Myungsoo woke up to the sound of the alarm clock. He reached his hand over with his eyes closed and started hitting around his nightstand to stop the obnoxious sound coming from it. “It’s the morning already?” he asked himself when he successfully slammed his palm onto the top of the now silent alarm.

He opened his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw that the time was only 7:00 am. “Why does my clock say that? I remembered setting my clock to go off at 8.” He looked at it, puzzled, but decided to just set the alarm to ring at the right time before going back to bed.

He only got another 5 minutes of shut-eye when the clock suddenly went off again. Myungsoo opened his eyes and looked at the clock in confusion. “Is this thing broken?” he asked himself. He then took the clock and started hitting it with his palm thinking that it would be able to fix the problem—also partly out of irritation and the need to release a bit of anger from morning crankiness. After it turned off, he decided to just go back to bed again, but this time he would set his phone as the alarm instead.

When he was halfway back to dreamland, he felt something on his cheek. Something soft, yet slightly cold could be felt on his right cheek from time to time, kind of like the feeling of someone repeatedly poking him with their finger. Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and opened his eyes. What he saw next was a big pair of dark brown orbs staring back at him. “AH!” he screamed as he scrambled up.

Now widely awake, he sat in bed while holding his blanket to his chest as he stared at the person in front of him. It took a few minutes for him to recognize the person as Sarang, but that didn't mean that he was any less shocked. Sarang stared back, furrowed her eyebrows, and blinked. “Why did you scream?” she asked.

“Y-Yah!” he said when he managed to talk. “H-how did you get in here?”

Sarang pointed at the door with her thumb. “The door wasn’t locked,” she replied.

Myungsoo looked at the door and remembered that he didn’t lock it last night. He then stared blankly into space for awhile before quickly covering his chest. “You didn’t do something to me, did you?!” he said while looking at her with wide eyes.

Sarang furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. “Of course not,” she replied. “Why would you think that I would do something to you?”

“B-because you’re a psycho,” he answered. “Y-you’re a total psycho and I-I don’t trust you.”

fell agape and she looked hurt, yet slightly offended with a sprinkle of irritation on top. “Seriously? You don’t trust me?” she questioned. “You don’t trust your one and only companion that stuck by you and gave you advice whenever you needed it? You don’t trust the little fluffball—which is me by the way—that was always there to comfort you when you were feeling down in the dumps or lonely? You really don’t trust me?”

Myungsoo felt a little overwhelmed all of a sudden after hearing her questions thrown at him. “W-Well… when you put it that way…” It took him a while to recollect his thoughts and be able to reply to her, but time ran out before he could.

“Fine then, I guess that you really don’t trust me,” she said.

He could see the look of hurt on her face as she stood up and slowly started walking towards the door. “W-Wait, where are you going?” he asked.

“Finding a new place to stay,” she replied. “It seems like you don’t trust me staying with you, so I’ll leave. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything, so I’ll go somewhere else.”

She continued walking towards the door of the bedroom and he had a sudden urge to stop her. “W-Wait, no!” he said. He quickly ran over to her and caught her arm. “Don’t leave. You can stay here if you want. I’m not uncomfortable at all. I’m really not.”

“Really?” she asked back, not turning to look at him.

“Yes,” he answered. “I trust you. You’re my cat Sarang after all and you’re still her now, even if you’re not a… cat… anymore. But still, I trust you. You’re still my companion that stuck with me through thick and thin for a year, so I trust you completely.”

“You really… do?”

“Yes, I really do,” he said with a reassuring smile.

He saw her slowly turn around, but instead of the expression of relief and happiness that he was expecting, it looked more mischievous than anything else. “So, since you trust me and all, you have to do everything that I tell you to do,” she said.

He looked confused. “Wait… what?”

“You said that you trust me,” she repeated. “And since you trust me, you shouldn’t ask too many questions about what I tell you to do unless it’s completely necessary. Also, don’t think about taking back what you said since a man—or any person, really—should stick by their words. So don’t back out and remember to trust me completely. It would make this mission easier if you do.”

He stared at her blankly. “Did I… just… get tricked?”

“Nope,” she replied. “I just pretended to be mad to make sure that we still have trust between us and all, since trust is important when it comes to completing this mission.” She then smiled and opened her small bag before taking out a black suit with a white dress shirt inside.

Myungsoo widened his eyes. “Woah…” he said, amazed. “How did you take that suit out of that small bag?”

Sarang looked at her bag before shrugging. “I don’t know. It’s always been like this. I guess it’s magical or something,” she replied.

“Can you take anything else out of there?” He stood closer to her and examined the bag.

“Yup,” she answered. “Everything that I need to be a C.A.I.L is right in here.” She patted her bag. “I can take out almost anything out of it as long as I can return it back inside. Clothes are an exception though, so you can keep them if you want.” She then gave him the suit. “Now go change into this. After that I’ll give you a makeover.”

He took the suit. “Why do I need a makeover?” he asked.

“Because you need one if you want Seolhyun to like you,” she answered.

He looked reluctant. “But I like the way that I look now.”

“Myungsoo,” she said. “Did Seolhyun look at you from head to toe when she said that you weren’t her type?” Myungsoo nodded. “Then that’s why. Seolhyun doesn’t like the way that you look.”

Myungsoo frowned. “Wait, do I look… ugly?”

Sarang shook her head. “No, of course not,” she said. “But at the same time you’re not Seolhyun’s type… or any girl’s type.” She mumbled the last part so that he wouldn’t hear, but he still heard it anyway and ended up looking crestfallen.

“Then I am ugly.” His head sunk and his hair fell in front of his face.

Sarang knocked herself on the head after seeing his depressed state. It was true that he wasn’t the type that most girls would choose to be in a relationship with appearance-wise, but he was still an amazing person. It was a lost that the girls out there wouldn’t pay much attention to him just because his bangs were too long and caused for his eyes to be covered and barely visible, his hair was messy all of the time like a bird’s nest, and his fashion sense goes all out on the comfortable side—completely throwing away trendiness for comfort.

But when it came to personality, he was like a hidden treasure chest that anyone would consider as a jackpot once they uncover all of the sand above it. He was everything that a girl could ask for when it came to personality; kind, caring, humorous (at times), and much more. If she was one of the girls that he met in his everyday life, without any doubt she would have fallen head over heels for him.

She then comfortingly laid both of her hands onto his shoulders. “Myungsoo, you’re not ugly. You’re handsome; you’re very handsome. You can even beat Hyunbin if you wanted to.”

Myungsoo lifted his head to look at her, gaining some hope from what she said. “Really?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, I would even choose you over him.”

He looked skeptical this time. “Really?” he asked again. “You’ll choose me over the million dollar dimple smile, Hyunbin?”

“Sure,” she answered. “You also have a million dollar smile too and not to mention that you also have dimples. You’re almost like a younger version of Hyunbin, but except… not.” He tilted his head from being confused.

“What I mean is that you’re Kim Myungsoo,” she continued. “Since you’re Myungsoo, you have Myungsoo-like charms. And when I’m talking about Myungsoo I mean Kim Myungsoo, not the comedian Park Myungsoo. And when I’m talking about Kim Myungsoo, I mean Kim Myungsoo as in you Kim Myungsoo; not some other person that might have the name Kim Myungsoo also. And when I’m talking about you Kim Myungsoo, I mean-“

“I get it,” he interrupted. “I get what you mean.” As he continued listening to her, it started getting more confusing as she went along. He also had a feeling that if he had not interrupted any sooner, she would most likely have spent another 10 minutes explaining what she meant.

“Oh, then that’s great!” she said cheerfully. “But truthfully, with the whole ‘choosing you over Hyunbin’ thing…”

“I know, I know,” he said. “You were just saying that to make me feel better, but in truth you would choose Hyunbin over me without any hesitation.”

He was quite sure that his answer was right since who in their right mind would ever choose the messy looking him over the astonishingly handsome, TV actor, Hyunbin? And because of that thought, he was completely shocked out of his mind when the girl in front of him actually shook her head to say no, technically denying—and yes, denying—that she would choose the Hyunbin over him.

“Wait, you mean… no?”

“Nope,” she said confidently. “I would still choose you over him.”

His jaw was agape now. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” she answered. She saw the funny expression of his that was caused by the shock factor from her answer, and was able to successfully hold back her laugh even though it was a hard battle to suppress it. “Besides, Hyunbin is out of my reach anyway. So logically, why would I choose Hyunbin, the hallyu star who I can never get close to, over you who I can physically touch just by doing this.”

She reached her hand out and poked the left side of his cheek with her forefinger. He was a little disappointed after hearing her reasoning, so he ended up frowning the most conspicuous frown ever known to mankind.

“Are you disappointed?” she asked when she saw him frowning. “Hey, don’t be sad. At least I chose you over Hyunbin. That’s all that matters, right?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

Sarang, being the person that didn’t like to see other people frowning (especially Myungsoo), decided that it was the right moment to cause some slight mischief to make the clearly disappointed person smile in some way.

“Aw, come on Myungsoo…” She brought her other hand towards his face and lifted both corners of his cheeks up to create a smile. “Turn that frown upside down and even the prawn will leap until the dawn.”

He furrowed his eyebrows at her. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “What prawns? And why would they leap until the dawn?”

She didn’t answer him and started pushing his cheeks together to create a puffer fish look. “Hahaha!” she laughed at the funny sight of his cheeks making his lips stick out in a hilarious way. “You look really ugly right now.”

If Myungsoo could, he would have frowned even more, but he couldn’t. It was physically impossible to frown with Sarang pushing his cheeks together like she was doing at the time.

“Stop,” he said in a firm manner.

She saw his serious expression and knew that the mischief towards him didn’t work, so she slowly brought her hands off of his face. But even though the mischief towards him didn’t work, it didn’t mean that mischief towards herself wouldn’t work—if that even made sense. With that thought in mind, she started making funny faces without a moment of hesitation.

Myungsoo was able to watch her for only 10 seconds before he couldn’t hold it in any longer. His straight face suddenly became scrunched up as laughter burst out of him. He was now laughing like some sort of dying elephant, but who could blame him. Not even Vixx’s Leo would be able to keep a straight face while watching her make a pig nose, puff up her cheeks, cross her eyes, and stick out her lips to create the most perfect expression of a cross between a pig and a fish ever made by a human.

“You look…” He paused for a moment to laugh. “…so ugly right now!”

Sarang stopped making faces and started laughing herself. “Yup, and I’m proud of it,” she said.

The both of them continued laughing while rolling on the floor like maniacs. At this rate, there was now a high chance of getting a complaint from their neighbors—if there wasn’t already considering how loud he yelled into his pillow the night before—but it seemed like neither of them cared or even thought about that since they were too busy laughing their heads off.

Sarang was the first one to stop laughing as she remembered the plan that was briefly forgotten for a moment. “Myungsoo, stop laughing. I still need to give you a makeover and I...” She let out a giggle. Clearly, her laughter had not completely died down, but at least it was better than not being able to talk because of uncontrollable laughter. “…have to show you something important,” she managed to say.

“O-Okay,” he said with a red face from laughing and a few giggles still coming here and there.

She then took out her love planner and showed it to him. “This…” She pointed at the screen. “…is how much Seolhyun is interested in you right now.”

Myungsoo stopped laughing, his face turning grim. The cause of the sudden change in his expression was the long gray bar that had the number -21% above it, in the middle of the screen. “I don’t understand,” he said while looking at it. “Why does it say -21%?”

“It means that she’s not attracted to you even by a little bit,” she answered in a straightforward manner. “And I thought that the lowest you could get was 0%, but I was completely wrong.”

Myungsoo started feeling hopeless. “If she’s that uninterested in me then how am I going to win her heart?”

Sarang instantly raised up 3 fingers. “You can win her heart with 3 steps,” she said. “Step 1: Attraction. Step 2: Infatuation. And step 3: Love.”

Even in the state of hopelessness that he was in, he still listened intently to what she said and it was intent enough for him to make a realization. “Wait a minute, aren’t those 3 steps in—“

“Yup, they are used as acronyms in a C.A.I.L’s name.” She nodded with a smile. “We didn’t get the name for nothing.”

“But can I really win her heart with those 3 steps?” he asked.

Sarang nodded. “Every C.A.I.L knows that they should follow these steps. These 3 steps are infallible,” she answered. “Now go change. The first steps are attraction and infatuation, which are steps one and two. And by the way that it looks in my love planner, we need to work really hard to achieve these two steps.”

“Wait, so we’re doing two steps at once?”

“Yup,” she replied. “Those two steps have to go together since they’re almost the same thing, even though the meaning and feelings that a person has when experiencing them is stronger in one than the other, but they’re somewhat the same since it doesn’t involve real love yet. So this also means that we’re going to spend a lot of time on these 2 steps.”

Myungsoo nodded and went into the bathroom to change. After a few minutes, he came out wearing the suit while trying to tie his necktie. “Do I look okay?” he asked.

Sarang nodded and smiled widely. “You look amazing!” she replied. She excitedly ran over to him and examined him from head to toe. “Wow… I’m quite good at measuring.”

Myungsoo then realized something. “Wait, how did you know the size for my pants?” he asked.

“Like I said, I measured,” she answered.

Myungsoo widened his eyes and backed away. “Did you measure me when I was asleep?!” he yelled as he covered his chest with his hands.

Sarang looked accused. “Of course not, I just found your old, baggy pants and guessed your measurement,” she replied. “I wouldn’t measure you when you’re in an altered state of consciousness. That just makes everything harder and it’s also quite weird.”

Myungsoo slowly uncovered his chest. “So you didn’t measure my lower body?” he asked again. Sarang shook her head. “Then… I’m sorry for accusing you.”

Sarang started smiling again. “It’s okay,” she replied.

Myungsoo blushed when he saw her smile. He then tried to focus on tying his necktie instead. “Are you having trouble?” Sarang asked when she saw him trying to figure out the tie.

“N-no,” he said. “I can tie it.” After a few minutes, he finished tying his necktie, but it was a little messy.

Sarang held back a laugh at his finished product. “Here, let me help…” She went over and started to tie it for him. “I thought that you could actually tie this since you tie bowties all of the time,” she said. “Bowties are more complicated to tie, you know?”

Myungsoo pouted. “It’s my first time tying a necktie like this, so of course it would be messy,” he said. “But if you know that I wear bowties all of the time then why didn’t you give me a bowtie?”

“Because Seolhyun likes normal ties more. I saw it in her profile,” she answered. When she was done, she smiled at the neatly tied tie before looking up at him. “Also, you look pretty good in a normal tie.”

Myungsoo could feel his ears heating up. “T-thanks,” he said.

“No need to thank me. I’m just telling the truth.”

Her continuous smile and blunt statement caused for him to blush even more. “T-Thanks…” he repeated when he didn’t know what to say.

She chuckled a little and said, “Now onto the haircut.”

“H-Haircut?”

She nodded as she pulled out a pair of scissors from her bag. “Yup, haircut,” she said. “By the time that I’m done with your haircut and everything else, I’ll make you look so out of this world handsome that the girls who have never paid attention to you before would regret their dreadful mistake.”

There was a confident grin on her face as she led him into the bathroom and let the hairstyling begin.

---

 

Myungsoo took a deep breath. “Sarang, I’m nervous,” he said.

“Don’t be nervous,” she said in return. “It’ll be fine. Just take deep breaths if you feel like you can’t do it.”

Myungsoo nodded and did as told. After taking deep breaths for a minute or two, he finally had the courage to step into the building. “Let’s go,” he said before walking in.

They both went in and the first thing that they saw were the female employees staring at their direction. “Woah, is he new? He’s really cute.” “I’ve never seen him before. Is he from our department?” “He’s really handsome. I hope that he’s a new intern.”

Sarang heard them talking about him and smiled proudly. *It seems like I did really well on his makeover,* she happily thought.

“Sarang, why are they whispering while looking at me? Am I really that ugly?” he asked worriedly.

Sarang shook her head. “Of course not, they’re doing that because you’re handsome,” she said.

“Really?” he said in shock. “Am I… handsome?”

Sarang nodded. “Yes, you’re really handsome,” she said.

Myungsoo instantly blushed by what she said. “Really?” he asked again.

“Myungsoo, you are. There’s no need to keep asking because you are.” She then went behind him and pushed him towards the card scanner. “Now go, Seolhyun is waiting for you.”

Myungsoo scanned his card and the small gate opened up for him. He then went through, but remembered that Sarang couldn’t go through since she didn’t have a card. “Wait, Sarang…” He turned around, but didn’t see her anywhere. “Sarang?” he called again. He looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Wait, is she going to leave me alone now?” he asked himself. “I can’t face Seolhyun alone in the office. I’m still not prepared yet!” He frantically looked around the area, but he still couldn’t find her. He then started taking in deep breaths.

“Kim Myungsoo, you can do this. You can go without Sarang. Just take in deep breaths,” he said to himself. He took a few minutes before starting towards the elevator. When he pressed the button and waited for the elevator to come, he looked around again to see if he could find her. “But where did she go? She didn’t even say goodbye or anything…”

The elevator finally arrived and Myungsoo got in. The elevator’s door then started to close. “Wait a minute!” someone yelled.

A hand popped out of nowhere and prevented the doors from closing. Before Myungsoo knew it, Sarang walked in and smiled at him. “Phew, made it before it closed,” she said.

Myungsoo looked at her, surprised. “Yah, how did you get through?” he asked. “You can’t get this far into the building without scanning a card like mine.” He then looked at her from head to toe. “And why did you change your outfit?”

“I have my ways,” she said with a mischievous smile. “And as for the latter, do you like it? It doesn’t look out of place or weird or anything, right?”

Myungsoo looked at her outfit again. She was wearing a white blouse tucked in a blue skirt with her hair loose and flowing down her back. He then nodded. “Yeah, you look fine. But why are you asking?”

Sarang smiled. “You’ll find out later,” she replied.

The elevator doors started closing again, and Sarang stood next to him. “So, how do you feel about your new look?” she asked.

“Hmm…” He turned towards the walls of the elevator, which were built in a way that would let anyone be able to view their appearance while waiting for the contraption to take them to their desired floor. He then started examining himself from head-to-toe while turning this way and that, and also throwing in a couple of random poses to see how he looked.

“I look so… different,” he said.

He continued examining himself. His hair was no longer messy and long, finally letting his eyes be able to have a clear view of the world in front of him instead of one that was 90% blocked by his long strands of hair in the past. His suit for once didn’t look like there was a lot of extra space anymore; no more of those pant legs that were wide enough to cover his shoes or the sleeves that he used to be able to hide his whole arms and hands in.

The suit that he was currently wearing was the opposite of that; fitting, not baggy at all, and highlighted his slim finger that used to be hidden by his previous suits. But one thing that was the same about his current suit and his previous suits was that they were both comfortable. He realized that Sarang was not lying to him before about getting him a fashionable yet comfy suit since the suit that she gave him was exactly like what she said it would be.

“Different as in ‘I’m so good looking that I can now plan for world domination and conquer girl’s hearts everywhere’ different?” she said jokingly.

He looked over at her and smiled an amused smile. “Exactly,” he said while pointing a finger at her to indicate that she was right.

Sarang let out a small laugh before looking down at her love planner. Myungsoo saw that her attention was now focused on the magical device—that totally looked like a regular Smartphone—and peeked at her screen curiously.

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“Seolhyun’s profile,” she replied without looking up.

“Ohh…” He nodded in understanding as a twinkle of interest sparkled in his eyes. “Can I perhaps… take a glimpse at it?”

She looked up at him and agreed without hesitating. “Sure,” she said while handing it over to him. Myungsoo eagerly took the device and started skimming through his crush’s profile.

“Woah…” he said. “I didn’t know that her favorite fruit is an orange. I always thought that she liked strawberries.” He then furrowed his eyebrows when he realized what caused his mistake. “Maybe I confused her with you.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you like strawberries,” he replied. “I always fed them to you when you were a cat and you always devoured them happily.”

Sarang nodded in understanding before smiling. “Ohh~” she said, impressed. “It seems like I had a very good owner after all. Feeding me strawberries and remembering that I like them.”

Myungsoo held back a smile at her compliment and could feel a hint of blush creeping up his cheeks. “I-It was nothing,” he said. “I was just doing what any owner would do.”

Sarang nodded again, but kept smiling.

Ding

Myungsoo’s attention switched from Sarang to the elevator doors that opened to the floor that led to the location of his cubicle where he worked. It was also the place where (sometimes most of the time) he was forced to get silly orders for his sunbaes, the usual being coffee and sandwiches with the occasional odd ones—such as buying stockings for one of his female coworkers or buying one of those rolling, laughing dogs that ran on battery for a coworker that, surprisingly, did not have a kid to gift it to.

“Oh, we’re here.” Myungsoo stepped out of the elevator before giving back her love planner.

She took it in her hands and placed it back into her bag. “Alright, now the big moment has come. The moment where you will finally face Seolhyun with your new look.”

Myungsoo took a deep breath and could feel his hands shaking from nervousness. “Right… the moment has come.”

They then walked towards the front door of the office.

“Okay, now all you have to do is to go in there and wow her with your new look,” she said.

“Right… right… I have to wow her with my new look,” he repeated to himself. He took a few minutes as he prepared himself to go in, which contained him checking himself with his camera mirror and asking Sarang if he looked okay—only to cause her to grow in impatience and annoyance as she repeatedly reassured him that he looked fine.

When he thought that he was ready, he hesitantly lifted his hand towards the door knob and placed it there. Sarang looked at him with expectation and told him some encouraging words, but before he could fully turn the door knob and walk into the jungle that is the office, he retreated his hand back and was about to run away. “I can’t! I can’t do this!”

Sarang looked up at him in surprise and fortunately caught his arm before he retreated from the battlefield before the battle even started. “What do you mean you can’t?” she asked. “Seolhyun is waiting for you, so you have to go in there.”

“But she’s definitely not waiting for me,” he muttered as he stood there. He looked like he was about to run at any moment, so she held a firm grip on his arm.

“But she is so trust me, you will be able to mesmerize her once you go in there, but to do that you have to be confident. Confidence is key and it is the key that will help you unlock the chest which is Seolhyun’s heart.”

Myungsoo took a deep breath. “Confidence, right. I have to be confident…” he muttered.

“Yes, my friend/client. Confidence is key, so gather it up and walk in there like a boss!”

He nodded as he inhaled again to calm himself, but the deep breathing calming technique didn’t seem like it was working at the time since negative thoughts just kept popping into his head. “What if she doesn’t like me? What if she hates how I’ve changed? Yesterday she rejected me; why wouldn’t she reject me again today? What if—“

“Myungsoo, stop worrying so much. You’re failing to be confident by doing that,” Sarang said as she rummaged through her bag.

“But how can I not worry. I was rejected yesterday! She clearly doesn’t like me in the way that I like h—”

Sarang rolled her eyes as he kept talking about all of his worries and reasons to worry. It was a good thing that she brought her hand over his mouth to prevent him from talking any longer, as the urge to just power kick him right through the door started growing a little too hard for her to handle.

“Worrywart Kim Myungsoo, don’t you remember that I’m a C.A.I.L?” she asked. “I’m here to make her like you in the way that you like her, so why are you worrying so much?”

Myungsoo stared at her for some time before looking at the ground as she took her hand off from his mouth. “I just… I don’t know. Maybe I’m scared that I would be rejected again. Seolhyun was the first person that I ever confessed to after all.”

Sarang nodded in understanding before holding something up. “But who cares if you got rejected? That doesn’t mean that she will never like you. And this will be the first step in winning her heart.”

She then opened what she was holding in her hand to reveal a white cream inside of it. “Is that a face cream?” Myungsoo asked as Sarang got some of it onto her fingers.

Sarang nodded. “Yup, and this will help you be the confident person that will be liked by Seolhyun,” she answered. She then started applying the cream onto his face, gently at first, but then her method of applying changed as she remembered the lack of confidence that he suffered from. Myungsoo’s eyes were closed; oblivious to the girl practically taking every inch of cream there was onto her fingers and smothering his face with it before looking at her finished product with a smile. “So, how do you feel?”

Myungsoo stood there for a moment. For some reason, he felt… different. Not different as in how heavy his face now felt with the massive amount of facial cream applied onto his face different, but different as in how he felt internally. He wasn’t thinking about the negative consequences anymore, and wasn’t even thinking about Seolhyun possibly not liking him even after doing all of this. But instead, he felt like he could take on the whole world with his head held high, even if the cream felt quite heavy on his face. “I feel…” He smiled a smug smile. “…confident.”

“Of course you feel that way, this cream is supposed to do that,” Sarang replied. She then pointed a finger at him. “Remember, do not wipe the cream off no matter what. It would soon wear away by itself, but wiping it away would only get rid of it sooner.”

Myungsoo tilted his head and had a skeptical look in his eyes. From how the cream felt right now on his face, he wouldn’t be surprised if it could last for a whole year without him washing it off. “But who needs the cream?” Myungsoo asked, an arrogant expression replacing the skeptical one. “I’m handsome; I can do this with or without it.”

Sarang wasn’t even surprised by the sudden arrogance. One of the negative symptoms of applying the cream was arrogance after all, but hey, at least he’s confident. “Alright, but just listen to me. I just want to help you win Seolhyun’s heart,” she said.

Myungsoo smiled at her and patted her head. “Thanks,” he said. He continued to pat her head while staring into her eyes. “You know Sarang… you’re pretty cute. Even cuter than when you were a cat.”

Sarang couldn’t believe what he was saying and started blushing. Even though she was expecting some arrogance coming from him, not at all did she expect him to say something like that. “W-what? I’m always cute whether I’m a cat or a human,” she said to cover her sudden nervousness.

He continued petting her head for some reason, which only made her blush even harder. When she was a cat, he petted her all of the time so she was used to it. But now it felt different. It didn’t feel like he was treating her like his Scottish fold cat Sarang, and his eyes were telling it. She didn’t have the abilities to read people’s eyes, but despite that fact, she still had a feeling that it was… different. She didn’t know why and didn’t know how to comprehend it, but all she knew was that it was just… different.

Myungsoo noticed her blushing which only made him smirk. “Hey, don’t tell me that you’re already falling for me?” he said teasingly. “I know that I’m handsome, but can’t you at least try to refrain from doing that? You’re supposed to help me win another girl’s heart after all.”

Sarang couldn’t believe what he said and scoffed. “Since when did I fall for you?” she said as she crossed her arms, trying to oppress the blood rising up to her face. “Just for your information, I’m not interested in guys that are fashion terrorists and go by the name of Kim Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo only smiled at her response as he petted her again. “My cat Sarang, always as feisty as usual.”

Sarang rolled her eyes. “You are so dead once we get home,” she muttered with gritted teeth.

Myungsoo smirked again. “Oh, so you want to go back to my place where you can have me all to yourself,” he said teasingly. “My dear cat Sarang, you know that you shouldn’t be selfish, right? Don’t you remember that you’re supposed to help me with another girl?”

Sarang let out a sigh of frustration. “Yes, that’s why you should go in there already. We’ve been standing here for too long. I’m pretty sure that you’re late now.”

She then pushed him forward; letting out all her frustration and embarrassment from his teasing into that one push. Myungsoo stumbled forward towards the door before regaining his balance. “Easy there, you don’t have to be that feisty.”

Sarang glared at him when she saw his smirk and waved her hands at him. “Just go.”

Myungsoo nodded and turned towards the door; he had known and lived with Sarang for long enough to know when she was feeling annoyed. Confident or not, he knew that it was best if he didn’t annoy her any further since he knew full well of the consequences from doing so.

He then fixed his suit, inhaled and exhaled once, and smiled before turning the doorknob. As he walked in, he could feel all eyes on him. He glanced around and inwardly smirked. All of the girls had heart shaped eyes, all of the boys looked at him with envy; none of them looked like they had recognized him.

He still remembered to bow 90 degrees and greet all of his sunbaes with a smile even though his now confident self just wanted to walk right past them without a care in the world, but the old worrywart Myungsoo was still in there somewhere and he knew the consequences of doing that.

When he got closer to his cubicle, he saw Seolhyun leisurely eating a bag of chips while working on a project. A small smirk formed on his face as he walked past her and sat down at his cubicle that was across from hers. “Good morning Seolhyun-ssi,” he greeted.

Seolhyun stopped eating and he could see her looking conflicted. She was probably thinking of how she would act after his confession yesterday.

Yup, she definitely doesn’t like me. Why haven’t I noticed that before? Myungsoo thought to himself.

Seolhyun swallowed the chewed up chips down before forcing a smile and looking up. “Good morning Myung—“ She stopped midsentence as she set eyes on the person in front of her, hanging open. She was expecting to see Myungsoo—the one that confessed to her yesterday with his usual long hair and suits that she thought didn’t fit him at all—but instead she saw a stunningly handsome man sitting right in front of her with a smile on his face.

“W-who are you?” she asked, stuttering from looking at the handsome stranger.

Myungsoo had on a surprised expression, more like a fake surprised expression. He had already known beforehand that she wouldn’t recognize him, so he was expecting that kind of question coming from her. “It’s me, Seolhyun-ssi. I’m Myungsoo,” he answered. He then smiled a smile that could make any and every girl swoon over him. “Did you forget about me?”

Seolhyun sat there, stunned for a moment before quickly shaking her head. “N-no, of course not. We’ve been coworkers for quite a long time. Of course I wouldn’t forget about you,” she said.

Even though she said that, she still couldn’t believe that the person sitting in front of her was Myungsoo. This wasn’t the shy Myungsoo that she knew of. This person was handsome; like beyond handsome. He looked like a manga character jumped straight out of a book.

Seolhyun scanned the person in front of her with her eyes. “You changed… a lot,” she finally said.

Myungsoo nodded and smiled. “Yeah, it seems like I did,” he replied.

Seolhyun was a little hesitant on asking, but did so anyway. “Why?” she asked.

Myungsoo continued smiling and stared right into her eyes. “Because I want to win somebody’s heart,” he said, bluntly.

Seolhyun instantly blushed and looked down at her keyboard. Her heart was pounding and all of her blood was rushing up to her cheeks. She didn’t even know why it was happening, but it was completely involuntary and out of her control.

Suddenly, there was a loud clapping noise as someone stood in front of the office. “I have good news for you!” Mr. Kang, the head of their department, said. Mr. Kang smiled at them excitedly. “We have a new coworker that would be working with us from now on.”

“Oh, we already know who he is,” somebody said. She then pointed over to Myungsoo. “It’s him over there, right? And since he’s sitting in Myungsoo’s seat, Myungsoo must have quit or got fired and he’s replacing him.” The woman smiled at herself proudly, thinking that she was smart for making the right conclusion.

Myungsoo looked at the woman in surprise. *Do they really think that I’m a new worker and that I’m replacing myself?* he thought in disbelief. He then saw the woman, who was one of the sunbaes of his that kept giving him orders, wink at him and smile flirtatiously. After seeing that, he quickly looked away and felt a shiver down his spine.

Seeing one of his sunbaes that was usually mean and yelling at him suddenly doing what she did was completely frightening to him. Not even the face cream that made him confident—as long as it was still on his face—was capable of making that freaked out feeling of his to go away. Unfortunately for him, he already took a guess that this would probably keep happening, which only made him want to go back to his old image.

Myungsoo wasn’t the only one surprised as their boss was also wearing a shocked expression on his face. “What? Did Myungsoo quit?!” he asked. He then looked over at Myungsoo, and of course, did not recognize him. “Who are you, and why are you here?”

“It’s me Sajangnim,” Myungsoo replied. “It’s me, Kim Myungsoo.”

Everyone was clearly shocked by what he said, excluding Seolhyun since she found out a moment ago. “Y-you’re… Kim Myungsoo?” his boss asked him while looking at him with his mouth agape.

Myungsoo smiled and gave him a salute. “Yes, it’s me sir, and I’m ready to work,” he replied.

“A-are you sure?” his boss asked again.

Mr. Kang was not only confused by how drastically Myungsoo’s looks and fashion changed, but also the way he acted. The Myungsoo that he and everybody else knew was shy and timid. He would never look at them and smile at them so confidently like he was doing now.

“Yes sir. I’m absolutely sure that I’m Kim Myungsoo,” Myungsoo replied. “I can bring my birth certificate if you want.”

If Mr. Kang wasn’t in his state of shock at that time, he would have definitely scolded anyone who talked to him the way Myungsoo talked at that very moment since he felt like they were not respecting him, but instead he decided to move on this time as everything was still being processed in his mind. “U-um… no, there’s no need,” he said as he turned back to everyone else in the department.

“Um… as I was saying…” He took a glance at Myungsoo, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the unfamiliar person in front of him was actually Myungsoo and not somebody else, before looking away and proceeding. “We do have a new coworker, and she will be working with us from now on.”

“Wait, so it’s a female coworker?” another sunbae of Myungsoo excitedly asked.

Mr. Kang nodded. “Yes, and she is very brilliant. She studied in America in Harvard University before graduating and coming here,” he said proudly, knowing that he now had a worker with such an amazing educational background. He then turned to the door where the new coworker of theirs was standing, patiently waiting to come in.

“Come on in, Choi Sarang-ssi,” Mr. Kang said.

Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows as soon as he heard the name. *Wait a minute, Choi… Sarang?* he thought. *Is it actually who I think it is?*

As if to answer his question, Sarang came skipping in with a bright smile on her face. “Annyeonghaseyo,” she said as she bowed. “My name is Choi Sarang, and I’m your new coworker. Please take care of me~”

Mr. Kang clapped proudly after she greeted herself before turning towards the others again. “Like I said, she is now your coworker, and you’d better take care of her.” He pointed a finger at all of them. “Do not make her run unnecessary errands for you or make her want to quit. She is very important in making our department better, so treat her well and be friendly to her.”

A few people quietly groaned to themselves. They were looking forward to having somebody run errands for them, but unfortunately, it seemed like their new coworker Sarang couldn’t be on the list.

Mr. Kang then turned back towards Sarang. “Do you need a tour of the place or have someone to help you adjust to the new environment?” he asked.

Sarang shook her head. “There’s no need, Sajangnim. I can manage on my own.”

Mr. Kang smiled and pointed at the cubicle next to Myungsoo. “Then from now on, that will be your personal working area. You can decorate it if you want.”

Sarang nodded and returned the smile. “Thank you Sajangnim.”

She bowed before looking up and saw Myungsoo staring at her with his mouth agape. Seeing his reaction, she smiled and gave him a wink. And no, it wasn’t the same type of wink like the one that his sunbae gave to him. It was actually more like a ‘See, I have quite a few tricks up my sleeve’ kind of wink and because of that, Myungsoo did not know if he should worry or be happy that his cat turned love counselor was now working at the same office as him. 

---

 

So I finally finished with chapter 2 after a lot of revising and editing. So now you get to see a little bit more of Myungsoo's and Sarang's personality and the setting of their workplace. I hope that you guys think that Myungsoo and Sarang are likeable since we will see them a lot ( I bet that you guys knew this already though). Also, what do you think about Myungsoo's new look? Was the change that drastic?

Oh, and they finally used their first item! XD I got the face cream idea from "Love Cell," but I changed what it does since in the drama it makes the guy's face stand out or something, but in here it just boosts self-confidence to the max.

Anyway, I hope that you guys like it and are having fun reading so far.^^