"A little progress each day adds up to big results."

— Anonymous

Byun Baekhyun entered his corner office and let the door shut slowly behind him. After removing his suit jacket and loosening his tie, he made his way over to his desk and plopped down on his Arper Aston executive chair, swiveling his seat to face the morning Seoul skyline.

In the span of three days, he had been blindsided. He had been deceived. He had had his impeccable judgement proven wrong, and his charisma and wittiness robbed from him. In the span of three days, he had been dumbstruck more times than his fingers could count. He had his interest peaked to the point of selfish curiosity and desire. He had gotten little to no sleep. Worst of all, he—the future of BYN Group—had questioned his own sanity…all by, and because of, one individual.

"Just what is it with that woman?" he asked out loud after releasing a breathy exhale.

The young executive spun his chair another 180 degrees and placed a hand on the matching desk, rapidly tapping his index finger on the glossy surface. With another sigh, he let his eyes wander around the spacious room until they landed on his navy coat hanging neatly on the metal rack.

Almost immediately, his mind was hurled back to the events of earlier. To the embarrassment. The subconscious …and to Ara's body—to her silky skin, her perfect curves…

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted the image running in his head—a god-given disruption that arrived just in time to prevent his manhood from reawakening.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Baekhyun sat up on his seat. "Come in," he ordered with an unruffled tone.

The less tenured of his two assistants poked her head in before fully entering the office. "The new director of catering is here, General Manager Byun," she informed him, then waited patiently for instructions.

Baekhyun nodded in response, "Alright. I'll be down in a bit."

"Understood," the young woman replied, leaving him to calm himself and set his attention completely on where it should be: work.

|| …………… ||

The Lux Hotel was a 60-story, 1000-room property—one of the larger hotels & resorts owned by BYN Group. It offered high-end amenities, Michelin Star restaurants, world-class hospitality, and overall, luxury. It had 75 event spaces, hosted approximately 1000 events per month, and employed over 1500 employees.

Given the high volume of staff, Baekhyun typically opted to meet his subordinates only when necessary—either to praise them for a job well done, or to reprimand them for a sub-par work performance—but this time was different. Their new hire was an exception.

For the past week since his underlings conducted the ten-panel interview, his most trusted senior hiring manager had been showering the said individual with non-stop high praises, and repeatedly claiming just how notable their resume was. Based on what the 35-year hiring veteran and head of the HR Department told him, the Lux's newest employee was a top performer with multiple "Employee of the Year" awards under their belt. Moreover, the said individual was coming from Hotel Azure, one of Lux's main competitors.

So, though the position they were filling in was only middle-tier on the hotel's hierarchy, Baekhyun wanted to personally welcome them to the team—a gesture he rarely made.

|| …………… ||

All 50 persons from the Catering Department—most of which were young, single women—were on high alert for two reasons.

One, their newest team member just took the top spot for being the most attractive in their lot. She was undeniably and strikingly beautiful that their male counterparts had started to concoct plans to get on