CHAPTER 288: I’M AFRAID WE CAN’T DO THAT, SIR

Seo-Jun kissed the top of my head and then my cheek, chomping on it like I was a dumpling even though my cheeks weren’t that full.

And then, he pulled away.

"Jo-Pil," he softly grazed his fingers over my hand. "I’m sorry if there’s something that worries you." He said. "And I don’t seem competent enough to help you lighten that worry."

"No, no, you’re competent enough," I said. "It’s just for this problem, I can only solve it by myself," I said, still not revealing what was weighing on my mind. "I just need time to get clear and nothing more."

He looked at me for a short while and then said something totally unrelated to our situation.

"Jo-Pil, you’re pretty."

The sudden compliment caused my heart to skip and I shot my head up, looking at him. What was that for?

My face blushed a light shade of pink.

Was he seriously trying to mess with me right now?

Seeing my reaction, it looked like his worries were lightened a bit and he stifled a laugh.

"I guess you’re still there." He said and I raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

But he didn’t say anything, and walked towards his desk, his eyes and his lips smiling in delight and laughing within. I just know he was laughing at me within, that bastard.

Ahem, language.

Gosh, I even tried to make sure he didn’t worry about my unnecessary thoughts by not telling him. Is this how he repays me?

"You can come in now." He said, balancing on his super comfortable office chair with wheels and a rotating ability, and the door opened up.

I turned my head and found the assistant and secretary who were in the car with us walking in.

The assistant held a pile of papers as he followed the secretary who merely held a notepad with Seo-Jun’s schedules listed down.

As they walked in, they bowed their heads towards me lightly in respect and then moved on till they were in front of Seo-Jun.

"Sir, the morning meeting is about to begin." The secretary, known as Min-Jae, said, and the assistant behind him was known as Yong-hwa.

For minor side characters who rarely appeared in the novel, they looked quite capable and their names were noticeable. But what would you expect from people working directly under one of the four Alphas?

Hm, but Go-Ahn looks rather miserable compared to these guys. Maybe because he has to endure Min-Cheol’s tantrum at that point. I’ve never seen him after that, but for him to do something so boldly despite knowing Min-Cheol’s tantrum... He was probably very capable as well.

I shook my head. Let’s stop evaluating their characters and focus on what’s in front of me.

"Ugh, I just got here," Seo-Jun complained, as expected. "Can’t we move it back for like an hour?"

"I’m afraid we can’t do that, sir," Min-Jae said. "This is a very important meeting, and afterwards, you need to personally conduct an inspection on the prototype on the seventh floor, as discussed the previous day. Your schedule is too tight to consider pushing anything back for an entire hour."

Seo-Jun frowned, displeased but it looked like he wouldn’t do anything about it. More like he couldn’t do anything about it. It was a fixed schedule after all.

Min-Jae didn’t look like someone who would be intimidated by threats anyway. He was a competent secretary who wouldn’t bend over just because his boss threatened him.

He’s doing all this for his boss after all.

He lives up to his name. Clever and capable.

"And here, boss." The assistant said, dropping the huge pile of papers on his desk. "These are the files you need to go through."

"The hell?! Why paper?!" Seo-Jun frowned, very displeased. "We’re a computer company and yet we can’t do this on a computer?"

"It’s because each of these needs your signature and stamp and will be distributed right away. If we use a computer for this, the process will seem inauthentic and such documents could be easily forged. That’s why you’ll need to sign manually." The assistant, Yong-Hwa wasn’t falling behind either.

He was precise and didn’t bend his back over even though his boss was very intimidating.

"Argh," Seo-Jun looked frustrated. It looked like he hated working with paper more than anything. "Fine, fine. When do I need to get them ready?" He asked.

"Before the end of the day, sir," Yong-Hwa said.

"But as for now, we need to leave for the meeting hall, sir," Min-Jae said and Seo-Jun nodded, though it looked like he wished he could just brush everything aside.

He looked up at me, my eyes keenly fixed on what he was going to do next, and trying not to lose face, he decided to act completely competent.

"Alright, I got it." He said and stood up. "We’ll head to the meeting now."

He walked out of the desk and approached me.

"Jo-Pil," he said.

"Yes?"

My tone sounded too casual to assume I was someone under him. It was almost like I had been given the right to be equal with him.

Well, it didn’t concern them what their Boss did anyway.

"I’m going to get very busy now." He said and I nodded. "So I’ll leave you here for now. Once Hae-Jin gets here, you can walk around. But in the meantime, you have to remain here. Are we clear?"

Wait, he was leaving me alone in his office?

My eyes screamed that question and he read it.

"You look shocked. What? You don’t want to stay here?" He asked. Could he hear himself? He wanted to leave me in a place where there were a lot of company secrets and whatnot.

"Of course I don’t want to," I said and he laughed. Please, this isn’t a laughing matter.

"You don’t have to worry about anything, Jo-Pil. It’s not like you plan to wreck me, is that right?"

"And what if I do?" The question suddenly blurted out of my lips, as if I had intended that from the beginning but I was just pushing him to the edge. "What if I snoop around and then when you come back, you don’t see me anymore? What if I steal something?"

Seo-Jun stayed silent for a while and then burst into a hearty laughter.

"What... What’s so funny?" I asked, feeling pressured when he lowered his head and looked into my eyes.

"It’s nothing. I’ve just... Never heard a thief giving away their plans before." He said and I pumped my cheeks, realizing that was even more uncalled for. He smirked.

That handsome face was too close to mine.

"And besides," he pushed his head back and shrugged. "You won’t do anything like that. The Jo-Pil I know doesn’t care about what goes on in our companies anyway. And..." He met my eyes. "I trust you a lot."

Trust? Why could he say he trusted me so much just after spending a meager amount of time together?

Was that short moment enough for him to open up to me completely and give me his expensive trust?

Trust... In this novel... Was a harsh concept.

Especially towards the Alphas who always had to live watching their backs and their surroundings, putting up a facade and never knowing who was who.

Trust... Was something they could not afford to have. Not even towards family members. And yet he claims to trust me?

Is this a joke?

"Are you... Messing with me right now?" I asked him and he looked at me.

My expression had fallen and I looked rather upset, my hands trembling as I gripped my pants.

"You trust me?"

"Yes, I do." He said. "Is it that hard to believe?"

"Very."

"Gosh, Jo-Pil." He exclaimed and then squatted down, his hand on his face as if trying to cover whatever expression he had on his face but that wasn’t enough to hide it since his fingers were spread across his face and those eyes... They looked like they had seen something remarkable.

What was he doing right now?

I looked at his assistant and secretary. Weren’t they going to try and drag him off or something? And drag me off as long. I don’t want to stay here alone and then get framed for tampering with something later.

That’s how the plot always goes, you know.

"Jo-Pil, when I asked you to trust me, what did you say?" He suddenly asked him.

"I... I’ll try," I said, stuttering a bit and somehow mimicking my exact response.

"And right now, do you think you trust me more than at the beginning?" He asked. "If you didn’t, I’m sure you’d never want to be in a space alone with me, right?"

He was right. The trust I had in him had increased to the point that I wouldn’t be scared if he were standing at my back while watching my bare body.

I nodded and then he laughed.

"So, what’s so wrong with me trusting you as well?" He asked and my eyes widened. "When I asked you to trust me, Jo-Pil, I was already prepared to trust you completely."