Dinner softened into that comfortable rhythm of clinking chopsticks and quiet chewing.
Min-Hyuk set his bowl down first.
Min-Hyuk smiled. "It was great when sister got married too."
"Sister?" Ji-Ah echoed immediately.
"Yes, sister," Min-Hyuk repeated with a teasing glance.
Nisa laughed. "He mentioned your married sister. The First born. The one in London."
Do-Hyun nodded. "She said she'll only come back if one of us is getting married."
"I really miss her," he said, more quietly now. "Ever since she got married and moved out of the country… the house feels different."
The teasing tone was gone.
Do-Hyun nodded slowly. "Yeah."
Ji-Ah and Seo-Yeon instinctively grew quieter.
Even Nisa straightened slightly.
Ha-Joon didn't look up, but his voice lowered. "She calls."
"That's not the same," Min-Hyuk replied. "Video calls freeze. She laughs and the screen glitches. It's not real."
A brief silence settled.
Then Do-Hyun cleared his throat.
"Which is why," he said carefully, "I want both of you to have fiancées before I introduce Nisa to Mom."
Ji-Ah almost inhaled rice.
Seo-Yeon coughed into her sleeve.
Ha-Joon lifted his head slowly. "Excuse me?"
Do-Hyun pointed his chopsticks between his brothers. "I'm serious. I'm not going alone. If Mom smells vulnerability, she will feast."
Min-Hyuk nodded gravely. "She can eat you alive."
"She won't eat anyone," Ha-Joon said flatly.
"She will," Do-Hyun insisted. "Emotionally."
Min-Hyuk leaned back. "You remember what happened when I told her I wanted to switch majors?"
Ha-Joon's jaw tightened. "You survived."
"Barely," Min-Hyuk said. "She didn't blink for five whole minutes."
Nisa whispered, "That's terrifying."
"It is," Do-Hyun confirmed. "Mom doesn't raise her voice. That's worse. She just stares. And then asks questions."
"Specific questions," Min-Hyuk added. "With follow-ups."
Ha-Joon exhaled through his nose. "So your solution is what? Drag us into marriage negotiations?"
"Yes," Do-Hyun said immediately. "If I go alone with Nisa, she will interrogate us for hours. But if all three of us show up engaged? She'll be too overwhelmed to focus."
Ji-Ah slowly lowered her spoon. "This is strategic marriage planning."
Seo-Yeon muttered, "Corporate but domestic."
Ha-Joon ignored them.
"You're assuming I plan to get engaged anytime soon," he said coolly.
Do-Hyun stared at him. "Hyung. You're not getting younger."
Min-Hyuk nodded. "You're at peak intimidating fiancé age."
Ha-Joon looked unimpressed.
Do-Hyun softened slightly. "I just don't want to introduce Nisa without you two there. It feels… incomplete."
That landed.
Min-Hyuk's expression gentled. "We'll be there."
Ha-Joon paused, then gave a small nod. "We will."
The tension eased.
Ji-Ah whispered to Seo-Yeon, "Their mom sounds like a final boss."
Seo-Yeon whispered back, "With perfect table manners."
Across the table, the brothers continued eating, quieter now, bound by shared history and the looming legend of a mother who could dismantle a man with a single calm question.
Family.
Complicated.
Loud.
Loyal.
And slightly afraid of Mom.
---
Midnight draped itself over the room like a heavy velvet curtain.
Seo-Yeon's side of the room was peaceful. Deep breathing. Blanket cocoon. Dreamland fully booked.
Ji-Ah's side?
War zone.
Her eyes were wide open, glowing in the laptop light. Fingers attacking the keyboard like it had personally offended her.
"Go and do the presentation," she muttered under her breath in Ha-Joon's tone.
"Concise. Professional. Impress me. One hundred thousand won." She typed harder.
"Cruel man."
Click. Click.
Click
clickclick.
Seo-Yeon stirred.
Another aggressive keyboard assault.
Seo-Yeon peeled one eye open. "Are you fighting someone?"
"Yes," Ji-Ah said flatly. "PowerPoint."
She didn't look away from the screen.
"What are you doing?"
"Making a presentation for Mr. Tyrant CEO. And helping Min-Jea write a love letter."
As if summoned by dramatic timing, her phone buzzed.
Min-Jea: Are you done yet?
Ji-Ah typed back instantly.
Doing the tyrant's work first.
Seo-Yeon sighed and rolled over. "Sleep. I need you to escort me. I want to explore Seoul. Remember, I'm new."
"Mmm," Ji-Ah hummed, not committing to anything.
Seo-Yeon went back to sleep within seconds.
Ji-Ah kept typing.
Slide transitions removed. Fonts aligned. Financial projections polished until they sparkled like they had degrees.
Moments later.
"Done," she whispered triumphantly.
She copied Min-Jea's overly dramatic confession into the text bar and hit send.
Then she opened her email.
Subject: Acquisition Integration Plan Presentation
She typed:
Dear Sir,
Please find attached the presentation regarding the acquisition and integration strategy of Do-Hea's company.
The slides include projected growth, structural adjustments, risk assessment, and implementation timeline.
No unnecessary animations were used.
Regards,
Ji-Ah
She stared at it.
Then added one more line.
P.S. This is worth at least 100,000 won.
She hit send.
Closed the laptop.
Sat up straight.
Then dramatically fell backward onto her pillow.
"Go take a bath," Seo-Yeon murmured half asleep.
Ji-Ah groaned loudly. "I just fought capitalism."
"Still dirty."
Ji-Ah buried her face into the pillow.
"…Fine."
She rolled off the bed like a defeated soldier and shuffled toward the bathroom.
Tomorrow she would explore Seoul.
Tonight she survived Ha-Joon's inbox.
--
Min-Jea sat cross-legged on his bed, phone in one hand, laptop balanced on his knees.
He was smiling already, prepared to read the most dramatic confession ever crafted by Ji-Ah's chaotic genius.
His email notification pinged.
From: Ji-Ah
He grinned. "Finally."
He opened it.
Attached file: Acquisition_Integration_Plan_Final.pptx
He blinked.
"…Dear sir?"
He clicked it anyway.
Slide One:
Do-Hea Company Acquisition
Strategic Integration & Growth Plan
Prepared by: Ji-Ah
Slide Two:
• Organizational restructuring proposal
•Financial projection over 3 years
• Risk mitigation strategy
• Timeline implementation
Slide Three:
Bar graphs. Clean fonts. No animations.
Min-Jea stared at the screen.
"This… is not a love letter."
He checked the email again.
Still it.
He refreshed.
Still it.
He grabbed his phone and called her.
Ring.
Ring.
No answer.
He texted.
Why did you send me a business presentation?
No reply.
Thirty minutes passed.
He checked again.
Still nothing.
"That's not like her," he muttered.
Ji-Ah usually replied within seconds. Even when asleep, she somehow replied.
He looked back at the file name.
Acquisition. Integration. Risk assessment.
His heart dropped.
"If she sent me this…"
His eyes widened slowly.
"…what did she send to Ha-Joon?"
He imagined it.
Subject: Love Letter Draft
Dear beloved—
Min-Jea shot up from the bed.
"Oh no."
Somewhere across the city, a CEO's inbox sat quietly.
Unopened.
Waiting.