Located at the heart of Seoul's corporate district, Les Chic's massive building stood like a blinding gem among the dull gray office structures. The infamous fashion magazine firm is housed in a jaw-dropping 30-storey building complete with amenities that could rival the world's most famous five star hotel.

Designed personally by the most sought after architect in all of South Korea, who happened to be Jung Joori's childhood friend, Les Chic's unique architectural features had made jaws drop, eyes pop out and ovaries burst as all of its thirty floors were covered by high quality glass that was even imported and shipped from France.

It was also rumored that the firm's blueprints were burned into ashes by Jung Joori herself and her friend right after construction just so the design wouldn't be imitated or stolen, and all the people who had contributed to the completion of the massive office building was sworn into secrecy. Les Chic's stronghold was both a marvel and a mystery.

Dedicating twelve spacious floors for the main Les Chic office, different departments such as Layout, Photography, Printing, Fashion Research, Tailoring and many more claimed a floor each, leaving sixteen floors to cater and spoil the employees with an indoor pool, a five-storey theater, a spa, a fitness gym, a floor dedicated to franchises of different expensive cafes and restaurants, and a salon among any other.

And right there at the very top of the majestic building is Jung Joori's two-storey penthouse and personal office, completing the godly Les Chic Fashion Magazine Firm.

It was a typical day at Les Chic and all the important staff were summoned to head out to the Conference floor for an important monthly meeting.

And Krystal unfortunately decided to run late that day.

The Senior Layout Artist burst through the meeting room doors short of breath and looking very unfashionable with her wrinkled clothes and wind-ransacked hair.

“Omg. Joori-unnie I’m so sorry! I was doing the layouts and preparing notes to brief the new Junior Designer last night. I totally forgot about the meeting today!”

Krystal literally looked like she had flown outside the moment the elevator opened on the Conference floor.

Jung Joori looked over at Krystal with one eyebrow raised.

“Uhm. It’s okay. Just…uh…take a seat next to Key. We haven’t really discussed the main points yet so you got here just in time.” Joori faked a laugh and everyone else in the meeting room laughed along rather awkwardly.

Just before Krystal came bursting into the room, members in the meeting were having a heated conversation about the new Junior Designer.


Flashback

The great Jung Joori entered the meeting room with an elegant stride and well poised stature that exude her status as she approached the front of the room.

The meeting room was filled light chatters and gossips, mainly about what's new in the fashion world and which celebrity had recently been apprehended by the metaphorical fashion police.

“Okay kids, settle down. As you all know, the new Junior Designer arrives in…” Joori looks at her watch. “Forty minutes tops.”

Hearing their boss' commanding yet caring voice, the people inside the meeting room instantly quieted down in respect.

Forming Jung Joori's infamous creative team are a league of queer artists, photographers, designers and writers, some handpicked and some discovered overseas, these handful of people make the Les Chic a formidable beast in the fashion magazine industry.

"Did you hire another straight employee, Unnie? Not that I have something against them... but I think Krystal is enough." Sooyoung snorted a laugh as she munched on a cookie.

Before anyone else could agree, Sulli slammed her hand on the conference table and gave Sooyoung one of her famous soul-crushing glares.

"Mock my best friend again and I'm gonna snap you like a chopstick," Sulli hissed, venom lacing her voice.

The tall girl cowered in fear behind her girlfriend, Sunny, as she hid from Sulli's piercing eyes. It was the first time Sooyoung had seen the younger girl look so fierce.

"O-kay... Let's move on before someone gets killed." For a moment there, Joori feared for the life of one of her employees. It's a waste of great talent, she thought.

“Is it a hot girl?” Taeyeon, one of the heads of the departments, spoke up as she playfully wetted her lips.

Sitting across the short and erted girl, Tiffany instinctively grabbed last month’s issue of Les Chic, the firm's thickest issue ever and threw it directly at Taeyeon's face, who dodged the flying object perfectly and very fortunately because the impact would at least cause her brain damage.

Tiffany just rolled her eyes when her girlfriend winked at her. "ert."

“Is it a hot dude?” Jonghyun interjected before getting slapped by his boyfriend, Key. “What?”

“No. The question should be, is this person gay enough to join us.” Key said coolly.

Joori looked at Key like he has grown another head. Handling a company with 99.9% of employees being queer is such a challenge, the boss thought. Her employees tend to be shallow at times.

With a sigh, Joori answered, “Yes. She’s gay.”

It was then that the room had once again exploded into chatter. Joori shook her head with thoughts that her team was consisted of a bunch of kids, gay kids to be exact.

“THANK GOD IT’S A GIRL!” Sooyoung dramatically stood up while reaching her hands up to the heavens as she exclaimed. All the guys shot her a dirty look.

“What? I have enough of seeing you guys.” Sooyoung followed.

“Look," Heechul started, "What is your problem, Sooyoung?!” The guy now stood up from his seat and shouted across the table.

"OKAY, ENOUGH YOU GAY PEOPLE! SOOYOUNG! HEECHUL! STOP SHOUTING!" Joori slumped on her seat as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples counter clockwise. All this noise were stressing her out, and it's bad for her skin.

After hearing the absence of the chatters and unnecessary shouting, Les Chic's boss opened her eyes and spoke calmly.

“Do you still want me to continue? Or would you like to continue wasting all our time arguing over something so trivial until Krystal arrives and spoils the fun?” Joori looked at everyone. Heechul embarrassingly sat down while Sunny tried to calm her girlfriend.

“Okay, that's better. As I was saying," Joori took a folder from the pile she had brought in and took the paper inside it. "The new kid’s name is AJ Liu. She’s from California. She’s 24 and will be joining the Layout Department.” She read from the file.

“Yes! Another one for the team!” Hyoyeon and Yuri hi-fived each other. Joori eyed both girls before continuing.

With that famous grin of hers, Yuri motioned for her boss to continue.

“But... everything else about her is a mystery.” Joori returned the paper as she closed the folder containing the new employee's profile and laid it on the mahogany table.

The queer league gave her incredulous looks.

“Do you have a photo of her?” Tiffany asked.

“Sadly, no. I told you, everything else about her is a mystery,” Joori repeated herself. “But, she’s really gay, and I think that small bit of information is enough for you people.”

Everyone eyed Joori with a ‘how did you know’ look.

“Uh…” before Donghae could ask his question, Joori answered.

“Just trust my gaydar will you? Besides, I’m the nation’s fashion goddess!” Joori said proudly.

"HOW IS THAT EVEN RELATED?!" Sooyoung yelled.

Flashback end


“Okay. Meeting adjourned,” Joori said as she picked up her files. She walked over to Krystal and pulled her aside as the other heads made their way back to their respective floors.

“Krystal, I'm making you the new Senior Designer in the Layout Department. I’m gonna leave the new Junior Designer in your hands. Teach the JD everything you know and if there are any problems, you can come to me. Hyoyeon and Yuri are ever helpful and you know that. When the JD comes in, I’ll call you into my office.”

“Yes unnie.” Krystal nodded.

“One more thing, get the TaeNy lovebirds to clean up the work room. I walked past it this morning and it was a mess. That's not how we welcome the new members in our family. Understood?” Joori asked.

“Of coz not unnie. I’ll get on it right away.” Once again, the girl nodded in understanding.

Krystal just got promoted and she considered today as one of the best days of her life.

Or maybe not.


-----------------


Krystal dragged her tired self to the elevator and punched into her department level. When she got out, she dragged her feet to her office and plopped down on the sofa.

There was a knock on the door.

“Lord, I haven’t even gotten five minutes to myself and someone's already here to disturb me,” she whined. “So much for getting promoted.”

For the umpteenth time that day, Krystal made her way towards her door like a zombie.

“Krys!”

As soon as the door was opened, Tiffany's very loud voice filled the younger girl's office from floor to ceiling. Krystal flinched on the intensity of the hyper girl's vocal prowess.

“Oh…” She then noticed the younger girl's dreadful look. Tiffany almost wanted to drag the poor girl towards the Spa floor.

“You must be really tired preparing all the notes for the new JD. Here.” Tiffany brought up a Starbucks takeaway cup and gave it to Krystal. “Drink while it’s still hot. You’ll need all the energy you got. Who knows, the JD might just be a handful,” Tiffany smirked.

It was an evil smirk, and Krystal sure did noticed it as she hurriedly pushed the hyper girl out the door.

“Okay what the hell was that?”

Krystal furrowed her eyebrows as she looked down at the coffee cup in her hand.

"Might as well,” she shrugged her shoulders and took a sip, putting the meaning behind Tiffany's smirk at the farthest corner of her mind for the meantime.

Krystal made her way back to her sofa and let herself sunk into the comforts of her plush seat. Just as she had calmed down and closed her eyes to rest, she received a call.

She lazily reached for the phone, her body still on the sofa stretching to her full length while preventing herself to fall on the floor. She fumbled for the device for a while before she had a good grip.

“Layout Department. Krystal Jung speaking.”

“Krystal, come to my office. The JD is here,” she heard Joori spoke from over the line.

“On my way.”

Krystal hung up the phone and looked around as she had forgotten about something.

“Oh right! Taeyeon and Tiffany!” She opened the door to look for her co-workers only to find them in the project room opposite to hers doing something she wished she hadn't seen.

It had been a regular occurrence, seeing Taeyeon and Tiffany in compromising positions on different rooms on their level. She had recalled seeing them doing some 'not so safe for work' stuff on the copier just a week ago. She had never used the machine ever again.

“Omg, I’ll have to have wash and scrub my eyes after this,” Krystal muttered as she tilted her head down while she knocked on the opened door.

“Oh my god, Krystal!” Tiffany looked a little shocked to have her newly promoted boss catch her and her girlfriend in the midst of their make out session, which was actually much tamer because the younger girl had already seen them and very much out of breath three months ago.

Let's just say that they had permanently scarred Krystal's mind and there are no more chances of recovery.

“Uh…yeah…” Krystal tried to look away. “I’m going up to Joori-unnie’s office to meet the JD. I need you guys to help me tidy up this whole place and you only have about 15 minutes to do so. I’ll try to buy as much time as possible but I can’t really guarantee you.”

“Okay. TaeTae and I will get on it right away. Sorry you had to see that, ” Tiffany embarrassingly said as she tucked her shirt back in properly.

"Uhuh, I'm sure unnie." Krystal rolled her eyes before she heaved a defeated sigh.

“And please try to be normal, okay? I really don’t want the new JD to think we’re a bunch of freaks- I mean, you're a bunch of freaks, but we're a team so... yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna go.” Krystal told Taeyeon and Tiffany who just nodded.

Krystal then made her way to the elevator and left the couple to clean up their mess.

“She really has no clue, does she?” Taeyeon looked at Tiffany.

“She’s gonna be in for a treat,” Tiffany giggled as she leaned towards Taeyeon for another heated kiss.

----------------


Ding.

The elevator door opened on Jung Joori’s office floor, the one located at the top of Les Chic's building. Luna and Hyuna, two of Joori’s four personal assistants, sat at their tables as they busily juggle calls from several phones while writing schedules and appointments.

When Krystal stepped out, they both greeted her with a wave each, not bothering to look at the younger girl. Krystal waved back and made her way in front of Joori’s office.

She knocked.

“Come in!” Joori said from behind the pair of massive, and should I add expensive, custom made handcrafted office door.

Krystal pushed the two heavy wooden doors open and was greeted by her boss' lavish executive office. Located at the top of Les Chic's building, Jung Joori's personal office was decorated with both modern and antique furniture, made from a combination of wood, metal and glass materials.

The young Senior Designer made her way towards her boss' desk, all the while drowning from the beautiful view of Seoul from behind the line of floor-to-ceiling glass windows, an advantage from being at the top of a thirty-storey building.

“Ah… Krystal.” Both Joori and the new JD stood up. “AJ Liu, this is Krystal Jung. Your new boss.”

It was only then that Krystal had noticed another presence other than her and the boss. Eyeing the new employee discreetly from head to toe, the younger girl stuck her hand out for the new designer to shake.

“Nice to meet you AJ.”

“Nice to meet you too Krystal.”

Joori went back to sit at her plush chair as she motioned for Krystal to do the same, pointing to the chair across AJ. The boss propped her elbows on top of her desk and clasped her hands together.

“Alright, AJ here is rather experienced but I would very much like every new employee to start from the bottom as they work their way to the top. It's only fair," Joori started as she turned to AJ.

"If you’re really as experienced as it says in your resume, you’ll rise in no time. Just like our Krystal here.” Joori spoke highly of the younger girl, a proud smirk visible on her face.

“She’s been here for only three years yet today, she’s just been promoted to Senior Layout Designer. Within the next few years she’ll probably be somewhere else higher. She is that good,” she smiled at the new employee. “So AJ, you're not just here to work under Les Chic, okay? But also I’d like for you to learn as much from us, especially from Krystal. You're part of the family now.”

“Thank you for accepting me.” AJ spoke as she gave a small bow towards her new boss.

“Okay, so now that we're clear, Krystal will now take over and bring you around the building for a short tour. Then she’ll take you to your department floor to meet the rest of your teammates.” Joori said as she stood up.

The two designers followed suit as they joined their boss heading towards the doors. Upon reaching the doorway, Joori turned towards AJ as she remembered to say an essential fact.

“Oh, I almost forgot, Fridays are meeting days. Don’t forget that. So this coming one, I’d be expecting a report from you.” The boss explained with a smile.

“Yes ma’am.”

Both Krystal and AJ got out of the office as they followed their boss outside.

"Now go have fun, you two." Joori playfully shooed them away as she stopped at her assistants’ tables.

The two walked away as Hyuna stared at Joori with a loving gaze, which their boss gladly returned with a flying kiss. They barely heard Luna stomping her foot as she whined about not being treated the same.

Krystal and AJ had already entered the elevator and missed the exchange of affection.

Pressing the elevator button for the Basement Level, Krystal stood awkwardly near the elevator control panel as she crossed her arms on her chest, while the new designer leaned comfortably on the opposite side with her hands inside her jean pockets. If it weren't for the modern music blasting inside the elevator, the awkward atmosphere might have killed the two designers.

“So... Uhm..." Krystal was the first one to try to break the silence. "AJ, where are you from?" Krystal continued as she play icebreaker with the newbie.

“I'm from Cali. L.A represent,” AJ answered with a deep voice and a smile.

Krystal noticed how smooth the voice was and noticed a glint in the newbie’s eyes.

"Aha! I knew it! Your name kinda gave you away.” Krystal commented with a nod and a smile of her own.

“What about yourself? 'Krystal' is definitely not a usual name for Korean girls to use here.” AJ asked back as the awkward atmosphere started to thin.

“Right. You caught me,” Krystal giggled. “I’m from Cali too. San Francisco represent,” she smiled.



Krystal’s POV

So this new guy is pretty cool.

His sense of style is awesome too. Let's see...

Big framed thick black-rimmed glasses, black dress coat, green-checkered boyfriend shirt slightly ed and a light grey undershirt for the top. Tapered jeans and awesome Nike highcuts for the bottom.

If Key can hear me now, I swear I'll make him proud. Three years in this company had turned me into a fashion police.

He had this sense of slightly preppy style mixed with his own style, which I find really attractive for men because for one, I really like preppy looking guys.

He has a nice smile and his eyes seemed to shine a lot. I have to keep myself under control though, just being around him makes my heart seem like it's going to explode, especially when he smiles at me.

“So how old are you?” I asked him.

“I’m 24,” he answered.

Shoot. There's that smile again. Damn it. I hope he can't hear how fast and hard my heart is beating.

“What about you?” I heard him ask back.

“I’m 24 too,” I returned a smile.

“Wow. We’re of the same age and yet you’re my boss,” he scratched the back of his neck. God, he looked so cute being shy.

“I guess I am,” I smiled rather awkwardly.

Ding.

That was the elevator bell. Seems like we've arrived at the basement. Since our department's right in the middle of the building, I think it's a good idea to start at the bottom so we wouldn't have to go up and down. Going around this freakishly tall building is dizzying enough and I don't think I can carry him when he faints.

What? I don't judge easily on outer appearance but he looked like he's the type to faint from being in the elevator for too long.

I looked at him and his confused expression greeted me. So cute!

“We're here in the Basement Level. There's really nothing much here, just the movie theaters. Oh, there's the parking lot too but we need to take a different elevator for that. I'll just show you where it is next time. Anyway, this is where we hold our monthly movie marathon.” I briefed.

I saw him give me an incredulous look.

“Wow, are you serious?! This is awesome! I’ll never have to go to the movies again!” He joked.

I really like his voice, it wasn’t too deep. He kinda sounded like a girl too, especially when he got excited.

“Yeah. I’ve never been to the movies these past three years because of Les Chic. Not that I'm complaining though. Who would complain on a free movie?” I laughed a little. “Shall we move upstairs? I know you've been to the Reception on the ground floor so we'll skip that and we'll head on to the 2nd floor.”

He answered me with a nod so I led him back to the elevator. Now that we've somehow broken the ice, maybe I should start talking about the company.

“There are thirty floors in this building, right? Does every floor belong to us?” It was so cute of him to ask that question.

“Yeah, it does. We have twelve floors for the firm's offices. Different departments claim a floor each, then the other fourteen are basically amenities for employee use. Just to name a few stuff, aside from the theater we've been to earlier, we have an indoor pool, a gym, a spa and a salon. There are no problems with food too cause the Cafeteria Level almost has everything from traditional Korean cuisine, to American, to Italian, to French, so yeah, just name it, we have it. Also there are two floors filled with guest rooms should we do overnighters,” I answered him.

I think his face had the word ‘awesome’ written all over it. It was really cute to see.

“That is impressive! Does that mean I’ll never have to go home?” He laughed.

“Don’t you want to go home AJ?” What? I had to ask.

“I… uhm, actually came straight here after arriving at the airport. So I don’t have a place to stay yet.” He sheepishly answered.

Just then, the elevator doors opened with a ding and there stood Key in all his flamboyant glory.

“Oh, what do we have here? Krystal, is this the new JD?” Key asked, his voice laced with obvious and sickening interest.

OH NO.

I know that look.

Key is gonna try to gay up the newbie.

“Yes. This is AJ.” I had to introduce them, it would seem rude of me not to. “AJ, this is Key. He’s one of the senior directors on this floor.”

We stepped out of the elevator and walked further outside.

“It’s not just any floor AJ, this floor is the Fashion Research Department. We go out and find the best dressed, worst dressed and of cause, we get to go try the clothes on ourselves!” Key bragged with so much enthusiasm. “Isn’t that like awesome?!" I tried hard not to roll my eyes.

“Yeah… Sure is…” Well, for the good part, AJ doesn't seem to know how to respond to Key’s flamboyant character, and may I add, obvious flirting.

“Come on AJ~ let me bring you around the department!” Key grabbed AJ’s hand and pulled him away from me. I saw AJ turn to face me with a helpless look. I couldn’t help but shrug my shoulders at him.

“I’ll just follow behind.” I said, loud enough for myself to hear while I walked behind the two guys.

Key seemed so excited to be showing AJ around his department.

I don't know how it happened but he managed to get AJ to try on some of the new clothes that were freshly shipped from Paris while taking photos of him, forcefully making him pose towards the camera.

And I admit, I kinda enjoyed that too.

AJ was so shy throughout the whole process. No, scratch that. It actually looked painful for him.

“Uh… Key… I think I should be getting back to Krystal now. There are still… so many floors to cover.” AJ spoke. Poor guy.

“Ah. You prefer the ladies I see…” Key smirked. “Okay. I’ll let you off the hook, for now. But tomorrow, you’ll have lunch with me.”

I face palmed myself. Key doesn't know how to be subtle.

But wait, is that true? AJ is into girls? That means he's straight, right? Phew! Another one for the ‘Straight Team’!

Okay, calm down Krystal. Breathe, breathe. Do your victory dance later. In your office. When you're alone.

“Okay. So AJ, as I was saying… This is the Fashion Research floor. We’ll move up to the next one.”

I my heels and walked as far as possible from Key. Oh for the love of God, he’s beginning to make the hairs on my hand stand up.

I noticed how AJ was not beside me so I slowed down for him to catch up.

I stopped walking and before I could turn around, I felt someone bump me from the back.

“Woah!”

I heard AJ yelped behind me as I found myself falling forward because of the collision. I closed my eyes and waited for the floor to say hi to my face when I felt an arm circling around my waist and held me firmly.

I opened my eyes as I was being held and steadied. I felt an unusual feeling against my back and my heart started to beat faster when I discovered that my back was pressed on his chest. I guess he doesn’t work out that much for it to be that soft.

"Hey, are you okay? I'm sorry for bumping into you, I wasn't looking." I felt AJ's warm breath on the shell of my ear as help me steady myself.

Oh my God, I think I'm blushing.

“Oh, no no. I’m the one who should be sorry. I was the one who stopped so abruptly." I looked at his arm still wrapped around my waist. “Thanks,” I whispered as I felt my face go hot again. Oh no, I must be as red as a tomato by now!

He took his arm off my waist and returned his hands into his pockets. He looked as shy as me!

“It’s okay, we don’t have to go too fast. I’d like to spend more time learning about Les Chic.” He said smoothly. Gosh, I love the way he says Les Chic.

After our small 'incident', we headed back to the elevators and rode up to the next floor.

I brought him to all the main departments while I explain the duties of each. For someone who has an impressive resume and a wide experience, probably better than mine, he looked so eager learning about everything.

I introduced him to everyone we had met along the floors, especially the heads. He's kind of sociable too, and pretty outgoing. But the girls were acting weird though. I really don’t know how to describe it. Their behaviors are rather, unusual? Hmm. Maybe AJ is turning them straight.

The weirdest was probably Sooyoung unnie’s. But she's always been so weird so what the heck.

And finally, we arrived at our floor. 'Home sweet home', like what I always say. Just to myself, of course.

“This is where you’ll work,” I turned to look up at AJ and wow… I really like how his height is just perfect for me.

“This is the nicest floor!” AJ exclaims and started walking around on his own. He looked like a kid in a toy store.

“Of course, silly. You're gonna work here starting today so you have to like it.” I let out a laugh as I followed him around.

We were making our way around the series of cubicles and tables when we passed Brian’s work space. The guy stood up and immediately pulled AJ into a bear hug like they were long lost friends.

“Wassup homie!” AJ was still trapped in the hug, looking very lost and in pain.

"Brian, you're killing AJ," I spoke with concern.

“Oh damn, sorry for that. My name's Brian and I’m from L.A too so we’re family!”

The guy released AJ and offered his hand.

“Oh, really?! That’s awesome!” AJ answered as he enthusiastically shook the other.

Guess he really misses home so much to be able to stand Brian. If anyone thought Key’s flamboyant personality was wild, Brian’s certainly worse. He’s probably the gayest out of all. But then again, he’s fun and quite a delight to work with. He’s like a sister more than a brother to me, if you ask me.

“So anyway, I’ll show you around, okay AJ?” And with that, I was left standing in the middle of the floor.

Why the hell is everyone leaving me alone today?

But before they could get far, AJ stopped and turned to me.

“Hey, you’re not coming?” He asked me.

Aaaww, isn't he sweet? Too bad I have a lot of pending stuff to do.

“No, it’s okay. This is the last floor of our tour so I guess Brian can take over,” I answered him with a sigh. “If you need anything, my room is right there.” I pointed over to the corner.

“Oh, okay. I’ll come over once I’m done," he said with a smile.

I decided to head back to my room as soon as the two guys headed out. Finally, I'm able to have time for myself.

Wow. AJ… is really something. I love his style, the way he talks and his height is just perfect. He has all the qualities I imagined my future boyfriend to have. But then again, I can’t let myself be distracted by him.

This is his first day and here I am blushing like a teenager over the tiniest things he does. Am I crazy or is this... something else?

END OF POV


-----------------------

As soon as she had recovered from her monologue thoughts, Krystal went back to work hoping to lessen the growing pile on her side table. She opened her laptop and reached for the top folder on the pile and began flipping the pages.

From the corner of her eye, she can see Brian introducing AJ to everyone, and so far, her co-workers had welcomed the newbie warmly.

Well, maybe except for Sooyoung.


What happened in the Photography Department...

Bringing AJ to the Photography floor was probably the weirdest event that had occurred to Krystal that day.

When the elevator doors opened, they were already greeted by Sungmin who happened to pass by.

“Oh~ You must be the new JD,” He smiled then bowed. “Welcome!”

“Oh thanks!” AJ bowed back.

Sungmin bowed once again before he continued walking, all the while muttering to himself, “I thought the new JD was supposed to be a girl?”

Krystal then continued to give AJ a talk about the Photography department and the people behind it.

She also shared work related stories like that one time when a model had to bail for a photo shoot, leaving the department employees to sacrifice themselves for the said project.

“Believe me, it was no joke. Deadline was in two hours and the model didn’t show up nor called. Turned out, she was sick and couldn't make it,” Krystal told AJ.

“That’s really unprofessional of her,” AJ sympathized. “So who stood in as the model?”

“Well, the department head herself. Choi Sooyoung,” Krystal said quite proudly. “She’s not someone you can treat lightly though. I mean, she’s friendly and all but when it comes to work, she's more strict than Joori unnie. You wouldn't want to go near her when she's chasing a deadline. Let's just say I already had my fair share of... experiences," AJ chuckled when Krystal told her story with a shudder.

They were entering the main section of the department’s floor when Sooyoung coincidentally walked out of her office to have a chat with Sunny. From her position, she had a clear view of AJ.

“OH WHAT THE HELL?!” Sooyoung suddenly bursts out. Everyone on the floor stopped working and stared at their department head then to Krystal and AJ

The Senior Designer had to stop walking as she was met by a handful of curious stares while AJ started to fidget on her spot.

Everyone in the area started to look at each other's eyes as though they were secretly talking with their gazes.

And communicating, they were.


Telepathic Transmission 1:

Sunny: Omg, you guys! Didn’t Joori unnie said the new employee was a girl? Then why is there a guy standing next to Krystal?

Yoona: Maybe unnie got it wrong? Maybe it’s a gay guy?

Seohyun: What? Now where’s the fun in that? No gay girl to add in to our gay crew.

Yoona: to be us, baby.

Sooyoung: No, no. People, you got it all wrong. Joori unnie is right. That IS a girl, a tomboy. But she looks too much like a guy. GREAT! And there I thought we’ll be having a hot girl joining our ranks.

Sunny: BABY! How can you talk about another girl in front of me like that?

Sooyoung: We’re not talking.

Sunny: Seriously, Sooyoung? You wanna go there?

Sooyoung: You know what I meant, Bunny. Ugh, I promise I'll make it up to you later. Anyway, I think Krystal has no clue that the JD’s a girl. Look at how comfortable she is with her.

Yoona: Now that you've mentioned it, yeah.

Seohyun: Should we tell her?

Sooyoung: Nah~ Let's just watch how this plays out. Been a while since we had some drama here.

Yoona: Don’t forget the popcorn when the show starts~

Sunny: Who’s gonna be in charge of making popcorns this time?

Yoona: You, unnie.

Sunny: I did it the last time, why can’t you do it?

Seohyun: Oh, stop fighting you two, I’ll do it.

End of transmission.


Krystal watched as the four finished exchanging glances with each other.

And like that one scene from a classic horror movie, Sooyoung, Sunny, Yoona and Seohyun simultaneously turned their head towards them oh so slowly and gave them gleaming grins. The Senior Designer had to stop herself from shuddering.

It was the eeriest thing she had ever seen in her life... yet.

“Well, that was awkward. And really weird” Krystal said with a confused look as she almost dragged AJ away from the scene. “You’ll… erm… Get used to them after a while.”

The two continued walking, not bothering to turn around and introduce the new employee to the four dorks.

“Let’s move on to another floor shall we?” Krystal suggested.

“Yeah, I think we should. It feels weird here too." AJ asked as she looked behind her one last time, only to find the four still smiling at them.

"Let's get out of here. Where are we going next?” The new employee immediately said as she tried to walk faster, forcing her new boss to follow her pace.

“To the Printers. Then I’ll show you where we can have lunch at.” Krystal answered.

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