9 ~ Again

Secretary Park nervously stood with his hands clasped together in front of him like he was at the Principal's office, as he kept his gaze on the ground while the young man in front of him flipped through the files on his desk. The CEO's frustration was evident, as he roughly tossed file after file to the side while flipping through them with an irritated expression. As soon as the last of the files landed on the accumulated pile to the right of his desk, the CEO looked up at his secretary, clearly unamused.

"What are these?" he asked flatly.

Secretary Park bowed politely. "Sir, those are the separate projects led by Divisions two to four of th--"

"I believe I'm aware of that," the CEO snapped, cutting him off. "But is the standard of our company reaching only to this? How can we even call ourselves the country's leading conglomerate if our employees can only produce work of such appalling calibre!"

The secretary flinched at the loud volume of his voice and remained silent. CEO Kim let out an aggravated sigh.

"Where are the files from Division one?"

"They haven't been given any new tasks since Jung Daehyun has been asked to take a few days off following that intern problem." Seeing the slight glimmer of hope in his boss's eyes distinguish at that information, Secretary Park quickly added, "B-but Jung Daehyun should be starting work again today, Sir."

There was a nod from the man in the leather armchair before he gathered up the files. "Hand them all over to Division one. They'll do much better than the others have."

~~~

Daehyun sank into the chair in his office and his computer screen -- only to get the shock of his life.

His screen background was littered with photos of him looking completely and utterly petrified whilst on the rollercoaster ride. There were more than a few that captured him at a state that did him no justice at all, to put it nicely. Others would call it 'derp'. With wide eyes that continued to glare at his computer screen in bewilderment, Daehyun didn't even notice his good friend entering the office.

Just one look at Daehyun's face sent Youngjae doubling-over and bawling with laughter. Luckily for them, Youngjae had closed the door behind him, which effectively blocked the sound from travelling out to the employees area.

Instantly, Daehyun knew who the culprit was. He narrowed his eyes at his colleague. "Don't you have better things to do than to mess around with your superior, you ?"

Youngjae gasped at him in feigned shock. "You swore! I'm reporting you for workplace verbal harassment."

Daehyun scoffed. "It's hardly swearing." Averting his eyes back to his computer screen, he narrowed his eyes at his friend again. "When did you even do this anyway? I only left my office for a minute."

"A minute is all I need."

Youngjae had his sharp reflexes to thank for dodging the pen that narrowly missed his face. "Woah!"

"Get out."

"Will do."

He finally left after sending Daehyun an annoying salute.

As he was sifting through the list of wallpapers for his usual background, one of the photos Youngjae had put on caught his attention. It was one which showed both himself and Mihi together on the rollercoaster, looking equally as frightened. A grin spread across his lips as the memory crossed his mind.

Daehyun guessed as much that Mihi would be upset with him laughing at her fear of garden gnomes, but he never guessed that she would try to get back at him. Especially not by getting him to get on the ride of death again. He could only laugh at how her plan backfired when the others forced her to go on too, only for them to find out that she hated rollercoasters just as much as he did. But unfortunately for him, Youngjae just had to snap a gazillion photos of him at his 'finest' moment.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a sudden knock on the door was followed by a figure entering. Daehyun stood up to greet him.

"Secretary Park."

A stack of files was placed on his desk.

"CEO Kim urgently needs all of this done by the end of next week. Hand it in before the deadline."

And with that, Daehyun's internal clock that seemed to have stopped for the past three days began ticking once again.

~~~

CEO Kim sank into his seat after yet another tedious meeting. He was tired. Tired of his work. Tired of this company. Tired of the incompetent workers. Tired of this burden his parents put onto his shoulders. He knew full well he was putting a lot of stress onto this Jung Daehyun who seemed like the only competent employee in this one building filled with hundreds of workers. But he didn't have the energy to deal with it anymore.

He shot up out of his seat and made his way out of his office, out of the company. He didn't even notice the employees greeting him as he sped past them. Next thing he knew, he was standing outside a familiar place. Tranquil Days -- it was that girl's café.

"Mi… hi…"

The two words rolled off of his tongue naturally. Curiously, he entered the café and was immediately drawn in by the calming ambience the place just seemed to emit.

Mihi heard the tone from the door bell and noticed his entrance from her place behind the counter. "Welcome!" she greeted, smiling when he made eye contact with her. It wasn't until he came a closer to her did she recognise him, her eyes widening in the process.

"Oh it's you!"

He couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his face. *She remembers me.*

"I-I'm really sorry about what happened last time…" Mihi meekly said, head bowing at her embarrassment.

He chuckled, an action that would've shocked anyone who knew him, since he usually never cracked even a smile.

"It's ok. You've already apologised more than enough last time, Mihi-ssi."

She smiled at him gratefully. "What can I get you?"

It wasn't long before the two were sitting opposite each other since it wasn't a very busy period yet. The young CEO was slowly enjoying his hot mug of coffee and chocolate cake.

"I don't mean to be nosy, but shouldn't you be at work right now?" Mihi laughed. "You look like you have all the time in the world."

He sighed. "I suppose I just needed a few moments to myself to unwind the stress I've been getting from work."

Mihi nodded in understanding. "You sound a lot like someone else I know, always working so hard." Her thoughts shifted to that one person she was talking about. "It's a good thing to let yourself relax every so often, to just sit back and appreciate life."

Unknowing to her, the man sitting opposite her was just staring at her as she continued to talk about enjoying the little things in life which is almost always the most important things. Once again he found that the more he looked at her, the more she resembled the girl he met in the past. He had met the little girl in that park near his mansion 15 years ago when he was only eleven years old, and haven't seen her since. Ever since that one time, he hadn't seen her again. Even when he waited there everyday after school just to see if he would be able to bump into her again, he never caught even a glimpse of her.

"Have you always lived in Seoul?" he found himself asking.

Mihi shook her head. "I grew up in Uijeongbu and didn't move to Seoul until a few months ago to open up this café. But I did visit a lot when I was little." She smiled at the memory. "Seoul was always heaps of fun."

His heart started speeding up at the possibility of her being the girl from all those years ago. Her living outside Seoul would explain why he never bumped into her even once during those fifteen years.

"Oh!" Mihi gasped. "I don't believe I've asked you for your name yet."

He looked straight at her.

"Myungsoo."

"My name is Kim Myungsoo." 

---

Introducing the CEO of the company Daehyun and Youngjae work at: Kim Myungsoo.

I was kind of rooting for Kim Soohyun to win the poll, but the people have spoken and they have chosen Kim Myungsoo, haha :P

Went to B.A.P's concert last week and it was the most awesome thing ever! :D:D:D

Please drop a comment about what you think about this story so far readers :D