It was a little before 8am, the sky just turning into a light blue colour. Wendy felt energised by the blue skies, knowing that today would be a good day. Although her heart was trembling with nervousness, the excitement still consumed her wholesomely.

The first thing she noticed as she stepped into Velvet & Co was the lack of people. Like yesterday, they weren’t too many staffs but she should have seen it coming for she was already briefed by Mr. Jinyoung. It was still a little weird for her to be addressing her superiors on a first name basis.

When she walked further in, she saw Seulgi already at the receptionist counter, and the girl waved her a good morning.

“Wendy!” Seulgi’s smiles lightened the whole room. “You’re here!”

“Yeah.” She grinned back. “I start working today.”

“I’ve heard.” The former nodded her head enthusiastically. “You should head on to Mr. Tuan’s office first. He’ll be in later, I think.”

“O-Oh. Am I allowed to enter his office? I mean, I can wait if he’s not here…”

Seulgi shook her head at that sentence. She shuddered at what kind of insults or lectures she’d get from the man if she did not show the new employee to his office immediately.

“I don’t think he’d like that.” Seulgi frowned deeply. “Anyway, just take a seat in his office. It’s the one right beside Mr. Park’s. It’s the last room there.”

“Then I’ll get going!” Wendy hurried.

It seemed as though her new boss would be a little difficult to understand and she admitted that it fazed her for a little while.

“Remember not to touch anything in the office though!” Seulgi warned her.

“Yeah, I won’t!”

“Oh, and Wendy?” She called the girl again. “Good luck!”

“Thanks Seulgi!”

The girl took the same stairs to head to the second floor, and she passed by Mr. Jinyoung’s office in a flash. She noticed the lights were already on and wondered if the man was already in. When her eyes finally saw the last room, she gulped a little and pushed the door open.

The room was still pitch black and Wendy found herself scrambling for the switches. When she finally found it, the lights came on and she noted that Mr. Tuan’s office was really neat as well. A leather black sofa was placed at the corner of the room and a coffee table lay before it. On the other side of the room were stacks of files, but they were placed neatly inside the black coloured shelves.

Right in the middle was presumably his desk. Like the lack of colours in the room, both his desk and the accompanying chairs were black too. Wendy took a seat on the opposite side of the desk, and she placed her bag on the floor.

Contrary to Seulgi’s words, there were no objects to be touched at all.

The room was practically bare. Her ears quickly got accustomed to the ticking of the wall clock – black, of course – and she found herself counting down the seconds.

She counted and counted, but time continued passing by.

When she had checked the time again, it was already half past 8 in the morning.

He’s late.

As if on cue, the doors opened and Wendy scrambled to get up. She straightened out her wine coloured skirt, and clasped both her hands together at her front.

Standing before her was a very handsome young man.

Coupled with his good looks was a very luxurious looking suit cut to the man’s precision. He wore a black coloured dressed shirt as well (by now it had to be his favourite colour), though the midnight blue tie seemed to really bring out his elegance.

His pants were tapered to fit him well, and were those the newest Armani shoes he had on him?

When she had finally got a grip on herself, she was faced with his dark eyes piercing straight through her. Wendy tensed, and she noted that his eyebrows were furrowed together; as though he was disapproving of her. His eyes roamed her figure thoroughly, assessing every nook and cranny of her being. Unlike Yugyeom, she knew that the man before her was definitely not checking her out. His eyes were in fact scrutinising every single bit and detail she had bared before him.

In fact, it was to a point where Wendy felt that she was just a mannequin in front of such a refined person. No, that wasn’t right.

This man was not only refined, but he had an air of elegance within him too. He was luxurious, posh and all the good things that come with it.

And he was very, very beautiful too.

No words were worthy of him; his presence itself had been that ineffable.

Much to her surprise, the man then step out of the room; closing the door before him. Wendy was left standing awkwardly in an empty office, her mind racing to comprehend what had just happened. But there could never be mistaking it; the ineffable man just now was definitely the Mr. Tuan.

--

The doors to Jinyoung’s office slammed open, leaving an angry looking young man by it.

Jinyoung, who had been sorting out his files, stood up in instinct but looked on confusedly when he realised of his new companion.

“Jinyoung.” The man growled. What a way to start the morning. “Who’s that in my office?”

It took him awhile to register the fact that he had been talking about the new girl, Wendy.

“Oh, her.” He plopped right back into his seat. “Your new assistant, of course.”

The man strutted angrily towards him, before slamming both his hands on the desk. Usually, Jinyoung would have been somewhat intimidated, but today he could care less. Obviously, because he had done nothing wrong.

“She’s my new assistant?!” The man hissed. “You can’t be serious!”

“Mark.” Jinyoung uttered coolly. “You asked me to find you a personal assistant, so… I got you a personal assistant. What in the world are you so angry for?”

The man too plopped down on the chair opposite his, running his hands through his hair while he was at it. His hair that had been neatly combed a moment ago was now messy and his bangs were now hanging over his right eye instead.

“She’s a girl.” Mark sighed. “You know I asked you to hire a guy.”

The other man bit his lips, wondering how in the world that piece of information could have slipped past him; except it didn’t. He knew of Mark’s specifications but he didn’t think it was such a big deal.

“But she’s officially our employee now.” Jinyoung lied to cover his tracks. “Just work with her, please?”

“You know I can’t work with girls.”

“You can and you did. Seulgi’s a girl.”

“That’s because Seulgi is-” Mark retorted, but something finally sank into him. He then glared towards the man before him. “You….”

Jinyoung definitely didn’t like the look Mark was giving him right now; as though he was throwing daggers right at him.

“I can’t believe this.” Mark raised his hands in defeat. “You hired a girl because you wanted a playmate for Seulgi?!”

Jinyoung gulped.

So much for covering his tracks.

“Look, Mark.” Jinyoung scratched his head sheepishly. “Seulgi’s the only female employee we have right now. Think of how she feels, will you?”

“I think she’s doing fine.” The man huffed. “But of course, you, of all people would care about how she feels.”

“Yes, I do.” He muttered defensively. “It must be difficult for her to work in a male-stench environment. Adding another female employee wouldn’t hurt.”

The man rolled his eyes, tapping his fingers impatiently on the table. What could he say to make the man understand?

“Like I said, I can’t work with girls, Jinyoung.”

“You’ve worked with plenty of other girls before!” Jinyoung cried out. “Fei, Suzy and even Momo! You had no problems with them!”

“They’re different… they’re…” Mark mumbled softly. “They’re not distracting, like her.”

“Geez, Mark.” This time it was his turn to roll his eyes. “You’ve met the girl for one second and you already think she’s a distraction.”

“Jinyoung…”

“And you don’t even know her name, do you?”

Mark scrunched his nose in annoyance. Jinyoung was really starting to get on his nerves.

“Look.” The man was firm in his words. “I just know that she’ll be a huge distraction for me. Get her to be Yugyeom’s assistant or something. Maybe even Jaebum.”

“And hire yet another employee?!” Jinyoung smacked his head in disbelief. “Are you even hearing yourself?”

Okay, maybe he was being a little unreasonable at not wanting to work with the girl.

“Jinyoung.” Mark was losing his composure quick. “She’ll be a huge distraction okay. She already is! I don’t care what her name is!”

“Come on, Mark-”

“Have you seen the way she dresses up herself? In that super tight wine coloured pencil skirt and pink blouse?”

“Erm…”

“And the way her hair falls lusciously over her shoulders?! Like what’s up with that? Aren’t women supposed to tie their hair in corporate settings anyway?”

“Mark…”

“And what’s up with her eyes? Why do they twinkle? Why, in the world, are they twinkling?!”

“Huh.” Jinyoung leaned in, smirking at how the man before him was falling apart. “What’s this? Some cliché love at first sight story?”

“It’s not.” Mark muttered through gritted teeth. “Don’t be stupid.”

“Look, Mark.” Jinyoung laughed before grabbing the guy by his hand and pushing him out of the door. “As a friend, I’m happy that you’ve finally have an interest in someone, but as a stakeholder of this company, I need you to get your next door and start working with the girl.”

“Jinyoung...”

“President, or not, you’re working with her.” He finally forced the man outside, before noticing a bewildered looking Yugyeom standing right outside his office. “Oh, Yugyeom. Good Morning.”

“Morning…”

“I’m going to make your life hell, Jinyoung.” Mark spat before grudgingly making his way into his office. “So, so badly!”

“What’s his problem?” Yugyeom titled his head in confusion.

“Oh yeah!” Jinyoung shouted to the man who was filled with frustration. “Her name’s Wendy, by the way!”

“Oh.” Yugyeom grinned. “He found out, huh?”

“Yeah.” The former smiled in amusement. “Wonder how this will play out, though.”

“Sometimes I forget that you’re our Senior Executive Director, you know that?” The man shook his head bemusedly. “You do have your cunning moments.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m his right hand man and not you.” Jinyoung chuckled in good nature. “So, what are you here for anyway?”

Yugyeom blinked before pointing to the stack of files in his hands.

“Papers.”

--

From inside the room, she could hear the incoherent screams that were happening in real time and Wendy wondered if there was an emergency going on. She contemplated in stepping outside, but before her hands could reach the door knob, the door had swung open; leaving the same young man she saw before but he definitely seemed distressed.

“Erm…”

“Wendy, right?” The mentioned man said gruffly before pointing to the seat that she had been sitting on earlier. “Take a seat.”

“I…”

He didn’t wait for her to sit down as he continued in a deadpan manner, plopping himself into his rightful seat.

“You’ve heard of me from Jinyoung, I supposed.” He raised an eyebrow. “So consider the formalities done. I’m Mr. Tuan and you’ll be my new personal assistant starting from today. Unlike the many others in this building, you will only address me politely and we will not go on a first name basis, is that clear?”

“Y-Yes, Mr. Tuan!”

“Your responsibilities include handling all major and minute details in this office and I will consider you for projects once I see your capabilities.”

“Of course.” Wendy smiled excitedly, finally taking a seat opposite his.

“For now, I’ve already decided of what you can do to… make yourself useful.” Mark smirked. “You’ll start with easy tasks first and if you prove worthy, you can climb your way up.”

Now this felt great in her ears; just as expected of a huge boss like Mr. Tuan.

“Erm, so if I may ask,” Wendy answered a little timidly. “What’s my first task?”

“Your task…” She held her breath in. Was it paperwork? Filings? Photocopying? “Is to make me coffee.”

“H-Huh?”

Mark finally grinned widely, the first smile he had in this grouchy morning.

“I’d liked mine with sugar.” He showed her to the door. “You can ask Seulgi if you’re unsure on anything else.”

And when Mark had slammed the door close in her face, Wendy wondered if excitement was something she should be feeling in the first place.

a/n I hoped this wasn't as cliche as I thought it would be haha. 

we'll probably find out about Jinyoung's & Yugyeom's schemings in the next chapter (;

and of course, more Markdy interactions!