After she had left the department, Sehun was still quietly chuckling to himself. He scrolled through his emails and noticed he had to call someone back immediately. But he was still laughing too much to even dial the number. He looked at the coffee on his desk and burst into a louder laughter when his best friend walked in. His personal assistant.

"Why are you laughing this crappy Monday morning?" Jongin grabbed a chair and pulled it forward. Sehun cleared his throat, grin still plain as Jongin took a seat.

"Fired another departmental assistant," Sehun replied, composed enough to dial the client's number.

"Well congratulations, that's the fourth one this month. And the month started, what, last week, was it?" Jongin leaned forward as the call connected.

He waited until Sehun had finished his important conversation and exasperated.

"How am I supposed to find someone to do all the other stuff here?" Jongin rolled his eyes.

"Maybe forget about filling the position and tell everyone else to split it. You're all still here because you're good," Sehun tapped away at his keyboard, entering the details of his conversation to save as an electronic file.

"Not very reasonable," Jongin cracked his fingers and groaned. "Do you have to be such a little ?"

Sehun looked up from the screen and the two of them burst into laughter.

"Get the out of my office, idiot," Sehun waved him away, "And don't think about hiring another person. I was being serious," he raised his eyebrows. Jongin rubbed his forehead.

"Got it," he stood up and tucked the chair back into place. "I'll let everyone know. I want a pay rise though," Jongin stood by the door.

"Alright, I'll do a pay rise for the department then," Sehun said. He looked at the coffee and scoffed. "Oh can you bring me a coffee?" he asked just as Jongin opened the door and had stepped out.

"Yeah, got that too," Jongin replied and left.

Sehun stood up and stretched. Mostly, though, he stood to look out the window and watch the girl walk away in shame. He spotted her down below, entering a taxi and watched with satisfaction. Goodbye incompetence he thought.

***

Irene was in the taxi, sobbing her eyes out on the phone to her mother.

"The guy was an ," she wept down the line. The driver looked at her in the rearview mirror for a second and almost jumped at her ugly crying.

"I said calm down Irene! Okay? Take deep breaths," her mother yelled down the line, busy at an industrial laundromat.

"How can I be calm when I just got fired mom?"

"Ah, Irene! You can survive--"

"Mother!" Irene screamed.

"God, what?"

"That stupid boss said I can survive, but, but I want to live, and how can I, how? --when I just got fired? Over coffee--"

"Just go home. I'll be there in a few hours okay? Calm down my baby. Take deep breaths, I'll be home soon."

The line was cut. Irene sobbed into the driver's headrest. He had enough of her over-dramatics.

"Hey," he called out, gently at first. But she was sobbing into his seat, salty tears sliding down his leather.

"Hey lady," he called out louder. Irene looked up at him, a wet mess.

"What do you want?" Irene wiped away her tears and grabbed a tissue from her bag and blew her nose.

The driver was mad.

"That's it, I'm pulling over," he said and turned the car sharply onto a smaller road. He crossed his arms. "You, get out. You don't have to pay. I get you've lost your job, but do you have to be so over-dramatic? You're a beautiful woman and you could easily just marry a chaebol--"

Irene clenched her hands and shrieked in disbelief. She took out her bag and left the car.

"Well screw you, judgemental prick," she stuck her fingers up as he drove away in a rage. Irene watched him leave with guilt. She took out her phone and surveyed the smelly area. She called the person she could rely on: Wendy.

***

Soon enough, she was in Wendy's tiny car, shuttling down the highway singing karaoke, the two of them singing at the top of their voices. Irene was feeling a little better, but still downhearted. And her memory had soaked up Sehun's scent. She desired another whiff to really remember how she wanted her future man to smell but at the same time knew she had to hate it. The man fired her. And here she was, singing along to another Kpop tune, reminiscing his smell.

By the end of the day, she was still upset. Wendy stayed for a while before her mom came back and they watched episodes of their favourite romcom drama and ate a lot of tasty food. Her mom then left her to it after cuddling with her on their sofa. She had spent the rest of her day sobbing every now and again, regretting her decisions and searching for more jobs. The one before had been good but the company went bankrupt.

But then her brother returned home, late that night, slightly tipsy. Irene locked her door and he banged on it for attention. She tightened her grip to her teddy bear at twenty-six, and sobbed until she fell asleep.

***

Sehun finished his day with an anticipated success. He scored another business deal and Jongin drove him home. He was looking forward to going straight to bed, but when he arrived at the doorstep and entered his mansion, his parents were waiting at the grand piano, his father playing whilst his mother leaned against it, listening. The two stopped when they noticed he had appeared.

"Father, mother," Sehun bowed with a warm grin. His mother headed over and embraced him with two kisses on his cheeks.

"I hear you've done so well my boy," she reached up and kissed his forehead.

"Thank you mom," Sehun hugged her back.

"I knew it was right, giving you the company," Sehun's dad interjected.

Sehun could feel they were planning something... sinister.

"Thanks dad," Sehun began to walk away but his dad grabbed his arm.

"Sehun, you know what we're going to talk about, right?"

Sehun turned to face the facts. He gulped and let out a long, withdrawn sigh.

"Marriage?" he said, grimacing at the fatal word.

"Exactly, my boy!" his mother pinched his cheeks. "Your grandfather has talked to the BCS Corporation and we believe you'll make a perfect match to their heir. I think you've met her many times before. Her name's Jennie," she patted his head.

Sehun rolled his eyes. He didn't particularly like the woman. And she was younger than him, at the tender age of twenty-one.

"I'm still young," he tried to argue but his father shook his head and burst into laughter.

"You've taken over one of the many companies we own and you're making quite the profit! You're mature now, Sehun. You cannot argue against me," his father gave the kind of smile Sehun knew he could not fight.

"I want our families to meet this weekend," his mother continued. "So I want you to do your best to make your marriage a success, okay? We'll go public the very weekend after. It should be enough time for you two to get to know each other I'm sure," she patted her back and giggled. "Then after, we can talk grandchildren!"

"Mom!" Sehun held his head in his hands and took a deep breath. His parents were watching him in earnest. He gulped, finding the situation to be incredulous. "Fine," he said. "I'll be there, okay? I'll do my best."

He moved towards the stairs, dumbfounded.

"I'm proud of you, Sehun," his father said. Sehun stuck his thumb up and continued to his bedroom. When he got inside, he soon found out that he couldn't sleep.

Jennie, he thought. Great. He was already considering ways to fight against his traumatic fate...

General note:

I noticed this story was rated M... not sure if I did that by accident but I just thought to let you know I might do rated scenes as the story develops but this is merely a thought.

Hope you've enjoyed-- This is an introducton to the many characters you will meet...

I'm aiming to update daily so subscribe if you liked this :)

Might need a poster, too...

Until tomorrow!

Chullys~ xx