First Hello

Catch Me When I Fall

Taeyeon tried to reach for her phone as the alarm kept ringing over and over again at maximum volume. She finally grabbed her phone from the nightstand and turned the alarm off. She let out a groan for a brief moment before slowly sitting up to prevent herself from falling asleep again. It was five o'clock in the morning, and as usual, after waking up, she would wash up and get ready to face another day of work, work, and more work. Her life was all about working and furthering her career. Her daily routines consisted of waking up at five, getting read for work, leaving the apartment at six, grabbing some breakfast alone along the way, arrive at the office at 08:30, and have a full day of meetings or work on some company strategies. Taeyeons lunch was at twelve, she ate alone while replying to emails from her phone. Then she would continue to work all the way through the day to ten o’clock and leave the office to head home. Taeyeon carried on working at home until midnight before finally crashing on her bed. This cycle was endless for her, every single day except for weekends or holidays. On weekends, she would stay at home all day long, reading books while listening to music and cook herself some meals if she felt hungry. There was nothing special about her life. It was just like the same playlist constantly on repeat.

 

She crawled off her comfy bed and lifelessly walked to the bathroom. After taking a short cold shower, she was finally wide awake. Taeyeon padded to her closet, picking a set of working attire that she had prepared the night before—a sleeveless dark blue shirt, white short pencil skirt and a white fitted blazer. Monday was definitely not Taeyeon's favorite day as she would be locked up in the meeting room all day, thus she always chose to wear bright colors to brighten up the mood. She applied light make up on her face and combed her straight blonde hair. Finally satisfied of her appearance, she smiled widely, well-prepared for another working day. She checked her watch to find out that it was already six and picked up her handbag along with her laptop bag, snatched her car keys and left her apartment, driving straight to her office.

 

It seven o’clock in the morning when Taeyeon parked her car in the parking lot. There was still an hour and a half before the working hour started, so she decided to get coffee. Taeyeon entered the company's lobby and walked into the coffee shop which still had the 'closed’ sign hanging on the door but Tayeon didn't care. She made her way to the counter and ordered a hot cup of Americano with a cheese bagel to go.

 

“As expected from the adorable Senior Manager, Kim Taeyeon! The earliest person in office.” a charming waiter greeted her excitedly as Taeyeon stood near the counter. Taeyeon knew all the staff of the coffee shop since she always had her breakfast here, that was why she didn't even bother with the ‘closed’ sign at the entrance. She knew she was always the first customer.

 

Hi, Chris! Good morning!” Taeyeon replied with a professional smile plastered on her face while making her way to the most secluded table in the coffee shop, her favorite spot. “Could you please make my usual breakfast menu, Chris?” Taeyeon requested.

 

“Sure! Today we have Toraja coffee bean, your favorite. Such great news to start a Monday  morning, right?” Chris said as he prepared Taeyeon’s usual. Taeyeon just smiled and took out her laptop from her bag, she had to add final touches to a meeting project presentation. After a while, Chris brought her order and placed it on the table.

 

“I’ve always been curious. Why are you always the first person to arrive? You’re a boss, your subordinates are supposed to come earlier than you.” Chris questioned. Taeyeon chuckled at the question then paused on what she was doing.

 

“I am not a boss, Chris. I’m still an employee. Having subordinates doesn’t mean I can work less than anybody else. I’m supposed to be the one who works harder. I’m responsible for my team’s performance, and they’re there to support me. I should be thankful and give my best to appreciate their efforts. In addition, my apartment is in a high traffic area. You know how cruel Jakarta’s traffic can be, right?” Taeyeon answered humbly with a hint of mischief.

 

The waiter nodded in agreement. “What a good leader you are! Okay then, I’m not going to interrupt you anymore. Happy working, Miss Manager.” He left Taeyeon alone to flip the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’ and then proceeded to walk back to the counter.

 

It was not a new thing for Taeyeon to get questions about her work life. People always saw her as a workaholic because everytime they would see her, she would be working and putting in her best on every task she was given, which resulted to a fast promotion as a senior manager in a highly reputable multi-national company with the expected high salary. All of this done by the age of 26. Her aim was to be recognised as a successful career woman so people would only be interested in her professional life, not her personal life. She had never felt comfortable when asked about her personal life. Taeyeon had been hiding a secret about her ual preference from everyone around her. She never had any interest in guys once. The reason she was staying in the closet was because the country she lives in, same relationships are not accepted at all. It was regarded as something disgraceful and disgusting. That was why she chose to focus on her career so people would not into her business.

 

She continued to look over her presentation, when she heard footsteps coming towards the coffee shop. She glanced at her watch. It was already half past seven. She found it strange. Usually, she was alone in this coffee shop until 8 o’clock. Who on earth comes this early? she wondered. She looked up to find the the source of the footsteps and was stunned to see a beautiful dark-haired girl walking towards the counter.

 

Taeyeon checked the girl out from head to toe. The girl was not that tall, just a few centimeters taller than her she assumed. She had a really well shaped nose and plumped lips which were covered with red lipstick. Her fair skin combined with her perfect S-line shaped body made the red semi-formal dress look outstanding. Taeyeon did not mean to gawk at the beautiful human being in front of her, but the girl was exactly her type and it was hard to ignore her presence. The girl sat near the counter as she waited for her order. chatting to Chris and Taeyeon couldn’t help but eavesdrop in their conversation. Taeyeon suddenly snapped back to reality and returned her focus back to her work, trying hard not to block out the sound of the girls voice.

 

She nearly managed to retain her focus when she suddenly heard her name being called. She raised her head from the laptop to the voice's owner, Chris, but paused her head’s movement when she caught the girl’s figure near the counter. Taeyeon quickly shifted her gaze to Chris and raised her eyebrows, silently demanding a reason on why she was called.

 

“This girl over here is a new employee! I suppose you girls should get to know each other.” Chris pointed a finger to the girl.

 

Taeyeon followed the direction of Chris's finger and fixed her gaze on the girl. Taeyeon looked at her and automatically plastered her signature professional smile at the girl, giving her a polite nod in the process. The latter replied with a very wide smile that caused her eyes to shape like two crescent moons. Taeyeon was mesmerized by her smile for a while but as always, she managed to stick to her usual professional manner. She decided to give a welcoming message to the girl, “Hi! Welcome to the company.”

 

“Thank you! But I think Chris is  exaggerating a little, I'm not an employee yet. I have an interview here today, I hope your welcoming message is a sign that I will be accepted into this company.” the girl nervously chuckled.

 

“Ah, Chris is definitely the most dramatic person I’ve ever met. So, I'm not surprised. Anyway, good luck with your interview today.” Taeyeon smiled courteously.

 

“You just got a blessing from the most adorable manager in the company! I bet today’s going to be your lucky day!” Chris joked, which resulted in the eruption of the mysterious girl’s laughter.

 

“I hope so.” the girl said as she looked from Chris to Taeyeon and threw another smile at Taeyeon. Little did the girl know that behind Taeyeon's facade, her heart rate was increasing every time a smile appeared on the girl’s face.

 

“You know what, it’s a bit inconvenient for us to have a conversation from different tables. Do you mind if I sit with you?” the girl asked. Taeyeon was hesitant at first since she hadn't finished reviewing her presentation but she remembered that she had checked it twice before sleeping last night, so she assumed that it would be okay to have a short conversation with this pretty girl. She eventually nodded and turned her laptop off.

 

“Please, be my guest.” Taeyeon joked as she put away her laptop. The girl stood up from her table and sauntered over to Taeyeon’s table. Taeyeon couldn't take her eyes away from the girl until she finally sat in front of her and again presenting her with the best eye smile she had ever seen.

 

“I haven’t properly introduced myself, Miss Taeyeon.” the girl opened a conversation as soon as she joined Taeyeon’s table.

 

“Ah, right. But how do you know my name?” Taeyeon raised a brow in confusion. This caused the girl to let out a soft laugh.

 

“Aw, you look so cute, Miss Taeyeon! Chris called out your name just a moment ago and fortunately my ears are still fully functioning so I heard it.”

 

Taeyeon chuckled at her answer. “So, what’s your name, Miss?” Taeyeon asked.

 

“Stephanie Hwang. You can call me Tiff or Tiffany or whatever you like. But don’t you dare to call me Stephen because the last time I checked, I am not a boy.” the girl replied, half joking.

 

“Sure, Miss Tiffany. Are you by any chance half Korean?” Taeyeon aquizzed her, noticing the girl's family name.

 

“Well, my parents are both Korean but I spent my childhood in California and moved to Indonesia at the age of 16. Please do not expect me to talk in Korean because I  at it. I assume you are also Korean, Miss Taeyeon? Your face and name alone can’t cover it enough.” Tiffany wriggled her eyebrows, asking for confirmation.

 

“Correct. Both of my parents are Korean but they have lived in Indonesia even before I was born. They insisted on giving me a Korean name so that I would not forget my roots. But don’t worry I don’t speak much Korean either. In fact, I spent my whole life in Indonesia, so as you might have already noticed, I use Bahasa Indonesia on a daily basis, as it is my mother tongue after all.” Taeyeon explained. Despite the reserved demeanor she showed, deep inside she was beyond happy to have a conversation with the girl, Tiffany.

 

“Hey, hey, hey! Seems like you two are getting along really well.” Chris interrupted. In his hand was Tiffany’s order, both girls were startled by his sudden appearance. Tiffany laughed when she realized they were so into their conversation that they didn’t notice Chris had made his way to their table.

 

“Oh my God! Chris! You surprised me.” Tiffany mischievously whined. Taeyeon absentmindedly smiled when she noticed that Tiffany had this friendly bubbly personality, while she was the total opposite. No matter how much she tried to be humble and affable, people would still see her as a serious and work-oriented robot. Not that she was bothered by the image she made of herself, but sometimes she hoped that she could also show her real self to someone.

 

“Hey, don’t blame me. I am just doing my job young lady. You girls were really into that interesting conversation of yours that you didn’t notice my presence. For your information, this Miss Manager rarely talks that long to a person. What did you do to her, huh?” Chris playfully rolled his eyes at Taeyeon. The latter just smiled at what the waiter did. It was nice to have someone who didn't really care about the title she had, Taeyeon was human after all.

 

“We just found out that we’re both Koreans! Such a pleasant surprise, isn’t it?” Tiffany squealed.

 

“Oh, such good news! I knew it from the first time I saw you, I even greeted Taeyeon in Korean when I first met her but then I facepalmed myself when she answered in Indonesian.” Chris feigned a desperate sigh. Taeyeon smiled widely remembering how red Chris’ face had been when she answered his Korean greeting with Indonesian, while Tiffany cracked up and clapped her hands like a seal.

 

Tiffany tried to stop her laughter when a group of people entered the coffee shop. One of them, a tall girl with tanned skin and long black hair, she glanced at their table and politely nodded. “Good morning, Taeyeon.” the girl respectfully greeted Taeyeon and the rest of the people in the group automatically shifted their attention to Taeyeon and did the same. Taeyeon nodded in response as the group made their way to a table, albeit a bit far from Taeyeons.

 

“Well ladies, I gotta excuse myself now since I have to serve Taeyeon’s team.” Chris excused himself.

 

“Your team?” Tiffany inquired.

 

“Yes.” Taeyeon answered shortly.

 

“You’re their boss?” Tiffany looked at her in awe.

 

“Sort of. I don’t like the term ‘boss’ though.” Taeyeon frowned slightly.

 

“How old are you?”

 

“Twenty-six.”

 

“Okay, wow! First, I thought you were younger than me, looking at your baby face and all, and now… you are already a boss? Who would have thought that you were only 26. I already heard Chris call you ‘Miss Manager’ but I thought it was just a joke. How did you do it?” Tiffany asked Taeyeon, still with the look of amazement on her face.

 

“If you’re asking about how my face still looks like a baby, I honestly have no answer. But for the second question, you might have already heard it thousands of times but yes, it’s all about hard work and a bit of luck.” Taeyeon answered simply.

 

“Why don’t they join our table?” Tiffany found it odd that the group chose to sit a bit far from their boss. Taeyeon slightly smiled but inside, she let out a sigh. It was another consequence of having a professional image, people tend to keep their distance from you.

 

“I usually have breakfast while doing some work-related stuff. I guess most people would find it uncomfortable to sit with someone who is already focusing on their work so early in the morning when they actually want to have a nice conversation to accompany their breakfast.” Taeyeon continued to put on her reserved and professional mask while answering the question. She didn't even let a small sigh out of .

 

“But you stopped working when I joined.” Tiffany said.

 

“Well, I didn’t want to be disrespectful. You asked to join my table and I actually had finished reviewing my work twice last night, so I thought why not let you sit with me and have a nice morning chitchat. But any other time, I would have just drowned myself into my work. I wouldn't have even noticed other people's presence. Thanks to Chris for introducing you to me or I wouldn’t have noticed your presence either.” It was not entirely the truth. The last part was a total lie. It seemed like the universe had forced her to notice Tiffany from the moment the girl stepped into the coffee shop. Even if Chris did not introduce Tiffany to her, Taeyeon would still have noticed the girl. Afterall, she was her type, there was no way Taeyeon could ignore Tiffanys existence.

 

Tiffany nodded in understanding after Taeyeon’s explanation and started to dig into her breakfast. The latter did the same and they let the awkward silence envelope their breakfast time. Taeyeon finished her bagel first and was enjoying her coffee when she noticed Tiffany was looking at her. Taeyeon put down her cup, furrowed her brows in confusion. Tiffany shaked her head and chuckled at Taeyeon’s expression as she wondered to herself how could a manager be so cute? How could this cute girl in front of her lead a team with such a petite figure?

 

In her previous companies, Tiffany always had old wrinkled ladies for a boss, and most of them were already in their late thirties and early forties. While Taeyeon, the girl who sat in front of her was the same age as her. She could only imagine how hard the girl in front of her had worked just by finding out that she was already a manager at such a young age.

 

“Why are you staring at me, Miss Tiffany?” Taeyeon asked.

 

“Call me Tiffany without the 'miss', please? It’s kind of awkward hearing people calling me ‘miss’. I'll call you Taeyeon, without ‘miss’ too, if you don’t mind.” Tiffany requested. Taeyeon smiled as a response.

 

“Okay. So why are you staring at me, Fany?” she repeated the question.

 

“Fany?”

 

“You said that I could call you anything except for Stephen.” Taeyeon replied nonchalantly, which caused Tiffany to chuckle, and for the umpteenth time today, show Taeyeon her beautiful eye smile.

 

“Okay, Fany it is. That’s new for me. People usually call me Tiff. Well, to answer your question, I just wondered, you look so young, cute and small, yet you’re already a manager. I can’t imagine how much effort you’ve been putting in your work. You must’ve been working like there’s no tomorrow.” Tiffany up to her with admiration in her eyes. Taeyeon felt her heart race even faster than before when Tiffany looked deeper into her eyes, but her expression remained calm.

 

“Don’t imagine it then. But for sure, it’s boring.” Taeyeon said with a hint of mischief, with a hope that Tiffany would stop looking at her. Unfortunately, the latter kept looking at her, still with admiration. Taeyeon got afraid that she could no longer hold herself and ruin the façade she has tried so hard to put up if she kept looking into Tiffany’s eyes. Her heart started beating so fast, it felt as if it would jump out of her ribcage at anytime. Unable to stand it anymore, she decided to check her phone for any emails or messages or anything to calm her nerves down. Fortunately when she checked her phone, she saw it was already 08:15. The time it took for her to go to her office took 5 minutes since it was located on the 9th floor, right above the coffee shop. She only needed to take the elevator.

 

“Fany, when does your interview start?” Taeyeon calmly asked as she raised her hand to call Chris and gave him a sign to hand her the bill.

 

“At ten. Wish me luck okay, Miss Manager?” Tiffany teased Taeyeon which was replied with an eye roll.

 

“If I were you, I wouldn’t call her ‘Miss Manager’ She doesn’t really like that nickname. She always cuts down my tip every time I call her that.” Chris suddenly joined the conversation as he handed the bill to Taeyeon. Taeyeon chuckled at his remark while checking the bill and handed some money to Chris. The latter checked the amount of money she gave and smirked.

 

“I bet today is going to be your lucky day, young lady. You got a treat from Taeyeon and I got a satisfying tip. I will pray all day long so you will be accepted.” Chris patted Tiffany’s shoulder and headed back towards the counter.

 

“Wow, thanks for the treat. I honestly didn’t expect that.” Tiffany said as Taeyeon prepared to leave.

 

“It’s okay. I told you that you were my guest today, right? I’m going to leave now and good luck at your interview.” Taeyeon offered her hand to initiate a handshake which Tiffany gladly returned.

 

“Thank you. Hope to see you soon.” Tiffany smiled widely.

 

Taeyeon nodded as she walked to her team’s table to remind them not to be late before making her way out of the coffee shop.

 

 

 

 

 



 

A/N: How was it? How was it? How was it? I am so nervous now that I finally posted it. I hope you enjoy my first chapter. And please give me critics and inputs in the comment box to make me a better writer.

 

TY so much,

Kim SaRa

 

E/N: Hi guys! I'm the editor of this story and I know it took awhile but I really hope you enjoy it! Kim SaRa and I, have put a lot of hard work into this fanfic.

Thanks alot!

Coolzab123

 

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
kimkimsara
The End. For real :) thanks everyone!

Comments

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maemae08 #1
Chapter 3: It is just me? Nick and Tiffany's conversation feels dry to me. Nah~ maybe because I like taeny more😂
Kezziebitcrazy #2
Chapter 41: It takes me 3 day to finished this story. Bye bye to the training and course from my office :’) . But, i can relate this story really. Thank you author
Suhoislife
#3
Chapter 2: The one thing that I really enjoy is that the chapters are easy to read, time passes so fast when I read the chapter.

Taeyeon is really hard working which was proved by her successful presentation. She ended up saving a lot of time for other workers and impressed the right people. She deserves a promotion.

It was a nice touch to make Taeyeon go hard on Tiffany when giving her questions that seemed simple but hard at the same time. It shows that Taeyeon isn’t madly in love with someone she had just met a little while ago. Their relationship progress might not go fast but I would not say that it is very slow. They are getting to know each other at first, letting their feelings grow with time.

Liked that Tiffany was playful with Taeyeon, despite the fact that they had met earlier that day. Maybe it is a little unrealistic but this is a story of imagination, it doesn’t have to be realistic. ^^

It is good that Taeyeon has Chris as kind of her friend. Their relationship status isn’t defined that much but they seem like good friends by how Chris teased Taeyeon.

Sneaky Taeyeon saving Tiffany’s number beforehand.

It was a lucky coincidence that Tiffany got interviewed by Taeyeon. She got to find out more about Tiffany while keeping it professional.

I assume that Tiffany will work in Human resources part? Excuse me if I am wrong.

Taeyeon face palming herself was a good detail. It added more to her character rather than making her the serious, workaholic prototype.

Overall excellent chapter! Good job!
Suhoislife
#4
Chapter 1: This is very good written, liked how you used words that weren’t used that often, it enhanced the story.
Characters description was very well done, readers could imagine them the way they are in your mind. Especially liked the sentence where you compared Tiffany’s eyes to crescent moons. Not sure if you intended it to be like a metaphor, symbol or just a similarity but it was very well done.

It was good idea to include little descriptions, for example, how workaholic Taeyeon is and how sweet Tiff is. She has good sense of humour and positive attitude, which contradicts Taeyeon’s usual seriousness.

Showing how Taeyeon usually interacts with others was perfect in contrast with how carefree she was with Tiffany.

Liked how you included their nationalities while keeping them Korean but living in Indonesia( your homecountry possibly?)

About the plot- it is simple but interesting and easy to read. Readers got to see Taeyeon’s point of view, find out her inner thoughts and opinion’s.

From the second Tiffany got introduced, it was known that she was special. She is bringing a change to Taeyeon and they had just met.

The meeting at coffee shop was cute, just like a little date.

You did great with leaving readers wanting more as I don’t ship Taeny but I want to read more of your story!

It is really good, liked the chapter.

Hope my review of chapter 1 was helpful.

And please tell me if you want to keep receiving the review in the comments or personally?
Keiko_ney #5
Chapter 41: Finally... thank u for the story author nim
NekoLS #6
Chapter 41: Aaaa such a beautiful ending 😍
Finally taeny could be lovely openly without hidding anymoreeee cuteness overload omomomomo
Spes17
#7
Chapter 10: Im okay Im okay… Im hyperventilating oh my haosjdhdh this chapter is really good but I feel bad for nichkhun
Spes17
#8
Chapter 5: OH MY GAWD TAEYEON FOR REAL WAHHH
Spes17
#9
Chapter 3: Holy shet this will hurt :(
yoolkie
#10
Chapter 41: Finally after 8 years, wow, 8 years?! it's not an easy ride, isn't it? terima kasih untuk menyelesaikan ff yang hangat ini💛 sehat dan bahagia selalu untukmu!