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"Secretary Kang told me that you have asked your mother to employ people with an IT background and internet marketing. It is not what I am thinking, is it?"

After a very (back) breaking golf session, Minhee made haste to reach home on time. In all the times ever since her father stepped down his position, Minhee has never found him anywhere else other than on his chair, reading a newspaper.

Yoon Daejun, founder of Wings, is dubbed as one of the biggest influencers in the Hallyu Wave. The one who helped K-Beauty blow up in the world without even endorsing his products outside the country. Yoon Daejun, her dad.

She sits across him, legs placed together and hands placed neatly on her knees. "I am planning to form a social media TF team. Unnecessary costs would be reduced if we encourage online shopping. It would lead to a decrease in the amount of display products and testers. Those costs can be used to expand our brand and open more subsidiaries,"

Daejun folds his newspaper, sighing. He looks at her with scrutinizing eyes, "Expansion on the basis of such a big risk? Have you thought about its consequences?"

The edgy tone catches Minhee off-guard. She fumbles out words to say, but only manages to let out a harsh exhale. Fuck, you are prepared for this Minhee. You knew you would have to answer him one day or the other.

Minhee pinches one of her fingers to collect herself and speak, "I have thought about it, dad. A lot of our regular customers can shift to online shopping instead of buying from departmental stores since they know what they want. I wish to make our products more cost-effective. We produce more than forty thousand units in our Daegu factory out of which thirty-seven percent goes into testing and display. What if we reduce that to twenty and use that cost and time to increase our sales or produce more lines of cosmetics?"

Daejun nods and then leans forward, "And do you know how all of those units finish or get used by the end of every month?"

Minhee's hands loosen up. Daejun notices it and shakes his head.

"Our brand is known for its aesthetic high-end stores which have a chromatic display of every shade of colour cosmetics we make. But those products are sold before they reach their expiry date or are recycled." he continues.

One of the maids brings a cup of tea for him which he asks to be placed on the table in front of him.

He thanks her before speaking again, "Leave that. Have you calculated the surplus stock needed when the year-end awards for the celebrities are held, for impromptu parties and events, the walk-in customers, the VIP customers- all of this requires so much stock and it cannot be produced in a day? We save 5% from every manufactured line. Does your idea include how to tackle these statistics? Will your online sales agenda not affect all of this?"

"Dad, trust me on this."

Minhee shifts forward, sitting on the edge of the sofa. Her legs hold her entire weight off the floor. "We have been in this field for thirty years now and I think the consumers trust us with quality and care-"

"We trust our maids and chefs," He takes a sip from the cup of tea and lifts it, "Don't we?"

Minhee sinks back on the sofa, legs slightly trembling from holding up her weight.

"But then something goes missing and we are like 'Did the maid take it?' or if we fall ill we question 'did the chef add something to the food?'. Aren't they the ones we suspect first? The bitter truth, Minhee, but we are the maids in the industry. We work, customers pay and we are the ones who get criticized."

Every word hits Minhee and she can hear nothing but the underlying implication 'you are wrong'.

"Do you remember how we had changed our logo ten years back? Did you ever wonder why so many people stopped buying our products even if it was just a logo change, the smallest thing that shouldn't concern them? Yet, we had our growth plummeting because of it."

He waits for her to answer. But Minhee, the CEO of Wings, is not there. There sits a twenty-three-year-old Minhee seeking approval from her father but..all she is a...

"You disappoint me, Minhee,"

A disappointment.

Oh.

Daejun rubs a hand on his face, "I agree with you. They do trust us but when there's a change, it matters. Even if it shouldn't even concern a common man, they start losing trust. Even if it's for their better, they don't trust it. That's because they have trusted the constant, not the company. Decreasing productions, reducing testers and encouraging online shopping can be dubbed as something against us by the media. It's risky. Some things are just done for consumer satisfaction, mental reassurance. If that isn't given to them-we lose customers, Minhee."

Minhee lifts her head up, finally managing to bring out the CEO hiding inside her. "Dad, I am just making an effort to expand our brands globally and work economically. We need funds and this is the best option,"

Minhee stands up, not willing to continue talking about this anymore. She knows her father always tries hard to gatekeep his ways of business. The world is changing and so will the policies.

"Have you discussed with the planning and strategic team first?" he asks and raises his eyebrows.

Of course, I have.

"There's no need to, what I say is going to be the final decision anyway."

He sighs and looks out of the window. Minhee knows that is her cue to walk away.

She had stepped up to the position of CEO more than a year back when the relationship with her father had reduced to only work.

"How are you doing? Have you eaten or not?" No such questions are asked anymore. She hates this change in her relationship and she can't bring herself to think that her father is so work and money-oriented. She tries to reason it all- maybe he's worried about her taking too much stress and wants to help her out or maybe he just wants to know where the thirty years of his efforts are being continued.

"Minhee, you are home!"

Mrs Yoon, Minhee's mom is a lively woman clad in expensive clothes and accessories from head to toe. Minhee didn't realise it before but her family is more like the cliche rich family than the ones shown in dramas.

"I have asked the maids to pack your books in a different bag. When you move out-"

Again with this shit.

"Why?"

Do you desperately want me to leave the house? Do you hate seeing me so much? Are you disappointed in me too?

"What do you mean by 'why', Minhee? You and I both know that you're not supposed to be here but-"

"Thanks for the reminder, Mom," Minhee cuts in.

"Did I say something wrong now?" Mrs Yoon mumbles.

Minhee scoffs, her breathing ragged and the next moment, she storms out of the house with her coat hanging from one shoulder.

The curly-haired sits inside her car and it immediately reminds her of her twentieth birthday. Her father had gifted this car then and she still cares for it, as if it was given to her yesterday. Her head throbs as she ignites the car's engine, words of her father echoing in the void of her brain.

"Disappointed?" She repeats with quivering lips. She doesn't even realise that she had driven to the car wash until it enters into the closed tunnels of automatic jets. As soon as the foam covers the windows, a tear slips down her cheek and she rests her forehead on the steering wheel.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I was stupid to think that my father was worried about me. He's just afraid to get his and his company's image damaged, afraid of getting his name tainted because of me, his daughter.

A daughter who he claims to love on her birthday every year.

Now, he's disappointed in me. He's disappointed because I want to change something he did. Did he just want a clone of himself as the CEO? Why do I have to listen to his ways and views? Don't I have a brain of my own to make decisions and work better? So much for trusting your own daughter?

Her vision blurs, the foam completely hiding her from the outside world. The eyes, the sun, the flashes of the camera- it is safe.

It is safe to scream and cry.

More safe than home.

Minhee closes her eyes and lets the tears fall. She chokes, sobs and sniffles. Crying is always so hard, so tiring. Then the foam on the windshield gets washed away with water jets, the sunlight filters through the clean glass once again making her squint and blink her eyes rapidly.

She murmurs to calm herself down while wiping her face with a tissue.

No one will know- no one should know that the daughter of Yoon Daejun, the CEO of Wings cried in the car wash because she couldn't handle some bitter truth.

Her eyes stare blankly at the steering wheel as she puts her hand out the window for the employee to take her card for the payment.

"Is this how you compensate for punching me?"

Wait a minute, that voice-

"What the fuck! Jeongguk?" Minhee places a hand on her chest, startled seeing the raven-haired leaning his hand on her car while looking down at her through the window.

Jeongguk scoffs, "Yeah babe, that's me. Whatcha doing here?" he says.

Minhee knows that tone. It oddly sounds like one of her employees who is rumoured to date and flirt around a lot. She hasn't met him yet, but she has seen Dahyun mimicking him in the same way and Jeongguk knows it, somehow.

Why are we not surprised?

"Why do you think people come to a carwash, Mr Jeon?" Minhee rolls her eyes. Jeongguk gestures one of the workers to receive the pay from Minhee while saying, "Well, Ms Yoon...to wash cars,"

And then he looks at Minhee once again, "But you," he leans forward.

"What about me?"

"I think you are capable of coming here to murder people," he gives her a bittersweet smile while Minhee gives her credit card to the staff for payment.

"What makes you think I won't come here to get my car washed, Mr Jeon?"

"Because 0.01% of your monthly income goes to your garage guy to maintain the cars," he says, tone cocky to show how proud he is to know that about her.

"You have awful knowledge about everything I do. I am afraid you know about me more than my secretaries," she squints her eyes at him, before taking back the card from the guy standing beside Jeongguk, "It's 0.05% by the way,"

After the staff walks away, Jeongguk deadpans to not let Minhee roll her window up, "Have you been crying?"

Minhee sighs. She knows it must have been obvious with her smeared mascara and glassy eyes but she didn't expect him to be so direct with the question. She hates how Jeongguk gets to see her so vulnerable.

Jeongguk realises he overstepped his boundary and quickly covers up with lousy humour, "Or are you finally feeling sorry for punching me?"

"Oh you read right through me, Mr Jeon," Minhee claps in fake praise and then opens her mouth while placing her palms on her cheeks, "How do you manage to be so full of yourself?"

"As you said Ms Yoon, I have an awful knowledge about everything I do," he tilts his head, "Anyway, apologise. I am ready to accept it."

"I have already apologised for punching you. As I said, it was a natural response to having someone like you so close."

Jeongguk groans the way Minhee scoffs at him, ungrateful in many ways. He's having an internal turmoil about wanting to strangle the discourtesy out of Minhee as he sees fit or to simply take the high road (the sensible, diplomatic side of things) and let his supposed 'maturity' shine through. Except that Minhee might be a little hard to handle, and already has other plans.

"For the record, I never needed the saving," she hisses when she sees Jeongguk glare at her, "Not by you, at least. I don't like you."

"You don't like me?" Jeongguk verifies. He's beyond irked with Minhee's behaviour. So much for being nice. "And yet, how ironic is it that you're stuck with me?"

Minhee shudders with the change in tone. It terrifies her that all of a sudden everything seems to be in slow motion. The way Jeongguk brings his hands up and rolls down the extra-long sleeve that covers his palm. The way he shows the silver loop adorning his ring finger. The way the sunlight reflects against it and makes it shine.

She is sure if she squints her eyes, she can see herself in it. But then everything comes crashing down when Jeongguk says.

"Wifey."

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