The sound of the alarm clock rang. I stretched my arms as I rose from my bed. Pressing the dismiss button on my alarm clock, I yawned and proceeded to the bathroom to prepare for my day ahead. Wow, I did not just describe a perfect wake up scene, which was the complete opposite of mine.

“!” was what left my lips when I realised I had pressed the snooze button more times than I should, causing me to snap out of dreamland later than I planned. Tying my hair in a not-so-neat ponytail, I grabbed my work clothes and hurried to the bathroom.

“Of all days, it had to be my first day of work.” I mumbled under my breath as I slipped into the uniform they provided. Smoothing the creases, I took a short glance at how I looked like in the uniform. “Classy, but still old-fashioned.”

~

“Oh my god, I’m not late, right?” I came to an abrupt stop when I reached the gates of my workplace.

“No, you still have one minute and thirty-seven seconds to report in the maids’ room.” The lady at the gates replied with an irritated tone.

“Okay thanks.” I almost did not want to thank her for giving me that attitude, but what can I do? Such is the life of someone who needs to juggle a minimum of two jobs for her family. To be honest, I had been looked down upon so much, at one point of time, I just did not care anymore.

My train of thoughts were disrupted when another lady, who seemed like she was the in-charge, let out a command, gathering all the maids.

"Maids, assemble!" Her voice only seemed louder because of the enclosed area we were in. All of the maids shuffled into position, with me as the only one who was still unsure of what to do.

"You! What do you think you're doing?" She had a menacing look on her face as she demanded.

"I'm sorry! I'm new here so I'm not clear with the procedure..." I lowered my head as I explained. Upon hearing that I was new there, her expression softened.

"Well, why didn't you say so sooner? Uh, Jihyun, you teach her all the basics by today. If she doesn't get everything by tomorrow, both of you will be punished. Is that clear?"

"Yes." A meek reply was given by a young teenage girl named Jihyun.

"Alright, chop chop, go to work!" The lady announced, causing the maids to hurry to their work stations. Only Jihyun and I remained in the room.

“I guess we should start work now?” Jihyun gestured to the outside of the maids’ room.

“Yeah, we should.” I nodded, and she walked out, with me following closely behind.

The day went by agonisingly slowly, and there were many things I had to memorise so I would not get chewed out the next day. Jihyun decided that it would be helpful for me to do a little hands-on, hence leaving my fate to the kitchen maids while she proceeded to complete her assigned duties.

“Are you the new helper here?” One of the older maids questioned, impatiently waiting for my reply.

“Yes, but-”

“Good, then bring this tray of coffee to Meeting Room 2.” She cut me off before I could even explain my purpose there.

“But-”

“No buts, now hurry up, they’ve been waiting for a long time.” She shoved the tray of drinks into my hands and gave me a slight push out of the kitchen. Oh great, how will I find this “Meeting Room 2”?

After going around in circles for what seemed like eternity, I finally found said room. Propping the door open, I peeked in to see three males in a heated discussion.

“The coffee’s here, like finally!” The one who looked the youngest rolled his eyes when I passed the mug to him. As he received it, his eyes scanned my very being from head to toe. At that moment, I felt like an open book. his lips seductively, he winked at me. “I don't remember seeing you before, beautiful.”

Now, some girls would fawn over his good looks and return the gesture, but me, being the inexperienced person out on the field, just looked at him with disgust.

“God, can you not do that?” Another male went up to him and smacked his head.

“I didn’t do anything!” He raised his hands up in a surrender position.

“May I take my leave?” I asked politely, preparing to get out of the room.

“No, stay in case I need you to fetch a bucket for me to vomit blood out.” The old man said in a serious tone, causing the younger to burst into fits of laughter.

“Oh you’re so funny.” Jongin managed to spit out in between his laughter.

“Back to business. Jongin, since you cannot keep your hands to yourself, then I have no choice but to arrange a marriage for you. I hope you know that this is for the greater good of the company and you. I can’t afford to have you creating a new scandal every week and ruining the company’s reputation.” The oldest man sighed deeply, rubbing his temples as if they were in pain.

“What? You can’t just marry me off like I’m some pawn of yours!” The guy –apparently named Jongin- protested as he flailed his arms in the air.

“This has been finalised, you will marry Sohee of the Lee family.” The man continued, causing Jongin’s eyes to widen abruptly.

“No way appa! She’s a total attention-seeker who only cares if you’re hot or not!” He cried out in exasperation.

“Unless you find another girl to marry, you will attend the wedding as planned.” The man said in a firm tone.

“Then I marry… her!” He looked around the room before pointing at me, but I was too caught up with my own thoughts to notice.

“Really? Then you better keep to your word.” The man raised a brow.

“Seriously? You’re just going to let me marry some random person?” Jongin could not believe his father. Was he just going to let his only son marry some stranger?

“Yeah, why not?”

“Are you kidding me?” Jongin slammed the cup on the table, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was only then I realised what they were actually talking about.

“No, do whatever you want, if it means you stop fooling around.”

“Hello, I’m still here and you do realise that I’m actually listening to your little discussion?” I snapped my fingers to get their attention, which worked when I saw three pairs of eyes staring in my direction.

“What’s your name?” His father suddenly asked me, catching me off-guard.

“Uh Soomin.” I replied meekly as I was afraid that he would fire me on my first day of work because of some stupid comment I made.

“Okay Soomin, I hereby give you permission to marry my son and do anything you like with him.” My eyes widened abruptly, along with Jongin’s.

“It’s tempting, but no. I’m not going to marry anyone anytime soon, especially not a playboy. Goodbye.” I left the room with the empty tray in my hands.

“I’m so going to marry her and make her wish she never said that.” A smirk crept up to Jongin’s face.

“Jongin, is everything a joke to you?” His father shook his head.