“You’re fired.” Asa said, into the microphone of her handphone while looking at it in disbelief.

 “I’m almost there. And you wouldn’t fire me.” Hana replied calmly on the other end. A stark contrast from the nervous tone Asa just used.

“Of course, I would.” Asa interjected instantly, then stopped to think about what she’d just said. Hana remained in a knowing silence. Asa had already realized she couldn’t really fire her for this but still she was not going to acknowledge her mistake.

“Would you now?” Hana said, in an eloquent manner, void of any smugness.

Asa sighed in exasperation, “No,” She relented, “You know all my passwords.” Asa concluded, almost pouting.

“Get in.” Hana said, her voice coming from both the phone and now, the sleek black jeep parked right in front of her. Asa got into the back seat.

“Well you sure took your sweet time.” Asa complained, Hana shot her green eyes at Asa from the rear view. Hana had her chocolate brunette hair in a wavy messy bun at the top of her head, some of it spilling out deliberately on both sides, she had a slim elegant face, it was a face that was stern but beautiful. At this moment Asa braced for a lecture, she knew she had it coming.

“You told me to fly out to Korea from Japan just so that I can drive you to a party. Excuse my exhaustion.” Hana responded patiently.

Sometimes Hana’s composure scared Asa, but thankfully Hana was on her team.

“You know I need you there.” Asa said quietly looking out the car window, the buildings whooshing past only showing as streaks of light looked enchanting. Far more interesting than the conversation she was having right now.

Hana sighed and said nothing until they arrived at the venue, she parked at the front entrance, there were so many brilliant lights and crowds behind red rope trying to catch a glimpse of their favourite socialite. Asa looked at Hana who was already waiting to answer any question.

“Who’s my date?” Asa asked.

“He’s the nephew of the Minister of justice, a Detective in the police force, and Park Soo Myun’s son.” Hana replied.

Asa grimaced, “Park Soo Myun’s son?”

“Yes, well you might want to get him on your side.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Asa asked, curiously looking to the front to find out where Hana was going with this.

“He is in a position to be very helpful for your plan.” Hana responded in a calculating tone, “That is if you still want to go through with it?”

Asa took a deep breath, watching as people waved at the paparazzi, and turned back to look at Hana.

“Which part?”

“Seducing her son.” Hana replied.

“It may not be necessary.” 

Hana nodded, “You may be right. You will also be alone for a while so try not to do anything too dangerous.”

Asa smiled mischievously, “Are you worried?”

Hana frowned and left a smiling Asa in the car as she came out to open Asa’s door. Asa turned to continue smiling at her from where she stood outside the door. Hana responded to this gesture with a bored expression and an annoyed side eye.

“It’s a good thing I don't pay you to be sociable cause you would have lost your job in a heartbeat.” Asa complained, fussing her way out of the car.

Asa wore a burgundy lace dress that accentuated the lines of her curves, it was bodycon, descending to her ankles and an elegant slit at the front exposing the smooth skin of her thigh. The dress had thin straps exposing her shoulders and collarbones, with the piece de resistance being the glamorous swoop the material made over her ample bosom. Accompanied by closed nude heels and a middle parted, slicked back bun hairstyle that put her pitch black hair in place, she was the picture of chic.

“Where’s my date?” Asa asked, having been surrounded by politicians, old money and different kinds of powerful people, she genuinely didn’t expect the man that walked up to her.

“Detective Im DaeHyun. This is Asa.” Hana introduced her.

The detective was a tall ruggedly handsome man, he seemed gruff and unkempt even in a luxurious suit, very few would believe it possible but he stood before Asa as living proof. Asa was not impressed.

“A pleasure to finally meet you, my father speaks very little of you.” He put out his hand to shake and Asa stared at it, “Don’t worry, an enemy of my father is a friend of mine.” DaeHyun laughed and retracted his hand, instead he offered his flexed elbow and said.

“Shall we?” 

Asa placed her hand on his arm and quietly went along with him. They walked the red carpet, up the long stairs into an Art Gallery building. The event was a Charity Auction where paintings were being sold to the socialites.

At Least that’s what it was meant to look like on the outside. It was all a front to bring people who wouldn’t otherwise have a reason for meeting together.

A guise for a very powerful organisation to meet and discuss something very important. The very future of the organisation itself, the will of the Chairwoman, and the appointment of her successor.

As they walked into the large lobby, Asa instantly caught the attention of everyone there and their eyes shone with evil intent. Asa was used to it, it never made her shrink back, although it should have because she was  aware of what each and every person in that room was capable of, in the same way that they could only show their malice through looks, because they very well knew what she was capable of.

Park Soo Myun, a man in his mid fifties, powerful and highly connected, got his sights on them and strode to where they stood sipping on wine.

“It’s always lovely to see you Asa, is this how much you’ve grown?”

Asa could never look at this man without having a deep feeling of nausea wash over her. She ignored it.

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr Park. How are you and your wife?” Asa smiled politely.

Park Soo Myun’s expression faltered slightly though he covered it up just as quickly.

“Divorced.” 

“Oh no, and you were such a lovely couple, what happened?” Asa asked with feigned concern, but she already knew. There was a cheating scandal where his wife was caught on camera with a younger man at a hotel. The story took over all social media sites and caused such a stir it almost ruined his political campaigns, almost, he won a seat in parliament.

“Nothing you young ones need to worry about.” He laughed humbly, Asa smiled into her cup, she orchestrated everything. She knew the scandal wouldn’t ruin him, people didn’t care that much about politicians' personal lives.

Yet he was a traditional man, so what it did was prey on his ego in the public eye, and he tried very hard to make it seem that he was unaffected. That pleased Asa immensely.

“In fact you and my son would make a handsome couple, why not give it a try. It wouldn’t hurt to have a man beside you.”

Asa laughed and looked at DaeHyun who had not spoken a word the whole time, completely ignoring them while on his phone. 

“Of course, I can think of nothing I’d rather do.”

“It’s settled then. If you’ll excuse me, I'll leave to have a word with the president of the gallery.”

“It's always a pleasure chatting with you.” Asa smiled and Park Soo Myun walked away.

“That conversation had so much subtext it was stifling.” DaeHyun chimed.

Asa didn’t respond.

“He already thinks he’s going to win the position, he is the most likely seeing as so many people in the organisation support him. Even though you two have similar amounts of shares, it’s old money versus new money and you have no friends here.” DaeHyun continued calmly.

“Ah! But you already knew that, didn't you? So I guess my question is, what makes you so confident that you’ll win?” DaeHyun inquired in a teasing fashion, “All things considered.”

Asa looked at him, she curled a brow and said, “Water under the bridge,” She sipped her wine and concluded, “Besides, it’s far easier to trust an enemy than a friend, wouldn’t you agree, Detective.”

“Perhaps if I may, why do you have a surname dissimilar to that of your father?”

DaeHyun chuckled, “Don’t pretend you don’t know, you’re not speaking with one of your competitors here so, you can be frank and say what you really mean.”

“Your father outcast you because of your illness and your uncle the Minister of justice adopted you, you took his surname, now you want revenge against your father, you’re trying to find definitive proof to hold against him in the court of law. You won’t, you know that much at least?”

“What are you insinuating?”

“This organisation has held pawns in your sector for that very reason, to avoid any of that from happening. Your uncle included. You would destroy him as well?”

DaeHyun looked at Asa, squinting at her in assessment, to see if she was threatening him.

“Calm yourself, I'm just reminding you, you have no friends here either, however, the difference between you and I is glaringly apparent.”

“And what’s that.” 

Asa pulled DaeHyun in, she pushed her chest on to his and placed her cheek to his cheek to whisper into his ear. DaeHyun inhaled her fragrance deeply, it was subtle yet sweet.

“I’m indispensable because of the knowledge I have on each person here, you on the other hand don’t know your place. You think anger at your father is enough, or is it your sense of Justice, which one? Both will get you killed, so I suggest you learn your place, and learn it quickly.”

DaeHyun laughed mirthfully, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“The Boardroom is prepared, honoured guests you may make your way to it.” An Announcement was made at the podium, and people began to filter out through various doors heading to the Boardroom. The meeting was about to begin.

Asa was about to find out who between her and Park Myun Soo were going to get the chairperson’s seat in the organisation.

3 HOURS LATER

DaeHyun sat at the end of the long table smiling in accomplishment as he looked on between Asa and his father’s shocked expressions at how they did not conceive the outcome of the meeting.

So far the organisation shareholders were split in half between Asa and Park Soo Myun, and DaeHyun was going to be the deciding vote.

Asa did not know DaeHyun even had shares, she tried to cover up her shock, was this why Hana said she needed him on her side.

“Mr Im DaeHyun holds the fourth largest number of shares, his vote will be the deciding one among the shareholders.” 

“Which of the two do you see as more suitable?” The current Chairwoman asked him from her place on the head of the table. She was in her early seventies yet wrinkles barely adorned her face, plastic surgery truly was miraculous DaeHyun thought to himself.

He’s heard stories about this woman, Kang YuRi, a ruthless tyrant of a woman who has been running this business and other lascivious ones under the name of this organisation. From gambling to drugs and sex traficking, he looked at her in quiet discontent.

DaeHyun laughed and began to say, “Seeing as I have a personal relationship with both, I'll try to be as objective as possible.”

“On one hand Asa is inexperienced, wet behind the ears, a wild card on her best days and a loose cannon on her worst. She is a cunning and calculating business woman who has earned the company billions ever since she officially joined and shows no signs of slowing down, she is ambitious which is a powerful trait yet she has no leadership skills, worth their salt.”

“On the other hand, Park Soo Myun has excellent leadership skills. He is an even better businessman, with political connections and is overall very powerful. He is senile at times and very inflexible, almost stuck in old ways which may be detrimental but hasn’t been yet. They both have good talking points and bad, the best candidate for this is clearly Park Soo Myun.” 

The elders in the room all grumbled their agreement and Asa saw her ambitions crashing before her eyes. She’d worked so hard to get to this point. Bribed even more people to vote for her, she couldn’t help the displeasure that overcame her face.

Then she heard an obnoxious laugh, it was DaeHyun.

“I chose my father.”

Asa looked at DaeHyun wide eyed, a piercing ringing going through her ears as everything crumbled right before her eyes and she could just watch.

The smugness radiating through Park Soo Myun was palpable, yet Asa could care less, the final nail in her coffin would be the Chairwoman agreeing to this and Park Soo Myun would be her successor.

Asa whipped her head to hear the words that came out of the Chairwoman’s mouth next, utter silence in the hall awaiting her finalizing decision.

“I agree, Asa is merely a child, and I'm sure you’ll learn a lot from the new Chairman.”

Asa clenched her jaws and her fists, A rough hand came and held her shoulder.

Park Soo Myun rubbed her shoulder where he held it and whispered to her as he walked by.

“I’ll make sure to teach you a lot.” He smiled and slithered away to take the seat next to Kang YuRi.

Asa was a kettle about to blow she was physically holding herself together and had not said a word. She took one last look at everyone in the meeting hall, and stopped on Daehyun, he looked back at her with no emotion to his eyes.

She couldn’t help but wonder what his goal was, if he truly hated his father why give him even more power. Asa’s eyes brimmed with hatred for Daehyun and with one last look she turned and left the meeting hall not willing to sit through anymore.