Song: Borderline by EXO-SC

(March)

Sehun kept scratching his head that morning.

“What’s up?” Baekhyun gave him a nudge repeatedly.

“Nothing. Why are you here, anyway?” he squinted his eyes looking at his laptop.

Baekhyun took a peek at what Sehun’s doing. It was his script for the roadshow prepared by his temporary assistant. “Hey, hey, hey…”

“Aren’t you busy? Stop bugging me.”

Sehun put so many edits on it that the Word document is now filled with comments and notes from the CEO.

“May I see?” he asked.

“Why are you so hyper? How many cups of coffee have you had?” Sehun had his eyebrows creased today. “Leave me alone, Baek.”

“I wanted to check in on my very hardworking CEO and see how he’s doing.”

“Me? Or her?” he nodded towards the hallway outside his office.

Baekhyun pretended he didn’t hear him. “Show me, show me.”

“Why? It’s fine. I don’t need your help.”

“No, I want to see what her output’s like. I was the one who hired her so…”

Sehun sighed once more and gave his laptop lazily.

Slide 4: On this very detailed slide you will see the very significant performance for the past calendar year. If you will see, the figures presented here are very good. There are very substantial increases. And this is attributed to everyone’s hard work.

Slide 5: Since the joining of BM Holdings to Deli’s portfolio years back, the numbers have gone better and Deli has been performing very well.

Slide 6: These are the future plans of Deli. Being faithful to the mission statement of the group, we are always upward looking, always aiming for the very best.

Sehun crossed his arms as he watched Baekhyun go through the document. “Tell me what’s wrong with it.”

“Ehm…” Baekhyun rubbed his chin with his hand. “It lacks substance.”

“Exactly. It’s full of fillers. But there’s no message on each. I don’t know how many times she used the word very. The usual audience will get bored hearing those motherhood statements.”

“Sehun, the script should be written by someone who understands the numbers, not her.”

“Jaehyun did that job coming from Shinbank. And he did it well even if he was only a newbie back then,” he whispered frustratingly, making sure he’s not heard by the unknowing Yuna who was stationed outside his office.

“He was already a management trainee, mind you…” Baekhyun calmed him down. “And he had been working for the CEO of Shinbank and was trained by Dara. For sure he would know those things.”

“Then why didn’t you consider those when you hired Han Yuna?” Sehun had a tone.

“What is this cranky CEO vibes I’m sensing?” Baekhyun chortled.

“Well technically, I’m your boss so I have the right to scold you. Why are you getting in the way of HR matters? You should stop doing this hiring thing, Baek. It’s a hit or miss, and to be honest, a miss most of the time.”

Baekhyun covered his mouth. “Woaaahhhh. I was the one who hired you. That's a miss as well? If you have already forgotten, your wife was the one who referred her.”

“Referred her for screening yes, because she’s her doctor’s niece. But that doesn’t guarantee that she will be hired. The final decision should come from me as her hiring manager.”

“Relax, boss…” Baekhyun stood up and massaged his shoulders. “Can I offer you anything? Coffee? Tea?”

Sehun swatted his hands away as his massaging was getting a bit hard, of which Baekhyun only laughed.

“Sorry. But I’m having…a difficult time with her,” Sehun tried whispering again.

“Why?”

Sehun hesitated because he knew Baekhyun is curious about her.

“Come on, you can tell me,” he insisted.

“You know how patient I am, Baek…” he started unloading his thoughts.

“With Dara as your wife? Yeah, you really are patient…”

Sehun hissed. “Yuna is nice and kindhearted. No doubt about it.”

“Very pleasant, no?”

“Y-yeah, if that’s the only criteria for this job. But she’s all over the place. Her thoughts are disorganized. I tried sitting down with her the other day and asked her basic questions. Her line of thinking is in disarray. She can’t complete one sentence without jumping to another topic right away.”

“And that affects her job how?” Baekhyun kept nodding, listening intently.

Sehun almost thinks he’s being sarcastic.

“I knew you’d defend her. Aish, I knew it. This is Lee Hyejin all over again.”

“It is not, Sehun.”

“It is. It is! Answer me straight. Are you interested with my assistant?”

Baekhyun denied. “I am totally not.”

“I am so close in putting a policy of no dating here in Deli. Like this close, Baek,” he measured with his fingers almost touching the other. “Everyone’s distracted checking everyone out. And it’s starting to affect the company’s productivity.”

“Oh, you’ll cause an uproar. You know a lot of our employees are dating. Some have even found their husbands and wives here at Deli. And come on, it’s not that bad. Keeps things interesting in the office.”

“Do I look like I care?” Sehun raised his eyebrows.

Baekhyun wouldn’t be fazed. “Knowing you? Are you kidding me? Your marriage is a result of an office romance, and you’d be against it? This is even public information. You’re so pretentious.”

“So you are interested in her. Aigoo…”

“I only like her energy, okay?”

“What energy are you talking about? She can’t multitask. She can’t prioritize. She gets distracted so easily. She’s even disorganized. I should be the one to tell her which tasks to put first. Did you see the minutes of the meeting that she prepared the other day? I told her she can send it to everyone without me checking and look at her output. I almost had a heart attack when I read it.”

“Ah yeah, I remember that…” Baekhyun scratched his head.

“See? I don’t want to manage her anymore, Baek. I need fast learners and those who adapt well. And it’s clearly not working between the both of us. I need someone who can represent me well,” Sehun let it all out.

“I’ll do something about it, your highness, okay? Now will you please stop ranting?”

“If you will only distract her more, then I suggest you stop whatever it is you’re planning.”

“Relax. I gotchu,” Baekhyun stood up and left the frustrated Sehun in his office.

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

Baekhyun kept going back and forth the hallway, observing the very tense Yuna.

She kept skimming through her planner, adding and ticking off some items on her list. She crinkled her small nose, probably trying to figure out the rest of her to-do’s.

“What did Sehun say again about the meeting with Finance? Should it be with Mr. Nam? Or Mr. Min?” she said out loud.

Baekhyun found himself standing there, simply staring at her.

Usually, similar jobholders would act with so much poise, making it seem like they can handle anything. In general, Deli employees are like that, with its workforce coming from prestigious schools in Korea and abroad.

But Yuna is…unpretentious. Her face cannot hide it whenever she’s in distress. She does not play to be all knowing. And it makes Baekhyun want to help her…to take care of her.

“If it’s Finance, should be Mr. Nam,” Baekhyun interrupted her line of thought.

“Oh hi, B-Baek,” she said hesitantly.

“Seems like a long task list,” Baekhyun took a glance at her messy notebook, but she covered it discretely.

“I barely was able to remove anything since I took over Jaehyun,” she sounded desperate. She then covered , realizing that she is talking to Deli’s founder.

“You need help with anything?” Baekhyun offered.

“Ohhh nooo…I’m good, sir, seonsangnim…sunbaenim…”

“Yuna, please address me casually. Everyone calls me Baekhyun or Baek here. I give penalties and salary deductions to those who call me formally. Actually, you can still call me Mongryong if you want.”

“S-sure, Baek. Baek is…okay.”

The both looked at Yuna’s phone when it started ringing, her chosen ringtone filling the hallway.

Op, op, op, op, oppa gangnam style

E, y lady

Op, op, op, op, oppa gangnam style

E, y lady

“Ah crap, sorry,” Yuna put it on silent right away.

 Baekhyun had a poker face seeing the name of the caller: Park Chanyeol.

“You might want to pick that up,” Baekhyun said.

“It’s fine. I’ll give him a return call later,” Yuna flipped her phone.

Baekhy