[Year 23]

“Miss Lee, could you come in for a moment?”

I didn't wait to hear acknowledgment and quickly turned off the intercom. Within seconds, the sound of the door to my office clacked open, and my ears unconsciously waited to hear the usual teeter-totter of my secretary’s heels. So when an unfamiliar sound of a shuffle accompanied the familiar sound of a totter, I immediately knew something was off. My head snapped upwards, and–

"I thought I asked for– AHHHHH!"

An awkward pause. A gulp of the saliva that’d pooled in my mouth. A blink of eyes. Then–

“A hey, never thought I’d see you here is something that I had expected to hear,” A ziploc bag of, eh sliced apples, made its way onto my desk. “I definitely did not expect a shriek.”

“Well–”

“I suppose, in your defense?” A pair of fingers came up into the air and quoted.

The corners of my lips twitched, and I let them tug downwards a little. “Yes, in my defense, I hadn’t expected to see you either.”

A soft, awkward laugh. “I… was in the vicinity.”

I cocked up a brow and arranged my face into my best expression of utter disbelief. “You sure, Jen?”

The bag of sliced apples vanished from my desk in a split second and I found them cradled in her hands that she placed at her chest. On her face was a scathing expression and I resisted snickering, disguising it as a cough instead when it pooled within my mouth. “Fine, since you question my reason for being here, I’m questioning your need for your daily servings of fruit.”

“Kyungsoo will slice some for me later in the evening anyway,” I jokingly retorted, noticing her narrowing eyes and darkening face but I carried on because teasing her might just be my favourite pastime (okay, it actually is). “So your services aren’t needed, thank you very much.”

“Fine,” She snapped. “Then don’t bother calling me over the intercom if you need your secretary because,” A frightening smirk crept onto her face and for a moment, I felt fear. Fear.

“I’ve told Miss Lee to take the day off.”

“Jen, could you please make a cup of tea for me?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“N. O. No.”

“Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

“I thought you said that you didn’t need my services, Mr Wu.”

“... I…”

“Carry on with your work, sir.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face and inwardly lamented the loss of my capable secretary. Miss Lee (the original secretary that had already been serving the previous manager when I entered the company) was old, kind of elderly even, but she was capable. Very capable.

She took initiative to brew cups of tea and sometimes coffee for me; she was proactive in offering her opinions for the projects that my superior throws at me, and mind you, her opinions are usually right on point and most definitely helpful. Madam Lee, which I sometimes call to (then I’d get my ear lightly pinched in playful retort), is nothing short of amazing and I’m really honoured to be working with her.

My predicament right now, though, is everything short of amazing.

The current Miss Lee is ignoring me. She doesn’t pick up my intercom calls, doesn’t pick up the calls from my own personal phone, and she doesn’t even bother asking me if I need some pick-me-ups because really, I practically live on tea during working hours. So, I really need some tea.

I hesitantly hovered my finger above the intercom button and swallowed. The fear from the previous intercom calls where I failed to get my wanted cups of tea and basically any form of help from the psh, secretary flooded me and , at this rate of her climbing over my head, she’s totally going to have my head on a platter and bring it home for the boys to mock at me.

I can’t have that. I’m a manager, her ing manager at the moment even though she doesn’t work here at all and I have no idea how she got Miss Lee to leave. (And it doesn’t help that Madam Lee isn’t replying to my spam of SOS texts.) So, right. I should show her who’s the boss. Here I go.

“Miss Lee, could y–” My ears picked up on soft chatter that suspiciously sounded like my “secretary” and a certain subordinate of mine. I immediately shut up and listened to the loudening conversation.

“–ur cup of tea–”

Her cup of tea!? What the hell? Then where’s mine?!

“–anks, Jinyoung-sshi. How much do I owe you?”

Jinyoung? Jinyoung?! I knew it; that son of a–

“–t’s fine. Just take it as a welcome gift from me, even if you’re only here for one day.”

Then I heard a giggle. A. ing. Giggle. Only god knew what that subordinate had done to get such a rare response from that no-nonsense-no-aegyo girl.

And the next thing I knew, I had shoved my mouth at the mouthpiece of the receiver. “Park Jinyoung, if you’re not at your desk in the next three seconds you are fired and I swear, I will intercom your phone and if you’re not there to pick up, you might as well not return to your desk forever.”

Pindrop silence. Then a whispered byejensshibyejinyoungsshi followed by a loud scuffle which I can only imagine to be Jinyoung’s mad dash to his desk. A split second later, a wheezing I’m so sorry Sir crackled from my speaker. I smirked and promptly replied sternly, “As you should be, Jinyoung-sshi. Now get back to work and I expect that report on the recent influx of company funds to be on my desk by the time I leave.”

“... Yes, Mr Wu.”

“Carry on,” I released my finger on the button and leaned back against my chair. The smirk on my face stayed, proudly, even as the door to my office flew open and my secretary stomped in with a scowl of the century etched on her face.

“What is your problem!?” She stuck both her hands on her hips and stood right in front of my desk. I felt her heated glare on me and trailed my eyes upwards until they met with hers. If glares could kill, I’d probably be a gazillion feet beneath the eart