If one more opportunistic male used the excuse of patting the fluffy white tail on her bottom as a means of touching her, Dara knew she was going to scream! Adolescent schoolboys and old men alike are taking much delight in tormenting her as they wandered around the store. She knew the way she was dressed was sure to provoke attention. No wonder Bom had decided she had something more important to do today; she had probably known exactly what this job was going to be like!

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Dara spun around at the sound of that harshly accusing male voice - as quickly as she could in these stupid high-heeled shoes that went with the rest of this ridiculous bunny costume. Whoever had chosen this bunny outfit had opted for the overtly ual rather than the cuddly, fluffy kind, and Dara was feeling very conspicuous with her long legs encased in silky black tights, and wearing a brief black bathing costume whose only similarity to a rabbit was the fluffy white pom-pom on her bottom. At least the fluffy white head with its long ears and face mask had the advantage of covering up all of her hair and most of her face; she would hate anyone actually recognize her wearing this costume!

As she turned to face the owner of that grating voice - a thunderous-looking man was glaring straight at her. As far as she was aware, she had never seen him before. She would have remembered someone like him; he wasn't a man anyone was likely to forget...

He was taller than average, his silver hair styled back, thick black brows over the coldest black eyes Dara has ever seen. And the handsomeness of the rest of his face - a long straight nose and thin sculpted lips over a sharp jaw.

Dara glanced over her shoulder to see if she could be mistaken in thinking she was the object of his anger, instantly knowing that she wasn't since she was the only person in sight. Before she can face the man, her left arm was clasped in a tight grip.

"Move" said the harshly irritated voice, and Dara almost fell over in those ridiculously high heels as she was dragged across the department store in the direction of the lift, in full view of everyone. None of the people shopping, nor the staff, seemed to be taking the slightest bit of notice to the scene. Even the staff seemed to be looking the other way.

Once inside the elevator, the man pushed the button going to the top floor. The top floor? that was where all the executive offices of this store was housed, where all the executives of the exclusive Choi stores had their offices.

Dara turned to look at the man who stood rigidly at her side, the scream in dying to a strangled whimper. What could she have done wrong during her brief time on duty to have aroused the attention of one of the higher echelons of Choi's?

As the lift doors opened, Dara was again being pulled and glancing down at her feet as she stumbled yet again in the high-heeled shoes. "If you can't walk in the damned things then for God's sake take them off!" he barked disgustingly.

Deep colour heated Dara's cheeks, opening with a sharp rejoinder for his arrogance - but decided against it. The relief she felt at their removal was quickly forgotten as the man gave a snort. "Good God, girl, just how tall are you?"

If only looks could kill, he'd be dead by now. Just because he's some high executive of the Choi group of world-exclusive stores, doesn't give him the right to offend her about her lack of height. She knew she was short - it had been the bane of her youth to realise she had stopped growing at just a little two inches over five feet.

"Tall enough!" Dara snapped, at once impatient with the stupidity of her words as much as with the ridiculous costume she was wearing. Tall enough for what? she thought self-disgustedly.

Really, this man whoever he was, thought he was a one-man army, his orders to be obeyed without question.

"Look, I don't know who you are," she told him, attempting to pull out of his grasp, failing miserably, only succeeding in bruising her arm even further as his fingers merely tightened their grip. She was still being pulled down the luxuriously carpeted hallway towards what she supposed was this man's own office.

"No, you don't, do you?" his eyes narrowed. "But I know who you are. Or at least what you're supposed to be." he sounded angry again now. "You fall far short of requirements!"

"Now look," she spluttered again, intending to tell him what she thought of his opinion.

"I have." As if to prove his point, he gave another disparaging glance down the slender length of her body in the revealing outfit. "And so has every customer who entered the store this morning! Are you Youngbae's latest girlfriend, is that it? he scorned. "It's difficult to tell what you look like under that ridiculous rabbit head, but I suppose you could be pretty. And I know Youngbae's tastes run to the youthfully nubile, so I suppose that could be the explanation. It isn't an acceptable one to me but it's the only one I could think of for the moment."

Dara was once again rendered speechless; the arrogance of the man! "Could be pretty!" "Youthfully nubile!" The chauvinistic - and then she remembered what she was - or rather wasn't - wearing, and knew there was really no defence she could offer to this man's scorn when she gave every appearance of being a half-dressed bunny girl!

She barely had time to register the comfort of the next outer office he dragged her through, without stopping, before entering the even plusher office beyond - obviously his own.

"Sit." The man said tersely while going behind his desk.

"I don't know why you brought me here - "

"I thought I told you to sit," Seunghyun said softly, dangerously so.

"I maybe wearing this ridiculous bunny outfit, but underneath this, I'm a person, not an animal to be ordered about!" She was breathing heavily in agitation.

"I'm glad you're aware that what you're wearing is.......inappropriate," he said drily, "If you would care to remove - "

"I don't care to remove anything!" she glared at the man as did he.

"You really are trying my - " he broke off as the intercom buzzed on his desk. "Yes?" he rasped impatiently to the machine.

"Mr. Dong Youngbae to see you, Mr. Choi," came the voice of his secretary.

Dara missed the rest of the conversation, staring at the man who sat so confidently across the desk, beginning to realise exactly why he was so confident. Mr. Choi! This man, who dragged her into the lift and up to the executive floor of the department store, was a Choi! My God, not just any Choi, but Choi himself; the owner of the store! She didn't need any further telling to sit down; she almost fell into the waiting chair. What a mess! And Chaerin, what was she going to think about this mess she made she didn't like to think.

"Ah, Youngbae, so glad you could join us at last," Seunghyun said silkily.

The younger man by two years, looked puzzled by his boss' obvious displeasure. "I was down at the Ladies' Fashions when I got your message - "

"A pity you didn't pay Confectionery a visit some time this morning," Choi Seunghyun told him icily. "Would you like to tell me what that is?"

"That" was Dara. Her shock at discovering who he is was replaced by indignation as she realised he was once again talking about her as if she weren't a pe