[CONTENTID1]Chapter 2[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]The mundanity of the office was, once again, suffocating. It was hard to breathe, hard to function, and what's worst it was hard to keep one's eyes open. In that warm, almost humid atmosphere, where the sound of keyboard typing was so lulling, SooBin had found herself slowly, every so slowly, leaning onto her elbow, her eyes fluttering shut. She hated that office, and most of all she hated herself for her fears, she hated her grand-whatever-mother for cursing the family tree. She hated everything. She wanted everything eradicated. "Ah... My period must be approaching..." she muttered, her voice quiet and listless, just as dead as she felt inside.

The muffled clicking of shoes against the beat brown linoleum of the office had brought SooBin back to her right mind, albeit her eyes were still hazy and her mind was swimming in her negativity. The final straw that woke her up was the familiar, nasally voice of the director, sounding as tired as ever, "You're early, Miss Kim. I see you still need a cup of coffee to waken you up? If so, please do go on ahead and make some for yourself and then step into my office for a while. Thanks." And off the man went, his hands clamped behind his back, seemingly to show off his robust frame, or possible to create an illusion that the extra fat was not as much as it really was. Nobody would ask, nobody will care.

A sigh. A lone breath that escaped the young woman's lips was not unnoticed, and JiHye was soon at her side, smirking with her thin lips, her eyes in thin crescents. Her face was shining with oil, or maybe it was sweat. "Another day, another attempt at chatting you up, huh? The director is really a tenacious man, is he not?"

"Please don't even mention it." Was SooBin's evasive reply, the woman clearly not in the mood for any more conversation than what was extremely necessary.

For SooBin's demise, however, JiHye was never the one to let down a pile of gossip. Talking was all the older woman good at, really. "Now, now, now!" she cheered, clapping her hands a couple of times and garnering the attention of a couple of grey faces that were previously typing in their cubicles, not seeing anything but numbers at this stage of their life. "You seem to really hate the idea of him going after you, but think about it..."

"JiHye, no. The reason I do not want to talk about it is because I also don't want to think about it. As much a choice as he has on whom to crush on, I have the same amount of choice. If I do not like him, that means I do not like him. If you claim to be a friend of mine, I would think you would not force me to view him as my future husband." SooBin's voice came out snappy, her eyebrows scrunched, her fists white at her sides. "I don't care if you think I'm being unreasonable, and I'm missing out on opportunity of becoming rich or whatever, but the truth is he's an alcoholic and a cheater. I want a stable future, with a loving lover, not society's trash like him. Now if you'll excuse me." And away she went, her stomach cramping, her eyes seeing her and her mind surrounded with unrelenting anxiety.

She felt bad. JiHye, for all of her gambling and fossilisation, was still quite similar to a child. She talked a lot, and she acted like one. She got hurt easily, as well. SooBin lashing out like that was unfair- it was like releasing all of her problems on an innocent bystander. She felt like she should appologise, but what words to say, when would be the right timing? Those were all questions too difficult for a woman that felt trouble brewing on the horizon.

With a cup of coffee in her hands, she strutted across the director's office, to his old, worn table scattered with papers that will never come to see the light of day. SooBin put the cup on a single place of free space that she could see, exchanging the director's newly brewed coffee with the cup from the day prior, sighing as she noticed drops of dried brown on papers that were yet to be filled in. "Your coffee, director." She spoke, her gaze weary as he looked up at her from his position behind the table.

"I don't remember asking for coffee, SooBin." He pointed out, his eyes glazing over as he reached out towards the cup.

Her smile was stiff when she spoke in a honey-laced voice, "I figured you'd want some, this early in the morning, director."

"Where's yours, then?" he asked, no real curiosity etched into his voice.

"I'm afraid coffee makes me feel all the more tired, rather than the energising effect it advertises." SooBin smiled again, all politeness. "What is it you needed to talk about?"

There was a loud slurp from the male and then a muttered curse as he burned his tongue on the steaming coffee. His voice, therefore, was muffled as he spoke with a hand nearly covering his mouth, "Yes, about that... I presume JiHye informed you of the new recruits, yes?"

"Yes, she mentioned something about them a few days prior."

"Well, lucky you, you're going to be responsible for their induction initiative, SooBin." His voice was non-chalant, as if he did not just make her life a billion times harder by simply voicing out her ever-growing list of responsibilities.

"What?" she asked, evidently confused and for once showing a genuine emotion. "But I'm not a manager. I'm not trained to provide the induction training."

The director, ever the man with a clear plan, pondered about the new piece of information for a while, until he spoke again, "Well, then, consider this to be your official training, or else there really is no use for you in this business."

SooBin's eyes widened with the not-so-subtle threat, heart starting to race as heat travelled to her neck. "Sir, are you threatening me right now?"

"Of course, no," the male spoke, the sip of coffee that he took just before talking spilling down his stubbly chin, "I'm just pointing out the obvious. An employee who cannot provide to the business is nothing but a burden. I need assets, not potential money losses. Training nowadays is expensive, and as a small company, some sacrifices need to be made in order to keep running."

"But I need this job. You cannot fire me on groundless excuses!" For once her voice got louder than normal, her eyes only seeing red. If he decided to fire her then and then, her life motto would be lost, her life purpose, really, would vanish. How was she, then, supposed to provide to her mother?

"Isn't that all the more reason to accept the induction initiative?" the director spoke, glancing at the watch on his wrist. "And besides, the newbies should be outside my door at right about this time. Why don't you go out and greet them, yeah, SooBin? Become a great asset to this company and then you'll become a manager, which will obviously only do good to your wages, as well. Isn't this what you needed?"

Her eyes, once seeing red, now burned with tears of frustration. Why did it seem, at that moment, at that time, that her life was going straight to hell? Her head fell and she bowed her back a little. "Thank you, director. I will prove myself useful to the company." And yet she didn't know why she was going to such great lengths for such a small company that was bound to shut down any time soon.

Was it because it was her own safe, little nest? She pondered over the thought as she made her way out the door.

At the other side of the door, there was a quiet hush as SooBin appeared before the new recruits. A lot were older men and women, most likely in their forties and fifties, though there were a couple of people in their late twenties to early thirties, as well. With the young faces, it was quite hard to suppress her surprise- the company was mostly employing older people, as youths were striving for bigger places of employment, with a couple exceptions such as herself.

The numbers above their heads were all moderately small, as well, not one going over the limit of five. She sighed with relief, the new piece of information making the smile on her face tad bit more real. "Good morning, my name is Kim SooBin and I will be responsible for your induction starting today." She spoke, bowing a little to the new personnel. Hearing a couple of displeased grunts did not phase her in the least, as she expected those from the moment SooBin realised that most of the new recruits are quite older than herself.

And yet with that same faked smile upon her face, she proceeded to talk the new staff through their company's working culture and safety instructions, slipping in a couple of office `jokes` and the like that she had heard from JiHye.

Speaking of the woman, Song JiHye was sitting in her cubicle, peering over the division and smirking deviously, her eyes shining as she wiggled her eyebrows and mouthed `I knew this would happen`. An even more stiff smile appeared on SooBin's face, borderline sarcastic this time, as she glared at the older woman. No words needed to be mouthed to get her point across. However, though there was no sign of relief on SooBin's face, she did sigh internally, happy that JiHye seemed the same even through all of SooBin's anger.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, JiHye stood up and with a surprising amount of swagger made her way to the new group, smiling with all innocence as she leaned down to whisper into SooBin's ear, "The handsome person I mentioned prior isn't here, yet?"

With a pointed sigh, SooBin ignored the comment wielding a mastered roll of her eyes. "This is JiHye, and she will be the person whom you can address in the happening of my absence. Her cubicle is right next to mine, so she won't be hard to find." This time, the smile that graced SooBin's face was vicious, clearly with the intent of getting back at JiHyo for all the trouble she had caused, and also the trouble of stacks of papers that she never helped to sort out. It was childish, yes, but none the less very much effective as SooBin noticed JiHye's mouth twitch with disbelief. "Would you like to properly introduce yourself, JiHye?"

JiHye, to her credit, laughed lightly, tapping SooBin's shoulder with a promise to get her back for the betrayal.

The older woman began her introduction when SooBin's heart hummed with anxiety once again. Then there was the sound of shuffling feet on the linoleum. And then there was a handsome, young face appearing just above the heads of the older recruits.

JiHye's voice fell silent, her lips parted as if she was starstruck. In comparison, SooBin's eyes narrowed as she observed the features of the male, not daring to lift her eyes above his head at the bad feeling that reeled in waves from him.

His hair was black, albeit some brown strands were shining through as the sun shined on him. They were styled at 3/4, or more known as the comma parting, though because of t