“Hey, new girl.”

Jiwoo stiffened. She squeezed her eyes tight and breathed through the tension that locked her muscles. Then she slowly turned. Tae-hyung was standing behind her, a cigarette between his lips.

“Yes, Mr. Kim?” she asked quietly, gripping the files in her arms tighter.

“What are you doing?”

“Woo-jin gave me the lists of the writers the department is currently handling and the recent reports of book sales and trends. I’m going to read them.”

She couldn’t see his expression because of his hair but she was sure his eyebrows had risen.

“All of them?” he asked with a hint of disbelief.

Jiwoo nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Tae-hyung fell silent and she thought that the inquisition was over. She turned to leave but then he spoke again.

“Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked, taking a drag off his cigarette and blowing out smoke in a long jet.

Jiwoo bit her lip.

What the heck should she tell him?

That he was her first love and he never noticed?

“Be reasonable, man. You’re going to get wet! Get back here!”

Jiwoo couldn’t believe her eyes.

This boy… this boy was deliberately getting himself wet to retrieve a puppy that had fallen down the river.

She leaned over the bridge, holding on to the railing with both hands tight, to get a closer look. The boy already had the water up to his neck and his friend was shouting at him to get back to land. But the boy didn’t listen. He continued on until he caught the drifting puppy and pulled it safely to his arms.

Jiwoo smiled as she watched him return to land with the puppy. His friend kept on scolding him but the boy ignored him as he tried to dry the puppy with his towel. She couldn’t stop staring. It was a rare sight for her to see a high school boy being kind and helpful. All the boys in her school were jerks and loved to so she was struck in awe.  

Two weeks later, when she went to the public library to return some books, Jiwoo saw him again.

And two weeks later, when she realized he was the same boy from the river, she found out that for the first time in her life, she had fallen in love.

“I…” Jiwoo started to answer Tae-hyung but then stopped when she saw Woo-jin stomping towards them with a completely pissed expression on his face.

“Tae-hyung!” he shouted. “How many times do I have to tell you not to smoke inside the office?”

Tae-hyung sighed and turned to the rampaging manager. “You’re not the boss of me,” he muttered.

“The people upstairs will have my neck if you continue with this behavior!”

“Chairman smokes in his office too.”

“He’s the chairman! You’re not! Give me that!” Woo-jin ordered, trying to grab the cigarette from Tae-hyung’s lips.

Tae-hyung dodged his hands. “H-hey!”

Jiwoo breathed a quick sigh of relief when Tae-hyung hurriedly left to get away from Woo-jin and his constant grabbing.She immediately went to her desk and sat down. Her hands were trembling when she placed the files on her table and she clasped them together on her lap.

Don’t remember, she began to pray fervently.

Please don’t remember me.