"Choi and Associates, Office of Choi Siwon how may I help you?" the man I was talking to sounded familiar and it took me a moment to place him. When I realized that he was one of Mr. Choi's business connections in Japan, I immediately pulled up the international folder on the computer and began typing a note of what he was telling me for memory purposes.

It had been a month since I started my job in the office of Choi Siwon. In the heart of downtown, it was certainly not a place that went unnoticed and just as I predicted, his office was on the forty-second floor of the fifty floor building. I never understood the practice of having a higher office if you were more infamous for your business. To me, it would make more sense to have the lower office because they were more convenient. But I guess I wasn't a businesswoman for a reason.

Mr. Choi himself was an amazing man. When I came into the office, he took one look at me and immediately pronounced me hired. I hadn't come with my father, so it surprised me that he could just tell right away who I was and what I was there for. In my modest heels and white skirt with a flowery blouse, I certainly didn't look like anyone special.

"I have a sixth sense," Mr. Choi had said when I questioned him about it. I grinned, already pleased with his easygoing manner. He smiled back and then led me over to the desk that sat off to the right of his office, which truly was the only thing on the whole floor.

It was a bit like a tiny hospital. There was a waiting area in front of me, lined with chairs with classy red upholstery along the wall. Then my desk which was curved into the wall in a semi-circle. The two huge doors that led to Mr. Choi's office were of light oak with what I assumed to be custom knobs. Directly across from me, there was another door, but in all of my time there so far, I hadn't seen anyone go inside. I assumed it was an office; from the size of the doors and the amount of space that I estimated there was there, it was too big to be anything else. Overall, the whole place was very business chic: simple dark grey carpeting to contrast nicely with the chairs, large floor to ceiling windows that offered a spectacular view of the city, and elevator access to the room.

When I first started, I was so incredibly nervous about the kinds of things I would be handling. Mr. Choi quickly sets me at ease, pointing out folders and telling me that my main job between answering the phone and getting messages for him would be converting all of the information in those folders into the files on the computer in an organized manner. 

I finished that work in no time and received far too much praise for a few extra things I had done. As a result, Mr. Choi gave me a wonderful raise and put me in charge of his calendar. So now I was answering the phones, getting messages for him, directing people into his office, and scheduling appointments for him just like a real secretary all in the space of a month. And on top of that, I was sitting pretty on eiteen dollars an hour.

"And thank you, Mr. Takamoto," I said pleasantly into the phone, "I'll be sure to inform Mr. Choi to get into contact with you as soon as possible. Have a wonderful day." As I hung up, I made sure to put his information with the rest of the calls and messages I had taken down from last night and the morning already. Mr. Choi usually didn't come into the office until around eleven each morning, but I was usually in by nine at least. This wasn't an office that stayed open for long, but Mr. Choi and I had on several occasions still been here until well into the evening. Still, the latest I got home was usually around eight or nine and normally I was home by six since the office closed at five.

Glancing up at the clock, I saw that it was nearly fifteen minutes until eleven already. I stood quickly, getting the keys for Mr. Choi's office and unlocking it to prepare him for his day like I had been doing each day for the last two weeks once he gave me permission to do so. I his coffee maker, brewing him a strong batch as he preferred. Then, I went back to my desk and sorted through the mail I had picked up earlier to the things he needed to look at, and the things that he needed to respond to. Finally, I grabbed the two small packages that had been delivered earlier that morning and printed off the already full page of notes I had gotten from the emails, voicemails, and few calls that had come through the office since we both left last night.

Right as I had everything on my desk neatly organized for his arrival and I settled back into my chair, I heard the elevator ding. Mr. Choi came strolling through as casually as always in a dark blue three piece suit. His expensive leather shoes were soundless as he strode across the carpet towards me, a warm smile already in place.

Choi Siwon was an undeniably handsome man. For someone in his mid-thirties, he looked like he could have been no more than twenty five or six. The only thing that really gave him away was the lines of laughter that crinkled around his eyes and mouth when he smiled. He had warm eyes, so dark grey they almost appeared black up close. He stood tall at around six-two and had impeccable posture. And I'm sure it didn't help that the only time I ever saw him was when he was wearing a three-piece suit which was a girl's greatest weakness.

I didn't know much about his personal life; just the things that he had told me every so often in conversation. I knew he was divorced and had two children; a daughter who had a beautiful voice and a son who was incredibly smart and was supposed to take over his father's company in the future.

"Good morning, Miss Jung," he greeted me.

"Good morning, sir." He leaned an arm casually on the top of my desk and glanced over, looking at all of the things I already had out. I hit a few buttons on the computer and stood, coming around the desk to follow him as he began walking into his office. "I've gone through your appointments today. It appears that you doubled up for lunch with both the owner of the car company and Congressman Park, so I called the owner of the car company and rescheduled that for later this evening since I remember you saying how important the meeting was with the congressman and plus, Mr. Ha Dong Hoon wasn't very good with his table manners the last time." I began rattling off.

"Good," he said simply, sitting plopping down at his desk. I set the envelopes and packages in front of him, as well as the notes that I had made from all the messages he had already gotten.

"Mr. Takamoto called not even half an hour ago; he says he needs to talk to you about some of your business acquisitions overseas and to call him as soon as you can." I walked over to the coffee maker, pouring him a cup and mixing his one scoop of sugar and a drop of milk in. "You received an email last night from another of your associates overseas concerning the same thing. Also, the two men that own that antiques shop you were thinking about buying from called to see if you were still interested in stopping by." I set the coffee on the corner of his desk and Mr. Choi, glanced up at it before returning his eyes to the paper of notes I gave him. "You have a dentist's appointment at one-thirty, a suit fitting at three and dinner with your daughter at six."

"Can't we reschedule the dentist's appointment?" he asked, grimacing.

"Sir, we've already rescheduled twice. Once more and I'm afraid they'll no longer see fit to do business with you," I teased gently. He gave a long suffering sigh and nodded, a begrudging smile on his face.

"Fine, I'll go to the dentist." He said. "Thank you, Miss Jung. Perfect, as always."

I smiled at the praise and nodded, leaving his office and shutting the doors behind me.

*  *  *
 

It had only been a month, but I was already feeling very settled into my routine. I had a good job that paid me well enough to live alone if I wanted to, a very understanding boss, and I had started my online classes not too long ago. That was a minor adjustment since one of the reasons I did so well in school was because I was a visual learner and I enjoyed the face to face interaction. Still, it was just another challenge to overcome and granted, it took me a little while, but so far I was doing pretty well in my three classes if I did say so myself.

My mother was still unsure about my decision to wait a year before going to school, but my dad was on board. He could see that I was enjoying myself and my life even though it hadn't even been that long. And I truly was; that was the best part of it. Taking a year off was a great decision and I had my dad to thank for my quick adjustment to life in the real world.

Being a secretary certainly wasn't an easy job, but it was much better than working at a fast food place. At least here I felt like my skills were being put to some sort of use rather than me squandering them away.

In my spare time when no one was home, I began watching cooking and interior design shows. My mother hadn't cooked dinner since I made my decision to stay home for a year; I figured that was one way I could apologize to her for not consulting her first. Plus, I genuinely enjoyed making the food and trying out new recipes. She worked longer hours than I ever would since I was only in the office for about thirty hours a week. Over all, I had landed the perfect job for taking a year off. I still had a lot of time to myself and was allowed three days off which was completely unexpected and absolutely great.

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