I walk inside the building and go straight to reception since I haven’t gotten my access card yet. I surrender my I.D, get my pass and immediately go past the turnstile and to the elevator. I look up at my watch and it’s only 7:02am. When I enter the elevator with a few other employees, I take out my planner, which is now temporarily Mr. Oh’s, and look at his schedule for the day. He has a meeting at 11am with a toothpaste company and another one at 3pm, which is with an outside storyboard artist. The elevator has been stopping at so many floors until I was left alone to go the 40th. When I reach the top floor, I head inside the office, greeting and bowing at employees I come across with. Most of them don’t greet me back and some even gave me that don’t talk to me look which intimidates me and sends me a little bit off the edge. I guess people in this office do not like other people very much. It gives me an off feeling. I never thought working here would be like this. I thought people in my campus are worse. Apparently I was wrong about that. Hmm, this is the real world Haerin.

When I reach Aubrey’s desk, I see the desk with loads of tissue wrapped over pretty much everything. There are crumpled papers all over the place, post-its stuck on the computer screen, on the desk and the chair with writings on them, ‘’ ‘Aubrey 2.0’ ‘You’re just an intern’ ‘Go away’ ‘you’ll be fired in no time’ ‘Mr. Oh’s puppet’ ‘Mr. Kai’s toy’ ‘Flirt’ and more. I collect them all before any of the bosses see them. I don’t want anyone getting fired today for this. It feels terrible, yeah. Reading those words, they sting not because it’s the truth but because you’ve only talked to not more than ten people in this office but everyone assumes I’m this. Talk about judgmental and rude. I continue to clean the desk and suddenly, four bodies towered over my area. I look up and see two of the guys from the editing department with Hanseul last night and the blonde and brunette who gave my desk a visit yesterday, too.

“Did you like our surprise?” One of the guys asks but I ignore them. Why did I not see this coming? Are they the usual office antagonists? From yesterday they already did look like they were about to destroy my life here. But there’s no time to mind them. I’m here for work.

“Hanseul was fired last night because of you. He’s a good guy.” The other says and again, I don’t acknowledge their presence, as I am busy fixing the desk.

“Don’t be rude. Look at us when we’re talking to you.” I look up and see the blonde cross her arms as she raises a brow at me.

“Hanseul was fired over one word,” The brunette speaks up.

“If you have a problem with that, maybe I can schedule you a meeting with my boss,” I tell them and they’re shocked to hear me say such. I look at the planner briefly and eye back at them, “He’s available from 12 to 1. Should I set you up?” I ask them nonchalantly.

“Are you being sarcastic now?” The blonde huffs, “Watch yourself. You’re just an intern,”

“And don’t you dare speak with any of the bosses about this or else,” One of the guy threatens.

“Of course I won’t. If I told my boss, who knows what might happen. It would be such a shame to get fired because of immaturity,” I retort and they look at me with their piercing glares. I sit down on my chair and ignore them once again. They finally leave me alone and I take a deep breath. I look at my watch and it’s 7:15am. I already feel like . I take my phone as it vibrates and I see my reminder ‘give Mr. Oh a morning call’ on the screen. So I scroll to his number and tap the call button.

It keeps ringing until he finally picks up.

“What?” I hear his groggy, sleepy voice and I feel this certain churning in my stomach. Mr. Oh’s morning voice is low and husky and I feel chills run through my spine as my face heats up.

“G-good morning, Mr. Oh,” I say with a grin on my face, sounding enthusiastic though I am intimidated as hell with his morning voice and everything, “You have an 11am meeting with Ms. Wyatt and Mr. Lim from the toothpaste company,” I tell him.

He hums a response and I can hear him breathing soundly and that’s when I know he’s back to sleep. I don’t want to wake him up but if he wants to make it here before the meeting he needs to get up now. I clear my throat and speak up, “Mr. Oh, please wake up.”

He just groans as response and I don’t settle for it, “Sir, you need to wake up now. It’s—” I look at my watch and it says 7:18, “Sir, it’s already 7:18am,” I remind him. I hear no response, just breathing.

“Mr. Oh,” I say again, “Please get up now,” But I don’t hear any response or a sound that he has already moved from where he is. I hang up and call him again. It continues to ring until the call eventually breaks off. I call him again, and again, and again, and again. I swear, as responsible as he looks, this dude is one heavy sleeper. Ten minutes have passed. On my fifth call, he picks up.

“Yah!” He exclaims and I frown.

“Sir.” I say monotonously but I can just hear him breathing like he’s back to sleep, “If you hang up—” Mr. Oh hangs up and I frown. I swear. What is wrong with this person?

“Good morning?” I look up and Mr. Kai is already by my desk. I didn’t even notice him come in. He looks at me puzzled, “Was that Sehun just now?” He asks as I nod. Something about hearing Mr. Oh’s name gets me all fuzzy and giggling inside. I don’t know. Sehun isn’t an unusual name; I don’t know why I make such a big deal out of hearing it. I won’t even get a chance to ever call him that.

“Mr. Kai, do you know where Mr. Oh lives?” I ask and he tilts his head, looking at me.

“And you’re asking me this because?”

“Because he set me up on a meeting with him at 8am and it’s almost time but he’s still in bed,” I sigh as Mr. Kai chuckles at me, “He asked for a morning call, too. But he keeps hanging up on me. How bipolar is this person?” I say and immediately regret saying it. My face heats up and I timidly look up at Mr. Kai who’s just laughing at me.

“You’re cute and honest. Why must Sehun have you?” He says and I go redder. Was that a compliment? I have no idea how to feel about that statement. Mr. Kai offers a hand, “Come on, I’ll take you to his place,”

“What?” I ask, looking at his hand. No. Don’t take it Haerin. This will make things worse. You’re not even in good terms with any other employee here. Do not take Mr. Kai’s hand. I repeat—do. not. take. his. hand.

“I want to be the one who drives you there to kick your boss’ out of bed,” He winks and I smile sheepishly at him. I take my bag and planner with me as we head out of the office. He takes my hand and drags me behind him. People are looking and probably thinking how I’m such a flirt or a or whatever they call me. We take the elevator and get to the basement parking.

Mr. Kai’s car is a white Audi and I stand in awe, looking at it. He opens the door for me and I murmur a thank you before getting in. He settles in the driver’s seat and he drives out of the basement parking. I keep calling Mr. Oh but he’s now unreachable. He must have turned off his phone.

“You left early yesterday,” Mr. Kai says as we stop to a red light.

“Yes, sir. I meant to go to your office but you looked busy,” I say sheepishly with a small chuckle.

“I also heard Hanseul got fired.” He adds as I nod. Partly, I am guilty that he really lost his job over calling an intern a . Firing him was just…unnecessary, “I never liked that guy. He’s got too much air in the head,”

“But firing him might have caused a delay on Mr. Oh’s work. I’ve learned only from Mr. Oh yesterday that Hanseul was actually his editor. Why did he have to fire him if Hanseul’s got an important job,” I say and immediately regret that I am yet again running my mouth, “Sorry,” I murmur.

“Don’t be. If anything, you should be able to speak honestly. I don’t think you’re one to be rudely honest, so speaking your mind won’t be such a bad thing,” He says as we go through a green light, “And what happened to Hanseul wasn’t your fault. He’s been acting up for the past months and Sehun was really thinking of firing him anyway. Calling you a was probably the last straw,” I believe what Mr. Kai says but at the same time, he could be saying this because he’s trying to comfort me.

“Is Mr. Oh usually just sudden and subtle about everything?” I ask.

“Hmm…there are times when he is. But he’s just really calm and collected. People in the office would usually think he’s firing people for a sudden reason but the truth is, he’s been watching that person for a long time and has been counting his or her mistakes. Sehun isn’t one to correct you when you screw yourself up. He’ll just stand there in silence waiting for you to turn the situation around, when you do, then you’ll live in the office longer. If you don’t, then you’ll eventually lose your job,” Mr. Kai explains as I nod. Mr. Oh isn’t so bad after all. I’m nervous about the ‘turn the situation around’ thing. It means he won’t be telling me if I’m doing anything wrong but he’ll tell me I’m done when it’s already the las