01 / A Sweet Unlimited Wealth
A Sweet Unlimited Wealth
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Ara gulped extremely hard, almost choking on her water. Her best friend, Minji, just laughed. A simple secret, not even a secret, but something Minji never told her because she never felt the need to. Her parents were the multi-billionaire couple, Park Jiseok and Park Mina. The multi-billionaire couple that owned the Park Estates & Corporation. The owners of more than half of South Korea. Park Jiseok and Park Mina were the talk of the town, not even the town, but the entire world. That was, of course, until they passed away. Mina from ovarian cancer and Jiseok from a stroke. When Mina passed away, Jiseok kept smoking more often than before. The stress of the company collided with his depression from having lost his wife so young. One day, he just didn't wake up.
The siblings remained in complete despair from the loss of their parents, but they never allowed it to destroy their bond. They never fought for the inheritance, even though Jimin received seventy percent of the Park Legacy, including the estates and the company, while Minji received thirty percent. That never made them argue. It never made her upset with her parents or her brother because their money meant nothing to her. She was successful on her own. She was a model and an actress, just like her mother was in her younger years before she became the COO of the Park Corporation. Mina never received the position on a silver plate. Matter of fact, she quit being an actress and pursued a higher education in the business industry just to help her husband run the company. She worked hard for all that she earned.
Jimin kept most of the inheritance because that was the original plan. When Mina and Jiseok first brought up the talk about the will, they asked Jimin and Minji what they wanted to do. Minji was the first to say that she didn't want to be part of the company. She knew what she wanted, and she knew it wouldn't be sitting in an office and working on documents back and forth. She actually was the one who suggested her brother as the successor because he was well prepared. There was no further discussion about it.
And Minji was right. After their parents' deaths, the Park Legacy never backed down under the current CEO's leadership. Park Jimin, otherwise known as Minji's brother.
Ara knew who he was. She had heard of him and seen him online so many times. He was very popular, mainly among the younger generation of entrepreneurs. He was in the headlines of news reports so many times for the way he expanded his business after his parents named him the successor by will. Who didn't know him? He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Well, a golden spoon, to be exact.
As a key member of a powerful family, he had unlimited power. He met with whomever he wanted, ate whatever he wanted, traveled wherever he wanted, and even bought whatever he wanted. The only thing he couldn't do was marry the person he wanted. It wasn't so easy.
"The Park Jimin is your brother?" Ara asked this time, just to clarify her suspicions. Minji nodded her head as Ara continued, "Isn't he getting married soon?"
Minji nodded once again. "He might be your type. Trust me, he's very popular with the ladies. I wish that could be me."
Ara eyed Minji as she eyed her back mockingly. "Come on! Haven't you and Seoyoon been dating for years?"
Minji chuckled. "Well, yeah. Three years. You, however, have terrible luck in love. Not just love, but life. Look at where you are right now. Working in a cafe that can't get you enough money to pay your tuition, so you ran to me for help. Hell, you won't even ask your brother for help. He barely knows about your financial situation."
She wasn't lying. Ara was indeed broke, but luckily not in debt. Ara looked down, ignoring her statement. She missed her old life. She was a bit spoiled—well, a lot—but her brother was as well. The only difference was that he didn't marry at a young age. She did. And it made her lose her wealth to her husband. The wealth she inherited from her mother and her father. Her brother, on the other hand, worked for his wealth and had taken over the Byun Corporation.
Now that winter break had begun, she needed to work extra hard to earn money for the next semester she was about to start. Her classes were pretty expensive, and she was not willing to ask her brother for money. Even if he could pay her full tuition, she would never do it. She couldn't dare beg him for anything after she was at fault for losing their parents' money. It was all her fault.
Right after the tragedy, Ara finished the semester of classes she was taking at SNU and graduated with her bachelor's degree. However, she never wanted to stop there. She wanted to earn a master's in business administration, but she couldn't afford it. For two whole years, she gathered money to pay for her tuition before she could finally reapply to SNU. Now, she only needed a few more classes, and she was done. The problem was that the money she gathered had completely run out.
"I really need a new job. My boss won't stop looking at me with those dirty eyes. I'm disgusted. He is fifty years old! It's not like the job even helps pay my tuition! I get paid shit."
Minji chuckled as her phone rang. Ara glanced at it, seeing the name on her phone. She was shocked, but she finally understood who that Jimin guy was. The one she would talk a lot about. The one she would mention to Ara when she wasn't paying attention. Minji took her phone and walked around the house as she talked for a good couple of minutes. She turned to face Ara and shrugged, seeing her annoyed face. She was talking way too loud for her liking.
"You are in luck, babe!" she yelled, turning to face Ara as she hung up the phone. "My brother—the one I was talking to you about—was thinking of getting a housemaid. You know, you can be his new maid. He really needs one—and desperately."
"How much?" Ara asked. She knew he was rich, but she just had to make sure she was going to be in a good-paying job before anything. It already sucked that her current degree wasn't helping her much. There were barely any jobs available, so she knew she had to keep studying. At that point, she had to accept whatever job was available and that paid better than her current cafe job. At least until she graduated.
"You shouldn't be worrying about it. You know who he is. Just talk to him about it," she insisted. "I'm sure he really needs this."
To Ara, it didn't sound like a bad idea. If Minji knew him, that was enough. It wasn't like she was going to place Ara in an asylum or anything.
+
Morning came once again. Over at Jimin's house, things were getting a bit too sexual with his girlfriend. Like always.
His fiancée, Eunha, was enjoying the amount of love she was receiving from Jimin. Meanwhile, Jimin was enjoying the amount of lust she had in herself. Although he wanted to continue the act, he reminded himself of the visit his sister was about to make and stopped Eunha. Her expression said it all. She didn't enjoy that. She was a woman in heat.
"My sister is coming. I almost forgot," he said. Eunha remained silent as Jimin ran outside the room. He ran down the stairs and looked out the window just to see his beloved sister getting out of her car. He walked over to the main door to his mansion and greeted his sister, who had not arrived alone. Ara was standing right behind her.
She looked at him, amazed at the fact that the Park Jimin was standing right in front of her and that she was right outside his house. All of it seemed unbelievable to her. He looked exactly the same as the news reports showed him. The news online knew exactly what pictures showed his best angles or a positive image of him. Now that she was standing right in front of him, she confirmed her thoughts. He had no bad angles.
"Well, who's this friend of yours, Minji?" he asked, in complete delight at meeting someone with such a bright smile on her face. He examined her. Her eyes were enchanting, her lips captivating, and her smile—it was a smile that could kill a thousand men. She looked at him once and then turned to face Minji.
"She's technically your new maid. She needs a job, so she's here," Minji explained. A young lady inside the house was walking down the stairs and straight towards the man who had answered the door. She wrapped her arms around his arm, demonstrating that she owned him and no one else. Ara looked at her and immediately figured out that she was his fiancée, the one that was always trending on social media due to him. She had never seen her face, but with all the physical contact she was having with Jimin, Ara figured it all out. It was very obvious either way.
Minji smiled and said a simple Hi Eunha, to greet her sister-in-law. Eunha scoffed with a sly smile. Ara could tell that Jimin didn't mind Eunha and her rude behavior towards his own sister. Perhaps he never even noticed it or he was too blind in love to do so. Nonetheless, Minji hated Eunha but still acted friendly with her to not cause any problems. Her main issue with Eunha was that she was against her sexuality. Extremely against it.
"New girlfriend, Minji?" She scoffed as she sat on the couch. "I swear gay freaks can't keep their fucking shit together."
Minji's blood boiled. She couldn't stand Eunha one bit. Jimin just turned to Eunha with a warning look, trying to tell her that what she said wasn't right, but he still never cared as much. He just thought that Eunha and Minji got along as sisters, so he expected them to bicker back and forth. That was certainly not the case.
"You know, I've been coming home late and you've told me you were tired from having to clean the house all alone and stuff like that, so I was looking for a maid," he told her. Eunha nodded even though she didn't want to understand or listen to the conversation between people she didn't care about. She grabbed her purse from the couch and walked back to Jimin, pecking his cheek and walking out.
Jimin was used to it. She left the house a lot. Her excuse was that she met up with important people very often because of her father's company and the different projects she was working on. Jimin knew something was up. She never dressed in such revealing clothes for actual work meetings, so why now? He just shrugged it off because he trusted her a lot.
"Don't worry about her," Jimin said, realizing in which way Ara was looking. When Eunha left, she intentionally bumped her shoulder into Ara's and didn't apologize. Ara stayed confused about why Eunha would be upset with her presence, but that wasn't what Jimin thought. To him, it was just a simple accident that Eunha didn't notice. He knew that whenever Eunha met new people, she would leave the conversation in a rush. He just believed it was because of social anxiety. What she always told him. It was a pattern.
"She's really nice once you meet her," he said, once again with a smile plastered on his face. Minji scoffed since she had known her for months and had never seen an actually pleasant side of her at all. "Come sit down. I want to meet the new maid."
Ara followed Minji and Jimin inside and sat on big red couches in one of the two living rooms. Jimin was in front of them as Ara sat next to Minji.
"Okay, hear me out," Minji said. "This is Byun Ara, my precious roommate, and she knows how to do everything so she will work perfectly as a maid. I put her to clean at home all the time, so that's her experience. She also cooks very well. I know you barely eat at home because of work, but if you ever need a cook for you and Eunha, or even for when the other guys come over, you can just tell Ara and she'll cook you anything. I vouch for her."
Ara glared at Minji as Jimin chuckled. She then turned to him, curious about which other guys Minji was referring to, but she shrugged it off, thinking it was just Jimin's friends. He looked at her and asked, "How much do you wish to be paid, Ara? Give me a number and I will pay you the full amount."
Ara looked at Minji, a bit perplexed at the sudden question. She didn't know how to answer it. It was extremely obvious that Jimin was rich, but she didn't want to take his money freely either. She had maids before when her parents were alive, but she never knew what their salary was.
"Whatever you can pay me is fine," Ara said. "I just need to pay for my university's tuition and my current job isn't helping much. I need a second job."
Jimin nodded and said, "Leave that job. I'll pay you ten times more than your current job so you don't have to worry about anything. The amount should cover your tuition by the end of the break. If not, you can still come when you don't have class or when you don't have to study. We can discuss that part later on."
Her eyes widened. She couldn't believe what he was saying. Ten times more for her salary was going to do wonders for her tuition. Minji looked at her and her face said it all. She wanted her to accept it. Badly. Desperately.
Jimin looked at Minji and then turned to Ara. Ara looked at him and he locked eyes with her. With a simple question, he asked, "Are you ready for work? My secretary will have the contract ready as soon as I call her. You can start working right now if you'd like. I don't like to waste time."
He raised an eyebrow, looking at her. Ara noticed how fortunate his fiancée was. Getting married to a man at that level of attractive and rich? She had won the lottery. Ara turned to Minji, who seemed too desperate for her to accept the offer. Jimin's words made Ara anxious as he looked like he also needed an answer desperately. Both siblings were desperately needing Ara to accept the job for their own reasons.
At last, she nodded, regarding his question, knowing that she wouldn't be able to find an offer that level of enticing anywhere else. She knew that with all that money, she wouldn't have to worry so much about her tuition being paid. She probably wouldn't even need to work so much with that amount of money. That was what she thought until she remembered he lived in a mansion. The cleaning was about to strike.
Once Minji had left, there was a lot of silence filling up the room. Ara just sat there on the same red couch as Jimin walked around the living room, typing something on his phone. He looked like he was sending an important message or perhaps an email to someone. She waited patiently as he sat down and turned to face her.
"So, Ara," he said. "Nice meeting you. I'm Park Jimin. Welcome to your first day at work."
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