walls of the conference room.
Then silence fell as the men stood glaring at each other, fists drawn waiting to be detonated.
In the silence and past the blood pounding in their ears, they slowly became aware of the sound of weeping.
Jimin turned in horror to see Dae crumpled in Hobi's arms, face hidden, trying to control her sobs.
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NOTE: this was one of my favorite passages I have ever written. I could feel the tension in that room, the frustration between these two men!!
