Chapter 5: The Art Of Fishing.

Jung’s Mansion.

Ae Ra’s POV.

"I was able to dissuade the shareholders from holding the meeting. I informed them of your absence and they agreed to reschedule the meeting but they were not pleased by this. The reporters are still out staking, but in due time they will have to leave." Him-Chan informed us as he took a stand next to Chairman Jung.

He exhaled deeply. "Thank you, Him-Chan. You have been most helpful."

"It's not a problem sir. The least I can do for you is do my job well." He cast a glance at me.

I tried not to take offence at his accusatory tone because I understood how bad it looked. Thankfully, I was much better since we left the office. The anxiety that had swelled within me had reduced drastically and my head was clearer than ever.

"I understand how this looks and why you'd think I did my work poorly," I paused to stare at Him-Chan before refocusing my attention on Chairman Jung. "But, this was not my doing, sir."

He looked away from me. "I want to believe that you would never do this to me but the things that transpired between us were aired to the public eye. What am I to believe when the evidence points to you?"

I twiddled my thumbs behind my back, he was right. Before now, the rumours were groundless but now that there's a false article in the name of the company, it's a whole different news. Him-Chan cleared his throat loudly, bringing me out of my train of thought.

His gaze was cold and untrusting. "If you can't defend yourself, why should he listen to you?"

I pinched the inside of my palms. "Because I'd never lie to him, especially not about something as important as this. I understand that you're being protective but he is just as important to me as he is to you." I held myself back from snapping at him.

"The article was in your name!" Chairman Jung slammed his fist on the sofa, eyes ablaze.

My heart sank as I realised that he did not believe me. It was like a knife to my heart to see how little he trusted me. Was the father-daughter relationship we had a figment of my imagination?

Hurried footsteps crashed into the room in a disorderly frenzy. There was a flurry of action from her right foot slipping out of her heels, to her shopping bags flying all over the place and finally, her lost balance as her feet tangled in a shopping bag.

She yelped loudly and squeezed her eyes shut, ready to brace the impact of her fall but Him-Chan was quick to run to her side and catch her. Saving her from what would have been a painful fall. "Mrs Jung!"

She pried her eyes open in surprise while gripping his biceps tightly as though her life depended on it... well, it kind of did.

Her small face was covered by her tortilla-coloured curls. "Him-Chan" she breathed.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" He asked.

"Y-yes, thank you." She responded shyly.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and immediately let go of her petite body as if her touch burnt him.

Her honey-brown eyes looked everywhere but at him, as she adjusted her Tadashi Shoji sequin gown.I shook my head playfully as she sorted herself out, Mrs. Jung. She could be a bit clumsy but she was a sweetheart who genuinely cared for Chairman Jung and his children.

However, she was much younger than The Chairman and because of the 10-year age difference between the couple, people often called her a gold digger but the snide remarks never took her smile away.

"Honey, I saw the news! Please tell me you're not sick," She threw herself at him with a loud wail.

He looked at her lovingly. "Darling, please calm down. It's nothing more than a misunderstanding. I'm as healthy as I can be." He chuckled as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Not a single sick bone in me." He reassured her.

She pulled away from his embrace with teary eyes. "A-are you sure?" She held his face softly. "Really sure?" She let her hands fall to his hand and clasped them in hers.

He smiled at her affectionately and wiped her tears away tenderly. "I promise I'm fine." He kissed her forehead. "Please don't cry, darling. It breaks my heart to see your beautiful face covered with tears.

She wiped her eyes as she exhaled a shaky breath. "What a relief," she sniffed. "I do not know what I would do if you were sick. I can't stand the thought of you ever leaving me and the kids."

He rubbed her hand tenderly. "I'll be here till we're both old and wrinkly." She closed her eyes and buried her head in his chest. His smile faltered, the sadness in his eyes was unmistakable yet all he did was smile at his wife.

I looked away from the couple, it felt like I was intruding on a very private moment between the two. Him-Chan looked even more uncomfortable than I did, his eyes were glued to the ground. Will I ever have this moment?

Or will I work for the Chairman till I retire, adopt a cat and spend the remainder of my life watching dramas and drooling over K-pop artists? Hmm, that's not a completely bad idea actually. I'd be rich so I could attend all the concerts of my favourite artists in the world!

She cleared her throat loudly bringing me out of delusional thoughts. "Suddenly I feel embarrassed. I am sorry for interrupting." She apologised as she stood.

"You don't have to apologize," Him-Chan responded as he assisted her to put her heels back on.

"Please, pretend we were never here, ma'am." He added as he handed her shopping bags to her.

She smiled as she took them from him. "Thank you." She bade us goodbye and exited the room. We remained silent until the sound of her heels faded away.

The sound of her... heels!

That's it!

I've been so distracted with everything going on that I forgot to mention what happened yesterday. With a newfound surge of energy, I stepped forward. "Yesterday, someone was listening in on us!" I boomed.

"Then why didn't you tell us about it?" Him-Chan asked almost accusingly. "I didn't say anything because I didn't see who it was." I defended myself.

"Minho, the marketing manager and his team were also there. Did they see anyone?" His voice was filled with doubt and I'm not going to lie, it kind of ticked me off.

I kissed my teeth in annoyance, this would only give him more reign over me but nevertheless, I told the truth. "They didn't. I could have caught up with whoever it was if I had noticed sooner but I was out of it after learning of Chairman Jung's health situation."

"You were distracted by what you learnt of the Chairman, you may have imagined it. Especially since no one else saw whoever it is you imagined you saw." He concluded.

I balled my hands into fists, his face was very punchable right now. "What is your problem? Why are you so hell-bent on me being the one behind this?!" I snapped, unable to take his jabs any further.

"No one else knows aside from us and it makes no sense that the article came at such a time. You expect me to believe it's just a coincidence?"

"That's enough Him-Chan." Chairman Jung cut in. "Ae Ra wouldn't do that, she cares too much about me and the company to do something that would jeopardise us."

My heart melted at his words, the hurt from earlier was still there but I was relieved to know that the love and trust we shared was not a figment of my imagination.

"I had a momentary lapse in judgement. I am sorry about my earlier harsh words, I should have known better."

I broke into a smile. "It's completely understandable that you'd think that way. Anyone would do the same if they were in your shoes." I was glad that he trusted me enough to consider my innocence in all this.

Him-Chan cleared his throat. "I too would like to apologise for not giving you the benefit of the doubt." He mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

Him-Chan was the most level-headed person I have ever met in my life. He rarely ever had an expression on his face, I don't think I've ever seen the rigid man smile. He's concise, painfully concise and keeps to himself at all times.

He's only ever broken out of character twice. Yesterday when we argued about The Chairman and now. I can't even be mad at him if I wanted to, not because he isn't an asshole for how he's accusing me but because he's so worried about the Chairman that it can't be hidden.

I smiled at him, "It's fine." He may have taken things a little too far but I understood him.

"Then, do you have any idea who could have done this?" He asked with a frown. "Honestly, I have no idea," I answered truthfully.

"It's odd that the shareholders appeared when the news was being aired and not after. They shouldn't have been able to arrive as quickly as they did." He muttered. "So it must be someone with enough power to control the board and get them to move even when there was no technical reason for them to," I chimed in.

"Yes, but there is the possibility that it was the culprit that just tipped the shareholders. And seeing as they were already on edge they easily bought the news." He continued. "That would most likely be the case. The shareholders are far too busy to scheme something like this in the first place." I admitted. I could not picture any of them doing this.

"It could be a mole working for our competitors. It's pretty common in big corporations like ours." He sighed as he crossed his arms. I bit my bottom lip and tapped my feet. The only people who had the power to pull the board at will were Mrs Kwon and Mrs Shin. The mole must have tipped either one or both of them.

However, questioning those women was completely out of the picture. They weren't people that could be reasoned with and I find Mrs Shin too terrifying to even hold eye contact with her.

"All we have to do is check the security footage and we'll have proof of whoever it was," Him-Chan suggested.

"I already asked for the footage, there was some excuse about it not catching anything from yesterday." My shoulders sagged defeatedly.

"The footage doesn't exist?" Chairman Jung chuckled. He seemed amused by this and it sent chills down my spine.

"Release a statement debunking the news from earlier. Make sure every rumour concerning my health so far is taken down. Let it be known that we are working with the police to catch the person behind the false information spread under Ae Ra's name and will charge for damages to the company. Have the PR team take down every rumour concerning my son and make an announcement about him taking over the CEO position."

"Understood, sir." Him-Chan acknowledged.

"Do you think this is enough to draw out the moles?" I asked.

"It may not be enough to draw them out but there's someone else that'd be rattled by the news." Chairman Jung responded as he leaned into his recliner.

"The reporter!" He's the one that's most likely to take the fall for everything so he'd be the easiest to get to confess.

He smirked. "Have you ever gone fishing, Ae Ra?" He asked. "Never, sir," I answered, a little confused by the change in topic. "You see when you go fishing worms are good for catching small fish. But when you want to catch something bigger, you use another fish to bait the much bigger fish. That is what the reporter is."

"He's our bait.”