She'd slipped in at the beginning of the presentations to keep an eye on the Kim cousins. The little bomb that they'd accidentally dropped on her had motivated her further. She'd wasted a whole year of her life trying to get Ji-Sub to drop his wife and marry her, only for him to abandon post and hand the reins over to his dour cousin. 
  
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She wouldn't accept that she'd been barking up the wrong tree and that ninny Han Se-Ra could possibly get her claws on the real future Chairman. 
  
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But it seemed that the real competition didn't lie in that direction. The real threat had been in her sights all along, thanks to Han Se-Ra's ESP when it came to detecting potential rivals. 
  
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The wannabe actress had spotten Bin's rapid exit from Sub-Way last week and had followed him. He'd been so incensed with whoever he was chasing that he'd neglected to keep his voice down, and Han Se-Ra had heard most of the conversation. 
  
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Se-Ras-ssi had asked her driver to tail Bin and to relay his final destination to her. With unusual prescience she called Hwang Joo-Yeon, her close confidant and co-conspirator, to ask for advice. 
  
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Hwang Joo-Yeon then called her own man to 'document' Kim Hyun-Bin's activities. Evidence was necessary in these sorts of things. If you wanted to push someone in a particular direction, you would need leverage to do so. 
  
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She now knew she was sitting on a gold mine of information. But it had an expiry date and she had to move fast. 
  
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Serendipity was on her side tonight. Imagine her delight at seeing all the players all in one place. She'd spotted Kim Hyun-Bin following the woman around the room with his eyes, and how he'd prevented his cousin from approaching her. 
  
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She'd also seen the look of rage on Kim Hyun-Bin's face each time a man came near Son Ye-Jin, especially when her CEO got too close and touched her in some way. 
  
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The silly fool was besotted with her. That woman had accomplished what every other woman in Seoul had failed to do. 
  
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Ye-Jin was about to leave when her exit was blocked by a familiar and unwelcome face. 
  
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"It seems you're not very good at following instructions." 
  
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She kept her expression neutral, but allowed her eyes to blaze at Hwang Joo-Yeon. "Why don't you refresh my mind? Perhaps you were a bit vague." 
  
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Hwang Joo-Yeon ignored her quip. "I've updated my terms. I want you to use your influence on Kim Hyun-Bin to do something for me." 
  
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Ye-Jin scoffed at the mere suggestion. "I'm not doing anything for you. I'll stick to your original request. You want me to stay away from the Kim family? Fine. Done. Release the damn pictures if you want to, I'm not going to be blackmailed into doing your bidding. So unless you have anything useful to say, stay the hell away from me, arasseo?" 
  
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She walked past the infuriating woman, deliberately nudging her out of the way with a glancing blow of her shoulder. 
  
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Hwang Joo-Yeon's mouth dropped in astonishment. She had not anticipated that. 
  
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🍸    🍸    🍸
  
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By the time Ye-Jin got out of the powder room, dinner was already being served. She spotted Lee Seung-Gi getting ready to go on stage as his grandparents had told him earlier, since he would kick off the night's entertainment. 
  
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It seemed that he had also spotted her. He jumped down from the stage and apologized for his grandparents' presumptive behavior earlier. He didn't like contradicting them, he explained and just went along for the ride. Ye-Jin thought this was sweet, and told him how kind he was to treat his grandparents with such respect. 
  
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That's when she noticed Bin standing by one of the pillars, watching her with a dark look on his face. He looked like he could generate a thunderstorm above his head just with his expression. 
  
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He canted his head sideways, signalling her to meet him out in the lobby. 
  
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She returned her attention to Lee Seung-Gi and gave him her biggest smile to make up for her lack of concentration in what he was saying. 
  
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She saw Bin in her periphery, angrily stalking off in the direction of the door. He looked absolutely pissed off for some reason. Whenever he allowed his temper to get the better of him, he ended up doing stupid things. 
  
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She quickly made her way to her table and whispered to Yoo Bo-Min that she had to step out for a bit to check on her kids before bedtime. Madame Yoo nodded in understanding and didn't question her further. 
  
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With a clear exit strategy, Ye-Jin followed Bin out of the ballroom, not realizing the situation she was voluntarily walking into. 
  
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PRESENT TIME
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: 

  
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I am officially exhausted 🥱
  
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I must have sat in front of my laptop after posting the previous chapter and stared at a blinking cursor. I just could not put into words what was playing out in my head. I had a destination (Chapter 1) but lacked the means to get there. 
  
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So, I went off and watched a war movie (s) with 'Kuya' - something familiar and relaxing. Jamie Dornan with clothes on and a gun. Brad Pitt inside a Sherman tank. Then a younger Sean Connery as a paratrooper. Nothing vaguely romantic. 
  
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And it worked. I needed Ye-Jin not to be romantic this chapter. I needed her to be 'math-mo' Ye-Jin who examined things through the lens of logic to avoid her aching reality. She sublimates everything as a coping mechanism. 
  
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The words flowed (between firefighting the kids and house chores) and here we are after 16k words. 
  
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I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If not... I'll try to do better! We're now on unchartered territory and the next part will be the morning after. 
  
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Once again, I appreciate your patience waiting for this update. Thank you all for your lovely notes and suggestions. 
  
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THANK YOU FOR READING! Thank you for hitting that ⭐️ BUTTON and following this story on Twitter. 
  
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STORY NOTES : 

  
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Obviously, the joke about GHJ and JIS being bad actors was tongue-in-cheek. Those two are absolutely amazing at their craft; So please don't send me hate mail 🙇🏻‍♀️

  
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✅✅✅✅
  
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