‘I will accept being fired if you give me a good enough reason.’ You looked at Yoochun.

‘Sit down, you two,’ Yoochun sighed sadly.

You pulled out a chair for the shaking Junsu before you sat down beside him.

‘What happened to the both of you?’ Yoochun gave you a tired look, ‘Writing an article about an event that happened last year and you-’ Yoochun’s gaze then fell on Junsu, ‘Not settling photoshoot payments on time and making our company look bad. Do you know they’re filing a lawsuit against us?’

Junsu cried like no tomorrow.

‘What do you mean by writing an article about something that happened last year?’ You gaped.

‘Heo put you in charge of writing a review about the fashion show but the things you wrote happened last year.’ Yoochun looked at you.

‘W-what!?’ You then turned towards Junsu, ‘That video you gave me….’

‘I got it from someone in the Fashion Department.’ Junsu sniffed.

‘Who?’ You demanded.

Junsu thought hard.

‘… We got conned,’ you face palmed.

‘You didn’t even check its origin and you just handed it to 4?’ Then Yoochun turned to you, ‘And you didn’t even think twice and just used it?’

‘It’s just that with so much work piled up, I just took whatever… , I really have no excuses. I’m so damned sorry for this major slip up.’ You looked away in shame.

‘If I don’t fire you both, I don’t think any other punishment will do,’ Yoochun said apologetically, ‘Blitz is extremely strict on screw ups.’

‘I understand that even though we were framed for this whole video set up, it was unacceptable to have been stupid enough to fall for this scam,’ you sighed, ‘But please…’ you got into your knees, ‘don’t fire Junsu! He really worked hard all these years trying to carve a path in fashion for himself.’

Junsu tried to pull you up but you wouldn’t budge.

‘I-’ You continued, ‘I’ve got that miracle ticket thing! CAN I SAVE JUNSU, YOOCHUN? CAN I?’

Junsu gasped and fell down on his knees beside you, ‘4, don’t! Save yourself!’

‘I…’ You started to tear, ‘I don’t want this as badly as you anyway… you… you ne-need this job more than m-me…’

Yoochun leaned back in his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose as he was now caught in a dilemma.

‘Are you sure?’ Yoochun asked in a broken voice.

You nodded sadly.

‘Okay,’ Yoochun let out a devastated sigh, ‘I’m so gonna get killed for this but… Junsu, you’ll still be punished but you won’t be fired. 4… since you chose to atone for this… wrongdoing of yours… I shall respect your decision and… fire you. You know what you have to do now…’

You got up on wobbly legs, bowed and cried on your way towards the lift lobby.

A strong hand grabbed your arm and spun you around so you were now caught in a warm embrace.

You didn’t have to look up to know who the person was.

‘Yun-Yunho,’ you wailed into his chest.

‘Just cry it out,’ Yunho’s voice was unbelievably soothing at that moment in time so you just continued crying like a baby.

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

‘Even if we catch the culprits, you’d still be at fault,’ Yunho stated while looking into his fridge.

‘I know, that’s why I accepted being fired.’ You answered, ‘I was under so much stress and I hardly had any time to myself… I guess whatever short cuts there were, like the ing video scam, I just took it blindly. I shouldn’t have… .’

‘I will have you know that I have sent Heo back to Shanghai already… I will fire her after I’ve found a suitable replacement for her in that branch.’ Yunho replied as he held two tubs of ice cream in his hands, ‘Strawberry or vanilla?’

‘Both,’ you managed a smile and Yunho pushed both tubs to you then handed you a spoon.

‘But I’m really surprised at your self sacrifice,’ Yunho sat across you at the dining table.

You looked up at him in question with your mouth filled with ice cream.

‘No one’s stealing from you,’ Yunho chuckled and you looked away in embarrassment.  

You swallowed, ‘I was just protecting Junsu’s dream. And besides, Jaejoong can totally provide for me even if I’m unemployed.’

‘True,’ Yunho laughed before stopping abruptly, ‘Speaking of which…’

Yunho shuddered and kept quiet.

‘Yoochun and I are going to… die.’ You did your best not to laugh.

‘I’ll fight Jaejoong off for you two,’ you promised.

‘It’s only fair,’ Yunho gave a small smile, ‘I had always been protecting you so it’s your turn to save me now.’

You laughed, ‘Yeah, just returning the favour.’

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

Even though you weren’t working for Blitz anymore, you were still helping out though phone calls because Number 1 was now managing the whole Wardrobe with just Junsu, Young Mi and Number 2.

What happened to Number 3?

Heo obviously didn’t go down alone, so she dragged her accomplice as well and the younger got fired.

‘Young Mi, I need you to ask Mr. Jung to slacken a little on the employment criteria and request for temporary Fashion Assistants. You guys are seriously short of people in the Wardrobe.’ You told her.

‘I’ll do my best,’ you could hear her teeth chattering.

‘Don’t worry, he’s actually nice despite his intimidating demeanour,’ you assured her, ‘Get back to work, every second is precious.’

‘I’ll call you again if we need help so pleaseeeeee be at your phone 24/7 okay?’ The younger practically begged. 

‘Of course, dear,’ you smiled.

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

‘Mr. Jung,’ Louise spoke though the phone, ‘Number 5 would like to talk to you about employment.’

‘Employment?’ Yunho wondered.

‘Sure, let her in.’ The Editor-in-Chief answered.

A knock on the door was heard before Young Mi bowed before walking in.

‘My secretary told me about wanting to speak to me about some sort of an employment?’ Yunho asked as he gestured for his employee to sit down.

‘The Wardrobe is sh-short of staff so I w-was wondering if Mr. Jung could be k-kind enough to hire some te-temporary h-help.’ Young Mi stuttered.

Yunho thought for a while, ‘What’s the job scope?’

‘They will be dealing with collections and returns both locally and internationally so the Wardrobe staff members won’t have to be out of the office so we can mainly focus on preparing garments and products for shoots.’

‘How many people do you need?’

‘At least 5.’ Young Mi answered timidly.

‘Let’s not touch the company’s finances or trouble Human Resources to do additional paperwork,’ Yunho stood up and buttoned his blazer, ‘Let’s go.’

‘Go w-where?’ Young Mi asked as she got up as well.

‘We’re going to find your workers, of course,’ Yunho opened the door for the flustered looking Young Mi.

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

Yunho brought Young Mi to a shopping district popular with youngsters.

‘We’re going to hire students?’ She asked.

‘It’s the school holidays so I’m sure most of them need part time jobs.’ Yunho answered.

Yunho gestured for Young Mi to follow him till they stopped in the middle of a parade square.

‘Start advertising,’ Yunho suddenly spoke, causing Young Mi to jump.

‘Advertising?’ Young Mi repeated and Yunho simply nodded.

Yunho jerked a thumb at a large group of teenagers behind them and Young Mi couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Okay,’ she nodded and walked towards them, ‘Hi there, you guys. Do you want to earn some pocket money?’

‘Are you a fraud?’ A burly boy gave her a suspicious glare.

It didn’t help when Yunho, who was dressed in black, with his scary poker face on and menacing aura walked beside Young Mi to check out the situation.

‘OH ! Gangster!’ And the group started to panic.

‘Can you all please remain calm? We’re from Blitz magazine, heard of our company before?’ Young Mi tried to explain.

‘Y-yeah,’ a girl nodded timidly, ‘My parents subscribe to it.’

‘Blitz needs some people to run simple errands and since it’s the school holidays, we thought it would be nice to give a money making opportunity to students. Are any of you interested?’ Young Mi gave them her sweetest smile.

They looked at each other.

‘Are you paying us by the hour?’ A tall boy asked.

Young Mi looked at Yunho.

‘Of course. Tell me how much is the market rate for part timers?’

‘I think it’s around $10 per hour?’

‘I’ll pay you guys $20, and if you do a good job then I’ll double the pay for the day, how does it sound?’ Yunho replied.

The group got excited.

‘You sure you’re not asking us to sell drugs or stuff like that right?’

Young Mi laughed and shook her head.

Yunho frowned, ‘I’ll pay for your cab ride to Blitz, so can you guys start working today?’

‘Sure!’ The group cheered.

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

‘4! We have like, 12 high schoolers working for us for an entire month!’ Young Mi excitedly called you on your phone.

‘Really? That’s great! You managed to speak up to Yunho?’ You laughed.

‘Yeah, I had to, for the sake of our poor department. And Yunho’s paying from his own pockets because he didn’t want to touch company funds.’

‘Wow,’ you smiled, ‘Well, the company will never accept ‘under qualified’ workers, so Yunho has to settle this issue personally.’

‘Thanks for suggesting this, 4! Oh, I have to go now! I’ll talk to you in a while.’

‘Okay, bye.’

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

‘Get the out of the lift, I want to ride up alone.’

The employees who were in the elevator in the first place immediately turned white and scattered out.

When the lift doors opened on the 30^th floor, the extremely pissed off person walked briskly and stood at the entrance of the Fashion Editor Department with clenched fists.

It only took a couple of seconds for everyone to take notice of the fuming mad figure at the entrance.

All of them started to panic and stopped whatever they were doing.

‘Missed me?’ The person asked mockingly.

The question was met with deafening silence.

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

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