‘You will be working very closely with Miss Heo, who has been specially transferred back to Seoul from Blitz’s branch office in Shanghai to temporarily assume duties as our Fashion Director.’ Yunho introduced the extremely lanky and slender woman to you while standing quite awkwardly far away from her.

Heo scanned you from head to toe and scoffed, ‘She’s the stand in for Jaejoong?’

Yunho looked at you then back at her, ‘Yes, she is. What’s the matter?’

‘She’s a little… underdressed, don’t you think?’ Heo gave a haughty chuckle.

You frowned and looked at your attire: Plain white tee over a knitted black cardigan and indigo dyed jeans paired with black sneakers.

‘Everyone’s got their own style,’ Yunho replied nonchalantly, ‘Good luck and try to be tolerant of each other.’

With that, Yunho left rather hurriedly with the two of you gaping at his words.

Heo turned to you, ‘4, right?’

You nodded with a frown.

‘Look, Jaejoong was the reason why I requested a transfer to Shanghai, so you can easily deduce that the two of us don’t get along too well. And since the Wardrobe is Jaejoong’s territory and you’re probably pro-Jaejoong anyway, I do not like you. In fact, I already hate you. So, if you want to stay out of trouble, keep your distance, follow my orders and we’ll be just fine. Understood?’ Heo easily used her height advantage to appear menacing while looking down at you.

You, however, stood your ground, ‘You’re the head of the Fashion Department so of course I’ll have to follow your orders. But do take note, if you go out of line and abuse your authority over me or anyone else in the Wardrobe, I will do whatever is necessary to make sure justice is served.’   

Heo was taken aback but recovered her composure a couple of seconds later, ‘We’ll see. Now, I want the main photoshoot pictures to be on my desk by Friday.’

‘Today is Wednesday.’ You reminded your superior.

‘This is Blitz, 4. No extensions.’

‘My team is scheduled to have the shoot done this Saturday and Sunday.’ You replied as calmly as you could.

‘Reschedule then.’

‘I have already booked at models, venues and photographers on those days.’

‘I will have the pictures on Friday.’ Heo her 6-inch heels and walked towards the lift lobby.

‘You will have them next Monday.’ You shoved her aside and stole the lift.

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‘ing ,’ you cursed as you entered the Wardrobe and fell tiredly onto your seat.

‘Need some of your favourite apple juice to cool down?’ Young Mi looked up at you from her desk.

‘Sure, thanks.’ You managed a weak smile as you watched Young Mi walk towards the mini bar fridge to retrieve the drink for you.

‘What happened?’ Young Mi placed the drink carton on your table.

‘Thanks.’ You opened the carton, ‘That new Fashion Director Heo was being so ing unreasonable. Just when I told her not to abuse her authority, she blatantly did it just to push my buttons.’ 

‘Heo?’ Number 1 looked up in fear.

‘You know her? Wait- of course you do!’ You ran and sat at the edge of Number 1’s desk, ‘It’s story time, spill!’

‘4, you’re supposed to be a role model for us all,’ 3 rolled her eyes at you, ‘not slack during work hours.’

‘Oh, shut up and just ignore us,’ you snapped.

‘What do you want to know?’ Number 1 asked.

‘What’s up with her hating on Jaejoong so much?’ You questioned.

‘Ahh…’ Number 1 gave a knowing smile, ‘She was the Fashion Director here when I first joined Blitz 4 years ago. Jaejoong was Executive Fashion Editor, just a rank lower than her, and he was in charge of the direction and planning of fashion articles for the magazine. They’re both really strong characters, so naturally, they argued a lot because of the magazine. Jaejoong was of course the more fearsome of them both, so he got his way most of the time. Whenever they meet in the corridors, it’s always an epic fight scene- they can argue about anything and everything under the sun. I guess Miss Heo got enough of Jaejoong and the fact that even though she was the head of the Fashion Department, Jaejoong was the one with the real power. So when she heard that Blitz was then, planning on expansion into the China market, she requested for a transfer.’

You nodded slowly, ‘I see… Anyway people, heads up because she’s going to get us all.’

‘Why?’ Young mi asked.

‘We’re so called ‘Jaejoong’s people’, so she sees us as enemies.’ You sighed.

Number 1 and Young Mi frowned.

‘Young Mi, try your best to push the photoshoot date forward, so contact everyone involved.’ You let out another sigh. 

Young Mi nodded and got back to work.

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

‘I said Friday, didn’t I?’ Heo drawled as she looked though the pictures in the file.

‘We started the photoshoot on Friday instead of Saturday and that was the earliest date my team could pull off.’ You explained.

She shook her head disappointedly and looked up at you from her seat, ‘Jaejoong would be so upset to hear that. I wonder what will happen to you and your department when I email him the Wardrobe’s performance report at the end of this month.’

‘My team has already done our best.’ You tried to remain as calm as you possibly could.

‘Looks like the replacement isn’t half as good as himself,’ Heo gave you a scornful glare, ‘I’m not trying to speak highly of Jaejoong’s abilities, because I truly hate that with all my heart, but he would have been able to submit these pathetic looking photos to me on the same day I asked for it.’

You kept taking in deep breaths in an attempt to stop yourself from screaming your head off at her.  

‘What’s done has already been done,’ Heo threw the photos haphazardly into her desk tray and you frowned at her tactless action, ‘I guess the shoot’s passable. Now where's the trend forecast article?’

‘I’ll have it printed and submitted to you within the hour.’ You replied.

‘You need an hour to print?’ She scoffed.

‘Within the hour.’ You repeated.

‘Fine. Go on.’ She waved you off with an unimpressed look on her face.  

You flipped her off the second you turned your back on her.

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‘Mr. Jungggggggggg,’ you whined as you unconsciously latched yourself onto Yunho’s left arm during lunch break.

‘Please behave,’ Yunho pried your hands off him, ‘What is it?’

‘Save me from that annoying ! She drives me insane with her insanely insane deadlines.’ You complained.

‘She’s known for her ‘insanely insane’ deadlines,’ Yoochun chuckled.

‘Why did you call her back? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?’ You whined at Yunho again.

‘You know I’m not a cruel boss right?’ Yunho looked at you.

You thought for a while, ‘Err… you just became one.’

‘I’m not,’ Yunho stated matter-of-factly, ‘I called for a suitable replacement from the Europe branch but they couldn’t supply one because they were either short of staff or the identified ones lacked in Korean language skills. And believe me, Heo took 2 months to consider coming back and she was the last resort on my list.’

‘You hate her too, don’t you?’ You smiled for the first time that day.

‘Yunho doesn’t hate her…’ Yoochun wiggled his eyebrow suggestively.

You got curious and asked, ‘Then what?’

‘Yunho does his best to stay far away from her.’ Yoochun shared, earning a scary glare from Yunho and he quickly looked back down at his cup of black coffee. 

‘Why?’ You asked your boss.

‘Let’s go, the Shareholders Meeting’s in 25 minutes,’ Yunho avoided your question and gestured for Yoochun to leave with him.

The both of them stood up and left.

A couple of seconds later, Yoochun hurried back and whispered in your ear, ‘Heo was obsessed over Yunho when she was working here, and I believe she still is.’

You mouthed an ‘O’ in understanding while Yoochun waved a quick goodbye and ran off after Yunho.

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

‘Would you like to take down the Wardrobe?’

‘Of course, they’re just like a bunch of rebellious teenagers who go against anything I say, just like that narcissistic Jaejoong. I want to fire them all.’

‘I can help you with that because I don’t like how things are run within that pathetic department.’

‘How can I trust you?’

‘I hate Jaejoong as much as you do and besides, I don’t want to stick being at the bottom of the food chain forever.’

‘Fine, I guess I can trust you... for now. We’ll keep in contact.’

‘Sure.’

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