Chapter 177 - Uncertainty

As soon as the door opened, the air in the room slightly felt better. Seeing as they were asked to leave Damien's office, Frederick who had a frustrated look on his face and William who was still all smiles got up from the sofa and headed out. Damien didn't really have a scheduled meeting but he didn't want to have lunch with the two — he just wanted them to leave.

Frederick Park stopped just in front of Damien and reminded him, "Think about your family, Damien. A woman marrying into the family can't just be anyone." His words were loud and clear to Katherine who was standing a few feet away with her head slightly bowed.

William, who had stepped out of the office, tilted his head to Katherine and spoke in a teasing tone, "Ms. Katherine, congratulations on your engagement. It would be nice to have some coffee with you sometime. I would love to talk about my dear cousin's… life. I'm sure you want to get to know more about him before tying the knot."

Katherine glanced at Damien and saw his dark expression upon hearing William's insinuations. She didn't like it one bit and she was getting annoyed by William's nonsense. "Thanks for the invitation. But whatever I want to know from Damien… I would want to hear it from him."

William chuckled at her response and shrugged. "Make sure you get to know all about him, my dear. After all… you are marrying a member of the Park Family."

Frederick Park didn't like the atmosphere at this point and he just wanted to leave the place. He huffed and walked towards the elevator as he called his son, "Let's go, William."

"Coming, Father," William answered without taking his eyes off Katherine, giving her a wink before turning and following his father to the elevator.

Once they finally left, Damien let out a sigh, running both of his hands on his face as he walked back inside his office. Katherine noticed his expression as she followed him inside. She watched as loosened his tie and rolled his shoulders as though he was under a lot of tension. He leaned on the edge of his desk without speaking a word and only looked up when he heard Katherine's voice.

"Hey… is everything okay?" she asked, slipping her hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

He met her eyes and saw concern written all over her face. Not wanting to worry her, he pulled the corners of his mouth upward and nodded, "Yeah, I just had a conversation with infuriating people. Not the highlight of my day."

Though she didn't hear what they talked about in the office, she did hear the last statement that his uncle said before leaving his office and it pretty much summed up everything. She already expected this kind of reaction from his uncle so it wasn't a shock for her but hearing it first hand still caused her heart to feel a slight prick. Even so, she chose to give Damien her sweetest smile. "What can I do to make you feel better?"

He softly chuckled at her offer. There were a lot of things that she could do for him right at that moment and the devilish smirk on his face gave away his thoughts. Katherine rolled her eyes and Damien pulled her close, settling her in between his thighs and wrapping his arms around her. "As much as I want to take you right here right now, Kitten, I'm starving… I need to fuel up first or I'll pass out."

With a knowing smile, she couldn't help but let out a giggle, "Oh, we can't have that, can we?" She leaned and pressed her lips on his. "Let's go… I'm feeding my man today," she said as she pulled him to his feet.

"It's August 21st, I don't think we are celebrating anything but I like the sound of that. I'll eat a lot of meat since you're buying." He wiggled his brows, teasing her as they walked out of the office and grabbing their things on their way out.

Katherine's smile got brighter thinking that Damien's mood had gotten better. "You can eat as much as you want. I'll even throw in some dessert if you're nice." They stepped inside the elevator, pressing a button that led to the lobby.

"Someone's generous today. You're not doing this just to curry favors, are you? Because it will take more than one lunch date for that to happen." Damien raised a brow, his playful tone made her laugh some more.

"Oh, please. President Park, if I were to curry favors, I won't be taking you out to lunch for that," she winked, making Damien throw his head back and laugh. After spending so much time with him, his little Kitten has picked up a few of his moves and now she was working it on him.

He leaned towards her, his mouth hovered over her ear as he said, "You bet. You don't even have to do anything. You can just lay and stay pretty..." He kissed a soft spot behind her ear at the same time that his hand traveled towards her bottom, squeezing it and making her yelp in surprise. The elevator door opened and he winked at her just before he stepped out, leaving her slightly flushed.

"Chop chop, Ms. Miller, we're going to be late for our lunch meeting," he said as he walked, his employees greeted him as he passed by.

Clearing her throat, Katherine squared her shoulders and strutted behind him. "Yes, President Park."

…

Later that evening, Damien had Felix send Katherine home while he went out for drinks with Caleb and Jeffrey at the Gentlemen's Club. It was a Tuesday night and even during the weekdays, the place was packed. 

In the VIP section, the three of them enjoyed the music in the background as they drank their favorite poison. 

"What's going on? It's a Tuesday night so what are we doing here?" Jeffrey finally asked after they had talked about random stuff over the past hour.

Caleb glanced at Damien who had been a little restless since they got inside. Something was bothering his friend and he was worried. "You're still getting married, right?" he probed.

Damien's head snapped towards Caleb, his brows raised in surprise, "What? Of course..."

"So what's bothering you?"

Damien took a swig of his whiskey before putting it on the table and ran a hand on his jaw before he started, "William sort of threatened me to tell on Katherine about Margaret."

Caleb and Jeffrey stared at their friend, unsure of what to say until Caleb coughed and muttered, "Ah… Maggie."

"So you haven't told her yet? Katherine… I mean… You haven't told Katherine?" Jeffrey pursed his lips. 

Damien made everyone around him swear an oath not to mention a thing about that woman or what happened in the past ever again — it was very rare that they slip up. Jeffrey almost did that one time when he was visiting Damien in his office. But now that Damien had started the topic, they thought it was fine but they still felt a little awkward talking about her after all these years.

"It's not that I'm against Katherine from knowing about it. I honestly just hadn't thought about that woman for a long time that maybe I forgot about her…"

Caleb nodded. "That's understandable. You've been with Katherine so you could only think about Katherine the whole time." 

Damien shrugged and sighed. "But William brought it up earlier today. I just feel uncomfortable and maybe slightly hesitant to tell Katherine now after the engagement… She probably wouldn't get mad, but… I actually don't know if I'm ready to talk about what happened."

Jeffrey leaned in and questioned, "It's been years, man… are you still..."

"Mad? I guess that didn't really go away but I don't know…"

Jeffrey swallowed. "I was going to ask… if you're still sad about…"

Damien dragged his stare and met Jeffrey's eyes. He looked down on his drink and responded to the unspoken subject, "I don't know."

Caleb clamped his hand on Damien's shoulder as he said, "We got your back whatever you decide to do."

After a long silence, Damien downed his drink and nodded. "I'll tell her later."