shake the dust // JENLISA

Chapter 8

"I do believe you have somewhere to be."

Jennie sighed and continued scribbling her signature on a project proposal. "I know I gave you access to my office, but that doesn't mean I want you to actually take advantage of it."

Chaerin sauntered into the room and dropped down in the chair in front of Jennie's desk. "It's already 7, Jennie."

She knew. She shoved her papers away and pulled her laptop closer. Her email was full already, and she started sorting through the spam, the annoying and the official stuff she actually needed to respond to. "I know. My father went on another trip out of the country. He left his workload to me."

Chaerin hummed softly. She didn't say anything more, and Jennie really hoped that she would give up and leave. So what if she didn't show up? It wasn't the end of the world. "We can reschedule or something," she suggested.

They remained in uncomfortable silence while Jennie typed out a long rejection email to the son of one of her father's friends. She did not hire based on lineage. He had his matric, but he was as stupid as a bat otherwise. Chaerin just sat there, though, staring at her as calmly as ever. Wasn't she upset? Annoyed?

When she finished the email, she viciously stabbed the enter key and then sat back, glaring. "Stop staring at me like that," she growled.

"Does it make you feel uncomfortable?" Chaerin asked her.

Jennie pressed her lips together. "Of course it does! You're just... just sitting there, staring!"

Chaerin stood and sat down on the corner of the table. "And why do you think it bothers you? Because you know you're choosing your work over your wife?"

Her chest tightened. Chaerin wasn't being angry, or spiteful. She simply sounded curious. How the fuck did she manage to get to the root of the problem so quickly? It felt like her claws had just dug deep into Jennie's chest.

"I'm not-"

"Lisa is already waiting for you, alone," Chaerin interrupted. "Yes you are."

Jennie imagined Lisa sitting in the restaurant alone, getting angrier by the second, going home and grabbing those divorce papers. She really needed to do her work, but she also didn't want a divorce. Guilt rushed up inside of her.

"Fine," she finally exclaimed, slamming her laptop shut. "But I can't stay too long. I need to come back to work right after."

Chaerin gave her a brilliant smile. "That's all we need. Here." She held out a dress hanging on a coat hanger. "Change in your office. I'll be down in the parking lot, ready to drive you."

"I can drive myself."

Chaerin handed the dress over. "Then I'll just wait to drive behind you."

She felt like a child needing to be watched, but she slipped the dress on-glad that she already had heels on-and ran her fingers through her hair. She wasn't wearing any makeup or jewellery, so Lisa would just have to deal with it. She was sacrificing a night of sleep for this.

Once she was done getting dressed, she left her office and closed the door behind her. She noticed that Chaeyoung was still at her desk, staring intently at her screen.

"Why aren't you home yet?" she asked her.

Chaeyoung didn't even glance up. "You have extra work to do, which means I have to work harder to help you out. You have somewhere to be, right?" She finally looked up and smiled at her. "I'll sort out the last of your work. Head home when you're done with dinner."

Jennie opened her mouth to protest, but Chaeyoung went back to work and there was nothing she could say. Chaeyoung was definitely her second in command when her father wasn't there, and it touched her deeply that Chaeyoung was willing to stay all night to do work that wasn't even her own. Instead of arguing, Jennie thanked her and then headed for the parking lot.