The High Society || Taejin

Part 2

Some Weeks Ago

Jin closed his laptop as his assistant, Sunghoon, put it in the bag and helped him carry the documents used during the product presentation in front of the board members.

He had been working so hard on this new project. The competition in the food industry had been intense over the past few years, and he knew their company, a very conservative one, had to adapt to the progressive world without losing the quality of the products they were offering. And he was glad the board approved his proposal and was in the planning stage of its release to the market.

Jin had a dream of having a little food shop. They were all well-planned. He wanted to continue his mother's love for food, one of the many things he got and loved. Not so grandiose as what had been expected of him being the son of the man who built the famous food and beverage brand in the country.

He never intended to work for his father. All he wanted was to build a name of his own. He tried to stay low, away from the high expectations of the business world; thus, a tiny cafe would make him extremely happy. He found the business world toxic. Full of high expectations and fake people. But his love for his father made him set aside his dream, hoping only for a while, and take a different path. Though he didn't enjoy his work, he was doing well.

Sunghoon gave a business card to Jin, and Jin stared at it for a while, "Yeonjun gave the same one to me last week. I already declined the offer."

"His assistant came again this morning insisting on a meeting between you and his boss. I told him I would relay it to you. To be honest, most of our clients only send email proposals, but this person seemed more persistent after the disapproval."

Jin took a deep breath and smiled, "Just tell him to wait a little more. To be honest, the project that had been approved earlier will take most of my time. But I will look into that. Just tell him to email their proposal if there's a new one, and I will review and give feedback before meeting with their boss."

Sunghoon smiled and followed his boss, who made his way out of the conference room.

"Is my father in his office now?"

"He's with his lawyer, Mr. Kim."

Jin halted, almost causing Sunghoon to bump into his boss and drop all the documents in his arms. Turning around to face his assistant, Jin bore a confused face. "Is there something that I don't know, Sunghoon? My father had been meeting with his lawyer for three straight days. What is it so important to talk about?"

Sunghoon shook his head, "I already asked Yeonjun, and he didn't know either. But he said he overheard it being personal and not about the business. But he's not sure. That's the only thing we know."

••••

Jin closed his eyes as soon as his back felt the soft cushion of his swivel chair inside his office. Though all his hard work paid off, still, he wasn't happy. Something was missing. The content wasn't there. The satisfaction he wanted and needed was out of reach. It seemed he was only doing the work to make other people happy.

"Tired?"

Jin's eyes shot open, hearing a voice. Jin shook his head and smiled, massaging his temple with his finger as he faced his younger brother, Jimin. "A little. How are you? How's school?"

Jimin opened his bag and pulled out a paper, showing it to his elder brother with a big, proud smile on his face. "I'm on the honor roll."

Jin stood up, spread his arms, and wrapped them around his brother. He was always proud of Jimin. When their mother died, Jimin was still very young. Since their father was busy with business, Jin felt guilty that he couldn't give Jimin his full attention. Still, Jimin assured him that he was okay and he felt loved just by Jin's concern towards him. Hearing Jimin doing well in school made Jin believe that, perhaps, he was a good brother.