The next morning, it seems as though the entire office is groggy and full of eyebags. Mina comes to work a bit later than usual, partly due to the insane hangover and partly because she missed her bus. As she enters, some of the employees giggle, and nudge Junho, "Hey look, your girlfriend's here." Mina emerges out of nowhere behind them, with comically dark eyes, "Not funny. Why didn't you guys stop me, I totally made a fool of myself....", she whines. She goes to her cubicle, chatting with her coworkers about yesterday's antics, half embarrassed, half excited. She looks at Isaac's office, remembering her dramatic, "What if the CEO loves me?!" from yesterday, to which she slaps her cheeks and buries her face in paperwork. Annie teases her further, and she pouts.
The CEO steps out, papers in hand, a call on his ear, but pauses when his gaze falls on Mina's smile. She's laughing with her coworkers, eyes crinkling, completely unselfconscious. He furrows his brows. For some reason, he can't seem to shake off yesterday's image of her, Mina, fast asleep against Junho's shoulder.
The frown settles deeper, he couldn't help but wonder. None of his dates he drank with was intimate with him like....that. It was always either them holding up their drink to impress him, or the fast paced, transactional bedroom intimacy.
But this girl, yesterday....she had simply closed her eyes and trusted someone else to hold her. No performance, no expectation, no calculation. Just simple, quiet slumber. He wonders, fleetingly, fleetingly, what kind of warmth that would feel like. To have someone soft and unguarded fall asleep in his arms.
The thought unsettles him. He immediately shakes his head sharply, his expression darkens. Warmth was not something he could afford.
Even love, if it could be called that, had to be calculated, measured. A woman must match him in beauty, wealth, power. She had to be worthy of him.
He straightens his back, and clears his throat. "Sorry," his voice is clipped and cool. "Something at the office distracted me." And he walks away, determined to not let such foolish thoughts sway him again.
It is a slow day for Mina today. Boring, repetitive tasks, and she types away. She arranges folders for the senior employees, and prepares spreadsheets for Isaac. When she goes to hand it over to him, he doesn't look at her. Mina lets out a sigh of relief, thankful that he behaved normal, that yesterday's "unprofessionalism" on her part, didn't seem to bother him.
"I will not let such trivial matters bothers me..." is exactly what Isaac is thinking, as he walks out of his office to meet up with a client, with Emily walking behind. But as he passes over the break room, his eyes catch a glimpse of a certain bubbly girl again. Two analysts are huddled over a phone, showing a clip of drunk Mina raising a glass and screaming,"What if the CEO secretly LOVES me?!" followed by her dramatic bow and Junho catching her before she falls on the grill. They giggle, with one joking under her breath, "I get that she's drunk but it's so funny that she even thought of it LOL. Like, why would the CEO like a buffoon like HER?" They laugh. But then their laughter halts abruptly.
Because Isaac has stopped walking. Emily waits beside, calm.
His voice is quiet, but it cuts through the break room like a blade, "Delete that." The girls freeze, "Sorry sir, we were just-" Isaac doesn't even look at them, "If content like that circulates, it will affect workplace professionalism. Delete it."
They scramble, nodding. One fumbles with his phone, fingers shaking.
Isaac gives them a cold look, before walking away. he enters the car, briefing Emily about his expectations for today's meeting, as if nothing ever happened. Emily listens attentively, and after a while of driving in silence, finally speaks out, "You're intervening in matters you've never cared about before. That girl....is she a problem?"
Isaac's brow rises, but he maintains his composure. "You're reading too much into it."
Emily lets out a small laugh. "I've known you since you were like what? 5?" She turns to him, expression serious, "Do you want me to get rid of her if she's distracting you? She can always work for another department, or .....transferred to a different company entirely...." She gauges Isaac's reaction. His eyes lift, cold, guarded, "Just....don't interfere. Do you really think someone like her can distract me?" He tries to play it off cocky, trying to reclaim control of the situation.
Emily nods sarcastically, "Thought so." Her eyes turn gentle this time, and she says, with genuine concern, "I'd like you to be more careful though. If rumors at the company start, and the chairperson knows...."
"I know." Isaac interrupts.
"There's also your brother, Elias..."
At the name, Isaac pauses, a flicker of annoyance crosses his face. Isaac looks at Emily, then sighs. His voice is soft, almost childlike and pouty, "I know. I'll be more careful Emily. Jeez." He rolls his eyes.
Emily giggles, "Well that was my advice to you as the Henley group's secretary." She adds, "But if I were to speak as aunt Emily who took little Isaac out to parks when his parents were too busy, I'd say you should spend more time with her. She seems like a sweet girl. A breath of fresh air." She teases.
Isaac rises from his seat, clearly flustered. "What are you even talking about?!" He adjusts his tie, "I don't see her that way." Emily rolls her eyes , and smiles knowingly. Isaac tries to focus on his paper at hand, but his ears are just a faint shade of red.
After a long day of meetings, negotiations and dinners, Isaac Henley stepped into his penthouse, the hollow click of his shoes echoing against marble floors, sounding louder inside the empty walls. He loosened his tie with one hand, the other still holding the leather briefcase he hadn't bothered to set down. The silence greeted him like it always did, expensive, polished, empty. The city lights below flickered like a restless ocean, and he crossed the living room with heavy steps, finally letting himself fall onto the sofa. The leather dipped under his weight as he stared up at the ceiling.
He exhaled.
This wasn't what he thought power would be like.
He's just Isaac Henley, the obedient son. Born second, molded to be first. While Elias, the would be heir, lived freely, Isaac was quietly shaped, his every hour scheduled, every emotion moderated, every achievement expected rather than praised. Henley Group needed a successor, and when Elias stumbled, Isaac was already polished enough to fit the role. Overnight, he went from "the younger one" to "CEO Henley."
Elias, the name echoes in his head. Groomed from birth to take over Henley Group, Elias was charming, clever, and naturally charismatic, everything a successor should be. But pressure looks different on him. Instead of turning him into steel like Isaac, it cracked him open. Alcohol became easier than board meetings. Neon lights and pretty strangers became easier than boardroom expectations.
And soon enough, "charisma" turned to a spectacle, tabloids, rumor spirals, the family's name dragged through champagne flavored scandals. The board suggested a "temporary withdrawal." His father made it permanent. Now, Elias drifts in and out of the family's life like a ghost, mocking, smiling, pretending none of it matters, when it reality, he wants it all back. If he can't be heir, then he'll ruin whoever stands in his place.
But Isaac doesn't particularly want the position, however, he doesn't know who he'd be without it. He wears the title like a suit, tailored, flawless, suffocating. He has never tasted recklessness, never been allowed to fail. People admire him, respect him, fear him….but nobody knows him. He moves through life like someone fulfilling a script written long ago, and sometimes, in the quiet moments, he wonders what it would be like to simply live, instead of perform. What it would be like if he just dozed off to sleep surrounded by friends in a bar, or simply ate tiramisu.
His mind wanders off to Mina again. It does bother him. It does. Why does this new junior get on his mind so much? He shouldn't think of her right now, not at this moment, she's irrelevant. But he is.
Isaac knows that. Emily knew that. Emily knew it would be a problem if Elias noticed that Isaac was different around Mina. "She's just an employee. She doesn't matter" He mutters, as he tries to force his eyes shut.
The air around feels cold and empty.