Chapter 1 – First Lie
A Little White LieMonday, January 5th 2015
I smoothen my shirt and followed one of HR department officer. As we walked further into the west side of the office, a large room with glass whiteboard walls, greeted us.
Research and Development (R&D) Department,
where I started my career in the company,
where I first met her.
***
“Good morning, everyone!” the HR officer greeted them all.
“Morning, Yoona-ssi~! How could it be that every time you come here, you look even more beautiful?” all of R&D members (mostly men) greeted her or rather .
“Oh, I’m flattered, that’s very sweet of you, guys,” she blushed, “Ah right, I almost forget. Attention please, today we have a new employee for R&D department. He is Jung Yonghwa from ‘P’ University. Please introduce yourself, Jung Yonghwa-ssi.”
“Annyeonghaseyo, Jung Yonghwa-imnida. I will be joined as the junior mobile developer here at ‘G’ Technology. I'm looking forward to get working together as a team,” I bowed politely as I introduced myself.
“Jonghyun-ssi, is there any empty seats?” she asked a man with pale-white-skin that almost made him look like a vampire.
“I think that seat beside Joohyun’s is empty. You can sit there, Yonghwa-ssi. I’m Lee Jonghyun by the way,” he pointed to the desk at the corner, next to a very neat desk but covered with keroro sticker all over it.
“Ok, it’s settled then. You may sit there and wait for your new supervisor. Before that, please ask Jonghyun-ssi if you have any questions,” Yoona explained briefly to me.
“De, thank you, Yoona-ssi. And nice to meet you, Lee Jonghyun-ssi.”
“Nice to meet you too. Please feel free to ask me if you confused about anything. Sometimes it can be very confusing around here.”
“Oh I see. Thank you, Jonghyun-ssi.”
“You’re welcome.”
“By the way, where’s Joohyun? I haven’t seen her since before, it seems like she hasn’t come,” Yoona interrupted.
“Yep, you’re right. You perfectly know that she prefers to work until late at night and come late on the next day. Her inspirations always come in the middle of the night,” Jonghyun replied nonchalantly.
“Tch, that kid always does whatever she want, doesn’t she? Should I warn her again?” she grumbled.
“Still, she is the best developer we had in R&D. Please be patient with her, Yoona-ssi.”
“Arraseo arraseo. I think I better get back to my department now. Bye, guys.”
‘The best developer is a woman? Interesting’
***
Half an hour later, while I was reading some references about the project, a young woman with a lose blue checkered shirt and jeans, entered.
“Good morning, guys!” she greeted everyone cheerfully.
“Good afternoon, Joohyun-ssi.”
“Eeiii~, come on, don’t be like that. It’s still 11 in the morning,” she commented but halted her step when she saw me, “Oh?! There’s a new guy here. Annyeonghaseyo, Seo Joohyun-imnida. You can call me Sunbaenim. Hahahahaha...”
“Annyeonghaseyo, Jung Yonghwa-imnida. Nice to meet you, Sunbaenim.”
“Seo Joohyun and her seniority syndrom,” Jonghyun commented on her. She just stuck out her tongue.
“Seo Joohyun-ssi, come to my office now,” the CTO called her.
Then, she was appointed to be my supervisor for the next six months.
‘Let’s get the training started’
***
Thursday, April 9th 2015
It had been 3 months since I started. My job was smooth so far. I met the deadlines, proposed some ideas which were well accepted by my team, and never been scolded by my supervisor yet. I also got used to the company environment, especially with the R&D.
I usually had my lunch with Jonghyun, Minhyuk (Jonghyun’s friend from Finance department), and Jungshin (Jonghyun’s friend from Legal Department). We shared many things in common, like we all had the same interest in music. Actually, I was the eldest among them, because I took leave for 2 years when I was in my second year in college, so that I graduated late and became their junior in the office. We had become best friends and dropped the formality at the end of the first month.
My supervisor?
She was the best. She was an intellegent woman, very smart and super efficient. Even though she always did whatever she pleased, she never missed the deadlines. Her works were flawless. She loved to research and implement many new technologies in her works. She was not fond of teaching but she tried her best to teach me. It was just that she taught me almost everything, not only the project related things.
There was a time, she taught me how to pick the sweetest goguma at street stall in front of the office. Another time, she taught me how to dance to her favorite songs when we worked overtime in the office late at night. And sometimes, she asked me to teach her how to play guitar when she knew I was a guitarist of my college band.
She had a bright and bubbly personality that made everyone (or maybe just me) feels so happy to be around her. She was younger than me, like the boys. But she forced me to call her Sunbae. Like Jonghyun said, “Seo Joohyun and her seniority syndrom.”
I really enjoyed to spend our time together.
Do I like her?
‘I think I have fallen in love with her’
***
“Hyunnie~, have you got the reunion invitation? It will be held next month at ‘L’ Hotel. Do you want to come? Or are you still afraid to meet Jinwoon there?” Tiffany (developer from another team, Joohyun best friend from the university) showered her with questions when she just arrived at her desk.
“Yes, I have got the invitation. And yes, I won’t come.”
“But everyone were looking for you last year. Don’t you miss them?”
“I really miss them, Unnie.”
“Then, come. There is always possibility he won’t come to the reunion. Have Jinwoon contacted you this year? He always bother you every year before the reunion, right?”
“Aigoo, you are so noisy early in the morning, Unnie,” she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep on her desk.
“You just need to find a boyfriend so that Jinwoon stop following you,” Tiffany murmured and got back to her desk.
‘Who is Jinwoon? Why does she afraid to meet him?’
***
That night I worked overtime to accompany her again. She never forced me, but I always gave her many excuses to stay and work until she finished.
“Ahh, I’m so tired. Let’s go home now, Sunbae. It’s almost 9 pm. I will walk you to the bus stop.”
“Okay, just give me five minutes,” she started to pack her things.
We chatted happily as we walked out from the office, until I saw unfamiliar man calling her name in the lobby.
“Joohyun-ah~”
“What are you doing here, Jinwoon-ssi?” she asked him curtly.
“I’m picking you up, Baby. Don’t you miss me?” he walked toward her while spread his arms.
“Don’t you dare to come closer! And I’m not your baby!” she yelled at him.
Yet he didn’t stop, so I blocked his way.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? She said do not come closer to her,” I warned him.
“Oh-ho, who is this man, Joohyun-ah? Why don’t you introduce me to him?”
“I’m Jung Yonghwa, her boyfriend.”
‘That was the first lie I told to protect her’
Author's note:
That’s all for the first chapter.
I tried to make this story from Yonghwa’s point of view, so try to guess what was Seohyun thinking when she met him. Haha..
And thank you so much for the subscribers and comments, I really appreciated it.
Please enjoy the story and see you on the next update. :)
- minikittybdg
Comments