Shady

Heavy steps resonated through the white marbles; the rhythmic click clack of a pair of heels sounding as a notice that a new presence had made his way.

The receptionist, a young but tenacious woman smiled at the approaching man before standing up and giving a little bow in sign of greetings.

-"good morning sir" she muttered her voice dripping in honey, despite the man not sparing a glance at her.

He walked paced her ignoring the sequence of salutations that came past him with every encounter with a member of staff.

The man stood ,unfazed approaching the big, glass elevator to take him to his floor.

The 50th floor.

Not only the glass elevator was reserved for his use only but the entire 50th floor had been reserved for him.

In no time the man reached his destination.

Sungjae walked into his office ,his whole figure oozing off an aura of power and confidence that no one in that company apart from him could be able to emanate.

He was truly one of a kind.

In such a small amount of time he had achieved great things for his company. He started young, at the age of 19 he had already begun building his little empire, by the age of 21 he had already stabilized his company's earning gaining lots of national recognition, now that he was 24 he had established his legacy worldwide, being one of the most respected and most talked-of millionaires in the whole States.

He was considered a hero and a role model for young Asian Americans who dreamed of establishing their own business among the sector's fierce competition.

It was no wonder that despite his entanglement, he had literally every single female employee throwing themselves at his feet, trying their luck with a man so successful. Those females tended to ignore the office's dressing code, wearing sultry looking dresses and wearing way more than acceptable amount of make up in attempt to seduce the young millionaire.

Fortunately, Sungjae was not the type of person who would fall for a cute smile and a pair of sexy hips. He had high morals and besides he was happily married with children.

Not that his employees didn't know that. Lorraine tended to pass by his office whenever she could, bringing some of her home cooked meals for him to enjoy. They just had no conscience.

Greed is a human trait after all.

Sungjae had begun going through some paperwork, his head throbbing as he took in the number of things that required to be sorted out, when someone burst into his office without permission and unceremoniously, causing his initial irritation to increase tenfold.

He looked up, ready to curse the intruding person when he realized that standing there in his 5'8 short legs was his childhood best friend Caleb Wood ,who sported a wide grin as he nonchalantly threw himself over the large couch located on the side of his office.

The light skin chocolate man had no regard whatsoever for the company's in-office code of conduct. As he kicked off his shoes and placed his arms behind his head for support without any reservations.

"- Dude? You look so stressed you should chill a bit" he said his tone clearly amused, as he gave his friend a once over.

Sungjae frowned at the sight in front of him, he knew his friend was naturally an easy-going guy, but he wasn't in the mood to entertain his bullshit,not today. He was already stressed, and he didn't need a clown to add to his throbbing headache.

He wondered what in the hell possessed him to make him his Chief Operating Officer (COO) given his childish antics.

Sungjae looked at Caleb pointedly and asked in a serious tone.

"- Is there anything specific you need to see me for? Because I would like to tell you that I'm actually really busy right now."

"- Woah woah what's up with the attitude dude, you haven't been yourself since you've come back" said Caleb, pointing out his volatile mood.

It was all facts , Caleb had been wondering what was wrong with his best friend, he was not as joyful and easy going like he used to be, he barely even laughed at his jokes anymore keeping a stiff official stance, constantly frowning even in the private place which was his office. It was like he had come back like a completely new person.

He was moody, rude and aggressive, total opposite of his previous personality.

As if somebody else had possessed his own body...

Caleb had first thought it was probably tiredness, but he was really starting to get annoyed with this change in behaviour, he would have to find time to have a serious private talk with him soon...

Sungjae sighed before letting himself relax into his leather seat.

"- Sorry..." he muttered lowly. Trying to contain his anger, wanting to appear more... approachable.

He tried again, took a deep breath then smiled at his friend.

"- so, what's going on homie?"

Caleb raised an eyebrow causing him to mirror the same action, which led them both to giggling before Caleb stopped abruptly and grimaced in distaste.

"- You won't like it..." he said slowly, as if pained.

Sungjae sat back up his attention fully on his business partner.

"- What happened? " he said, spurring the conversation

Caleb seemed to hesitate for a second before he took courage and spilled out the matter.

"- You know Mr Son? The CEO of Son's Corps the guy you had a meeting with a month a go back in Korea?''

Sungjae nodded urging him to go on.

Caleb sighed resignated

"-He was actually found missing a couple of days after you guys signed the agreement, everyone thought he had gone on a vacation as he always tended to suddenly disappear and cruise about whenever the company got good deals ; but this time...they found him last night..."

"- Umm ok?" Said Sungjae, confused.

"- Dead, they found him dead Sungjae, they actually found his body hidden in a laundry storage room of the same hotel you guys last had dinner at, he was strangled to death they say."

Sungjae who listened attentively to his friend's words replied unfazed.

"-so... what?"

Caleb stared at him as if he had 3 heads.

"-So what?! Come on dude you were the last person who interacted with him. I'm worried man, I don't want them to accuse you like in the movies, this shit is messed up" he said almost exasperated.

Sungjae, who had gone back to looking at his papers quietly, answered.

"-Don't worry they wouldn't do that, not without any evidence, don't think about it so much', things like this happen all the time. It's the business world, there are many competitors and many enemies lurking around." he replied methodically

Caleb just stared at him, trying to figure out if he should be concerned about his friend's calmness or be glad about it.

But seeing as Sungjae was clearly innocent he decided to be glad.

He trusted him, he had faith in his friends' words.

Most importantly there was truth in his statement, in the business world there were many cases of sabotages. Son's corporation was the biggest supplier of Anti-explosive's cameras in the whole Asia and with the main owner gone...

There was nothing to hold back competitors of the ranks, it was just routine.

Yes, it was normal, everything was just fine, as always.

But.

Was it actually ?