Chapter 22

Be My Bride

At the parking lot, Yoona parked her car and walked into the building casually. As much as she wanted to think about last night, she decided to cheer herself up for the day since it was her final day in the company. She already made up her mind about what she was going to do after she left the building.

As usual, she greeted every employee who she bumped into on her way to the office. Instead of showing a fake smile, she showed her happy expression sincerely. Yoona wanted to treasure the beautiful memories in the company; at least those memories were worth keeping for.

However, she was puzzled and curious when she found the company’s lobby was a bit quiet than usual. Furthermore, almost all the employees she met were giving her meaningful smile. Yoona shrugged and moved forward to greet the security-ahjusshi for one last time.

“Annyeong, ahjusshi. How are you?”

The latter smiled and greeted her back, “I’m doing great, Yoona-sshi. Always great!” they both laughed at his enthusiastic remark. “Anyway, Yoona-sshi…”

“Dae, ahjusshi. Do you need help?” she asked concern.

He waved both of his hands, “Aniya. It’s not that. Earlier Director Seo asked me to give this document to you. He said, you need to check this before going to your office.”

Oblivious and clueless as she always was, Yoona took the file and checked it straight away. Initially, she was slightly taken aback because Mr. Seo never asked her to deliver any files before.

‘This file needs to be sent to level 2’ A memo pad was pasted on the file’s cover. The truth was, the instruction would lead Yoona to the first checkpoint.

“Oh, that’s the Strategic Management section…maybe he wanted me to do it for him. Okay, thank you ahjusshi. Have a nice day~” she bowed politely before walking towards the elevator.

But, when she arrived in front of the elevator, a sign showed that the elevator was under maintenance.

“Aigoo~ stairs it is, then” she mumbled to herself.

While she was on her way to the 2nd floor, Seohyun arrived at the main entrance. The younger girl fastened her pace to the information table.

She was panting but managed to ask, “Hello Ahjusshi!” she bowed slightly. “Where is she now?”

He shook his head in amusement. “Relax, Ms. Seo. Currently Yoona-sshi is on her way to the second floor by using stairs.”

“Well that’s good then. She’s doing it according to the plan. Can I use the elevator now?”

The security-ahjusshi chuckled. “Of course, Ms. Seo! Just press the button.” He gave thumbs up and wished her good luck.

Due to the fact that Yoona came earlier than Seohyun, the younger girl had to inform the management so that they could delay Yoona’s arrival for a while. The solution was to put a ‘under maintenance’ board next to the ground floor elevators.

2nd Level, Strategic Management Section

Yoona walked along the quiet hallway calmly. ‘Why is this floor seem quiet?’ Since she hadn’t really gone to the floor that often, or probably never been there, she had no idea how the surrounding was.

She was just about to push the main door to the section when someone greeted her.

“Hello, Yoona-sshi. Welcome to Strategic Management Section” a petite lady said cheerfully as she bowed a little.

“Oh, hello. Um, thank you” she awkwardly replied as she spotted the lady’s nametag. Yoona then showed the lady the file she was asked to bring to the section. “Anyway Irene-sshi, this file here…I was informed that this file should be sent to this section.”

The young lady smiled and took the file. But before Yoona could excuse herself, Irene stopped her. “Wait, Yoona-sshi.”

In return, Yoona creased her eyebrows in confusion. “Yes, Irene-sshi? Is there anything else that I need to do?”

“Yes, Yoona-sshi.” Irene took a glass bowl filled with small scrolls and placed it in front of Yoona, “Take one of this and answer the question, Yoona-sshi. If you failed to answer, I would have to delay your time to go to your office.”

Since Yoona was clueless about the sudden request, she simply complied and took one of the small scrolls in the bowl.

“Here it is, Irene-sshi” she politely handed the chosen scroll.

The latter then unfolded the small paper and started to read out the question,

“Well, this is one easy question for you, Yoona-sshi. How many branches does Seo Jewelry Co. have in this country alone?” she waited for the response from the doe-eyed woman.

‘What is this? Pop-up quiz or hidden camera?’ Yoona thought. But since she knew the answer, she decided to answer.

But, as predicted from the Im-Choding, she pretended to think by placing her thumb and point finger under her chin. Who didn’t know the oh-so ever playful Im Yoona in the company? “Ottoke? I find this hard eh?” she joked with the subordinate. The thought of the sadness she felt earlier subsided for a while.

The young lady giggled slightly, “Yoona-sshi, just to remind you that your office hour will start soon. You don’t want to be penalized with bad record on your last day, right?”

Yoona was amused with the comeback question from the latter. Indeed, she had about less than 30 minutes before her working hour started. “Hehehe, arraso~ In this country alone, Seo Jewelry Co. has 4 branches which comprises of 2 branches in Myeongdong, 1 in Incheon and another one around here in Seoul!” she answered confidently. She even winked playfully at the latter.

“Woah! Yoona-sshi jjang!” she complimented the doe-eyed angel while clapped her hands excitedly.

“Thank you. I learned some facts about this company before I decided to get training here. Anyway, can I go now?” she asked with a smile. After all, she wanted to clean up her office first.

The lady in-charge took something from the drawer and gave it to Yoona, “Here’s the envelope that will change your entire life soon, Yoona-sshi”

Yoona chuckled as she thought the lady was joking, “Jinjja? What exactly is in the envelope?”

“Nu-uh, Yoona-sshi” the latter warned her, which Yoona found it cute. “This envelope can only be opened once you reach to the final checkpoint.”

The statement made the taller girl frowned. She was confused with what she just heard. ‘Am I in some kind of Scavenger’s Hunt or something?’ she thought silently.

“Hold on a sec. Are you telling me that this isn’t the end of it?”

The latter nodded in excitement, “Dae! Here, take this envelope but DO NOT open it yet until you are told to do so, Yoona-shhi.”

The doe-eyed lady in the pink sweater decided to follow the order and put the envelope inside her bag. Since she thought that other employees might want to entertain her on her last day, Yoona might as well played along. Before she went out of that section, Irene gave her a small note that says ‘2nd Checkpoint: YOUR favorite place in the building’.

She thought hard in order to figure out the next checkpoint. ‘Honestly, all the places I’ve been to here are my favorite! Hmm...Seohyun’s office?’ Her cheeks were rather reddening as she recalled the make-out sessions she had with her girlfriend. She shook her head second after. ‘Aniya…No, Yoona. You should be mad at her. No!’ she convinced herself silently.

Few minutes of thinking in front of the elevator on the 2nd floor, she snapped her fingers! “I know! The piano room!” she spoke to herself and pressed the elevator’s UP button. To her surprise, the elevator worked just fine.

‘Ehhh? I thought it was under maintenance…or was it the other elevator?’ she managed to think before shrugged off the thought and entered the elevator. She pressed the button 5.

Employees Incentive Facility Room, 7th Floor

The little deer greeted some of the workers there before she hurriedly entered the piano room. Ever since she started her training in the company, Seohyun had provided one special room for her girlfriend to play piano whenever she felt like to, but of course Yoona didn't know her intention. This was due to the fact that playing piano was one of Yoona’s ways to calm her whenever she feels bothered.

When she was already in the room, someone was waiting for her arrival next to the white grand piano; her colleague from the R&D Department, Uee.

“Oh Uee-ah! Why are you here?” she asked Uee. They were already in the phase of dropping honorific whenever they had conversation. It was Yoona who requested for the employees in R&D Department to talk to her casually and informally. She said that it would be more comfortable to work in a less formal surrounding. Some time, the other employees from other departments envied the R&D staff as they got to interact more often and casually with their big boss’s girlfriend.

Then the latter greeted her with a hug before she placed the similar glass bowl before Yoona’s face. “Well, you know the drill, Yoona-yah.”

As she already understood that she was in a planned Scavenger’s Hunt prepared by the company, she took one small scroll out of the bowl happily.

“Here.”

While Uee tried to open the scroll, Yoona took the time to talk to her acquaintance, “Seriously, why the sudden game? I really thought I was being pranked earlier.”

The latter spoke, “Just so you know, today is going to be your final training. We want to make today as memorable as possible…so you won’t forget us ever.”

Once the scroll was opened, “Here’s the question.”

Yoona cut jokingly, “Shoot right away!”

After listening to the question, Yoona gave a correct answer in less than a minute. Again, she received her 2nd envelope. Few minutes of going here and there to reach the 3rd and 4th checkpoints, Yoona managed to collect 4 envelopes at that time.

Meeting Hall

On the other hand, the audiences in the meeting hall were entertained when Yoona unconsciously showed cute and rare aegyo. They could see it clearly through the screens and couldn’t help but to fall deeper for the deer’s charm.

“Kyaaaa! Neomu yeppo!”

“Kyeopta! Yoona-sshi is soooo cute”

“Loooook! She’s biting her lips again!”

“Aigoo…whatever she does is undeniably attractive. I can’t even!”

Every move and action she made had made the others laughed. Some of them even took photos of the screen when she winked to the person in-charge or when she was being playful on her way to the checkpoints. Of course, somewhere in the meeting hall was a lady who wasn’t really pleased with what she was hearing. Jealous Seo alert! She had to hold it in because she wouldn’t want to lose her cool in front of hundreds of employees.

Yoona’s Scavenger Hunt – Outside Meeting Hall

On her way to the 5th checkpoint, she met the last person she wanted to see on that day. Suddenly, all her excitement in completing the hunt dissipated instantly.

“Hey…” Seohyun greeted softly. She was waiting for the doe-eyed girl to arrive and bring the 4 envelopes to her. At the same time, she tried her best to hide her nervousness as she walked slowly towards the upset girl.

When the distance was about 3 steps in between them, Yoona uttered coldly, “Stop”

The smile on Seohyun’s face faded and was replaced by a frown.

Yoona pleaded, “Please…Just stop right there.” The bitter memory of last night was playing in her mind clearly. How Seohyun treated her, all the thoughts of Seohyun and Suho and other wild imaginations that she wished it to be all plain nightmares.

“Baby, what are you talking about?” Seohyun asked carefully. She was flabbergasted with the sudden mood change of her girlfriend. Just a while ago, she watched through the CCTV how her lover was happy and obviously enjoying the hunt prepared by the employees. What happened?

She received a cold stare from her beloved.

“Were you seriously asking me that, Seo Juhyun-sshi?”

“After what you have done to me behind my back…needless to mention about what happened last night…and yet, you still have the guts to ask me that?”

The younger girl froze. The tears were evident in her girlfriend’s eyes. It was heart breaking to witness her girlfriend like that. ‘What the hell did I do, Yoona-yah?’

Meeting Hall

Meanwhile, the others in the meeting hall who witnessed the situation gasped. They didn’t see this coming. Some of them were questioning each other and kept exchanging glances. Initially, the environment in the room was lively and filled with laughter. But it didn’t last long as the mood in the room changed suddenly.

“Omo!”

“What did Yoona-shhi mean by that? Did our boss cheat on her?”

“She said something about last night.”

The commotions kept going around in the meeting hall until it reached to a small group of women who had been quiet ever since everything started. The group was working in Seohyun’s department.

One of the women then spoke, “Don’t tell me……”

Suho overheard something, so he walked closer to the small familiar group. They were the women he scolded before, when he went to the CEO’s office yesterday.

“Spill!” he ordered firmly.

The three women bowed their heads so as to avoid the question. They elbowed each other until Suho couldn’t take it anymore.

“Spill it now or the three of you will be fired” he warned them slowly.

The lady in the middle decided to speak, “Remember when you came to see boss in our department, Suho-sshi?”

The man simply nodded.

“Yoona-sshi saw the two of y—you were t-talking comfortably…Like…she w—was suspicious and all. I—I think…I mean, we think that Yoona-sshi took it wrongly.”

Suho was wide-eyed as soon as the woman finished her sentence. “BWOOO?!”

Not long after that, Eunjung came closer and said worriedly, “My cousin is soooo in a big trouble! Aigoo, Yoona must have misunderstood, Suho-yah. Why didn’t you be extra careful when she was around…Ahhh jjinja!”

The said man knocked his head countless times for his carelessness. “I need to make a call to Miss Seo now.” Before he walked away, he asked the security to ensure that Yoona didn’t leave the building in case she decided to run away from Seohyun.

“Now I need to explain this to Uncle Seo and Uncle Im. They are worried sick when Yoona suddenly reacted that way.” Eunjung complained to no one in particular and went to see the two businessmen in a different room at the spectator area.

When the plan was finalized, Seohyun asked both her and Yoona’s parents to witness her wedding proposal. Apparently, the two families were dumbfounded to watch the unwanted drama through the CCTVs.

Outside the meeting hall, the tension was no different. None of them wanted to speak. Seohyun was trying to figure out what exactly happened until one blurry vision of last night played on her mind…

Flashback

“Where have you been, Seohyun-ah?” Yoona asked her.

Few seconds of silence passed, and yet she didn’t say anything. She was too drunk to explain. The endless preparation for the farewell