‘Yes, I know that this is my first time holding a meeting for all the staff members of the Wardrobe, but please close your mouths.’ Yunho drawled, ‘Thank you.’

You frowned when you saw Jaejoong using his Polaroid camera to take selcas and sticking them on the department’s giant notice board near its entrance.

It made your heart hurt even more.

Yunho cleared his throat to get your attention and you mouthed a quick apology to him before your full attention was back on the meeting’s documents before you.

‘There is going to be a big change in the whole Fashion Department, especially in the Wardrobe, so that’s why I’m here today.’ Yunho seemed to be holding back a sad sigh but continued in his usual serious tone, ‘Department Head Kim Jaejoong will be posted overseas for Blitz’s expansion project into the American market whereby he will assume the temporary position as the New York branch’s Fashion Director. He will be there for at least one year. Because of this, Mr. Kim and I had been discussing about the management of the Fashion Department and came to this conclusion- Latecomer will become the stand in Fashion Supervisor.’

‘,’ you cursed under your breath and rolled your eyes.

Yunho shot you a dead scary look that made the hair on your arms stand.

You apologised again to your Editor-in-Chief.

‘Ex-Number 3, Mr. Kim Junsu, will be working hand in hand with Latecomer as they will also assume Mr. Kim’s other responsibilities, which were duties carried forward from his old position as Executive Fashion Editor, and this includes editing, trend forecasting, photoshoot styling and concept development with the Styling team. Mr. Kim Junsu will therefore, assist in the Styling and forecasting aspects.’

You nodded slowly.

‘The new Number 3 will temporarily stand in as Senior Fashion Assistant and assume Latecomer’s current duties, which are to coordinate and assign work to the rest of the Fashion Assistants.’

You watched Number 3 beam and you rolled your eyes in disgust/hatred.

‘And one last thing to add- we have a newcomer,’ Yunho stated and everyone’s eyes went wide.

‘Who’s that?’ Jaejoong finally paused spamming his Polaroid pictures on the board. 

‘Most of you know her...’ Yunho gestured for the newcomer to enter.

You smiled for the first time that day, ‘YOUNG MI!!!’

You jumped out of your seat and gave her a bone-crushing hug.

‘I thought you were going into the writing department!?’ You questioned the now gasping-for-air newcomer.

‘Mr. Jung gave me a choice during my interview yesterday. He asked whether I was going to follow my head or my heart.’

You shot Yunho a quick look and he shrugged before you turned back to Young Mi.

‘You chose heart?’ You smiled.

‘Yeah. I wanted to help you out since you’re going to be real busy for the next year or so.’ Young Mi sighed.

You sighed as well but managed a smile at your new department staff member, ‘I officially welcome you to hell.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘My protégé, this is my top-secret file,’ Jaejoong clicked at the file icon on his giant desktop and it revealed rows and rows of PDF documents, ‘Guard it with your life.’

‘What’s so special about them?’ This was the first time you were sitting beside Jaejoong behind his giant desk.

‘You moron, these are my concepts for the next 6 month’s articles and fashion shoots.’ Jaejoong rolled his eyes.

‘Wow, you’re amazing,’ you gaped when you started to scan though them.

‘I know.’ Jaejoong leaned back in his seat, ‘Those will sort of lighten your workload for the first 6 months and after that, you can finally start to use that brain of yours. And for Cashmere’s sake, you work in the fashion department and you’re a total bimbo on this topic. Please go expand your knowledge on fashion ASAP.’ Jaejoong said irritably. 

‘Yes, Fashion Director Kim,’ you replied.

 And suddenly, the both of you fell into awkward silence.

‘Err…’ Young Mi was now in front of Jaejoong’s desk looking really nervous, ‘You wanted a3 printouts of January 2009’s main photoshoot pictures, so here they are.’

‘I said I wanted them all combined into an a0!’ Jaejoong spat.

‘Y-you said…’ Young Mi stuttered.

‘I said what!?’ Jaejoong challenge.

‘I’ll r-redo it n-now.’ Young Mi bowed apologetically.

‘Number 5, sit.’ Jaejoong closed his eyes and seemed to be fighting off his anger.

Young Mi shakily pulled out her chair across from you both and sat down.

‘EVERYONE ELSE GET THE OUT OF THE OFFICE AND GO FOR ANOTHER LUNCH BREAK!’ Jaejoong suddenly screeched, sending the rest running out as fast as they could.

You took a while to recover as your ears were still ringing from the loudness of Jaejoong’s voice.

When the sound of lift doors opening and then closing seconds later were heard, Jaejoong finally broke the painful silence.

‘5, you got my orders done right. But why do you back down just because I questioned it?’ Jaejoong demanded angrily.

‘B-because it’s y-you?’ Young Mi looked down embarrassedly and her answer made you chuckle.

‘That’s not a good answer, 5,’ Jaejoong rolled his eyes in annoyance, ‘If you know you’re right, fight till the end and don’t chicken out. This is how you survive around here. The weak will keep getting shoved around and forced fed work from others while they keep their golden mouths shut just because they don’t want any more trouble coming their way. You want that?’

Young Mi shook her head in fear.

‘Reality check, 5. Fashion Assistants are already lowest in rank in the Fashion Department, and if you’re going to keep up with this  attitude, you’ll be the lowest of the lowest. You’re going to be in such deep .’

Young Mi looked like she was about to break down.

‘Jaejoong,’ you touched his arm, ‘It’s her first day, give her a break.’

‘Kimchi, I’m trying to save all of your asses here. Because once I leave, you’ll see stuff you’ve never seen before. And I can safely swear, things will get real ugly and messy.’

You gulped.

‘That other idiot, I told him to come down 20 minutes ag-’

Jaejoong was cut off by Junsu, who came running into the office and said/shrieked, ‘Sorry, I’m late!’

‘Why?’ Jaejoong frowned.

‘I was helping out at a photoshoot.’

‘Helping out?’ Jaejoong scoffed.

‘Yeah.’ Junsu nodded.

‘Helping out?’ Jaejoong repeated.

Junsu nodded again.

‘You useless piece of !’ Jaejoong stood up and delivered a slap across Junsu’s face.

Your eyes went wide and Young Mi hid her face in her hands.

‘YOU WERE IN THE STYLING DEPARTMENT FOR 5 MONTHS AND YOU ING TELL ME YOU’RE ONLY HELPING OUT!?’ Jaejoong shoved Junsu and he almost fell on his (perky) .

‘I did my best to impress them but they just ignore me all the time,’ Junsu scratched his head ashamedly.

‘Apparently, you weren't trying hard enough!’ Jaejoong shouted before flopping gracefully back down onto his swivel chair.

‘I’m sorry,’ Junsu could only apologise.

‘ing sit down,’ Jaejoong sulked.

Junsu sat.

‘I’m so worried for you bunch of idiots,’ Jaejoong sighed, ‘I don't know what to expect after I’m gone. But if I don’t go, no one else can help Changmin to set up the whole fashion aspect for the new magazine.’

You sighed too.

‘Junsu and 5, you two better learn to speak up and stand your ground.’ Jaejoong looked at them both and they nodded vehemently, ‘Kimchi, you better watch over them like I watch over all of you.’

‘You watch over us?’ You scoffed.

‘Hey! Don’t ing give me that degrading look!’ Jaejoong slapped your arm, ‘I saved all of your asses so many times but chose to remain an unsung hero.’

‘Really?’ You sounded hesitant.

‘Junsu’s styling of a leader tried to fire him thrice. THRICE!’ Jaejoong threw a thick file at the said employee who skillfully caught it but had to pick up some fallen papers from the floor.

You gaped, ‘But why? I’m sure Junsu didn’t screw up majorly? Right?’

‘That questioned my ability to assess talent and asked if I was losing touch because for the past few months, Junsu hasn’t been contributing any exciting creative input whilst in their team.’ Jaejoong threw another file and this time, it successfully hit Junsu right smack in the forehead.

‘J-Jaejoong,’ Junsu winced and rubbed the sore spot, ‘Please stop hitting me and just stick to harsh words.’

‘WHO ING DIED AND GAVE YOU POWER TO DICTATE MY ACTIONS!? I ING DO WHATEVER I WANT AND IF I CHOOSE TO HIT YOU, YOU JOLLY WELL IT UP AND RECEIVE IT HUMBLY!’ Jaejoong jumped over the desk and tackled Junsu to the ground.

‘Erm... is this normal?’ Young Mi whispered to you as she stood up and moved aside.

‘Just one of Jaejoong’s PMS days. Enjoy it while you can because once Jaejoong leaves, this department’s going to be dead boring.’ You sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘This has got to be the worst array of food I’ve ever seen,’ Changmin groaned at the sight of the buffet table set up in the cafeteria.

You nodded sadly.

Blitz, or more accurately put, Yoochun, organised a farewell party for 15 of the company’s employees who were going to be transferred to the New York branch next Saturday, which was exactly a week from now.

Everyone was invited to this party but most left early because they still had work to be done or were too afraid of staying to face Yunho and Jaejoong, who seemed to have black storm clouds above their heads while they were at the side of the cafeteria discussing rather heatedly about something seemingly important. 

Now back to the buffet table.

The first half of the table were filled with finger foods like sandwiches, sushi and pizza while the other half was filled with salads and fruits.

‘We’re here to socialize, not eat,’ Yoochun explained.

You sulked.

‘Why the black faces?’ You asked Yoochun.

‘Oh, you mean Yunho and Jaejoong?’ Yoochun looked their way.

‘Yeah,’ you nodded.

‘Jaejoong wanted Yunho to watch over his darling Wardrobe even though you’re now in charge of it,’ Yoochun whispered, ‘It’s not that Jae doesn’t trust you, 4, it’s just that he wants Yunho to be sort of a guardian angel.’

You laughed, ‘Jaejoong’s too paranoid.’

Yoochun shuddered, ‘You haven’t seen the claws yet.’

‘That’s what Jaejoong keeps saying,’ you frowned.

‘It’s true,’ Yoochun nodded, ‘Anyway, back to the handsome brothers. Yunho insists that you are more than capable of running the whole show though.’

You smiled smugly.

‘They’re still arguing about Yunho’s lack of care towards the Fashion Department, I mean, Yunho really doesn’t care about it. He just leaves it all to Jaejoong.’

‘Seriously?’ You gaped.

‘It’s always been like this,’ Yoochun sighed, ‘And now that Jae’s going to be gone for quite a while… it’s going to be in a mess.’

‘Same thing as what Jaejoong said again,’ you started to get worried.

That night, you had a nightmare of getting fired for being framed.

Panting hard, you looked to the side at Jaejoong who was pouting cutely in his sleep.

That adorable sight managed to calm your frantic heart and you lay back down to snuggle up close to your lover.

‘I’ll miss you…’ you muttered as you buried your face in his back and hugged him close to you.

Jaejoong stirred slightly.

‘Jaejoong, can you not go?’ You started to tear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~