Chapter Seventeen

I apologize for any mistakes and any typos or any grammar or whatever errors in this chapter. Please bear with me

I went to work as usual on Monday. I got there in the office about five minutes before 8 in the morning. Once I reached my place, Yoona asked me if I wanted to have a breakfast together with her at the cafe, while Hyoyeon and Sunny were no where to be found. I guess they haven’t arrived yet.

I left my handbag under my desk and I only took my purse with me. We took the elevator to get to the lower lever. We returned to the office 20 minutes later, Yoona headed to her place and I walked to my own desk. I saw that Miss Sooyoung was already in her room. She seemed so busy checking something on her desk.

I started to feel regret because I didn’t tidy up her room at first. I didn’t take a new drink for her, I haven’t yet picked up all the documents in her in-tray. That was my daily routine, I bet she would get upset at me. I took a deep breath and braced myself up to meet her.

“Good morning, Miss Sooyoung.” I greeted her in a serious tone. I have no idea how’s she felt right now. Whether she’s in a bad mood or otherwise.

“Good morning,” she greeted back without bothered to look at me.

I continued doing my every morning task, ignoring the fact that she’s sitting there.

“Did Yunho oppa send you home last night?” she asked all of the sudden. It’s rather calm but I knew what kind of tone was that. It’s a tone to show that she wasn’t ready yet to have an unnecessary talk to anyone.

“Yes,” I replied shortly and quickly took her drink container out to refill it with a new drink. Later I walked in with the new refilled drink container and placed it on her desk. I stopped in front of her desk to take all the documents in her in-tray, and then I left the room.

Everything went smoothly as always on that morning. Miss Sooyoung was busy with her meetings and all the discussions with her subordinates. Every time she went out to fulfill her appointment, I felt so relief and it’s much easier for me to complete my task. Once in a while I will go downstairs to meet my friends.

“How’s your dad? Is he still in the hospital?” Yoona asked when we were enjoying our lunch.

“So far so good. He’s getting better. He’s already been discharged from the hospital when I went back to my parents’ house last Friday.”

“Really? That’s great. At what time you get there?” Sunny asked after that.

“About 1.30 in the afternoon. Thankfully, my mother called me before I hit the road. If not, we would have been to the hospital that day,” I casually told them without realizing that I’ve blurted out something that I shouldn’t have said.

“We?” Hyoyeon asked, looking at me with wonder.

“Who is ‘we’, Jess?” She repeated.

“That quick, huh? I think you were still in the office until 11.30 am, and now you are telling us that you arrived at your parents home like 2 hours later?” Sunny asked.

I mentally slapped my mouth for talking without thinking. I’m dead, since I already slipped out. Slowly I raised my head to look at three of them. Clearly they were waiting for my answer. Either I like it or not, I have to tell them the truth. “Well.. actually.. Miss Sooyoung send me straight to my parents’ house.”

Instantly, Sunny and Yoona gaped at me with their eyes and mouth wide open. Obviously they were shocked. And Hyoyeon just stared at me and smiled meaningfully.

“Miss Sooyoung who is your boss, that Miss Sooyoung? Did I hear it right?” Yoona asked for sureness.

I continued munching my food.

“You are not kidding, right? Did my ex-boss really send you to your hometown, Jess?” Sunny pressed. These two were clearly wondering by the fact, but not Hyoyeon.  She still gave me the smile that contained one thousand of secret in it.

“I don’t even know myself. I’m still questioning myself about that. It’s not just you guys, my mother and my brothers can’t even stop asking me; did I have any relationship with her or what?”

Sunny and Yoona started to giggle amused. Only Hyoyeon who was still grinning like a fool as if she has figured out something. Something that these two don’t know.

“Hyo, what’s up with that silly face? Stop give me that kind of smile, okay? What? Do you know something that WE don’t know?” I asked, starting to feel dissatisfied with her weird behavior.

Hyoyeon sipped her drink through the straw and then looked at me, “I think, that beanpole likes you, Jess.”

It’s my turn to laugh cynically, “that’s a good joke, Hyo! A very brilliant joke. It’s so funny that I could roll on the floor laughing.”

“Seriously! This is not funny. I’ve been working here for 8 years. For eight years, I never heard this such story about Sooyoung. She’s serious person, workaholic and she rarely hangs out with friends. Only when she’s in a good mood, then she will. If she’s busy, don’t even dare to go talk to her. She might explode if it was a wrong move. It’s all about work. And when you said that she send you to your hometown, it’s a new stuff to me. I mean, something new about him. I have known her for years, she never did this. Now, she’s kinda a bit mellow.”

“Efficient secretary, my boss loves me so much that she willingly to send me to my hometown.” I joked.

Sunny and Yoona pulled an irritated face. I grinned at them, but Hyoyeon’s word somehow bit my feelings. Miss Sooyoung and I? That’s funny. I didn’t know how she got the idea about Miss Sooyoung has feeling for me. The atmosphere went silent for a while. The only sound could be heard was the sound of the crowds were talking while eating their food. In the meanwhile, Yoona, Sunny and Hyoyeon were still waiting for my reaction. Those three pairs of eyes were still fixed on me, demanding an answer. I must deny their thought before everything became more complicated.

“I don’t think so. I think, you guys have looked at it all wrong. Miss Sooyoung is not my type. She’s not my type. Besides, Taecyeon just passed away. I can’t find someone else.. I couldn’t. It’s not like I’m that desperate to find a replacement.”

“Don’t say like that, Jess.” Sunny said.

“No, Sunny. I’m serious. I just want that stuff find its way to me. All this while, when I was with Taecyeon, he’s the one who finds me. Anyway, if you guys want to know whether Miss Sooyoung likes me or not.. last night, when I was having a dinner with my brother, I saw Miss Sooyoung with a girl. There’s two actually, but I figured one of them is her girlfriend.  They both are beautiful, more sophisticated than me. So, why would she likes the anchovies if she already got a gold fish?”

“Uuu! What a drama-queen!” Yoona teased.

Then Hyoyeon cut in, “yeah, for all this time she often gets goldfishes, and when an anchovy swim in front of her every now and then, later she just find out that anchovies are more valuable than goldfishes. She can eat anchovies, at least that could put an end to her hunger. But goldfishes, it’s nothing more than a display.”

I laughed, as well Sunny and Yoona. Even though I appeared to be so happy with them, but no one knew how stunned I was when I listened to Hyoyeon’s word. I already get so many assumptions when Miss Sooyoung sent me home, I don’t know what will happen if I told them that Miss Sooyoung called me on the night after she arrived at her home.

“Smart-.” Sunny said.

“I will take that as a compliment, thank you.” Hyoyeon replied casually.

After paying the food, we walked out the cafe to get back to our office. Once we entered the office, I could see Miss Sooyoung, Miss Taeyeon and other executives were sitting in the reception area and having a conversation. I felt like I was trapped in this situation. Hyoyeon walked to them and sat there to join their conversation, as well as Yoona. Only Sunny didn’t join them as she headed to the toilet to do her business.

“You don’t want to join us?” Hyoyeon asked. “We are discussing about our kick-off for this year.”

“What about it?” I asked as I sat beside Hyomin, our receptionist.

“Nothing. We are just starting discussing about the team. How to split the team. Who’s in team A, who’s in team B and who’s in team C. And of course my boss is an exemption, because he will enter any team. So now, we have six managers including Sooyoung and Kyuhyun as senior managers. We already have got six people, two for each team. So, how do we split our staff here?”

“Just take a vote, then.” I replied shortly.

“I’ve told Jun Jin about it, we take a vote. But this ahjusshi doesn’t want to hear it,” Hyoyeon nagged as she glanced at Jun jin who was sitting beside Miss Sooyoung. I smiled at Jun Jin and I gave the same amount of smile to Miss Sooyoung without realizing.

“Then, what do we do, Mr Jun Jin?” I asked him.

“He said he wants to think the other way, but the other way hasn’t popped out of his mind yet.” Mr Leeteuk suddenly said.

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