You had slept at 9pm the previous night so you could wake up super early the next morning to prepare yourself for the BIGGEST JOB INTERVIEW in your life.

But you woke up at around 8am.

And your interview was at 8.38.

Odd timing, but that wasn’t what you should be concerned with right now.

You cursed as you brushed your teeth and took a quick shower. You put on your best formal outfit, grabbed your portfolio, Blackberry and wallet and sprinted out of the door, slamming it shut rather violently behind you.

You flagged down a taxi within 3 minutes, and as you were about to get in, a cash note was stuffed into hand and you were shoved backwards. You blinked and watched as your hated neighbour, who lived in the apartment across you get into your cab.

You then realised that you were paid for getting your flagged down cab stolen.

‘ YOU!’ You screamed as the cab drove off.

You only managed to get another cab at around 8.35.

You were screwed.

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‘You’re late,’ the secretary of the Editor in Chief - Jung Yunho, shot you a dirty look.

You noticed that she had a nametag pinned on the left side of her tartan blouse.

Louise Lee.

‘Mr. Jung doesn’t remember names well,’ she explained as she began typing away on her keyboard.

‘How did you know - ’ you gulped.

‘I’m a Psychologist,’ she replied simply.

‘But why are you – ’ you asked.

‘Why I’m one of the 5 assistants to Mr. Jung? He needs my expertise in psychology to assist him and this company. And he pays more than what I made previously.’

‘Ahh,’ you could only nod.

‘Please have a seat there,’ Louise gestured at the 3-seater black leather couch against the wall.

You bowed and sat there obediently.

You were sure that you would be kicked out since you only arrived for the interview at 9.07.

You started to wonder why you were still given a chance to interview for the position as Features Writer.

Louise’s phone rang and she picked it up after just one ring.

‘Executive Assistant (to the Editor in Chief) Louise speaking,’ she spoke through the phone, ‘Yes, Latecomer is here…'

You guessed that Latecomer was your name, for now, at least.

‘Latecomer is dressed…’ she signaled for you to stand up and do a 360 turn and you did.

What now? Fashion check? You were sure you’d pass.

After all, you were wearing designer from head to toe.

‘Dress sense… a 4 out of 10,’ you winced because it was your best and most expensive outfit.

Was she blind?

Maybe she had something against latecomers, or more specifically, just you.

‘Latecomer has neatly trimmed nails.’

She actually noticed that while she was speaking to you!?

Damn, she was good.

‘Latecomer is applying for…’ Louise fished out an application from her rather filled up tray and read, ‘Features Writer.’

She put down the phone.

‘Please stand outside the door, but don’t go in yet.’

‘Okay,’ you gave her a weird look but did it anyway.

‘It’s because Mr. Jung only starts meetings or interviews at every 38^th minute of the hour. I’ll tell you to go in when it’s 9.38.’

‘Oh.’

‘He likes the number 38.’

Somehow, the explanation made both sense and no sense.

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‘First class honours,’ Mr. Jung read through your resume.

You just looked expectantly at him.

‘Won news coverage award, essay competitions and graduated top of cohort.’ Mr. Jung’s tone sounded less than enthusiastic.

Seriously? Were your achievements not worth at least a change in his facial expression or tone of voice?

But then again, you were late.

So shut the hell up, Latecomer.

He leaned back on his black swivel chair and looked you dead in the eyes.

And the only thing in your head was, ‘Damn, he’s hot.’

‘Reporting time for work is at 9am. You work Monday through Saturday, but that’s stated only on papers. So, to tell you the ugly truth, you work every single day until you decide to scram. If you don’t like it, the door’s right there, good bye.’

You were stunned by his straightforwardness.

You then realised that you hadn’t said a single word to him during the entire interview.

At least you got the job, right?

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Wrong. But you’ll only find that out in Chapter 2.

You woke up the next day, greeted by both your deafening alarm and 3 text messages from your new workplace on your Blackberry, stating which floor and office unit number you were supposed to report to and the name of your department’s head: Kim Jaejoong.

That name already sounded yummy.

And you wondered what would happen when you actually got to meet him.

You dreaded opening your cupboard, because you knew anything you were going to put on today was going to score you less than a 4/10.

So much for wanting to impress everyone in the office, especially your department head, on the first day of work.

You still had some time before heading off to work so you walked across the hallway with your hammer and nailed a hate note on your ugly neighbour’s door.

(My sincerest apologies to anyone who feels offended by the above ‘note’.)

You suddenly felt recharged and ready for your first day of work.

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The new company you were going to be working for was Blitz, one of the top lifestyle magazines in world and they had a state of the art building to themselves in the prime business district of South Korea. It was a modern 38-floor (why were you not surprised) building with beautiful architecture and an even more impressive interior design. There were beautiful paintings and sculptures on the ground floor and a whole 8 or so meter wall adorned with awards and certificates to show off their company’s achievements. There were stylish furniture in the lobby and they even what they called the staff cafeteria, which looked more like a 5 Michelin star restaurant.

‘Wait, please hold the door!’ You started to run towards the lift lobby as one of the lift’s doors were still open.

You got into it in one piece.

‘Thanks! 20^th floor pleas - !’ You cursed as you looked at the guy who had held the door for you.

It was another guy who had the hotness level that was on par with your big boss’. But this beauty had the looks that bordered on both pretty and handsome.

Damn, even lift rides in Blitz were beyond awesome.

‘Sorry, but I don’t do the whole casual thing. And a ride to the 20^th floor is only half a minute, which is hardly enough time to… do what you had in mind,’ the beauty smirked.

‘I was just cursing,’ you clarified with the stranger in the lift.

‘Sure,’ he didn’t seem entirely convinced by your words, and you weren’t either.

That did cross your mind for a millisecond.

Okay, maybe a few seconds.

I mean, he was definitely on the ‘to-do’ list, and at the top of it.

‘I haven’t seen you around before,’ the beauty bubbled, facing you.

‘First day of work,’ you replied.

‘Oh,’ he nodded, ‘Anyway, I’m Kim Jaejoong.’

‘!’ You just realised that you had just created the worse first impression on your department head.

‘Again?’ Jaejoong laughed, ‘You seriously need to get laid sometime soon.’

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