(Jungkook's POV)

Song Companion: Let You Go - Faime

—First Life, year 2026—

After weeks of getting myself almost constantly intoxicated, waking up with a pounding headache would have been something that to be expected when I opened my eyes.

But as I found myself slowly waking up in such a state that morning, there was something about this one that felt wrong.

As I tried to pull my heavy eyelids open, I found it hard to remember how long I have fallen asleep or if I have slept at all. It felt like I only had passed out briefly, because the haziness was still there and my whole body was far from recovering from the alcohol I had been drinking all night. And I could still remember that I had drunk a lot.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to push away this heaviness that kept me under, only to have my body falling frozen and my heart pacing to a rapid beat.

What the fuck?

Fear engulfed me like never before when my senses slowly came to life. Because as my body moved, I felt nothing covering my skin aside to the covers on top of me. Then when I took a whiff of the air around me, the usual scent that enveloped me—the sweetness that belonged to my wife and had always been a part of our home—was not there. Instead, there was a completely different scent that filled my senses, a strong floral perfume that my wife had never worn before. And a different softness of hair that was lying over my bare arm.

Please tell me that this is just another dream. A different kind of dream.

I cursed and pleaded as I forced my eyes open, only to feel dread coming all over me with what I had found. I finally understood why everything felt so different compared to my usual mornings. The room where I was in was not the one I had in my home, nor was I on my own bed. And I already knew before I turned to look that whoever lying next to me with her hair falling on my skin was not her.

The red hair that had turned into a tussled mess around me was the first thing I saw as I looked down. Then I saw her, the small woman who was lying sideways with her back facing me, the covers covering her body that was presumably just as naked as I was.

My heartbeat kept on racing as everything started to come back to me piece by piece. Everything I saw in my head was still foggy and I could only remember parts of it. But those were the only parts that mattered.

I remembered kissing her red lips, then hearing her husky voice asking me if I was ready to leave. I remembered leaning on her as she guided me to a black car that was not mine. A Black Uber, perhaps, the kind of ride that I would usually call for to drive me home after I had been out drinking. And then more kisses continued, fingers clawing on my clothes, hands flailing and touching everywhere before I fell back onto this bed.

Then more parts of the forgotten memory kept coming back. The image of her underneath my body, of me being on top of her, then the image of me being inside her. And I remembered thinking I was looking deep into my wife's eyes instead of the same sultry gaze that had been stalking me for days at work.

Just when I was reminded of her touch on my body and the way our bodies united in my blurred memory, my stomach started to churn and I felt the urge to barf.

Holding my breath, I tried to move as subtle as I possibly could to slide off the bed. Thankful for the fact that she was not sleeping on top of me while cursing for not knowing whether or not she was a light sleeper. Perhaps she was just as intoxicated as I was or if I had somehow left her extremely exhausted that I managed to escape unscathed. And thank God that I made it straight to the bathroom without waking her up, because I barely managed to reach for the toilet before I could spill out all the contents from my stomach.

I was then left heaving on the floor with shame. It took me a while to gather myself, then quickly cleaned the mess I made before pushing myself off from the floor. After washing off my face, I stood there right in front of the mirror. My hands were still shaking as I leaned on the washbasin and took a look at my own reflection. I nearly crumbled down when I found the person looking back at me was someone I could barely recognise.

The red bloodshot eyes I sported were rimmed with fear and regret. My whole face was swollen after throwing up and for drinking so much, and my hair was a tangled mess. I took a quick look all over my skin and other visible parts of my body, looking for any marks that she might have left behind as proof of my infidelity. Yet even after I found my skin still intact and clear of any marks or wound, there was no possible way for me to say the same thing about what I was feeling deep inside.

Somewhere inside my chest, I was nothing but a cluttered mess. Broken and wounded pieces under the thick skin that covered the darkness of my soul. I knew right then that on my way of hiding myself from guilt, I had trapped myself in a different kind of sin.

"What have I done?"

Right after I managed to pull myself together, I immediately gathered my belongings and left the hotel room. Moving so quick without taking another glance at the woman still sleeping soundly on the messy estranged bed. I was fortunate enough to have been awakened at dawn, that I was able to reach home when the sky was still dark and I still had hours before my wife would wake up.

The house was as quiet and still as dark as ever when I walked past the front door. It had me making a lot of effort to not create any noise to break the silence while still carrying the remnants of my hangover. I looked around the empty living room, exhaling a relief sigh when there was no hint of my wife waiting up for me there last night.

Yet the thought of her waiting for me to return home, while I had ended up elsewhere, brought back the feeling of guilt in my chest that I stopped myself from walking up the stairs. Looking up from the bottom of the main stairwell, I felt an invisible weight anchoring me down from stepping up.

The crippling doubt made me question myself—

Am I even still worthy of going up there to our bedroom? Wouldn't it be so wrong of me to join her in bed, on our bed, after sharing one with another woman?

Running my shaking hands through my hair, I started to back away from the stairs. Feeling unworthy of being anywhere close to the woman who I had vowed my life and my love to when I could still feel the touch of another all over my body. So instead of going back to her, I went to the guest bathroom downstairs, taking my time to wash and scrub off my skin, even if I had done just the same before I had left the hotel. Carrying the soiled clothes I came home with, I went to the laundry room, tossed everything into the hamper and put on a clean shirt and a pair of sweatpants that I could find, then went to my home-office after popping a few hangover pills. Choking up the tears that were threatening to fall, I lied down on the couch to sleep off the rest of my hangover, all while wishing that this nightmare would end the moment I opened my eyes.

The sun was peeking through the windows, carrying its warmth on me when I was gently nudged awake.

I was relieved to find the headache was long gone. And despite still feeling slightly foggy, I was able to blink away the tiredness in my eyes and slowly came to wake. Her face was the first thing I saw, hovering on top of me with a small smile. I swallowed hard to press down the guilt at the worried look in her eyes and the small frown forming between her brows.

"Morning," my wife greeted me. I felt her hands brushing my messy hair, entangling the curls while feeling my warm skin with her soft palm.

"Morning," I rasped out, exhaling a breath and looked away from her. "What time is it?"

"It's almost eight," she said. "Have you been here all night? I didn't hear you coming home."

"I didn't want to wake you up," I said as I looked at her then stopped myself. Suddenly remembering her habit of waiting up for me, I started to feel worried about slipping out wrong or making a mistake of giving away my last night's whereabouts. I pushed myself up to sit on the couch with her help and it was then when I noticed the tired bags under her eyes. "You didn't wait up for me, did you?"

Her lips turned to a small, thin smile and shook her head. "I wanted to, especially cause I wanted to apologise for our last argument. I spent the whole afternoon working and met up with your Mom, then came home extremely exhausted. The new meds the doctor gave me also made me sleep like a baby right after dinner."

I had to resist the need for exhaling a relieved sigh at her answer. The thought of her finding out that I had not come home until it was close to morning would only lead to more questions.

Questions I had no answers to.

I kind of hated the meds she was taking, the ones that kept her feeling constantly exhausted that made her all jumpy and emotional. This morning, however, for the first time ever, I felt slightly grateful for its presence, for how it had helped her sleep and missed me coming home. I had no idea what came over me then, as I felt the relief of having her near and the feel of her warmth that I had missed so much, I suddenly reached out to her and hold her in my arms.

I heard her nervous chuckle coming out briefly as I tightened my hold around her body. And I felt so calm when instead of questioning it, she returned my hug instead and released a soft sigh. I slightly pulled away to look at her face, relishing on her comfort and the love in her gaze. That had me lost in a moment of silence and peace, and did nothing at first when she slowly leaned up to kiss my lips.

I felt her soft lips on mine and returned the favour, taking in her sweetness with my own. My eyes fluttered to close when she deepened our kiss, while my hand moved lower to pull her closer to my chest and led her straddling on my lap.

Yet the moment her face disappeared from my sight, another one came to me. Red devilish hair and sinful lips taking over my mind that I suddenly felt disgusted at myself and slowly pushed away.

I opened my eyes to find her confused stare looking at me, making me feel even more guilty and shameful that I had let someone else touched what was hers.

"I, uh—" I sheepishly looked away, hiding my face from her before she could see right through me. "I should probably freshen up first."

She softly chuckled at me, kissing my jaw and my cheeks before pushing herself off of me. "Okay, I'll go make breakfast and some strong coffee for you."

I returned her smile and watched her walk out the door, then held my head tight in my shaking hands. I had managed to escape, though only barely, and the guilt was eating me up inside.

As I remembered the woman who I had left behind, to come home to the woman who my heart and soul truly belonged to, I made a vow to never again allow something like this to happen. I dreaded the thought of having to come back to work and meet my secretary, to face her and no doubt forced to answer why I had left her with no words. But I promised myself that the next time I finally met her, I would put an end to whatever this was before it could ever progress into something more. Something that may harm the life and the marriage that had already been hanging by a thread.

By hook or by crook, I would have to find a proper way to apologise to Song Lena and make her understand that she was a mistake that could never happen ever again.

I was supposed to end it.

That was the promise I made to myself when I left home this morning. Determined to make amends and move on after making her understand that I could never let things be. Then to come home to my wife and fix every single mess I had created before it was too late.

But then, right after a few arguments behind my locked office door and an intense battle against her pleading eyes of hunger, I ended up here, with my pants stripped down to my ankles and my cock enveloped by her sinful red lips.

"Fuck!" I hissed under my breath, not even sure if it was me cursing at myself for losing my sanity or to the pleasure she was giving me.

I kept moving my hips, pumping my hard cock in and out of her hot mouth. I could feel her hollowing her cheeks around my girth, as if she was trying to suck me dry. Her tongue lied flat, each bump triggering every nerve ending as I glided my length back and forth against it with vigour. I felt her hot breath fanning my skin each time I pulled out. I felt her fingers digging into my thighs, and her soft hair that had fallen off of her usual bun had been entangled between my fingers as I fisted them under the haze of lust.

Yet through it all, I kept my eyes closed.

I refused to look at her face as I fucked her mouth. Unwilling to acknowledge that the woman now kneeling on the floor before me with her mouth around my cock was not the same woman I was married to. To erase the dreadful guilt, and the bitterness that had my chest tightened, I replaced her image with the image of my own wife behind my closed eyelids. For a while, it worked, just enough to help let myself go to the pleasure. That was until she pulled back, releasing my cock from her lips with a pop.

Surprised to have her stopping right when I was close to releasing my load down her throat, I opened my eyes, instantly regretting the rude awakening as I saw her face and her swollen lips.

Looking up at me, she reached up to cover my hard cock with her small palm. "Are you sure you want to let this go?" she purred while fisting me slowly. "I can keep a secret. I can be anything you want. I can help you forget whatever it is that you need to erase from your mind. Nobody needs to know."

Gritting my teeth, I tightened my fist on her hair, making her leaned slightly back with the hard pull, no doubt feeling the pain. I could just let go and push her off of me, then kick her out of my office and be done with her. That was what I supposed to do. But I didn't. I needed release. So instead, I pulled her head towards me, leading her lips to return to my cock.

"Stop talking and take my cock back in your mouth before I change my mind," I hissed at her, taking her by surprise that she widened her eyes. She looked terrified for a moment, before she finally gave in and did what I told her to.

I groaned loudly as she expertly swirled her tongue around the head, sucking on it gently before sliding the length of it into her mouth. Staring down at her from between half-closed lids, I watched her take every inch of me until her nose was pressed against my torso. I knew she was trying to tease, to light the fire in me so I would fall to her charms.

But I refused to give her control.

With the hand that was still fisting on her thick red hair, I abruptly pushed her to me and thrust my hips forward, forcing myself to go in deep. I felt her fingers digging deeper into my skin in shock and her muffled cry around my cock, but I was already so deep in her throat that any noise she was making would never come out.

Without giving her a chance to adjust to my cock, I immediately started moving, pumping my cock in and out of her throat. Her hot mouth and tight muscles felt like magic that I could feel myself rising higher and higher to the peak of my release. Once again, I kept my eyes closed. Along with the pleasuring bliss that slowly rising in my body, also came disgust. Disgust at her, at myself for letting this to happen, and at my body that was enjoying everything she was giving me.

The emotional turmoil was quick to rise up into another yet again as I kept fucking her mouth. Anger came to me next, and it led me to fuck her even harder. I kept pumping and thrusting so fast as if I was punishing her. Her muffled cries and the sounds of her gagging around my cock only pushed me further into the undying urge of exploding my cum.

"Swallow everything. Don't you dare leave out any last drop," I commanded her when I felt my balls tightening. I could feel every word I gave her filled with hatred and rage, but she was too far gone in her lust to notice that she kept on going, loosening her throat as she continued taking me deep, quickly driving me to the brink of orgasm.

It didn't take long before I finally shot my whole load down her throat. Biting the insides of my cheeks to hold back from screaming or hollering, knowing that it would be my wife's name that I screamed out if I had let it go. And once again, she did everything I told her to do, swallowing every drop of cum before she finally released me.

She was left in a heaving mess on the floor when I pulled back, tucking my barely limped dick back into my pants. I turned around when she clumsily pushed herself up, not bothering to help or notice her struggling as I focused on fixing my clothes and then moved to my desk, keeping my back on her. Silence fell between us, before I heard her making a move towards me. But I cut her off from trying.

"You can leave now, Miss Song," I told her then, not giving her any chance to say anything to me first. I could hear a soft gasp from her and there was no need for me to turn around to see her body stiffening. I could feel her body reacting to my words just as I could feel her gaze on my back. The cold tone I was giving her probably hurt, but that was exactly what I needed her to feel. "I will call you again if I ever have a need for your service," I gave her the final dismissal while nonchalantly ruffling the papers on my desk, and heard her soft voice in return.

"Yes, Sir. Understood," she said to me. She made a few shuffling noises behind my back before I heard her small footsteps heading towards the door. The door opening and closing shielded me and my secrets behind her, and my whole facade instantly broke apart.

Gripping the edge of my desk, I bent forward and hung my head low. I could not even comprehend what had just happened and why I had fucking done it. I could not even begin to explain what I felt after all of that and I could not even deny myself that it did make me feel good for a brief moment.

In a way, she did help me forget. But the pleasure was quick to be replaced with sorrow and remorse the moment it all passed.

It was not just another mistake. I was sober, I was sane, and I had let that woman once again soil my skin with her devilish touches. I was going to burn in hell, and I would let my lovely wife light that torch herself to punish me. But before any of it would happen, I might have already gone too deep in this blissful sin and have sold my soul to the devil herself.

All this time, all I needed was to be saved.

Saved from my own mistakes and from making any new ones, saved from the darkness that had begun to ruin the life I had with my wife. The marriage I had treasured so much in the past after fighting for it for so long.

Have I grown tired of fighting? Have I lost my way so far that I had let myself too far gone to be saved now?

Weeks had passed after I had given in to my darkest desire, to open a chance for Song Lena to slip through the seams. She had served perfectly well as a form of my escape. Someone who was capable to provide a place where I could take out all of my anger and the overflowing emotion I had kept bottled in. I could release myself to her and forget for a moment that all the pain and sorrow around me never existed.

But at what price?

What we did could never compare to what I had with my wife. Song Lena was a drug that I used to cure my sorrow but had grown addicted to. At the first few weeks I had let our secret affair to continue, I kept telling myself that it was all she was to me and nothing more. She was never anything more, but I kept finding it hard to make it stop.

Then what had started as a way to cope and hide my demons from the person I loved the most, ended up pushing me far away from her.

I had been keeping a lot of secrets from her for so long but they were nothing compared to this one. This secret had become a new burden I could no longer bare alone. Not when I kept feeling as if she could see right through me.

But it was also this new guilt I carried that was to blame. How could I kiss her when I could still feel another woman's lips on me? How could I give her the same kind of love she was giving me when I touched another before I returned to her?

How could I touch her and make love to her when I felt terribly soiled and dirty for all that I have done behind her back? I was no longer worthy of her love, of her touch, and I knew I was no longer worthy of having her in my life. But I also knew that it was impossible for me to let her go. I could never imagine living this life without her.

I knew I had to stop it. To stop all the sin, the secret, the affair. I had to before it would be much too late. I could not even look into her eyes without wondering if she knew what I was hiding from her. Every time she looked at me with pain in her eyes, every time I felt how far we were growing apart, I always vowed to make things right for her. Only to have my own addiction to the poison that was Song Lena to come back to me strong.

I needed something stronger to make me stop. I needed to be saved before I fell much deeper into the darkness and lost everything I treasured and loved.

"A wake-up call is what you need," Minhyuk spoke to me one day. "Perhaps it would help stop you from constantly being so broody and looking so morose that you scare people away. Go take a vacation with your wife or something."

He had noticed that something was wrong with me, as he had done many other times. But he never once questioned what it was. All he did was try to help me find a way to get passed it. I was never quite sure if Minhyuk had ever suspected anything happening between me and my secretary. We had always been discreet, and we never tried to do anything while we were at the office, where there were many eyes looking in. Eyes of the people who knew my wife so well. We barely even shared that many times in the public together either. We would usually meet up at her place, or back at the bar which had started everything.

But I would not look past him to have seen all the signs. Which led to me questioning if anyone else would have known about it.

What if _____ ever found out?

Perhaps a wake-up call was what I needed to get out of this hole, I admitted to myself then, not knowing that it would soon come to me in a form that I had never truly expected.

I had long lost track of time. No longer bothered to count the passing days, weeks, or months. It was like I was living without a purpose, simply going where my path was leading me to.

I had arranged to meet Lena at the usual bar that night. The next night after a mild argument with my wife had taken place. It was the only place where I would rarely meet anyone I knew, and it was far enough from home to make sure nobody would see us entering or leaving. At least, that was how I had expected it to be.

We had yet to spend time in that place for long. Perhaps a little over an hour and still sporting our first drink. I had chosen for us the secluded booth at the far end of the bar which would be able to hide us from the crowd or any spying eyes. Only to find out that we were not completely hidden after all.

"Jeon Jungkook. I would say that it was a nice surprise seeing you here, but I'm sure you would understand why I wouldn't think that it was, won't you?"

I was in the middle of speaking to Lena, whispering close to her ear, my body leaning towards her with my back facing outside the booth. But there was no need for me to look over to know who it was. His voice itself was just enough to make me feel as if a bucket of ice water had just been thrown at me that I had turned frozen cold in my seat. Lena must have felt the change in me that she looked over with full confusion in her eyes while slowly pushing herself away from me.

"Min Yoongi," I responded to him, gritting my teeth, before finally turning around. "I must say, you are the last person I would have expected to see at this place."

"Then I could only say the same," he bitterly spat at me, his eyes flickering between Lena and me, lingering on her to scrutinise her with his dark eyes.

The look in his eyes was impossible to miss. When he was sending a look filled with disgust towards the woman beside me, his gaze on me was filled with utter disappointment and rage.

To say that the encounter was unpleasant would be the understatement of the year. The silent battle against his judgemental look was already so hard enough to deal with, it was another when he pulled me to the side, knocking some sense out of me by nearly breaking my jaw, before he pulled me by my collar so he could chastise me face to face.

"Do you really think that your wife is that stupid, Jeon Jungkook?" he spat at me, every single word that came out of him was lathered with malice. "I could easily smell all the smoke and alcohol on your body, and that whore's perfume all over your clothes. Do you think you are too good to get away with it?"

I could feel my face turning pale. A moment of epiphany came through me as I was reminded to our huge argument a few nights ago, when I came home late and drunk and she was there waiting for me the way she always did. But that night, instead of helping me up to bed, all she did was turn her back on me and walked off, before slamming the bedroom door right in front of my face.

Could she have known my secrets then? Could she have scented the perfume that was nothing like hers covering my body when I came home?

A tug on the front of my clothes pulled me back to Yoongi's hateful stare on me. He was still holding me up by my collars, and I did nothing to fight him. From the many years I have come to know this man before me, following the years when he suddenly built up a close friendship with my wife, I had always known how much he cared for her. So I let him spit out all of his anger at me.

I deserved every blow he was giving me anyway. And so I took it all in without a fight.

"Do you even know what your wife is doing right now? Don't you even think of her waiting for you to come home, sleeping on the couch every night so she could help your sorry drunk ass to bed? She is the one who is waiting for you at home, she's the one who has been taking care of you and your things. Do you really think she wouldn't find out? You better think again because trust me, you would regret it when she finally does."

I had to swallow hard at the words he had just given me. Am I too late already? Was I already losing her?

Noticing the lack of fight I was giving him, Yoongi finally released me. Or, to be precise, tossed me away with pure disgust on his face. I looked up just as he was starting to walk off, leaving me in my own indiscretion and shaky mess.

Right before he finally left me completely alone and disappeared through the crowd, he added his last word that stung deep inside my chest. "You better get your act together before you lose her. Just don't come running at me when she finally gains her senses and leaves you."

I stood there, watching his back getting further away before I could collect myself and recover, only to have lost the need to stay there any longer. So I went back to our booth, pulled Lena away from our seat and out of the club. She kept trying to talk to me throughout the ride, to understand what the hell was going on. But as I had lost the urge to be with her any longer, to be anywhere close to her or to even touch her, I only dropped her off at her place without saying any word at all.

I never even bothered looking back as I sped off from the property, needing to reach home as fast as I could. The sudden need to see my wife and make sure that she was there at home kept me on the edge.

All I wanted at that moment was to find my wife. Hold her tight and never let go. I was never a believer, but I kept praying and hoping that I could prove to Yoongi, and myself, that he was wrong.

Another argument was in commence as I returned to the office the week after.

This time, I had prepared my armour when I summoned Song Lena to my office first thing in the morning, before any of us had any chance to start working.

"You can't be serious," she nearly screamed at me.

She had come in here with a wide smile, thinking that she would finally have a chance for a morning quickie after denying her one for so long. Add that with the fact that I have spent the whole week ignoring her advances and neglecting her. She came in with wide hopeful doe eyes that were soon flooded with brimming tears after I had crushed whatever it was she had hoped to gain. At the moment, she was standing right at the other end of my desk, her palms pressing down its top as she leaned forward to yell at my face after her shock had worn off.

For the past week, I had tried to find a way for me to end everything and avoid any other chances of repeating the same mistake in the future. There was no way I could just simply end things between us when she was still working as my personal secretary, so I had arranged for her transfer and for her to be replaced by a temp. Even better, I had requested for a male assistant for a change.

"I am more than serious, Miss Song." I saw her flinch slightly at the sudden usage of her surname. Signifying that whatever we had in our 'arrangements' to be permanently terminated. "Your services and assistance, both in the office and out of work, is no longer needed. And yes, I have arranged for you to be transferred as a replacement for Mrs. Kwon on the upper floor."

I looked up from the screen of my laptop which I had been paying more attention to, meeting her dejected face with a smile. "Congratulations, you had just gotten yourself a promotion. Wasn't that what you had been aiming for all along?"

She let out a gasp and stared at me with disbelief. "No! That was never my intention when I said I wanted to be with you," she whisper-yelled at me. Either she was too emotional to speak normally or that she was still reasonable enough to make sure nobody would hear our arguments. Perhaps it was both, or more so the first because her voice started to tremble when she kept talking, "I was—I have been true and honest and genuine, and I thought you felt it too—"

"You knew what you got yourself into when you came to me, Miss Song. I have never once promised you anything more than what I have given you, haven't I?" I cut her off before she could finish her sentence, already feeling a bit irritated at the way she was reacting and her implications.

How dare she think I would want more from her? All I did was use her body and all I have done was to leave after a quick fuck to ignore all the bad memories. I had made it clear from the start that those were the only things I needed from her. If she refused to remember or to deny it, then I would gladly remind her.

Seeing that I was never going to entertain her by saying the words she wanted to hear from me, she wiped her tears off her face and glared at me with despise. "You will regret this," she threatened me with a lowered voice.

The only reaction I gave her was a soft chuckle. Leaning back in my seat, I looked at her straight in the eye, making sure that the words I was about to give her would sink in deep. "The only regret I am feeling right now is for not ending it much sooner," I told her, never breaking my gaze. "And I will only regret it more if I let this continue and let this hurt my wife in the future."

She looked at me as if I had just slapped her in the face. Perhaps I just did. Only that I had done it by slapping her with the reality that she had so much tried to ignore. She had known all along that my marriage would always come first. At least, she was supposed to know it.

I knew she would feign innocence through all of this, but it was more than clear that she was not. It was not like she never knew about my wife's existence. She came in knowing that I was a committed man, with years of marriage which I would never let go of so easily. Perhaps I had taken it all for granted for a moment when she came in stirring my life to a storm, but I was not going to do so any longer.

"You should pack your belongings and get a move on. Mr. Cho has been expecting you. As you already know, it's going to be Mrs. Kwon's last week running as Mr. Cho's secretary after her retirement has been approved, so he would need your further assistance right away," I told her before she could even recover, forcing her to look up at me again. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to make our CEO waiting, do you?"

I could tell that she had lost the will to fight. Her shoulder had slumped down and her strong determination had faded off to none. "No, I supposed not," she softly whispered, turning to leave my office. I could still feel her eyes on me before she finally looked away in defeat, but I already had my eyes looking away, turning my attention back to my work.

I stopped her again just when she was reaching for the door.

"Before you go," I called for her, waiting until she was looking at me again before I continued, "If you ever speak of anything that had happened in the past few months to anyone, ever, I will make sure that you won't be having any promising future in this company."

I could see her jaw twitching, the broken look in her eyes turned to malice. "Is that a threat, Mr. Jeon?"

"No, Miss Song," I told her, still looking straight into her eyes and spoke firmly. "It is a promise."