Sunjae

Monday

Taeho parked in the headquarters' underground lot. I sat silently, watching his eyes fixed on the lane ahead, a hard line etched in his forehead.

He was still absolutely furious.

The moment the engine cut off, he immediately got out of the car. I followed suit, letting out a heavy sigh in the process.

He kept five feet ahead of me, which was a petty habit from childhood whenever he was mad at me.

We rode the elevator in a suffocating silence, watching the numbers tick upward toward the top floor where the emergency board meeting was being held. Attempting to lighten the icy mood, I cleared my throat. "What does my schedule look like after this-"

Without waiting for me to finish, he unlocked his tablet and stiffly extended his arm to show me the screen. All without making a single eye contact.

I closed my eyes, trying to compose myself. "Taeho-"

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime. He exited immediately, leaving me standing inside as I pondered how on earth to reconcile with him.

Once I stepped out, we walked down the long, imposing hallway that led directly to the boardroom. I had deliberately timed my arrival to walk in dead last. Not late, but exactly on time.

It was a calculated power move to show the entire family that I was completely unfazed by their sudden ambush.

As we walked down the corridor, I instinctively reached into my pocket, pulled out my pen, and began clicking it mindlessly. It was an anxious, nervous habit I could never shake, my brain calculating every possible question and trap they were about to throw at me with every click.

The heavy doors swung open. The moment we stepped into the corporate war zone, every single pair of eyes shifted toward me. They were all seated across the massive, rectangular table. My grandfather sat at the head of the room, while the rest of the board members were arranged strictly by rank, their personal assistants standing rigid behind them with their backs facing the wall.

My father and stepmother were present. The moment my father locked eyes with me, his face shifted into a deeply disappointed glare. Right beside him, a subtle smirk crossed my stepmother's lips. It was so faint that no one in the room could have caught it but me.

I tightened my necktie, clicking the pen one last time before sliding it safely into the inside pocket of my tailored suit jacket. With my anxiety locked away, I marched forward, my eyes fixed ahead as I made my way to my designated seat close to my grandfather. Everyone's gaze followed my every step.

Behind me, Taeho quietly closed the boardroom doors, sealing us in.

The moment I sank into my chair, Chairman Lee's secretary stepped forward into the center of the room. "The meeting may commence."

The CEO immediately leaned in toward the microphone placed in front of his seat. "We only called this emergency meeting because we heard concerning reports regarding Mr. Lee." He turned his sharp gaze to me. "As a board, it is vital that we are updated on every major executive decision you make. Please enlighten us about your current marital status."

Out of the corner of my eye, my stepmother shifted eagerly in her chair, holding her breath as she waited for my inevitable denial.

Keeping my face completely emotionless, I leaned forward and spoke into my microphone. "Everything you hear regarding my personal life that has not been explicitly revealed by my personal assistant or me should not be held into consideration."

Several board members furrowed their brows in frustration. Beside me, Chairman Lee locked his intense eyes onto mine, trying to read whatever I was hiding.

Visibly confused by my calm reaction, my stepmother chimed in, putting on her best fake-sweet tone. "As a board, we are collectively just worried about your image, Sunjae. Hearing news like that out of nowhere is shocking. We're simply concerned about how these wild rumors might affect shareholder confidence during such a critical quarter."

Beneath the table line, she sneakily glided her finger over my father's hand, prompting him to back her up.

Right on cue, my father spoke up. "Son, the board simply wants stability. Perhaps you could clarify the situation directly so we can move forward confidently."

I took a deep breath as I slowly scanned every single board member, knowing exactly which ones had already been thoroughly bought and influenced by my stepmother's corporate schemes.

"Thank you for your concern," I replied smoothly. "However, just as I stated earlier, anything not confirmed explicitly by my own mouth should not be considered-"

"Then why did you reject the merger between Hwaon and Daehan?"

Chairman Lee's booming voice cut through the microphone, shattering my sentence. My eyes almost widened in genuine shock, and a collective gasp rippled through the room as everyone turned their heads toward the head of the table.

"Give this board a detailed explanation as to why you would single-handedly reject Daehan's proposal to marry their eldest daughter?" the Chairman demanded, his gaze piercing into mine.

The tension in the room instantly intensified, turning suffocatingly thick. I had known my grandfather would confront me about walking out on Chaewon, but I never expected him to drag it out into the light here, in front of the entire voting board.

I clenched my jaw tight as I froze. Instinctively, I reached into my pocket to grab my pen. My brain was firing as it ached to hear the clicking sounds.

However, before I could pull out my pen, Taeho quietly stepped forward from behind me and slid a single sheet of paper onto the desk in front of me. My eyes immediately locked onto three words scrawled in his handwriting: Soul vs. Scale.

The words pulled me right back to my senses.

I took in a deep breath and interlocked my hands, "I know what this merger means on paper. I've read every projection in this room. I'm not here to argue the numbers because the numbers aren't the problem. The problem was what we're being asked to trade them for."

I leaned forward, looking directly at the board members. "The Daehan Group builds things to scale. We build things to last. Those are not the same thing. They have never been in the same thing. And putting our name beside theirs doesn't bridge that gap; it is a disadvantage to both of us. "

One of the senior board members cleared his throat uncomfortably, while a few others broke out into urgent whispers. At the head of the table, my grandfather's brow twitched slightly.

"Grandfather, you didn't build Elyvion to be absorbed. You built it to mean something. That meaning is not something you can mindlessly dispose of. You can't restructure it, and you can't rebrand around it. The moment we merge with a group that doesn't believe in our vision, we don't acquire their scale. We lose our souls. And once that's gone, no margin recovers it."

Glancing down at the paper again, my eyes caught the final word Taeho had scrawled at the very bottom of the page:

Reveal

Clenching my fists beneath the table, a subtle, dangerous smirk crossed my face. I decided right then and there to show them exactly how many steps ahead I truly was.

"The moment we step out of this building, the press will be officially notified about my upcoming wedding," I declared, my voice echoing through the microphone.

Instantly, the boardroom erupted. Everyone broke out into loud, chaotic whispers while several executives gasped openly. Right across from me, my father and stepmother's eyes widened in complete, pale-faced shock at the sudden news. At the head of the table, my grandfather's jaw clenched to the point of breaking.

I looked directly at my stepmother, letting a dangerous, victorious smile touch my lips before delivering the final blow.

"Because I will be getting married in a month."