**Sunshine's POV**
The screen lit up and we all leaned forward at the same time.
Breaking news.
*"KDX Entertainment stock crashes as Chairman Kim formally charged — Board calls emergency vote to remove Kael Devereaux as acting head of KDX Entertainment. Vote scheduled for tomorrow 7AM."*
The room went completely silent.
Then Hana said "No" under her breath like the word had escaped without permission.
I looked at Kael.
He was already sitting up.
IV still in his arm. Hospital gown. Face pale from everything the day had taken from him. But his eyes were different now.
Not distant anymore.
Sharp.
Focused.
He reached over and pulled the IV out himself.
"Kael—" I started.
"Get me my clothes," he said.
"You're supposed to be here until evening—"
"Sunshine." He looked at me directly. "Get me my clothes."
I got him his clothes.
---
**Kael's POV**
The nurse tried to stop me at the door.
I signed the discharge form standing up and handed it back before she finished explaining why it was a bad idea.
Hana was on her phone in the corridor already talking to someone I didn't recognise. Her voice was low and fast and her expression was the one she wore when she was calculating three moves ahead.
Sunshine was beside me matching my pace without being asked.
"Director Han?" I said.
"Already called her," she said. "She's gathering the legal team and the loyal board members now. She wants you at KDX in forty minutes."
I glanced at her.
She had done all of that while I was signing the discharge form.
"The vote is tomorrow morning," I said.
"Which means tonight we prepare." She handed me my phone. "Attorney Jung is already pulling the Zenith connection files. Everything they have that links Zenith to the timing of this investigation."
I stopped walking.
She stopped too and looked at me.
"You did all of this in the last ten minutes," I said.
She looked almost embarrassed.
"Someone had to."
I looked at her for a moment longer than I should have given everything happening around us.
Then I started walking again.
"Let's go," I said.
---
**Sunshine's POV**
KDX was a different building at night.
Quieter. Darker. The kind of atmosphere that made everything feel more serious than it already was.
Director Han had gathered everyone in the main boardroom by the time we arrived. Attorney Kim. Three senior board members who had already called to pledge their support. Two legal advisors I hadn't seen before who apparently specialised in corporate law and had been on retainer for exactly this kind of situation.
Hana came in behind us and took a seat without being invited. Nobody asked her to leave.
I sat slightly to the side. Not at the main table. My job in this room was to listen, document and make sure Kael had everything he needed exactly when he needed it.
Director Han opened without pleasantries.
"Zenith has been pushing three board members for the past two weeks. We know who they are. What they were promised. And how they're planning to vote tomorrow." She looked at Kael. "We are not walking into that room blind."
"What do we have on Zenith?" Kael asked.
Attorney Kim opened his folder.
"Enough," he said simply. "The timing of the leaked financial records is not a coincidence. We have communication trails suggesting Zenith's legal team had access to documents that should have been sealed. We have a former KDX employee who was approached by Zenith six months ago and offered a significant sum for internal information." He paused. "And we have the original Min-ho settlement records which show clearly that Zenith Entertainment was aware of the incident at the time and chose not to act on it until now."
The room was quiet.
"Why now?" one of the board members asked.
"Because KDX's new tour contract puts us directly in competition with Zenith's biggest artist for the same international markets," Director Han said flatly. "This was never about justice. This was about eliminating competition."
I wrote everything down.
Kael sat very still at the head of the table listening to all of it with that expression he wore when he was absorbing information and already deciding what to do with it.
"The board vote tomorrow," he said. "Can we stop it?"
"We can't stop the vote," Attorney Kim said. "But we can win it."
---
**Kael's POV**
We worked through the night.
Not all of us. Some people came and went. Attorney Kim and his team stayed. Director Han stayed. Sunshine stayed.
Hana stayed too. She knew people. Board members. Industry contacts. She made calls I couldn't make and said things I couldn't say and I watched her work and understood for the first time that whatever her reasons for coming back she was genuinely useful in this fight.
That didn't change anything.
But I noted it.
Around 1AM the room had thinned out to just a few of us. Attorney Jung reviewing documents at one end of the table. Director Han on a call in the corridor.
Sunshine was at the side table reorganising the brief files in order of relevance. She had taken off her heels at some point and was standing on the carpet in her socks and she didn't notice me watching her.
I walked over.
She looked up.
"You should sleep," I said quietly.
"You should sleep," she replied.
"I can't."
"Neither can I."
I leaned against the table beside her.
"You've been here since 5AM," I said.
"So have you."
"I was in a hospital for part of that."
"And I was here working." She looked at me steadily. "Don't try to send me home, Kael."
I wasn't going to.
I just wanted to stand here for a moment where it was quiet and she was close and the rest of it felt slightly further away.
"My father used to tell me," I said quietly, "that the company was the only thing that lasted. That people left. Situations changed. But KDX would always be there."
She listened.
"I used to believe that," I said. "Now I'm not sure he was right."
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "He was wrong."
I looked at her.
"The company is not what lasts," she said simply. "The people are."
I held her gaze.
And somewhere in the middle of everything falling apart I felt something very steady inside my chest.
Something that had her name on it.
I didn't plan it.
I just reached for her.
And she let me.
She stepped into it without hesitation and I pulled her close and just held on. Her head against my chest. My chin resting against her hair. Both of us standing in that quiet boardroom at 1AM surrounded by documents and strategy and everything that needed to be done tomorrow.
None of it mattered for that one minute.
Just this.
Just her.
She exhaled slowly against my chest like she had been holding something in all day and was finally allowed to let it go.
Neither of us spoke.
We didn't need to.
After a moment she pulled back just slightly and looked up at me.
"Tomorrow," she said softly.
"Tomorrow," I agreed.
She stepped back. Picked up her files. Put her heels back on.
And just like that she was professional again.
But her eyes when she glanced at me one more time before turning back to the table were still soft.
Still warm.
Still her.
**END OF CHAPTER 25**