Chapter 6

“Please, have a seat,” she motioned for Annie to take a seat on the couch. “Would you care for a drink?” In turn, she takes a seat on the adjacent chair and crosses her leg.

“Um, water would be lovely,” Annie gave her a kind smile as her new employer tells the maid to bring a pitcher and two glasses along with a pot of tea.

“I haven't properly introduced myself but my name is Miranda Shin,” she extended her hand to the young woman. “I'm sure you've heard of me by now.”

Nervously shaking her hand, Annie nodded innocently. “Yes ma'am,” she replied dutifully. “It's an honor to finally meet you, Mrs. Shin.”

“Please call me, Miranda,” she insisted. “Mrs. Shin makes me sound so old,” she lightly chuckled which helped Annie relax a little. “Now, tell me a little bit about yourself.”

The conversation grew to be stiff and awkward as Annie, despite her bubbly personality, was never really great at interviews. Could anyone blame her? She was really nervous. On a bright side, Miranda now knows a bit about her new nanny. Annie had a majority of the qualities they were looking for in a nanny. She was still young, went to college (leaving out the dropping out part), and was terminally single. Even though it was irrelevant, she had no visible body modifications. And because Annie really wanted this job, she had to bend the truth a few times about her experience with children. She had to make herself look and sound good and convincing.

“Of course I have plenty of experience with children! I love kids! They are brilliant and I believe their brilliance is the key to our future,” she finally said despite the cheesiness of it. Miranda seemed please with the answer. “Not to mention, my experience in the restaurant business has taught me how to specialize in any kind of cuisine.”

“Really,” Miranda raised an eyebrow looking up from taking a sip of her tea. “May I ask what kind of cuisine to be exact?”

“Mainly Italian,” she answered matter-of-factly thinking about her experience at the Temple Cafe. “But really, I can cook anything.” She continued to lie through her teeth but there was no stopping now. “And I can bake too. Did I mention I love children?” Miranda stared back at her expectantly. “I love little hands and feet. I like children activities mainly with arts and crafts. I mean you do strongly support the arts, right?” Miranda nodded in amazement. “And I've had experience with entertainment too. I once dressed as a mascot for a birthday party.” Annie finally stopped herself from rambling staring back at her employer hopefully.

“I guess, my instincts were correct about you,” Miranda said standing up. “Let me show you around...”

Like a dutiful student, Annie followed her around mouth agape as she admired the interior of the apartment. An apartment like this was definitely made to be toured. There were a few timeless art pieces as well as modern pieces. She made a mental note not to touch anything and the same goes for the boy. Miranda warned her that Daniel (that was his name) was to stay out of her room and office along and he was not allowed to touch or go near the artwork. Annie mentally labeled these specific area, The Hot Zone.

Finally, they reached the dining room and Annie found herself glancing at the family portrait hanging on the wall. She grew curious as to why Mr. Shin was not present but had to remember he was a big shot CEO and was probably out golfing with his associates or working in the office. It was none of her business so there was no reason to pry into other people's affairs. Come to think of it, through observation, it seemed as if the apartment specifically belonged to Miranda only. She made no mention of her husband so to speak. “Here's a list,” she finally said handing Annie a few pieces of folded paper.

Annie's mouth was agape upon reading through it. There were a million things and she wasn't sure she'd be able to read through it in time. “Any questions so far?” Miranda asked raising an eyebrow.

“Not at all,” Annie uttered looking back up at her.

“Now, when are you usually available?” she finally asked. “I can't let you work for me unless you're willing to make a huge commitment to this job.”

She gulped. I have to dedicate my whole life to this job, she thought for a moment. After a long moment of hesitation, she finally nodded slowly. “I understand. I will work a million times harder to care for Daniel, ma'am.”

“Great!” she smiled sighing in relief. “Let's go meet Daniel, shall we?” She led Annie to a room with an open door. The sign on the door read: Daniel's Room. It was made of chunky puzzle pieces. The little boy in speaking was sitting at his little desk coloring in his coloring book. “Danny, I want you to meet someone,” he looked up at them with doe-like eyes. “This is Annie. She's gonna be your new nanny from now on.” He went back to coloring in his book. Miranda glanced at Annie wearily. “Sorry, he's just being a little shy.”

“I understand,” Annie nodded walking up to him and sitting on the little chair next to him. “Hi Daniel. My name is Annie. Remember me?”

He pouted and shook his head. “Will you be okay?” Miranda finally asked. “I have to take a phone call.”

“I'll be fine,” Annie assured her. And then, Miranda finally left them alone. Awkwardly, Annie shifted her attention to the little boy. “So, you don't remember me?” she finally asked. “I'm the pretty noona, remember?”

He shook his head and resumed his coloring. Annie frowned. “Are you really my new nanny?” he asked putting down his crayon.

“Mhmm,” she nodded.

“Are you going to leave like my last nanny?” he finally asked.

“Of course not,” she answered with a hint of hesitance but he didn't know that. But then, he seemed a little pleased with the answer then sliding over his crayons, he handed her a piece of paper. “Is this for me?” she asked curiously. He nodded innocently. She found herself grinning because he was too adorable.

As Annie was beginning to start drawing and coloring a picture of her own, there was an abrupt knock on the door frame prompting her to look up to find Miranda standing outside. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked Annie.

Obediently, Annie met her outside of the room. “It seems as if I've been called in for a meeting,” she informed her new nanny. “I'll be home later. So do you have any questions for me before I go?”

“Not at all,” Annie said shaking her head.

“Well in case you do, call my secretary or refer to that list I gave you,” she said finally.

“Alright, sure thing,” Annie nodded finally.

Miranda soon walked over to her son and bent leaned down to give him a kiss. “Mommy's gonna be gone for a while, Danny,” she told him. “Will you be a good boy while I'm gone?”

“No!” he cried out immediately clinging onto his mother's legs. Miranda bent down to remove his hands from her legs.

“Danny, I told you Mommy will be back later, so be a good boy,” she said sternly. “You have the nanny to play with, so I suggest you be a good boy.”

“But I don't like her, Mommy,” he sobbed. Miranda sighed turning to Annie with a hopeful look. Annie took this as her cue to intervene.

Placing a hand on the little boy's shoulder, she held him close and hugged him which calmed him a little. “It's okay, Danny,” she said soothingly rubbing his back with her hand. “Your mommy will be home soon. Let's play a game okay?” Sniffling, he finally nodded into her shoulder. “That's a good boy. Now say bye-bye to your mom before she leaves.”

Compliantly, he did as he was told and allowed Miranda to hug him goodbye. “Wow, you're good,” Miranda smiled in astonishment at Annie.

“I try,” Annie beamed proudly.

Little did she know as Miranda was out the door, Annie was soon in for a treat that day.

Yongguk had the night off for the first time in a long time so that night, under Himchan's urging he felt obliged to go on a dreaded double date with his best friend. Supposedly, Himchan's date had a cute friend who was in town for the night so it only seemed fair to bring Yongguk along. “Just left my place,” Yongguk said into his phone. “Are you already there? Okay, I'll be on my way. See you soon.” He said before hanging up and then entering the elevator.

The elevator made an abrupt stop onto the floor below and once the doors opened, a disheveled young woman joined him in a daze. Yongguk stood staring back at her dumbfounded but tried to remain stoic. She didn't seem to pay much attention to him let alone take notice of him staring back at her. Clearly, she seemed to be drained after a long day at work, he observed discreetly staring at her reflection on the elevator door. He took notice of a giant stain on her blue blouse then took a good look at the young woman's face. She was pretty in that natural cutesy way, he thought. “Please don't mind me,” she finally broke the silence. “I just had a very eventful day,” she said apathetically hoping it will get him to stop looking her way. And it did.

He cleared his throat awkwardly averting his eyes to the floor level. “I understand,” he replied. Something about this young woman beside him seemed oddly familiar, he thought but before he could pry even further the elevator finally landed on the first floor. Soon the elevator door opened and she was the first to exit without another word leaving him to watch her retreating figure dash out of the building.

Out of curiosity, Yongguk approached the nearest guard. “Hey, do you know who that is by any chance? I don't think I've seen her around before,” he asked furrowing his eyebrows.

“Didn't you hear? Madam Shin fired her last nanny and hired a new one,” the guard answered. “At least that's what I hear around here,” he said shrugging.

“Ah,” Yongguk nodded slowly in understanding. “I see. Thanks. Don't work too hard.”

“I'll try not to,” the guard gave him a brief smile. “Have fun tonight, Yongguk.”

A/N: Hello again! Yay! I finally updated! XD I had some trouble going about this chapter. I mean I had to throw the interaction between the employer and the employee out there. Of course, Miranda needs to get to know her new employee a bit right? In the end, I added another Yongguk appearance towards the end. I hope you enjoy it! XD I'll try to update again as soon as I can.

Again, I'm sorry if I disappointed you guys so far... I didn't give much of a description of her first day but I'll try to make up for it in the next update.

Don't forget to check out Niina Starrz's stories "Prisoners of Alcatraz" featuring EXO; "The Perfectionist" featuring Peniel of BTOB and JB of JJ Project; and lastly, "WTH?! My Life Was Saved By A Band I Hate!" featuring EXO. Thank you!

Note: Please don't mind some of the grammar errors >.<