Sohee felt dead when she awoke at four in the morning. She’d never gotten up so early to go to work in her life. She groaned as her hand fell on the snooze button on her alarm clock. Mr. Kim was sleeping next to her, his snoring sounded like a bear’s growl. Sohee glanced at her fiance and gagged. She hated waking up to him in the mornings. He slept shirtless and pantsless, his whole body flapping around as he tossed and turned.

    Sohee rolled her eyes and got up from the bed, searching for her clothes that were on the ground. When she found them, she simply held them up as a shield for her body in case Mr. Kim happened to wake up. Though they were engaged, the man had never seen Sohee and she refused to let him. She hadn’t slept with him either. She used moral values as a reason not to, at least that’s what she told him.

    Regardless of what anyone thought of Sohee, she was no . She didn’t sleep around for money and she never planned on it. She told Mr. Kim that fact before he even suggested she move in with him, so, after a long debate, he settled on having her around as company and in exchange Sohee would have a place to stay, food to eat and clean water to drink. But once they were married it was going to be a different story.

    Sohee shook the thoughts from her head and stepped into the shower. She didn’t even give the shower time to warm up, but she soaped up, gave her hair a quick wash and rinsed off before stepping out and drying off.  She wrapped a towel around her body and exited the bathroom. Sohee grabbed one of the few dresses she had hanging in the closet and threw it on quickly after her undergarments.

    The young woman patted her hair dry with her towel and slipped on a pair of heels before grabbing her purse and taking one last look at Mr. Kim. He was still snoring obnoxiously loud and it made Sohee sick. She reached to turn off the alarm clock so it wouldn’t ring again, but decided against it. It wasn’t like it would wake him up.

    Being that Mr. Kim took the car to work, Sohee was left walking. It wasn’t a far walk from the apartment to work, in fact, it was shorter than most commutes, but it was cold. Most would throw on a coat before leaving the house at this time of the year, but, due to the budget at home, Sohee didn’t have one.

    Sohee crossed her arms and walked faster hoping it would heat her body up. For a while it worked, but as she got used to the pace she was walking her body temperature began to drop once again. She could see her breath in front of her and sighed. ‘Why is Seoul so cold during winter?’ She asked herself.

    As she was walking past a twenty-four hour corner store, she peered in the window for a second. There were candies and flowers right next to each other in an obvious ploy to get guys to buy little things for their girlfriends for Christmas. Sohee stared at the flowers, her mind seeming to run wild. ‘And here I am getting ready to marry a man I won’t even call by his first name.’ It saddened her to think about it, so she tried not to let it cross her mind much. But for some reason, staring at chocolates and roses in a dimly lit store at four in the morning alone on a often bustling street, really made Sohee think.

    She didn’t notice the familiar figure walk out of the store as she thought about how her Christmas was going to go and how her love life was at the moment. It wasn’t until the figure tapped her that she realized she was no longer alone. Sohee nearly jumped out of her skin when she seen Irene standing next to her with a cup of coffee in her hand. The woman smiled at Sohee and chuckled.

    “Good morning, Miss. Cho.” She said softly. Sohee relaxed and smiled before bowing.

    “Good morning, Irene.” Sohee replied. “Just call me Sohee now that we’re co-workers.” Irene’s smile was bright.

    “I told you not to fret! How was it meeting the Oh Sehun?” She asked. Sohee laughed lightheartedly and scratched her head.
 

    “Um, intimidating seems to be the only word that comes to mind.” Irene nodded and took a sip of her coffee.

    “Yeah, that’s what most who get hired say.” She replied. Sohee raised an eyebrow.
 

    “And those who don’t?”

    “He’s a prick.” Sohee laughed and was immediately reminded of Mr. Kim. Irene eyed Sohee for a moment before speaking. “Your fiance is the slim picking that did get hired out of that bunch.” Sohee looked to the ground, suddenly embarrassed for her fiance.

    “I try telling him that he should watch his words, but he doesn’t listen to me.” Irene shrugged, in a thin line.

    “That’s not your job. He’s a man, he should know how to act towards his superiors. Some men just have too much of an ego. Mr. Kim sometimes thinks he’s the smartest man in the world, but I’m sure you know this.” Sohee laughed and nodded.

    “Oh, yes, I’m very aware.” Irene stretched out her hand and offered some of her coffee to Sohee who shook her head. “No thank you. Coffee doesn’t really please me.” Irene laughed.

    “Even if you don’t want it, take it for Sehun. If you’re his new assistant I’m assuming he wants you there ten minutes early and if I drive you, you’ll get there just in time, but won’t have time to make his coffee and get papers from his box to his desk.” Sohee’s eyes widened as she pulled her phone out and checked the time. She gasped.
 

    “Oh my god!” She shouted. “I’m gonna be late! T-Thank you for the coffee, Irene! I have to go!” Sohee was already on the move when Irene shouted back to her.

    “Sohee, I’ll give you a ride!” Sohee waved her offer away.

    “First day on the job, I have to do this right!”

    When Sohee reached Sehun’s office she was out of breath, her hair was hanging in her face and her feet were hurting, but she was no longer cold. She willed the elevator to climb faster and ran out of it when it dinged and the doors opened. Sohee rushed to set the coffee down on Sehun’s desk. She cleared a spot for the cup and then scrambled around to find a place to set her things down.

    She settled on setting them on the floor in the very corner of the room before running back down to the main lobby where Sehun’s ‘box’ was which kept all printed memos and brochures sent to every worker in the company. Sehun just so happened to have the most. In his box also laid handwritten letters from other big-name CEO’s and some workers. Sohee struggled to keep all the papers in her arms as she zipped across the floor, repeating the elevator process and sitting at Sehun’s desk.

    Sohee sorted each piece of information that was in Sehun’s box. Letter to the left, memos to the right and brochures in the middle. Miscellaneous papers were placed off to the side and just as she was finishing up, Sehun walked in. Sohee looked up and met eyes with her new boss. Sehun glared at her from fifteen feet away and she trembled.

    “Why are you sitting at my desk?” He asked, his voice cold. Sohee looked down and realized where she was.

    “I-I-I was sorting things from your b-box and I didn’t think sitting on the f-floor would be approp-” Sehun shushed her with a wave of his hand. He made his way to his desk and Sohee got up and moved away with a bow.

    “That’s a freebie since you were sorting things from my box and it’s your first day on the job. I didn’t tell you about the box, so who did? Irene?” Sohee nodded slowly, feeling bad for ratting Irene out. Sehun sighed and pressed a button on his computer monitor before bringing out a laptop from one of the drawers of his desk. “Speak when spoken to.”

    “Y-Yes, Irene told me.” Sohee replied. Sehun’s features looked harsh in the computer light, but he was still model material.

    “She needs to let newbies learn on their own and stop trying to be the company mother.” He spat. Sohee bowed deeply.

    “I’m sorry, Mr. Oh. I asked her if there was anything I should do that you hadn’t told me about.” She lied. Sehun eyed her and Sohee gulped. He opened his mouth to say something and the young woman braced herself, but Sehun reneged and closed his mouth before turning his attention to his