ESCORT || JIKOOK ✅

2

Jimin pov

"What exactly are you saying?" I narrow my eyes at the elderly man sitting across from me.

The mood in the room has quickly grown tense.

The stiff collar on my pressed white shirt suddenly feels too tight, and I have to resist the urge to tug at the knot of my tie.

It's not easy to keep my hands loose at my sides when I feel like punching them into a damn wall right now.

I've grown up in this environment. My dad, my grandfather, my great grand father, and several generations before them all ran this company.

We're a powerful force in many different industries, with people poised at every stage of development.

From theoretical type stuff, to proto-typing, manufacturing, advertising, and direct sales. Park Enterprises has been passed down from father to son for years.

It's a long-standing tradition, and tradition is one of the cornerstones of my bloodline.

Because my father died four years before his thirtieth birthday, my grand father has maintained control of the company until I was old enough to take over.

Now, my thirtieth birthday is just six months away.

By all rights, that should be the day Grandom officially hands over the reins.

Except, now he's added a new stipulation to the deal.

"Exactly what it sounds like I'm saying," my grandfather, says without hesitation.

"You're nearly thirty. You're supposed to take over the company, but you're nowhere near ready." He sighs as he relaxes into his high-backed office chair.

This executive office has been his for so long it's hard to imagine anyone else sitting in that chair.

Still, I deserve to sit in that chair.

It's my birthright.

"How can you say that?" I challenge him.

"I'm one of your hardest working employees. I've put everything I have into this company. All my schooling, all my social connections, everything revolves around Park Enterprises."

"I know all the innerworkings, and I helped strategize all our current and future plans."

"Not to mention the fact that I'm the one who successfully negotiated the buyout of our largest competitor last year. No one is better suited to take over for you."

My grandfather slides his glasses off his face and pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

"You still don't understand, do you?"

He slowly shifts his gaze to look me in the eye. "It's not about that. I know you're good at your job. I know you have the knowledge and the skills to run this company. But why do you want to? Why are you doing any of this?"

"Because that's what I was born to do..." My voice trails off when I see the expression on his face.

There's more to it than that. I don't know exactly what's going through the old man's head, but it's clear he expects something more.

"You're untethered, Jimin," he says after a moment.

"If I hand the company over to you now, you'll be the first un-partnered park to sit in this chair."

"Wait...this is because I don't have an omega?" I reflexively glare at my grandfather.

"You're saying I can't take over the company, a company that bears my name, because of something as ridiculous as that?"