How it all began...

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“Chaerin ah! They’re going to love you, just be yourself and I’m sure they will hire you in a heartbeat!” The brown eyed woman beamed brightly at her, so enthusiastically that it made the ravenette struggle to suppress the frown playing upon her own lips. The woman in question’s friend remained adamant on accompanying her to her interview that morning, much to Chaerin’s dismay.

But then again, Sandara probably just wanted to make sure that she actually went to the interview, rather than using one of her endless piles of excuses for not attending her interviews.

The main factor in why she strongly disliked interviews was because it made her feel extremely uncomfortable. The younger woman glanced unsurely towards her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom; she did not look herself in the slightest. In replacement of her usual loose-fitting t-shirt, jeans and converse was a crisp white button up shirt, a thigh length pencil shirt and a set of newly polished black heels. Her plain complexion was largely enhanced with long of black eyeliner and—what Dara had insisted on her wearing—obnoxiously vivid red lipstick.

She felt like an imposer… Like she was pretending to be someone that she clearly wasn’t.

“Aigo, you look absolutely fine. Stop fretting over unnecessary things, Baby Lin!” Chaerin was brought out of her thoughts by the chastising tone belonging to her friend, who was looking at her in unveiled exasperation. 

“…But I don’t look like me. It’s like I’ve just dressed up to be someone I don’t even know.” Her eyes were downcast, the tempting urge to leave the building was becoming all too much to handle at this moment.

“Listen to me, right now. Lee Chaerin.” Sandara forcibly held her face between her hands, her eyes focused intensively into the twin pools of timid hazel.

“This person talking is not the same person I grew up with. You had self-confidence issues, but you overcame them. You wanted to prove each and every one who doubted your ability to succeed in life and you did exactly that.” With that, the older woman did not bother to suppress the growing smile that adored her face.

“I have never been so proud of you, and I want you to be proud of yourself. You want to know why?”

“Regardless of whether they will accept you—which I’m very certain they will—just take every experience as an opportunity to continually improve yourself, remain positive throughout the interview—”

Chaerin was suddenly overcome with a sense of thankfulness for having such an encouraging friend; there were some occasions where she often wondered how on earth Sandara tolerated her all these years.

“—and lastly, as corny as this sounds, all you can do is be yourself. The people who will interviewer you have a keen eye for those who pretend to be something they aren’t. They want someone who’s honest, reliable and a hard worker. You’re the complete package!”

The brunette glanced at her watch, only for her eyes to widen suddenly. “Ah, pep talk’s over! Time to go to the waiting room for your interview, good luck Baby Lin~”

The woman in question hardly had anytime to blink as she was none-too-gently shoved out of the bathroom door by her overly enthusiastic friend, who did not cease in waving her hands until she had reached the end of the hallway, completely oblivious to the bewildered stares from the workers.

By the time she had finally reached the waiting room, Chaerin had already lost count the amount of times she had taken the wrong route around the building.

It didn’t exactly help that each hallway looked exactly the same.

There were a few other hopeful applicants sitting in the room, all of whom were equally beautiful with their glossy hair, model-worthy looks, chic clothing and most importantly, filled to the utter brim with self confidence and superiority as they did not even bother to lift their eyes up from flicking through their fashion magazines.

Don’t let them intimidate you. Keep your head up. It was something easier said than done, but she somehow managed to do so while walking over to the only free chair in the room.

As time went on and the morning started to drift away, slowly the room started to seem a lot bigger as each candidate were called for the interview—she was beginning to feel somewhat suspicious of the fact that only women were being interviewed—until it reached a point where she was the only one left.

There was a nagging thought that was at the back of her mind. What if they had already accepted one of the other women?

She was already half-way up in her seat when the door had swung open, revealing another—surprise, surprise—model-like woman with a clipboard in hand. The blonde looked expectantly towards her with a smile.

“Lee Chaerin? You’re next.”

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Some people say that you cannot prepare for everything that happens in life.

For Lee Chaerin, the first thing she expected to see when she was directed towards the interview room was to see one, perhaps even two people who would conduct the interview process. She was not completely inexperienced with interviews, but her track record with them wasn’t exactly the most impressive either.

So, you could imagine her mixed emotions of shock and confusion when she entered the conference styled room, only to find not one, nor two but twelve people behind the interview desks.

The first instinctive reaction would have been to freeze up completely. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence to have this many interviewers, neither was it when the candidate—her—did not have a single clue who any of these men were.

(She had distinctively remembered hearing the female worker who escorted her swooning a while ago, which suggested that they must have been reasonably popular within this building complex).

But, she made every attempt to not focus on any specific individual until her gaze rested upon a seemingly friendly face right in the middle of the room. He stood up; she barely had any time to marvel over his effortlessly handsome features as he extended his arm towards the vacant seat near where she was standing awkwardly to the side of the door.

“Please, Miss Lee. Take a seat.”

Wordlessly, she bowed her head slightly, making sure to smile—not manically to create the wrong impression—at him and sat down. You can do this…you can do this. She subtly took a deep breath as the unnamed male shuffled through some paperwork, while the rest either were—presumably looking over her notes through their clipboards—or looking at her with slight interest.

“Would you like to introduce yourself to my colleagues and myself?” Once again, she was dazzled by his smile but shook it off as she returned the gesture, though somewhat more strained. It was times like these that she wished she could pull off smiles like Dara unnie did.

“Ah, good morn—err or rather afternoon in this case, everyone. I hope that the interviews weren’t too draining on you.” She inclined her head formally, quickly taking this opportunity to rack through her brain the notes she had briefly gone through earlier that morning, the same lines that Sandara had insisted on repeating over and over again.

First impressions are crucial, Chaerin ah! Remain confidence and focused at all times! She didn’t have any trouble at all imagining a miniature Dara in her mind, mentally cheering her on and reciting quotes that she would often say.

“—Miss Lee is everything okay?” The ravenette found herself catching only the end part of the sentence, she could feel her eyes widening in shock, an apology streamed out of as she bowed her head feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“I’ve had experience working with a waitress job during high school for a few years. I can work under pressure as I have been the project leader in some group assignments, I’m not afraid to speak my mind but also to take into consideration other people’s views. I have recently graduated from college a few months ago with first class honours; I’m reliable, organised and hardworking and I firmly believe that I can be a beneficial asset to this organisation.” Chaerin finished with her head held high, her unnie’s words echoed throughout her mind. Stay positive!

The pale skinned male smiled at her once more, making her feel somewhat more hopeful. He turned to his colleagues and murmured a few words that she could not gauge out before he returned his attention back towards her.

“Thank you, Miss Lee. That would be all; we will contact you with the results.”

For a moment, she had thought she had heard wrong. Wait…that’s it? He only asked me one question? Isn’t there usually a variety of questions being asked about the organisation, what experience she had, what could she offer to them, there would be a typical scenario to see what her answer would be…She had anticipated those kinds of questions, it was only when the woman took a sweeping glance of the room that she had realised that the majority of them weren’t even paying attention to her and probably what she had said moments ago. Even the smiley guy she had momentarily taken a shine to seemed to be losing his interest.

Chaerin felt her eye twitch in evident distain. That’s fine. Maybe I’m much better off without working for a bunch of conceited, pretentious bunch of teenage-looking guys.

“Thank you for your time.” With that monotonous, blank statement, she stood up in her chair whilst clutching her bag so tightly, bowed her head and pivoted on her heel towards the door.

Wait a minute. Are you actually going to walk out of there and not speak your mind? If they weren’t going to give you the job anyway, then don’t hesitate to give them hell. This was most likely to be unorthodox to what Sandara would have said to her in this situation, but she’s sure that the older woman would have said something along those lines.

“You know what? To hell with it! I didn’t even want to go to this interview today, I don’t even know who any of who you are or what exactly you do. I’ve seen the kind of women you interview, the typical pretty, skinny girls. I’m totally sure that work’s the only thing you’re all interested in.” She snorted in disbelief, shaking her head, oblivious to the looks being shared.

“I only came here because my friend convinced me to go. I feel like such a fool for even trying when clearly you all have certain standards that have to be met to be considered, to be asked more than one question. I have worked all my life through school, part-time jobs and college because I wanted to do well in life. I thought that a strong work ethic would have been highly looked upon in this establishment, but I can see that’s just completely irrelevant.” The woman shrugged her shoulders, her eyes slightly narrowed as the pelt up anger started to evaporate out of her system; she stared into each and every one of their eyes for a matter of seconds.

“So, I hope that you find the right person for the job, and I wish that person all the luck in the world to have to deal with you arrogant s. Have a nice day guys, try not to choke on your overpriced coffee.” She feigned a smile at them all as she saluted out of that office, feeling more elated than she ever had.

With her back turned, she had completely missed out on the mixture of emotions that ran across each of their faces. But she smirked knowingly that they had gotten the much needed kick-up-the-backside they all rightly deserved.

It was only a few minutes after she had left that all of them were knocked out of their stupor, one of them was quick enough to shoot a slightly crazed look over towards the formerly smiling male. “Hyung, get Tiffany noona on the phone now.”

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Chaerin could not help but feel strangely empowered.

Heh serves them right. It’s their loss, Lee Chaerin. There are plenty of other jobs out there, much better ones in which you will be greatly appreciated and respected by both your peers and superiors.

She was on her way towards the elevator as she passed by the floor’s reception desk just in front of the hall leading towards the interview rooms. The black haired woman did not take much notice of the hurried whispers that the slender, rosy cheeked secretary was saying into the phone. I should probably call Dara unnie and tell her all about it…but then she might suggest a shopping trip to make me feel better. Hm, dilemmas, dilemmas.

“—ah excuse me, Miss Lee! Over here!”

The woman in question blinked. Did I just imagine that?

“Oh, I’m glad I managed to catch you in time!” Chaerin felt her arm being pulled. Back towards the same direction she was purposely walking away from. Uh, what was going on exactly?

“I’m not exactly sure what you said to them, but they were very insistent on you going back there. This doesn’t usually happen, especially because they’re all so picky with the women they employ.” As much as this girl seemed like a lovely person, there was no way she was going back into that conference room. Over her dead body, if she has anything to say about it.

“I’m sorry but I’m not going back in there.” There was no point in beating around the bush, rather than wasting time by blushing and fumbling around like a little girl she got straight to the point as she stood her ground, shaking off the other woman’s hold on her.

The pretty ebony woman furrowed her eyebrows, as if perplexed by the fact that she didn’t want the job.

“Do you have somewhere to be right now? I can arrange another day for you to come in to see if that’s more convenient?” Despite her evident unwillingness, the other woman’s natural smile remained on her face prettily.

“…Uh no…I just don’t want the job.” Chaerin felt awkward as the woman’s grip on her arm slackened, the owner whirled around to glance at her. The ravenette released a sigh, scratching her cheek sheepishly. Aish, this girl’s just doing her job…I can’t help but feel bad. If only those bastards were nicer, I wouldn’t have much of a problem going.

“Look, you’re a nice girl. I don’t want to waste your time so just tell them to give the job to someone else…somebody who actually wants to work for them.” She tried to smile at the stunned woman, taking advantage that she could take back her arm, she bowed quickly as she made another stab at leaving.

They’ve got a nerve to ask me to go back. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just wanted an apology out of me. Heh, I would never say sorry for standing up to those unfair, ist pigs. I just feel sorry for the poor girl who has to work for them. The young woman frowned in sympathy, as she pulled out her phone, intent on sending Dara a quick message before the older woman had the chance to bombard her phone with dozens of messages.

Hey unnie, to cut a long story short, I didn’t get the job. Though, I think I got off lucky, I’ll tell you all about it when—

“I’m sorry, Miss Lee. But I’m under strict instructions, boys follow me please.” The next few minutes felt like a blur, she didn’t have time to comprehend on what was happening herself. She was rotated around by two lanky—who she could only fathom to be security guards—men on each side as she was practically dragged back to the place that she had sworn never to return.

This must be some sort of harassment! And my rights have no doubt been infringed! How much power do those people have to be able to do this?!

Chaerin struggled under the rigid grip on her arms, she made several attempts to duck, run and escape but all were undeniably futile, and undeniably caused some sort of entertainment for any onlookers.

The woman turned her head to shoot an apologetic smile over her shoulder at her. “It won’t be long now, Miss Lee. They had anticipated that you might not cooperate, so they told me to get you there no matter what…and I didn’t know how to get into contact with you otherwise.”

So that they can formally address me press charges for my unacceptable behaviour and blah, blah, blah. After a moment of deliberation, she inwardly winced at the memory. Ah…perhaps speaking my mind wasn’t such a good thing after all. Before the ravenette knew it, the pretty brunette had opened one of the doors that would ultimately lead to her eventual doom, exchanged a few words with the occupiers before she extended her arm out invitingly.

“After you, Miss Lee.”

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Going into the interview room the second time round, Chaerin had quickly lost that short-lived feeling of empowerment.

The tension in the air was so thick; you would need something bigger than a knife to cut through it. And the intensity of their stares weren’t exactly helping either.

The ravenette, however, did not duck her head down in shame. Even if I may be going down, I’ve got to keep true to my words. She folded her arms over her chest, a calm expression taking up the vacant space on her face as she waited expectantly. She nearly broke in a sigh of relief when one of them finally stood up—to end her misery—and looked directly at her with an array of emotions she couldn’t quite figure out.  

He cleared his throat. “Miss Lee, we have called you back here specifically because there is something of importance that needs to be discussed.”

They’re going to press charges. They’re going to press charges. THEY’RE GOING TO PRESS CHARGES. LEE CHAERIN, DO YOU KNOW HOW SERIOUS THAT IS?! Aish, now that’s going to go on your record and when future organisations you apply to see that, you’ll just get rejected instantly!

“We have carefully looked through your application and having been impressed by how you conducted yourself in the interview, you have proven to us that you would be an invaluable asset to our business.” He seemed to be blissfully unaware of her diverted attention as he carried on, with the others mutely nodding in agreement, unconcealed eager expressions on their faces.

How could this possibly happen in such a short space of time? Why did I have to apply for such a job? Aish, the gods above must be having a field day with messing up my life! She inwardly wailed.

Upon hearing her inner thoughts, the first voice suspiciously sounded like Dara unnie, or at least she could easily imagine the older woman’s voice chastising her—which she momentarily brushed off, as that wasn’t the biggest issue at the present time. She instantly blanched, as if already imaging her future career shatter before her very eyes.

“—and so we have all come to a decided agreement and we take much pleasure in offering you the job.” Chaerin barely caught the end of the sentence as she ceased her inner cries. She straightened her back quickly, subconsciously her face contorted into a look of pure confusion.

Uh did I just hear him correctly? Even after everything I said to them? No. No. She shook her head to herself. I must be hearing things. Yes, that would explain things. Any other person would have threatened or used legal action and call security to drag me out, whilst kicking and screaming my innocence.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

This time however, another chuckled at her reaction. She blinked, turning her eyes towards the direction of the new speaker. He did not hesitate to grin at her. It was the type of grin that caused an involuntary shiver to run down your spine.

“Like hyung said, we would like to offer you the job. We liked you.”

…You can check not being deaf off your list. But why would they suddenly change their mind? Just because I spoke my mind, I’m suddenly eligible and meet all the requirements? Heh, I’m not easily bought like that.

So with her mind set on what she was intending to do. She donned her best smile towards them, causing a few to think that she was going to accept the job invitation. Like hell I would accept.  

“I would like to thank you for considering me as a potential applicant; this is such an amazing opportunity.” Chaerin began, tilting her head to the side. She could already detect the looks of anticipation and excitement on their faces. What for, she didn’t know.

She released a feigned disappointed sigh. “But I’m afraid that after much consideration, I don’t think I could work for this organisation. Especially when I had already spoken my peace on this matter.”

She all but snarled out. “So please get this message through to your thick skulls. I. Don’t. Want. To. Work. Here. And don’t demand that secretary to drag me back, or else I’ll sue you for continual and unnecessary harassment. Now, with that I bid you all a good day.” Chaerin didn’t waste time as she stalked purposely towards the door.

This time, however, by the time she reached out for the door. She could feel her arm being pulled in the opposite direction, in a matter of seconds she found herself hitting a well defined chest plastered in a swanky, no doubt designer black suit.

“Yes, we were aware that you did not favour any of us. But we would like to convince you to reconsider, Miss Lee.” The woman in question pushed herself away from the dangerously deep voiced male; just the sound of his voice was like music to her ears. She refused to be won over, not in this way, not by manipulating her emotions.

“Ah, look at you.” One of them cooed out, causing her to scowl darkly at him in response. “You’re so feisty when you get upset.” He leaned forward slightly as he breathed out. “Unless you don’t want to be molested, stop being so cute. You make me want to eat you up.”

Startled, she tried to create as much space between herself and the grinning blond male before her. But of course, her luck streak didn’t seem to stop there as she felt her back bump into another solid wall—chest.

Chaerin felt arms snake around her waist, a voice purred out. “We promise we’ll take good care of you. Very good care.” She could have sworn she felt something soft and feathery touch the nape of her neck.

She felt indignation rise up within her, she lifted her arm to elbow whoever was holding her hostage, when something very similar to a growl emitted into the air, and once again she found herself in the arms of yet another.

Aish, what am I to them? Some kind of toy?! The urge to punch something, or rather the next someone who dared to take advantage of her was becoming all to tempting to resist.

“Lee Chaerin. Prove to us that your work ethic is really as praise-worthy as you say it is and whatever job that it is you desire, we will see to it that you get it.”

The woman in question raised her eyes towards the strikingly tall male, who practically reeked of authority. Any job…any that I want? That idea itself was more than appealing. Perhaps, it would have been irresistible if the bosses weren’t so detestable.

“And what exactly makes you think that I would want to work for any of you? If I’m just going to be harassed on a regular basis, then I would much rather go back to my old waitress job.” She was beginning to not know where to look anymore. Everywhere she turned, there seemed to be one staring right back at her with insufferable grins or smirks.

“Because we’ve offering something that you could not possibly get anywhere else.” And what would that be? A ually transmitted disease, perhaps?

“If you can work for us without quitting for a year, then we will arrange for you to transfer to any of our collaborating branches worldwide. If you work well with us, you could get a taster at the travelling benefits within the first month or so. We can help you reach your potential, if you let us.”

Working for a year? She could just about handle being in the same room as them for a short period of time, let alone a whole length of 365 days. She might have killed some off—or all of them—by then, not that idea was such a big thing.

Think of it as experience. Sure, they’re not the ideal bosses to have. But they could be the ticket you need to get out of this place and work in different countries, that aspect alone would make you a desirable candidate for any well-established organisation.

“That doesn’t hide the fact that I’ll just be harassed by you.” She remained strongly adamant on declining.

“We will respect your personal space and ensure not to overstep boundaries; despite your judgements of us we aren’t savage cavemen who try to claim every woman we come across.”  

Could have fooled me then. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

“Maybe you can change us, Miss Chaerin. Change us into better men.”

“…That’s not in the job description.” Was the rebutting reply.

“There are plenty of activities not included in the job description,” Just the suggestive tone in the tanned male’s voice was enough to make her blood boil as he leaned forward to tug forward a strand of her hair.

“Unless you want that face of yours to remain how it is without a handprint mark, I suggest you move it.” She narrowed her eyes, her fist shaking slightly by her side, itching to do more than just give his face a faint handprint, more than a black eye sounded like a better option.

“I’ll move when you agree to accepting the job.” Suddenly, his teasing grin vanished, only to be replaced with nothing less than seriousness. She shot him an exasperated look which could only be read as—really?—as she puffed her cheeks in frustration.

“Yeah, of course I’ll accept the job.” She gritted in sarcasm, rolling her eyes as she pushed the tanned male away from her. “Because I’m just playing hard to get, aren’t I?” 

Suddenly, for some unbeknownst reason to her, his face lit up. He reached out for her hands. “You won’t regret this, we promise!”

“Well, I’m glad this has been finally been resolved.” One sighed in relief. Chaerin’s eyebrows furrowed together in bewilderment, what’s gotten into all of them? Why are they so happy now?

“We look forward to working with you, Chaerin ah. See you bright and early in the morning~”

“Try not to miss us too much!”

“Because we’ll miss you like crazy.”

As she found herself being pushing out of the room, being greeted farewell by smiles, flying kisses and fleeting hugs. She stood outside the door, her face dropped into something akin to anguish. It took her a few seconds to recollect her thoughts, to piece together what had exactly happened when she whirled around to shot an accusing look towards the door, where all the twelve plotters responsible for her current meltdown were. 

“Wait—WHAT?”

And somehow, in a matter of the space of about just under fifteen minutes, after holding in her anger from the clear decision from the start on their part—only to heatedly speak her mind—and storming out of there, she found herself in a completely undesirable position.

Remember kids, sarcasm just gets you in all kinds of bat- crazy situations. Suddenly, a mocking tone entered her mind, repeating the same words she had spat out at those twelve individuals.

“So, I hope that you find the right person for the job, and I wish that person all the luck in the world to have to deal with you arrogant s. Have a nice day guys, try not to choke on your overpriced coffee.”

I’m going to need every scrap of luck I can get…Aish; this is going to be one long year.

She had somehow earned herself not just one but twelve bosses from hell.

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AUTHOR NOTES

I don't even know how this all started. CL's wasn't even my bias!

until that gayo perf >< she absolutely killed it.

And so, I decided to make a oneshot (?) about CL! With EXO! (I know the popular pairing is Dara/Exo/otherkpopgroups) and I wasn't sure which one to go through but I just wanted to try something with CL in ^_^

Anywho, I have to go and sleep. I wasn't planning on going to bed this early but my work rung me like an hour ago to ask whether I can work tomorrow and I stupidly said I could...so I gotta get up early in my school break >< arhhhhh

At this moment in time, I might just leave this as a oneshot, I'll see how I feel...

Take care, m'dearies!