The Aftermath

“What in the hell happened?!” The CEO’s loud, booming voice echoed inside the company’s Security Surveillance Room, the place where his secretary told him to go to when he was still parked in front of the cemetery.

Hana flinched, immediately recognizing the rage on his voice that held too much anger. The other employees in the room had also flinched, gazing their eyes downwards as if some sort of furious God had emerged before them.

Hana bit her lip before speaking, his eyes fixated on the tiled floor, “S-sir, someone infiltrated your room hours ago, whom I believed had took a picture on your desk and spread it on the Internet, hence the a-article that I sent you.” Her voice had kept on wavering as she stumbled upon her own words, feelings little with her boss’ piercing gaze.

Chanyeol’s eyebrows knitted together, piecing the facts that his secretary told him.

“How did someone get inside my office?” He said, his voice lowering down though it still held the authority that it always held.

Hana bit her lip harder, a metallic taste invading her taste buds. She gulped audibly before speaking, “I’m sorry, sir.” It was a mere, simple apology, her head bowed down and her eyes closed. She knew that she was dead. She'd definitely be losing her job later.

"I went away for a couple of hours and this happens? This is why I don't hire incompetent beings in my company!" He hollered.

The CEO sighed, exhasperated, massaging his temples from the headache that was coming. “Show me the surveillance cameras on the top floor. Now,” he ordered, his voice holding no emotion whatsoever, except an eerie feeling that a person would be able to feel upon hearing his words. “We’ll talk later, Ms. Choi.”

Hana sighed deeply and stood upright from the bow that she had given the latter.

The other employees who were watching the scene had immediately scampered into their stations, pushing buttons and adjusting the controls to play the scenes that the cameras had managed to capture at the time of the scene. Chanyeol watched closely as the employees did their job.

The first screen on the surveillance monitor had showed; the time read 3:15 P.M.

He watched as he walked out of his office, his secretary on the side of the doorway bowing at his backside as he walked away. His secretary then stood upright and went to her desk, fixing papers and whatnot and arranging her belongings. He then watched as Hana took her phone from her blazers and seemingly text someone from the way she tapped her fingers on the screen in a fast pace.

He pressed the fast forward button on the controls himself, his eyes focused on the monitor.

He then removed his fingers from the button, and soon enough, the video played in a moderate speed. His eyes trailed as a woman, who he recognized as Lee Soeun, emerged from the scene. He watched as his secretary opened the door to his office and let the both of them in.

“Show me the surveillance inside my office,” he barked at the employee who was seated near him, to which the latter had immediately nodded his head, obeying.

The image from the second monitor beside the first one changed, showing the scene that happened inside his office at the same time frame that the first monitor showed. He saw how Lee Soeun wandered around his office, her movements showing him how fascinated she was. His brows knitted together and glared at the screen, his rage building up upon the realization that this own secretary had let an employee inside his office.

Hana backed away from her position and leaned her back on the wall beside the doorway, feeling queasy.

She felt guilty and worried – guilty because she knew that it was wrong to let a mere unauthorized employee in her boss’ office, much less someone who was clearly not allowed to enter the top floor, and worried because she was now a hundred percent sure that she'd be losing her job.

“Miss Choi, what is the meaning of this?” Chanyeol asked his employee, his teeth clenching as he prevented himself from screaming.

Hana’s lips quivered. “I-I’m sorry, sir. I-It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let my friend up in your office,” she explained, blaming the fault on herself as she didn’t want her friend to get involved. After all, she would likely lose her job today, so at the very least, she decided to save her friend’s job.

It was a mistake that she knew herself was wrong from the very beginning, too. As a secretary who her boss had relied to for administrative support, she knew that she was done for. After all, reliability is the name of the game when you're a secretary. Whether you are secretary to a single boss or to a team, you'll be indispensable to them as you help ease their workload by providing support and helping them organize their time.

It didn’t look so though because of the mistake that she did.

Friend. That word had made Chanyeol freeze.

His mind wandered as to when he last had a friend. Not once did his friends stuck to his side after those two days that ruined his life. First and foremost, his mother, who he had treasured, was not only the woman who brought him to this world but was his best friend as well. But she left him. His friends inside and outside the company had avoided him as well, as they were afraid of his sudden change in personality.

Despite his cold exterior, his heard had broken apart. After all, there was nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship, yet he had none – his traitor friends had proven that point.

He broke his line of thoughts and brought his gaze back at the monitor, his mind telling him not to believe and to believe his secretary at the same time. He knew that it wasn’t enough proof that she had took a picture from the picture frame on his desk too. Yesterday, he had happened to open his desk’s drawer and saw that picture frame. He remembered how he grazed his fingertips on the frame then brought the frame on his desk, facing down.

He remembered how he left the office then.

The morning after, he entered his office with her secretary inside, wiping his desk. He remembered how she looked, her eyes glinting as if she was a deer caught in the headlights, yet her hands held a handkerchief that she apparently used to wipe his desk clean.

He knew better then, and he knew that she had done something she probably didn’t want anyone to know, but instead of suspecting her of any mischief, he simply waved the topic off and proceeded to work, as he believed that it was probably nothing major as she had done her job pretty well the past few days.

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