My hands clenched into fists on my lap as He entered the room.

Like everyone else I was hyper aware of him, my whole body seeming to respond to his proximity and my mind immediately consumed by him. Why was he here? Was he mad? Was he in a good mood? Bad mood? Would I lose my job if I scratched my suddenly itchy nose? It was one of the first warnings I'd received on my first day: do not look Him directly in the eyes. According to the rumours, the last person who had dared to had been fired.

I wish I could say he was ugly, that he was grossly overweight and resembled a troll, but the truth was our CEO Byun Baekhyun was hot. He wasn't tall, but his presence was commanding. Too bad he was such a jerk, which just goes to show there is truly no justice in the world.

I look away quickly from my not-so-hideous CEO and feel myself stiffen, mirroring just about everyone else. As usual he sits at the back of the room, facing all of us but so we have our backs to him as we watch the presentation. I’m pretty sure he does it as some kind of power play to keep us on our toes — and it works. No one dares talk or doze off knowing he’s sat there watching.

Listening to the presentation with my back straight and my eyes locked ahead, I don’t dare peek at him, no one does. I’ve worked at Ghost PR now for two years and I couldn’t even count on one hand the amount of times I’d made eye contact with him and I had no intention of doing so, either. The first time I'd done it had been a moment of foolish curiosity during my first week, back when I'd not listened to the rumours. I hadn't made that mistake again.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

I blink, realising that despite watching the presentation I’ve not actually listened to it. I can never pay attention when CEO Byun’s in the room, always too alert and focused in making sure I don’t somehow slip up. Around me the others are silent, because we all know not to stand out when he’s here. When the presentation ends I stand slowly, peeking through the curtain of my hair towards the back of the room and relax when I realise he’s gone.

Always the last to arrive and the first to leave. That was our CEO.

“Oh god why did the Ghost have to show up?” Seulgi whines as we head back to our desks.

His name inside the office was the equivalent of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, so we didn't dare utter it aloud. Ghost was more fitting, because that was almost what he was like around these parts. Rarely seen and when he was, he scared the living daylights out of us.

“My back hurts.” I groan, twisting my hips. “I swear one day someone’s going to be stupid enough to ask a question and I’m going to do serious damage.”

“Remember when that silly intern began asking questions on her first day?”

I chuckled at the memory. “I thought she was going to set on fire by how many glares she got.”

“Speaking of looks…” Seulgi sighed wistfully. “Have you seen COO Park today?”

“Is he extra delicious?” I whispered.

“I swear he gets more charming every day.”

We share a dreamy look as we each sit at our desks. My eyes go to Chief Operating Officer Park’s office, which is raised on a twin platform overlooking the rest of the office next to the CEO’s. They both have all glass walls, a glass door, floor-to-ceiling glass windows with stunning visuals overlooking the busy Haechi Madang Square. But while COO Park’s blinds are open, along with his door when he’s not holding a meeting, CEO Byun’s door is closed and his blinds lowered. Always, without exception.

The two couldn’t be any more different if they tried, which made the fact that they were best friends even more perplexing.

While CEO Byun is cold, aloof and rude, COO Park is charming, friendly and sociable. Everyone loves COO Park, not just because he was the main spokesman of our company but because he was just so nice. He takes the time to learn everyone’s name, takes everyone on frequent staff dinners to shown his appreciation for our hard work and isn’t afraid to mingle with us, despite being the Chief Operating Officer.

Without him leading us, I doubt many of us would have lasted so long at Ghost PR.

“I have the approved proofs for the HER line.” I told Seulgi, wiggling my eyebrows excitedly. 

“Oh I can’t wait.” She sighed happily.

It wasn’t the prints she was excited for — but the actual products that would be arriving in a few days for us to use for the photo shoot I’d be overseeing. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on the new handbag collection, because they were the closest either of us would ever get to holding such expensive bags. It was a perk of the job and I was equally excited.

“Do you think they’ll send that red one?”

“I hope so.” I grinned.

It was both of our favourites. As we made more small talk sat at in our adjoining cubicles about the new handbag collection, COO Park himself emerged from CEO Byun’s office and gave us all a friendly wave as he descended their shared wooden stairs to our level. The Ghost, as usual, was no where to be seen.

“What did you all think of the presentation?” He asked cheerfully.

I watched as Seulgi visibly preened as he leaned against her cubicle, since it was the end one closest to the stairs. I also didn’t miss the way she straightened, back straight in the hopes he’d peek down the front of her blouse. He never had and was too much of a gentleman to ever do so, but her attempts were still amusing to me.

“It was very interesting.” Jin-wook answered.

“And that’s why you were all so quiet?” COO Park grinned. We all shared a look and he laughed. “Well, regardless, I’m glad you found it interesting because I’ve decided to take on the contract.”

“Really?” Seulgi sat up straighter. “Who gets it?”

He gave her wink and I rolled my eyes as she swooned a little in her chair.

“That is yet to be decided.”

With a cheery wave he left and Seulgi immediately wheeled closer to me. “I want that contract so bad!”

I held up my fingers in a good luck sign. The twelve on the office floor were the senior division team split into four groups of three and received client contracts on a case by case basis by bidding for them. From there we worked with the other departments scattered across the other two floors, who took direct instruction from us. Client contracts were awarded based on stats of how well our performance was and though both Seulgi and I were interns to different teams,  it wasn’t really a competition. Everyone helped each other and I knew Seulgi was hoping for a contract she could really prove herself with.

Gaining COO Park’s praise was the most motivating factor for most of the staff, but more so for Seulgi, who’d had a crush on him for as long as I’d worked here. I admired COO Park along with everyone, but I knew Seulgi wanted his attention more than most. I was rooting for my friend, because Manager Park really was a good catch. But he had never shown interest in anyone in the office, nor any of the gorgeous clients we'd had. 

“Guys quick!” Tae-joon called as he rushed over. “We have a serious problem.”

“What?” Taewoon asked, instantly alert.

“It’s about Nari.”

Nari was CEO Byun’s personal assistant. We all immediately looked up towards her desk, which was just outside the Ghost's office on the raised platform, side-by-side with COO Park's assistants desk. Both assistant desks were currently empty and I tried to recall whether I'd seen Nari in the office today or not. The truth was, like the others, I didn't really speak to the assistants very often. COO Park's because he was always so busy and CEO Byun's because they didn't stick around for long.

“She’s put her notice in, hasn’t she?” Seulgi admired her nail polish. “Now we’ll need to try hire someone else. Again.”

“No. Worse.” Tae-Joon lowered his voice. “She’s in the hospital.”

We all listened in as we learned Nari hadn’t turned up to work today, not because she’d booked the day off like we’d all assumed, but because she’d been rushed to hospital last night.

Gasps followed the news and Seulgi lifted her eyes from her nail polish with a frown. “Suicide? Nari? There’s no way…”

“It’s true. And this is where it gets messy; the press have already caught wind.”

The office fell silent as we processed that.

“Oh god.” Seulgi whispered.

I sank down in my chair. Whatever story the papers had ran wasn’t going to be good, specifically for CEO Byun, which in turn meant us. Immediately everyone began to talk at once.

“We need to go on the offensive. Where’s COO Park?” Taewoon looked around as though he’d find COO Park playing hide and seek behind a cubicle partitioning.

“He’s gone to a client meeting.”

“Someone call him, I need to ring the press.”

“Has anyone read the article?”

“I just did. It’s not good.”

“.”

“We need to get to the hospital and speak to Nari before the press does.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“You know we can’t let the press talk to her first.”

“That’s if they haven’t already. For all we know she could have been the one to call them.”

“You think she talked?”

“Well there’s only one way to find out…”

“There’s no way in Hell they’ll let us on the ward to speak to her. Family only, remember?”

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