Chapter Text
“she’s here!”
the conversations in the office quieten down quickly as everyone rushes to their spots. workers line up at the entrance of the building, fixing up their suits and skirts. the head manager makes sure everyone is in their spots, calling out the ones looking like they were about to fall asleep. she clears her throat as they all hear the front door of the building slam shut due to the extreme wind outside.
their ceo walks in, sunglasses perched on her head. she silently greets everyone she passes by, bowing her head to those she knows well. it’s nothing new to the workers who’ve been by her side ever since she had been given the role to take over the company.
they all bow deeply to her as she heads their way, not wanting to be the one to step out of line and suffer her potential wrath.
“good morning.” her voice booms across the entrance of the building. she nods at the head manager before walking off to her office.
her secretary follows behind her as she passes a stack of papers over to their ceo on the way to the elevators. the workers take a deep breath as the intimidating figure disappears from their sights.
“has anyone ever seen her smile?” a new worker mumbles.
“smile? no. but her loyalty is something to admire. miss jihyo has always kept her staff’s wellbeing in mind.” an experienced worker person speaks out, ready to defend their boss. “we should all be glad for have a ceo like her. she may not be bubbly or bright, but she prioritises our needs no matter what happens. that’s why everyone has utmost respect for her and her work ethics.”
park jihyo is 23 and the owner of park industries. the task of running the company had been handed over to her when her father thought it was the right time, two years back. the first thing that her father drilled into her as she walked into the whole world of business was that one should never expose their true colours. always have a façade. this industry is filled with sharks who are always trying to find a weakness in your methods to bite you and bring you down.
listening to his advice, she didn’t care how anyone else saw her anymore. she refuses to show that she could be defeated in anything she participates in. that is why her company is now one of the top clothing producers and manufacturers in the world. her fashion brand, chanson d'amour , is present in thousands of stores in cities across the globe.
why chanson d'amour ? for jihyo, when she rebranded her father’s collection, she wanted it to be something memorable. her parents were her inspiration when she was a child. she always saw her father serenade her mother on early saturday mornings. they were all love songs. ones that stuck to her, even now. chanson d'amour has the literal meaning of “love song”. it seems cheesy but it’s the memories that she keeps close to her heart.
despite how she looks to others, jihyo is generally a positive person. that’s why she can still see the blissful moments shared between her parents, even after they split apart terribly. at first, jihyo wanted to be the type of person who turned off her emotions. she saw what she never wanted to witness. she observed the downwards spiral her father was going through and it was all because of her parents’ divorce. however, she found a better solution. though seeing the suffering wavered her belief in the existence of the emotion of love, now, she refuses to let it become her weakness.
the park jihyo that the business world knows is bold and ambitious. she’s powerful and she’s demanding. she’s talented and she can be sneaky. she oozes with confidence and never backs down from a challenge. she’s one of the youngest ceos to take over a company so significant.
everyone has expectations of her.
everyone thinks they know her.
but, no one truly does.
well, maybe just chou tzuyu.
the one person who she trusts more than anything is her secretary. she’s been by her side every step of the way, as a friend and a supporter. basically, she’s the one who makes sure jihyo isn’t irrational or making silly decisions for the company. she’s incredibly smart and she’s the brainbox that’s behind the expansion of chanson d'amour . but tzuyu is also stuck with dealing with jihyo’s anger and frustrations. and she really doesn’t know what she did to deserve such loyalty on her part, but she’ll always be grateful.
“plans for today?” jihyo asks as she steps inside her office.
“you have a board meeting at midday and then another meeting with the head of la belle fashion studios for clarification of the fundraiser you’ll be participating in.” tzuyu answers, handing over a stack of sheets that needed her signature. “the pay rise you wanted to implement for the workers has also been completed. from the following fortnight pay slip, it’ll be evident.”
“thanks, tzuyu. what time is the meeting with la belle again?” jihyo furrows her eyebrows as she leans back in her chair. for her, that will be the focus for the day.
“4pm. there will be another person with us during the meeting.” tzuyu hesitantly slides the ipad towards jihyo.
“another person? who is it?” jihyo suddenly panics. there’s only one person who would truly dare to disrupt her plans.
“an investor like you. i’m sure you have an inkling of who it could be.” tzuyu chuckles, bowing and walking out of her room.
“bloody myoui…” jihyo mutters under her breath as she spots the name plastered on the meeting agenda.
/
when myoui mina wants something, she doesn’t let anything get in between of her and what she desires. but, this time, she guesses that she has to deal with sharing – even though she didn’t like the way things were probably going to head towards.
(also, she might get a kick out of annoying the ceo of park industries; but you didn’t hear that from her)
it astounds her how the things that they both desire seem to overlap sometimes. this fundraiser is set for helping out against child abuse. she immediately wanted to join in on it as soon as she heard about the cause but apparently, she hadn’t been quick enough because park jihyo had beat her to it. so, now they’re both going to have to collaborate together to finalise a line up for the runway of la belle , set to be held a month from now.
the entire industry knows how competitive both herself and park can be. the long-standing enmity is not hidden under wraps. though mina has no idea how or why the two companies are enemies, there’s a thrill in stealing investors and locations that the park industries seek to claim or purchase. well, it isn’t really stealing. she’s just very convincing when she wants to be, needs to be. and the look of anger on jihyo’s face when that happens is always amusing.
never in her imagination had she ever expected an instance where she’d have to work by jihyo’s side but this will be the first instance and hopefully, the last. she isn’t going to give up a great chance to get her primavera line shown to the rest of the celebrities and a-listers who’ll be attending the la belle fundraiser. she’s just going to have to swallow her pride and get on with it – with some side teasing as well, of course.
mina has been running the company on her own ever since both her parents had passed, roughly two years earlier. the accident that took her parents from her left her emotionally detached from almost everything around her. her brother hadn’t been impressed in the slightest when she was given all the shares and stocks of the company, leaving him empty handed. he’s always tried to sabotage her assignments and plans for the company but he lacks the skill to cause enough damage that would ruin her. she’s always been wary of him ever since she’d noticed how he tried to manipulate their parents to favour him over her.
she hates her brother.
goddamn, she hates him with all the hatred she can muster.
there’s a rage burning inside of her whenever she sees that smirk on her brother’s face when he walks into meeting rooms. it takes a lot to not just grab him by the collar and throw him out of the office. but, as her parents wished for her to let him work under her, she can’t do that. however, what she can do is ruin him if he tries to come in between of the company again. mina is doing a lot for the sake of her parents already.
she has a pessimistic view of most things in life because she simply can’t take the risk of someone trying to benefit off her. mina hates people who try to suck up to you so that they can get on your good side. who she is has been shaped by her experiences. the people around her have forced her to become closed off to the world. they’ve made her become cautious and perceptive of her surroundings.
on the other hand, the whole situation with park industries. the hatred she has for park jihyo might be hypocritical. you see, it’s quite easy to note that she is pretending to be someone she’s not.
sure, mina might be like that in some ways but it’s obvious that her entire being is completely different of who she says she is.
park jihyo is unkind, selfish and only thinks about herself. her ambitious nature makes her personality clear for everyone to see. it represents what she’s like, yet, miraculously people turn a blind eye and think that she’s an innocent and hard-working individual.
that’s terribly wrong.
and she’s going to show that is the case.
“dahyun. are we ready for the meeting at la belle ?” mina calls out to her secretary.
“you have nothing in between so you can leave earlier if that’s what you want?” dahyun answers as she walks inside her room.
“mhmm. let’s go.” mina nods, clearing up her desk and heading out of her office with dahyun in tow.
“i really didn’t expect that you’d be willing to participate in this, you know? i always thought you wanted to avoid miss park.” dahyun converses as they head towards her car. mina can’t really blame her for thinking that way.
“we try to stay out of each other’s paths but i guess this time will just be different. i’m pretty sure she already has steam coming out of her ears in anger.” mina chuckles as she relaxes in her seat.
there’ll definitely be an interesting meeting to come.
/
“hey, calm down and breathe. i’m sure she doesn’t have a major reason for this, okay?” tzuyu tries to comfort her boss, stress levels reaching new heights.
“we’ve been at it for two years already and we’ve never met. what the hell is on her mind? why is she so bratty? argh!” jihyo groans in frustration.
“well, you’re obviously letting her get to you. maybe that’s what she wants.” tzuyu answers nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
as if a lightbulb goes off in her head, jihyo’s mood turns around. “wait, that’s true. she’s probably trying to get me riled up and angry at her so that i’ll blow. tzuyu, you’re a genius!” jihyo squeals before hugging her secretary.
“what did i say about hugs.” tzuyu threatens as she glares at jihyo. it doesn’t work but jihyo applauds her for trying.
“come on~ let me give you a hug.”
“no physical contact!”
“thanks.” jihyo chuckles, patting her head.
“let’s go now before i get attacked again.” tzuyu huffs, leading jihyo out of her building.
“we’re on schedule, right?” jihyo asks her driver as she sits inside. she’d rather arrive there earlier than she needed to.
“yes ma’am. just another ten minutes.” he responds quickly, focusing on the road again.
however, just moments later, he brakes harshly, releasing a string of profanities as the car hits the back of a mercedes who suddenly chose to swerve into their lane.
“oh god.” jihyo rushes, getting out of the car quickly to check up on the damaged car.
“is everyone okay?” tzuyu joins in, trying to help the passengers.
a woman sits hunched over in the back seat and jihyo opens it quickly, thinking that she’s hurt. she lays a hand on her shoulder, feeling her flinch under her touch. tzuyu is already tending to the other lady in the car and the two drivers were conversing about insurance. so, jihyo assumes that there were only three people in the car.
“miss? are you okay?” jihyo asks softly, not wanting to spook the woman any further.
“mom? dad?” the woman whispered.
“hey, it’s okay. nothing happened. are you hurt?” jihyo questions. she didn’t want to overwhelm her. she seems to clearly be in shock.
jihyo did a double take as soon as the woman looked up at her. she could only curse under breath about her luck, or rather, her misfortune.
it’s hard not to able to distinguish the woman in front of her – the person who had tiny moles scattered across her face like a constellation of stars. her gaze was filled with anger and irritation when she notices jihyo’s presence. but she could only stay rooted in her spot because mina’s beauty is way more than she ever expected. though, her moments of admiration of the fellow ceo were cut short when mina abruptly stands up and pushes jihyo away from her.
jihyo hisses as she’s pushed against her own car. how did mina just hide that tiny bit of emotion she’d shown so quickly? why was she whispering about her parents in such a way that tugged at the strings of her heart?
“what kind of cheap trick are you trying to pull here right now park!” mina shouts, jabbing a finger into her chest and turning everyone’s attention to them.
“wh– what are you talking about?” jihyo stutters, feeling suddenly intimidated by the distance.
“just because i got myself a part of the fundraiser, doesn’t mean you can try to ruin plans.” mina snickers, riling jihyo up.
“excuse me? you think i’d stoop that low? for your information, it was your driver’s fault!” jihyo argues, regaining her composure as mina insults her with her claims. she’d only tried to be nice but it backfires on her, as always.
“sure, blame it on my driver when it was clearly you who hit our car!”
“that wouldn’t have happened if your driver hadn’t come in front of ours so quickly. it’s obviously your fault!”
not wanting to deal with the useless conversation, jihyo walks away, back to her car. next time, she’s not going to be the first one to offer their helping hand.
“yeah, walk away now!”
dahyun and tzuyu sigh at the two, apologising before approaching their respective bosses to calm them down. how are either of them going to be able to work by each other’s side with this fundraiser? god help the staff of the event for what’s to come because if this is what happens in the span of ten minutes, who knows what entails in the following week.
“ma’am, we sorted out insurance details but i won’t be able to drive this car to la belle .” mina’s driver whispers.
“what do you mean?! i can’t be late!” mina hisses.
“we can always ride with miss park.” dahyun suggests, turning both of their heads towards their direction.
“no–”
“that will be fine.” jihyo cut off mina’s wishes. “a good suggestion miss dahyun.”
“if this is another one of your plans–”
“i have no plans to ruin how you present yourself at la belle . i’m not gaining anything out of this or thinking of manipulating the situation to turn it into my favour.” jihyo halts mina’s speech yet again. she’s turning red from being cut off. “is there anything else you’d like to assume?”
“no.” mina mumbles, moving to the back seat of the car as she gives up.
“tzuyu, can you drive? i’m guessing our driver would want to talk things out with the other one.” jihyo commands, throwing the keys in her direction.
“you expect me to sit at the back with you ?” mina scoffs.
“would you rather walk to la belle ?” jihyo’s patience is running thin with her attitude, but she doesn’t let it get to her. she’s busy looking out the window as tzuyu drives to their destination. she hears mina huff next to her but she remains quiet for the rest of the trip.
jihyo can see the two girls at the front making small talk and she can easily notice how nervous tzuyu is. her stuttering and her exaggerated hand actions that were present when they first met are showing again. she’s rooting for her secretary and her blatant crush on dahyun. their eyes met through the rear mirror and jihyo secretly offers her an encouraging thumbs-up, effectively making tzuyu blush.
“oh, are you okay?! you suddenly turned red!” dahyun asks worriedly, touching tzuyu’s cheek.
jihyo tries her best to keep in her laughter in at the back and tzuyu looks like she’s about to kill her boss. this is all her fault in the first place!
“no, no. i’m fine miss dahyun.” tzuyu mumbles, gently pushing dahyun’s hand away. “we’re almost here.”
as soon as tzuyu parks the car, mina steps out, dragging dahyun along with her who wanted to say something to tzuyu before she left. tzuyu takes the chance to shoot a glare at jihyo, smacking her arm subtly.
“what was that for?” jihyo whines as she rubbed her sore arm. “i didn’t even say anything.”
“your eyes and actions say a lot! let’s go.” tzuyu sighs, pushing jihyo in front of her.
jihyo hums and walks ahead, mind wandering over to mina and how she’d reacted earlier. it’s clear that she’s as stubborn as they all say. she’s stern but jihyo would not be able to deal with that kind of attitude around her when she works. it’s completely bratty. but, then, jihyo considers the other side to her that she’d seen for a split second that.
it makes jihyo think that there’s so much more to myoui mina than what the world sees. for one, she’s absolutely beautiful and two, maybe there’s a part of her somewhere that is her true self – something she’s kept hidden away like herself, just like jihyo.
“what are you thinking about? miss myoui, perhaps?” tzuyu teases.
“yes, like my mind is wandering off to that brat. yours is probably filled with dahyun. ‘ no, no. i’m fine miss dahyun ’.” jihyo mocks, basking in the sight of tzuyu’s reddening ears.
“stop teasing me!”
“you started it.”
the two of them bicker for a little bit before they reach outside la belle’s main office. mina is still standing outside with dahyun as they got there and jihyo is tempted to laugh, discarding the thought when mina turns her way. what did mina rush here for then? the meeting isn’t for another few minutes anyway and these schedules are always about timing.
“oh, you’re all here together. that’s brilliant! it’s great to see you so chummy with each other. i’m sure the fundraiser will be great with the two most talented designers in the world.” the host greets brightly. “please make yourself comfortable as we discuss things for the program.”