🥀 7. 𝐀 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐦

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Jungkook's mother, Jeon Kara, was cleaning her house when she heard rapid knocking on her wooden door. She went towards the door and opened it. A few bulky men came inside and began to throw the furniture. Kara flinched and furrowed her eyebrows, her feet moving towards the bulky men, "hey! What are you doing? Who asked you to touch my property? Who sent you here?"

"I did," a harsh voice came from the woman standing beside the door, watching how her men threw the furniture outside.

"Why?"Kara marched towards her.

"This is my house. Remember you pay rent to live in this house, which you haven't paid for 6 months. Tell me as a landlady what should I do?"

"You should give more time to your tenants, dear Auntie," a voice chimed in, and both females turned their faces toward the source. They found jungkook standing here, face flushed, eyes squinted with narrowed eyebrows, and lower lip jutted out. She marched towards them, feet stomping the wooden floor.

"Right, let you stay here and I should completely forget about rent. Do you know how much the rent is for 6 months? It is-," Unable to calculate the amount, the landlady asked her workers to do it.

"It is sixty-six thousand six hundred sixty-eight rupees, in numerals 60,668. I know it and we will pay it soon," jungkook replied.

"6 months ago, when your mother came to ask for a house, every person in this society was against it. I didn't know what happened to my conscience that I let a courtesan live in this house,"

"Dont call my mother a courtesan," jungkook stated putting extra pressure on the word don't.

"She is a courtesan. You can't run away from the truth,"

"My mother was a courtesan 25 years back not now. Please find some information about the person you are badmouthing. Now she helps me with my work,"

"Wearing someone else clothes doesn't make you that person. Jeon Kara is a courtesan no matter what she does now. She still sends persons to dance in various events on her behalf.,"

"Aunt, I think you don't know about the world. My mother is an artist coordinator, she provides opportunities to the young artists by providing them with a platform," Jungkook was about to go near her but Kara stopped her. Kara went inside her room to fetch something, she came outside and forwarded a cheque in the landlady's direction.

"Here, this is the cheque of 70,000. Take it,"

The landlady harshly took the cheque from Kara's hand, she ordered her men to move out and left after passing the glare to them. Kara slid onto the floor with tears flowing from her eyes.

"there was a time when my hands and lockers were full of cash and cheques, I would even forget where I had kept them. and today, there is nothing. That cheque was received as an advance from the CEO,"

jungkook wiped the tears from her mother's eyes, Kara turned to her and cupped her face, "My dear, you just have to dance for two songs. Can't you do this for your mother!"

"Mama, I already told you that I won't dance. Moreover, once my restaurant opens then-"

"Think about the present, the current time,"

Jungkook shook her head in denial and said in a soft comforting voice while cupping her cheeks, "Mama, I am doing a Job in the biggest company in the country, Kim Conglomerates and my income is also lucrative, neither I don't have to dance nor we need money earn by that method,"

Kara sighed and wiped her tears, she removed Jungkook's hands from her cheeks and said in a disappointed tone.

"you are not understanding my dear, today I handed her money, but what about other expenses, we don't have much money for that, today I made her silent but what about others? when they point their finger at our reputation, I don't care about my reputation, but yours! you have a long life ahead, I don't want anyone to call you- a courtesan's daughter,"

Jungkook broke into tears and said nothing, she didn't know what to do.

"our expenses are getting higher day by day, and we don't have money. You are a maiden, the cost of your marriage from where I will get the money. you... you ask your boss to give your salary fast!" Kara suggested greedily.

Jungkook's eyes widened at her statement and said, "No! Mama, how...how can I ask for my salary this fast? It has not even been a month since I started to work."

"Jungkook, either do this or get ready to dance," Kara harshly withdrew her hands from jungkook's hold and went away.

Jungkook looked in her mother's direction and lowly grumbled, "Help And from that ice cube, never," she pouted thinking about the incident when taehyung called her careless, " but Mama is also tensed. Don't worry jungkook, you can do it, just for your mother." she chewed her bottom lip and went to her room to get ready for the office.

•————-🥀————-•

Jungkook huffed when she stepped outside the elevator. She looked at her wristwatch and sighed in relief, "Thank God, I reached on time otherwise."

She knocked on the CEO's door and opened the door when she heard a faint come in.

"Good morning, Sire," jungkook stepped inside the cabin and greeted with a chirpy voice.

"Good morning, Ms Jeon," taehyung lifted his head from his desktop screen and glanced at his secretary who was looking beautiful in a formal dress, face adorned with an attractive smile.

Jungkook kept her bag on the table and went towards her boss's desk. She tried to peek at the screen but the cold voice interrupted her.

"Ms Jeon, I want the report on the Somerville project within one week. The material and files are kept on your desk so you can start your work. Some files need to be corrected, here, " Taehyung passed 'some' files which were 15 in number.

"Yes, Sire," Jungkook scanned the files in her hands and thought while making weird expression, "Some?"

Nevertheless, she went towards her desk which was beside taehyung's cabin, separated by a glass wall. Keeping the files at the corner of the table, She took her seat and began to read the files.

A few hours passed, and taehyung was busy signing the documents meanwhile jungkook, well jungkook was bored. She tried her level best to concentrate but couldn't, shifting her gaze from the white papers, she glanced at the glass window. Her Hand resting on her chin, she tried to connect the clouds to construct an image, her wandering doe eyes came to a halt when they got stuck over a deadly handsome person.

Kim Taehyung, the CEO of Kim Conglomerates. He had a dominating presence that made any room feel smaller in his presence. Tall and always dressed in tailored suits that highlighted his broad shoulders and lean physique. His dark, jet-black hair was perfectly combed, sweeping back from his high forehead in an effortlessly refined manner. His eyes were a piercing shade of charcoal black, like windows to his determined and calculating soul, revealing a depth she longed to explore, a mystery she yearned to unravel.

The way he spoke, with that resonant voice, sent shivers down her spine, simultaneously stirring her curiosity and setting her heart racing.

His voice was like an authority, deep and rich, never wobbling in front of challenges. He ruled his business empire with an iron fist, known for his strict expectations and commitment to success. His charisma and magnetic charm were hard to ignore, drawing people in like moths to a flame or like planets orbiting a star.

From jungkook's perspective, Kim Taehyung was a captivating blend of strength and charm, a puzzle she was eager to solve and a presence that made her heart beat a little faster whenever he was near.

Taehyung's hand stopped when he felt a persistent gaze on him, he darted his blank eyes towards his secretary.

Jungkook who was busy staring at her boss gasped and jerked away, fumbling with the files and pen in her hand, face and neck flushed in embarrassment, maybe blush- who knows?

"Stupid kookie, what were you doing?" jungkook thought.

She flinched when the phone on the table rang loudly, with shivering hands, she held her phone and looked at taehyung, silently asking permission to go out. As soon as taehyung nodded jungkook sprinted out of the room.

"Silly,"

Outside the room, Jungkook took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she received the call pulled the phone closer to her ears and stammered, "H-hello,"

"Hello, jungkook, dear, did you ask your boss for money? What did he say? How much did you ask?" Kara rambled as soon as she heard jungkook's voice.

"No, I didn't yet," jungkook heard a disapproving groan in return.

"When will you do it?"

"I don't know, mama. I will try after the lunch break,"

"OK, bye,"  a beep sound was heard. Jungkook closed her eyes and leaned her body on the wall behind her. She looked at her wristwatch, which showed 12:55- lunch break will start after five minutes.
She went inside the cabin and began to clean her desk.
"Sire, I'm heading to the office canteen, do you need anything specific?" jungkook asked.

"A black coffee,"

"Ok,"

•————-🥀————-•

With that jungkook came out and went down to the 15th floor where the office canteen was built. Her eyes roamed around, searching for the person who had become her friend.

"Hello, kookie," a person said from behind, jungkook turned and gave a big smile in return, "Hello, Clara, how are you?"
Clara was the one who approached her when she came out of the CEO's cabin. She was worried for jungkook when jungkook told her that she didn't get fired and then Clara became surprised.

"Fine, let's get our food and sit there," they both went towards the window and sat in the corner of the room hand occupied with the food tray.

"So, mind telling me your experience of working with our boss,"

"Nothing, great! It is bearable to work with him as long as he doesn't provoke me," jungkook slurped her banana milk making loud noises which Clara ignored.

"Provoke you? Why would he?"

"No, I have seen in drama where CEOs burdened their Secretaries with loads of work, they make them stay till late at night, then drop them at their house and last they fall in love. I doubt CEO Kim will do the same with me,"

Clara flicked jungkook's forehead, "Forget it, he won't. He is the busiest person I have seen in my life. A type of person who doesn't give unnecessary attention to others. You are in a safe zone, Jungkookie,"

Jungkook breathed in relief and concentrated on finishing her fries. Soon, they talked about other stuff and lunch break came to an end.

"Bye-bye, Clara," jungkook waved at Clara who stepped out from the lift and went to her workplace.

Jungkook stepped inside the cabin with a cup of coffee in her right hand and moved forward to keep it on taehyung's desk.

"Thank you," taehyung took the cup in his long fingers, and brought it near his lips, sipping a little.

Jungkook smiled a little and went to her desk to complete her remaining work. This time her eyes and mind both were concentrated on the file. Taehyung was checking a file but he frowned after seeing many mistakes in that file. He checked the person's name who was assigned for the correction. He picked up the telephone and dialled a number.

"Miss Clara, send HOD Wilson in my cabin, now,"

Jungkook glimpsed at taehyung after hearing his voice.

"May I come in, sire," a shallow voice followed by a knock was heard.

"Come in," taehyung responded clenching the files in his hand.  A person in his late 20s came inside and stood in front of taehyung's mahogany desk, hands joined at his back.

"These are Moonland project files that required correction. As far as I remember, these files were sent to your cabin 4 weeks ago —roughly one month," taehyung waved the files.

"You were asked to correct and submit them the day before yesterday but you didn't. I let it slide but what about the mistakes and hundreds of errors in mathematical values? Huh? Who is responsible for that?" his loud monotonous voice thundered in the spacious room, making jungkook and Wilson flinch when he threw the files in Wilson's direction.

The White pages filled with red marks flew into the room and landed on the marble flooring, and some on taehyung's desk.

"I want to see these files on my table before tomorrow night without any single mistake. Otherwise, be ready to lose your job. Understand?" Wilson nodded hurriedly collected the papers and proceeded to go away, head down in shame.

Jungkook looked at taehyung who was sitting on his chair, posture straight, fisting his palm in a tight grip, and chest heaving. She tried to make herself small as much as possible by hiding her face behind the file.

"Bad timing, kookie, he is angry. What if he poured his anger on me like in those dramas? I will ask on another day for money." she thought and continued to do her work.

•————-🥀————-•

Jungkook pushed the wooden gate and stepped inside her house. She removed her sandals, huffing loudly, she pulled away her ID card from her neck, feet automatically moving towards her room. After half an hour, she strolled outside in the backyard, now dressed in pyjamas and freshly bathed. Kara saw her and touched her shoulder.

"My dear, I'm sorry," but jungkook moved her head away in the other direction, clearly ignoring the elder.

Kara cupped her face, "I know why you are angry. Either because I am forcing you to dance or asking for money from your boss. Right?"
Jungkook didn't say anything. "You think, I am doing wrong?"
Jungkook pouted and slightly nodded.

"I am worried for you, not me, my dear. But you don't need to ask for money because I already found another way. My dearest Jungkook, have you ever truly thought about your future? Your idea for marriage, perhaps?"

"I...I always dreamed of marrying for love, someone who truly understands me. But not before becoming independent, I want to be known by my name," jungkook said eyes filled with determination.

"Ah, my sweet child, love is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't pay the bills. I have found a suitable match, a man of great wealth and influence, who can offer you a life of luxury," Kara smiled wickedly.

"What? Mama, how could you? What about my dream, my restaurant?" jungkook's eyes widened in panic, and she hurriedly removed her mother's hand from her face.

"I understand your dreams, but have you ever thought about how owning a restaurant would impact your future?"

Jungkook straightens up, eyes frowning, "Mama, I've always wanted to open a restaurant. It's my passion, and I believe it could make me truly happy."

Kara's expression hardens, but she conceals her frustration behind a façade of concern, "Of course, dear. But what about financial stability? Marrying well can provide the means to fulfil your dreams andyour expenses. hmm,"

Jungkook's voice trembles, "I don't want to be dependent on a husband for my dreams, Mother. This is solely my dream and I want to achieve it on my terms.,"

Kara's smile turns strained yet she attempts a different angle by diverting jungkook's mind with a soft voice, "Think about the societal expectations, my love. People might not approve of a young woman running a restaurant. That too, a daughter of a courtesan."

Jungkook's eyes narrow with defiance, "I won't let society dictate my choices, Mama. I want to break these norms and prove that I can succeed. And what is the guarantee that I will be truly happy?"

Kara leans in closer, taking jungkook's hand in her own, gaze unwavering, voice a velvety temptation, "Sweetheart, happiness can take various shapes, sometimes in unexpected places. Trust me, this marriage is the best path for you. Once you are married, you will become a daughter-in-law of a reputed and prestigious family, then you will be free from your mother's degraded reputation,"

Kara burst into fake tears with jungkook hugging her close.

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How's the chapter?  Do tell me your thoughts.
You are free to suggest a particular scene you want to read and I will add them in further chapters. 🥰

Thank you!
Happy reading🌸