Jessica usually preferred interacting with her employees face-to-face rather than using email or Instant Messaging.  She found it easier to talk that way.  It was more genuine too, and it sort of broke down the work hierarchy of her as the boss, which she always liked to do.  It made her staff members respect her more, funnily enough.  But one person she couldn't really bring herself to talk to was Taeyeon, even though she knew very well that she shouldn't be letting her emotions get in the way of work.  So for the first month or so that Taeyeon worked for Jessica, most of their correspondence happened over the computer, and it was strictly professional.

But because of the way the floorplan of the office was, Jessica ran into Taeyeon a lot in the hallways, whenever she was getting a drink, getting snacks, going to the bathroom, going to print something… you get the idea.  Whatever it was, it was always awkward.  Taeyeon always appeared out of nowhere, when Jessica least expected her.  Jessica felt incredibly self-conscious whenever Taeyeon caught her off-guard; she thought she looked silly like that.  Her heart always did a weird little skip, the same skip that it used to do in high school, after she’d kissed Taeyeon for the first time, but she acted as nonchalant as she could and always said good morning to Taeyeon whenever she saw her.  And Taeyeon always said good morning back.  Well, she usually mumbled, and rarely ever managed to make sustained eye contact with Jessica.  They sometimes had an awkward little scuffle; who goes left?  Who goes right?  And then they walked in opposite directions, never to speak of the incident again.

-

The company was working on a major new project: an advertising campaign for a sneaker brand.  It involved many components, one being a huge billboard advertisement that was set to launch in two weeks.

Jessica usually assigned billboard design projects like these to Tiffany since she was a reliable choice, but this time, she decided to designate the heavy task to Taeyeon instead.  She thought it'd give Taeyeon a new opportunity to challenge herself, and besides, it wasn't a bad idea to see what kind of different flavour Taeyeon could bring to SM’s designs.

Jessica had sent Taeyeon the raw photos from the lookbook just last week, unaware of the amount of stress that this new project was causing her.  Being the sole creative designer for the project and eager to impress Jessica, Taeyeon had been working tirelessly ever since.

And today, Jessica received this email from Taeyeon:

[From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: Billboard Design Sample 1 (**** Ad Campaign)

Hi Jessica,

I've attached four original samples for the billboard shoe ad in order from my most favourite to my least, for your viewing and input.

Kind regards,

Taeyeon]

Jessica smiled.  She always caught herself smiling when she read Taeyeon’s emails.  She read them in Taeyeon’s voice, imagining how long it took her to write them, how many drafts and rewrites.  Perhaps that was just Jessica’s wishful thinking, her clinging on to the past.  Taeyeon seemed much more self-assured now.  Jessica appreciated how Taeyeon was making a conscious effort to be less formal around her, though.  They both knew there was a tense energy between them, radiating with unspoken words.  But other than that, Jessica acknowledged that Taeyeon was a wo