Day 2: Name's Kim Taehyung.

“Morning.”

A deep voice sounded behind Irene, and she started a little. She turned to giraffe guy, except he wasn't as tall today. He'd grabbed a chair and settled in behind Irene, peering curiously at her computer screen. He looked even cuter up close. Irene gulped and quickly sipped at her cup of hot water, fighting back a squeal as the water burned her tongue. She uttered a shrill ‘morning’ before turning back to "focus" on her assigned task. He examined her screen for a while longer, then waved a lazy goodbye and headed for his spot. Irene pouted as she stared at his retreating figure. Goal for today: get his name at least, and more information if possible. Irene scribbled on her notepad fervently. It’s 9:30 now… break time is at 12:30… She sighed. The last time she was this determined about a guy was 2 years ago, and the guy was her then-boyfriend, not a random guy she barely knew. But then again Irene was always  a little bit of a social butterfly, and particularly enjoyed surrounding herself with flower boys, who... well. Usually turned out to be gay. She was almost a hundred person positive that this one is straight though. If this one's gay I swear... I'm giving up on all guys. She shut the notepad close and directed her attention at the report.

---

Irene managed to get quite a bit of work done. She scrolled through her progress, satisfied. Then she heard the familiar footsteps. She listened intently: slow, firm, and heavy. Irene didn’t look up when he passed, though she could swear she felt his eyes on her. She heard him laughing in the break room and waited patiently. After a while he passed by her again with his cup full, and Irene let out a puff of air she didn’t know she was holding. She took her empty cup and headed to the break room. Irene jumped when she saw that there was another coworker there. She was too focused on the giraffe guy and forgot about this one. What was she thinking- he couldn't have been talking to the air!

“Morning!” she said politely.

"Morning... ah. Irene."

Irene jumped involuntarily, water spilling from her cup. "How do you know my name?"

"Ah… *yawn* sis Rin told me to take care of you during lunch today… here, tissue... you better wipe that up. Mr. Cha and sis Rin are going to… they have training for their MBA program… so they won’t be here for lunch…"

Irene observed the coworker as he drawled on lazily, desperately fixing his cup of much-needed coffee. He looked younger than the others, probably one of the new recruits that Mr. Cha mentioned on the first day.

"Say, where do you sit? I’ll pick you up when it’s lunch time…?"

Irene led him to her table. "Here. I sit pretty near to the break room!"

“Ah, that’s easy to remember. I’ll manage to find you… remember don’t make it hard for me by running off, I’ll come pick you up…”

“I’ll kill you if you forget like you always do these 'unimportant tasks', okay?” threatened Rin, appearing out of nowhere.

 “Ah… I’ll remember. She’s quiet and actually pleasant unlike you sis Rin. Ahh you look like you’ll swallow me alive… Bye, Irene, I have a big load of things to take care of.”

Irene laughed as she watched Rin threatening to hit his retreating figure with the pile of documents she was carrying. Irene's face soon fell when Rin set the documents on her table.

“A photocopy of all these documents please! Sorry Irene! I’m really busy preparing for training and I’m running a little late! Take your time!”

“Good luck sis Rin!”

Rin flashed Irene a smile and ran towards Mr. Cha’s office. Irene smiled back immediately. She's so cute! She bit back a giggle when heard Rin's distant yell, “hurry up! What are you waiting for! We’re late already!”

---

“Unnie, have you seen Mr. PSY?”

“Ah, he got a call that his kid got sick. He left 10 minutes ago!”

“Ah, thank you… Is there any other working scanner now except this one?”

“No… we just sent our scanners for repair. The new one is the only scanner we have here now!”

Everyone in the company calls the IT guy Mr. Psy because of his resemblance to PSY. His body shape, way of talking, and even his taste of music were similar. Irene sighed. Without Mr. Psy she’d have to figure out how to set up the scanner herself. She thanked unnie Rong and started reading the scanner manual. The instructions manual was written in really small font. Irene put on her glasses grudgingly. She’d always thought she looked super nerdy, if not a little uglier, with glasses on. Besides, they hurt her eyes a little because she hadn’t worn them for so long. She squinted at the little letters and finally figured out how to start up the scanner.

“Mmm. Interesting, didn’t know you wear glasses!”

Irene turned around, then quickly turned back. Giraffe guy was standing very close to her.

“And you... never wore glasses?”

“Glasses aren’t my style.”

Irene chuckled at his odd statement.

“Well, glasses aren’t my style either.”

He nodded, then walked away. Irene felt a little pang of disappointment as their distance widened.

---

The coworker Irene met at the break room showed himself at her table at 12:30 sharp, looking a lot more awake than he was earlier. He offered a warm smile that touched his eyes, and Irene couldn't help but grin back, spirits instantly lifted.

“Ready, little Irene?”

“Yes. No. I mean, wait, what’s your name?”

Irene finally snapped. What’s with all these people knowing my name when I don’t know theirs?

“Heol! I didn’t tell you? My, my. I’m sorry… Name's Kim Taehyung. Call me V.”

Taehyung… Irene thought she’d heard the name somewhere before. V led her to the dining hall. She saw giraffe guy sitting at a table locked in conversation with a few middle-aged coworkers, but V headed straight towards another. Irene grudgingly followed him.

“Okay… guys!" He clapped his hands obnoxiously to catch everyone's attention. "Here’s our new little intern. Irene.”

Irene smiled awkwardly at the table of coworkers who stared at her, bewildered. After a pause that lasted a bit too long, someone finally broke the silence. “Ahh, where are my manners. I’m sorry, we didn’t know that there’d be an intern. My name is Zi Tao. You can call me bro Tao! I’m in the risk department.”

“I’m Jia! Also in the risk department. Call me sis Jia~ Come to me if you have any problems!”

“Nice to meet you, I’m the head of the finance department, call me Mr. Xiu.”

“Sehun. Risk department.”

His curt response was met with a disapproving shake of heads from some at the table. Irene stared at the guy named Sehun in surprise. That flower man from yesterday! Then she quickly snapped back to her senses and introduced herself. “Nice to meet you all! As Taehyung-oppa said, I’m Irene. I hope you’ll take care of me!”

---

Irene walked back to her seat and grabbed her cup, then headed to the break room. She was in a good mood after lunch with her coworkers. They really tried their best to make her feel comfortable, with the exception of Sehun who didn't seem to fit well with the group. He ate silently, and Irene had to mentally restrain herself from ogling at his perfect features. That perfection... even while eating! How does he manage that?! She passed by giraffe guy on her way back to her seat. Somehow she managed to calm down this time. When giraffe guy emerged from the break room, she presented a small wave. Irene had no idea where the courage came from, but she followed him as he trudged back to his workplace. He made a right turn, then another right turn shortly after. Uwah! He sits really close! He set his cup down, sunk into his chair that looked a size too small for him, then turned and smiled at Irene. He grabbed another chair with his long arms and offered it to a surprised Irene.

“No Starbucks today?”

“And you know that how?”

“I came here two weeks before you. I went through the same Mr. Cha and Rin routine you did for the first week…”

A look of pain flashed across his face briefly as he recalled the daily Starbucks and dry talk drill. He stuck out his tongue, eyes twinkling. Irene couldn't help but smile.

“Ah, I don’t know anything about you. What is your name at the very least?”

“Add my kakaotalk?”

“I… Na-”

“You’ll see it once you add me, no?”

“Aish… quite seasoned, aren’t you?”

He fumbled in his pockets for a while before extracting his phone. Irene took note of his wallpaper. It was a cute llama, and Irene smiled again. It didn’t really suit his ‘style’. Her eyes widened as she accepted his friend request.

“Park... Chanyeol?”

“Mmm… call me Chanyeol.”

“That’ll do.”

“Gum?”

“Sure.”

---

“Seulgi-ah! I got his kakaotalk!!!”

“Omo congratulations! Find a picture of him and send it to meeee!”

Irene frowned as she scrolled through his page. No picture, no picture, no picture. Her heart sank like a rock when she reached his earliest post. The most she could find of him was a picture of his back. She screenshotted the picture and sent it to Seulgi with a sigh.

“… ehhhh, that’s it?”

“Just as I thought he’s different from us. I guess when you work you really aren’t into pictures and selfies… His feed is so… professional.”

“Irene hwaiting! I don’t know about his face but his height is totally ok! Keep me posted! And don’t forget to ask his age and whether or not he’s single okay!?”

“For the love of God, I’m not marrying him KkangSeul!! I'm barely even interested. He's just your generic guy who happens to be really tall and kinda cute.”

“Haha, tell me more about your work! What else happened apart from this Chanyeol guy?”

---

Irene began fighting off sleepiness once again when it hit 3 P.M. Two more hours until the day's shift ends. How in the world do these people manage this torture 5 days a week for years? The words on her computer screen already looked senseless to her tired eyes. Finally, it hit 5 P.M., and Irene was all too eager to make it out of this hell hole. She took a guilty sneak peek around, and no one was budging from their spot. Today, it seemed like they had a lot to do. Her dad did warn her about banking industries on Fridays. Unnie Rin's table, which kept a watch over hers, was still empty. Irene took her card container and prepared to head out silently. She looked involuntarily at Chanyeol's table as she passed by, surprised when her eyes actually met his. She waved a goodbye and smiled sympathetically when he turned sadly to his pile of documents. As she pushed through the huge doors at the entrance of the building, she was, for the first time, incredibly glad.