DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER.

(Word Count: 7078)

 

 

It was just another morning for Baekhyun. He gobbled his breakfast and chugged his morning tea; he was running late as usual. It wasn’t like he’d meet serious consequences by arriving late. No, that was quite unlikely as he happened to be at the top and the rest were merely his employees. However, he wished to set a good example to his employees by being punctual.

 

 

Grabbing his car keys, he made a mad dash towards the elevator; thankfully a kind old lady held the door open for him. He smiled pleasantly in appreciation while his hand retrieved his phone from his pockets, which he had carelessly shoved inside in a hurry. After a quick glance at his schedule and a mental reassurance that he could get through the day, he got on to his sleek, luxurious car, which was rather a sign of the wealth he had accumulated in due course of time.

 

 

He knew that the life he led right now was only a result of his hard work and nothing else. His father’s company had been at a loss when he had taken over; following his father’s inopportune death. However, he made up his mind to redeem the company and he had managed to do that to a great extent. The profits were soaring, the employees were motivated and he was pleased.

 

 

While his business was doing great his personal life wasn’t far behind. He had finally found the courage to ask his girlfriend of three years to marry him and she had obviously agreed.

Their first meeting had been quite unforeseen. Baekhyun had woken up in the middle of the night with a throbbing jaw and a painful lump on his skin. He had rushed to his dentist the next morning, hoping to get rid of the unaesthetic swelling and unbearable pain. He had expected to be greeted by the same old man he had been used to seeing since childhood, but instead he found himself staring at a huge pair of sparkling, brown eyes.

 

She smiled warmly as he walked in, causing his heart to palpitate. And he was sure it wasn't because of fear of needles and drills.

 

"Morning, Mr. Byun, I'm Dr. Kang," she greeted him merrily.  "Dr. Jung is on leave today, I'll be taking over his appointments."

 

Baekhyun nodded slightly, trying his best to return her smile. He never really looked forward to these apointments; they always lied when they said it wouldn't be painful. And his inherent fear of needles and closed spaces made it even worse. He hesitantly walked over to the dental chair, a palm secure against his swelling, praying that he'd be alive by the end of the treatment.

 

Her eye-brows furrowed while examining his mouth; the pair of blue-gloves obscuring his vision as she did so. The lower part of her face was now covered with a mask but her creased eye-brows were an indication of something being wrong.

He felt himself being light-headed when she explained how his wisdom tooth had to be pulled out, but he still managed to give his consent to go forth with the surgery. 

 

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Byun, this is a standard text-book procedure."

 

The last thing he remembered was passing out when she took out a syringe, assuring him that it wouldn't hurt at all.

 

 

He had scurried out of the clinic with an ice-pack on his jaw and a prescription clutched in his hands. He had been rather embarrassed for blacking out in front of his beautiful dentist, but it couldn’t be helped; he was simply petrified of needles. He hoped to never see her again, no matter how much he found her attractive. But it seemed as if fate had something else in mind when he found her at a local convenience store a few days later, buying groceries and apparently they both liked the same brand of canned olives. And Baekhyun had been certain that it would be the start of something new.

 

 

The days flew by; he had finally found the courage to ask for her number for they continued to run into each other with their weekly visits to the convenience store. It didn’t take them long to start dating. Baekhyun found himself admiring the girl, she was rather smart, funny and kind; everything he had hoped for. It took him only a month to fall in love and he decided to confess, hoping for the best. When she returned those three words he felt as if he was the luckiest guy on earth. It didn’t take long for her to move in with him and they made pleasant memories as the days went by.

 

 

Everything seemed perfect; he now had a wonderful fiancée to rely on and a rising company at his hands.

 

 

It was when Baekhyun walked into his office that he realized he had forgotten to inform his fiancée that he had left for work. She seemed rather fatigued of late and he always let her sleep in longer in the mornings. Leaving a quick text to her, he turned back to his laptop screen. A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

 

“Come in,” he said in a fairly stern voice. Even if he did wish to get closer to his employees he still believed that a certain distance needed to be maintained.

 

 

Do Kyungsoo, from the marketing department walked in with a bunch of files in his hand. Baekhyun had made the guy his secretary temporarily for his previous one had resigned due to personal issues. Meanwhile, he had asked Kyungsoo to find a suitable replacement.

 

 

“Mr. Byun, there’s a girl here for the interview. May I send her in?”

 

 

Baekhyun nodded, hoping the girl was qualified enough for the job and he wouldn’t have to go through the pain of interviewing a dozen more until he found a suitable secretary.

 

 

A feeble knock was heard at the door and in walked a girl, in her early twenties. She seemed quite meek yet determined, just the type of person Baekhyun had in mind. He smiled softly at the girl hoping to calm her for she seemed rather nervous.

 

 

“Please take a seat,” he instructed. The girl nodded and shuffled across the room to claim her seat across his table.

 

 

“Name?”

 

 

“Minah, Kim Minah, Sir,” she replied politely. 

 

 

“Very well, Kim Minah. Do you have any previous work experiences?”

 

 

He flipped through the girl’s resume taking a quick note of her age and qualification. It surprised him that she had graduated from a prestigious university. He seemed pleased with all the listed achievements. She seemed like the perfect candidate for the job.

 

 

“No, sir,” she replied, shuffling in her seat nervously.

 

“I see.”

 

After scanning her resume thoroughly he concluded that her lack of work experience wasn’t much of a setback. He turned towards the girl again and this time around he got a good glance of her features. She had a pleasant face; long hair grazing down her shoulders. He scolded himself for scrutinizing his to-be employee in that manner. Besides, he was certain his fiancée wouldn’t be pleased either. 

Clearing his throat loudly to clear out the awkward air, he asked her one last question.

 

 

“How badly do you need this job, Miss. Kim?”

 

 

“This is my only shot, sir,” she pleaded earnestly.

“My mother has been battling cancer and my younger brother is yet to get into college. My entire family is relying on me.

If I don’t get this job, I don’t know how we would sustain. The bills are piling up; my brother’s school fees need to be paid.

Everything would have been alright if father was still around but unfortunately he isn’t.

It’s as if life is testing me at every point,” she sniffled, a fat tear droplet made its way down her cheeks, leaving trail marks.

 

 

Baekhyun stared at her speechlessly. He sympathized with the girl for having to face so many obstacles and fighting them on her own. He could tell she had no one to support her and it was too much of a burden for her to handle. But was it alright if he employed solely on that basis? Was his judgment biased? He too had to go through the same phase once, except he had his mother and his girlfriend to support him.

 

When Baekhyun failed to utter anymore words, Minah got up from her seat dejectedly. She had probably put him off with her sniffling, she thought. She had tried to remain strong, but it had been difficult. She had been turned down by a numer of companies; at this point her future appeared bleak. 

 

 

“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll show myself out.”

 

 

She was about to get up and leave when Baekhyun’s voice interrupted.

 

 

“Wait.”

 

 

Minah turned around in a painfully slow manner; her eyes still grief- stricken with her never-ending tears. Baekhyun had made his way to where she had been standing. He awkwardly pressed on her shoulder, patting it gently.

 

“How soon can you start?”

 

Minah’s eyes widened in surprise, she wanted to make sure she had heard the right thing and it wasn’t her mind playing tricks on her.

 

“You m-mean…”

 

Baekhyun grinned widely, happy to find a smile on the girl’s face. He didn’t know why his heart felt at ease now that she had finally stopped crying.

 

 

“You’re hired, Minah.”

 

Minah bowed repeatedly, the frown on her face replaced with a wide smile. Baekhyun found himself smiling along.

 

“Thank you so much, sir. I wouldn’t disappoint you,” she said, bowing once again.

 

 

“That’s good to know. Do you think you could start today?”

 

Minah nodded vigorously in response, excited to start her new job. It gave her hope that things would be alright from now on. She was thankful to her kind boss.

 

                                                                                                                     

 

 

Baekhyun was welcomed home with a mouth-watering aroma; he immediately knew that his fiancée had been making them dinner. He set his briefcase down and sauntered towards the kitchen. He smiled softly when he saw his fiancée, Nara biting her lip as she glared at her phone. He took careful steps towards her, not wanting her to know about his presence so he could startle her when he greeted her. He somehow found it amusing to scare her with silly frolics like these. She always seem to fall for them.

 

Snaking his arms around her petite body, he leaned closer to whisper in her ear.

 

“Hey baby,” he cooed gently. The girl gasped slightly, she had been too immersed in reading the recipe from her phone that she hadn’t heard him coming in.

 

Nevertheless, the girl turned around to gently peck her fiancé’s lips.

 

 

“Hey Baek, you scared me,” she pouted. Baekhyun laughed heartily and kissed her again.

 

 

“I’m sorry baby. Are you trying out a new recipe?” he asked her while curiously peeking into her phone which was still secure in her hand.

 

She nodded, smiling warmly but her eyes widened the next second. She turned around abruptly to put off the flame, heaving a sigh of relief to find the contents un-burned. She glared at Baekhyun who had been watching her curiously.

 

 

“You almost got our dinner burnt,” she complained, shaking her head disapprovingly. But Baekhyun knew she was being playful and wasn’t really upset. He kissed her again to coax her and as usual she gave in, causing him to gloat in triumph.

 

 

They had a fairly unique relationship and he didn’t know if that was good thing or a bad one. For the three long years they had been together, they hadn’t fought once. While all his other friends complained about their nagging girlfriends and the constant fights, he couldn’t help but wonder if his relationship was normal.

 

 

His fiancée was the most considerate girl he had ever met, he knew he managed to irritate her at times but unlike other girls who created a huge fuss, she kept everything buried. She would wait patiently until he cooled down and then he would realize his mistake and apologize profusely. She would forgive him easily and they'd go to back to being the sweet couple they were. He was grateful that he had found someone as forgiving and tolerant as his fiancée but sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder why they weren’t like the other couples.

 

 

He had always heard people saying how the little fights and conflicts strengthened their relationship. If that was true, then they may never strengthen their relationship but maybe it never required strengthening. He had voiced out his concerns regarding this once and she had burst out laughing. It made him laugh too; he had the silliest insecurity one could ever hear of.

 

 

“Maybe we’re one of the lucky ones, Baekhyun,” she had uttered between her adorable laughs.

And that day Baekhyun had decided that he wanted to marry the girl and spend the rest of his life with her. He could always be the smug, conceited one when his other friends complained about their relationships for he was certain that he’d never have any problems.

 

 

Sometimes, he wondered how a smart, independent girl like her had fallen for an insecure and self-doubting person like him. He had to admit that he changed for the better after they started dating; he was much more confident and positive now. He knew it was all because of her, she had been a positive influence on his life. She had made him a better person and he’d always be indebted to her.

 

 

Raised by a militant father, she was rather responsible and mature. It made him wonder who the elder one was among them, at times, although the girl had been a year younger than him. She never had to face any difficulties growing up, as far as he knew. And no matter how strict her father was, at the end of the day, she was still his little princess and he’d always pamper her with all kinds of things she wished for. If she had taught Baekhyun to be more confident, he in turn had taught her to be content with little things in life and not be materialistic.

 

 

He would always tell her how people weren’t always as privileged as they were and yet they were happy and satisfied with their lives. Nara, who was slightly hesitant to give up on all her luxuries finally obliged and by the end of three years her reckless spending and innumerable shopping sprees had come down drastically. It made Baekhyun happy that she was at least trying.

 

 

“How was work?” she asked. They were now cuddling underneath the warm blankets; the nights were getting colder as winter approached.

 

 

“Fine,” he said, nuzzling her neck softly. She giggled slightly as his breath tickled her.

 

 

“Oh, I found a new secretary,” he uttered suddenly. He had forgotten all about it.

 

 

“That’s great,” Nara exclaimed, pushing him away gently so he’d stop tickling her neck. Baekhyun hummed softly as his lips trailed gentle kisses on her exposed skin.

 

 

“She is fairly young and has to take care of her family on her own. I thought the job might be of help.”

 

 

“That was quite nice of you, Baekhyun,” Nara smiled as she placed her head on his warm chest. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she did feel a little uneasy that her fiancé’s secretary was a girl and a rather young one.

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                    

 

 

Days went by; Baekhyun had grown fond of his secretary. There was something about her, be it her innocence or her timid mannerisms, which made him want to take care of her. It wasn’t that way with Nara, she seldom needed help. She was quite capable of handling things on her own and at times that trait of hers made him feel useless. 

 

 

On the other hand, Minah readily accepted his help which led to a boost in his ego, although he didn't wish to accept it. Minah would remind him time and again how she was extremely grateful to him for having offered her the job. And that made Baekhyun happy.

Things had escalated quite fast; Baekhyun, who rarely befriended his employees, often accompanied Minah on her visits to the hospital. Her mother seemed to be doing fairly well with the treatment. He would drop her off at times, especially if it had turned dark outside. At the same time, he was drifting apart from Nara. The only time he saw her was during the nights and most often, if not always, he chose to dine outside, mostly with Minah. His interactions with Nara were limited to a few texts, every now and then.

 

 

“So how is your brother doing at school?” He started a normal conversation as they walked into a cozy and warm restaurant.

 

 

“He’s doing great, Oppa,” Minah beamed at the older guy. He had asked her to drop all the formalities claiming that it made him feel old and she had easily obliged to address him Baekhyun ‘Oppa’.

 

 

“That’s nice to hear,” he smiled. He could notice the changes in Minah since she joined. Although she was still the same shy and timid girl, she seemed a lot happier. And he secretly believed that it might have been due to him. He felt as if he had accomplished something great by making her happy.

 

He scanned through the menu to order food for