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tinystarryeyes · 8 hours ago

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Angel Investor - Chapter 4

Word count: 3.4k

Warning: slight angst

The third year into your tenure at Hwaseong, and you’ve been given a new responsibility - office building hunting. With the projects of the previous year taking off, Hwaseong finally cracked into the hundreds of millions in market capitalisation, and began hiring more technicians, coders and analysts. The little back office by the warehouse wasn’t enough, so now the search was on.

Seonghwa dropped by your office one day, with an idea for the building you should visit. He drove you two to one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city that had put up half its floors for sale.

“Don’t you think this is nice?” Seonghwa asked as he stood by one of the floor to ceiling windows that had a view of the nearby river and restaurants.

“I suppose I could see this as having potential, be a sort of growth investment for us, but buying up half a building is not necessary for our current workforce,” you explained, standing beside him.

A half smirk formed on Seonghwa’s lips. “And is that coming from you or one of those analysts Mingi hired?”

You and Mingi were the co-heads of the financial and accounting departments now, so naturally hiring and recruitment was to be decided by you two, but you’d told Mingi to hire who he wants and that you’ll think about recruitment later.

“Mingi is the type of man who wants to help you out because he knows you’re happier when things are easier for you,” you said. “That’s why he hired people for me so I wouldn’t have to lift a finger.”

“I didn’t know Mingi was your type.” Seonghwa playfully nudged you with shoulder, making you playfully glare at him before laughing.

“He’s right though,” Seonghwa then said more thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen you take a day off and it’s been three years. You work a lot.”

“So do you,” you said, turning to face him. The window glass softly diffused light across Seonghwa’s beautiful face, and a small part of you wanted to reach up and trace his features. “You still visit the labs and talk to the people on the ground, you attend more symposiums, conventions and other events and somehow still have time for Lego.”

Seonghwa’s eyes widened at the mention of Lego. “You knew? Wait does that mean you’re the one who…”

For Christmas last year, the executive team planned to do secret Santa. Yunho had your name - you knew because Mingi asked you what you wanted from your secret Santa and Yunho gave that exact item to you. You originally had Wooyoung, but ended up swapping secret Santa’s with San who gave you Seonghwa’s name.

“San actually personally offered to take me to the Lego store you know,” you explained. “I chose the Star Wars set myself, and San double checked to make sure you didn’t already own it”

Something more than recognition flickered on Seonghwa’s face. Of course San had some tricks up his sleeve. “Well I guess that explains why he kept coming into my house a lot before Christmas.”

You laughed. “Say what you want but he’s actually a pretty sweet guy."

Seonghwa’s tongue darted out between his teeth as he grinned. “You know, that’s twice you’ve told me my friends are nice today. Twice within the same 10 minutes. Are you trying to tell me something there?”

“Oh my god.” You gaped at him. “Hwa!” You whined and pouted, which Seonghwa only found funnier.

After three years together, you and Seonghwa (and the rest of his friends) had definitely crossed over from being colleagues to close friends. Seonghwa had heard about most things in your life - he knew you liked shopping at this one upscale dress store, he knew you had a scar on your thigh from a sports injury you got as a kid and he knew the contents of any arguments you had with your parents. Likewise, you’d also gotten to know him beyond his image as the man who regularly makes it onto magazine lists on the most handsome young CEOs. To you, he was a soft spoken and loveable nerd with a remarkable sense of fashion, and on a more personal note, he was someone who would do anything to make sure you were taken care of.

Seonghwa’s hand twitched beside him, eager to touch you - tap your nose, trace your lips, take your hand, just something. Seeing you without the halo of being a formidable businesswoman and CFO wasn’t new to Seonghwa. In the three years he’s known you, he’s seen almost all of your emotions. He liked to think it was a privilege that he knew the difference between the fire blazing in your eyes as you worked, and the way it dimmed to something soft and inviting when you were away from work.

This wasn’t a thought Seonghwa had alone though. He’d realised it after having dinner with Hongjoong one night. Hongjoong had said he admires how fierce you can be at work, how there’s a “fire in your eyes.” Seonghwa countered that as determined as you could be, you always looked at him with gentle and inviting eyes, and that you were actually an emotionally vulnerable person.

Hongjoong had given Seonghwa a pointed look then and scoffed. “Sometimes I really do think Wooyoung was right when he said y/n is too smart to be your girlfriend.” Hongjoong was referring to some off handed comment Wooyoung had made when you weren’t around, when the topic of everyone’s dating life came up.

Back at the dinner table, Seonghwa had scowled and said, “What does that have to do with anything?”

Hongjoong ignored him and shrugged. “Or maybe not, you both have been single ever since meeting each other.”

Satisfied with the viewing for a new office, you contacted the seller, Lee Minhyuk of Lee Group, and arranged to meet over dinner to finalise the deal in a few days. You and Seonghwa would be going together, so as usual, he picked you up from your house.

You greeted him at the door in a robe, hair still damp from your shower. By this year, you had moved out of your parents’ place, so you invited him in, gave him a glass of water, and let him get comfortable on your couch.

“Give me some time to get ready yeah?” You then said. Seonghwa smiled in understanding and you quickly dipped back into your bedroom.

Half an hour later, you emerged in a black floor length dress, with lace sleeves, and a shawl around your arms.

“How’s this?” You asked while still pulling at the fabric to make it sit more comfortably on you. You came and stood in front of Seonghwa, doing a quick twirl.

Seonghwa sat up a little straighter, and cleared his throat. “You look good,” he tried to say matter of factly.

You frowned, still looking down at your dress. “Still feels like it’s missing something. I need Minhyuk to like me subconsciously so that he says yes to the deal.”

Seonghwa placed his cup down on your table and walked around the table to stand in front of you.

“Your work speaks for itself y/n, you’ll be fine,” he reassured you.

You stopped fussing with your dress and looked up at him. Your hands came to rest in front of you, and Seonghwa picked one of them up. He held it above your head and flicked your wrist. You looked up at him questioningly.

“Spin,” he said.

You giggled at his antics but spun nonetheless. When your little spin was done, he pulled you back in, still holding your hand and while his gaze roamed over you. “The dress, the hair, the makeup… They’re lovely but it won’t change how amazing you are at what you do.”

You smiled shyly at the ground before meeting his gaze again. “So the outfit is okay? There’s nothing you would change?”

Seonghwa scanned your face for a few more seconds. He let go of your hand, brought his thumb to your lips, and gently ran it along the sides of your bottom lip, causing some of your lipstick to get on his finger.

“There. That’s better,” he said, as he examined the colour on his hand. “I like the colour by the way, is it new?”

“Uh yeah,” you said, slightly dazed by his touch.

“Hmm, I like it. Kind of want it on my lips now."

Seonghwa knew what that subtext meant. So did you. His gaze remained on your lips or a few more seconds.

You exhaled softly then smirked. “Ready to go?”

The hotel and private banquet hall booked for tonight was grandiose, as you should have expected from a man like Lee Minhyuk. Two seats were prepared for you and Seonghwa, who pulled out your chair and let you sit before taking his own seat.

“Good evening Mr Park,” Minhyuk said with a smile to Seonghwa as he reached out and shook his hand. Then he turned to you. “And you must be the famous y/n l/n.”

“Hi, pleasure to meet you,” you said politely, extending your hand.

Minhyuk took your hand and held it for a few seconds, rubbing his thumb over your skin. “The pleasure is all mine,” he said before letting go.

Seonghwa’s lip twitched as he watched, but he didn’t say anything. Once the three of you sat down, he removed the necessary documents from a briefcase and laid it all out on the table.

“How about we sign it after dinner is served?”

“Sounds good to me, Mr Park,” Minhyuk replied.

Attendants then quickly entered the room, handing out menus. As you looked over yours, Seonghwa leaned in to you, close enough to look at your own menu instead of his.

“W’s’it?” You murmured to him. What is it?

“N’rn,” he mumbled back. Nothing.

You hummed in agreement.

Seonghwa didn’t move away. “Seen anything you like?” He whispered properly.

You lowered your menu slightly to point out some of the dishes that intrigued you, still whispering, until Minhyuk’s voice interrupted you two.

“Order anything you want, Lee Group will take care of it.” Minhyuk then leaned forward to rest his chin on his hands and gave you a pointed look. “Miss y/n, what do you like to eat?”

You lowered your menu so you could look at Minhyuk. “I like to experiment, I like trying new food, so I am down for anything really.”

Minhyuk raised an eyebrow. “Bold words from such a young woman. Tell me, Miss y/n, would you like a recommendation?”

You briefly glanced at Seonghwa who was now deeply interested in his own menu. “Uh yeah sure?” You said with a chuckle.

Minhyuk grinned at your words. “I know it’s basic but try the steak. It’s a good way to tell if a chef is skilled, and you’ll see the people here are definitely skilled.”

Nodding as you took in the suggestion, you turned to Seonghwa. “Hwa, what do you think?”

Seonghwa put down his menu to give you his undivided attention. “If you’re stuck on what to order, I can always just order your second favourite, and we can split it.”

Minhyuk raised his hand, alerting one of the staff members to approach him. “Get the lady everything she wants, even if it’s the whole menu.”

A few days later, you arrived at the beautiful waterfront skyscraper Hwaseong purchased, ready for work. Walking into your new office, you found the entire executive team gathered around your desk.

“Guys? Is everything okay?”

Eight men turned around to look at you.

You pointed towards the large bouquet of roses that rested in the middle of your desk behind them. “And what is that?”

“Roses.” Yeosang deadpanned.

The eight executives watched as you walked to your desk and picked up the bouquet.

While you examined the flowers, Wooyoung explained, “It was delivered to the communications department.”

You closed your eyes and breathed in the scent of the roses. Opening them again, you glanced at him over the flowers and asked, “Mm so why bring it here?”

Somewhere at the back of the group, San started reciting, “To the prettiest flower in finance, congratulations on the move. I hope you get the nicest office in the building. If you’re free this week, I would love to see you for dinner. Here’s my number, please call me. I’ll see you soon."

“Huh? San, I already have your number,” you retorted.

San simply handed over a small card he was holding to Wooyoung, who then passed it along to you. The card had the words he’d just read, along with the sign off, “Yours, Lee Minhyuk.”

“I guess we should say congratulations on the boyfriend?” Wooyoung offered to fill the silence while you examined the card.

You returned the car and bouquet to your desk. “Lee Minhyuk isn’t my boyfriend,” you stated resolutely.

You folded your arms and leaned against your desk to look at the rest of the executives. “The man literally has my work email, why does he need to pass me notes like some fourth grader with a crush?”

Wooyoung’s lips curled in amusement as he took in your annoyed expression. “That’s because he’s precisely that,” he said.

A few chuckles sounded from the group and Wooyoung continued explaining.

“That little fourth grader, who happens to be from Lee Group and is one of the richest men in the country, has a crush on you...”

He poked your nose with his finger, then dragged his hand down to graze his knuckles along your jawline. “The prettiest flower in finance,” he quoted mockingly.

You slapped his hand away with a laugh. “Aw shut up Woo.” Then looking back at the flowers, you asked, “Are we sure these are for me? Shouldn’t it be Seonghwa getting something like this?”

“I am not the prettiest flower in finance, y/n,” Seonghwa said with a frown. He was standing at the back of the group, leaning against your desk with his arms folded and a stony expression.

Sighing, you picked up the card again, then reached for your phone. “Alright, I guess I’ll call him.”

You didn’t see the way Seonghwa’s lip quivered as he watched you enter the number into your phone, and how Yunho started rubbing Seonghwa’s arm comfortingly.

You and Minhyuk settled on having dinner a few days later. You agreed to meet him at an upscale restaurant owned by Lee Group that was completely empty so you two could enjoy your night in privacy. It was a casual dinner, nothing uncomfortable, and Minhyuk had a driver drop you off at home by 10pm.

The next morning, you and Jongho went to get morning coffee at a cafe across the street.

“How was dinner with Lee?” Jongho asked after you both ordered.

You scrunched your nose as you thought. “Good, I guess. He didn’t really have a direction for the meeting. He asked a little about what Hwaseong is working on, then he asked about my hobbies, travelling, my family, anything really. It was just a case of getting to know each other.”

Jongho sucked his teeth. “Sounds an awful lot like a first date.”

You shook your head, preparing to disagree, but then conceded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Jongho blinked, somewhat taken aback. “You know, I thought you’d try to disagree with me there,” he muttered. “But anyways, you think you’ll see him again?”

You shrugged. “I guess I wouldn’t mind, but it’s not like he asked for a second date.”

“Do you wish he did?”

Your reply came quickly, without hesitation. “Eh, not really, and I honestly don’t mind it that way.”

A week later, a Greek meze platter was delivered to Hwaseong. Hongjoong brought it to your office while simultaneously cursing Wooyoung who said he couldn’t be bothered to do it. The platter came with another note: “I was wondering when you would call, but you still haven’t. Maybe you like the notes more? Let’s do dinner again.”

There was no question who the gift was from. After scanning in the contents of the platter, your eyes widened. “He remembered.”

“Remembered what?” Hongjoong asked as he placed the platter on your desk and eyed some of the food.

Noticing his stare, you gestured for him to eat. With a shy giggle, he reached over and took a piece of cheese.

“Minhyuk asked where I wanted to travel to and I said Greece. And that is a Greek meze platter.”

Hongjoong slurped some melted cheese off his fingers. “So I am guessing he wants another date?”

“It was never a date,” you said, exasperated.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”

You kindly sent a message to Minhyuk explaining that this week, you didn’t have time for dinner, you were busy meeting some international clients and therefore had a unique schedule, to put it one way. One of these meetings involved you, Yunho, Seonghwa and Jongho meeting foreign sports stars at 3am at a high class jazz bar to discuss new additions to Yunho’s nanotech project that Jongho had developed.

With you and Jongho being big drinkers, along with some athletes who really just wanted to let loose, the bar tab was bound to be costly.

Once the meeting wrapped up, you and Yunho approached the counter to settle the bill.

Instead, you two were told, “Lee Group has already covered all of Miss L/n’s group’s tab.”

While you and Yunho exchanged a stunned look, Seonghwa walked up to you two. Resting a gentle and on your shoulder, his thumb rubbing a portion of bare skin revealed by your dress, he asked, “Is everything okay?”

Yunho answered. “Yeah. Just found out Lee Group covered our tab.”

Seonghwa’s hand fell away from your shoulder.

Hongjoong had been right. All eight of them had been right. You and Minhyuk did start dating, and it happened in a very public space.

Today, you and Seonghwa had attended a conference like usual — you with the makeup that Seonghwa thinks makes you have a post-sex glow, and Seonghwa in some sort of creatively modified suit that highlighted his every physical asset, of which there were many. Like that first time, you two always walked arm in arm, and there was a series of practised actions that moved like clockwork — Seonghwa pulls your chair out for you, then while you set up your note taking materials, he pours you both some water or fruit juice. You never had any alcohol at conferences. You also rarely spoke, instead letting Seonghwa pick out the perfect people for you to approach after their speeches based on the list of keywords and questions you slip to him.

But today, almost all of these rules were disrupted. Minhyuk sided up to you as soon as you and Seonghwa walked in together. He pulled out your seat before Seonghwa could, and had an attendant bring you a cocktail almost immediately, even though you declined it while Seonghwa poured your usual drinks.

Minhyuk placed it beside your water glass. “Keep it anyways. Now I gotta go, sweetheart,” he said, his fingertips trailing across your shoulders and making you shiver.

After the conference and speeches, you and Seonghwa stood up, ready to approach the list of allies he had helped you craft, but as soon as you two stepped away from your table, Minhyuk returned.

“Mr Park, can I borrow y/n for a minute?”

You turned to Seonghwa. His eyes roamed over your pretty face, pausing on your gently parted lips for a minute. His fingertips squeezed your arm tighter, like he was considering refusing, but then let go.

“I’ll still be here when you’re done.”

With his hand on your lower back, Minhyuk guided you to a balcony.

“Minhyuk, what did you want to talk about?”

Minhyuk stood in front of you and let his hand drag from your back to the side of your waist.

“You know, you don’t pull away from my touch anymore. You’ve gotten used to it,” he said.

You looked down, and saw he was right.

“Y/n, it makes me wonder. Will you pull away if I ask you what I want to ask?”

You brought your hand to his, and lifted it off you enough to slip your fingers in between his palm and your body.

Minhyuk watched you do this, your head still looking down. “Hey, look at me.” He placed his fingers under your chin.

“Wh-what is it?”

His thumb rubbed your lower lip, but instead of correcting your lipstick like Seonghwa used to, Minhyuk smudged it, causing your lip combo to bleed outside the lipliner you had expertly applied. He smiled, almost satisfied, then said, “I want to see you, y/n. I want us to date, properly.”

#ateez #park seonghwa #Seonghwa x reader #ateez x reader #park seonghwa x reader #ateez reader insert #ceo park Seonghwa #ceo seonghwa #ateez fluff #Seonghwa fluff #ateez slow burn #slow burn #x reader slow burn #corporate au

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tinystarryeyes · 15 hours ago

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Angel Investor Masterpost

Pairing: CEO! Seonghwa x CFO! Reader

Word count: 8k and counting

Warnings: more detail in each chapter but expect swearing, drinking and suggestive content eventually

Updates: twice weekly unless life gets busy

Author’s note: this was something I started writing during a boring meeting, and I actually have no idea how long it’s going to be

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 - releasing soon

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tinystarryeyes · 15 hours ago

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Angel Investor - Chapter 3

Word count: 3.7k

Warning: swearing

It had been a year since you started working full time at Hwaseong. By now, you had become the main negotiator with all investors, which finally gave Seonghwa a reprieve. There was something about drinking 18 coffees in 5 days and not getting enough sleep from both the coffee and the stress that he really didn’t miss.

While running Hwaseong, you also learned that most of its projects had incubation periods, but the company lacked options contracts that would allow them to stagger certain payments. The solution came to you one evening when Wooyoung happened to be in your office, running his mouth about some annoying vendors, and you told him that Hwaseong could simply find new ones.

So Wooyoung agreed to handle all official communication when contacting new vendors while you simply focused on the financial aspects. Two months later, you two had Mingi begrudgingly agree to pay a termination of contract fee for Yeosang’s old manufacturers. Then, you and Wooyoung practically gifted Yeosang an improved set of businesses to outsource his pacemaker design to.

Once Yeosang’s project came online, you channeled the profit into Yunho’s nanotechnology venture. This time, Mingi searched for the alternative manufacturers, because it was nearly tax time and you two needed to get your papers in order.

You were all really proud of this change that occurred in the company, but it put Seonghwa in a tough spot when he attended industry events.

“Why didn’t either of you think to mention that we’ve completely changed suppliers, manufacturers and literally every subcontractor we had?”

You knew Seonghwa’s words were directed at both you and Mingi, who still shared an office space with you, but his absence today meant you had to deal with Seonghwa alone.

“We uh thought you knew?” You said with a wince, looking up at him as he stood in front of your desk.

“Y/n,” he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “How will I know who to even greet at events if I don’t know who our allies are?”

“Allies? What is this, the resistance?” You almost giggled but Seonghwa’s stern gaze made it die in your throat.

Still, the joke wasn’t lost on him and Seonghwa’s lips twitched, like he was holding back a smile. He took Mingi’s chair and rolled it over to your table to sit beside you and look at your computer screen.

“Your Star Wars jokes are cute, but making me look like a fool isn’t.”

“When did I ever do that?” You asked, scooting slightly the side so Seonghwa could fit at your desk.

He ignored your question, instead jutting his chin towards your screen. “Show me the things you’ve done this year, coz y/n, I swear if you and Mingi make me go to another event where I don’t even know who to talk to and who to avoid, I’m going to lose it.”

You pulled up the spreadsheet and documents from the past year, detailing every new subcontractor and the new payments that were made.

“There’s a lot, take your time.”

And he did, only letting out the occasional hum of acknowledgement (you hoped it was an approving hum). As he read, his (Mingi’s) chair scooted closer to you. When he straightened up again, the sleeves of his shirt tickled the bare skin on your arms.

“I’m glad Hongjoong got you that gift card last year,” he murmured nodding towards your desk.

He was referring to the graduation gift Hongjoong gave you - a box of chocolates and a gift card to a furniture store with enough money to buy a desk for the office you shared with Mingi. As for your chair, Wooyoung had given you one of the nice chairs in the labs because “nuking your crappy plastic chair would make Seonghwa angry.”

“Yeah, it was sweet of him. Still doesn't beat your gift though.”

Seonghwa smirked while scrolling through yet another catalogue of payments.

As you watched him reading, you suggested, “If handling the allies is difficult for you…”

Seonghwa scoffed at your word choice.

You continued. “You could always send one of the engineers, maybe Yunho? They all know their separate subcontractors.”

“That may be so, but they’re not in executive positions like you, Mingi or Wooyoung. And I can’t send Mingi because it makes him anxious and I don’t want to find out what might happen if I send Wooyoung.”

You pursed your lips in thought, then said, “What about me?”

“What about you?”

You shrugged. “I’m in an executive position, and I know every single new supplier because I picked all of them.”

Seonghwa hummed but didn’t say anything, still occupied looking through a year's worth of financial reports.

A small gasp sounded from him. “When did Yeosang pull in 6 million in profit? He said it would be less than that.”

You leaned closer to Seonghwa so you could reach the computer mouse. Your arms pressed together, your face hovering just beside his shoulder, as you clicked through some screens to a summary you made on Yeosang’s pacemaker project.

“We changed manufacturers and that resulted in further improvements to his product. He said something about better electrical conductivity, but I’m not entirely sure, you’ll have to ask him.”

Seonghwa turned to look at you over his shoulder, his face filling your entire field of view. Smirking, he asked, “Are you saying you signed off on something without knowing what it was?”

“Um no it wasn’t like that…” you replied defensively, going so far as to dart your face away from him, and roll your chair away. “Yeosang would know what he was doing, he’s the one who okayed changing manufactures after Mingi paid the termination fee for the old manufacturer.”

“I see.”

You let Seonghwa flick through the remainder of your financial reports and other documents while you stayed a respectable distance away, busying yourself with texting Mingi about how he should get ready to explain the payment system to Seonghwa. Some time later, one long laboured sigh from beside you made you switch your phone off. You looked up to find Seonghwa slouched in his (Mingi’s) chair, the monitor blank since he shut down all the windows.

“Well? Any questions?”

He shook his head. “No, but…” he paused, straightening up and looking at you. “You deserve everything good in life. This is absolutely incredible.”

You laughed shyly at Seongwha’s words, your cheeks flushing.

“No, don’t just laugh at me, I am being serious! You’re literally the stuff dreams are made of.”

By the following month, you had conveniently forgotten about ever mentioning the possibility of you attending events with Seonghwa, until he asked to see you one morning. You breezed in to Seonghwa’s office just a little after 9am, wearing that bright smile Seonghwa recently found himself craving.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” He asked as soon as you walked in.

“No, why?”

Seonghwa tilted his head to the side, and looked up at you with his beautiful round eyes. “There is a conference tonight. Do you want to come with me? There will be a lot of potential investors and I think it might be a good way for you to vet them out if you meet them in person.”

You barely needed time to think about it, and Seonghwa knew before he even asked that you would say yes.

“Sure,” you answered happily, then flashed a quick glance to your phone. “Text me the deets? I have a video conference with a possible private client for Yunho’s nanotech soon.”

Seonghwa sent you the details of the conference by mid afternoon, and you left early to get ready for the event. He later picked you up from your place, arriving in a classic suit and even opening the car door for you like a gentleman.

As you waited for Seonghwa to get inside the car, you admired the modern and sleek interior of his car.

“It’s nice you know? Your new car I mean,” you said.

“Glad you think so. Just don’t sell it the next time we run out of money alright?” He said with a chuckle.

“No promises,” you giggled back, then added more seriously, “but you do know that probably won’t happen again right? We’ve had steady cashflow for months, and I even heard that the bonus you gave San was enough for him to move out of home.”

Seonghwa wasn’t surprised you talked to the others about their personal lives. It reaches a point where in a team of 9 people, you eventually run out of work matters to talk about, not to mention that it’s a group of friends running their own startup so it was never professional to begin with.

“What did you do with your bonus?” Seonghwa asked. “I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned it.”

“Oh that.” You fiddled with the hem of your dress. “I haven’t really spent it yet. I don’t really spend much money anyways since I still stay with my parents.”

Seonghwa’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, I didn’t know that. Maybe I should have said hi to them or something.”

“Nah, don’t worry, they’re not home right now,” you said dismissively.

“Do you plan to move out anytime soon?”

You shrugged. “Maybe. I am not the traditional type to live with my parents for a long time, but it sure is convenient staying with them.”

Seonghwa scoffed. “Someone who drinks like you do and never lets anyone tell you what to do couldn’t possibly be traditional.”

You turned to face him, eyeing him with a smirk. “Be honest Seonghwa, you love my drunk personality don’t you?”

Seonghwa opened his mouth to deny it, because your drinking could be reckless, but at the same time, he’d noticed that…

“You actually say the same things when you were drunk and sober. So when you say it was your drunk personality I liked, you’re wrong. I just liked your personality. You were smart, funny and confident. I liked that.”

“You don’t actually mean that,” you replied, biting your lip.

Wrong. He damn well meant it. “What part do you disagree with then?”

You glumly looked at your lap, fiddling with your hands. “The last part,” you said in small voice.

Okay, so maybe you weren’t confident. Seonghwa could understand, he’d been there once. Truthfully, he had been like that when he met you, and you were part of the reason he overcame those difficulties, only that wasn’t something he’d be sharing right now.

“Y/n, confident doesn’t mean being the loudest person in the room. Or the most listened to or the most noticed. It just means trusting yourself, your actions and your beliefs.”

“And what if I am wrong?” You asked, looking out the window so Seonghwa wouldn’t see your face.

“And what if you aren’t?”

Seonghwa wished you could see exactly how many times you had been right. How many impactful decisions you had made, how much of Hwaseong’s success could be attributed to your skills, and even just how much the company liked you. Because of you, Mingi had space to breathe now that accounting and financial concerns were separate. Because you needed multiple communiques sent out to different subcontractors, Wooyoung had begun to see himself as useful, instead of as the random communications major that looked like the last choice for a biomedical company. Among the actual biomedical engineers, Seonghwa knew Yeosang and Jongho were your biggest fans because of how your financial decisions benefited their research. Yunho also had some glowing praise for you.

“Y/n, you know the moment your confidence really shone?”

You shook your head.

“It’s when you said we can fund Yunho’s nanotechnology project. It seemed absolutely impossible, because it had no set timeline and could suck up all the money we had, but you kept saying it was possible. And now not only are we finally doing it, Yunho got to meet his soccer heroes because of that. Because of you.”

You smiled softly, and if there was more light in the car, Seonghwa would have seen a faint flush on your face too. “He told you that huh?”

“Told me?” Seonghwa scoffed. “He was practically bouncing off the walls after your video conference with the so called ‘private client.’ I can’t believe you didn’t tell me the client was a bunch of sports stars.”

You giggled. “I just wanted to wait till it was finalised. Make it a little surprise, you know?”

“Mmm cute.” Did he say that out loud? Seonghwa wasn’t sure, but you didn’t seem to mind, instead asking him another question.

“So you’re definitely not worried nanotech will suck the life out of your company?”

“No.” It was a certain, confident answer. Then with a smirk, Seonghwa added, “Plus if we’re really struggling, you can always sell my car again. I drive a nice one now after all.”

When you both arrived, he exchanged pleasantries with the others seated at your table, often introducing you as well. You gave a polite smile and sat with Seonghwa. Drinks (non alcoholic) had been set out on the table. Seonghwa poured a glass of water and placed it beside you wordlessly just as the presentations began. The conference was not something you understood. There were a series of researchers, CEOs and other interested parties presenting on new medical research and devices, so naturally most of it went over your head. With that being said, you did take notes to scope out the current trends in the market, any threats or opportunities, and possible partnerships. Seonghwa sat beside you, listening intently to the speakers and obviously understanding far more than you.

“Seen anything you like so far?” He asked in between speakers.

You flicked your gaze through the notes in front of you. “Not really, just some trends. We should talk about it tomorrow with the others.”

Seonghwa nodded then asked, “In that case, seen anyone you like?”

“Like who?”

Seonghwa smirked as he saw you make that adorable pout when you couldn’t figure out how to answer him. “I meant vendors, manufacturers, suppliers, anyone like that.”

“Just one.” You twisted in your seat to find the person and Seonghwa followed your gaze to find a man with pale blue hair.

“Lee Jooheon? From Lee Group?”

“If he’s the one doing molecular research, then yes. Jongho wants to work on some sort of adenosine thing and that’s pretty similar right?”

Seonghwa raised his eyebrows. “If adenosine is the same thing as thyroxine, then yes.”

You pouted and narrowed your eyes at him. “The way you say that makes me think I am wrong.”

Seonghwa knew he didn’t need answer. He sat back in his chair, arms folded, waiting for you to realise the meaning of those words. He could see your eyes flicking up as you ran through the words again in your mind. Finally you looked back at him, taking in the smirk and crossed arms.

“Don’t look at me like that!” You jokingly snapped.

Seeing that Seonghwa might have been enjoying this a little too much, you turned away from him, picked up your pen again and flicked to a new page in your notepad. Seonghwa uncrossed his arms and watched as you wrote down the names of his coworkers together with a string of words related to their projects. You then ripped the page out and slid it over to Seonghwa.

He picked it up and read the string of words which barely resembled a sentence. “What is this meant to be?”

“Their projects. Since I don’t know the difference between adenosine and thyroxine, you can help match me with the right person once we hear what all the speakers have to say today.”

“Match you? With the right person?” Seonghwa scoffed. “What am I, a real life dating app?”

You shrugged. “I mean, you’re welcome to do that too, I am single.”

Seonghwa swallowed. He hadn’t been expecting that from you. And the mention of you being single was definitely making it slightly harder for him to ignore how pretty you looked with makeup applied like you had that post sex glow (did you know your makeup looked like that?)

Seonghwa wasn’t clueless. He knew you didn’t have a serious partner because if you did, you would have mentioned them. Nobody goes two years without mentioning the most significant person in their life. But in those two years, he had also tried to ignore the possibility of him having any attraction towards you. Sure, he liked seeing you smile, loved watching you talk about your work like it was the most precious thing to you (spoiler: it was), and occasionally there were those moments where it felt like they was something sweeter between you.

But never had it hit the forefront of Seonghwa’s mind like today.

It was almost 11pm when the conference finished. Just like at the start, you let Seonghwa say goodbye to everyone while smiling politely beside him. The hallways leading out of the conference hall contained small groups of people conversing, some of whom waved or smiled towards you and Seonghwa. You smiled back as you walked walking slowly beside him. Unknown to you, Seonghwa kept glancing down at you from the corner of his eye, trying to match your pace. For a moment, he considered whether he should ask you to remove your shoes so you could walk comfortably, but figured you’d refuse since you were surrounded by various businesspeople.

“Y/n, do you want my arm?” Seonghwa asked, figuring it was the most appropriate form of support he could give you in this situation. In a room full of so called dignified businesspeople, a man offering his arm to a lady was the right thing to do.

You shook your head and took an abnormally large step, obviously trying (but failing) to match Seonghwa’s desired pace of walking. “I’ll be fine.”

Seonghwa took a few more steps and sighed. You were openly yawning now, so while you were a little distracted, he gently took your palm and placed it in the crook of his arm.

“Just humour me okay?” Seonghwa said, bracing himself for the possibility you might push him away.

You didn’t protest and let your hand linger exactly where he put it. Slowly your hand grew heavier on his arm, and Seonghwa smiled as he realised you were finally accepting his support. He loosened his shoulders and held his arm up stronger, hoping you understood that you can both literally and figuratively lean on him.

Eventually, you and Seonghwa found yourselves outside the venue. You saw several other well-to-do businesspeople, probably waiting for their drivers. You paused your steps, somewhat suddenly.

Seonghwa turned around, his grip shifting to hold you by your elbows. It was strangely intimate, but Seonghwa’s concern for you meant he didn’t even notice it.

“Y/n? What’s wrong?”

You threw a glance towards the group of businesspeople nearby, all of whom wore expensive tailored suits and were clearly well established in the industry.

Then looking up at Seonghwa, you asked in a louder that necessary voice. “Mr Park, would you like me to get your car?”

Seonghwa narrowed his eyes. Your voice was louder than it had been at any point in the night when you were tired and on the verge of falling asleep. Combined with the way you looked at the other executives milling around waiting for their drivers told Seonghwa what he needed to know. You were making sure he was maintaining appearances, the way it was expected of a CEO. The thought made his chest swell with something he couldn’t quite name yet.

Still holding your elbows, Seonghwa’s thumbs rubbed small circles into your upper arms. “Y/n, you’re tired, I’ll drive. Do you want to wait here while I get the car?”

Looking behind you, Seonghwa could see the group of businessmen you had been weary about looking your way. When Seonghwa looked back down at you, he saw your flushed face (only because of the makeup, he told himself) and sleep glazed eyes.

“Wait here okay?” He said, pulling away from you and letting go of your arms which limply fell to your sides. “I’ll get the car.”

After dropping you off at home, Seonghwa drove to his own house. He still lived with Hongjoong, but they’d upgraded their university days’ apartment to full fledged house now. It was a rental, not very CEO like, but it was a nice place, with more space and a lovely garden, not that the garden was visible in the middle of the night.

The lights were still on, so Seonghwa expected Hongjoong must still be up, coding or tinkering away at something, but he didn’t expect to see San dozing on his couch.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be enjoying your bachelor pad?”

San groaned and sat up. “Stop calling it a bachelor pad, I am not the horny one here.”

Seonghwa scoffed. “Who said I am horny? You’re the one who said they can’t wait to bring people over the second they moved out.”

“I meant it as actually invite people I like over, not whatever else you’re making it out to be.”

Seonghwa paused as he was removing his suit jacket and raised an eyebrow. “People you like?”

San rolled his eyes. “Well duh?”

“So you’re not into hate sex then, got it,” Seonghwa said as he draped his jacket on a chair and went to the kitchen to get a cup of water. He loosened his tie and undid his cuffs, sighing loudly after his drink.

“What?” Seongwha asked when he saw San staring at him.

“Nuurrthin,” San slurred and lay back down on the couch. “It’s just you and y/n. It could’ve easily been a date, especially with the way you were holding her hand and driving her everywhere.”

“How did you even…” Seonghwa threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. “You know what, I don’t even want to know. Goodnight San, I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”

“It was your graduation group chat! Someone posted a photo of you two!” San called after him, only receiving a bedroom door closing as a reply.

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tinystarryeyes · 15 hours ago

Text

Angel Investor - Chapter 2

Word count: 3.6k

Warning: swearing, arguing

It had been 3 months since you started working at Hwaseong.

Today, you were meeting with Yunho and Yeosang to discuss the possibility of funding two separate ventures - Yunho wanted to build nanotechnology that could fix muscle tears, while Yeosang wanted to improve the design of an existing pacemaker by a competitor. Yunho and Yeosang were accompanied by Mingi and Wooyoung who were using their accounting and marketing skills to persuade you and Seonghwa on which project to fund.

“Manufacturing the pacemaker takes fewer resources, you should commit to it first. It also gives us an edge over our competitors.”

“Nanotechnology to fix muscle tears can be sold privately to sporting teams, including big league ones. There’s a bigger margin for profit.”

“But that has larger upfront costs, not to mention the amount we already spent on R&D for it.”

“That’s literally the reason we should go with nanotech. We can make back some of our expenses.”

“Sunk cost fallacy guys.”

“But nanotech could supplement your pacemaker project.”

At this point you had lost track of who was saying what. Your laptop was already dead, and the pen you were holding had fallen out of your hand a long time ago. Seated beside you, Seonghwa didn’t seem to be faring much better, opting to play with the buttons on his sleeves.

“That’s enough, both of you, all of you,” he said sternly, and silence immediately fell over the room. He pushed back his chair and stood up, looking down on the rest of you. “Submit some sort of cost breakdown to y/n by the end of the day, and she will think it over and report to me by the end of the week.”

“End of the day? Why can’t we have the end of the week deadline?” Wooyoung whined.

“You can, but then I’d be going to that symposium this weekend with nothing to talk about. I know you four have already done your calculations, but y/n likes to do her own numbers, and she’ll be doing it alone, so she gets the week and you don’t.”

As everybody collected their things and walked out of the room to their respective offices, Seonghwa said, “And guys, I don't want a repeat of the time Jongho and y/n faked ongoing research in front of potential investors. I know Han Solo 2.0 over here can bluff her way through anything, but I can’t.”

Walking beside Seonghwa, you looked up at him and smiled. The event Seonghwa was referring to occurred when you and Jongho attended a convention representing Hwaseong a few weeks ago. When asked a question about ongoing research, you noticed Jongho struggling to explain his research into itty bitty molecules that most people couldn’t pronounce, so you pulled something out of your ass (Star Wars, actually) and spoke about it instead. When Seonghwa heard about this, it just made him love you a little more.

“Her idea of tissue growth was good though,” Yunho said and reached over to high five you.

Wooyoung leaned down and hung off your shoulder. “Yeah, so imagine what would happen if we got her to spin something up on the spot again.”

“We’re willing to research that next if you’ll give us the funding,” Mingi said a little ways behind you.

“Dude there’s no we, you’re an accountant,” Wooyoung looked back and retorted, earning a smack from Yeosang who had been quiet so far.

The group stopped walking when Mingi and you reached your shared office space, a space so shared that you actually had one desk between the two of you, and Mingi had to clear a designated space for you once a week when you came in to work.

While you started creating that little space for yourself, Seonghwa stuck his head back in to your office.

“Hey y/n? Mingi?”

“Yeah?” Mingi answered.

“Hongjoong says he left an urgent report for you guys. He’s 10k over budget and wondering if you two can do something.”

Mingi watched as you picked up the report Seonghwa mentioned, then folded your leg on to your chair to fit into the desk space. Mingi sighed.

“We have to talk to Seonghwa about getting you a proper desk and chair. The way you’re squeezing yourself into that space on some primary school plastic chair Yunho picked up at a garage sale can’t be good for you.”

“It’s just once a week,” you reassured him with a small grunt.

Mingi hummed, still concerned, but returned his attention to the report, reading over your shoulder.

“So any ideas for the 10k? Technically we have the cash, right?” You said as you reached for your laptop to pull up the working capital data for Hwaseong.

“Yeah but, if we give him 10k, we won’t be able to fund stage 1 of either Yunho or Yeosang’s projects.”

“That's true, but we just need to cover our costs before the clients pay up and we get profit. We’ll make the money back.”

“Yeah but these projects have incubation periods, and by the time we finally get the money, Yeosang’s prototype might not be viable, and Yunho’s pricing could change.”

Mingi then reached for your laptop. You watched him click through the working capital spreadsheet, as he suggested, “We could do a partial update though. Maybe use 3k for the new software but keep the cameras for now. It would mean we’d still have enough money to fund Yunho’s project.”

You raised an eyebrow suspiciously at him. “That seems like a very strange coincidence, Mingi.”

Mingi ducked his head down with a guilty smile.

You then glanced upward, doing the calculation in your head and added, “Also, what you said is more expensive.”

“What? No…”

“Run it. You’ll see.” You nodded to the laptop, which he took back. “If you replace the software first, then do the cameras, you have to reinstall the software. If you do cameras first, software only needs to be added once. I’m guessing you’d lose an extra $4250 with the first method.”

Mingi inputted the necessary numbers for your prediction, and his mouth dropped open when he saw the final figure come very close to your original prediction. “The odds you calculated that in your head…”

You smirked and did an exaggerated hair flip. “That’s right big guy. Never tell me the odds.”

Mingi ran a hand through his hair and picked up Hongjoong’s report again. “I’m gonna read it again and try find a clue.”

You nodded and just stared at the ceiling, letting your thoughts run around and evaluate Hwaseong's options. Hongjoong’s report already said he went through the database of government grants and didn’t qualify for any. Seonghwa knew of the budget issue, so he would already be trying to find private investors while you and Mingi worked. You also knew Hongjoong’s project shouldn’t be allowed to cannibalise two other projects.

As the logical and orthodox ideas ran out, something else came to you. “Oh my god, Mings, you know what does get you 10k?”

“What?”

“Selling a car. Don’t most of us drive simple cars anyways? We could sell a car, then get a new one with the profit.”

You didn’t allow the very confused Mingi to reply before you jumped out of your seat and headed for the door. “I hope Hongjoong is free, I gotta go see if he knows anyone that can sell a car.”

You found Hongjoong locked away in one of the labs, as usual. Today, he was bent over some Petri dishes, and didn’t look up as you walked in.

Still he spared you a greeting. “How was my report, y/n? Can we make it work?”

You stood nearby while still giving Hongjoong a wide berth since you didn’t have any lab safety equipment on. “Well that really depends on whether you know someone with a car.”

If Hongjoong was surprised or confused, he didn’t show it. “Why? Do you need to borrow it?”

“Uhh not quite,” you replied, playing with your hands nervously. “It’s more like you could sell it, just temporarily.”

“And why would I sell my car?” He asked without turning away from his experiment.

“Because Mingi and I can't give you 10k without cannibalisation.”

Now Hongjoong turned to look at you, leaning against the table with his arms crossed. “You’re telling the only way to update a series of imaging devices we already supplied to some hospitals is to sell my car?” He was obviously unimpressed.

“Look I know it’s weird, and like it doesn’t have to be a car, it just needs to be something that will get us 10k.”

Hongjoong sighed. “You were an intern at one of the biggest firms in the country and this is the solution you come up with.”

You winced at his words. Yeah, this was definitely a let down on your part. Trying to salvage the situation, you said, “I can see if Mingi can move some money around, reduce other expenses or something?”

It was an obviously empty promise. Hongjoong could see that from the way you were refusing to meet his gaze. He knew you wouldn’t actually be able to do any of that. Smiling with understanding, he said, “It’s okay, I kind of know you already tried that. But unfortunately, I use Seonghwa’s car, so you’ll have to talk to him.”

Well fuck. That didn’t go as planned. As you took the stairs back up from the laboratories to the offices, your phone buzzed with a message from Seonghwa: hey y/n, do you have a minute? Could you come to my office if you’re free?

You knew it was probably about Hongjoong’s proposal, so you grabbed the report from your desk then trudged to Seonghwa’s office. It was a simple, clean space, with Seonghwa doing the cleaning himself. He looked up from his work with a smile when you walked through the door.

“Hey, come sit down.” He gestured at a simple plastic chair in front of his desk. “Hongjoong said you had some ideas about his proposal?”

“Uh yeah, it’s not really something I like but um…” you trailed off.

“Y/n, you know we’re relaxed here, just spit it out,” Seonghwa said and leaned his chin on his palm. “But if you’re struggling to get the words out, I can’t imagine it’s good news.”

“Yeah, you’re right, it’s not.” You sighed and continued. “His project is 10k over budget. Mingi can’t give us anything without sacrificing the perfect 3 million we have in our account for either Yunho or Yeosang. So to find our 10, the options I had were selling a car or seeking out private funding through some contract.”

“Interesting.” Seonghwa leaned back in his chair. “But there’s one thing that makes no sense. Why did the idea of selling a car come to you first? Wouldn’t the first response be to suggest issuing shares?”

You cocked your head, studying him. “Have you been reading up on finance or something?”

Seonghwa shrugged. “I am a CEO, I have to know these things.”

You pursed your lips and nodded. He had a valid reason.

You then answered his earlier question. “You’re right, issuing shares is the most logical thing to do, but I didn’t suggest it because it risks your position as majority shareholder.”

Seonghwa smirked and folded his arms, biceps bulging slightly. Your eyes flickered to his arms, but he didn’t seem to notice. “You’re good, real good,” he said, dragging his words.

You leaned forward on your chair, balancing your elbows on your knees, and said, “I know.”

“That’s what Han said,” Seonghwa quipped as he scanned over your face, which had a smirk to match his own. He took in the confidence and self assurance that radiated from you. He knew that you knew you were correct.

“So you want me to sell my car then.”

“No, I just need you to sell something that gets us money, on the off chance…” you paused for effect, “…you don’t find a private investor.”

Seonghwa sighed and hung his head. “Y/n, do you know how many possible investors I’ve had to meet this week?”

You shook your head.

“18. That’s 18 coffee shops, 18 pointless handshakes and sweet smiles, only to get 18 no’s.” Seonghwa huffed. “What I mean is, you’re right, we should sell my car.”

You scooted your chair closer so you could place your elbows on his desk. “No, Seonghwa, you can’t just… it’s your car and it’s important to you. We can figure something else out, maybe I could go talk to investors, hit up some private equity people, don’t worry, I will keep thinking about it.”

“There’s no time. It’s either we do the update at the hospital or lose the contract. Plus, the company comes first,” Seonghwa said. He reached into his pocket to fish for his keys and chuck them on the table. “There you go. Let’s sell the car.”

“But Seonghwa…”

For Seonghwa, his frustration was growing. He knew the deadline for fulfilling the contract was approaching.

“Y/n, stop fucking stalling and sell the goddamn car.”

Your eyes widened at Seonghwa’s harsh words. You had never seen the composed and almost ethereal man speak like that.

While you sat there stunned, Seonghwa scrunched his eyes and squeezed his temples with one hand, realising his mistake. “Oh god. God, I am so sorry y/n. I should not have spoken to you like that.

“No, its uh, fine Seonghwa, I get it.” Your words weren’t sincere, they were practiced filler words to say during an argument and Seonghwa knew that.

“Please, I am sorry. I refuse to be the CEO who treats my employees like that. I am really sorry y/n, I can’t say that enough.”

You maintained a trained diplomatic tone, stare fixed ahead, hands folded in your lap. “It’s alright Seonghwa, it’s the end of the week and we’re all high strung, these things happen.”

Seonghwa shook his head. He hated that robotic tone, the way you sat so rigidly. You were closing off from him. “No, it’s not alright. I have to make sure this doesn’t set a bad example. Will you let me make it up to you? Maybe a bonus? Or extra vacation?”

You took in his earnest eyes, and pursed your lips unsurely. “Uhhh, those are nice incentives, and I do appreciate them but…”

“But what? You don’t like them?”

“No, it’s not that.” You looked to the ceiling and bit your lip. “It’s just that you definitely can’t afford it.”

Now it was Seonghwa’s turn to sit there stunned. “What do you mean I can’t afford it?”

“Let’s see…” you started counting the reasons on your hand, holding it up for Seonghwa to see, and his expression only grew gloomier after each reason.

“You’re selling your car to fund a new project, you’ve got more project proposals than you have money, you’ve got an office that was put together using garage sale furniture, you’ve had 15 potential investors turn you down…”

“18,” he corrected.

You raised your eyebrows, challengingly. “My point still stands. Would you like me to continue?”

Seonghwa pursed his lips. “No, please don’t, you’ve made your point.” He looked at his watch and sighed. “It’s late, I am sorry for keeping you here like this. And once again I am sorry for going off like that.” He pushed his chair away from his desk and stood up.

You did the same. “I’ll see you next week Seonghwa.”

The next week, you found a buyer willing to pay a whopping $15,000 for Seonghwa’s car, and practically sprinted to his office to tell him.

Jongho, who was already inside with Seonghwa, listened as you leaned in through the doorway and explained your breakthrough.

“Somehow, that doesn’t seem plausible. Who pays 15k for a car like that? No offence hyung,” Jongho said after listening.

“Funny, you said the same thing about that tissue regeneration gimmick a few months ago,” you retorted.

“Tissue regeneration can actually be done, it is actually being done in some parts of the world.”

You pouted and returned, “Overpaying for a car can actually be done, it is actually being done in some parts of the world.”

Seonghwa looked between you and Jongho, and silently laughed behind his hand.

Jongho made a face at you and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, by tourists in South America probably.”

Seonghwa asked the same question as he drove you two to meet the buyer on the weekend.

You explained proudly. “I put a high asking price then said it’s negotiable after listing all the specifications in the description. Then I just had to wait for a car nerd to approach me. I just had to make them think they were getting a good deal even if they weren’t.”

Seonghwa chuckled and shook his head. “You’re so Han Solo coded sometimes, you know that?”

You gave him a sidelong glance.

Seonghwa kept his eyes on the road as he explained. “Aside from how you’re always telling people to not tell you the odds, only someone like Han Solo would make up a story about promising research at a conference, or try to upsell a shitty car to a car nerd.”

“You’re not still going on about that are you? I never specifically called it promising research,” you said with air quotes, then added, “Also, Jongho had plenty of opportunities to stop me or correct me.”

“Literally none of that makes you any less like Han Solo. Going back on your word, making your sidekick into a scapegoat…” he listed, nodding his head back and forth with each reason.

“You make it sound like I did a bad thing. I am beginning to wonder if you even like Han Solo,” you said with an exaggerated pout that Seonghwa thought was adorable. In a different situation, he would have booped your lower lip.

After having gone home with the $15, 000, Seonghwa now took public transport to work. He arrived at the same time as you today, and you two took walked to the offices together.

“Seonghwa I want to talk to you about something.”

“Hmm, yeah? What’s up?”

“I am graduating in a few months…”

You left your words hanging, hoping Seonghwa understood the implication, but it had the opposite effect. His fingers clenched nervously as he suddenly wondered, were you going to leave Hwaseong?

“…So I want to change my hours here. I want to work full time at Hwaseong,”

“Oh.” Tension he wasn’t he aware he felt left his body. “Oh um that’s a surprise to hear.”

“Why? You didn’t want to hire me full time after graduation?”

Seonghwa shook his head. “No y/n, believe me there is nothing I would love more than to have you full time. You’re great at what you do, I’d be stupid to lose you. It’s just that I didn’t think you wanted to.”

“Oh Seonghwa, don’t tell me you went to all that trouble of looking me up on LinkedIn and personally messaging me with a job offer 6 months ago simply because you were looking for some part time help?” You quipped.

You two walked past Yeosang’s office and saw his eyes following the two of you.

“God, did you have to say that in front of Yeosang? He definitely heard you,” Seonghwa hissed once you two passed Yeosang.

You shrugged. “I think he already knew about that thanks to San.”

A few months later, half of Hwaseong attended your graduation ceremony.

Mingi said his congratulations first, wrapping you into a tight hug. “You did it girlie, time to join us in the corporate grind.”

“You only say that because you’re an accountant,” Hongjoong said from somewhere behind Mingi. Instead of a hug, he offered you a gift wrapped box.

You moved your diploma to one hand to accept it. You shook it gently, and noticed it was very light. “What’s this?”

“It’s a thank you for fixing my little hospital problem. And I guess also a congratulations for graduating.”

You smiled and tucked the gift under your arm.

San approached you next. “Good on ya, y/n,” he said with a hearty pat on the back. He then turned to look back at Seonghwa and said, “Hyung’s got something for you.”

The three men moved to stand to the side so Seonghwa could approach you. “I have a gift for you, and it’s something you asked for,” he said as he reached into the inner pocket of his blazer.

You gave everyone a questioning look. “I don’t remember asking for a graduation gift?”

The men exchanged knowing glances while Seonghwa handed you a manila envelope. “Open it, I think you’ll like it.”

You looked back and forth between the envelope and your team. “Guys… what is this?”

“Please open it, we worked very hard on it,” Mingi said, looking down at your with pleading eyes.

So after giving one more vaguely suspicious look towards the four men, you opened the folder. Inside was a document with Hwaseong’s logo and the heading: Contract of Employment.

You skimmed through it quickly. “Is this for me?”

You didn't look up from the paper, but heard Seonghwa answering. “I hope it has everything you asked for that, but as always, you can discuss it with us.”

Having finished reading, you folded the manila envelope up, holding it close to your chest beside your diploma. You looked directly at Seonghwa.

“You’re actually hiring me full time?”

The excitement shone in your eyes as you grinned. Seonghwa realised he liked that smile on you.

“Of course I am y/n. I would be a fool to let someone else have you.”

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tinystarryeyes · 15 hours ago

Text

Angel Investor - Chapter 1

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: swearing

It was a 45 degree day with the UV index at 13 (Aussie summers smh). You had just walked out of class with San’s sister, Haneul. San pulled up in his car just as you were saying bye to Hanuel and explaining you’d be walking home, but the Choi siblings couldn’t accept that, so San offered to drop you off at home.

There was already a passenger inside San's car, so you and Haneul got in the backseat. You stared out the window, hoping you weren't intruding on anything, while Haneul made small talk.

“So Sannie, what are you doing today? I thought you would be at the office right now.”

“I am going to a meeting wth some potential investors. We are trying to build this new device but we need funding.”

“Oh y/n knows that stuff!” Haneul said, twisting to look at you. She then leaned forward and tapped the guy in the passenger seat. “And Seonghwa, did you know y/n’s pitch last year was about Hwaseong?”

Now why did that name sound familiar to you?

You peeked around the seat and studied the man carefully. He had long black hair falling to his shoulders, and couldn’t be much older than you. He was also wearing a black silk button up despite the atrocious weather, while San had on a more sensible white cotton t-shirt.

When Seonghwa turned in his seat to look at you, you found yourself looking at one of the most beautiful men you had ever seen. High, straight nose, big almond eyes, and tender lips.

“It’s y/n, right?” He asked in a rich, deep voice.

You nodded.

“What did you think about Hwaseong?”

You swallowed, trying to remember an investment pitch you did several months ago. “So keep in mind this was built off last quarter's reports, and I haven’t evaluated Hwaseong since then,” you began cautiously. “But I thought it had good fundamentals. Positive cashflow and working capital, especially for a young company, is really good and I hope they maintained that.”

You continued your explanation. “I saw they had quite a few patents, which led me to believe that even with less funding than maybe JYP or YG, Hwaseong is creative, innovative, like they’re doing something different.”

Seonghwa pursed his lip, weighing your words before saying, “That’s a unique position to have about Hwaseong.”

You gave a nervous smile. “Yeah, that’s what everyone said to me. They even said I might not get any internships with that pitch, but I always tell people never tell me the odds.”

You then quickly pivoted the conversation to San. “Anyways uh San, what kind of device is your company doing?”

“Oh that.” San glanced at Seonghwa searchingly but the older man was staring out the window. “We’re making a device that helps identify vector-borne diseases inside the body.”

You raised your eyebrows, impressed. “Wow that’s actually really cool. Sounds like something Hwaseong would do.”

“Yeah but some investors want us to pivot to something else. Maybe like aged care related devices or something,” San replied.

You quietly considered his words and began. “Look, I haven’t exactly kept up with healthcare investments.”

San encouragingly responded, “That’s okay, you’re actually the only person here who studies finance.”

Seonghwa turned and look at you. He swore he could see the cogs in your brain turning. You seemed like a cautious and thoughtful analyst who liked to consider all angles, and he was curious to hear your thoughts now.

“I think those investors have a point,” you said. “We’ve already got quite a few OECD countries at stage three demographic change. These countries also happen to be the places that can afford the markup on medical devices, as well as the ones who historically have first access to advancements in medicine because you know, global politics.”

San hummed without looking back.

Noticing Seonghwa’s gaze, you spoke to him. “Now in a perfect world, breakthroughs in medicine can be accessed by all but, from the perspective of furthering an investment, you go for whatever gives you the most return. And for your investors, aged care is a more lucrative market than vector borne diseases.”

Seonghwa poked his cheek with his tongue. “That was pretty well thought out,” he said.

You had very eloquently summarised the concerns of his investors, which Seonghwa recalled was a marker of a good financial analyst. Seonghwa's accountant Mingi was excellent but he was so bogged down on simply keeping the company running and managing everyday finances that he didn’t have the time to do a big picture analysis like you.

By now, San had slowed down by your house and pulled into your driveway.

Seonghwa twisted in his seat to look at you just as you were stepping out.

“I don’t suppose you are willing to make any comments at all about vector borne diseases?” He asked.

You gave an apologetic smile. “My only comment is that I don’t actually know what a vector is, because I am a finance major.”

Haneul giggled at your comment, and Seonghwa cracked a reserved smile too.

“Anyways, thank you for the ride San. It was lovely meeting you, Seonghwa. Haneul, I’ll see you next week yeah?”

“Well that was enlightening,” San mused the minute you left the car.

“I am amazed she guessed the project was Hwaseong, but she couldn’t recognise Seonghwa,” Haneul added.

Before Haneul got out of the car, Seonghwa made sure to ask her for your LinkedIn, which she gave but not without some teasing remarks. After perusing your LinkedIn, he concluded that you had an impressive resume, with good grades since high school, internships at coveted firms and even some volunteer work. You also followed Seonghwa’s company Hwaseong Corp.

It was a a medical device startup that he began straight out of university. It’s current employees were communications major Jung Wooyoung, accounting major Song Mingi, and five other biomedical engineers: Kim Hongjoong, Jeong Yunho, Kang Yeosang, Choi San and Choi Jongho.

As CEO, Seonghwa was currently logged into Hwaseong Corp’s own LinkedIn account, and not his own. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem, until he clicked ‘connect’ on your profile, without realising he was on his company’s account.

It took a minute for him to realise, after which he hurriedly unclicked with a series of panicked gasps and sputters leaving his mouth. Humbled, he switched his phone off and shoved it into his pocket.

San raised an eyebrow. “You good there?”

“Me? Oh yeah, fine, I just accidentally clicked something and then I had to make sure y/n didn’t get a notification and stuff.”

San grinned excitedly. “Were you Instagram stalking her? Hwa, if you want her number, I can probably ask my sister, they do a group project together.”

“No,” Seonghwa denied, firmly. “I was just looking at her LinkedIn.

San didn't need to ask to know why Seonghwa was intrigued by you. “Are you saying you want to hire her?”

Seonghwa sighed. “She’s good. Like real good. She knows what makes a company valuable, she knows how to look into good assets and investments, and she’s also a great communicator… but it’s not that simple.”

Hwaseong didn’t even have protocol for hiring someone yet because they didn’t even have a HR team. It was a group of eight friends doing what they loved, who needed HR?

Not to mention, Seonghwa would have to clear it with Mingi if they hired somebody else. And then what if you refused? Did you even have a good reason to work at a start-up when that big name company probably wanted to hire you full time after graduation?

Sensing his friend and boss’s hesitation, San suggested, “Seonghwa, why don’t you just message her? On LinkedIn, I mean, professionally.”

It was probably 11pm when you scrolled through your emails, and found a LinkedIn notification - a message from Park Seonghwa of Hwaseong Corp.

“Hi y/n, I hope this message find you well. I am Park Seonghwa, CEO of Hwaseong Corp. I am interested in meeting with you to discuss the investment thesis you pitched at your last internship. I believe your skill set would be very valuable to my team, and would love to discuss the possibility of bringing you on board if you are interested. Would you be free tomorrow at 11am to meet?”

You were dreaming right? Since when did you get private messages from CEOs? Somewhat sceptical, you clicked through to Seonghwa’s profile, read through it and eventually concluded it had to be legit. After zooming in on his profile picture, you almost shoved your laptop away in surprise. The face gracing your screen was the same face, though a more serious and professional rendition, of the Seonghwa you met in the afternoon.

Holy crap, no fucking way. Ahem, you’ll probably need to rein in your language when you meet him next time.

Next time? Shit, that’s tomorrow.

Seonghwa’s alarm rang at 6am, and the first thing he did was scramble to check his LinkedIn messages, this time using the correct account. She said yes… she said yes! Walking out of his room to the kitchen, he found Hongjoong already dressed. Despite being a CEO, he still lived with a housemate, who was also his friend and colleague.

“You look very happy this morning,” Hongjoong remarked as he sipped his coffee.

“Y/n said yes. I am meeting up with her in less than 5 hours,” Seongwha explained as he took out his cereal from the cupboard.

Hongjoong had been made aware of who you are the minute Seonghwa came home last night, but the quick turn around between meeting you and trying to hire you was still surprising.

“Less than five hours? Someone’s clearly excited,” he said.

“It’s not like that. I just want to see if we can hire her.”

By 10:30am, you found yourself seated at a cafe near the Hwaseong Corp offices, ordering some food to nibble on as you waited.

At 10:55, Park Seonghwa walked in, wearing a green jacket with an asymmetrical cut and black pants. However, his beautiful face was marred by a scowl, which didn’t disappear even when he saw you and approached your table.

“Hello y/n.”

His deep voice lifted your attention from your half eaten muffin, and you swore you made the weirdest muffled squeak as he sat down across from you. You quickly and painfully swallowed the food so you could speak.

“Hi Seonghwa. I am sorry I didn’t recognise you yesterday.” You glanced at his figure across from you — tense shoulders, tapping foot and scowl. Was he uncomfortable? In a hurry? “Did you have breakfast yet? We can order something if you want,” you offered, hoping it would put him at ease.

Seonghwa lifted up a hand to refuse. “I am good, thank you. But please, feel free to help yourself.”

His voice was measured but monotone today, while yesterday he sounded more relaxed. Did something happen at the meeting yesterday? You smiled politely and asked just that.

His shoulders drooped a little. Dejected, he said, “the investors refused funding. The device didn’t have enough profit, or upside as they call it.”

“Was this the thing you wanted to ask me about today?”

Seonghwa swallowed and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. “Actually y/n, I want to hire you.”

He knew he was ignoring your original question, but he needed to cut to the chase because somehow you were making him feel nervous, probably more nervous than you were feeling. It’s true, Seonghwa was excited to meet with you, but seeing you happily nibble on your muffin, then kindly offering to buy him something to try and reassure him, made him wonder how you had even survived in finance. You seemed… nice?

But then he saw your face shifted to one of sharp focus as you tilted your head and asked, “In what position exactly? I thought you already had an accountant, and I don’t have an engineering, science or medical background.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re an astute analyst. I know Hwaseong would’ve been a difficult pitch, but you stood your ground and made our company seem so much better than it is.” Seonghwa leaned back in his seat, finally looking relaxed as he said, “It was quite compelling actually.”

“Ah well, that’s good then, I suppose,” you replied shyly. “But what would I do at Hwaseong?”

“I want you to make investment theses for us.”

Your face must have shown your confusion over his word choice, because Seonghwa added, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the right words in finance.”

“You want me to woo your investors,” you summarised for him. “Handle investors, create forecasts, budgets, things like that?”

“Yes… Yes!” Seonghwa almost slammed a hand on the table in excitement. He then cleared his throat and continued calmly. “I’d like to hire you on a part time basis, just one day a week for now. You do share a lot of duties with my accountant, but I think your expertise will give us a fresh perspective.”

You sat back in your seat, your head nodding as you evaluated your options. Leading financial matters in a startup on a part time basis? It didn’t sound bad.

Across from you, Seonghwa fidgeted with his fingers under the table, but he schooled his face to neutrality, something he had learned from all those investor meetings where he was turned down. Would you do the same?

Instead, you surprised him by asking, “When would I start?”

“Immediately. Just pick a day.” His words came out quickly, and Seonghwa briefly wondered if that sounded too desperate. He hoped it didn’t.

You smirked, your fingers reaching for your phone and keys, signifying the end of the meeting. “Alright then. I look forward to working with you, Park Seonghwa. I’ll be at the Hwaseong’s offices tomorrow to sign the contract.”

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tinystarryeyes · 6 days ago