Stay away from my nephew John!

Even in her office, Linda was still consumed by the earlier events at the mansion, she stared out the window in a daze as she thought about Joseph's sudden change in his expression, it left an impression on her, it was not something she could brush aside. 'Am I perhaps overthinking? Was it just the smokes? Should I dig? And what was it that Gramps was anxious about? I clearly heard Grammy apologize. So why would she say she was scolding him?', her train of thought was stopped by a sudden knock at the door.

"In...", she said as she sat up straight in her office chair

Freddy walked in holding a stack of files, "Cousi- I mean ma'am, here are the files you requested for the meeting. And Uncle John is outside..."

Linda sighed heavily, she didn't think the day would get any more complicated, but what could she do, it was the day of the board meeting and her uncle happened to own enough shares that allowed him to join in. She dreaded these meetings for that specific reason, 'What does he want to talk about?', she thought as she gestured Freddy to let him in

Freddy went out and his presence was soon replaced by the dark aura of his uncle, "My fav-"

Linda threw a piercing look at his uncle stopping him in his tracks, "Uh-Oh, someone is not having a good day? what is it do you wanna talk abou-",

John was preparing to sit when Linda got up with her files, "Let's talk while we walk",

He stood up completely, "But niece, this is important, is about your engagement..."

Linda's annoyed expression did not change. She loved seeing her uncle on days when her mood was gloomy because it meant she didn't have to pretend to be happy about his presence, "Uncle, today is truly not a good day, whatever it is...can we talk about it some other time..."

"Well...don't be surprised by what you hear in the meeting, I tried to warn you...". Linda could just tell that her uncle was up to no good, it was never a surprise, after all, he tended to spring something unpleasant about her during these meetings, "Oh well, we will deal with it. I know uncle won't let the wolves attack me without a fight", 'They are your lapdogs after all', she thought.

Linda and John walked into the meeting together and the room instantly quieted down, it was mostly because of Linda, they knew that with one word from her, anyone could be thrown out of the meeting, and today she didn't look like she was in a good mood. Even John's followers cowered their heads. 

Linda took out her phone, and suddenly spoke, "Freddy, tell her to come in". The room instantly fell into confusion, 'Who could she be talking about?', everyone looked at each other wondering the same thing, even the person who is usually on the loop seemed lost, John's face darkened as his gaze focused on the door.

Freddy came in with a middle-aged Asian woman with short bob hair and John almost fell off his chair, 'Huh! so he does know her!', Linda thought as she saw John's sudden reaction, 

Linda smiled, as she extended her welcome to this elegant woman who was in a red dress, "As we prepare for the gala next weekend, I invited Kim Jin Ae to join us in the discussion, sh-"

"But Linda, this meeting is about Global Tech, I don't think having a stranger in here while we discus-"

"Oh, Mr. King, it seems you did not read my latest email, today we will be talking about the gala, and as you know, the gala is a joint event between the galleries and Global Tech. Ms. Kim here is a representative of the galleries, but to make things fair, who here thinks Ms. Kim should leave the meeting?"

John confidently raised his hand only to be shattered because none of the members raised their hands, "Huh? look at that. But Mr. King, please feel free to leave if this makes you feel uncomfortable."

John glared at Linda with a dark face, but it had no effect because she had already moved on to the next item on the agenda. As the meeting went on, John was staring directly at Jin Ae while biting his fingers anxiously. 

"Ms King, we heard that you plan on announcing your engagement during the gala. Congratulations by the way. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we were surprised when we heard, none of us thought-"

Linda smirked, "Mr. Lebanon, you never disappoint. Always with the 'latest on Linda's life', I certainly admire your source. At least they are accurate with the facts. Yes, I will announce my engagement to the public at the gala, and as a public, the members of the board were going to find out then. I guess some of my family members were too excited to keep it a secret."

"..."

"Maybe I should get my own sources on you, Mr. Lebanon, who knows what they will find? Maybe some gambling dark secrets or an obsession with the high school teacher. Who knows what weird things you get upto? Anyway, you were about to say something about none of you.."

"No no ma'am, I was not about to say anything," Lebanon replied in anxiousness, clearly Linda already knew some of his dark secrets because she just announced them in the boardroom, his face darkened, 'just how much does she know? I should have never let John rope me into this feud', he thought as he cowered to his hole with his tail between his legs.

"If there is nothing else, we can end the meeting here, Mr. King?", she said looking at John who seemed to have detached himself from the meeting when Jin Ae walked in.

John shook his head indicating that he had nothing to add, the moment they walked out the boardroom, he pulled Jin Ae to a corner, his face visibly red in anger and fury, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? Everything was already explained by Ms. King. What more is there?", she asked nonchalantly, and unlike John, her aura was completely calm.

"What d-", Linda suddenly appeared silencing John, "Uhm, what is going on here? Do you guys know each other", she asked in a calm tone to confirm her suspicions. 

"Hi Ms. King, just in time", Jin Ae smiled as she pulled him closer, "Your uncle and I actually met many years ago, we go way back, we-."

John's face was still covered in shock, and fear, 'I need to fix this before she mess everything up' "Yes yes, way back. I have to go niece, I just remembered that I have to do something.", upon saying that, he turned to dash out but was stopped by Jin Ae who called out to him on his way out, "John, wait....", with a smile she rushed to him,

"What?!"

Jin Ae gently reached for his neck, "There is something on your collar, let me get it-", with a lower voice, she whispered in his ears, "I heard you have been spending too much time with my nephew, you better cut the friendship short if you know what is good for you, I still have you know what. I heard prison is not a fun place." she smiled and backed away from his neck, "There! way better, see you around Johnny." Although she reverted to her friendly tone, the ominous aura that still hovered around her was enough to make John tremble. 'She is the only one with evidence to destroy me', he thought as he rushed out of the building. 

In the car, he pulled out his phone and furiously typed a text to Jeremy, 

"You little busted, why didn't you tell me that your aunt was in town"

After sending it to Jeremy, he typed another one to Victoria Tang:

"Jin Ae is around, you better deal with her before she ruins everything."

He then furiously threw the phone on the empty space next to him, adjusted his tie in anger, and started to hit and kick the car seats in frustration, 

"Damn! This woman, this damn woman. Where did she come from?!"