When I arrived at the office this morning, I was greeted by piles of endless paperwork and a bunch of sticky notes with the words written ‘CALL BACK – URGENT’ in red pen. Setting down my handbag, I arranged the papers and cleared some space on my desk for my laptop. As I was cleaning up, I heard heavy footsteps heading towards my office. Through the glass windows of my office, I saw my father walk past with his secretary trailing behind him.

“Minyoung, you’re attending the board meeting today,” He said, quietly. “Here are all the details.” Secretary Kim pushed a bunch of stapled papers into my hands. I couldn’t even form words out of shock.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, astonishment coming over me. “You didn’t bother to tell me in advance? I’m not even prepared!” I added, furiously, glaring at my father.

“Minyoung, it’s going to be fine. Just go in there and observe. You don’t need to say anything.” Secretary Kim said in a reassuring manner. My father didn’t even bat an eyelash and his heel, walking straight out of my office.

Secretary Kim stayed back and went through all the reports, explaining them to me. Although, I may have been the one to put the presentation together, I only understood the basic details. Only my father and the board of directors knew the entire plan for the project in China.

I called in Tao, asking him to clear all my scheduled meetings for the day and basically asked him to babysit Luhan. At first, Tao refused because he argued why would a grown man need adult supervision however much convincing, I managed to get him to agree after I said I’d give him the rest of the day off. Although, Luhan hasn’t caused any trouble yet, I wasn’t going to take the risk of leaving him alone for the entire day. With the board meeting and all the paperwork I needed to catch up on, I wasn’t going to be able to get home before it was dark.

The board meeting went on for awhile. At first, I didn’t understand anything they were discussing after going through the reports that Secretary Kim gave me earlier, I managed to get a general idea of the latest project. Once again, my father’s been trying to expand the company across Asia. This time he’s trying to get a Chinese company to work with us and build a resort in Shanghai and another one somewhere in Jeju. Apparently, he’s been consistently communicating with the owners however nothing’s been confirmed yet.

For the most part, I didn’t really bother to pay attention to the discussions because after all, I was only observing. Heck, I didn’t even know what I was supposed to be observing. Was I supposed to watch a couple of the shareholders doze off in the middle of the meetings or watch one of the directors pick their nose after the lights went off?

Half way through the meeting, my eyelids began to feel heavy and before I knew it I was fast asleep. That was until someone on my left tapped my shoulder. Clutching my head, I looked up at my father who was deep in thought and the current presenter was calling my name.

“Manager Kwon?”

“Yes?” I replied groggily, standing up from my seat.

“You’ll be leading this project as Chairman Kwon has assigned you as director.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

What the hell is going on?!”

“Minyoung, see me in my office after the meeting.” My father called out. Everyone in the room turned to look me as I watched my father leave the room.

I actually listened for the last part of the meeting since I learnt that I was going to be leading the project this time. I’ve led several projects before but I never had to deal with an overseas client. When the meeting finished, I quietly made my way over to my father’s office.

He was on the phone with Baekhee when I entered his office. I cleared my throat to get his attention but he ignored my presence for a few minutes before hanging up.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to assign me this project?” I asked, irritated.

“It was a last minute decision.” He said, playing around with a few papers on his desk.

“What did you want to talk about?” I questioned in a hostile manner.

“Next week, you’ll be meeting the owners of the merging company. I’ll have Secretary Kim email you all the details and the schedule of the meeting by tomorrow morning.” He said with his head down.

I noticed on the picture frames on his desk. One of the photographs was of me when I was five years old and the other photograph was his and Baekhee’s wedding picture. I just wanted to take frame with my picture and smash it against the wall. He used to have a photograph of my mother on his desk but he removed it after Baekhee kept complaining about it.

“Is there anything else?” I asked him.

“No, you may leave.” He said.

I my heel and walked towards the door until he spoke up again.

“Wait,”

“What is it?” I snapped.

“Baekhee wanted me to invite you to dinner tonight. She’s making your favourite.” My father said, attempting to sound nonchalant as possible.

“No, thank you. I’d rather not. I don’t want to pretend and sit there like we’re some big happy family when we really aren’t. I’d be lying to myself if I did.” I seethed.

“Come on, Minyoung. Give her a chance. She’s trying her best to get you to like her.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” I muttered under my breath. My father takes my silence as a no and lets out a sigh.

“You can’t or you won’t? There’s a difference.” He asked before I walked out of his office, shutting the door with a soft thud behind me.

Both.      

It was around ten thirty by the time I got home and I didn’t expect to have three guys lounging around my living room. Luhan got up and walked over to me in the kitchen and took my bag from my hands.

“How was your day at work?” Luhan asked, settling my bag into the kitchen bench.

“Stressful,” I replied, looking at him before glancing at Tao who was fast asleep on my couch and Yixing who was sitting in the armchair right next to the couch.

 “What’s he doing here?” I asked Luhan quietly.

“I invited him over for dinner!” He exclaimed a bit too loudly because Yixing turned to look at us. A small smile crept onto his face as our eyes met. Turning back my attention to Luhan who had a great big grin on his face, I grabbed him by the shirt.

“You can’t just do that!” I scolded him. “What if he’s a creeper or something?” I said, repeating myself from last night.

“Minyoung, it’s okay. Didn’t I already tell you that he’s a good person?” He whispered in my ear, pulling his shirt out of my grip and gave my hand a small pat in the process. 

Luhan walked back to the living room and I followed slowly behind him. When I stood near the couch, Yixing got up from the armchair.

“Yixing, I didn’t expect you to be here.” I said.

“Sorry to intrude. Luhan knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to join him for dinner.” He explained. “I didn’t have any plans, so-”

“It’s fine.” I mumbled, cutting him off. Yixing awkwardly sat back down as Luhan settled himself back onto the carpet, his eyes focused on the television screen. The coffee table was covered in dirty plastic takeaway containers and chopsticks.

As I stood at the edge of the couch, I spotted Tao who was stretched across the entire couch and his feet dangled off the other edge. I looked down at sleeping Tao who had crumbs on his mouth and across his dress shirt and tie. I smirked and slapped his stomach.

“Yah, Huang Zitao! Wake up!” I yelled at in his ear. Immediately, Tao sat up and groaned. When he saw me, a scowl quickly appeared on his face.

“Minyoung noona! What the hell was that for?” He grumbled in a low voice.

I shrugged my shoulders in response and I sat down onto the couch, next to Tao and Luhan got up from the floor and sat next to me.

“What time is it?” Tao grumbled, looking for his phone.

“Around ten forty,” I replied, looking down at my watch.

Tao cursed before scrambling to get up on his feet. He also muttered something about meeting his mother somewhere as he grabbed his coat from the floor and ran out of my apartment in a hurry. Yixing, Luhan and I just watched Tao leave without even a goodbye.

“So…” I said lamely, trying to start up a conversation. Luhan didn’t even notice the awkward tension in the air. His eyes were glued to the television screen.

 “Umm,” Yixing mumbled.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. Yixing’s eyes widen in surprise as so did mine. I didn’t realise how rude I sounded until I saw his reaction. “I mean, what are you doing here in Korea?” I said, rephrasing my question.

Yixing chuckled nervously before answering, “To be honest, I don’t really know. At first, I came here to sell off my grandmother’s apartment but I didn’t end up doing that so now I’m just here with no real purpose.”

“What about your parents?”

“They flew in a few days ago but right now they’re in Jeju meeting up with some friends.” He said with a small smile. “What about you? Where are your parents?”

At first, I hesitated but I managed to come up with a reply. “My mother passed away while I was a child.”

Yixing frowned. “I’m sorry,”

I cut him off with a wave. “It’s fine. There’s no need to be sorry. She’s in a much better place now. As for my father, let’s just say I don’t really get along with him. He remarried recently.” I told him.

I don’t even know why I was telling him all the details. Yixing was a complete stranger to me. We were just neighbours, mere acquaintances. If it wasn’t for Luhan, I would have never actually spoken to Yixing. If I saw him around the building, I’d walked past him and ignore him like what I’d normally do.

We stayed quiet for a few minutes as we watched the television screen; some random drama was playing. After a while, the commercials started playing. There was one commercial that caught Luhan’s eye the most. It was an advert for the grand opening of an amusement park. It looked familiar and then I realised it belonged to one of my father’s friends.

“Minyoung, can we go?” Luhan piped, pointing at the screen.

“No.”

“Why not? Can we please go? Please…” Luhan began to whine.

“I’m busy with work, Luhan. Maybe, next time.” I said to him.

“I can go with you,” Yixing offered turning to Luhan.

“Really? Can I go with Yixing?” Luhan turned to me, holding onto my arm. Luhan looked like he was going to bounce of the walls with excitement.

“Yixing, you don’t have to.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ve been so bored for the past week since I don’t really know anyone around here and I’ve been cooped up in my apartment the whole time.” He said.

“C’mon. Let’s go, Minyoung! You need to let go and have fun too. You work too much!” Luhan reasoned.

I groaned internally. Yixing offered to go with Luhan since I’ve been busy with work but I couldn’t possibly leave Luhan with Yixing especially with Luhan’s unpredictable behaviour. Who knows what might have if I’m not there?

Internally, fighting with myself about the whole situation, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want Yixing suing me or anything if Luhan did something to him.

“Okay.” I mumbled, displeased.

“Really? You’ll come?” Yixing asked, taken back. I nodded in his direction. He probably noticed my facial expression as he gave me a weak smile as we watching Luhan cheer.

“Yay!” Luhan yelled, pumping a fist in the air. 

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