Chapter Six

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

The transfer letter I’ve been waiting for all this time is now in my hand. Miss Taeyeon gives it to me by herself this morning. I open the letter, I thoroughly read all the sentences on that white paper one by one.

1 Mac 2014. That’s the date. Next week, I will start my duty as Miss Sooyoung’s secretary on Tuesday.

One day before I start to work under Miss Sooyoung, Sunny and I take turns riding the elevator to move our stuff to our new places. And on the same evening, I arrange my stuff that I brought and trying to make my new workplace more comfortable. According to my own liking.

Miss Sooyoung is so busy with her work in her room, she doesn’t even notice that Sunny and I were also busy moving up and down to bring our stuff. Only Eunhyuk, Yuri and a few staff in the marketing department who welcomed me. There’s no word coming from Miss Sooyoung.

It’s already late in the evening, I look at my watch, it shows 6.30 pm, most of the staff has already headed back to their home. The only one that left is me, Eunhyuk and Miss Sooyoung.

Suddenly I heard a raspy voice talking to me.

“Eh?” she sounds like she is surprised to see me here.

I smile a little while looking up at her.

“Very early?” She says.

I’m still smiling.

She stares at me for a moment and after that she quickly walks away once she places something in my in-tray. I look at Eunhyuk as if trying to seek an explanation from him, but he acts normal. Perhaps he’s used to watch how Miss Sooyoung behaves towards others.

I’m done arranging my own stuff at my new place by the time the clock shows 7.00 pm. “Miss Sooyoung, I’m going home now.” I tell her softly from the outside of her room.

Indifferently, she answers. “See you tomorrow.”

And without wasting any of the time, I just walk out. My heart ticks, what will happen to me in future when I work under her?

On the next day, I start my duty in the marketing department. Sunny has told me a few things about what I need to do and must do firstly in the morning. That makes me aware of Miss Sooyoung’s behavior.

Once I arrive at the office, I start to tidy up Miss Sooyoung’s desk, taking out all the documents in her in-tray, refilling the empty water bottle and lastly, turning on the two PCs on her desk. Later on, I head down to look for my friends to have a breakfast together with them.

“Did she in yet?” Sunny asks when we are walking to the cafe.

I shake my head.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you today? You seem not in a mood today. Are you nervous?”

Our eyes meet. “No, I’m not.”

“Then? What’s wrong?”

“You know why. My mind is kinda blur because of my new boss.” I reason her.

She chuckles upon my answer.

At 8.35 am, we head back to the office and I could see Miss Sooyoung is already in her room.

“Good morning, Jessica.” Greet a voice at my left side.

I quickly turn and smile at Miss Boa who is walking towards me. She is the senior executive of the marketing department. “Oh, hi. Good morning.” I greet her back.

She stops and stands next to me. “I have no idea that you start today. I just knew it from Eunhyuk when I came here looking for Sunny.”

“Yeah, just start my duty here today.”

She smiles. The title of senior executive she holds suits her well with her style.  After that, she shifts her eyes to my new boss. “Have you seen her yet?”

“Maybe after this.”

Then Miss Boa walks away, leaving me and enters Miss Sooyoung’s room. “Sooyoung, remember about the meeting this afternoon. Please make sure you’ll be there,” she reminds the tall woman.

I know, that must be the meeting with KT Corporation, which will be taking place somewhere else.

She looks up at Miss Boa. “How about the paperwork? Are they done yet?” She casually asks.

I watch as Miss Boa takes a seat in front of Miss Sooyoung’s desk without being asked. Then they start discussing about something for a while. They both look serious. Once in a while Miss Sooyoung wrinkled her forehead. I’m getting more frighten thinking about my own fate in her hands.

I start my daily task. Sometimes I have to call Sunny to make sure what I’m doing right now is the same thing she done before. Miss Boa is out to meet a client. As the clock passes by, one by one officer leaves the office to start their daily routine. It’s not even 10 in the morning, only a few people were remained in the office, including me.

“Miss Jessica.” Her voice echoes from the telephone speaker.

“Yes, Miss Sooyoung.”

“See me, please.”

Suddenly I feel my heart start beating faster. Calm and peacefulness never enter my heart once I have worked under her, but I never feel that way when I worked with Miss Taeyeon. Why it must have a fast rate of heartbeat at every second pass?

I enter her room. She’s like, she doesn’t even care about my presence in her room. She’s not looking at me at all, even though I’m standing right in front of her.

“Miss Sooyoung?” I call her.

Our eyes meet for the first time today, then she asks me to take a seat. She puts down her pen and leans back in her chair, watching me. Then she smiles a bit. “Do you feel lost?”

I feel like her question is questioning my credibility, “lost in this new world.” I joke.

Miss Sooyoung smiles cynically, “especially at me?” she’s trying to make a guess.

I clench my hands tightly, I feel so pressured with her words.

“Maybe I seem to be a bit serious compared to Miss Taeyeon or Mr Leeteuk or even Mr Shindong. And I know that all this while, amongst all the managers, not only you, even Sunny cannot get along with me. I didn’t mean to say, we cannot get along actually, but more or less, Sunny wasn’t supposed to be in the marketing with the rest of us.”

I stay silent listening to her explanation. What does she mean exactly? My heart whispers.

“Well, today is your first day with me. Treat everybody equally, okay?”

I don’t say anything and keep looking at her.

“Is there anything else you want to say? Do you afraid to open your mouth?”

This time I smile. “I have nothing to say. You are my boss and I am your secretary. I speak when necessary.”

This time Miss Sooyoung throws a dagger at me. Her eyes are like a predator who is stalking her prey. “I didn’t expect you to say that.” she says firmly.

I am stunned by her tone of voice!

“Miss Jessica, I hope you can work without depending on my help all the time. When there’s something you have to decide by your own, I hope you can handle it. I want a secretary who can work independently. You don’t need to wait until I give the order. Learn to do it by yourself and be a decision maker when I am not around.”

I feel like there’s a giant rock just smashes my head, that’s what I feel right now. Is this real? She is expecting me to be like that? Is that how she expected Sunny to be when Sunny worked here before?

“Alright.” She’s still smiling. “I don’t want to make you scare even more.”

“I’m not scared actually.” I reply, cutting her off.

The tall woman stares at me sharply, as if asking me to finish my sentence.