Damned Royalty

Chapter 1

Excitement. Trepidation. All these things coursed through your veins as you strode down the long halls of the office building. The building you knew like the back of your hand. The building you practically grew up in.

Employees left and right bowed as you passed them, just as they did everyday and had for the past few decades of your life. You cheerfully smiled and nodded back to them – to these people – these people who after today would be one step closer to becoming your people.

Despite having all the preparation one could hope for – this career, this education, these connections – you still felt an unimaginable weight upon your shoulders. You hadn't earned your place at this conglomerate the way "your people" had. You hadn't come up from nothing and proven your worth the way your father had asked them too. No. Because you were the heir. This life, these opportunities were handed to you on a silver platter.

You were the princess to an empire. An empire for which their livelihoods hinged. And when the time came, and you were fully at the helm, it would be you responsible for them and for your parent's legacy.

That's why today was so crucial. Today was the day you finally stepped out from underneath the wings of your parents and showed them and all these people what you could really do with the privilege you had been given.

As your heels clicked along the tile towards your father's office, you mentally reviewed everything you had been reading for the past several days. Numbers. Figures. Politics. All which was relevant to todays big meeting. Your first major account and first swing at managing the business.

You turned the corner to your father's office and were greeted by a secretary dressed sharply in a grey pencil skirt and white blouse.

"Ms. Y/N," she stood up when she saw you.

"Is my father in there, Yoonha?"

"Yes. He's waiting for you."

"Thank-you," you nodded as you marched past her desk and entered the office.

The room was as it always had been. Dark. Wood. Studded Leather. All the signs of power and old money. Your father was seated, as expected, behind his massive mahogany desk, his face buried in his work. He peered up at you over his glasses as you entered the room but didn't greet you as you took your place in the leather wing chair across from him.

"There's been a change," he finally spoke as he placed his pen down and folded his hands across his chest. "The meeting has been postponed until next week."

"What?" your voice rose as your heart sank. How could it be postponed? Did something change? Were the clients backing out? Had you screwed something up in the proposal? "What happened?"

"Nothing is wrong. Something came up with another client that we need to address immediately, so your account has been shuffled to next week."

"Which client?"

"No one to concern yourself with."

"Well, surely it is if they're important enough to postpone one of our largest accounts."

His lips pressed into a firm line, the way it did when he was debating about what to say next – what to say to you. The gesture infuriated you. Your father had always been... protective of you. Over-protective of his "little girl" the way he thought a father should be. But you weren't his little girl anymore. You were a woman, preparing to take his place. He couldn't shelter you from the world anymore the way he did when you were a child. There was no all-girls prep school he could shuffle you off too the first time he saw you talking to a boy; or personal coach he could hire to be sure you made the softball team. Not this time.