CHAPTER TWO

-+- DARA -+-

"H-Hae." I softly spoke. I shivered a bit. I'm not really sure why he is here, but it's the first time I have seen him in this building, in the company I am working in.

"Good afternoon Dara." The other person inside the elevator greeted me, breaking the silent tension between me and Hae.

I looked at Eunhyuk and smiled at him. Eunhyuk is Donghae's best friend and corporate lawyer and business partner, I think. "Good afternoon Hyuk." I greeted him back, thankful for the intervention.

Then I turned my gaze towards Hae with my lips pressed together. I am always lost for words when I see him. Unsure of what to say. He was looking upfront but when he realized I was staring at him, he turned his cold gaze towards me. "Don't worry I did not come here for you." He stated and looked straight again.The statement made me take a step backwards. A statement that if you think about means what it literally means, but it's actually a statement that hurts me a bit. "I am here for some business meeting. They wanted to build a new department store, somewhere in Busan " He explained it in the briefest sentence that I'm sure he just forced himself to say. Before I could say anything, the elevator door pops open.

Eunhyuk walked out first and held the door for Hae, Eunhyuk politely bowed to me. And I shot him a smile. Eunhyuk is always warm to me, always treating me with kindness. Hae briefly pauses and looked at me, and his gaze fell down on my company ID which was placed in front of my stomach. I quickly covered it with my hand. I looked at him and saw his jaw tightened. Without looking at me, he his heel. "See you at home." He stated before stepping out of the elevator.

After the door closed, it took a while before I realized that I did not press any button at all and when I turned to press the number for my office floor, it was already pressed. Perhaps Eunhyuk pressed it? How the hell did he know?

I shook my head as I tried to compose myself, it doesn't matter anyway, I raised my ID which was still in my hands and looked at it. PARK SANDARA. Did he notice? I recalled his face and I realized rather than being expressionless, he has this annoyed look pasted on his face. I found myself a bit amazed as my lips began to move upward, making me smile. So... I can change his expression too... I sighed and gently patted my head twice. I must be crazy being happy to get an annoyed expression from my husband.

I took a deep breath. Thinking about it, it was not the first time. This was the second time I've noticed a change in his expression towards me. The first one was when we were talking about me working. But that time, rather than annoyed, his face conveyed disappointment. Until now I don't know why I made him disappointed. I just chose to work, that's all. Why would he be disappointed?

But today it's different. For sure he was annoyed that my name is still Park Sandara on my company ID. The thing is, when I applied here, I wasn't married. I got in when I was not married too. I never bothered to change my name here even my social status. Does it matter? I am Park Sandara anyway, forever and will always be.  I sighed again as I waited for the elevator to stop on my floor.

I walked out of the elevator and went towards my area. Only a few of the employees have returned to their station. I glanced at my watch and gasped. I really need to move my . I opened my drawer and took my vanity kit. I rushed towards the restroom.

I was thankful there's an available place in front of the sink. I quickly placed my bag in front of the mirror and took out my toothbrush and toothpaste. As I brush my teeth I began to think about my marriage with Hae.

If you look at my marriage from the outside and dwell into information known by the country, one must have thought that it was a very pleasant marriage. Marrying Lee Donghae, the founder and owner of LDH Architecture firm, one of the most recognized and stable firms in Architecture in South Korea, winning most of the jobs around the country, with continuous projects around the clock. Not to mention he is really handsome and hot, he has even been named one of the most eligible bachelors before, I have never heard of it, but according to Chaerin, he was. Of course, being young, successful, handsome and rich that he is, who would think of him as ineligible?

My marriage although you can say is not really an entirely happy marriage, I would say it is okay. Yes, I am not entirely happy because our marriage is not hot, rather it is really cold. He treats me coldly, never changes his expression when he is in front of me, we seldom talk. Our house is very quiet even when we are together. But Donghae is a great guy. He might have treat me coldly, but he is fair. He takes care of me and provides well for me. It's not really about the money, I'm not about that, that's why I work so I could have my own money for things that I wanted for myself. When I say provides for me, it's more on the house, the food in the house, the housekeeping fees, the electricity and water, all sorts that husbands usually pay. Other than that, I really don't ask for his support. I can manage everything else with the money I have. But he is really a good husband, he comes home every night, sends me message if he needs to come home late, he explains why and tells me what time he'll be home.

He is over-all a good husband. I have a good marriage. But inside my mind, I know, that although this marriage is unforced, it is unforeseen, for both of us, but most especially on Hae's side. I can't help think that maybe, he would have done things in his life differently if not for me. There's still a nudging feeling inside of me that he cannot fully accept me as his wife. That's also the reason why I try to keep silent over the fact that I'm married to the Lee Donghae. I don't want to ruin his name as he might find me still unworthy of such title. But despite those feelings, I'm truly thankful for him as he has been somewhat my salvation to my poignant life.   

I breathed heavily before throwing the white foam inside my mouth and gargled some water. I pat my mouth dry. I looked at the mirror and decided to retouch my powder and lip gloss. I continued to stare in my reflection. Yes, just work hard and don't be a burden to him, hopefully, he will not find it hard to accept you.  I nodded my head as I head out of the restroom. 

When I reached my place, almost everybody has returned in their posts. I quickly sat down and got back to work. I opened one file of attendance sheet from XYZ Department store and gathered the hours of work of the employees for the past week and entered into the system. I am working in HR Department, I am responsible for the attendance of each and every employee of all the department stores in Seoul. I maintain their records and monthly, I make my calculation over each employee's wages  and send it to Accounts. It's a big responsibility if you think about it, since I am holding a very important role not to make any mistakes in the attendance. If I did a mistake, it will be calculated to that employee's wages incorrectly. It's either the company's loss or the employee loss. So far, I have not received any complaint yet. And I am so relieved.

Actually, we work in tandems, because my counterpart in Accounts Department is Bommie. We get to check each other's work all the time and believe me, it was really good that I was working with a friend, because most of the Accounts' people are usually unapproachable. And a bit weird? As small smile crept on my lips.

It has been a while since I was working with the data of XYZ Department store and I glanced on the lower right side of my computer and saw that in half an hour, my working timing wil