“Kana, I know you’re in there.”

The door sounds like it's about to buckle, but Chanyeol is on a mission.

“I’m going to break this door down if I have to.”

Silence.

“I brought food.”

It's not three seconds later that the door swings wide open and Kana appears. There are sparkles of hunger in her recently-unemployed-devastation eyes and they scan him quickly for signs of supposed food. She makes a horrible face that he thinks is a pout.

“.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes while pushing past her into the apartment. “I almost broke my knuckles.”

She shuts the door and returns to her cocoon blanket in front of the TV. Her best friend surveys the scene with disgust; snacks and takeout boxes cluttered the coffee table and DVDs were out of their boxes, scattered around the TV set. He locates the couch under another giant blanket and sits down cautiously.

From within her cocoon, Kana glares at him exasperatedly. “What do you want?”

“For you to get off your lazy, butthurt and get a job.”

“I am enjoying this thing called freedom to do whatever I want and making my own schedule. I am actually quite productive.” She nods towards her dead laptop on the floor which she flung aside in frustration just a day ago after writing a particularly acidic blog post about her former employer and not being able to find the charger before those last seven minutes counted down.

“Uh huh,” he hums disbelievingly.

“Hey my blog is getting some really good stats right now. I even got two verified followers on Twitter. Do you know how stressful it is to keep up with a strong following, Park Chanlame?” The last fact was not true but it sounded like a good excuse for her antisocial behavior for the past few days.

“Well, just in case you needed some form of sustenance, I pulled a few strings and a friend of a friend can take you as their promotional and technical writer.”

There was no real job market for creative writers at the moment. This was exemplified by Kana’s layoff from the publishing company just last week. The principled writer in her was ready to defend her honor and refuse the idea of stepping down to a technical writer, but one week was enough to break the resolve and ramen tolerance of a just-getting-by writer.

“Well, normally I would not take such offers since technical writing isn’t my style…” she paused for dramatic effect, but Chanyeol just rolled his eyes and pulled out some documents from his bag. “I guess I’ll make an exception, seeing as I do need a change of scene.”

He locates her hand through the cocoon and hands her a job description form and her own resume. “I cleaned up your resume. And Kana, don’t mess up.”

 

♦

 

A few days later, Kana finds herself at a coffee shop just outside of the high rise building she was going to interview at. She's casually an hour early and sitting by herself by the window, casually going over rehearsed interview responses. Rejection from several magazine positions had been casual motivation to take up the offer.

In her nervousness, she drains a scalding hot cup of tea (cheapest item on the menu that would buy her a seat in the shop) in less than twenty minutes. She swirls the cup inconspicuously, hoping the baristas are too busy with rush hour customers to notice that she is overstaying her welcome.

“Is this seat taken?”

Kana nearly jumps out of her seat and stares wide-eyed at the guy standing across from her.

He is devastatingly cute.

She must have stared too long because he clears his throat and asks again. “Um…is someone—”

“No! Go ahead, it’s all yours, sorry!” she buries her face back into her portfolio, flipping through the “Corporate Interview Tips” sheets Chanyeol bestowed upon her. The words weren’t processing because she's too busy sneaking glances at the guy and turning red from being too enthusiastically nice that it bordered on creepy. The suit and tie don’t give away much; his fingers curl around a coffee cup (telltale brown stain on the lid) and he scrolls leisurely through this tablet. He must have felt the multiplicative effect of Kana’s intense gazes because he looks up and smiles at her.

He nods at her portfolio. “Are you going to an interview?”

“Hm? What? Yes, interview! Um…sorry, I’m just nervous.”

Beautiful stranger's chuckle sounds like the tinkle of Christmas bells. “That’s alright. Do you mind me asking what company?”

“The real estate one across the street.”

“You don’t know what it’s called?” he teases.

Kana blushes harder, racking her brains for the name.

He holds up a plastic badge that hangs around his neck; the name ‘Lu Han’ is in thick bold letters. “That’s the one I intern at.”

“Oh really? How do you like it there?”

“It’s interesting. But if you’re not into real estate, then what are you interviewing for?”

“A technical writer position…I’m a writer.”

“That’s great.”

“…yeah.”

“You’re not excited?”

“Honestly? Not really. I worked with a publishing company and writers are axed first when there are budget cuts. My friend Chanyeol’s friend of a friend was looking for a technical writer and he signed me up.”

“So not ideal then?”

“Ideal for the technically unemployed blogger…I mean...yeah...”

Lu Han laughs. “I really should be getting back. Good luck with your interview!”

 

 

 

The minutes pass way too fast and furious for Kana to regain her senses and calm down. It's not long before she's standing in front of a super modern office with next month's bills on her mind. A nervous knock later and she's staring in shock at her interviewer.

Lu Han.

"Hello!" he says cheerily from behind his desk.

"Um. Hi. Lu. Han." she enunciates carefully, double checking his name plate, name tag, ridiculously beautiful face...yep. Lu Han. What the .

“I’m Chanyeol’s friend of a friend.”

“Um, hi, Chanyeol’s friend of a friend.” The interview didn't even start yet but she already embarrassed herself. Who tells anyone that they're an unemployed blogger?!

“Ha ha, just call me oppa.”

“Okay…wait, what.”

“Just kidding, Lu Han is fine.”

“Intern Lu Han…or big boss Lu Han?”

“I like to scope out the new hires a bit before meeting them in a professional setting.”

“Diabolical,” she mutters absentmindedly.

“What was that?”

“Uh, no I’m just embarrassed because now you know I’m a blogger and that I’m kind of desperate for a job, that’s just embarrassing like a red flag for an interview so I’m probably not going to—”

“Actually, based on your resume, you’re more than qualified.”

“Wait, really?”

“And from our interview, I can see that you’ll have a lot of creative input for our promotional material.” He extends a hand and smiles brilliantly. “Welcome to the team, Kana.”

 

 

 

At the bus stop, Kana pulls out her resume and scans it for the first time since she sent it to Chanyeol to be edited months ago.

“Hello?”

“Park ing Chanyeol.”

“My middle name is actually Awesome but I’ll accept your variation seeing as you are unemployed as and probably malnourished. How’d the interview go?”

“What did you do to my resume.”

“I cleaned it up. Oh, just got an email from Kris…congrats, bud!”

“Since when did outright lying on a resume…since when did I win all these awards?! ‘Best Writer of the Year’ for CYP Daily?! That’s not even a real paper! And ‘Most Subscribed Writer’ for PACY Reel Time? The hell is that?”

“They landed you the position didn’t they? They’re all legit dude. Go look them up.”

“Yeah okay well next time before you make up stuff give me a heads up. And…thank you.”

“What was that?”

“THANK YOU.”

 

 

 

On the bus, Kana looks up CYP Daily and PACY Reel Time or more accurately, Chanyeol’s life blog and noob movie reviews blog, respectively.

Kana: Park ing Chanyeol
Yeolie: okay I really can’t be on my phone anymore. Joonmyeon keeps fake smiling at me it’s creepy as HELP
Kana: you sure it’s not your reflection
Yeolie: touché

 

♦

 

She receives her first assignment on her first day; the company was entering the promotional phase for a new charity initiative and they needed material suitable for executives and your everyday citizen. Kana is more cynical than she should have been, considering how they were paying her pretty well to type up stuff like, “The Company appreciates all donations.”

After the marketing team approved of her work, she spends her lunch time making a more accurate one. “The company wants your money,” she types. “Asterisk, this is really a ploy to make the land acquisition and displacement of the old apartment residents look cheery. We also have bloodcurdling coffee in the kitchenette because we want to remind employees that they are beneath good coffee.” Feeling mighty satisfied with herself, she sends the file to Chanyeol.

Yeolie: I see you’re adjusting well
Kana: oh absolutely ^_^

She attaches a picture of her pitiful lunch in her cubicle because none of her office mates had bothered to welcome the new person. The corporate world was a strangely lonely place.

Yeolie: can you stop trying to be antisocial
Kana: I’m not! They’re all so…secretly competitive. I think this girl was going to eat me when I said I was going to work on this project.
Yeolie: how’s Lu Han?
Kana: diabolical
Yeolie: AH HAHAHA yep but he’s a good guy
Kana: how do you know that
Yeolie: well he gave you a job I think that says a lot
Kana: touché

 

 

 

Hours later, Kana finishes the last couple edits on the material. She sends a copy to Lu Han, as requested by the notoriously detail-oriented hover-bot himself.

Seconds later, she realizes she sent the parody file.

Minutes later, after around ten emails with the subject line “RE: RE: I’M SORRY THIS IS THE FINAL VERSION LOOK AT THIS ONE RIGHT HERE”, Lu Han summons her into his office.

She feels the end of the world as she knew it collapsing around her as she sits down across from him. His hand covers his mouth and cheeks while he frowns at whatever is on his screen.

Lu Han takes a deep breath and barely utters, “So…” when Kana decides it's better to fess up.

“I’m sorry, really sorry. These do not reflect my opinions of you or the company, you guys are great, I mean look, charity! I’m just really hung up about losing my last job, which really wasn’t my fault but that’s another story. If you fire me that’s totally understandable but if you look at the actual tenth final version it’s pretty convincing personally speaking—” She is cut off by Lu Han bursting into laughter.

It was an agonizing six seconds (she counted) because she wasn’t sure what he was laughing about.

He finally calms down enough to speak and does so while wiping the edges of his eyes. “That…that was the funniest…thing I’ve read…in a while.”

“Wait what.”

After composing himself, Lu Han folds his hands and takes a long look at her while scrunching his face. Kana leans back in her seat under the intense scrutiny.

“You are fired from your technical and promotional writing position and you are hired for our recently vacated personal assistant spot.”

“Wait what.”

He leans back in his chair and spins side to side thoughtfully, apparently very satisfied with himself. “I just fired my PA. You don’t like writing for us. It’s a win-win situation.”

“But…but I don’t personal assistant or anything like that. I write stories.”

“I don’t executive or anything. I…do other things. But here we are.”

“Can I just quit.”

“Well, my PA salary is double our writer’s salary…”

Well that changes a lot of things. “What do I even do as a PA?”

He smiles winningly and types rapidly onto his computer. “I’ve just sent you all my meetings and appointments and birthday reminders! Happy scheduling!”

“Why did you fire your last PA?”

“She was working for one of our board members.”

“Oh. What if I said I’m a double agent for Chanyeol’s company?”

“We’re real estate. He’s aerospace.”

“Oh…I knew that.”

 

♦

 

Arranging Lu Han’s schedule wasn’t as bad as it seemed at first. The only downside was accompanying him. Lu Han altered between business passive and hyperactive jerk with little warning or time in between them. It was difficult to figure out what kind of a person he was too. All she knew were small facts: he was in the business because of his father, his name meant deer of the dawn, he drank his coffee with too much caramel and sugar, he ate anything, and he was a diehard ManU fan.

Whenever they were in business meetings, he’d keep his lips in a fine line and focus his giant eyes on whoever was speaking. Outside of them, he was always wittily biting with his words, never letting Kana have the final say.

 

 

 

“What do you write?”

“Number one bestsellers, why do you think I’m your PA?”

“You’re selling out?”

It takes Kana a moment to get the joke. Lu Han smiles to himself and it is infuriatingly cute.

 

They also constantly argue about nothing of great importance. After a particularly heated one about whether alpacas could be considered cute or not, Kana threw a low blow.

“Man U .”

“Have you even watched a football game?”

“…no.”

“Well, then seeing as you have no prior knowledge of the Game, we have to rank your authority to speak about it at…negative seventy.”

 

In an attempt to “educate” her about the Game, they watched live streams during car rides.

“I thought soccer was—”

“Football,” he mutters distractedly, eyes trained on the red jerseys.

“Okay, I thought football was feet only. That guy totally used his hands--”

“Goalie.”

“Oh is that why he’s wearing gloves? What about--"

“Stop asking questions!”

Miffed, Kana lets go of her end of the tablet. Lu Han doesn’t notice the extra weight he's holding until the whistle sounds for halftime. He looks up at her with a confused expression. “You missed the play! Do I have to go to the board meeting? I want to watch the second half.”

“No point in watching if I have no idea what’s going on.”

“…”

“…”

“…do you want to watch the second half instead of going to the meeting?”

“We’re almost at the company—”

“Ugh, fine, but if Baekhyun whines about his espresso machine again—”

“—so we can watch in your office.”

“HA!”

 

 

“I like your blog. It’s so…insightful.”

“Oh thanks, I spend a lot of time—HOW DID YOU FIND MY BLOG.”

“It was on your resume.”

 

Kana: Park ing Chanyeol

 

♦

 

“What’s going on after today’s board meeting?” He frowns at a sad scene in the manhwa he's reading on his tablet.

Kana flips through the leather bound schedule book she kept and scans the list. “Lunch with your parents and ugly frowney face.” She knows the emoticon he uses is his arranged-to-be-fiancé, but in her attempt to figure out his complex character better, she probes him by ticking him off.

“Ha ha very funny. We’re going to take a detour before then.”

The detour turns out to be an upscale boutique shop for women.

“Didn’t know you were the romantic type,” Kana comments with mock surprise as he scans the glass display of jewelry.

“Considering how you’re going to play my girlfriend today, I thought I might as well—”

“Wait what no.”

“It’s just lunch. And it’s part of your job description--”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t sign anything that said—”

“It’s a part of your job description to attend events with me where necessary.” He motions for the salesperson to start measuring Kana.

She fidgets and tries to resist. “Events that are business related!”

Lu Han hums and smiles as he points to something in the jewelry display case. “Ugly frowney face is my dad’s business partner’s daughter. My dad owns the company. Besides, my mom will have too much red wine and my dad will be too busy managing the company on his phone. You don’t even have to say anything since your Mandarin skills are…lacking. All you have to do is look the part.”

“Hey my Mandarin skills are fine. And ugly frowney face?”

“She’ll pretend you don’t exist and continue to try to win my heart.”

“Wow chaebol problems…”

 

 

 

Half an hour later, she emerges from the store very much dolled up. She's wearing a flattering dress and soft cardigan. 

"I could totally start a hashtag OOTD..." Kana mutters absentmindedly.

Lu Han looks at her oddly as they ride the elevator up to the restaurant. “Huh, you do look the part.”

“I will take that as a compliment.”

“Except for one…thing…” he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small ring box.

“Oh please don’t propose in the elevator, my dream proposal has always been at—”

“You don’t have any bling,” he finishes as he slips a small ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. She marvels at the design: a cherry blossom with a crystal embedded at its center.

Kana puts her hand up to her face and bats her eyelashes. “Oppa, am I pretty?”

He makes a gagging expression and turns away.

They enter the private dining room and Lu Han introduces her to Mr. and Mrs. Lu, then Naeun as “Kana, my girlfriend.”

His parents do little to hide their shock and displeasure and Kana feels Naeun’s gaze piercing her eyes.

“We weren’t aware that you were dating.” Mrs. Lu drains her wine glass. Lu Han was right, it was his mother’s third glass and his father was busy chatting into his earpiece at the other end of the room.

Lu Han reaches for Kana’s hand and laces their fingers together on the table awkwardly. “I didn’t want to let you know until it was serious.”

“So what do you do, Kana?”

“She’s a writer…with a ton of bestsellers.” Kana feels her face burn.

“Really? I’m quite the reader myself and I haven’t come across your name…” said Naeun. The first thing Kana noticed was that she was beautiful. Like fairy princess cute but also model-like beautiful. She had long wavy hair and pale skin with pink lips. Her aura was strangely intimidating and Kana fought hard not to book it out of there.

“She uses pen names. It’s so cute how she’s too shy to publicize her identity.” His cooing and outright lies were broiling her blood with embarrassment. Two can play at that game.

Mrs. Lu pours another glass of wine. “How did you two meet?”

Lu Han pauses and Kana figures he did not prepare ahead of time for the question. “It was a few months ago. Han gege read my piece and was so enthralled that he became a fan.” Mrs. Lu’s eyes light up a little when she heard Kana’s (in Kana’s opinion) fluent Mandarin.

“Yes, I um, yes.”

“Tell them about our first date, gege~ and that thing you said about my smile.”

“Well it was a romantic walk and dinner at the beach and well when she smiles…sun…shines.”

Kana smiles brightly and gives his hand a squeeze.

 

 

 

“Am I your sunshine, gege~?”

“Stop.”

“Gege, you cave in every time I do aegyo right, right?”

Lu Han rubs his eyes. “Please.”

“Gege~ if I buing buing will you get my novel published?”

He groans and semi-curls into a ball. “You know too much about me.”

Kana stops making puppy-like motions with her hands and laughs. “I don’t even know who you are, Lu Han.”

“Well you know how to annoy me and that says a lot. I don’t know anything about you except you’re annoying, annoyingly efficient, best friends with Chanyeol, and hate the guts out of your old work place.”

“I do not hate the guts of my old work place.”

“Your blog says otherwise.”

“It does not.”

“I believe the pinned post is a dedication to the reasons why it should be burnt down.”

Kana pauses and tries to recall the reader view. “Stop reading my blog, it’s like an invasion of employer-employee privacy.”

“Do you even know privacy laws?”

“I can have my lawyer bend them to my favor.”

“Last time I checked, you can’t afford one.”

“Wow the great Lu Han spends his time watching ManU games and reading my blog, congratulations.”

“I was going to ask why they fired you but I think I’m beginning to figure it out.”

“They didn’t fire me, it was a conflict of interests. They were more concerned with grinding out bestsellers—which usually involved a love story between a supernatural being and some unconventionally-beautiful teenage girl—than having some integrity left. So I quit the only creative writing job I was offered—admittedly during stressful financial times for them—to buy coffee and print emails.”

Kana is a little flustered from recalling the fact that she would probably never get her dream job so she crosses her arms and watches the streets fly by the window. It's childish but she feels justified after being used as a prop for today’s lunch. 

Lu Han doesn't say anything for a few minutes and they sit in a tense silence. Finally, he clears his throat. “I um, I wanted to be a singer.”

“Wait what.”

“I took vocal lessons and sang in a band during school. My parents treated it like a hobby even when I started sending our music videos to entertainment companies. I went to college, they brought up familial responsibilities and filial piety and here I am.”

She isn’t sure what to say so she lets the silence sit for a bit. It was probably the most personal thing he had told her and she could tell he realized it too. “Well, look at us drinking the tears of our broken dreams.”

Lu Han laughed. It was a nice sound.