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She swallowed.  This was going so much worse than she could have even imagined.  But she nodded her head.  Her father would never brook any lie.

He turned irate eyes on Yoongi.  “I knew you were no good for my daughter!”  He made a move to leave, but Nari was quicker than he was.  

She flew across the room and shut the door.  Then, she turned to face him.  “Appa, we haven’t done anything wrong!  I didn’t have sex with him!  I went to see him because he wanted to play the piano for me!”

Her father’s progress was halted more by her surprising words than by her body thrown against the door.

“The piano?” He furrowed his brow.  “I don’t understand.”

“Yoongi is a virtuoso.”

She heard an odd sound come from Yoongi.  Both she and her father glanced at him.

“That is a huge exaggeration, Nari,” Yoongi mumbled as his cheeks flushed.

“It is not!  You are absolutely brilliant!  You thought my proposal was brilliant, but your gift at the piano is even more amazing than my mind for business.”

Her father frowned.  “Your mind for business?”

But in front of his intense glare, her courage faltered.  So Yoongi came to her rescue.  “You should hear her out, sir.  She has an amazing grasp of your business.  She didn’t sit in on a single meeting, but she knew exactly what the customer wanted.”

Her appa’s eyes traveled from one to the other.  “I don’t understand.  How did Nari even know we needed a proposal?”

Yoongi had the grace to appear shamefaced.  “I saw the flaws in Uri’s proposal.  I tried to suggest a subtle change, and he chastised me.  It was troubling me because I know how important this contract is to you and how time sensitive it is, so I mentioned it to Nari on Sunday.  I showed her his proposal, and she began to make instant changes to it.  Her ideas were revolutionary.  And exactly what we needed.  So I convinced her that she should create her own proposal and share it with you.”  Then Yoongi jumped off a cliff.  “She wants to run your company, sir, when you retire.  And she’s got the brains to do it.”

Wide-eyed, her appa stared at him.  “Do you really play the piano?” he asked, awestruck at the thought that Yoongi might be more than he had, at first, determined.

Yoongi nodded.

Mr. Beom turned towards his daughter.  “You have fifteen minutes.”

Her eyes flew to Yoongi’s.  They both grinned.

“Yes, sir!” she responded and headed for the table.  

She spent the next hour answering her appa’s questions.  When the interview was over, she asserted, “I need to get back to work.  And don’t worry, sir, I came in an hour early to begin cleaning toilets.  And I’ll stay an hour late since your meeting with Uri took longer than I anticipated.  Thank you for your time.”  She bowed to him and turned to go.

“I thought you’d give up,” he murmured.

His words stopped her.  She turned around.  “What?” she asked, confused.

“When you kept getting demoted as you saw Yoongi promoted, I thought it would drive the two of you apart, and you would give up working for me.”

“You knew?” She and Yoongi gasped at the same time.

Mr. Beom glanced at Yoongi.  “You didn’t really expect you could sneak into my company without me knowing, did you?  We do thorough background checks on all new employees.  As soon as Mr. Choi discovered your identity, he came straight to me.  He knows I’m in business with your appa.  He thought it strange that you weren’t working for your own appa.”

Yoongi frowned.  “Why did you let him hire me?”

Mr. Beom considered him.  “Because I wanted to see what you were made of.  I have high standards for any man who expects to marry my daughter.”  He glanced at her before looking back at Yoongi.  “She thinks she’s in love with you, you know?  You broke her heart, though.  And I do not take kindly to that.”

“I didn’t abandon her.  I was just taking the time to prove myself.  I couldn’t tell her.  It would have ruined my whole plan.”

“How do you think it’s worked out?” Mr. Beom questioned him.

Yoongi’s eyes assessed the older gentleman.  “I haven’t the foggiest notion, sir.  I can see why you’re such a successful businessman.  You hold your cards very close.”

“And my daughter even closer.  I won’t give her to just any man, you know.”

“I know, sir.  But I didn’t want to cause a rift between the two of you.”

Mr. Beom’s eyebrows flew north.  “Aren’t you a cheeky fellow?  You thought she’d leave her family for you?”

Yoongi didn’t even flinch.  “I knew it was a possibility.  But I don’t want to have her that way.”  He swallowed as his eyes traveled to caress her face.  “Though I want her badly.  I love her, sir.”  His eyes fenced with her father’s.

“Apparently.  You’ve done more to help her than yourself.”

“I have no business ambitions.  Though, I’ll probably be relegated to the purgatory that is the business world for the rest of my life,” he mumbled bitterly.

Mr. Beom quirked a dark eyebrow at him.  “You don’t wish to run your appa’s company?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Have you told him so?”

Yoongi’s eyes snapped.  “Of course not, sir!  I could never so disappoint my appa.”  He heaved a deep sigh.

Mr. Beom just stared at him.  “I will consider Nari’s proposal.  On one condition.”

They both looked at him.  

“What, sir?” Yoongi breathed.

“You come to my house this evening and play the piano for me.”

Yoongi’s face paled.

But Nari smiled.

“Will you, son?”

Yoongi blinked.  Had he imagined things, or had Nari’s appa just called him “son”?

He found himself nodding at the older man.  “What time?”

Mr. Beom glanced at Nari.  “You get off at seven tonight?”

She nodded dumbly.

“Eight o’clock.  And expect to eat with us too.”  

With those parting words, her appa stood up and headed for the door.  “Oh!  And, Nari…”  He turned back towards her.  “Excellent proposal.  I expect to see this kind of work from you all the time since you’ll be replacing Uri as my junior executive.”

Her mouth dropped open.  A huge grin spread across his face.  

“Good work, darling.  Today is your last day cleaning toilets.”  With those words, he opened the door and left the room.

Nari sat, stunned, in her chair.  Then her eyes met Yoongi’s.

“I told ya,” he murmured.

She jumped up and flew over to him.  

He embraced her, laughing softly into her ear.  “Congratulations, Nari.  You deserve it.”

She began to weep.  “Yoongi, I never would have done anything like that if you hadn’t encouraged me.  If you hadn’t believed in me.”  She raised her face to his.  “Thank you.  Thank you for invading my sad life and shaking it up with your beautiful presence.”

He grinned.  “I could say the same to you, but…what have you gotten me into?  I have to play the piano for your appa tonight!”

She smiled brilliantly at him.  “You will be amazing!”

His smiled ruefully down at her.  “I hope so.”

“Hey!” Her eyebrow flew up.  “If I could survive the last hour presenting my proposal to him, you can coax a few songs out of our old piano.”

He sighed.  “I suppose you’re right.”  Then his eyes sobered.  “I love you, Nari.”  He bent his head and brushed his lips across hers.  “You’d best get back to your toilets.”

She swatted him playfully on the arm.  “But only for a few more hours.”  Her lips curved in a satisfied smile.  “You are definitely my knight in shining armor.  Rescuing me from toilets.”

“Just doing my duty, ma’am.”  He tipped an imaginary hat to her.

She giggled.  “See you after work?”

“Nope.  I get off at six.”

She huffed.  “You’re not going to wait for me?”

“No way.  I have to head home and get all gussied up.  I have a concert to perform tonight, you know.”

The corners of her mouth quirked upward in a smile.  “Then, I will see you at my house at eight.”

“I’ll pick you up here at seven and drive you home,” he murmured.

“See?  My knight in shining armor.  See you then.”  

She sailed out the door, a satisfied smile lighting up her face.

It matched the one causing Yoongi’s countenance to glow.