99

"You still mad at me, baby?" Jyeon slides over in the pitch dark, removing the gap I put between us in bed when we came here hours ago. I told him I wasn't in the mood to talk or cuddle up because my head was a mess, and I guess I was sulking at him and Greta for conspiring to dive bomb me the same day over OLO. We're both laid here trying to sleep, but it's been obvious neither of us is while lost in our own heads.

"I wasn't mad. I needed headspace," I reply with a tight tone and exhale as his hands slide over my waist and his body hugs against me from behind. I could tell for a while he's been pondering rolling up behind me and could hear the way he kept sighing as he tried to figure out if he should talk to me.

"You seemed mad…. Mad enough to make me lay in the dark and stress over how to smooth things over again. I'm sorry for pushing you over OLO." His sweet and gentle whisper as he curls around me to cuddle up snugly, sliding an arm under my pillow to nuzzle close, makes me feel guilty at being prickly. Remorse flooding me for being a hormonal psycho today and sensitive for stupid shit. My brain has been chaotic, and I have given it all so much thought for the last few hours that I'm a fragile mess.

"I'm sorry for overreacting. I know you both mean well, and everything you say is true, but I'm scared." I whimper back, sounding like a child, emotion churning up from somewhere deep.

"Of what? That OLO will devour you? That I'll stand back and watch?" He squeezes me, trying to make light of it with a soft chuckle. I know it's hard for him to rationalize my fears when I can't even figure them out myself.

"It's more than just the past… it's what I needed to become to survive as a woman in the corporate world. It was more than what we went through but someone I had to become to get OLO where she got. It's harder to succeed unless you're a strong and cold force when surrounded by fat men in suits looking to point out your incompetence. If I go back, the pressure to be as good as I was may suck me back in."

"OLO is a leading force in investment now. You got her there, and no one in the company would doubt your skill or efficiency because they know who got her there. I would tear some new asses if they dared to bring my queen down and pressurize you into being someone that made you unhappy." Jyeon pushes himself up on one arm to lean over me, and even though it's dark, I can sense his eyes and feel his warm breath on my cheek. Accustomising my vision as I incline my head to see his dark outline even in this dimness.

"What if I can't do it anymore? What if two years away has made me obsolete, and I can't get a handle on it? I don't know if I can face that kind of failure and feel worthless over it….. I can't deny that I have missed it, and you're right. I did use the island to dampen the pangs of needing to be back doing what I do best. The longing never went away, and turning this place into a tourist attraction wasn't just for them, but for me too."

"Do you think I plan to dump you in the deep end and leave you to handle it?" he leans in and runs his fingers gently over my hair and temple, igniting goosebumps with his touch. "I'm talking about easing you in slowly by assisting me in some ongoing easy projects to let you find your feet. Take it slow, letting you choose how much you want to be involved. Not how it was before."

I lay still and let his words sink in, unsure why I am fighting this when everything he says makes it seem like such a nothing thing. Maybe I am too hung up on how things used to work. I was high up, a decision-maker, and did many things without his help or input in the years at OLO. Jyeon did his thing and handled his responsibilities, and I did mine. Two completely separate bosses who only came together for the critical details, and I was a lone ship the rest of the time, sailing across a stormy sea and relying only on myself. It was suffocating and lonely and partly why I could never ask for help from anyone and became an isolated and cold mess.

"You think I want you submerged in work like we used to be? Babe, I'm not planning to go back to the full-time grind either. I have been recruiting a management team, the entire team we have been away from the city, to take over the general running of the company so I can free up my time to focus on you."

"What?" I sit up in reaction, almost nagging my nose against his. Eyes wide in shock, he would relinquish control to stand-ins for the long term. On purpose. "What do you mean a management team?" We had never done that. It always fell to the directors and us below us to run the entire company, just as our parents did it and wanted.

"Where does it say in the rule book that we can't? We wasted years of our lives dedicated to OLO and ignoring each other. I won't do that a second time."

"You're talking about having me work beside you again, so it's not like you would be ignoring me if I did come back. How can you let someone else take over?" I sound petulant when my inner organs are tightening in anxiety, and I don't know why I react to it. It's not like I have been part of the running, and until today I had no real intention of going back either. This has nothing to do with me, and I should be glad he's freeing up time for us.

"Because I want me and my wife to have time for us, and one day a baby. We can't be submerged in work and stress while building something real and creating a home."

His words choke me up, and even though he already mentioned having another baby the day we went to the cemetery, it pains me like a knife stab to the chest and catches me off guard. It makes me breathless, and that inner pang of fear raises her ugly head at me. This past few weeks, everything feels like it's changing so fast, and I have no control or footing, and now he's talking about completely upending his life and OLO. I hadn't seen him for two years only two months ago and never thought I would again. Now we're racing at crazy speeds toward a whole new life, and I have barely time to catch my breath.

" OLO was our baby… we nurtured it and made it grow with our own hands, and now you're happy to let someone else do it instead? Have you told Yoonah?"

"For someone who doesn't want to go back there, you seem pretty upset at me stepping back, and yeah, Yoonah agrees with me. That my priority should be you."

I run my hands through my hair, confused at how my stomach is churning with anxiety, and I can't deny that I don't like the idea of OLO being run by strange men in suits most of the time. Knowing Jyeon had it this whole time gave me a sense of peace and that I could leave it in good hands. I knew he would continue to make her grow like she did and treat her with the respect she always deserved.

"If I come back, if I take it slow and help you, I won't like other people doing my job. I won't have strange men dictating to me." That edge of old me is stirring in my tone, and I grit my teeth, knowing how much I contradict my stance. Forgetting my fears when I see her threatened with changes to management that, in my opinion, are not a good thing.

"If you come back and we do this together, it won't be other people doing our job… it'll be us making decisions as a unit and having others carry them out. I'll slide Yoonah up to a higher position like he wants to help keep them in check when we're not physically there."

"I can't believe I'm even thinking like this… What's wrong with me?" I exhale loudly, crumpling against his now upright body, and let him hug me into his arms, sounding as confused as I probably am making him.

"Didn't I tell you that OLO was in your blood and always would be? You're protective instincts firing full throttle because you think I'm doing something that will harm it." He chuckles at me under his breath, seeing the funny in this after weeks of telling him I never wanted to be linked to OLO again. I see it too, yet it doesn't dampen my other fears either.

"You're right. I should face it, open the box, and slowly reacclimatise myself to see how it feels before giving you shit over this. Prove it's not the threat I keep telling myself it is. It's the only way I can stop you handing it off to men who don't deserve to run it."

"Fiesty and judgy…." Jyeon teases me, and I also see the stupid humor in how I'm behaving. "That little possessive Sohla Park coming through with a very big keep your hand off my company."

"Well, you're talking about abandoning her for the sake of me, and I don't like it. I would never have let you have her if I knew you would be so disloyal and leave her alone with only Yoonah and some suited men to prod at her."

"Baby…I'm not abandoning my job. I'm cutting back and being less full-on to ensure I keep my wife this time. How about I'll take you there tomorrow, and we continue this argument in your old office? See how you feel about things when you're there, faced with the reality of being back in the one place you keep avoiding. Then you can chew me out about a management team." Jyeon slides me up in his arms and pulls me onto his lap with a smooth move. Skin on skin as he's only in boxers, and I have a skimpy satin nightdress on. My body heats up with the intimacy of his maneuver, and I know he's trying to distract me by ending the conversation.

"We'll see." I pout at him, his fingers tracing out my face before he catches me in a grip, slightly squeezing my cheeks together, and yanks me forward with a duck face to kiss me on the lips. I wriggle to fight this juvenile hold and bat him on top of the head.

"I promise. OLO isn't going to hurt us. There's nothing there that can take me away from you this time. I fully intend to cling onto you for eternity." Jyeon silences me with a proper meeting of lips, kissing me earnestly as he gently teases my lips apart, and his hands skim the curve of my ass and then up my body. Igniting tingles and sparks, I slide my arms around his neck to get lost in how he tastes and feels.

He pulls me close and shifts us, so we flip, and I end up back on the bed. My head nestles into my own cushion as he settles himself on top of me without breaking away or losing the rhythm of our make-out session. Pushing his body against mine and grinding slightly to hint that we should stop talking and work on some intimacy instead. Jyeon has been like a dog in constant heat since the first time we ever had sex, but I'm not complaining as I have six years' worth of it to make up for.

Until tomorrow, I'm not against getting naked with him and forgetting about OLO. I'll even go there and brave the fears holding me back to see if I can overcome this. Sliding my legs up to aim for around his waist, he pulls back and brushes his nose against mine.

"I hope you're not tired….I don't plan on any sleep for a while yet." He leans back in and catches my mouth in a sucking kiss that has me fired up in seconds, and I lift my pelvis to his hardening crotch to tell him I am more than willing.