When I was young, my mother told me a story about how a man and a woman loved each other. “It was love at first sight!” my mother had said and yet in the end, despite all their efforts, they did not end up together. All because of the difference in class. She was a wealthy woman in a nice family and he was a peasant. They couldn’t overcome it; not alone, not together...

    I enter the double doors of the grand building of Infinity Nationals.

My name is Elise and I am the CEO of one of the top 5 richest companies in the world. Well...that’s not completely true. I am actually [one of] the CEO’s assistant that deals with anything and everything that he asks of me. Climbing the corporate ladder isn’t easy, but it has it’s ups and downs.

    I take the elevator up to the highest floor, 60, and walk straight through the corridors and enter the small lobby where two long desks, two smaller desks connected side by side, on either side of the double doors and on each desk was a pile of papers to sort and categorize; what is important and what is not.

    There were four assistants; one for each desk. René the negotiator. She handles all things that deals with making business with other businesses. Emily, the secretary. She handles all of the CEO’s appointments and manages his schedule. Isaac, the supervisor. He makes sure everything goes according to plan and if things go wrong, he is the one that fixes it so that it does go right. And then there’s me. I do everything that the other cannot do or do not specialize in. If you think of it in terms of rank, I’m above the others, but below the CEO.

    This morning was an unusual one: The doors to the CEO’s office was wide open and the other three assistants were crowding around his large desk with clipboards in their hands and scribbling words down frantically.

    By no means was I late. I was actually very early, but that didn’t particularly matter at the moment.

    Reading the situation, I set my bag down on my desk, grab a few sheets of paper, a flat surface to write on, a pen and head straight into the CEO’s office without removing my outerwear.

    As I approach, I hear CEO Jihoon give René instructions on setting up the interior design of a building.

    “Elise, you’re here,” Jihoon greets. “You will contact all of the ‘on the edge’ CEOs and invite them to this party.”

    I glance over at Emily who would typically take care of this, confused at why the job was being handed to me, but I didn’t interrupt him and jotted down my job and continued to take notes as Jihoon gave us further instructions.

    Once he was finished, he cleared his throat. “You are dismissed,” he announces. We nod and leave his office and sit at our respective desks.

    It wasn’t too surprising to suddenly have a new priority to work on. Infinity Nationals’ CEO was spontaneous and very intelligent and it isn’t an odd idea that the company is as successful because of him.

    First, I took off my outerwear and immediately settling down in my seat, I pull up the list of potential associates and start contacting them one by one. And that is what the other three did as well. In a huge business like this, we cannot take precious time to stall or ask what was unnecessary. We had to put our trust in each other and to Jihoon, but like I said, this isn’t unexpected.

    The lobby outside of the CEO’s office was filled with our voices speaking into the phone. René was ordering tables, chairs, decorations, ect for the venue that Isaac was reserving while Emily was ordering food for the party and I was contacting the CEOs of other companies that would potentially become partnerships with.

    The list for potential candidates was extremely long. Even as the others stopped to take a break for lunch, I wasn’t even half way finished calling the CEOs on the list.

    In the end, I had to stop for a break. Isaac had finished his errand and was talking up another worker from the company in the break room.

    “Have you finished calling all of the CEOs?” he asks me once I stepped into the room.

    Pouring myself a cup of coffee that was already made, I answer, “I just finished calling half. Some CEOs are very talkative...and annoying.”

    Chuckling, he pours half-and-half to dilute the coffee. “Send me a quarter of the names you have left; I’ll help you.”

    “Really?” I ask, my eyes lighting up like fireworks. “You’re not playing a joke on me like you did with that clown last year, are you?”

    “You’re the only one who didn’t find that funny,” he counters. “All jokes aside, I will help you.”

    “You’re a lifesaver!” I exclaim with glee. If it was one thing I loved, it was having someone relieve me of my work. “I’ll go send you the list now.”

    “Wait, you forgot to add sug--” he says, but I was already out of the break room with my coffee in hand. Returning to my desk, I immediately send half of the contacts that was left to Isaac. I was so happy that I had less work to do that I immediately went back to calling the contacts so that I could finish earlier and get on with other work.

    However, the list was longer than I had expected and it may have had to deal with the talkative CEOs, but I hadn’t finished until I was standing in my kitchen with a glass of wine sitting on the counter as I dialed the last remaining contact on my cellphone.

    “Hello?” a deep voice greets over the phone.

    “Hello, my name is Elise Pane. I’m calling to invite you to the Infinity Nationals’--” I start, but immediately after, the phone disconnected.

    Confused, I redial the number and call again. The same deep voice I heard earlier answers once again. “Hello?”

    “Hi, I’m recalling from before and there may have been something wrong with the connection--” I say, but then the line disconnects once more and I knew that it wasn’t a mistake.

    Scoffing, I set my cell phone down on the kitchen countertop and down the rest of my wine. “What nerve does this CEO have to hang up on me!” I pick up the list of contacts and stare down at the last CEO’s name that I had to call.

    Kim Jongdae.

    …

    “Have you finished the preparations?” Jihoon asks as he steps out of his office. It has been a week since we had started and through teamwork, we got everything prepared before the week’s end. We were sitting at our own desks revising some paperwork that Jihoon would eventually have to approve of.

    “We have,” I answer as the others nod. “Everything is planned as you had wanted and it is scheduled for next month. Here,” I stand and hand him a packet of papers that had all of the information pertaining to the event in a very organized format, “is the event planning. The last page is a list of people divided up to who is going and who might. I threw out the list of who will not.”

    Jihoon nods and takes the packet, looking it over.

    Emily stands and holds up two pictures of tuxedos. “I selected two outfits for you to choose from.” One was a nice black tuxedo with a handsome male model modelling it and the other was a purely white one with another attractive young man; both were handsome, and expensive, tuxedos.

    “A masquerade ball?” Jihoon thinks aloud, not exactly ignoring Emily, but not answering her either. “Don’t you think it’s cliche? And perhaps a little more of a...high school prom idea?”

    “There hasn’t been a major one in the 21st century,” Isaac answers. “And is no high school prom. We’ve made sure that this ball get you your alliances for this company. If not, it will at least make an impression.”

    “I like it,” Jihoon states and looks over at Emily who was still holding up the two photos. “Black and mysterious would suit the occasion, wouldn’t it?”

    “I agree, sir,” Emily answers and scribbles something to note his selection. “Also, I’ve sent you pictures of masks. Tell me your selection by tonight.”

    “Alright. Anything else?”

    “Here,” I say, pointing to a pile of papers, “is everything that needs your signature and your seal.”

    “Wonderful,” he says glumly. He hated paperwork, but that what you get when you’re the CEO of a nationally ranked company.

    …

    It was the evening of the masquerade ball and the four of us assistants were stationed in the four corners of the large ball room. There was 3 floors to the building, all beautifully decorated by René. The building itself was a dark yellow color that was not exactly a pretty sight, but the bright chandeliers made it seem like the building was shining gold.

    The first floor, which is where we were positioned, was the ballroom where people would be dancing and mingling with tables of drinks and snacks to the side.

    The second floor didn’t really have much on it, but it did give us the chance to subtly promote the company with our branded water bottles and tinker toys for people to play with as they chatted and looked below at the beautiful dance floor.

    The third floor was the dining area. Tables among tables were lined up with covered tops and chairs with small cards at each seat with a name on it.

    Everything was prepared for the night’s party.

    It didn’t take long for CEOs, assistants, and company representatives to arrive at the directed time that was stated on the invitation. Soon enough, there were people roaming and mingling on the first two floors of the building--The third didn’t have any entertainment anyway.

    Jihoon made his appearance early in the night, with a striking suit and a black mask that only covered one eye and he had to hold up with a stick, to strike some contracts. All the while, the other assistants and I, wearing different colored masks, were advocating on behalf of Jihoon. It was difficult to make out who was who under the masks, but I could differentiate on who I was speaking to due to me being the whole who called to invite them.

    About two hours since the party started, nearly time for dinner, a tall corporate CEO walks in through the doors, practically strutting with confidence in his extremely fashionable, and expensive, black suit. He had a silver mask that covered the upper half of his face that made him stand out against his suit. I mean, there were a lot of reasons why he would stand out, being late (not even fashionably late) for one, but the mask was just an objective observation.

    Glancing around, I see that René was chatting up a woman that seemed to be an assistant for the company; her dress was no where near the tier of a CEO. I would know. Isaac was speaking to an unmasked woman and Emily was no where to be seen, probably on the floor above.

    I approach the man with a smile and offer him my hand.

    “Welcome to the Infinity Nationals Masquerade Ball,” I greet.

    He takes my hand, flips it over, and kisses the back of my hand. He flashes a charming smile and says, “It’s my pleasure.”

    “Please,” I gesture to the dance floor, “enjoy yourself. Dinner will start soon.”

    “I will, thank you,” he says and moves to speak with a beautiful, and rich looking, woman in gray.

    Isaac walks behind me, running his hand around my waist in a friendly manner and to get my attention. “Preparations for dinner is ready,” he whispers. “We will start in five minutes.”

    I nod and he moves away in search of the other two assistants.

    Looking around, I spot Jihoon on the second floor. We make eye contact and I wave my hand to signal him. He nods with acknowledgment and gestures to the man he was speaking with to head up to the dining area.

    Once the four assistants were notified, we get in position. René and I stood opposite each other in the vast ballroom while Isaac and Emily stood on the second floor. Jihoon stands at the middle on the second floor balcony with a microphone.

    “Good evening all,” Jihoon greets into the microphone. “I am your host, Jihoon of Infinity Nationals. Please make your way to the dining hall on the third floor for dinner. Don’t worry, my assistants are among you so you won’t get lost. But if you do, I will take good care of your company.” There was a sparse moment of laughter, but then Jihoon gestures to the dining hall. “Come. Help yourself.”

    The three other assistants and I lead and guide the guests to the third floor. Once everyone was seated, I stayed for Jihoon’s little speech of greeting and then returned downstairs in case there were any stragglers or even more late arrivers.

    An hour passes and then another and no one appears whether they were entering for the first time or roaming away from the dinner. After a while, I decide that waiting around was not going to be doing much good for the company or myself so I roam towards the snack table. I grab myself a fancy cup and fill it with champagne and take a bite of fancy cheese on top of a cracker.

    There are only a few times in my life where I eat something so small and so expensive and those are the times that this job has it’s up sides.

    “If you’re hungry, you should be attending the dinner,” a voice says behind me. I jump and spin around to find the mysterious man I had met earlier standing there. The late arriver.

    “Oh, I’m not a representative,” I say. “I am--”

    “I know who you are,” he chuckles. “You are the one who greeted me when I entered the building.”

    “I invited many people,” I say. “But yes, I remember you. You’re the late arriver.”

    “Ah, yes. I had some business to attend to,” he scratches his head sheepishly. “But where are my manners?” He extends his one hand and uses his other to lift his silver mask to reveal more of his face. Kim. Jong. Dae. “Kim Jongdae, CEO of Exodus Inc.”

    “Oh! I remember you,” I say with a sly smile. “You hung up on me when I called to invite you.” I lift my own light blue mask and shake his hand.

    “That was you?” he laughs from embarrassment. “Sorry about that. If I had known you were so beautiful, I would have had you call my personal phone instead. I always answer it and never hang up on pretty girls.”

    “Maybe I would if I had it,” I reply in a joking manner.

    But he took it seriously and pulled out a pen and a business card, scribbling his number on the back of it. Considering that he wasn’t at all bad looking and despite my poor first impression of him, I let him continue and hand the card to me.

    “Call me baby,” he says with a smirk.

    “I’ll consider it,” I reply with a playful smile and lower my mask back over my eyes.

    “I’ll be waiting,” he says and bends down, kisses my cheek, and then gives me a wink. He replaces his silver mask over his face and turns, leaving me and returning to the dinner.

    Remember before where I said that not being able to climb the corporate ladder has it’s ups and downs? Well yeah, this was one of those ‘ups’ I was talking about.

    I meet people from all over the world and occasionally, they are super hot. Not only that, but they have money and power. This isn’t a job where I go looking for a suitable partner, but sometimes, it just ends up that way.

    The night ends the next day, 3 am, and I return home to get some rest and return to work the next morning, going about my usual business.

    …

    Two weeks later, I sit in my dining room with a glass of wine and reading through some paper work while folding laundry. I am a woman who multitasks.

    As I fold a sweater, a card falls out. I pick it up and flip it over, reading it. It reads ‘Exodus Inc.’ with a phone number on the back.

    My heart flutters at the memory of that night. His mysterious face under the mask and a parting kiss. Debating on whether or not I was going to dial the number, I decided that there was no harm in it.

    Downing the glass of wine, I grab my phone and dial the number, On the second ring, the doorbell of my house rang.

    On the fourth ring, I opened the door.

    A man in a black suit stood in the doorway, his back to me and a phone pressed to his right ear. He turns just as the other end of the phone call is answered.

    Kim. Jong. Dae.

    Kim Jongdae flashes a dashing smile and says in both physically in front of me and technically through the phone.

    “You took too long to give me a call so I decided I would come to you instead,” he says with a grin. His pearly white teeth and cat-like smile makes my heart skip a beat. “I told you I always answer my phone for pretty girls.”

    That story my mother told me when I was young, I don’t think that I would ever be able to let that person go. I would go through a thousand hells if it meant I could be with them. And for some reason, this arrogant and charming man in front of me seemed to be the one that I’ve fallen in love with. Love at first sight they said. This must be it.