Today I Met The Girl I'm Going To M... - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

After an eternity or what feels like an eternity my dad starts to guide Jennie and 'Douche Boy' into the boardroom. Oh, right, I renamed Hanbin 'Douche Boy' or D.B. for short, because I think the name suits him better. Yeah, yeah, I don't know a thing about D.B., but he's got his grubby paws all over Jennie and for that reason alone I don't like him.
My dad opens the door for Jennie and I suck in a deep breath to prepare myself for our first official meeting. My heart picks up some serious speed and I wonder if the thumping I hear in my ears can be heard by anyone else in the room.
I'm just waiting for our eyes to come in contact because I'm sure when they do, Jennie will have the same reaction to me that I had to her. It's inevitable right? I mean there's no way that I would be the only one feeling what I'm feeling.
Once the three of them are inside the boardroom a shiver runs down my spine. My focus is on Jennie and Jennie only and nothing is going to distract me from what is about to happen.
I frown when I notice that Jennie is too busy staring at Hanbin to even look in my direction. She's not following the script and it's bothering me.
What script you ask?
You know, she'll slowly look towards me and if this was a movie, the background music would reach its crescendo right as her brown orbs meet my blue ones. Then, Jennie will dump D.B. right then and there, right before she declares her undying love for me.
What? It could happen!
I'm going stir crazy from the anticipation and I guess I'm not being too subtle about it either because Rosé whispers to me, "Down girl, you don't want to scare her away."
My fists ball at my side but I don't say anything back because I don't want to take the chance that Jennie will look over at me while I'm beating my friend up and our perfect moment will be ruined.
"This is my son Bobby." My dad says to Jennie . Bobby stands up to shake Jennie's hand but my dad isn't done with the introductions yet. He smiles warmly at Jennie and then at my brother. "And this Jennie Kim, the next big thing."
Jennie's cheeks turn pink and if I thought her nose crinkle was adorable, it's nothing compared to how she looks right now. "Mr. K, you sure know how to make a girl blush."
I melt inside. Aw, she already has a nickname for my father, how cute is that! If that's not a sign that we're meant to be together, I don't know what is.
Bobby takes Jennie's hand and turns it over. "Enchante." He coos before he kisses the back of her hand. I swear if he weren't gay my fist would have connected with his face. Jennie giggles, which I guess is an ok reaction but then she turns to D.B and they start making eyes at each other again.
Gag. Me. With. A. Spoon!
Ugh, I'm about two seconds away from causing a scene but luckily my common sense is winning out...so far.
"Hi I'm Hanbin," D.B. says in a deep manly voice that Bobby seems to get a kick out of.
He winks at Bobby before shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you, it's an absolute pleasure." D.B. doesn't look comfortable with the attention Bobby is giving him and now I have another reason to hate his stupid face. He's obviously a macho, homophobic jerk and for the life of me I can't understand what Jennie sees in him.
I'm too busy hating Hanbin in my head to realize that the attention is now on me.
"This is my daughter, Jisoo." My dad says.
I snap out of my daze and I swear I can feel my heart about to leap out of my chest. I jump to my feet, this is what I've been waiting for, when everything is going to come together like it should.
Kim Jisoo this is your destiny.
I am in such a rush to have contact with Jennie that it doesn't register in my head that my pant leg is caught underneath the bottom of my chair before it's too late.
I only make very brief eye contact with Jennie until possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to me happens.
Over dramatic? You be the judge.
I push my chair back so fast, with my one pant leg still caught under the wheel, that I end up in a heap on the floor with my face planted in the plush carpet.
"Oh my god are you ok?" Someone asks, but I'm in such shock that I can't even tell you who it was that spoke.
It dawns on me what just occurred and that's when I hit panic mode.
I just wiped out in front of Jennie.
She's going to think I'm a clumsy idiot.
This is so not turning out how it should be.
I need to get out of this room and I need to get out now.
Abort! Abort! Abort!
"I told you we fall all over ourselves when it comes to our clients." My dad jokes. I'd sleep with one eye open tonight old man if I were you!
I finally force myself to look up and when I do, I see Rosé looking down on me. She seems to be on the cusp of laughing but being the sort of good friend that she is, she's controlling herself.
Bobby on the other hand never misses a chance to make fun of me. "The fall itself was good but I'm going to have to deduct points for the landing."
The room explodes in laughter and I pray the floor will open and swallow me up whole.
I contemplate crawling out of the room before I have a chance to embarrass myself further and that's when I hear a raspy and sexy might I add, voice address me.
"If it makes you feel any better I fall all the time." Jennie says and I melt inside again. Aw, she's trying to comfort me, how sweet!
I can't let her nice gesture be for nothing so I smooth my clothes out and stand up. I slowly lift my head as I prepare to redeem myself by hopefully making a better second impression than my first. I tilt my head to one side, a move that I perfected years ago and I'm just about to bat my eyelashes at her when she jumps a little.
"I'm so sorry, just give me second." Jennie apologizes as she reaches inside her jean pocket and grabs her cell phone. She rushes out the room to take the call making me audibly sigh.
Damn! Foiled again!
I wonder who I pissed off in a former life to deserve this cruel twist of fate.
D.B. sticks his fugly man hand in front of me. "Hi, I'm Hanbin."
I feel nauseous again but for the sake of appearances I smile and shake that dick's hand. "Nice to meet you."
Jennie comes back into the boardroom and I prepare myself to finally have some sort of moment with her when my dad speaks up. "Jennie this is the other associate I was talking to you about, Rosé."
No! Why is he torturing me so? I like to think of myself as a good daughter but that doesn't seem to matter to him. Before I can say "Hanbin is a dunghole," Jennie's attention is already on my friend.
"Nice to meet you." She says as she reaches over to shake Rosé's hand.
"Likewise." Rosé purrs seductively.
Oh no she didn't! She did not just use her sexy voice on Jennie, how fucking rude! I'm so bloody frustrated that when I'm sure nobody is paying attention to me I hoof my foot right at Rosé's ankle to punish her for daring to address my wife to be like that. Rosé doesn't verbalize her pain but the death stare she gives me after she finishes greeting Jennie makes me smile.
"Now that we have the introductions out of the way, let's all take a seat." My dad orders.
"Don't miss the chair." Bobby giggles making me wonder where I should bury is body after I kill him.
My face burns and my only hope is that Jennie is looking somewhere else. I take a chance and glance in her direction, nope, as luck would have it she's staring directly at me. I flinch at the intensity of her eyes, on instinct and without even realizing it, I tilt my head and smile. She smiles back and even though there's no nose crinkle I die a little inside. After a few seconds Jennie breaks our stare but I don't mind, I know she felt something when she locked eyes with mine, that I'm sure of.
My dad starts his sales pitch on why we should be the firm to represent Jennie's budding career but I'm not paying attention. I can't tear my eyes away from Jennie's stunningly beautiful face throughout his entire pitch.
She seems to be concentrating on what he's saying but I just have a feeling she's secretly replaying the last few seconds in her head like I am.
"You might want to take a picture, it lasts longer." Rosé whispers to me. I snap my head in her direction and give her the evilest eye I can muster. "Don't think I won't get you back for almost breaking my ankle." She warns but I'm not afraid...much.
"Next time don't try and make a move on my girl." I whisper back. It's odd you know, I'm not usually so aggressive but for some reason Jennie has brought this side of me out. Then again I've never reacted to anyone like I've reacted to Jennie. Now all I need to do is hatch a plan to get her all to myself.
Rosé rolls her eyes, "Jesus Christ Jis don't you think you're overreacting just a little. Seriously, you don't even know her."
"First of all, you swore so now you owe a dollar to the swear jar." I exclaim triumphantly. Initially I was against counting 'Jesus Christ' as an offensive expression but now I'm glad I lost that fight. "Secondly, just watch me bring out the Jisoo Kim charm. Jennie doesn't stand a chance." It's a pretty bold statement to make considering how much of a fool I've made out myself so far, but, I'm feeling braver than I should under the circumstances and that's better than berating myself for my big wipeout.
"Oh my god would you two shut up." Bobby interjects. "You're distracting me from gawking at Hanbin."
My dad clears his throat rather loudly and the three of us immediately sit up straighter, no pun intended, in our seats. "As I was saying, while we may not the biggest firm out there I can assure you Jennie that what we lack in size we make up for in personal attention."
Oh yeah, I can give her all the personal attention she can handle!
"I understand that this is a big decision for you and if you give us a chance you'll be in very good hands." He continues.
Damn, what I would give to have Jennie in my hands, I can only fantasize about the possibilities.
Jennie is about to respond when Rosé's assistant sticks her head into the boardroom. "I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting but I need to have a word with Ms. Park."
Rosé apologizes to Jennie and then she gets up and leaves.
Jennie furrows her brow and I can almost see the wheels turning in her head.
"Mr. K, you've definitely given me a lot to think about but I need some time to mull my decision over." Jennie declares and I can see how disappointed my dad is.
"I understand and if there's anything..."
My dad's rebuttal is cut short when Rosé comes flying back into the room. "Uhm sorry but Mr. Kim I need you, it's a code red."
Code red...that's never a good thing.
"Right, Jennie please think what I have to say over and I'll call you tomorrow." My dad says quickly before he flies out into the hall.
Jennie looks confused and I don't blame her.
"Oh my god." Bobby girlishly squeals. "I just have to find out what happened." He stands ups quickly and gives D.B. the once over on his way out. "Toodles!"
I snicker at him until it hits me that the only people left in our meeting are me, Jennie and he-who-shall-not-be-named.
Time to salvage both my dignity and the business deal that will allow me to see Jennie on a regular basis.
"I am so sorry about that." I say as I look apologetically at Jennie.
"What's a code red?" She asks as she reaches for Hanbin's hand.
Ok, I need to not react to that or else I'm likely to make an ass out of myself again. "It means that one of our clients has just found themselves in the middle of a big scandal." I tilt my head yet again. "But of course I couldn't give you specifics because we take our clients' privacy very seriously." She seems impressed by that and I do a little victory dance in my mind.
"I completely understand." Jennie replies.
I lean forward in my chair, "I know this meeting hasn't gone exactly as my dad planned." I wait a few beats, "although I did fall at your feet to make a good impression." Yes! Jennie laughs at my wittiness and the nose crinkle is back. Now it's time to go for the kill. "The office is going to be pretty chaotic while we handle this crisis. Why don't we meet for dinner later so I can have the chance to woo you in style." I add another head tilt for good measure.
Jennie is hesitant, "I don't know..."
"I think that's a great idea babe." Hanbin says. Shoot, I'd forgotten he was still here, wait a tick, he's actually agreeing with me, maybe I misjudged him.
"Can Hanbin come with?" Jennie inquires.
No!! No! No, a thousand times no I want to scream.
"Don't you remember, I have to meet up with the guys tonight, but you should go." Hanbin tells her and it's official, I love him!
Jennie glares at Hanbin and the two of them seem to be having this whole conversation with their eyes.
I wonder what that's about?
"So what do you say?" I ask hopefully.
Please universe, please let her say yes.
"Sure, I don't see the harm in that." Jennie replies, albeit it appears her reply comes with some reluctance.
I don't blame her mind you, but who cares, she said yes and I nearly pump my fist in triumph.
We work out the details of where we're going to meet and settle on a time. I can't quite read the expression on her face but I'm confident that tonight I'll be able to charm the pants off of Jennie.
No, not like that, it's just an expression.
The pants removal can wait, not for too long though.
"I'll see you at eight o'clock." Jennie says to me right as her and Hanbin are leaving.
"Absolutely." I grin. "It's a date!" Oops, I didn't mean it to sound like that.
Jennie looks like she's about to change her mind and I nearly pass out. "Sure, uhm a date."
Whew, that was close.
I make every effort to appear innocent, yet stunning, as I walk the soon to be exes to the elevator. I wave as the doors close and when Jennie is no longer in sight I finally exhale.
Needles to say our first meeting didn't go exactly as I would have liked.
On the bright sight though I will be seeing her again soon, without out anyone else around to bother us.
My face falls though when I hit panic mode again.
I'm going to be alone with Jennie Kim.
I run into my office, grab my purse and keys and hightail it out of the office so I can deal with the big problem I'm now facing.
What the hell am I going to wear for our date?
Our date!
If everything goes the way I hope it does, I'm certain tonight will be a night that Jennie and I will never forget.