Wendy sighed as she changed the receiver to the other ear, grabbing the watering can with her free hand. Still listening to her friend’s rumbling, she began spraying a decent amount of water onto the pot plants situated just outside of her little room.

It was supposed to be the most representative part of the company, because her office space basically served as a foyer to her boss’s office and therefore, all sorts of important people passed through her door all day long. Or more like they tried to pass through her door, she made an exasperated face, looking at the bushes that had grown at an alarming speed and were currently making it very difficult to even find the handle, let alone walk through the threshold. Wendy herself had to make three attempts at it this morning alone.

She sighed again but kept watering the hated greenery. What was she to do when her boss had so vehemently rejected the idea of cutting as much as one leaf of the oversized plants? They are living organisms, just like us, Miss Wendy, his tone of finality was still ringing in her ears.

‘I found the perfect candidate. He’s a fellow Korean language teacher and a friend of Tao’s.’

‘I don’t know, Sooyoung.’ Wendy interrupted the other girl, slightly resigned. ‘So far my luck with all those set up dates has been quite ty, even you must admit that. I’m tired and frankly, I am not looking for anyone right now. I have my hands full with helping my boss run this company.’

‘That is exactly the problem. You’re his assistant, not his wife. You’re way too involved in his personal matters.’

‘ECompany is not his personal matter – I work here. He trusts me to facilitate things for him, as expected of an assistant. And why do I still have to explain this to you? I think we’ve had this conversation before, more than once.’

‘Company is not his personal matter, sure’ Sooyoung kept ranting, choosing to ignore the rest of Wendy’s comment ‘but his family dinners, friends’ gatherings and, oh, I don’t know, his life, are a different thing altogether. You’re there at his every beck and call.’

‘You make him sound like a total tyrant when in reality, he’s the nicest and the sweetest person I’ve ever met. I mean it. Would I have lasted the past 5 years on the job if he made my life miserable?’ Wendy put aside the watering can, deeming the hydration of the plants sufficient for the day, and braced herself for yet another struggle against the green tentacles as she tried to enter the office. ‘Look, I’m really thankful that you still care enough to try and introduce me to guys but maybe it’s a sign that I shouldn’t be so desperate. When the right time comes, I’ll meet somebody who will move my heart.’

‘I’d rather that person moved you in other places, too, and trust me, Jongin can do it all. He’s perfect for you. Just come to my housewarming like planned and I’ll take care of the rest.’ Sooyoung sounded so confident that Wendy had no choice but to give in.

‘Just be myself, you say?’

‘No, I just said to be physically present. Under no circumstances should you be yourself – we want you to make a great first impression.’ The cheekiness of her younger friend made Wendy scoff.

‘Bye.’ Was her only comeback and she hang up, looking at the screen slowly fading and turning to black. Seriously, she was 28, not dying. Just because her best friend was a big flirt didn’t mean Wendy was just as daring. The perfect guy was there, somewhere. Waiting for her. Or maybe she had already met him. Maybe they were friends that were destined to turn into lovers.

But then it downed on her that she didn’t really have any close male friends. Oh.

Well then, maybe-

‘Miss Wendy.’ She turned around to see her boss approaching from around the corner, his usual bright orange helmet in his hand. She smiled and bowed a little. ‘I see our little green corner is continuing to grow beautifully.’ Little, my , her smile faltered a bit at the memories of her every day struggles to even open the door. ‘I must say that you are doing a wonderful job with it.’ He looked at her so kindly and seemed so genuinely impressed with her doings that for a second, it almost escaped her that all she did was reluctantly water the plants every morning, not win a Nobel prize in biology.

‘Mr. Zhang.’ She greeted back and looked down to the helmet that he was carrying. ‘I sincerely hope that you parked your scooter in a more convenient place this time, or the guards will yet again have a headache.’

‘I have been guided to a more appropriate one today. Did you know that I have my own parking spot?’ He looked at her in such wonder, brows furring, that she almost burst out laughing, in good nature.

‘Yes, sir, I was aware of that.’ She managed to reply. He frowned, appearing to think deeply.

‘But I don’t own a car.’ He stated the obvious fact.

‘But you own a scooter and you need to keep it somewhere while you are at the company. Simply parking it right in front of the main door is neither safe nor becoming of a CEO.’ She continued as he moved to open the door for her, the gentleman that he was. She was torn between her usual admiration for his manners and hesitation to be the first one to fight against the vicious greenery. Nevertheless, she thanked him and through the collective effort, they entered their work space.

‘Please come in 10 minutes for today’s briefing.’ He sent her a warm smile and disappeared behind the door to his own office. Wendy continued staring at his now closed door until she realised what she was doing and pulled out her agenda in haste to prepare for the day’s tasks.

She had certainly yet to meet another person like Zhang Yixing – he was a compassionate and an insanely nice man with a great passion towards ecology and everything green. Because of his firm beliefs and somewhat peculiar personality, Wendy saw how he could be easily misunderstood for an odd character, mainly by overly digitalised people like her friend Sooyoung, who had a very loose grasp of what it was like to live conscious of nature and not connected to social networks 24/7. But even though he continued to astound her most days, with his impossible ideas and unpopular decisions, she had grown to respect him immensely. His determination to make the world a better place and lack of hesitation or wavering when choosing the right thing to do made him even more admirable.

Wendy quickly organised the mail that she had collected from the first floor earlier, taking along the agenda for the day, and having knocked lightly, entered the spacious office. Zhang Yixing was already seated at his desk, staring at the laptop screen intently. She had no doubt that he was already engrossed in  yet another one of those sad stories about endangered species of bears and what not – every end of the month, she had to practically wrestle with him about how to spend the excess of their budget. Her boss had such a soft heart when it came to charity, and especially the needy animals, that it took all of her to remind him that broken copy machines and stash of instant coffee for the employees won’t replace themselves.

 Of course, she was right. He was reading another report about the seals dying due to global warming, one hand on the knot of his tie, fruitlessly trying to loosen it. He huffed, but even with both hands, the action seemed beyond his capacity.

The woman picked up the helmet that was lying on the floor, abandoned, before placing it on the nearest empty shelf. She then put away the papers she was carrying and motioned for him to turn around. He quickly complied.

‘Could we, maybe-‘

‘Sir, we’ve already talked about this. We can’t have the CEO walking around in informal attire. It wouldn’t be good for the team’s morale.’

‘But the tie-‘

‘It’s only Tuesday. You can forgo the tie on Fridays, because I’m awesome like that.’ Wendy eventually loosened the tie for him, but did not remove it completely. Somebody had to think practically, after all.

Her boss scrunched his nose briefly, before smiling again.

‘You’re right. You’re a great assistant.’

But there was, of course, another side to him – not so manly but, for the lack of a better word, equally lovable. He had created ECompany led by a vision that progress did not necessarily mean the  destruction of natural environment. His company proposed innovative ideas on how to conserve energy and natural resources used in big factories owned by even bigger conglomerates. What was set up as a small start up company, soon employed over a hundred specialists in their respective fields and was drawing more and more attention in the business world. The world will soon notice our importance, was what her boss proudly said in one of the rare interviews that he decided to give but Wendy was probably one of the few people who understood the real meaning of his words. While others might have thought that he described the role of his company in the business field, what he really meant was the negative impact that the state of the natural environment had on human life and how important it was to protect the nature.

Of course, being an innovator meant that sometimes, Zhang Yixing drifted about his day, being completely detached from reality. And that’s when Wendy came in.

‘We have a management meeting in a hour. I had collected all of their recent proposals and compiled them in a file for you’ she placed the first folder in front of him ‘so you can take a moment to familiarise yourself, although they will explain their ideas in more detail at the actual meeting, so this is just a draft for your reference. After lunch, you have time to work on the lecture you will be giving on Thursday and at 3pm, we have an investor coming. Depending on how long that takes, you can either continue your work or finish for the day. I was told that the budget proposal for our project with Red Velvet Industries will not be finished until tomorrow morning so one less thing to worry about.’

Wendy genuinely liked working for Yixing. Over the years, they became informal with each other, more like a couple of friends who happened to work together, but still, they never dropped the formality while addressing each other. The customary “Mr. Zhang” and “Miss Wendy” ensured their professional relationship, even if the line had already been crossed multiple times, without either of them really realising it.

The girl often wondered how on Earth the man had functioned before she came into the picture. Born and raised in Canada, Wendy Son completed her degree in management and accounting, and having absolutely no idea what to do with her life, she hoped for a year of self discovery and came to Beijing to teach English. While she soon proved to be a horrible teacher, she instead scored a few job interviews more related to the major that she had spent so many days and nights studying, and eventually ended up at ECompany, which at the time employed the total of ten people and took up one floor of yet another nameless skyscraper in the heart of China’s capital.

Her first impression of the CEO was justifiably strange but for the lack of better offers, she decided to give the job of a personal assistant a chance. They turned out to be a great tandem. Zhang Yixing had been, and was still, very awkwardly going about his CEO title, as if he couldn’t believe that somebody would actually consider him such. He had majored in biology and environmental ecology, as he had hurriedly explained, and the message between the lines was clear – he had had big ideas but no idea how to run a business, or even how to keep everything under control. Having given up on trying to do it himself, he had decided to look for a suitable candidate that would basically keep his life in check for him.

With any other person, Wendy would probably be hesitant to do so, but Yixing had seemed a little lost, although still super nice and horribly naïve in his determination, and Wendy was eventually immersed in his everyday life, that quickly became her reality as well.

Maybe that’s what Sooyoung meant, the girl thought to herself briefly but soon discarded the thought and continued about her day as usual. She had tons of emails to respond to – both emails and letters, for that matter. Their company had a lot of rules that Wendy at first found odd, annoying even – but she got used to them, even if sometimes she did not completely approve. To name just one, Yixing hated wasting paper on things as trivial as project drafts and the like, so when Wendy first joined, they had not used paper at all, opting to display everything on their tablets and phones, which was neither convenient nor functional. After the first heated discussion with his newly appointed assistant, Yixing had relented and as a compromise, they introduced recycled paper for the company’s daily use.

Wendy continued receiving thankful emails and free coffee from the grateful employees even until today.

At exactly 10 o’clock, she picked her boss up from his office and they walked across the corridor to the conference hall where most of the managers had already gathered. The company’s staff consisted mainly of professionals in their twenties and thirties, knowledgeable and smart, but also a little lost in terms of handling their positions. They all shared the same dream of bettering the world, and hopefully making some money to survive on the side, but were puzzled at the prospect of making Power Point presentations and having to be overly formal with their idea proposals.

So in a way, Wendy did keep them all together. She still thought of herself as an assistant, even though her salary nearly matched that of the CEO himself and her responsibilities reached far beyond simple note taking. If Yixing was the brain behind the operation, Wendy was certainly the hands that made all his extravagant ideas possible.

‘Would you like to eat lunch with me if you don’t have any other plans?’ They stepped out of the meeting two hours later, Yixing automatically reaching to loosen his tie.

‘I’ll meet you downstairs in 5 minutes.’ She accepted, parting ways with her boss to stop by the office and leave all the files and notes she had made. They would have to brainstorm the suggested innovations again between the two of them – Yixing had been visibly bored during the meeting, spacing out and coming back to reality in random moments only to scribble something down on his notepad. She could guess without fail that they were ideas for his Thursday lecture. He loved them because they were the only direct contact he had with theoretical ecology these days.

So again, it was up to Wendy to make sure that he properly processed the information and made use of it.

She quickly grabbed her purse – only remembering about his helmet at the last moment - and stalked out, running down the stairs. Her office was on the fifth floor. When she left the building, nodding to the guard in a friendly manner, Yixing was already waiting for her, having brought his scooter from the parking space forced upon him earlier in the morning. She made sure the orange helmet was firmly on her head, before hopping on the back seat and holding on to his waist, more out of habit, because he never rode the machine dangerously.

They soon arrived at a place that Wendy had never visited but that also did not surprise her one bit. Her boss was a vegetarian and therefore, never stopped searching for that perfect humus that would sweep him off his feet. Wendy could not completely give up meat but under his influence, over the years she had found herself craving it less and less. Somehow, Yixing’s positive energy and habits were contagious.

The moment they killed the engine, a black car parked right next to them and two men got off. Yixing smiled widely in their direction and Wendy’s hand immediately shot up to pat her messy hair self consciously, the result of wearing a helmet against strong wind. No doubt, she looked like a poodle.  

In moments like this, she wished she were more aware of fashion and elegance in general, but the sad fact was that because of her job and frequent rides on Yixing’s scooter, she always kept her attire neat but simple – formal shirt and long trousers, with a matching suit jacket depending on the weather. It was fine most of the time, but sometimes, she had moments when she wanted to look like a lady instead of one of the guys. Which is how Lu Han and Yifan usually treated her.

It was not that she fancied any of them – moreover, they liked her and accepted her as she was, but looking at the three good looking men in suits in front of her made her want to at least match their expensive looks.

She quickly gave up, smiling up to them as well. It had been too long since a man as much as looked appreciatively in her direction, hence those abrupt moments of insanity. Well, it’s not like I’m making it easy for men to approach me, either, she thought in exasperation.

‘It’s been, what, 4 years and you still drive your girl around on a scooter. You could seriously get a better ride, if only for her sake.’ Yifan took off his sunglasses and scoffed, amused. Wendy couldn’t help but redden every time one of Yixing’s friends referred to her as “his girl” but as usual, Yixing only chucked and turned to her, motioning at her to approached them. Together, they entered the restaurant.

Wendy hadn’t been aware that Yixing had an appointment with the two of his entrepreneur friends – since sometimes, they went as far as to call her directly to set up a lunch date – but she concluded that they must have agreed to this among themselves beforehand. Which is how it should be, she reminded herself, because why would they even call his assistant in the first place?

Their company wasn’t unwelcomed, of course. They had been close with her boss even before she entered the picture and they had naturally become her friends as well.

‘Are we eating some weed again?’ Having sat down, Lu Han looked at the menu. What he saw didn’t please him very much.

‘There is fish, which is what I’m getting.’ Yifan pointed out but Lu Han only made a face.

‘Bad day?’ Wendy guessed and Yifan only nodded.

‘He’s lost some serious money today, to a Korean company that won the bid on exporting the same materials.’

‘I’m getting it all back, I’ll sue those ers if I have to.’ Lu Han shut the menu loudly, face determined. ‘Bring on the fish, I don’t care anymore.’

Yixing and Wendy looked at each other.

‘Is this edible?’ She switched back to Korean, having been conversing in Chinese all along. One of the reasons for which Wendy had been hired back in the day was her fluency in both Korean and Chinese. At Yixing’s request, between them they always spoke in Korean, but of course, in the real world she almost always needed Chinese to communicate – none of Yixing’s, and only a handful of her own ethnically Korean friends, knew her native language.

‘Should we get this instead?’ he turned the page in her menu and motioned at the weird looking… well, she wasn’t sure what it was, it looked a bit like a salad but not really so she just nodded, making an indecisive face. Yixing laughed at her.

‘I’m sure it’s good.’ She further added, smiling at him. ‘I’ll get that.’

‘I hate when you flirt in Korean, I can’t even tease you about it.’ Yifan complained and although such comments always made Wendy embarrassed, she knew she should take them all in stride, just like Yixing did. Denying and getting worked up about it would only encourage them more.

So she just shrugged, making an innocent face. Coincidently, she synced her movement with Yixing’s and looking back at each other, they ended up laughing.

The lunch passed by rather quickly, mostly on a discussion regarding ECompany’s upcoming deal with Red Velvet Industries. Yifan remained interested, having wanted a chunk of the Korean market himself for a long time, but Lu Han sat in silence, slowly chewing on his broccoli, clearly still plotting his revenge against the faceless person who “stole his money, and time and ”. They left him to their own devices.

Yixing stood up to pay for Wendy and himself, and at this point, she had no voice left to protest. Back when their friendship was still fresh, they would always fight about it – he was her boss and they had not been familiar enough for her to feel comfortable letting him do that. Even with her closest friends, they would even out the bill, paying in turns.

But no matter what she said, Yixing had never budged. Finally, one time she had secretly paid for both of them when he left to use the toilet. He had never raised his voice at her but it was one of those rare times when he was visibly upset, his face reddening and his lips tightening in displeasure. If I couldn’t afford it, I wouldn’t be inviting you out to eat, he had said. It’s every Chinese man’s pride to be able to take care of the woman that they accompany, why are you making me feel bad?

Wendy had been stunned into silence. You’re my boss, she had finally replied. Also, it doesn’t matter if the meal is expensive or not, I don’t want you to think that I’m taking advantage of you. I hate such women the most. Yixing’s eyes had then softened and he placed both his hands on her arms, looking directly into her eyes. We are also friends, he added. You’re a woman, living in a strange land by yourself and I have a double responsibility to take care of you because of that. Can we, please, close this topic once and for all?

She never insisted again, not after what she had heard. Yixing went back to normal, satisfied with the outcome, but she was a bit shaken inside. Shaken but also strangely embarrassed, so she never relayed the contents of this particular exchange to anyone, not even to Sooyoung. Such was the Chinese culture and she had soon come to embrace it, but the seriousness with which Yixing took his social responsibilities… she still couldn’t forget it until the present day.

The rest of Wendy’s week consisted of writing up a really long report for the sole purposes of formality (she knew that her boss would never read it and she would still have to verbally summarise the contents for him) and preventing Yixing from sending both company’s and his own private funds to every single charity and individual that knocked on his door. She was usually very patient with him, because his generosity was definitely one of his more attractive points but even she had to draw the line when it came to certain projects.

‘Unicorns. Really, Mr. Zhang, really?’ She frowned, looking at the leaflet he was holding. He looked at her, less sure of himself that he had been a moment before.

‘Just… think about it. There is no proof that they didn’t exist. And this man says he has found a skeleton of what looks like one, and with time he can probably genetically recreate the DNA and open a unicorn farm. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to return at least one lost species back to nature?’

‘Yes, It would indeed be wonderful if such species ever existed in the first place.’

‘But why would he lie about something like that, then?’

‘He wants your money. I’m sorry but this man is a thief.’

‘But-‘  Wendy took the leaflet out of his hand and tore it to million pieces, leaving Yixing dumbfounded.

Finally, to add to Wendy’s hardships, Sooyoung called on Thursday to announce that they would be going shopping and having a total makeover the next day in the afternoon. Wendy was used to take a free afternoon every now and then, when things were slow at the company and she needed to take care of her personal business but she was not sure if she wanted Sooyoung to know that, because the other girl would definitely start taking advantage of the fact.

But nobody could outtalk Sooyoung and Wendy eventually relented, if only to shut her up.

‘Why are we here, again?’ Wendy looked unsurely at the hair salon that Sooyoung had been trying to push her into for the past ten minutes. Her exasperated friend stopped her efforts and looked at Wendy, shaking her head.

‘I was serious before, you know. I’m going to find you a boyfriend before that boss of yours completely messes up your head.’

‘Why are you always dragging him into this? He has nothing to do with my private life.’

‘He has everything to do with your private life.’ Sooyoung refuted, narrowing her eyes and not for the first time, Wendy became aware of why her friend was so popular among the parents of her students. Nobody ever dared slack in her presence. ‘You’re always at work or hanging out with him and his friends, parents and family. Your previous relationships sort of failed-‘

‘Sort of?’ Wendy murmured to herself in disbelief.

‘-but I’m sure you agree that you always hold back and never make enough effort. Look at your hair, at your clothes, at your-‘

‘Hey!’ Wendy was getting annoyed. ‘One more word and I’m going home. Besides, I don’t need a guy who only pays attention to my clothes and hair. I want to be comfortable around the person I like.’

‘Nobody gets comfortable around anybody on the first date. We want you to make a good first impression. When you sweep him off his feet for good, that’s when you can go back to your boring suits and stretched pyjamas. Even if you end up not hooking up with Jongin, you’re still meeting him upon my recommendation. I don’t want to be embarrassed for you more than I already am.’

And that was how Sooyoung always had the last word. She was just too blunt and intimidating to go against.

Wendy ended up having her hair trimmed a bit, following the recent trend, and after a long struggle, agreed to dye it blond. For the evening. Maybe for one week. But she was definitely not keeping it any longer.

She almost screamed when she saw herself in the mirror.

‘I will never be able to face people again.’ She lamented but her shriek was stifled in Sooyoung’s joyful clapping.

‘You look amazing. Let’s go buy some dresses now.’ She dragged her to the nearest shopping centre.

Wendy, of course, let her. She knew that although Sooyoung was seemingly tough and crass on the outside, she really missed her older sister, who lived in South Korea, and that Wendy herself served as a substitute of sorts for her. Sooyoung knew that she knew, and of course, shamelessly used her as she pleased, like the brat that she was. She managed to talk Wendy into buying a few skirts and dresses, both for work and for the sake of the older girl’s nonexistent social life, and they parted ways, promising to reunite at Sooyoung’s party later that night.

Wendy was somewhat nervous. It had been a long time since the last time she looked at any man that way. Definitely not since Chanyeol and look how that turned out. She sighed as she tried her best to look more feminine and presentable, but all she did was manage to stab herself in the eye with the eyeliner. She threw it away in annoyance, she couldn’t believe that her own brother was better at applying makeup than she was. That’s it, she thought to herself. She was past the age when she wanted to pretend to be somebody else just to get a guy’s attention. This Jongin was probably not even worth her time.

She smoothed her unruly hair, letting it slide over her shoulders and putting on her coat, she left for the bus stop. 40 minutes passed before she finally arrived at Sooyoung’s and Tao’s apartment.

‘What took you so long?’ Her friend tsked in annoyance once she’d opened the door for her. Wendy guessed that something was going terribly wrong, for Sooyoung was never actually this snappy. ‘Jongin is already here.’

‘You know buses, they actually need to stop every now and then to pick up passengers.’ She joked lightly but the younger did not pick up on the sarcasm.

‘Why didn’t you just take a taxi?’ Sooyoung didn’t wait for her answer and grabbed her hand, dragging her inside.

Good question. Things like taxis and cars hardly ever crossed her mind anymore. Yixing didn’t approve of them, he always used his eco friendly scooter that ran on some magical green batteries, or public transportation, whenever he could get away with it. Beijing is already polluted as it is, it wouldn’t feel right for me to add to it, he always said with a small smile and a light shrug of his shoulders. While he never imposed his beliefs onto his employees (not after the paper disaster, anyway), having worked for him for so long, Wendy frequently saw all the advantages of his doings and without realising, she had adjusted to his way of thinking little by little.

Everything else aside, it wouldn’t make much sense for an eco friendly company to further contribute to the environmental disasters that they were trying to prevent from happening. Such small realisations downed upon her, every now and then – indeed, Yixing had a vision that his assistant, ever occupied with reviewing contracts and counting money, only sometimes got a glimpse on. But even she had to admit that while her boss kept his head in the clouds way too often for her liking, letting him pull her into his magical world full of kindness and unicorns was not so bad every once in a while.

Her phone buzzed in her purse but she had no time to check it, led to where a tall guy stood by the table, his back to her. Sooyoung tapped him on the back and by the time he turned around, she was already gone, winking at Wendy. That left the girl in a very awkward position, to say the least.

The man in front of her raised his eyebrow, looking at her, and a small smirk bloomed on his lips. Yeah, I also have no idea what’s going on, Wendy inwardly sighed. She decided that on the contrary to what Sooyoung said, she would just have to be herself.

‘I’m Wendy.’ She outstretched her hand for him to shake.

‘Jongin.’ He smiled.