//\\

Day 5: Department Change

Irene swiped through the checkpoint, turned the corner and spotted two familiar figures. She cleared a little, then bowed quickly as the two figures turned around.

“Morning! Sunbae.”

Chanyeol chuckled at her formality. “Good timing. I was just discussing company food with Taehyung.”

“He doesn’t want to buy next month’s meal plan....” huffed V incredulously.

Irene cocked her head. “I mean, why would you? The food isn’t that good, and it’s expensive.”

“Isn’t it free for you?” choked V, fighting back a yawn.

“Yes, yes, but that doesn’t make it taste any better,” smiled Irene as she stepped into the elevator. Of course Mr. Cha would make arrangements so that lunch wouldn’t cost 15 dollars for a friend’s daughter… especially food that passed as acceptable as best.

“... So I was thinking, to not buy the food plan and eat out next month,” continued Chanyeol as he reached his long arm around Irene to press the floor, seeing that she was too preoccupied with proving her point. Irene jumped and shifted a little to create some personal space. She had always been claustrophobic, especially with a looming giant like Chanyeol around- she felt a little breathless, whether from the claustrophobia or his closeness, she couldn’t tell. He placed a hand on her shoulder to check if she was alright, and she nodded quickly.

V eyed the two with raised eyebrows, still not completely awake. “Well… outside food will cost you…”

“I can deal with that,” laughed Chanyeol. Irene nodded absentmindedly in agreement as she clicked open an email from Rin. Hmm? Received 20 minutes ago. To her, Chanyeol’s idea sounded reasonable- she’d feel a lot more comfortable paying a price for good food than paying a small price for terrible food. “Hmm? I can show you to some good places to eat around here, if you’re interested too.” Irene nodded again, not looking up, urging the slowly turning email loading button.

“Same… I know some good places too,” V hurriedly added. Irene sighed and pocketed her phone; she didn’t know what she expected knowing the weak signal in the elevator.

The trio entered the office together, all walking mechanically to the water room. Irene stifled a laugh at V, who obviously had trouble controlling just how sleepy he was. Both her and Chanyeol stopped at the door, choosing to let V fix his much needed dose of coffee first. Irene looked into the room curiously when she heard a familiar grunt of recognition. Her eyes were met with Sehun’s: wide open, in sharp contrast to V’s that were almost shut close. He tilted his head towards her, opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, then clamped up  and walked away. Irene was curious but too cautious to call him back- she was in no mood to start anything just yet in the morning. Sehun's intensity needed at least mid-day alertness.

---

“No worries,” soothed Rin. “Go ahead and open up the email, it has the basic function descriptions of all our enterprise departments. You may decide where to go after this, keeping in mind your major concentration.”

Irene nodded, but couldn’t help feeling a pang of disappointment: she knew she couldn’t stay in HR forever, but Rin is literally the best superior she could ask for: kind and encouraging yet straight to the point and constructively criticizing. She settled with the risk department, a description that most directly suited with her current finance major concentration.

Rin approved of her choice with a twinkle in her eyes. “Always striving for the best, huh, Irene? That’s my girl. I’ll organize a meeting after lunch with the Risk department head. Help me sort out these papers for now!”

Irene gladly poured her heart into this last task she would be completing under Rin.

---

Irene has come to expect Chanyeol showing up at her cubicle at 12. She doesn’t even bother moving, just sits impatiently and waits for Chanyeol’s bright face to show up and illuminate her day. She’d thought intently about how she’d break the news to him, gave up, and decided to leave it up to chance. Sure enough, the familiar footsteps sounded.

“I’m joining Unnie Run and the risk department manager after lunch today,” she chirped as soon as his smiling face popped out from behind her cubicle. She’s already fully prepared, facing him as she cocked her head, waiting patiently for his reaction.

She got what she wanted. He raised his eyebrows. “Switching departments already?”

Irene nodded, no longer surprised at how much people knew about her. It seems that Cha Entreprise never took interns before, and she was the first. There’s much discussion and interest in relation to her role. She has long since gotten used to and accepted that.

He frowned and didn’t respond. Risk. That means she’s going to be in the other side of the company.

“Ya Chanyeol! Did I just catch a frown?” His knitted eyebrows reminds her of something… A huge teddy? A grumpy huge teddy bear, she decided. Together they headed to the cafeteria. He suddenly stopped dead and spinned around. Irene, spacing out, smacked straight into his chest. She jumped back and covered her nose immediately, eyeing him with a pout on her face.

“What in the world-”

“You said what department?”

“Ri-risk… is there a problem?”

“Oh, great.” he groaned, then trudged on, leaving a mystified Irene rubbing her nose in daze.

---

Irene observed her new setting silently with interest. The human resource department is closest to the front desk, a mere few meters away from the reception. Then comes the operations department: these two departments have a great reliance on each other in terms of communications on a daily basis. Then further in, somewhere around the center, is the IT department. The end of the huge office is their canteen. Irene passed by numerous important-looking offices and a great handful of little cubicles on her way to lunch, but she’d never been officially introduced to the entreprise past the IT department.

Her new cubicle wasn’t a long way from the lunchroom. Irene had attempted to make conversation with her new boss, that she did, but the man seemed to anticipate her questions and find something to occupy himself with every time she opened . She gave up after a few tries, choosing to clamp shut. Before long they’d arrived at her cubicle, and she noticed with surprise that it was joined by another one. The risk department head eyed her as if she was a ticking bomb, and Irene offered a small smile.

He sighed a little. “Y’know, I had such a hard time trying to integrate a newcomer around your age, you seem like you’ll be a little easier.”

“Ah… new employee… around my age?” something suddenly clicked. “Sir, by any chance, is his name Sehun?”

“You know him?” he asked, suddenly wary of her.

She didn’t know how to respond, then settled with a light nod of her head. He seemed a little traumatised by his experience, so she quickly made a mental note to never to bring up Sehun’s name again around this poor manager.

“Okay… here’s your cubicle, set your things down. Well, good thing you know him, he sits here,” the manager taps at the cubicle that is joined to Irene’s. “No more empty cubicles for our department, we’re quite heavily staffed, so… I hope you get along well.” He made an incredulous face, like he himself didn’t believe what he’d just said. “I’ll see you in the conference room at 1.”

“See you, boss.”

Irene plopped herself onto her new seat. Soon after pairs of curious eyes appeared from the cubicles around her. She waved shyly at the faces, some familiar and some completely new. Her face lighted up when she spotted an especially familiar face two cubicles to the left. “Ah, I’ve seen you during lunch! You’re…” Irene frowned. She does remember his face from constantly bumping into him in the lunchroom, but...

“Tao”, he completed with a grin, “we should eat together more often. Chanyeol’s hogging you all to himself!”

Irene blushed a little as she laughed it off, “it just so happens that he sits close by-”

“Oh, don’t even try. We all know he has the hearts of all the women here, you’re not the only one,” interrupted a voice bitterly. Irene stood up to sneak a peak over her cubicle curiously. The man sat right on the other side of her cubicle, facing her. “I’m Xiumin, welcome to risk,” he explained simply.

"Jia. We'd also met," said an older looking woman with a warm smile that touched her eyes, much like V's.

Irene did a quick self-introduction, relieved that her new company seemed friendly.

---

“Alright, that’s the gist of it,” said Rin. “Any questions?”

The risk department manager shook his head no.

“Please take care of her, I’m sure she’ll be of great help. You’re free to go now.” The manager bowed at Rin, then took his leave.

Rin turned to Irene. “Try your best! I’m telling you now it’s no easy task; people usually don’t end up in the risk department unless they’re very capable: this is a great opportunity to learn more about how to apply the financial knowledge you learned.” Irene shuddered a little. “And,” added Rin sympathetically, “I would say Mr. Kim is rather harsh and socially inept, though maybe not as difficult as Sehun. He was my hubae in college.” She pulled Irene closer and whispered in her ear, “I must say I didn’t like him very much- but he is a good manager, that management style of his does work. You’re a smart one, I trust that you will know how to deal with him.”

Irene reeled at the pile of information that was just thrown at her. Her face briefly lit up when Rin added, “by the way, do eat lunch with me when you’re free! My treat. I don’t want to stare at the president’s face everyday. It gets rather dry.” She winked and walked out of the conference room. Irene processed the information as she sunk into the chair.

---

Irene carefully walked back to her new place in the risk department, more than just a little intimidated from Rin’s additional insight. Just as manager Kim mentioned, Sehun was sitting right beside her cubicle. She couldn’t see his full face, blocked by the cubicle walls from far, but the slightly narrowed eyes were more than enough for Irene to identify exactly who they belonged to. He wasn’t looking up, glasses reflecting the computer screen he was so engrossed in. Good, keep focusing. The load of papers she was clutching probably wouldn’t hold up well against another intense stare-down session. She eyed him carefully until she could see his face. Deciding that it was safer to keep a watch over her papers, she lowered her head and picked up her pace. Irene reached her desk and sat on her chair with a huff, then pulled herself rapidly towards her table, forcibly cutting her vision using the frosted glass barrier that separated the cubicles.

“... flowery,” uttered a raspy low voice. Irene took a deep breath to calm her erratic heartbeat.

“Thanks, my favorite perfume.”

“Not interested,” the voice responded softly, and Irene froze. Then a quick huff of air. Irene suspected a laugh: she could almost imagine his exact expression now. She quickly assessed all the possible retorts she could muster, then decided the best choice was to stay silent. She clammed up.

---

Irene arched her sore back into a long stretch. It was 4:58, but she was too unsatisfied with the progress she’d made on her first assignment. She stared limply at the hopeless spreadsheet, then shut her tired eyes for a quick break. Her first task was a little too technical-heavy for her liking, but she'd wanted to make a good impression on the gruffy manager and chose to try her best. She dared not budge from her seat, especially when everyone around her seemed to ignore the time. Not wanting to cause a scene, she buried herself back into the excel spreadsheet she was assigned to work on. 

---

“Oi.”

“..........”

“........rene.”

“Irene.” a deep voice breathed into her right ear. Irene jumped from her seat, sending it spinning from the force. “It’s been tough on you, time to go home,” Chanyeol urged. Irene’s tired eyes took a while to get used to the dim lighting. Four pairs of eyes were staring intently at her. Chanyeol, Tao, Taehyung, and Sehun, her brain managed to recognize. Her ears began to take into sounds too- the office was oddly quiet, almost completely silent save for Sehun’s key twirling. A quick look at the computer screen sent Irene reeling in surprise. 6:45 P.M. “Woah, you OK?” Chanyeol said as he placed a steadying hand on her shoulders, halfway through putting her belongings into her bag.

“Yes, yes- I can take care of that-” Irene quickly took her bag from his hands and stuffed a notepad into it, then hurriedly took it out when she realized what she was doing. Four pairs of eyes followed her movements, and she shifted uncomfortably. “Ummm. You can go home- I take the metro…” her voice trailed off when she looked into Sehun’s face.

“Garage,” he said curtly, sounding like a command, then turned and headed out. Taehyung smiled and Tao mouthed just come, then the two followed Sehun. Chanyeol stood still, scratching his head as he looked at her.

“You don’t have to push yourself like this,” he said softly. “You’re not here making a living off of salary like us.”

“I know, I know… but I think it just hit me.” She stared into his warm eyes, and suddenly her nose felt sour. This is how late they work until on a daily basis. “...How hard you all work, I mean… I’ve been such a child.” She forced back a sob that was working its way up, gasping when he pulled her in for a brief hug.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

She teared up a little from the simple invitation.

---

Sehun glanced at Irene through the rear-view mirror. “Are you sure?” he asked again, this time in a softer tone.

Irene nodded. “Metro’s fine! Dinner some other day, I’m already intruding…”

“Nonsense. We are all dying to let you join us, it gets so boring hitching a ride home with these three,” grinned Tao, looking at the others for approval of his joke. He quickly clammed up when Sehun shot him a sharp glance. “Umm, anyways. Be careful on the way back home.”

Sehun opened the lock to the car, and Irene stepped daintily off, turning to wave goodbye at the four. Seeing that the car didn’t budge, she assumed they’d want to see that she got to the metro station safety. She hurriedly entered the station, then turned to look back again. The car stayed still for a while- long enough to make Irene wonder if they’d run into some sort of malfunction. Then it slowly rolled out of the temporary drop-off spot and out of her sight.