Ep 4 - The misunderstanding

Secretary Lee

"Ready for lunch?" Kyuhyun was in front of her desk.

"Oh yes, Mr Cho" Sungmin logoff her laptop and fetched her handbag. 

Her dress looked simple, yet fit her perfectly and showed her curve and small waist. She had bun up her hair, and her overall look can kill people, especially Kyuhyun! He still couldn't figure out why he found Sungmin as interesting, and the fact that he would be seeing her everyday is enough to make him happy.

They went to Outback Steakhouse at Dunsan, Daejeon, and Kyuhyun told her that it is an Australian-themed chain, serving steaks, seafood & other hearty and delicious steakhouse food. 

"Mr Cho, actually we don't have to go to expensive place. I'm perfectly okay for a pizza or ramyeon. 

"It's not expensive, really. Come, let's go in. I've made a reservation" Kyuhyun gestured her to step inside. 

Lunch was nice, and Kyuhyun acted all gentlemanly, pushing in her chair, cut the steak for her, and asked for warm water when she shivered a bit due to the air-con. She was so swarm with gratitude that her boss was nice to her and vowed to be a good secretary and to serve him well. 

It was raining heavily when Kyuhyun left for the airport in the evening. Sungmin got worried and messaged him later when she reached home, whether he has reached Jeju safely. 

Kyuhyun got the message on his way to his Jeju hotel. Smiling like an idiot, he thought to himself "Maybe I shouldn't reply so fast and see whether she's still worried about me?" and he closed his mouth to giggle silently. 

Sungmin became more worried when her boss didn't reply. She scared that she has booked the wrong hotel or she didn't confirm with the hotel limousine to pick up her boss. But she was sure that everything was correct. She text her boss again "Mr Cho, did you reach your hotel safely? Did the hotel limo pick you up from the airport?" and she was contemplating to call the hotel if he did not reply the message. 

Kyuhyun laughed. So she was genuinely worried about him. He dialled her number. And hearing her worried voice just make his day. "Yes I've reached the hotel already and have checked-in my room. Heavy storm here but seemed ok for the planes to land. Have you reach home?" 

"Thank goodness. Yes, Mr Cho, I'm at home. Thank you for calling me, I can sleep tonight then. See you on Monday, Mr Cho". 

Kyuhyun smile happily hearing her words "I can sleep tonight then". She is really worried about me!! Aissh, why am I feeling happy about this? He chided himself. She is really different from his other secretaries because she cares. He smile again and unpack and went in the bathroom  to take a shower. 

Sungmin cleaned her boss room on Wednesday and sent his coat for dry cleaning. She remembered that she needed to pass a drawing to Shindong-ssi today because he was on leave the day before, so she walked back to her desk to check the drawing. "Wow, so this is how an architectural design looks like. So detail and all measurements were up to scale". She noticed that the building entrance was near to a metro station exit. "Isn't it better if a covered walkway is added to link the station exit to the building? Like this..." and she paste a sticky note and draw a covered walkways just to visualise how it looks on drawings. She would remove it before she passed to Shindong-ssi. 

"Sungmin-ssi, do you have a few minutes? I want to show you how to book meeting rooms in our system" suddenly Ryeowook pop in with a friendly smile.

"Oh sure, Ryeowook-ssi" Sungmin said, grabbing her notebook and followed Ryeowook to her desk.

"Sungmin-ssi, I got your post- it note message that you need to pass me the final drawing? Is it with you?" Shindong-ssi asked her when she passed by his desk on the way to Ryeowook's desk.

"Oh yes, I will pass to you later, after this" Sungmin smile and bowed a bit and continued to walk behind Ryeowook.

The meeting rooms booking system was so high tech. The company has  about 10 rooms, 5 were smaller and more for internal architeural discussions whereas the bigger rooms were more for meetings with clients. Ryeowook also showed her the actual rooms, and how to operate the coffee machines in the bigger rooms.

"So, do we serve them coffee or they normally self-service?" Sungmin asked.

"Hmm, it depends. If they are new clients, normally I will ask if they want coffee. If they are our existing clients, they will self-serve. But since you are new and won't know whether they are our existing clients, I suggest you ask them whether they want coffee" Ryeowook said, smiling. "Do you have plans for lunch? Want to go with us? Me and Jessica. We can ask Yoon-Ah along too!"

"That's great, ok I join you. I didn't bring lunch today" Sungmin smile happily.

"Ok, cool! Oh yes, I want to show you how to find our architectural drawings in our system coz we file them according to project name, year of approval and who were the architects. And the actual drawings are in the compactus, and it is easy if you know how to locate the correct drawings. Come with me" Ryeowook gestured her to follow her to her desk again. 

"Oh Sungmin-ssi, I took the drawing already" Shindong waved at Sungmin to get her attention.

"Oh ok, thank you, Shindong-ssi. But can you remove the post-it note? It's my post-it sticker" Sungmin said and Shindong showed the ok sign.

It was a productive day as Sungmin learn new things and she enjoyed lunch with the other secretaries. She completed her other task for the remaining days and did a research on the National Archive, so that she knew what to do when her boss and herself reach there on Monday.

Kyuhyun fetched his luggage and was walking out in the airport Arrival Hall when his name was called. It was Mr Park, with his luggage, walking towards the escalator up towards the Departure Hall, but stopped when he saw Kyuhyun. "Kyuhyun! Can't believe that I meet you here! I just want to thank you for the drawing! It was a brilliant idea!! I never thought of that! A covered walkways! Really brilliant! OK I catch up with you again when I'm back on Wednesday ok! See you" and Mr Park waved and continued up the escalator.

"What was that? Which drawing? What covered walkways..?" Kyuhyun wondered himself. But the only drawing for Mr Park is the finalised one that Shindong was supposed to amend and passed it to him. Hmm, strange, maybe he asked Shindong about it on Monday. He texted Sungmin that he has reached Daejeon and that he will see her on Monday. Smiling, he took a cab home.

Sungmin was on Kyuhyun's room taking the conference notes from Kyuhyun who wanted her to summarise the conference in One Note. On her way out, Kyuhyun asked her "Oh Ms Lee, can you call Shindong? I want to ask him about the drawing that he passed to Mr Park. What covered walkways?"

Sungmin was stunned. "Ohh, I did asked him to remove the sticky note!"

Now Kyuhyun was getting more confused. "What sticky note?"

"I'm sorry Mr Cho. I.. I.. was curious at how an architectural drawings looks like, so I take a look before passing to him. It was amazing, but since the entrance of the proposed building is near to the train station, I put a sticky note just to draw a covered walkways to complete the picture. And I'm supposed to remove it, but then he took the drawings when I was with Ryeowook-ssi, so I did inform him to remove the sticky note when he told me that he already take the drawing from my desk".

"What? You amended my drawings with a sticky note?" Kyuhyun was getting angry.

"No, no, I didn't mean to amend. Just..."

"You should know I didn't like anybody to change anything without letting me know!! There's a lot of implications, change in planning, change in measurements, change in total project cost, so many things! Who ask you to add that?!!!" Kyuhyun practically shouted at her.

Sungmin got a shocked and got scared. She really didn't meant to change anything. She started to tears and apologise repeatedly again and again.

"Call Shindong now and you get out of here.. !!" Kyuhyun shouted. Heechul came out of his office and signal to Shindong who was also approaching his office to consult him before going to Kyuhyun's office. The whole floor could hear Kyuhyun's voice! When they were near to Kyuhyun's office they saw Sungmin running towards the staircase, crying. Heechul took a deep breath and marched in to the brat's office. 

"KimKyu, you brat, how can you scold Sungmin without checking what actually happened??" Heechul scolded him. 

"Hyung, how can I not angry if my drawings..." 

"Listen first, and don't interrupt me. Yes, she did put a sticky note there to put in her idea for a covered walkway. And she did ask Shindong to remove it. But I happened to see it at Shindong's desk, so I asked him to put it in because to me, it was a brilliant idea. Shindong did say your finalised drawings do not have this covered walkways, so I told Shindong to proceed to add and recalculate the gross plot area. Anyway, Mr Park love it to death and he even wrote to the Seoul National Environment for approval and they wrote back, not only with instant approval, but also praising us for a brilliant idea and that we are the 1st architectural firm who encourage eco-friendly environment!" Heechul practically said everything in one breath. 

"It's true Mr Cho, it's not Sungmin-ssi' fault. When I saw it, I myself think that it was a good idea and that, why we never thought of it during our discussions" Shindong added on to explain. 

"Maybe because most of us drives to work. We didn't see from the point of view of those taking public transport like Sungmin" Heechul said. 

"You two should have told me of the changes. At least I won't be so clueless when Mr Park mentioned about the covered walkways yesterday when I bumped into him at the Airport" Kyuhyun said, now sobered down. 

Heechul took a deep breath and said "I wanted to discuss with you when you are back today, but I didn't know you met Mr Park at the airport yesterday. Go and apologise to Sungmin. She ran to the staircase to cry. She must be so scared when you shouted at her!" 

When Kyuhyun hesitated, Heechul said again "Go! It's your fault for shouting at her and not waiting for her to explain". 

Kyuhyun admitted that he has not been fair to Sungmin. Taking a deep breath and releasing it, he looked down and started to walk out towards the staircase. Heechul tapped Shindong's shoulder to signal him to go back to his desk. 

Kyuhyun's heart dropped when he found Sungmin sobbing at the window at the foot of the staircase. Slowly, he stepped down the staircase towards her. 

"Miss Lee, I'm sorry, I shouldn't shouted at you without finding what happened. I'm sorry" Kyuhyun said sincerely. 

Sungmin was surprised that her boss was there, and what's more, he was apologising!! She quickly wipe her eyes but her tears keep on pouring. Kyuhyun took out his handkerchief and move closer to wipe her tears. Startled, Sungmin took his handkerchief and wipe her tears herself. "Thank you for this, I will wash it and returned back to you" Sungmin said in her still-crying voice. 

Kyuhyun felt like hugging her but he stopped his hands and legs from moving on their own. He just said "Please accept my apology, Miss Lee. I shouldn't just flair out like that. My fault, I should give you a chance to explain and also hear Shindong's side of the story". 

"No, it's my fault, I shouldn't open your finalised drawing. I'm so sorry Mr Cho" Sungmin bowed apologically. 

Kyuhyun stepped forward and held her arms to prevent her from bowing down. Realising his action, he withdrew his arms. "You don't have to apologise anymore" Kyuhyun said softly. "Let's go for lunch okay. After that we can proceed to go to the National Archive" Kyuhyun said, looking at her sad face. How he wished that she could smile again. "Go to the washroom to wash your face. I'll take your handbag and my car key and I meet you at the lift lobby". 

Sungmin bowed slightly and climbed up to go to the washroom. Kyuhyun's handkerchief was very useful. She dabbed her face with it after washing it and checked her face in the mirror. Her simple makeup was still ok amidst her slightly swollen face, but her eyes were red. She dabbed some water to her eyes and dabbed them with Kyuhyun's handkerchief again, and then she walked out towards the lift lobby. She felt bad that her boss has to fetch her handbag and carrying it, so she quickly took it from him, thanking him repeatedly.

Kyuhyun's car was very comfortable and smell just like him! She took out her small mirror from her handbag and applied light lipstick on her lips. She went through what she has find out about National Archive in her head, so that later she knows what to do to retrieve a record and to make payments. 

Her quietness moved Kyuhyun's heart. He felt sad that the day had turn out to be like this. He was looking forward to see Sungmin on Monday but he never expected this to happen. He got no one else to blame except himself. 

"Miss Lee, I know that you are still upset. I'm sorry ok. I promised that I will give you a chance to explain next time".

Sungmin was touched that her boss apologised to her and even promised to let her explain next time. She looked out the window because her tears threatened to fall again. Stupid tears, please stop!! 

Thinking that she was about to cry again, Kyuhyun decided to detour and stopped his car near a mini park. He went over to Sungmin's door and opened it. "Let's take some walks before we go for lunch" he extended his hand to help Sungmin to get out of the car.

Surprised at his action, Sungmin accepted his hand and got out slowly. He gestured them to walked into the park and they started to walk side by side. Kyuhyun kept his hands in his pockets because his hand tend to ignore his brain and wanting to hold her hand. They stopped at a small area jutting out towards a downhill of the park, with brass fends for people to stand there admiring and overlooking the park. 

Sungmin hope that her eyes were no longer red. The park is beautiful and she wondered where they exactly were. 

Again, her quietness touched Kyuhyun's heart. "Sungmin, look at me" Kyuhyun said, facing her. 

Sungmin turned to him because she was surprised that he called her "Sungmin" instead of "Miss Lee". 

"Please accept my apology..." 

"Yes, Mr Cho, I accepted your apology and you didn't have to apologise again. I'm the one who should apologise..." Sungmin said looking down. Suddenly, she felt herself in his arms! 

Kyuhyun felt sad that Sungmin was still upset, so before he could stopped himself, he pull her into his arms!... 

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
LeeLenaMx #1
Chapter 28: Finally finished reading this too! Lovley!
lindatan #2
Chapter 28: Thanks authornim for the story
lindatan #3
Chapter 27: Yeahhhhh Mr & Mrs Cho
lindatan #4
Chapter 26: Finally ~~~~ congratulations!!!
lindatan #5
Chapter 25: Mrs Cho to be ~~~
lavendertwice #6
Chapter 25: Sweettt!!!🥰🥰
lindatan #7
Chapter 24: Kyu Kyu & Min Min are getting married soon ~~~~ woohoo !
lindatan #8
Chapter 23: Truly fated to be together ~~~ although unfortunate for Kyu to be in the accident
lindatan #9
Chapter 22: Tats so loving , a perfect hubby to be
lindatan #10
Chapter 21: Evil Kyu , Min dying from shyness lol