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“It is my name on the line.” He spits out, the anger in his eyes was that of something you have never seen from him. “Not yours.”
You stumble backwards at the venom in his voice as if you had been slapped. You fall onto the arm of a chair, trying to regain your bearings. “I… I see.” Blinking rapidly to keep your tears from falling, you continue. “Forgive me, sir. I had no intention to-”
“Renjun will see you out.” Doyoung cuts you off, and you hear the door to his office open. You look to your left and see the face of his secretary standing apologetically just inside the door.
“If you would accompany me,” Renjun says, his voice deliberately light and even, as if it was business as usual. Like it was every other time he had asked you that.
You nod jerkily, your body numb at the show of lack of care from Doyoung. You fumble with your coat, and the tense silence from Doyoung makes you feel worse. Eventually, after a few moments of your struggling being the only sound in the room, Renjun takes pity on you. He walks over to you and helps you get your things together. He puts the files of ideas you brought before Doyoung carefully back into the dark leather bag you carried with you; a gift from Doyoung.
Handing you the bag, and you place the strap on your shoulder, Renjun and you start walking towards the office door, but you pause to look back at Doyoung. You want to see if he knows how much he has hurt you in this moment. When you see how he is looking over the accounts, making notes in the margin and ignoring everything else, you understand with a vicious clarity that he does. He knows exactly what he has done to you.
Renjun drops back to you and gently takes your elbow, steering you out of the room.
“Renjun,” his name comes out barely louder than a whisper, but he hears it, his eyes flicking to yours and then the office. You nod your assent. He shuts the heavy wood door behind the two of you before taking your elbow once again and guiding you further away from Doyoung.
“Renjun,” you say again, louder than before, but still quiet. You do not know if you could handle anything louder than that. “Do you think he will want to ever see me again?” The question burns your lips as you speak, but you need to know.
Renjun turns to face you, his hand falling away and back to his side. A sad smile rests on his face as he tells you with the utmost regret in his voice, “I really could not tell you, YN. My apologies.”
You give him a tight smile, nodding. “Well then, I shall,” you falter with the realization that you do not know what to do with the rest of your day, “I shall be off then.” You turn and set your shoulders, walking off briskly.
After a few steps, you abruptly turn around and go back to Renjun. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He asks, brows furrowed.
“For being kind to me always, even when he was not.”