Namjoon's POV

I fix Jaesun's tie and he's all smiles while I do so. I smile back at him and smooth out his purple dress shirt, making sure it's tucked into his black dress pants. "You look very handsome, buddy."

"I'm handsome like you, daddy." He cheeses. "We going to a big dinner?"

I nod at him. "Yeah. You get to meet my partners. Sound exciting?"

"Yes! I'm happy to go to your work."

"It's not daddy's work. It's just the peoples he's working with." Soojin says, rounding the corner.

I smile widely as she comes into view. She's wearing a light purple dress that flares out a bit at the bottom just under her knees with little white heels that she insisted a buy her. She's walking well in them, too. Her hair is curled and it's in the half up-half down style with a sparkling pearl clip holding up her hair. Harlow did a great job getting her all dressed up.

"Oh, Jinnie. You look so beautiful, sweetheart." She blushes as she comes to me and gives me a hug. "You smell good, too."

She pulls back and smirks. "Thank you. Harly let me spray some perfume on me."

"Can I have perfume, daddy?" Jae asks and I nod, chuckling.

"Yeah, I'll get you some. But it's called 'cologne'."

I leave my kids in Jae's room while I go grab some cologne. I walk past Harly's room and I hear her singing. She has a beautiful voice. I smile as I continue walking. I know she looks beautiful in there. I enter my bedroom and scope out my dresser, seeing cologne on top. As I head back toward Jae's room, I'm met with Harlow peaking out of her room.

"Oh, thank goodness you're there. Can you help me?"

I feel the heat rise in my body as she speaks to me, and all I can see is her face. Her makeup is subtle, but well put together as her eyelids sparkle from the glitter on them. I have to stop myself from just staring so I can assist her.

"What's up?"

She comes into view and my mouth softly drops. It's one of those dresses that hugs her body in all the right places. The top of her chest and arms are covered with lace material, and at her left upper thigh is a slit. This black dress is made for her, and she looks incredibly stunning with it. I'm taken back when she turns around and moves her hair to the side. The top of her ass threatens to pop out of her unzipped dress and I need to control myself before I cause an unnecessary boner.

"I can't zip this. Help, please?"

"Uh, sure." I respond.

I set the cologne down and grab the zipper. My fingers accidentally brush against her back and I watch as small goosebumps rise on her smooth skin. I smile softly as I zip the dress. She lets her hair flow down once I finish and turns around to smile at me.

"Thank you."

"No problem. You look gorgeous, by the way."

She smiles widely and I match it. "Thank you, Namjoon. You look very handsome yourself. Here."

I watch as her attention is on my tie. She moves it around and straightens it out, and the amount of self control I have to not hold her by her hips and push her lips into mine is incredible. Because I want nothing more than to do that.

"Thank you." I decide to say instead. "You ready to go?"

"I'm actually waiting on my boyfriend."

I sigh, but nod. "Jaebeom."

Her eyes widen. "You know we're together? I was going to tell you."

"Yeah. I've seen him pick you up. But can I just talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah."

"Please be careful with him."

She now furrows her eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just..." I sigh again. "Be careful. That's all."

"Namjoon, I will be fine. He's an amazing man and has been nothing but good to me."

"Okay, but just be cautious. Please?"

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, but nods. "Sure."

"Thank you." I bend down to grab the cologne and nod her way as I walk toward Jae's room. I spray him and myself a couple times and then just set it in the pocket of my suit jacket. I put Jae's on him, but I know he'll take it off as soon as we get there. Jin has her little purse slung across her chest and I look at my watch to see that we're good on time. "Okay, ready?"

They both nod and I turn off the light. They follow me down the stairs and I have them stand in front of the fireplace in the living room. They already know it's a quick photo session, so they pose a couple times as I snap some pictures on my phone. Jinnie insists taking pictures of me, so I hand her my phone and let her snap away. We finish the pictures and I grab my keys, headed toward the door.

"Wait!" Jinnie says. "Where's Harly?"

"She's riding with someone else. She'll meet us there, pumpkin."

"Oh. Okay." She follows me and her brother to the car and I get them all strapped in. I get in the car and set off toward the venue.

I'm excited about it. The partnership has been going very well, and I think this is a good way to celebrate what we've accomplished thus far and what we will soon accomplish. What I'm not looking forward to, however, is seeing Harlow there with Jaebeom. I still don't really trust him with her, not to mention I've got a ping of jealousy in there as well. I need to really find a time to run these feelings I have by her, but it never seems like the right time.

Within 30 minutes, we've arrived. I get my kids out of the car and grab each of their hands. As we approach the building, Joshua waves at me. I smile, walking toward him.

"Namjoon, how are you?" He smiles, extending his hand to me.

I grab it, shaking it firmly. "Pretty good. Yourself?"

"Not too bad this way. I'd like you to meet my wife, Aria. And inside of her is our soon to be son."

"The pleasure is mine. These are my children, Soojin and Jaesun." I smile and shake her hand gently, and she returns it.

"Likewise." She places one hand on her stomach and looks to my kids. "Would you like to feel the baby move?"

They both nod excitedly and softly place their hands on her belly. I smile as I watch their interaction and Jin's excitement as I can tell she felt the fetus moving. We wrap it up and walk inside. The spacious area has tables around covered with white cloths and ribbons. Each table also has the name of which party sits where. Near the front is where we sit, at the biggest table with our families. Joshua pulls out a seat for his wife and I help my kids. I give them my phone and go to a game to keep them occupied for a little bit.

People start piling in more and it's then that I see Harlow walking in, on Jaebeom's arm. My heart stings just watching them and I want nothing more than to be the one holding onto her so closely. They approach the table and Joshua and I stand. Harlow looks so amazing, I can hardly keep my eyes off of her.

"Great to see you with your families." Jaebeom speaks. "Joshua, Aria. This is my girlfriend, Harlow."

Joshua extends his hand first to Harlow, then his wife. She smiles before speaking. "Very nice to meet you. And congratulations."

"Thank you." They both say.

Jae gasps and that's when the kids notice Harlow. They both hop out of their seats and run around the table. "Harly!"

She rubs both of their backs as they hug her from the side. "Hey. Did you think I wasn't coming?"

"Daddy said you came with someone else." Jin looks up at her.

"I did. Your daddy will introduce you to him."

"You know each other?" Joshua points between Harlow and I.

She nods, smiling down at the kids. "I'm their nanny."

"This world gets smaller and smaller." Aria giggles.

"You're telling me." I chuckle. "Soojin, Jaesun. You see that man next to Harly? That's Jaebeom."

"Your name is like mine!" Jae says excitedly, smiling at Jaebeom.

"It is." Jaebeom smiles. "But I like your name better. Harly has told me so many good things about you two. I'm so happy I can finally meet you."

"Are you her boyfriend?" Jinnie asks.

"I am." Jaebeom answers with pride, but it bugs me.

"You didn't tell us!" Jin pouts towards Harlow.

She pouts right back. "I didn't know when to tell you. But today is a good day for it. Let's sit down, though. Okay?"

The kids listen and return to their seats. Harlow sits on the other side of Jin and Jaebeom sits on the other side of her. We talk and socialize a bit before someone brings a microphone over to Jaebeom.

He clears his throat over it and everyone in the room quiets down. "Good evening. I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight. I put this together to celebrate the amazing partnership Mr. Kim, Mr. Hong, and I have created. Signing a major deal can be scary and frustrating, but these men made the process comfortable. So to you, I thank you. If you'd like, Namjoon or Joshua, to say a few words?"

Joshua nods, the mic being passed down to him as he stands and everyone claps. "Good evening, everyone. I'm Joshua Hong, CEO of Hong Enterprise. I'd also like to thank you for coming, on behalf of my team. Growing up, I was taught that in order to succeed, you needed to grind for it. That is what I did, and built my company from the ground up with some amazing people. It was all about taking leaps of faith, and I took a large one when I signed. One of the best leaps I've made. To both Namjoon and Jaebeom, thank you for taking this leap with me."

Everyone claps again and the mic is passed to me. I stand, clearing my throat. "I am Namjoon Kim, CEO of Kim Corporation. How is everyone tonight?" I get murmers of 'good' and 'fine' before I continue. "I'd like to start by thanking these two gentleman first. I will tell you a quick statistic and how revenue looks as of right now. My company is based out of South Korea, but I run my business here in the States. Here, with our 3 companies working together, we estimate bringing in a good $17.5 million by the end of the year, in America alone."

Gasps can be heard and applause is given. I smile at my business partners, who are also smiling. "I have to thank you both again. Furthermore, I believe this is a good time to offer both you gentleman an extension of your companies with mine at my Seoul branch."

Both men look with wide eyes, full of excitement. I would be a fool to not offer such a huge deal when we're making this much in America alone. They both accept the offer, and I will note to have Yeonjun write up the contracts on Monday. I look over to Harlow and she has the biggest smile on her face, nodding for me to continue.

"I'd like to raise a toast." Everyone stands to their feet with either their wine glass or regular glass. My kids have their apple juices raised. "A toast, to even more successful outcomes in the future."

Glasses clink everywhere, mine with my children, and everyone takes a drink. The small speech was a great distraction for me. It's short lived, though, and now I'm back to being next to Harlow as she's here with another man. I need to snap out of it, and stop being so selfish. I need to enjoy myself and focus on making sure that my kids are happy.

∆

Hello! So this is the fancy company dinner. Don't ask me what Namjoon does as a job in his company because I honestly don't know myself 😂 This was actually a filler so I could collect my thoughts on what to do next. How do you feel about this chapter? Do you feel like it's warming up to something big? Well it is lol. Next chapter is gonna be good. I have something big planned, so please stay tuned!

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed ❤

P.S. Joshua's wife is also black 😊💕

.
.
~S.xx