Chapter 4

                I could feel every pair of eyes in the room burning holes in the back of my head. Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look! But I had to look, to stare accusingly in the faces of every single one of them. They had no right to be mad, to single me out like that!  I was working for the most annoying man ever, my office was in a broom closet, and I wasn’t getting paid! If anything, I was the one who should have been mad.

                No. Take a deep breath. Calm down. Think rationally. Anger will get you nowhere.

                Right. Any other solutions? I could just… be a coward. If anything, that was the only way to avoid an anger issue at that moment. So, I picked up my stack of fresh-off-the-copier papers and headed back to my broom closet. Once the door was closed I slid into my tiny desk chair grumpily. I could be mad here with the door closed. Just as long as I didn’t freak out at everyone else, I would be perfectly fine.

                “One… Two… Three… Four… Five…” I began counting. For some reason, that had always helped. Any time something went wrong, any time I was feeling down, all I had to do was close my eyes and count to ten. And then, even if everything still wasn’t going my way, I was okay with it.

                So, by the time I reached ten, I was no longer angry. I was simply… unsatisfied. I wasn’t happy. But being unhappy is something I can deal with alone, something that wouldn’t hurt others should I negatively react to it. Unhappy was manageable. I picked up my stapler with a sigh and began working, stacking papers in the right order and stapling them. By the time I finished the stack, it was nearly lunch time. I picked up the papers and stealthily snuck over to President Kim’s office, hoping to avoid the daggers in my fellow employees’ eyes.

                I knocked on the door, three short raps, and opened it without waiting for an answer. “I brought the papers.”

                Kim JaeSeop looked up from his desk and stared at the stack in my hands for a moment, giving them a puzzling look. Then he gestured for me to place them on his desk and went back to work. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and set the papers down, quickly fleeing the room and dashing back into my safe haven of a broom closet.

                Just then, the voice of the main secretary from our floor came over the intercom. “Lunch time has now begun; work will resume at 1:30.” I glanced up at the clock on the wall. 12:00 exactly. With a sigh, I picked up my bagged lunch and poked my head out of the closet.

                It was completely deserted. Had everyone really run off to lunch that quickly? I shrugged and started off down the hall, looking for a decent place to eat my lunch in peace. I found a pretty balcony with potted flowers scattered around and a few chairs in the middle, decided it was acceptable, and plopped down.

                Despite the fact that I already knew what I had packed, I was still disappointed when I opened my lunch bag. Half a roll of leftover kimbap and a bottle of banana milk. I would have to pack something better for the next day. As I unwrapped the seaweed rolls, I heard the door behind me slide open. I thought no one was here?

                When I turned, I found myself face-to-face with none other than Kim JaeSeop.

                “Come on.” His large hand wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me out of my seat, not roughly, but not gently, either. My food went flying from my hand, landing not-so-delicately in a pot of dying petunias.

                “What are you doing? I was eating!” I protested, attempting to wrestle my wrist from his iron grip.

                “You call that a lunch?” he scoffed.

                “I was in a rush this morning… LET ME GO!”

                “Nope, not gonna happen.”

                “Then at least tell me where we’re going!”

                “You get three guesses.” I stared incredulously at the man in front of me.

                “You can’t be serious!” I cried. “Just tell me!”

                “Guess first.” He punched the down button on the elevator and turned his catlike eyes to me. “Go on, take a guess.”

                “I don’t know!” I sighed in aggravation.

                “Then I guess you’ll see when we get there,” he smirked casually. The elevator doors slid open smoothly and he pulled me inside, pressing the first floor button quickly.

                “I’m not going. Let go of me.” I said calmly, putting up a rational façade.

                “I’m your boss,” was all he replied. I huffed and watched as the numbers slowly ticked down. 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… With a deep breath, I felt my frustration slowly disintegrate.

                I didn’t say a word as the doors slid open and President Kim pulled me behind him, out the front doors and across the street to a quaint little ramen restaurant. “Two ramens please!” he called to the woman behind the counter. She nodded and began cooking the noodles.

                I felt myself being pushed into a chair, President Kim’s hand finally releasing my wrist. “Lunch?” I asked.

                “Half a roll of kimbap is not lunch, and this is the best ramen place I’ve ever been.” He stated nonchalantly.

                “Ah…” We both sat there silently until the woman came over with two steaming bowls of ramen, a tiny plate of pickled radishes, and a tiny plate of cabbage kimchi. Honestly, the ramen smelled and looked amazing, but I made an effort to look bored so he wouldn’t notice.

                We sat there, slurping noodles silently for awhile, until finally I was sick of not talking. But, for some reason, I didn’t know how to start a conversation with him. How could I possibly talk to someone so… mean… and stuck up… and… UGH! No. I couldn’t just start talking.

                But… I had to say something. Especially since he bought lunch.

                So, I said the first thing that came to mind. “What do Batman and sixteen sodiums have in common?” I grinned.

                JaeSeop looked up from his bowl of noodles and cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

                “Nananananananana nananananananana,” I sang cheerfully, chuckling a bit. For a moment, he gave me an extremely bewildered look, and I was worried that he thought it was stupid. But suddenly, he began grinning, and then chuckling, and somehow ended up guffawing loudly, making everyone in the restaurant look at us like we were crazy.

                “Batman and… Sixteen… That’s so… funny!” He exclaimed between laughs. I smiled and quickly polished off my noodles, glad that even my boss’ loud guffaws filled the space where that empty silence had previously been. Despite the slight awkwardness of the spastic laughing of the man across from me, I relaxed noticeably.

                When I was done with my ramen and President Kim had managed to choke back his laughter, we left the restaurant together. This time, though, he didn’t have to drag me along. We just ambled slowly across the street, not talking, but with a cheerful atmosphere between us. It was nice, not having the slender man glare at me all the time.

                When we reached the building, I noticed a busy swarm of people. As I checked my watch, I could feel a panic attack coming on. 2:30!!! Had we really been in that ramen shop for that long? “Crap!” I muttered under my breath, quickening my pace. I couldn’t be late! Not on my first day! The President would –

                “Hey, stop walking so fast!” I jerked to a stop, President Kim meandering up beside me. “You’re not going to be counted late,” he chuckled, and continued to stroll toward the elevator. “You coming or not?” he called over his shoulder.

                With a sigh, I followed him. That’s when I noticed the eyes. It was just like how everyone had stared at me upstairs: unblinking gazes, taking in my every move, eyelids mere slits as though they were dissecting every breath I took.

                This time, however, the meaning behind the look was a little different. It was less accusing, more… jealous? I shook my head at the silly thought.

                No. No way!

                Up on the top floor, Kim JaeSeop chuckled all the way into his office, shutting the door behind him. I was about to walk back to my broom closet when he opened it slightly and motioned for me to come a bit closer. “Yes?”

                “Cancel that meeting, would you?” He awkwardly smiled.

                What meeting? Oh. The meeting at 2:00. Which was thirty minutes ago. THAT meeting.

                “S-sure…”

                “Thanks.” He threw me a quick lopsided grin and slammed the door shut. I heard the lock click on the other side. With a shrug, I headed in the direction of my broom closet.

                My hand was on the doorknob when the first one lightly tapped my shoulder. “What?” I asked, turning around to face a petite woman who looked more shaken than a house in a hurricane.

                “T-they were wondering…” she pointed to a group of women behind her, “D-d-did you r-really eat lunch with… Y’know…” she motioned to President Kim’s office.

                “Uhm, yes… Why?” Was it really that big of a deal?

                “That’s so cool!” a woman at the front of the group squealed. The others quickly hushed her, but she brushed them off, running up to me. “What did you eat? Did he pay? Was he nice? Isn’t he gorgeous?”

                “Ramen. Yes. No. Uhm… what?” I responded quickly, trying to maximize the space between myself and the crazy woman before me.

                “What did you talk about? Who did you talk about?” She asked eagerly, bobbing up and down on her toes.

                “Sodium and Batman.”

                “He didn’t mention me?” she pouted.

                “He didn’t mention anyone, actually…”

                A chorus of “Awwhh”s and squeals of protest erupted from the group in the back. “Why not?”

                “Ask him yourself.” With that, I quickly retreated to my broom closet, hoping they would leave. I had no such luck.

                “Tell us exactly what happened!” several voices demanded. There was a loud banging sound, and I knew all of them were pounding on the door.

                “Look!” I cried. “I told a joke! He laughed! End of story!” They went silence. To be honest, that scared me more than when they had been beating the door down. Slowly, cautiously, I pushed open the door and peered out to find a group of shocked faces. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

                “You got him to… laugh?” a woman in the back whispered.

                “Yeah…” Their faces lit up again.

                “That’s so awesome!”

                “You’re so cool!”

                “I can’t believe it!”

                “Luckyyyyy!”

                For the rest of the day, the group of women followed me around like puppies, always asking questions about President Kim, wondering if I would introduce them, hoping I could maybe set them up on a date. In truth, I almost preferred the standoffish, mean, spiteful looks they had been throwing my way earlier. Being “popular” was not as fun as it seemed.

                Especially when all of the other men in the office noticed that I had all but kidnapped every single female employee.

                I thought the puppy-dog-women were bad? Well, the you-stole-my-women men were way worse. So I did what I could to ignore them and muddled through the rest of my day, left to ponder whether I preferred mean women or clingy women, and wondering what the next day would bring.

                As soon as the clock hit 5:00, I sped from the broom closet. When I saw and nearly ran into a group of women heading towards the elevator, I quickly changed directions and instead opted for the stairs. I raced down, wanting out of the building as soon as possible.

                Suffice to say I was definitely not watching where I was going.

                As I sped out of the stairwell doors, I ran straight into something as hard and solid as a wall. But, instead of a wall, I came face to face with none other than Lee Kiseop.

                “You okay?” he chuckled.

                “Yeah,” I muttered, gingerly rubbing my head. “I’m sorry I ran into you… I honestly wasn’t looking.”

                “It’s alright,” he grinned widely. I returned his grin and was about to leave when he spoke again. “Can I give you a ride home?” I turned around and smiled at him.

                “Actually, that would be -- ”

                “Impossible.” A familiar hand gripped my wrist. “I’m actually giving him a ride.” I looked up at JaeSeop and tried not to glare a hole through his head.

                “Actually,” I began.

                “We’re leaving now.” He began tugging me towards the door, and I almost gave in, when another hand grabbed my wrist.

                “It’s fine, I’ll take him,” Kiseop grinned, tugging me towards him. JaeSeop, on the other hand, refused to let go.

                “It’s okay, I’ve got it,” he said icily.

                I looked back and forth between the two. They were glowering at each other in a way that sent chills down my spine. Well, it looked as if I had to be the one to end it.

A/N: Annyeong~~! ^_^ So this is a pretty decent update I prepared as a super-apologetic i-didn't-mean-to-go-so-long-without-updating peace offering! :D No? You want cookies? But... I don't have any... :( I hope everyone liked it! And my poor attempt at making it cliffhanger-y! :P And I promise I will most honestly definitely totally completely never wait so long to update again Girl Scout's Honor!!! 

@Sheepishly: It's my favoritest poster ever. I almost cried. I still can't believe I didn't realize that about the title... XD Yes, we will see more of DongHo and Hoon, as they are Kevin's best friends and nice comic relief. :P 

@kagaki: I'm sorry! I'm a blonde sometimes about things like that xP Don't worry, Kevin'll warm up to his closet soon enough!

@Yuukey: Everyone thought that! And I didn't even realize it! I thought I was being clever! XD IT'S MY CHILDHOOD TOO. :D President Kim is a difficult person. He won't do what I tell him. Ever. :P XDXDXDD I laughed so hard at that. 

@inspirit_kissme: Did you notice how he asked if one of them was Kevin's boyfriend? He was totes jealous, just trying really hard to cover it up. ;) You're welcome! XD You never know. Good things happen in tiny spaces. *wink wink nudge nudge* 

@Kakurine039: Good! I'm glad! :D

@CuriosityShapeMaker: I am perfectly alright with your feels. I enjoy people having feels about my stories! :) Bad angst is still awesome. Just sayin'. Cause angst is very difficult, so even writing it badly is better than what a LOT of people can manage! :P

And last but not least I'd like to say that Ihonestlydidn'tmeantoconfuseeveryoneIthoughtIwasbeingcleverI'msosorryIloveyouall! <3 ^_^