Structural Damage

Chapter 14 - Vulnerable

Warning: Angsty chapter ahead 🎢 Prepare whatever you need. A glass of wine will do 😏

Se Ri walked into her office, slamming the door behind her, taking a seat on her couch. She was stunned, unable to move, replaying in her mind the vicious fight with Seo Dan. The two of them had knocked down drag out fights in the past, but none of them had been in the office, or at least none of them had been when there were associates around to hear them. She also had a hard time reconciling the fact that she held, in her hands, the resignation letter of her best friend. She never expected Seo Dan to quit, the thought had never crossed her mind. She couldn't even bring herself to read it. What had happened between the two of them? What led them to this point? Had this been coming and she had missed the signs?

After staring off into space for several minutes, Se Ri finally stood up, walking to her desk and placing the letter on top of the pile of papers that she needed to tend to. While she knew she would need to read it and make plans to move forward, right now she couldn't do it. Right now, she wanted to ignore it and address anything and everything but the letter. She logged into her computer, fired up her email and began to peruse everything within her inbox. She saw the handful of emails from Seo Dan and Myeong Sun that referenced the Daegu RFI binder and getting it signed. No need to keep those, after all, it was a little late now, she quickly deleted them and moved on. She found several emails that outlined potential new projects that needed to be reviewed, she flagged those figuring she would come back to those.

As she continued through her inbox, her heart stopped when she saw a particular email, the one with the attachment, the one from Cheol Gang. She was afraid to open it, for one, he rarely sent emails, preferring to do most of his correspondence via text message or telephone. She hoped this was one of those hacked emails that were transmitted by mistake, the ones with a link that meant nothing, that this was scaring her for no reason. She clicked on the email when the text showed up in her preview pane, her heart sank when she saw the text.

My dearest Se Ri,

It is nice to see that you have one again dipped your toes into the dating pool, he appears to be good looking. I guess you needed a toy this time around. Not surprising, I suppose you need to find someone to distract you from all of your hard work; it is important to take a break from time to time. I am disappointed, however, that you used poor judgment with your public display of affection. Just because you are on the 80th floor, doesn't mean that people aren't watching! Remember, I'm always watching.

You need to be more diligent, but I will say, you looked stunning. I'm not afraid to admit the pictures did get me off, as did the video. So, I'm thinking about this new collection, our arrangement needs renegotiating. That is unless you want these released to the general public? The Mayor might find these interesting, I hear you have that new project up for approval, maybe these can help sway the vote!

I think these photos are worth at least an extra $5.000 per month, starting with next month's payment. Just to prove I'm not making idle threats, I've attached two photos for your review.
From the look on your face, you were liking what you were getting.

Your husband.

As she read the email, Se Ri had to choke down the bile that was rising in her throat. She had not heard from him in weeks, now all of a sudden he was texting and emailing again. She had hoped he had finally decided to leave her alone, but now, it was ramping up all over again. She was scared to click on the photos, but she needed to see just what he had on her. More importantly, what did Cheol Gang have that could damage Jeong Hyeok?

The first picture was of her standing in front of the window, completely naked. She recognized that this would have been when Jeong Hyeok was in the shower, and she was opening the curtains, looking out over the city. When she was first thinking, she shouldn't be standing there. Tears began to prick her eyes. She knew this could be a severe blow to her reputation if this picture were to be released. While it didn't depict her doing anything vile, disgusting or what some would identify as inappropriate, she was naked in a window, and that was clearly poor judgment. If she had the poor judgment to do something like that, could her judgment be trusted for anything else? Lost in the argument would be the fact that she was in a window that was 80 stories above the street or that the picture was taken by a stalker with a telescope. No, the focus would be that she was naked in a window, and the circumstances around it wouldn't matter.