After a two-hour meeting session in the boardroom with her boss, Bae Joohyun exited the door and returned back to her workspace wearing a look of exhaustion on her face. It was only the first day of the week and she was already feeling so lethargic, wishing that the weekends would come a little faster. She wasn't too sure if it was the air-conditioning in the office that was making her feel sluggish or if it was her body anticipating a flu bug considering the fact that her nose has been leaking like a broken tap, since morning. 

Cautiously placing her laptop and notepad on her desk, she gave her neck and lower back a little stretch before she put her blazer over her shoulder and pulled her swivel chair out to take a sit. Then she heaved out a soft, tired sigh as she lifted up the screen of her laptop to resume her work. There were just about 60 minutes left till the working hour ends and she was trying her very best to stay awake despite the enervation.

"Oh my, you're literally turning into a Rudolph with that nose." -she heard a remark followed by a soft chuckle coming from her colleague-deskmate, Kim Jennie.

Peering a glance over the desk partition that separated her workspace and Jennie's, Joohyun gave out a faint sigh and replied in a nasal voice, "I was so busy I haven't had the chance to look at myself in the mirror, today. Is it that bad?"

"Bad enough to know that you probably won't turn up for work tomorrow. You should really get yourself a sick leave." -Her friend replied, "It seems like the flu bug in this office has gotten to you."

"Ugh...I can't afford to call in sick, this week. I have a report to complete by Friday" -Joohyun groused, sniffling as she shifted her attention back to her screen to resume her work. "I'll be fine. I'll probably go and grab some panadols on my way home later on."

"Well, whatever you say. I'm only concerned about you." -Jennie shrugged then swiftly rolled her swivel chair closer towards Joohyun, "Anyway, how was the meeting with Mr Lee Minhyuk? Have you met his new secretary, yet?" -she asked in a whispering tone, cautiously looking around and making sure that no one was paying attention to her casually gossiping with her deskmate in between working hours. 

"A meeting with him is always pointless. He doesn't even have a clue of half the work that we do. He's just a jerk who earned his position from his father, as a deputy chairman." -Joohyun curled her lips in disdain as she speaks, expressing her frustration thinking back on the wasted time that could've been used to complete her report. "...and to answer to your second question, Yes. I have met his new secretary and don't even get me started on that one. She's really...ugh. Whatever." -she shook her head then shifted her gaze back to her laptop screen, not really wanting to even get on the topic. 

"What? Tell me. I wanna know." -Jennie eagerly nudged Joohyun on the arms, desperately trying to get her to dish out some entertaining news.

"I was literally the third wheel in that meeting room. That secretary's eyes were glued onto Mr Lee's face the whole time like he's some kind of a piece of art in a museum gallery or something and you would already know how much that jerk enjoys getting gawked at for his looks. They were straight up eye-flirting with each other, right in front of me from across the table. It was nauseating. I bet they weren't even paying one bit of attention to what I was trying to convey during the meeting. It was just...ulgh..." -Joohyun's mouth twisted in a grimace when she recalled the flirtatious gestures brazenly exchanged between the two. 

"Well, I'm totally not surprised. That's probably the reason why the womanizer hired her." -Jennie shrugged, quickly turning her head back to the screen of her laptop and typing away as she speaks, "She's hot and young and from the looks of it, it's pretty obvious that she's an easy prey for him. As soon as he's done with his shenanigans, she'll be out of his sight. For sure."

"I honestly couldn't care less." -Joohyun replied, blowing her nose on the last piece of tissue paper in the tissue box on her desk. "I mean, him having a new secretary that's evidently obsessed with him would mean that he finally found himself a new distraction. Which also means that I no longer have to crack my brains to come up with a ton of excuses when he tries to ask me out for lunch or dinner. Seriously, I'm running out of ideas."

Mr Lee Minhyuk, son to the Chief Executive Officer of the Lee Publications Company, has always had an eye for Ms Bae Joohyun ever since she first started working in the publishing department. Known as a notorious womanizer to his employees, Lee Minhyuk would always prey on the prettiest ladies he could find in the office, typically the new and younger ones, easily swooning them over with his charm and of course, money. Rumour has it that Mr Minhyuk would habitually fly them to places, pamper them with expensive gifts and spends a night or two of pleasure with them before he heartlessly dumps them for someone new -more often than not, without a warning. 

Unlike many ladies who had fallen victim to his trap(Kim Jennie included), Bae Joohyun was not one to easily succumb to temptation. Many of her colleagues were anticipating another scandalous story to gossip about when Joohyun joined the organization and was introduced to the serial heartbreaker. It was something that everyone 'expected' to happen because they know how fast Lee Minhyuk would make a move on a lady as young and pretty as Joohyun and so far, none of the ladies he had pursued, could resist his wealth and charming face. 

However, as odd as it seems, Bae Joohyun had never shown the slightest bit of interest towards the ladies' man since the day she started working in the company. Joohyun's repelling attitude towards Lee Minhyuk was often deemed as arrogant and 'full-of-herself' by a few jealous lady colleagues who thought that she was only trying to play hard to get. However, as time passed and they got to know her better, they eventually settled with the assumption that Bae Joohyun just...hates men, in general. 

For some reason, Lee Minhyuk's occasional presence in their office only made Joohyun feel uncomfortable, if not annoyed. He had tried so many ways to sweep Joohyun off her feet and personally asked her out a number of times before but she'd always have a way to curve him and reject his advances. Despite turning him down for the umpteenth time, he never gave up on trying his luck with Bae Joohyun until the new secretary came into the picture.

"You know, Joohyun. I really admire how you're able to resist his tempting allurement." -Jennie said, turning back to the side to look at her friend, "You're basically the only person in here who hasn't fallen for his love spell, yet." 

"Uhmm...Y-Yeah."- Joohyun replied hesitantly, flashing out an awkward smile on her face, "At this point, I think I deserve an award for all the lines I've used to turn him down. A pay raise would be much appreciated."

As soon as the clock hits 6 pm, Joohyun closed her laptop shut and began to clean her desk of tissue papers before she rose up from her seat and hung her bag over her shoulders.

"Not heading off, yet?" -She asked when she noticed that Jennie was still busily typing away on her desktop and not packing up like the other colleagues were. 

"In a bit. Just got to follow up with one more stuff before I leave." -Jennie replied, "You don't have to wait for me. Go get your meds and rest well, Joohyun Unnie."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then." -Joohyun said as she walked towards the office's exit with a hand hugging on to her laptop and another, holding on to crumpled tissue papers. 

"Get better!"

<<------>>

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." -Joohyun grumbled underneath her breath, abruptly halting her footsteps right in front of the automatic sliding door of the office's main lobby. 

The weather was not in Joohyun's favour that day unfortunately when the rain started to pour the very second she took a step out of her office's building. As if her nose situation wasn't bad enough, the wet weather just had to make it a lot worse than it already was and it just so happens that the rain had to fall on the very day she decided to leave her umbrella at home.

The pharmacy store which Joohyun had intended to visit was conveniently located just around her workplace area but sadly there wasn't any shelter that connects to the store from where she was. Walking in the rain wasn't something Joohyun hadn't done before when she's in a hurry but the downpour was pretty bad that evening and she really didn't want to risk catching a fever, especially when she was already down with a cold. 

There were plenty of cabs lined up outside the main lobby but a thrifty lady like Joohyun would never take a cab on peak hours for a ride that takes only a 5-minute walk. Besides, she knew that cab drivers would highly unlikely to take her to a short-distance destination that could barely give them profit. 

"Guess I'm just gonna have to wait till it stops, then..." -She decided, folding her arms across her chest as she stood and stared out at the glass door with her now, clogged nose and a throat that was beginning to feel sore. 

"Ms Bae!" 

Joohyun flinched a little when she heard her name echo down the main lobby, interrupting her tired daze. She first turned her head to the right, then left, trying to find the person who had called her name so formally, out loud. When she turned to take a look behind her, she found her boss, Lee Minhyuk, exiting the employee tapping gantry and waving his hands up at her. dropped and her eyes widened with panic when the man began to approach her. 

"Ms Bae! Over here!"

A little too desperate to avoid Minhyuk, Joohyun didn't think twice before she quickly dashed out of the automatic sliding door, finally having the courage to just leave and brave through the heavy rain, using only her leather purse to shield her head from the downpour. She couldn't even be bothered anymore if the rain was going to make her cold worse. All she cared about was not having to speak to the man whose literal existence drives her up on her nerves. Lee Minhyuk.

<<------>>

"Why isn't she home, yet?"

Taehyung anxiously tapped his foot against the floor as he glanced up at the clock on the ceiling for the 20th time since he returned home from work. For the past half an hour, he has been sitting on the couch at the living room with his clothes still unchanged. Despite having the TV , his mind couldn't seem to allow him to focus on the show that was playing on its screen.
 
He was very puzzled and bothered by Bae Joohyun's unusual absence in the house when he returned home, thirty minutes ago. Joohyun had never once arrived home later than Taehyung and he knew that his 'homebody' housemate was not the type to stay out late especially on weekdays.

Not being greeted by the sight of Joohyun in her purple bathrobe, eating her homemade dinner was somehow something really odd, for Taehyung. He didn't know why but for some reason, he was feeling a sudden incomprehensible uneasiness in his heart when he realised that an hour has passed and Joohyun still hasn't arrived home, yet. It truly boggles his mind how Joohyun's absence dr