Is it okay if we go out for dinner?

"Lady Chung," Ji-Eun heard a voice from somewhere in her office.

It took her a second to notice that her floor receptionist had been standing in front of her work desk and was handing over a stack of documents that needed her signature.

"Are you alright, Miss?" Concerned about her superior's state, the receptionist asked as she looked at her carefully. "You look very tired..."

"Ah, no. I..." Ji-Eun answered quickly, snapping out of her thoughts. "Do these need my signature?"

She took the papers and went through them quickly.

"Yes," the receptionist answered her. "You asked to have them revised an hour ago. The managers and team leaders already took care of them."

"That's great," she said. "I'll take a look at them now."

She browsed through the pages, checked the financials, and signed each page carefully.

"That should do it," she said when she finished. "These should be okay now."

She handed the documents back.

"You can share the document to the rest of the shareholders tomorrow. You can go home for the day." She smiled at the receptionist. "You've worked hard. Thank you."

The receptionist bowed and smiled back at her. "Thank you, Lady Chung."

She waited until the receptionist was gone to slouch on her chair and to look around her office lazily.

That day, since the Chung Group's shareholders, managers, and team leaders came over for a business review, Chung Ji-Eun had been forced to occupy her 'for show' office at The Regal Hotel. At a glance, even if she doesn't stay there often, her office wasn't bad. It was spacious and tastefully decorated, following the modern, minimalist trend that she was so fond of. There was also a floor to ceiling window at the west side of the office that showed the perfect skyline of Main City at whatever time of day.

But no matter how spacious and beautiful the views are in that office, Ji-Eun would always feel stuffy and would try to walk out. So, that particular morning, before she and Oh Jaehyun entered her office, which was already full of people, he took her aside and asked her, "This meeting is going to occupy the whole day. Are you going to be alright in there?"

"As long as nobody annoys me, I'll be alright," she answered, smiling lightly at him. "Besides, Father is going to join us via web conference later, so I'm not really going to go through this meeting by myself."

"Chung Ji-Eun," he shook his head at her.

"I'll be fine, Secretary Oh," she touched his shoulder and proceeded to enter her own office. "Don't worry too much."

Oh Jaehyun watched her reaction like a hawk all throughout the meeting, careful of even the slightest change in her expression. Thanking the Gods that his employer did not walk out or make terse comments on some of the weak presenters' data, he began to relax and just focus on the content that was being presented.

For the past years, President Chung had always been the one hosting the Group's business reviews. At this event, all the heads of all their businesses were present and were supposed to give their status report. It was only this time, because he was abroad, that Chung Ji-Eun took charge of the Group's business review.

Thankfully, their people came prepared and she felt satisfied at the end of their meeting. Aside from the papers and some contracts that needed revising, everything went well.

She sighed as she stood up from her chair and began to tidy up her work desk, picking up the drafts and reports that were strewn across it. She thought she saw a movement by the door and looked up to check if her secretary had come back, but she only saw the receptionist from earlier standing up and preparing to go home through the glass.

Where is he anyway? Ji-Eun noticed that Oh Jaehyun hadn't returned from sending the Group's representatives back.

Her objective suddenly changed as she started hunting for her phone.

As she was typing in a message for her secretary, she heard the glass door opening.

"Oh Jaehyun," she stopped typing and began to turn around, knowing that it really was Oh Jaehyun at the door this time. "I was just looking-"

Her words stopped abruptly as she saw two people standing near the glass door.

What in the world... she thought to herself.

"Song Hyun-Shik," she stepped out from behind her desk and went towards the door to greet him properly. "This is a surprise."

"Yes," the man said sheepishly as she bowed to him. "I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced. I saw Secretary Oh at the hotel entrance sending off guests, so I thought..."

Ji-Eun glanced at her secretary who was smiling slyly at her from behind Song Hyun-Sik. She gave him a questioning look, but he just shrugged back at her.

"I'll just take care of those," Jaehyun said, moving towards her work desk.

"Yes, thank you," Ji-Eun said as her secretary passed by her.

At that time, she heard his faint whisper, "You've been wanting to talk to him anyway."

She looked at her secretary for some time before turning her attention back to her guest.

"Let's sit down, so we can talk," she gestured towards the couch. "Would you like to have something to drink?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm alright. There are some things we need to talk about, Ji-Eun," Hyun-Shik said. "But I think your office is not the right place for it."

"Okay," Ji-Eun angled her head a little. "We can go to the lounge and-"

"Secretary Oh mentioned that you were in a day-long meeting," he continued, cutting Ji-Eun off. "I'm quite sure you haven't had anything to eat yet."

He paused to look over her shoulder at her secretary, who was busy rearranging some papers on her desk.

"Why don't we talk over dinner?" Hyun-Shik suggested. "That way, you can be more relaxed and I can be comfortable too."

"Huh?" Ji-Eun's eyes narrowed a little.

At his words, Jaehyun's hands stopped working on her desk for a second before resuming his work, his eyes clouding over.

When Ji-Eun did not respond, Hyun-Shik peered into her face before stepping closer.

"What do you say, Ji-Eun," he asked. "Is it okay if we go out for dinner?"