JENNIE

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"Good morning, Miss Kim!" Rora's cheery voice rang through the office the second I walked through the doors into the secretarial office of the Vice-President.

"Good morning, Rora, Haruto," I replied, smiling at the two young assistant secretaries who, theoretically, existed to lessen my workload.

In reality, I wasn't sure The Bastard knew they existed. If she did, she rarely showed it.

Either way, they were my precious babies.

"I got you some coffee," I said, setting a takeaway coffee cup on each of their desks. "A vanilla latte with almond milk for Rora and a flat white with two sugars for Haruto."

Haruto's eyes lit up. "Miss Kim, are you an angel?"

Not to brag, but I was beginning to think that I was. How else had I survived the last ten hellish months under The Bastard?

"We should be the ones getting coffee for you," Rora said, reaching forwards to take the cup despite her words. "You're our superior."

I waved a hand and walked over to my desk to set down the coffee carrier and take off my scarf. "Don't be silly. The Vice-President has an eight-a.m. meeting, so if I'm getting coffee, it doesn't matter if I buy two or four cups." I smiled warmly at them and shrugged off my coat. "I wasn't sure if you two would be here this early, so I'm glad to see you are so you can enjoy it hot."

"Ah." Haruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Ms Manoban called us and told us you were out drinking last night so we should come into work in case you were too hungover to make it in time for the meeting."

That prick.

I pressed my fingers to my temples and sighed. "I was not 'out drinking,' as she put it, I was at dinner with a friend and happened to have a few drinks."

"Ah, with Jisoo?" He pouted. "You know we like Korean food."

"Of course. You lightweights can't handle real soju, and yesterday was a soju day." I smiled as I booted up my computer. "Is there—"

"Good morning! Oh, everyone's here!" Jimin Park, the head of the PR department, burst into the office with a beaming smile on his face. "Miss Kim, may I say how lovely you look this morning?"

"Mr Park, please restrain yourself, lest there be any unsavoury rumours about you again," I replied coolly, selecting the files for this morning's first meeting.

He perched on the edge of my desk and leant back, peering at what I was doing. "Oh, don't be so uptight, Jen. Nobody is going to spread rumours about us. Everyone already knows about our special connection."

Rora gasped. "Special connection? Miss Kim, are you seeing Mr Park?"

Clearly not everyone did.

"Don't be ridiculous," I replied, picking up my phone and glaring at Jimin. "Shut up, or I'm calling Aunt Fizz."

"No. Not my mother." He held out one hand, and I swatted him away. "Fine, I'll behave."

Rora looked between us, frowning. "I'm so confused."

"She's my cousin." Jimin grinned, cocking his thumb back at me. "My mum is her dad's sister. Can't you see the family resemblance?"

Her head went from left to right and back again several times before she said in a very flat tone, "No, not really."

Jimin's shoulders sagged, and he sighed. "It's all right. I know I got the lion's share of the looks."

"Mr Park, perhaps I should call your mother and ask her to book you a doctor's appointment. Your delusions are more vivid than usual." I glanced at the clock as it flicked over to seven-thirty and got to my feet.

Haruto and Rora were used to it and quickly followed suit, but Jimin stared at us all as if we had two heads until the doors swung open. He quickly bounced up off my desk and lowered his head as The Bastard was kind enough to grace us with her most fabulous presence.

There were three things that were unequivocally true about Lalisa Pranpriya Manoban, the Vice-President of the LLOUD Corporation and second-in-line to the dukedom of Ruxleigh.

She was talented. She was intelligent. She was pretty.

She was, quite literally, the outward picture of a perfect woman—she had it all, from the looks to the money and the reputation. Despite what her detractors said, she really had earnt her position as Vice-President of LLOUD Corporation. I knew that firsthand after spending six years working on the previous President's assistant team, and I'd seen with my own eyes as hers then-executive assistant just how much work Lalisa had put into securing her place.

The unspoken fourth truth was that she was a huge fucking pain in the arse.

I suspected that was exactly why her grandfather, the previous President and Duke of Ruxleigh, had begged me to transfer down to the Vice-President's office. On paper, it was a demotion, but he'd treated it as a promotion instead. I'd gotten a salary raise, a new company car, and since the Duchess of Ruxleigh was the owner of the building that provided cut-rate rent to employees of the corporation, I'd also had my rent slashed to the bare minimum of utilities and taxes for twelve months.

I should have known back then that the offer was too good to be true.

Now, ten months after accepting it, I was regretting it big time.

Because Lalisa Manoban was a bastard of the highest order.

I didn't much care for her gp condition, or her six-foot-two. Nor did I have any interest in her dark brown hair or her silver-blue eyes that went from calm to cold in a heartbeat. The same went for her sharp jaw and stupid downturned lips that were slightly heavier on the bottom half.

She was usually scowling or frowning, anyway, so what good were her pretty lips?

Her cold and aloof personality was one thing, but her complete lack of disregard for anyone else's time was the worst, as shown by her demand that I pick her up after her family dinner last night. She'd specifically told me to go home but had expected me to be at her beck and call all the same.

And let's be real—the hotel would have happily called a driver service for her, but noooo. It had to be poor, overworked little me. All I wanted to do was drink liquor and eat good food, but even that'd been ruined by her selfishness.

It wasn't just all that. She was overtly picky in reports and proposals to the point of being an obsessive perfectionist, and not in a good way. She changed her font preference and size on a regular basis. In the summer she wanted things on paper so she could work without a glare on a screen, but in the winter, everything had to be electronic so she could move quickly in the cold.

She was a coffee in the morning and tea the rest of the time kind of girl, but only one coffee shop was acceptable outside of my own brewing skills. Her tea had to be a specific brand teabag and brewed for an exact amount of time, and she was even picky about the brand of sweetener.

She was a fucking living nightmare.

And that was exactly why I'd spent the past three weeks trying to resign.

My almost-free apartment? I'd forfeit it. I'd even pay the remaining rent if I had to.

The company car? The keys were available at any point. I could walk.

The salary? I'd be sad to see it go, but it was what it was. I couldn't put a price on my sanity.

I wouldn't die if I didn't have this job, but there was a very real possibility that Lalisa Manoban might die without me.

It was a risk I was willing to take.

"Good morning, ma'am," I said, gathering the files I knew she was about to demand.

"Is it?" She cast her gaze towards me. "Do you have the files prepared for this morning's meeting?"

"Right here." I held them up. "I also have a coffee for you."

"Is it from the place I like?"

Her only saving grace in that line of questioning was that the place she liked was a small, family-run coffee shop, not a big chain. "Of course. I'm well aware of your preferences, ma'am."

"Good. Bring it to my office." She paused when she saw Jimin. "What are you doing here, Mr Park?"

Jimin glanced back at me. "Just a little early-morning chit-chat with my cousin, ma'am."

"I don't believe we pay the Director of Public Relations to chit-chat." Her silver-blue eyes focused with a laser-like precision on my unruly cousin.

"I'm not on the clock yet." Jimin grinned, completely unfazed by The Bastard's sharpness. "But I see that my lovely Jennie is, so I'll leave her be."

"I'd thank you for your graciousness, but I don't thank idiots."

"Twenty-five years of friendship, and you still can't be nice to me." Jimin clutched at his chest. "I'm so hurt I think I need a doctor. Maybe I can claim a workplace injury for emotional pain."

"Mr Park." Ms Manoban's voice was deathly cold. "You're not on the clock, but my secretaries are. Get lost."

"You would do well to do as you're told." I gathered the files and The Bastard's coffee. "Or I'll call your mother."

Jimin shuddered. "This is workplace abuse, I'm telling you."

"Please excuse me for a moment, ma'am," I said to The Bastard. I set the coffee and files back down and walked around my desk, only to grab Jimin by the arm and yank him towards the large glass doors. "You should focus on your own department, Mr Park."

He sniffed. "Jen, you're so cold to your beloved cousin."

"Never have I once described you as beloved. Please do not put words into my mouth." I hauled open the door and pushed him through. "Off you go now."

"Wait!" He grabbed the edge of the door, and I glared at his fingerprints touching the previously spotless glass. He dropped his grip to the handle with a little squeak and said, "Mum's sixtieth birthday party is at the end of next month. She said you must show up."

Ugh.

That meant Aunt Fizz was trying to set me up again.

"I'll check my schedule. And before you leave…" I walked over to Haruto's desk and took the glass cleaner and cloth he was already holding out. "Please clean up your mess, Mr Park."

Jimin took the bottle and cloth from me with a sigh. "Yes, Miss Kim."

"Thank you." I spun around on my toes and retrieved the files and coffee. "Shall we, ma'am?"

The Bastard checked her watch as I opened the door to her office. "I would appreciate if we did."

I waited for her to enter her office before ducking my head and following her inside. Her office had the most beautiful view out over the cityscape of London, but it was far too wet and grey outside to enjoy the beauty it could hold.

It was dreary.

Much like my mood.

The Bastard took a seat behind her desk and cricked her neck. "Read my schedule."

"There's a meeting with the board of directors at eight a.m. regarding the quarter financial reports. At ten-thirty you have a meeting with the COO of Greenridge Investments, and at eleven-forty-five, the manager of advertising team one on the Fareham campaign will be submitting their proposal prior to the presentation next Monday." I put her coffee down in front of her and proceeded to direct her blinds to partially open with one hand while still holding onto the tablet with the other. "Your lunch is from twelve-twenty to twelve-fifty, so please let me know what you'd like to eat today. There's a conference call with the Duke of Ruxleigh at one p.m.—"

"What does Grandfather want?"

"I'm afraid I don't have that information."

"You're close with him. Why not?"

"He informed me to tell you to shut up and show up, ma'am."

"How rude. Does he think it's acceptable for him to tell my secretary to speak to me that way?"

I offered her my best customer service smile and met her cool gaze. "That's a question for His Grace. I couldn't possibly speak on his behalf."

The Bastard glared at me. "Tell him not to pass petty messages on through you in the future."

"I highly doubt he will listen to me, but as you wish." I barely managed to hold my sigh. "You have a gap in your schedule from one-forty until three p.m. when you have a call from the New York office of LLOUD so they can report on the expansion of the publishing business in the United States. The Vancouver office will join at four-fifteen. It's expected to be done by five-thirty, when you should leave the office for a dinner meeting at La Reina restaurant with President Manoban."

She leant forwards and steepled her fingers, touching her lips to her fingertips. "And what exactly is that meeting for, Miss Kim?"

Here we go.

Round two of: none of my fucking business.

"I couldn't possibly say, ma'am. Your father called two days to schedule a meeting between the two of you, and I followed his orders," I replied.

"Did you ask him what it was regarding?"

"Rest assured that I covered your list of unacceptable dinner reasons and received his assurance it didn't concern any of those things."

"Mm." She sat back in her chair, still pressing her fingertips together. "How long until our first meeting?"

"Twenty minutes, ma'am."

"Very well. Is there anything I need to look over before then?"

"Yes, this is an important document that was on my desk this morning." I handed over the brown envelope that included one of three letters of resignation I'd prepared for today. "It'll only take a moment of your time."

"Who is it from?"

"It doesn't say."

"Then I'm not interested. Look into it for me, Miss Kim."

I clenched my jaw and slipped the envelope back under my arm. "Of course, ma'am."

The Bastard sipped her coffee, not even bothering to spare me a glance. "Is that all?"

"There was a voicemail from the young lady of the Grandstein household," I replied calmly. "Minnie requested that you call her back."

"Does that have anything to do with my father's request to have dinner with me tonight?"

"The President didn't share his reason for your meeting with me, as I've already said."

"Miss Kim—"

"Ma'am, it's about time we made our way to conference room one for the early meeting. You know the directors complain if you show up less than fifteen minutes before it starts." I walked decisively over to her office door and opened it. "You should prioritise the meeting."

With a sigh, she got up and walked over to me, then held out a navy-blue tie. "I didn't have time to put it on before I left this morning."

Wasn't her getting here on the time the entire reason she'd made me call her a car last night?

I reached up to secure her top button, then murmured an "Excuse me," as I slipped the tie beneath her crisp shirt collar. I kept my attention firmly on the knot I was tying and secured it before stepping back and averting my gaze.

I could swear she did that on purpose sometimes.

"Thank you." She adjusted the tie when I opened the door again, then stepped through it. "Let's go, Miss Kim."

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