The Unraveled Past

Hana had diligently worked on her job, giving Chanyeol rundowns of his agendas every day -- his meetings, conferences, seminars and all the other work-related things she was allowed to handle. Almost a week had passed since she was hired, and yet she didn’t seem to regret anything which had surprised most of Chanyeol’s employees seeing as how Hana had kept her job at check, not even complaining when the CEO gives her a hard time.

For instance, when she had returned to his office for his morning coffee – something that he requests whenever he’s stressed – he almost spilled the coffee on her as the coffee was too sweet for his liking. Apparently, Hana had no idea that the CEO was health-obsessed, and normally, she preferred sweet coffee so she made one according to her taste. She did not expect Chanyeol to lash out though. In fact, she was ecstatic when she was making the beverage, thinking of how the coffee would eliminate even just an grain of Chanyeol’s usual stress.

And that happened two days after she was hired.

Now, one could say that she had grown accustomed to Chanyeol’s preferences.

She knew what time he usually arrives at the company and took a mental note to come to work an hour earlier than he did, so as she could prepare his office and a few documents to be assessed for the day.

She knew of his likes and dislikes, mostly from how he preferred his employees. A lot of times, he had lashed out in his office whenever he demands her to bring specific employees inside. Most of the time, those employees would go straight to their work stations, clean their desks,and go home, some even crying.

She had seen how most of his employees were frightened of him, and to be honest, she was too. However, she didn’t bother to show his fear in front of her boss, knowing that what the CEO hated the most was just that. Fear.

It was her greatest discovery -- his fear: to lose, business-wise, and to himself as a whole.

He did not just fear the times when risks arise. He had also feared the possibility of losing to his competitors and losing his clients, but none of those times did she see him break down. Instead, he would frown, drown himself into more work than necessary, and soon enough, he would break into innovative ideas to win over those risks and eliminate those competitors. Nevertheless, the CEO didn’t need to say what fear he had, as Hana had only discovered so by observing him.

Today was no different.

She wore her usual attire, though she did wear her usual and dull, white and black clothes for the day. She went to work one hour before her boss usually arrived, as per what she had been doing the past few days. She went on the line for the elevators, knowing that she can’t ride the private elevator. She couldn't help but admit how she missed to ride it with the CEO.

Waiting for your turn to ride on the elevator, plus squishing herself with the others was defiantly not her cup of tea.

As soon as she arrived, she smiled, remembering that she already had everything sorted out last night. She already arranged the documents for the day last night before she went home from work, so she leisurely sat down on her desk and waited for her boss.

Deciding that she had nothing else to do for another hour, she went inside the CEO’s office, grimacing immediately when she realized how many documents were scattered all over the floor.

She then remembered how angry the CEO was yesterday from firing a lot of employees on the spot because he saw them lounging around near the hallway on the third floor when he was surveying the departments. He would’ve waved them off and simply told them to get back to work, but apparently, he overheard their conversation, including Hana.

They had been talking of the CEO, how gruesome and repulsive he was for firing a lot of his employees and whatnot.

That drove Chanyeol off the edge, not liking the way they described him behind his back, and immediately fired them on the spot, fuming. Hana was even able to see how red his face had become for lashing out.

She took the papers one by one on the floor, browsing over them and organizing them alphabetically as they were papers holding information from the employees that he had fired yesterday. Placing them in his desk neatly, she noticed a photo frame that was placed upside down his desk; she hasn’t seen it before, even when she cleaned his office every morning. Curious, she picked it up and observed.

And what she saw had almost shocked her.

Her boss, the company’s CEO, was smiling in the picture, and in his arms was a beautiful, petite girl who was smiling at the camera. Park Chanyeol was kissing her cheek. She noticed how her clothes had seemed branded at one glance and the sparkling jewelry around her neck and her fingers, so she figured that she must’ve been plenty rich.

Footsteps resonated from outside the door, so she quickly put the frame down and pretended to wipe the desk with the handkerchief that she gladly put on her blazer’s inner pocket.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around and bowed as Chanyeol gracefully went in his office, deeply bowing as she scurried outside. She let out a sigh, grabbing a few documents that the CEO needed to review for the day, and then went back inside. As per usual, she gave a rundown of his schedule for the day, the CEO having his oh-so-usual passive face all the while.

Apparently, the CEO had less meetings for the day.

“Clear my schedule after three o’clock in the afternoon,” he ordered, his eyes not even leaving the document that he was reading on whenever she spoke, not even when she entered his office.

“Yes, sir. Anything else?” She inquired, waiting patiently for the latter’s response.

Like always, Chanyeol merely waved her off with his hand. Hana, knowing what it meant, bowed deeply and exited the office, sighing heavily when she had successfully exited the office.

As curious as she was to hear how his boss was so indifferent towards people, she couldn’t really do anything about it – at least not at the moment. She had long decided to focus on her job and maybe do something about the CEO’s behavior later on. She knew that it seemed improper to meddle with the CEO’s life herself, but she had felt remorse whenever she watched his employees scamper away from him after he had fired them.

She felt like he was acting inhumane, like he was a workaholic robot, so at the very least, she made the decision to reach out and lend her hand. It wasn’t like she was meddling with her boss oh-so-suddenly, either. She had met a similar person before with the same personality, so she knew that the man was conflicted.

She was slowly unraveling his personality through her observations as well, and so far, she knew that something was bothering the latter, though she might have to ask from his employees and gather even more information, too, just to be sure.

*** *** ***

That afternoon, Chanyeol had only made a feeble attempt listening to the meeting he was attending. It was a meeting involving the department heads under his company, discussing the typical problems they had encountered through the week and how to fix them. All throughout, Chanyeol had not made a single attempt of speaking out. He just watched as some of the men from the meeting fought their ideas, debating whether one’s idea was better than the other one.

He didn’t really have the energy to argue nor lash out as he woke up in the morning, knowing what day it was.

As the meeting finished, he fixated his gaze on his employees as his secretary called the minutes of the meeting.

He droned out, like he had been from the very beginning. He stood up, almost immediately as the meeting had finally finished and had been the very first person to exit the conference room. Hana had took hasty steps as well, catching up with her superior and together, they took the private lift.

They soon arrived at the top floor, Chanyeol heading towards his office and grabbing his briefcase. Hana soon came in, holding a few documents on her hand.

“Sir, this came in ten minutes before the meeting. COO Kim Joonmyun had told me to give this to you as soon as possible. He also asked for you to review the papers and give him feedback so we can take action regarding the production of our products,” Hana said.

Chanyeol feebly nodded his head and took the documents from Hana’s outreached hands and place the files inside his briefcase.

A knock had resonated from the office's door and Hana immediately opened it, greeting the person politely. The guest had greeted back, smiling.

"Sir, I'm Oh Sehun from the Human Resource Department. Kim Jongin, our HR Department Head, told me to give you these files. The applicants for the positions that, uhm, became vacant are included there, as well as the performance of the upper heads. He also requested for your company later. He said he wanted to talk about something regarding the new project you proposed, and that he'll come to your office later." The man, Oh Sehun, said.

"Tell him that I'm not available. I have plans for the rest of the day," Chanyeol said with authority, his words hinting finality. The man nodded and quickly exited the office, mumbling a soft "Thank you" and "I'll make sure to tell him, sir" before he left.

“Uh, sir?” Hana asked, her voice a bit unsure, her voice gaining Chanyeol's attention from the quiet room. “What if something urgent comes up while you’re gone? Should I call you or…?” She asked, trailing off. She was unsure if she should call him in case that happened, as he seemed to be quite doing something impor