“My office. Now.” It’s my boss, Kim Kibum. He walks away, not waiting to see if I will follow him and never doubting that I arrive in front of his corner office door with my tail between my legs. What did I do? When I arrive a few seconds later, Kibum motions for me to enter into his private domain of an office, tells me to sit down, and then presses a button on the phone stationed on his black desk.

“Joonmyun, Jandi,” he says with a slightly exasperated undertone in his voice. “Jandi, Joonmyun.”

And with that, Nam Jandi is practically screaming orders from Kibum’s phone at levels a woman of her age should not be able to reach. Wincing at the amazing strength of Jandi’s vocal cords, I’m able to catch certain words: butcher, outrage, frequent staff change, that Bacon or whatever he’s called, flower preparation, and squid. From that, I conclude that Jandi will butcher me if the frequent staff changes at XOXO become an obstacle in the planning of her brother’s party. She is expecting it to be as successful as the party that Bacon or whatever he’s called planned for her lovely husband, Jihoo, in November, when all the flower preparations were phenomenal. And the squid?

 “Minjun is very allergic!” screeches Jandi, as though I had suggested we spoon feed squid to her brother in the past. I shoot Kibum an annoyed glare, but he closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, allowing the head pounding ‘conversation’ to continue. For a little while, I’m vexed by his nonchalant attitude about the situation, and then I chuckle silently about the headaches I’m almost positive Jandi’s voice gave her mother while growing up. I’ll have to add it to World’s Most Annoying Sounds.

“Thank you, Mrs. Nam.” Kibum says politely, if not a bit tightly, stopping Jandi in the middle of her rant with the skill and precision of a snake bite.

“Have a wonderful day.” And, like that, Nam Jandi’s voice is no longer heard in the office. It leaves behind an echo of sorts.

“Kibum, I-“

“Joonmyun, listen,” he interrupts, although his facial expression tells me everything I need to know long before he says it. “Let’s think of this as an initiation of sorts, okay? Everyone has gotten screeched at by that woman. Continue working and keep up with Mrs. Nam from now on.”

I nod stiffly, my vocal cords unable to produce a sound.

“Shoulders straight,” he says a bit gentler, offering me a soft smile. “I’m expecting big things from you in the coming weeks. As of today, you have approximately 2 months to show me why you deserve this job, Joonmyun. Do a great job and it’s yours.”

It lifts my spirits for a while to hear this unexpected pep talk, but then I realize that he probably says the exact same thing to everyone in my current situation. So I straighten up and meet Kibum’s kittenish eyes. With a curt wave, I’m sent out of Kibum’s office to brave the remainder of my day alone.

******************************

By Thursday, I’m pretty sure that the personal hell that was Monday was a prediction of the rest of my week. Baekhyun has been on me all week about my upcoming events, making it no secret that he’s helping me get the job.

In his cubicle this morning, he’s going over my contracts, budgets, and planning lists, revising it for any mistakes I would’ve made. No one likes to be corrected, but I really don’t like the way he’s circling things and crossing things out as if he’s marking every wrong and right deed I’ve done in my life, all the while shaking his head as he scans each line.

Suddenly, his head snaps up. He catches me playing with a loose piece of thread on my sweater. Friend or not, he’s still my boss, so I quickly right myself.

“How’s Feng’s party coming along? Isn’t it this weekend?” The sudden change in topic surprises me, but it’s a welcome distraction. Of course, Baekhyun knows about the party; he booked it before he got promoted. Even so, he goes through the stack of folders until he finds the one concerning the Xi’s.

“Yeah, it’s Saturday. Everything is already in place, no need to worry.”

“I won’t. You’ll be great. Is there anything you need?” Although he’s saying these things, he keeps his eyes trained on the page.

“No, no. I’ll be fine.” I say, my head shaking from side to side. Antsy, I ruffle out the back of my hair; fluffing it from how it had previously been. “Everything is ready. All the vendors are booked and confirmed.”

“That’s strange… Chanyeol didn’t say anything about it.” Baekhyun turns the page, running his eyes over the list of vendors. He stops and looks up at me. I have a feeling I know what he’s about to say before he even speaks. “You booked a different caterer didn’t you? I thought you weren’t going to change anything.”

Ary’s Catering?” I meet his eyes and he shakes his head. “I told you to book Chanyeol and Yifan for this job. We know them. Why didn’t you book them?”

“They weren’t available …” I lie, Chanyeol’s company SM Catering is amazing, but I had other options. So I did the only thing I knew how. List the Pros and Cons and decide. Ultimately, I went with Ary, but only after a huge amount of deliberation.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at me and sighs, his accusation clear on his face. I can’t help but sink down into my chair. He sighs, and resumes reviewing the documents in front of him

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

****************** 

Swallowing the last piece of my food, I cut across Civil Plaza,which is as busy as usual. A few of my co-workers are here, but I don't bother to stop and say hi. Instead, I keep to myself and continue to trek.

For the first time, I’m wondering if I made the right choice by changing my choice of caterers. I know Chanyeol’s team; I’ve seen what they can do. I was the one who introduced them to Baekhyun in the first place.

But still… my lists have never coxed me wrong before. Yet, what if I made the wrong choice? The Bungeoppang sits uneasily in my stomach.

And then it does an aerial when I see Monday’s sidewalk incident standing in front of XOXO’s sliding doors.

“What are you doing here?” I question rudely. Our eyes meet and I can’t help the shiver that racks through me. Doing my best to ignore it, I side step him and enter the doors. He trails me inside. Damn it!

Hello,” he smiles, revealing a dimple on his right cheek and sending a pleasant tingling through my body. Well that can’t be good. “I didn’t expect to see you here. You work here?”

I glance down at my opened coffee stained jacket, which I feel is nothing but bad luck, and the XOXO ID tacked to my shirt. “Last I checked, yes.” I incline my head towards the guitar case he held. “Is your band auditioning or something?”

“Huh?” He his head at me, confused, and then looks at where my eyes are. “Ah, this? Actually, no. I’m a client. I have a meeting here.”

A/N: I have no excuse. NONE. Just horrid writers block but even that doesn’t excuse not updating for 3 plus months. I hope you guys can forgive me.

But, on a less pessimistic note, thanks to all my new and old subscribers as well as those who upvoted, I’M SO GRATEFUL.

So, this is the beginning of the Sulay. There shall be more… *cue soft evil laugh*

BYE LOVELIES! <333

I have found another beautiful piece of sulay ;_; *happy tears*

Credit for pic goes to original owner.