ᴄʜᴀsɪɴɢ ʀᴀɪɴʙᴏᴡ

~63. The land of dumbstruck

Wings - Birdy

"Check with him," Jimin paced the office reception, instructing Mingyu.

The man dialed Jungkook's number, waiting for him to answer, but there was no response. He shook his head at Jimin.

"Again." The man barked.

Mingyu didn't understand why Jimin was so panic-stricken. It wasn't like Jungkook had volunteered to participate in any of the agendas of their Annual gala. Even if he didn't come, the event would still go on smoothly.

This time, Jungkook picked up the call. "Hey," Mingyu breathed quickly. "Oh my god! I was calling you for hours... Uh-huh... Shit! I was busy. I didn't see your calls yesterday, but why aren't you here?... Here, as in the corporate office. Um... What- What do you mean? Fuck... I- I am so sorry. I messed up. I didn't think about your laptop and we had sent out the announcements weeks ago... I'll sort this out, but can you come to the office right now?"

Jimin waited impatiently for Mingyu to finish.

"Thank you, Jungkook. We'll wait for you."

"What did he say?" Jimin asked immediately as Mingyu disconnected the call.

"It's my fault," Mingyu disclosed slowly. "We didn't give him a laptop, and I also forgot to configure the company e-mail on his phone. He never received any announcement about the gala event. I mentioned it to him once, but he never asked any questions about it, so I thought he must've known."

Jimin wanted to burst out at Mingyu for the huge oversight, but he controlled himself, relieved that Jungkook would be there. "Is he coming?" He asked to verify what he undesrstood from their conversation, which was the only thing that mattered at that moment.

"Yes."

One word put him at ease, and he nodded at the manager before excusing himself inside.

He had leased two floors for the offices. One floor was for the hospital staff, the statisticians, clinical trial associates, and medical writers who published papers. There were finance, IT, and HR people. The other floor was entirely dedicated to the supervising managers and gallery staff. 

The floor they were on also had the biggest boardrooms and event halls. He had started his hospital less than a year ago, and the gallery had been opened shortly after. They were already making profits, and to celebrate, he thought to kick off a yearly event, like what they used to do at the Uni for celebration.

Both his medical and non-medical staff gathered in the cafeteria — a colossal room with wide space. The admin, along with a few volunteers, had created a small stage and rented a speaker and mics for the day. Everyone was waiting around the cafeteria for the event to start, and Jimin decided he had already let them wait for too long and started the event with a small address as he got on the small stage.

Hello, everyone.

The chatter around the room died slowly.

Welcome to the first-ever gala night celebration for The Park Associates. I am Park Jimin, as many of you must know. If someone doesn't, I am the CEO.

The people all gathered, holding glasses of their drinks.

When I thought of starting two very different but lucrative businesses, my vision was simple. I wanted to increase employment on the healthcare frontlines and provide better cardiology care to the patients in Busan.