“One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter.”
~James Earl Jones~

|00| Acceptance

“My name is Kim SooJin,” I said, trying to sound as confident as I could. “I’m 21 this year and I know how to cook and clean. I mean, I’m really, really good at cooking and cleaning. I can do them with my eyes closed. Really.”

Coming from a small village, cooking and cleaning were basically what I had been doing ever since I entered middle school.

The y creature in front of me stared coldly, not giving any expression of being impressed whatsoever by the super impressive things that I had just said.

“My cooking is very delicious,” I added, trying to tempt him. “Even the head of the village from where I come from acknowledges this fact. Do you want to ask him?” I was already taking out my cell phone from my bag.

“There’s no need for that Miss Kim,” he actually sounded bored. He was busy writing something on my resume in full concentration, his forehead in a slight frown.

Damn it! Nothing can impress this hottie, is it? I might just as well kiss this work opportunity goodbye. Time to go to other job interviews, Kim SooJin!

There was a moment of silence.

I tried not to stare at him but he was just drop dead gorgeous. There was no one at my village that could compare to him. Even the kingka at my high school would bow down in shame looking at this gorgeous creature. I looked at his expensive looking dark grey business suit and the super bright yellow silk tie hanging around his neck that was like screaming for attention.

Eww.. Yellow???

Man, sometimes, even gorgeous men have fashion issues.

“Miss Kim?” suddenly his voice brought me out from stupor.

I looked at him and I could tell from the way he was staring at me that he had just asked me a question and was expecting to hear my answer.

“Err...” I stuttered.

The gorgeous creature frowned; he didn’t look amused. “Were you listening to what I just said?”

I shook my head sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” I said in a tiny voice.

He took out a red pen and scribbled mercilessly on my resume. I think I had just lost another point. Goodbye easy money, I thought to myself.

“I’m asking you the reason that you want to work here?” he said slowly, as if trying to calm down. I think he’s the type who’s easily annoyed.

I thought for a while. “Because I need the money,” I said as honestly as I could. 

It was really the truth. I really needed the money to pay for my living expenses in Seoul and for my college fees. My parents were only fruit farmers from a small village in GwangJu and to be asking them for the money would bring a huge burden on their shoulders. Besides, being the eldest daughter out of five siblings, I felt that it was my responsibility to bear. I didn’t have the heart to burden them anymore.

I was told about the job interview by a lady that I had saved from theft a few days ago when I had just arrived at Seoul. She said that the y creature (who I still didn’t know his name) is in need of a maid to cook and clean the house for him. I was only required to come once a day and would be paid twenty thousand won per day, which means six hundred thousand won per month. It was such a huge amount for me. It was more than enough and I could even send some money to my parents. It was like a part time job and the lady assured me that it wouldn’t get in the way of my studies.

So that was why I was so eager and desperate to be hired by him. 

y creature looked at me, probably expecting me to add something to that. When he realized that it was my only reason to want to work there, he took the devilish red pen and scribbled randomly on my resume again. 

I think I had lost another point.

“So, because you need money is the only reason? You don’t have any other motive?” he was looking at me with those y eyes and I felt like my heart was about to melt like ice cream on a hot day. I need to pull myself together. “Like, because you want to seduce a single rich man?”

Wow, he sure is full of himself.

I snorted loudly. Unfortunately, whenever I was told of something really ridiculous, I would snort. It was a bad habit of mine that I just couldn’t get rid of. My best friend, HaNeul said that I sounded like a male wild boar during mating season. I wonder how she even thought to make that kind of comparison. 

y creature scrunched his y nose at me, probably disgusted that a girl like me could snort the way I did. “I take that as a no, then,” he said, scribbling again mercilessly on my resume with the red pen. 

I gulped. Did I just lose another point for snorting? I’m really not going to get this job. Heck, it’s not like I could control my snorting! It just came naturally ever since I was small. If anyone was to be blamed, it should be my mother. She should have nurtured me to become more ladylike! By the time I tried to change the snorting, I couldn’t since it had already became a habit.

No thanks to you, Umma!

“Ehem,” he cleared his throat, probably because he wanted to avoid not being heard again. I sat up straight, indicating that I was listening with both ears. “This will be the last question, Miss Kim. If I give you a chance, what would you like to change about me? You can change anything. Anything,” he said, emphasizing on the word ‘anything’. 

I bit my lip. Is this a trick question? If I say something stupid, he might just send me out of his house in an instant. This is definitely the kind of question that needed more time to think.

“Err...” I stuttered, contemplating on whether I should just tell him about his horrendous bright yellow silk tie.

“Yes, Miss Kim?” he said expectantly, his lips in a grim straight line.

This is the kind of guy that all the comedians are scared of. You know, the poker face type who only has a cold expression on their face all the time? I bet even comedians would run if they see this y creature.

I inhaled deeply. I was sure I was already denied the job anyway. I have decided to just tell him about the tie. “I hate your yellow tie. It’s horrendous. Who wears bright yellow ties nowadays? You should just donate it to the clowns. Unless, you’re planning to be a clown yourself," I said and snorted when I imagined him wearing a clown’s red nose.

A slight tint of pink started to appear on his cheeks and he didn’t look in any way amused by what I had just said. His face darkened as he took off the tie.

Ow’oh, I thought as I realized how degrading my comments would be to a future boss. Goodbye job! Goodbye money!

“I-I’m s-s-sorry, I’ll..I’ll leave now,” I stuttered and stood up. “Thanks for the opportunity,” I said and gave a polite bow.

“You’re hired, Miss Kim,” I could vaguely hear him say.

“It was rude of me to s-...” I stopped in mid-sentence when I realized what he just said, “Eh???”

“I said, you’re hired,” he stood up. “You can start this Monday.”

I blinked rapidly. I wasn’t hearing things, was I? 

“Th-th-thank you, Mr..??”
I still didn't know his name.

“Call me Mr. Kwon. My name’s Kwon MinWoo,” he said. “So, I’ll see you on Monday, Miss Kim,” he said, extending his hand. I guess he was expecting to shake hands with me.

I went to him and shook his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Kwon,” I thanked him again and smiled brightly as I thought about the money that I would be getting. 

As I was leaving, I caught a glimpse of my resume that was lying on his table. He had drawn a bleeding elephant in a coliseum fighting with a monkey holding a gun.

So that was what he had been doing during the whole job interview?

I wonder if he even heard anything that came out of my stupid mouth.

“And no need to thank me just yet, Miss Kim. We’ll see how long you can last working here. The one before you only managed to hang on until the second week,” he said when I was just about to leave the room.

I gulped.
Oh, dear God!

"Miss Kim, you can close your mouth now."

*****

A/N: Hey guys! :-) Some of you might recognize me from my other fanfic, daesung vs the kingka or don't touch my corn! I suddenly had the itch to write this [ng] non-high-school-themed romantic comedy. The style of writing would be slightly different from DVTK/DTMC. I had the idea to write this from Lovers in Paris, one of my favourite Kdramas ever. keke. I hope you guys will enjoy this. But just like DVTK and DTMC, this is mostly comedic. To avoid confusion, the article in ch 1 is about SooJin.