CHAPTER 49

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Month Later…

 

 

“Thank you” Hana bows with a smile as she gathers the papers and neatly places it inside the brown envelope. It was a good day today, finally everything was settled and she could go home; it was a little weird waking up in the mornings though, she practically jumped out of bed when she saw that it was nearing nine o’clock already but then got hit in the midst of her shower that she no longer worked at Wu Enterprise.

 

 

Sigh. She shakes her head at the thought and walks out of the building, pushing the glass doors greeting the sun that shone exceptionally bright.

 

 

“Such a fine day today, isn’t it?” she turns to the side at the sound of the voice and a grin spreads across her face as she sees Chen sipping on a cup of bubble tea “It sure is… what are you doing here?”

 

 

He snorts to the side “Oh I don’t know, I got lost and somehow ended up here” she laughs at his sarcasm. He takes a quick sip of his drink, chewing on a pearl as they begin to walk along “I’m actually here to you” “?” she raises a brow then nods her head knowingly as she takes a wild guess “Kris’s orders, right?”

 

 

“Oh my god, how did you know?” he fakes surprise, gasping in a rather exaggerated manner too and she just laughs, shaking her head at him “It’s not like I’m walking into a cave full of wolves, you know… I can very much manage myself”

 

 

“Tch,” he stops in his tracks, looking at her incredulously “You’re kidding me right?”

 

 

She rolls her eyes and they continue to walk “Hana, it’s more than a cave full of wolves. Its suicide if you ask me” “The business world is a shark tank itself” she comments “wait, are you against me leaving?” Chen laughs; he pockets his hand “Nah, just trying to change your mind you know… it’s not yet too late to back out afterall”

 

 

“Well, I think I’m pretty sure about this decision I made”

 

 

Eventually they reach the building where Hana resided. Chen had finished his bubble tea by the time they reached the floor of the condominium and discarded of it. Hana enters the security code for the lock and after a beep, the door unlocks and they both walk in. Unlike the last time he was here, the place seemed much emptier but he shrugs off the feeling and follows her to the kitchen where she poured them both a glass of water.

 

 

“Hey Hana”

 

 

“Hm?”

 

 

“Good luck out there” he smiles, holding up his glass in kudos before drinking up as she laughs and gives her thanks “And uh,” he adds “Can you treat me on a one week cruise on your first pay?”

 

 

“What?” she almost choked. He chuckles and places his empty glass down before trudging to the living room “Get your things, we don’t wanna be late on your first day”

 

 

Hana.

 

 

Breathe, Hana. Breathe. “Here we are” Chen speaks, pulling on the breaks. I look out of the window and see the tall tower –one of the many in the country- and just beside the entrance stood the name of the company. Taking a deep breath, I turned to him and gave a thankful smile “Thanks for accompanying me here”

 

 

“Like I told you, I’m here to you” Chen winks before pressing a button and unlocks the car. I unbuckle my seat belts and hop out of the car hearing Chen yell a good luck before I jog up the few steps and eventually entered. It feels just like the first time.

 

 

“Ms. Kim Hana?” a female holding a clipboard smiles at me “Yes, that’s me” I answer and return the gesture.

 

 

She holds out a hand for me to shake and with a smile I shook it

 

 

“Welcome to China”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were wandering around and about the streets. Chanyeol didn’t know why he was asked to go of all the people, he honestly could have done something more productive back at the venue like spearheading the technicians on where to put where, if anything he thinks Kyungsoo should’ve asked Tao instead. The guy is the head of fashion for a reason; heck he sleeps and breathes this . Not that he thought his own taste in fashion it was just that Tao seemed like a more reasonable shopping partner compared to him.

 

 

Other than that, he knows these streets better than I do. Why did I even agree to tag along in the first place? He clicks his tongue at the thought, sipping on his cup of lemonade instead to keep his mouth from blabbering complaints. “Let’s try here” Kyungsoo says, entering a shop and he quietly follows after.

 

 

The shorter of the two began to go through the racks the moment they got in, occasionally taking one out and turned to the mirror if it looked good on him or not while Chanyeol stuck to looking around to see if anything would catch his eye.

 

 

“By the way, Chanyeol” Kyungsoo calls out to his colleague –who seemed to busy getting distracted by the mannequins around him as he sips on his cup of lemonade, that or what the mannequins were wearing. He whirls his head around “Hm?”

 

 

“What did you and Sehun bet about anyway?” why was he even asking? He obviously knows the answer to it anyway “Hana’s choice ofcourse” he grins; joining him in shuffling through the rack of expensive formal wears “Yeah… again, why did you guys bet on it?”

 

 

Chanyeol snorts and walks to a trash bin to dump his unfinished drink “It was a pretty nifty bet; you really mean to tell me you’re not down for a one week cruise away from all the office bull?” Kyungsoo chuckles, he gets the point. Ofcourse, anyone would be down for that; a one week getaway from all the hullaballoo and stress, just to be with oneself and the cool sea breeze. He shakes the thought away and decides to focus on his agenda once more; he needed to get this done.

 

 

He pulls out a hanger and holds it up against Chanyeol, the latter raises a brow but then gives a look of approval when he saw his reflection in the mirror “I’ll settle for this one” he says and Kyungsoo throws it onto him and continues to look for one of his own.

 

 

“Argh, this is crazy…” Chanyeol finally comments. Kyungsoo chuckles, eyes still focused on looking for his perfect fit “Kris has always been crazy, so why are you surprised?”

 

 

“Because of all the crazy he’s done, this is perhaps the craziest of them all” he says as he heads for the fitting rooms. As Chanyeol had disappeared in the confinements of the said fitting room, Kyungsoo takes the chance to stride onto another side of the store where his eyes met what seemed to be the best he’s seen all day “Perfect”

 

 

Meanwhile

 

 

“No! I told you, for the last time, it’s not cream white just pure white! Angel kind of white!” Tao shouts, his voice echoing throughout the lavish room currently being decorated and getting readied for the party. He had insisted that he would spare head the whole preparation and Kris knew better than to argue, really. Baekhyun enters through the doors along with Xiumin and Luhan, Tao beams at them as soon as he notices their presence “You three!” he points at them “Where have you been?!”

 

 

Baekhyun cranes his head back, he raises both his hands infront of him in defense as Tao walks up to them “Whoa hot head, take a chill pill. I just flew in from Seoul”

 

 

“Yeah, we had to pick him up from the airport” Xiumin reasons, Tao turns to Luhan who only shrugs and casually pockets his hands “I went with Xiumin, I didn’t want to be stuck here and listen to your nagging” “I do not nag! I’m directing”

 

 

Luhan rolls his eyes “Yeah sure, in an exceptionally loud voice if I may add”

 

 

Tao shoots him a glare but Luhan ignores it, he’s used to his friend’s whole persona taking a full three-hundred-sixty-degree turn whenever he organizes events. Honestly, why couldn’t they just hire a professional anyway? Oh yeah, he insisted. Luhan remembers. “Yah! You!” Tao points at another direction and walks off to a group of females arranging flowers, shouting complaints and other what-not as his friends only shake their heads at him in the background.

 

 

BRRRT. BRRRT. Baekhyun fishes out his phone from his pocket “Oh?” his brows raise at the caller ID, he slides his thumb over the screen and pressed the device onto his ear “Where are you?”

 

 

“Who is it?” Xiumin asks. Baekhyun saves himself from answering the question and puts the call on loud speaker “Shopping with Chanyeol. By the way, did you bring it?” it was Kyungsoo. Baekhyun holds the phone close to his lips “Yeah, it was pretty tricky to get you know; I almost had to go down on my knees! I don’t get why he couldn’t have just gotten it himself”

 

 

Luhan and Xiumin stare at him, deciding not to bother with questions… yet.

 

 

“Atleast you got it” Kyungsoo sighs in relief “Kris owes me big time for this”

 

 

“You mean he owes me big time” “Tch. Whatever, he still thinks I was the one who got it for him anyway” Baekhyun frowns “Yah, I swear if you don’t give me my fair share, I’m throwing this into the river”

 

 

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes on the other end of the line “Go ahead, that thing belongs to the dragon not me” the other scrunches his nose “Do Kyungsoo!” “Okay, okay” Kyungsoo chuckles “just please don’t lose that” he hung up.

 

 

Baekhyun pockets his phone and turns back to his other two colleagues; Luhan crosses his arm and tilts his head to the side as he looks at Baekhyun in question “What did Kyungsoo mean by you bringing it?” the latter bats his eyes at the older guy “You didn’t know?” the two shook their heads and Xiumin commands “Spill it”

 

 

Kris.

 

 

Knock. Knock. “Yi Fan?” Stephanie.

 

 

I pull up my tie and watch her from the mirror as she appeared behind me with a smile on her face. I finish up fixing my tie and turn around to face her “Ready?” she asks. I give her a nod and puff out a breath, glancing one last time at the mirror and pushes up the blonde spikes of hair. I hear my sister sigh and take her place between me and the mirror; she swats my hand away and smoothes out the lapels of my suit’s jacket “Stop fussing, will you?”

 

 

“Are you kidding me?” I scoff, frowning at her “Didn’t you hear me last night?”

 

 

“I heard you clearly last night but I don’t really see why you’re so tensed about this… it’s just going to be a meeting” she calmly states and takes her hands back to her side, I turn away from her and start for the door “It’s not just a meeting, Stephanie” she tails right behind me and we make our way downstairs “This is her, we’re talking about”

 

 

“Yeah,” a maid hands her, her bag as we walk through the living room to the front door of the house “but haven’t you had meetings with her before? You lived together with her for some time too and you two are close so why are you nervous?”

 

 

I open and the door and we walk down the front steps, the chauffer holding the passenger door open for the two of us and I get in first as she follows “You don’t get it” ugh, damn it. Forget it. Stephanie shakes her head and we fall into silence as the driver takes his place in the front and began to drive us both to work.

 

 

BEEP.

 

 

First day! Fighting!

 

- Hana

 

 

Well someone’s excited. Anxiety left my mind momentarily as I found myself smiling at the simple text message I received; I type a quick reply of encouragement and pocket my phone once more. Stephanie chuckles, pulling me out of my personal little merriment; I turn to her “What?”

 

 

“Let me guess, it’s from Hana, isn’t it?”

 

 

“Tch,” I roll my eyes. She laughs and turns to look at me “It’s her first day today, right?” “Yeah” I mumble, turning my attention to the view outside of the window.

 

 

I wonder how the others are doing right, now. It’s only been two days since they’ve began to arrive one by one to put things together for the company ball, the organizers are probably crying under Tao’s supervision now, I don’t even know why I had let him convince me to be head of the committee when he could’ve just sat back and relaxed.

 

 

“But gege, everything has to be perfect! Perfect!”

 

 

Tch. It better be as you have said, Huang Zitao.

 

 

The car eventually comes to a stop and the door on Stephanie’s side is opened, she gets out and I follow suit. A string of morning greetings erupt in the building’s lobby as we walk in and as usual, Stephanie returns the greetings with words and smiles whereas I only walk ahead, straight for the open elevator that was waiting. I’m more than eager to get to my office.

 

 

DING. The doors open and Stephanie steps out, patting my shoulder “Good luck for today, Yi Fan” she smiles and the doors close in once again. A couple more floors pass and soon the bell rings again, the doors slide open and I head straight to my office.

 

 

I take my seat and pick up the tab and go through the recently encoded meetings and errands. I take a quick glance at the clock above the double doors and push myself off the chair, putting down the tablet aswell and decide to head down to the meeting room. She doesn’t like to be kept waiting anyway.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Kris opens the doors to the meeting room; his heart almost skipped a beat when the first person came to his view. The young female smiles at him, a bag hanging on her arm and a clipboard pressed on her chest “Good morning, Mr. Wu” Hana greets with a bow. A small smile makes its way onto his lips as he closes the door behind him, he would’ve grabbed her by the waist and tipped her back for a kiss but unfortunately he couldn’t because of two reasons: his grandmother was sitting in the background and it’s unprofessional in her presence.

 

 

“Good morning, Ms. Kim”

 

 

“Good morning to you too, Yi Fan” his grandmother greets. He peers over Hana’s shoulder and sees the lady smiling at him. Kris takes a quiet breath in and mutters “We’ll talk after this” as he then walks past her and sits across his grandmother. Hana makes her exit from the room, deciding to wait outside.

 

 

As soon as the door had closed, the lady turns to her grandson. Kris releases a sigh and leans back on his chair “How are you, dear?” she asks, leaning back on her chair aswell, her legs crossed under the table. Kris scoffs to the side “I’m doing fine, are you happy?”

 

 

She rolls her eyes “Oh please, Yi Fan. Stop that, you sound like a five year old boy who didn’t get his way. If anything you should thank me, young man”

 

 

Kris shakes his head. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he does feel thankful towards her but Kris was Kris and it would take a miracle for him to admit that. He keeps himself quiet and waits for his grandmother to go on with speaking; the next minutes followed with them both conversing about business and possible negotiations in the future –all of which, Kris said he would think about which is another word for rejection. It’s not that he didn’t want to help out or work with his grandmother but he had future intentions to consider and he still looks at Cube as a threat.

 

 

“By the way, I received your invitation for the party” she says marking the end of the business conversation. Kris smirks “Are you going to go?”

 

 

The lady chuckles “Ofcourse, you foolish child… your grandmother would not miss it for the world but I do hope you’re sure about this, young man. From what I’ve heard, you have quite the number of invites sent out”

 

 

“It’s the office ball, ofcourse there would be a lot of invitations sent out”

 

 

“You know what I’m talking about Yi Fan; everyone will be an audience, I hope it won’t scare off your girlfriend” he chuckles at the last sentence trying to keep the anxiety off of his shoulder as best as he cane because somehow those words triggered his doubts. A lot of what ifs mean a lot of plans. The lady stands up and so does he, they both make their way to the door.

 

 

Hana gets up from the chair as the door to the meeting room opens and the grandmother and her grandson step out. The lady smiles at her and asks “What’s next on my schedule, Hana?” Kris puffs out air to the side, quietly scoffing at how his grandmother seemed to be showing off infront of him. Hana gives her the next agenda on her list and the woman turns around, giving her grandson a brief hug.

 

 

“Can I talk to her for a bit?” he whispers. The lady pulls away and gives him a knowing look “Alright but don’t keep her for too long, she needs to go with me to every agenda on my list”

 

 

“Yeah grandma, I know” he mutters. The lady turns to Hana “I’ll go back to the office first, you just follow suit okay dear?”

 

 

Hana bows and nods her head as the lady then walks off and exits through the glass double doors that secluded the area. Silence fills the air as they both wait for a few moments; after making sure that she was indeed gone, Kris pulls Hana back into the confinements of the conference room and a click is heard as he had locked the door. He turns to her, pulling her by the waist and lands his lips on top of hers pouring out the feelings he had suppressed for the past weeks that they had not seen each other. Hana chuckles breaking off the kiss and pokes his cheek “That is so unprofessional of you, Mr. Wu”

 

 

“Didn’t you miss me?” he pouts and as much as she finds it cute, she finds it equally funny aswell. There were so many sides to Kris that the world didn’t know; she drops her bag and clipboard on the floor and wraps her arms around his neck “Ofcourse, I did”

 

 

He places a quick kiss on her forehead before pulling her for a hug. He rests his chin on her shoulder, turning his head slightly whisper close to her ear “You know” he starts “I’m kind of hurt still”

 

 

“You said you’d be supportive, remember?”

 

 

“Still hurt” he mumbles, burying his face on the crook of her neck. Hana pulls back and takes his face in her hands, she gives him a pout “Aigo, didn’t we already talk about this? I’m already here and within arm’s reach, isn’t that enough?” “I still would have preferred it if you worked for me instead” he presses on.

 

 

Hana gives him a warning look and he chuckles “I’m a man of my word, Hana… don’t worry” “Good” she smiles once again and breaks away from his grasp “I have to go now”

 

 

Kris sighs in disappointment rather exaggeratedly and Hana couldn’t help but cast him an apologetic look. As much as she wanted to spend time with him, she was working and to think that it’s her first day as his grandmother’s PA too, she couldn’t –This is the first time we’ve seen each other personally though… sigh. “I’ll make it up to you” she says, reaching out a hand to pat his cheek.

 

 

“Wait” he grabs her wrist before she could rush off “Kris, I have to go now” “Let’s have dinner tonight”

 

 

She blinks her eyes at him, mentally going over the schedule written down for his grandmother to make sure she was free. He takes note of the questioning glint and the unsure look she had and speaks “I missed you so I was hoping we could spend time together” she bites back her lower lip, making sure she would be free before finally giving him a smile “Okay”

 

 

“Great” he smiles and places a quick peck on her cheek “I’ll pick you up at your place at seven”

 

 

 

 

 

One month ago…

 

 

Hana’s eyes go through the words printed on the contract as she makes sure to read and understand things thoroughly; she stops at certain section of the paper, it seemed rather new. She looks up at the lady, who still had the smile on her face, and raises a brow “Yes dear?” the lady asks her after seeing the rather confused look on Hana’s face.

 

 

“What is this about China?” she asks cautiously. It was quite the brow raiser when she saw the words CUBE and CHINA placed side by side; the lady chuckles “Ah yes, you see… my main office is China, so should you sign that it simply means that you will be going with me considering that the position is to be my PA”

 

 

Hana was quiet as her eyes fell back to the papers in her hands. She bit back her lower lip to keep it from quivering; for a moment, everything seemed like a really sick joke to her and everything she’s been feeling for the past few weeks seemed like they were slapping her in the face. To say the least, she felt ridiculed. She wipes off the tears threatening to fall with the back of her wrist as the lady behind the desk only watches in amusement. She feels a little apologetic too but she knew she had done the right thing keeping some things hidden.

 

 

“T-this… oh god, I’m so sorry for crying right now” she vigorously continues to wipe the tears now streaming down her face. The lady chuckles “No need to apologize, dear”

 

 

After awhile of regaining back her composure, she reaches for the pen and signs off the contract. Hana stands up and so does the lady, they shake hands and with a smile she tells Hana

 

 

“Welcome to Cube”

 

 

Oomf! Hana stumbles a bit back but doesn’t fall, she feels a firm hold on her hand and her eyes widen as she sees who it was that she had bumped into “Kai!” Jongin seemed a bit taken back but was quick to compose himself. He releases his hold on her all the while taking in the image of her, it had only been a month or so since he last saw her and it already felt like ages.

 

 

“Long time, no see” he smiles before continuing “What are you doing here?”

 

 

“Oh, I had to accompany my boss to her meeting… what about you, what are you doing here in China?” Jongin pockets his hands “Business matters” “Wow, you’ve… changed and you’re blonde now?” Kai chuckles running a hand through his bleached locks “Yeah; did you talk with Kris?” “Yeah but I had to cut it short… we’ll have dinner tonight though so I guess I’ll take the chance to make up for stuff”

 

 

And suddenly, he feels a strange twist in his gut at her words about dinner tonight as he suddenly remembers what was about to happen. He forces the smile to stay plastered on his lips as he watches Hana glace at her watch before turning to him “Ah, I have to go now… it was nice seeing you, Kai”

 

 

“Hey Hana” he calls out to her just before she could exit the doors. Hana turns around “Yes?”

 

 

“Thanks” he says. She raises a brow at how odd it sounded and questions “What for?”

 

 

Kai doesn’t answer and only shrugs his shoulders before turning to walk away leaving a confused Hana standing there. She shakes her head eventually and makes her leave. Thanks for changing me, he meant to say.

 

---

 

A/N: OHMAGAD ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO. I hope to publish it by tomorrow but if not then maybe next Friday. I’m sorry guys, school has started and I’m already bombarded with so much work.

I have come up with a name to call you guys, all of you my dear subbies, readers, you shall be called my Floating Cabbage Friends! which is fancy for squishy jellyfishies, I love jellyfishies.

Are you ready for the ending my floating cabbage friends?~