After what had happened last night, sleep couldn’t find Ji Won through the maze of rage and fury she had surrounded herself in. And because of that, she came into work today extra early, dressed in fiery red.  

She wasn’t going to let the matter end like it did last night, not when Je Hoon had left her stranded out in the winter freezer after having completely misunderstood her. And she was most definitely not going to allow Je Hoon to tarnish her long-standing innocence. She hovered around the lobby of the IAI building, impatiently pacing back and forth as she mentally readied herself to ambush her director-turned-enemy.

As Je Hoon sauntered in through the revolving glass door in the entrance way, his hands tucked into the pockets of his dress pants, Ji Won began to immediately stomp over. How dare he judged her dreams as worthless? Who does he even think he is?! What aggravated her even more was the sight of his indifferent expression, which told her that she was the only one who cared.

Despite feeling a tinge of falter upon his appearance, Ji Won continued to charge straight for him. It didn't matter that he was in the company of his colleagues, including Mr. Choi and Ms. Kang. All that mattered was her own mission to clear her name.

"Lee. Je. Hoon." She called out toughly without a concern for formalities, stopping him in his tracks. His attention turned to her, and he eyed her with a look of disdain that seemed to have set them further apart. "Don't even think that I'll let you get away scot-free after what you'd put me through last night." She hissed, raising the brows of passing onlookers.

"What do you want?"

She scoffed, "What do I want? I'll tell you exactly what I want. If there’s hard evidence to support that I’ve applied to Bernard’s company, I’ll leave IAI. If not, I want you to leave IAI!” Mr. Choi and Ms. Kang gawked at Ji Won in unison, her audacity rendering them speechless. When she had processed the words she’d spoken out of vexation, a fleeting look of regret flickered through her face, but she was swift in redeeming her flaming temper. “I-” she cleared before continuing, “I take that back. If not, you just have to apologise to me.”

Je Hoon stabbed some numbers into his phone while he held her gaze in a glaring battle. “Bernard. I don’t care where you are or what you’re doing. Get you arse over to IAI immediately!” 

***

A knock on the door to the meeting room pierced through the icy silence that swirled around Ji Won and Je Hoon, followed by the entrance of Bernard.

Ji Won stood up to formally greet him, "Bernard, thank you for coming on such short notice."

Bernard's facial expression contorted into a mask of concern. "What's going on?"

"We need to clear-"

"Did she or did she not agree to work for you?" Je Hoon immediately interrogated him.

A moment of silence followed as Bernard deliberated his answer. "Well...it depends whether you're speaking in past or future tense." Je Hoon glared up at him, his temper meter ticking into the red zone. 

"Let me ask you again. Last night, when you engaged her, did she ever agree to work for your company?"

"Well...she will in the future. After all, the employee benefits my company offers are far superior to IAI. But...no, she hasn't agreed as of yet. I'm still in the process of trying to convince her. Ji Won, are you certain about this?"

"Bernard, I'm sorry. But like I said, I am adamant about not leaving IAI." She turned to face Je Hoon, "Right Director?"

Je Hoon sighed in defeat, "We'll see about that in the upcoming intership exams." 

***

Now that misunderstandings have been cleared, Ji Won continued on with work like usual, completing daily interpretation exercises and studying for the exams. After she had done this, she made her way over to the director's office to submit a report, but really, she was just using this as an excuse to seek an apology from the director. 

She placed her 5-page report down onto Je Hoon's desk who swivelled his chair around to face her, wearing one of the many variations of his I'm-sick-of-your-face expressions.

"My report, Director." She said, smiling broadly at him.

"Your temper comes and goes like the wind." 

"I'm not the type to hold grudges." 

Je Hoon stared her up and down from his seat, and noticed that she wasn’t in heels today. “You’ve shrunken.”

“Well, due to someone’s pettiness last night, I had to walk all the way home.” She lifted her right foot and pointed to her bloodied heel, hopping up and down to steady her balance.

“You said you don't hold grudges.”

"Whatever," she gloomily said. "You owe me bandages.”

“Burdensome.” He pulled out a leather bound notebook, which he then dropped onto his desk. “I'm offering you my notes, use it to study for the exams.”

Ji Won's face lit up and she brazenly sat onto the side of his desk, her eyes glistening with an I’m-right-you’re-wrong sparkle. She knew it could land her into trouble, but she couldn’t resist the perfect opportunity to play with his manly pride.

“Is this your way of apologising?” She asked, provoking him with a mischievous smirk on her face while fanning herself with his notebook. She tried to read the expression he returned her, treasuring this very moment.

Strangely, Je Hoon found her daring behaviour pleasantly surprising, but he was careful to hide such emotions. He placed his elbows onto his desk and clasped his hands together as he heaved a heavy sigh. He stared up at her, feigning an obvious look of annoyance on his face. When she saw this, she stood straight up with her downcast eyes on the carpet, biting her lips together to cease her smirk.

His jaw tensed.

“I’ll be leaving now,” she said dejectedly, but her cheekiness wouldn’t let her stop there and she added a “your excellency” to hint at his overly authoritarian attitude towards her. As soon as she said this, she swiftly exited his office, faking a limp to rub in the fact that he was responsible for her injuries.

As Je Hoon watched her leave, he couldn’t help but grin. “She’s just an intern Je Hoon.” He whispered to himself when she had disappeared, his grin now gone. “Just an intern…” His full focus was now back on the paperwork in front of him.