Rumour had been spreading around that the boss had a crush on Wendy.

Wendy was hearing non-stop teasing from her coworkers to the point that she’s bewildered how a joke can last this long. It was starting to get irritating, as she personally found it not funny. She stopped counting the numbers of time she was interviewed by her coworkers randomly which resembled to how tabloid reporters would harass celebrities.

Do you like her? She’s hot, I’d totally go for it. Did she make a move or did you make the move? Dude, you’ll be set for life, she’s rich.

Wendy could only roll her eyes and continue what she was doing. She wasn’t going to humour them by answering back. She had been working in the office for 8 months. Why were there already absurd gossips going around her? She swore she had done nothing other than show up to work – how did this rumour even started and out of all people, why her? Seulgi, her close coworkers/friend, would also add onto the fire and announce to her whenever the boss was on the same floor as them, only to make her more agitated.

“Oh, she looks really pretty today Wendy.” Seulgi affectionately wrapped her arms from behind and leaned her chin on top of Wendy’s head. Her brunette hair fell limply at the side of Wendy’s dark blue hair.

Only four cubicles away in front of them, the boss was speaking to a small group of people. It was sort of audible from where they were sitting. It seemed more like the boss was assigning them work.

“I’m busy” Wendy continued to type away her report. Her eyes refuse to leave the screen and give into Seulgi’s tease.

“Hmm” Seulgi looked at Wendy’s monitor, only to see words filling up the white page. Then she looked at the clock and it was a half an hour left to noon, but her stomach was already bothering her. The topic of food came to her head.

“Where do you want to go for lunch?”

Fingers finally stopped moving on the keyboard.

“Hm, how about the one across the café? I’m craving for something spicy.”

Seulgi didn’t like spicy, but she’ll get something else at the restaurant instead.

“Sure”

From their peripheral, they noticed a figure was walking toward their direction. Without saying anything, both of them observed their boss at the side of their eyes as she passed by. They caught her taking a glimpse at them.

Wendy didn’t know why she was holding her breath.

“You know, I can’t help but think the rumours are true, Wendy.”

“Oh shut up and go back to work.”

Seulgi chuckled and released Wendy.

--

“That witch” a loud voice caught everyone’s attention. It interrupted the monotonous surroundings and triggered the ears of the gossipers. Wendy paused what she was doing and eavesdropped on the conversation.

“What’s wrong?” Another female voice asked, until Wendy figured it was Luna’s.

“She told me off saying I was incompetent and she’s gonna fire me if I don’t work. What is she talking about? I’m always busy! Whatever, she’s a .” The girl spewed.

Oh that must be the girl that’s always on her phone at work. She can hear her phone calls even if she’s meters away from her. Something about hearing her complaints about literately everything in life, especially with her whiny voice, got on her nerves sometimes. Despite how much of a calm peaceful girl Wendy was.

“Oh sorry to hear that” she heard Luna tried to sympathized out of politeness.

Then just like that, things went back to normal and everyone resumed back to their own work. The air was dull and quiet again, only the sound of clicks from the mouse can be heard. Wendy couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person was her boss. Sure she sounds scary, but she was the boss so it sounded about right. Hopefully, Wendy doesn’t get into that situation with her boss.

“Son Wendy”

Wendy turned to see her manager beside her.

“Yes?”

“Miss Bae wants to see you.”

Oh god, she spoke too soon and she’s being summoned to see her. Was she going to get yelled at too? But what did she do wrong? Despite the rumours, she never spoke to her boss before. She only bowed to her out of courtesy when she walked by but that’s about it. She was feeling nervous and turned to look at Seulgi only to see her worried eyes on her.

“Okay” Her manager left and Wendy frowned.

Wendy anxiously took the elevator up to the top floor where the boss’s office was, which was only one level up. It was the exact feeling when the teacher told her to go see the principle to ponder what kind of punishment she’d received. She looked at the secretary who sat directly opposite from the brown doors. The secretary took noticed of her presence and then left her be.

Wendy braced herself with a sigh and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

She entered the spacious office, only to be filled up with furniture and shelves. The first thing she noticed was the huge glass window that gave almost the full view of the streets below them. Then her eyes drifted to her boss in the middle of the room behind her desk.

This was the first time Wendy got to study Miss Bae’s face upfront. Seulgi was right, she was very pretty. Her skin was really white, and her long hair made her looked so dashing. Then it was her eyes and red lips that were so alluring, she felt like staring for a long time.

Quickly snapping out of it, she then felt overwhelmed by her presence. Her name tag on the table clearly stated her position in the company, only to remind Wendy that she might be fired by this person. The air was filled with uncertainly again.

She bowed and her boss pointed her to sit across from the desk. Wendy could barely calm herself as she was filled with curiosity, fear and nervousness. Also, being this close with her attractive boss alone in the room.

“Son Wendy” she said with a neutral face, not sure how to interpret it.

“Yes?”

Her boss slapped a bunch of papers in front of Wendy which startled her. She gulped as she took the papers in her hands. It was the reports she wrote up last week.

Oh god, did I mess up something and I’m going be kicked out?

Her brain was kicking the out of her.

“I like your reports. I’ve show them to other companies and we’ve reached an agreement a lot quicker than I would’ve imagined. Good job.” Miss Bae praised her.

Oh. That’s it?

That was a turn of event of what Wendy thought she thought she’d land into.

“Thank you Miss Bae.”

Miss Bae finally gave her a small smile which quickly washed away all of Wendy’s apprehension. Wendy took a deep breath and exhaled out of relief. The muscle on her shoulder released the tenseness. She heard her boss chuckled.

“Did you think you were in trouble?”

“Ugh, yes. I thought I was getting fired.”

Miss Bae smile grew wider. It was extremely alluring.

“No I wouldn’t do that. If anything, I’m promoting you.”

What?

“Oh” That was the only response that came out of Wendy. She couldn’t really think at the moment as the news shock her.

“You’ll have more responsibilities, but of course you’ll get a raise. You will be involved with the company’s meeting and if needed, you will also present in front of them. I may personally ask you to do some work for me. Does that sound good?”

Wendy couldn’t really think much, but all she heard was she was getting paid more. She just nodded.

“Good. Your manager will fill you up with what to do. Congratulation on your promotion Son Wendy”

Miss Bae held out her hand toward Wendy. She automatically took her hand and shook.

Dam, her hands are soft, but what just happened?

The brief meeting with her boss ended and Wendy bowed to Miss Bae one last time before returning to her seat. She felt her soul left her body as she sat there lifelessly. The brain was working like a loading screen, trying to register the scene just moments ago. That was literately less than 10 minutes and her boss had the power to draw out all of her. Maybe she had pinned Miss Bae as a sadist type that she’d never imagine it’d be in her capabilities to give compliments.

With her presence alone, she could sense that Miss Bae had an enormous amount of authority and influence inside a small body of hers. Wendy had easily given in without doubts. It all felt like her boss just smacked a new nametag for her and she wasn’t Wendy anymore. She’s like the upgraded version of Wendy and she didn’t know where to begin. She stared her screen blankly and silently tried to solve her brief identity issues.

“So what happened?” Seulgi poked her, her face displaying full of curiosity.

“I’m not sure, but I think I just got promoted?” Seulgi smiled and smacked her arm.

“Congrats! Told you the boss likes you because you’re so smart and cute.”

Wendy rubbed her arm and glared at Seulgi.

“She doesn’t have a crush on me. She only likes my reports.”

“Yeah whatever, come on, let’s go eat.”

--

Well this lunch trip was a whole level of awkwardness.

They were sitting two tables away from Miss Bae with someone else at the same restaurant. None of them wanting to state the obvious, but somehow they were speaking softly to each other hoping their boss wouldn’t take notice of their presence. They were silently playing the stealth game and trying to ninja out.

Seulgi gulped down her water and blew out the small heat in .

“Man, these pancakes are good but they’re spicy.”

She looked at Wendy to see her body red while she drinks down the red lava soup in front of her. She didn’t understand the appeal of it.

“Dude, steams are coming out of your ears. How could you get something spicy that you can’t handle.”

Wendy sniffed as her nose was also running. She could blow out flames and set the place on fire.

“It’s so good though, that I might cry.” Her eyes were teary and persist on finishing the meal.

“Yeah because you are and you can’t handle it.” Seugli looked elsewhere. “Oh look! Miss Bae got the same thing!”

Wendy quickly glanced to the right. Indeed, her boss got the same boiling red bowl of soup. Miss Bae was calmly eating the soup without any hint of spiciness. Dam, is she even human?

“Aww, how cute. You two are destined to be together.” Seulgi mockingly squealed.

She shot Seulgi a glare, not amused how Seulgi found it entertaining. Then she thought of a revenge that would get back at Seulgi for all the teasing.

“Wait, I see something at the back of your teeth, could you open your mouth?”

Without questioning it, Seulgi innocently opened showing her white sets of teeth. Then swiftly, Wendy shoved a spoonful of her soup into which gave her an opposite remedy of a coughing medicine - a coughing fit.

*cough* “What the hell?!” * cough* “I hate you!”

Seulgi’s face was on fire and she stole Wendy’s water and chugged it down.

Wendy smirked and finished her soup, leaving Seulgi to recover by herself. The smirk immediately fell off as soon as she felt the stares, especially Miss Bae’s. They just failed their ninja game even though there was no reward in the end. Well yeah, they just created a scene.

Opps. I don’t think that was appropriate to do that in front of the boss.

Trying to escape the situation, she patted Seulgi on the back hoping she would calm down.

“Hey hey, you’ll be fine. Here, I’ll pay since you’re so bad with spicy food. Let’s go!”

She dragged the dying Seulgi out of the doors and out of Miss Bae’s sight. The fresh air was welcoming and allowed her to finally breathe.

She received a few smacks and a headlock in returned while making their way back to the office.

The office was quiet once again as everyone continued working. Wendy was in the middle of reading her emails when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up and heart skipped a beat when she saw Miss Bae in front of her.

What is happening today? Why is she everywhere?

“I think you left your cell phone at the restaurant.” She handed Wendy her phone. Her face flushed red from embarrassment.

“Be careful next time.” She smiled and left before Wendy could say thank you.

Oh great, she just made a fool out of herself today after she got promoted. She hoped Miss Bae wasn’t thinking of demoting her due to her clumsiness. She sighed and her fingers typed twice as fast trying to recover from her humiliation.

--

“Is this a joke? You think you can give me this garbage and let someone else read it!?” Wendy could hear the shouts through the doors as she was standing outside of Miss Bae’s office.

“This is all wrong! You better fix this by today before I fire you!” She was shaken by the angry voice even though it wasn’t directed at her. She just encountered the mad Miss Bae and dam was she frightening. Then she saw a person exit the office with his head down, preventing Wendy from seeing his face clearly.

Wendy looked at the secretary who didn’t look affected at all and continued to check out her nails. It seemed like she was so used to the strict boss scolding her employees.

Am I going to get screwed too? I just got promoted 3 weeks ago. She silently questioned the secretary even though she was busy doing her own things.

Wendy waited for a bit hoping her boss would calm down then nervously knocked on the door.

“Come in” a stern voice summoned her.

She slowly pushed the door open and saw Miss Bae with a frown then her eyes flew up to Wendy’s.

She greeted her with a bow.

“You’ve called for me?”

“Ah yes. Wendy.” Her voice was soft now compare what she heard 2 minutes ago. Truthfully, it terrified Wendy more how her boss mood swings were happening.

“I want you to prepare a presentation for a meeting next week. Just give them a summary of your reports. There will be three other companies joining us and I will be there. We’re preparing a marketing plan and I will need your help in this project. You’re very good.”

Whatever Wendy was feeling before got tossed out of the window as she smiled with pride. She was given an opportunity from Miss Bae and she wasn’t going to turn it down. She wasn’t going to disappointed her at all. Finally she felt like all those years of maintaining her GPA high were paying off now.

“Yes Miss Bae.”

Her boss smiled and stood up from her desk. She walked toward Wendy.

“What’s your address?”

“Excuse me?” Wendy was taken aback and confused.

“We’re staying at hotel, I need to know so I can pick you up.” Miss Bae reasoned out.

“You mean we’re staying for a couple of nights?”

“Yes”

Wendy kind of felt weird when she heard hotel, if she haven’t heard of the rumours about her boss crushing on her then she would’ve brushed it off.

What the hell? She only likes my work, not me. She reminded herself.

“Oh, of course.”

Wendy wrote down her address and handed to Miss Bae. Then she felt the same soft hand holding onto her arm.

“Thank you Wendy.” Miss Bae smiled, it was too bright.

Wendy smiled back and stood there for a few seconds before awkwardly withdrawing her arm away. She bowed one last time before returning to her seat, feeling a bit rigid. She didn’t notice her heart was beating loud the whole time.