YEAR: 2021

(3 YEARS LATER)
╚»★«╝

Seokjin was dozing fitfully inside the elevator. The notification in his phone woke him up so he opened his eyes and became startled.

Waking up early in the morning is the worst punishment.

But he had no choice. He had to go to his work place regularly in the early morning.

As the elevator was going down painfully slow, he decided to scrolll through his phone for updates about the world. And he came across an interesting post.

“Actress Kim Jisoo in talks to be casted for upcoming drama Snowdrop along with Actor Jung Hae In.”

“Great, another drama.” Seokjin murmured rolling his eyes and searched about the actor. “He's 7 years older than her. Just lovely.” he scoffed and put his phone back in the pocket. Watching his girlfriend with other men was something he was used to for years, but the pain and the jealousy never left his soul.

As he walked out of his penthouse apartment, he was greeted by the amazing sunlight pouring on his face with birds chirping and a comforting breeze blowing smoothly. He smiled lightly before closing his eyes to feel the nature and opened them again.

His car was in front of him, with the driver waiting with a bright face. He walked to his car as the driver opened the door for him.

“Good Morning, CEO Kim.”

“Morning, Secretary Song. Don't I look world wide handsome today?”

Yoon Min forced a smile before replying, “Can you stop asking me the same question every morning?”

“Sorry, I'm too good-looking to do that.”

She let out a mocking laugh as he threw the car keys at her, got inside the backseat and closed the door. Rolling her eyes, she got inside the driver's seat and put on her seatbelt. Then she started the car and began driving to their office.

When Yoon Min wanted to find a job, Seokjin didn’t want her to go out alone every day in an unknown city. So he appointed her as his secretary out of the blue. He never had a secretary in his life. The people at the company were surprised to find him hiring a secretary out of nowhere. Yoon Min was both nervous and excited for her new job. When he thought it would be very hard for her to learn everything quickly, it wasn’t the same for her. She read books about her job, watched online videos, worked extremely hard to learn about business, hotel management etc. As a result, she was a perfect secretary for him within a few months.

She learnt everything a secretary needed to know. Such as learning English, learning how to drive, learning about hotel management, official behaviour, how to attend business meetings and calls, even how to go on business tours with preparations. She actually spent 5-6 months on these and slowly, she helped Seokjin in every way she could. And him being the considerate one, always forgave her if she caused any mistakes and helped to understand the critical things. Thanks to his help, she learnt to be a good secretary.

Yoon Min was driving steadily when she heard Seokjin asking from behind, “What's my schedule today?”

“The meeting with managenent team today is cancelled. Instead you have a meeting with Mr. Freeman at 10 a.m. And nothing more important. Oh, the painting for the lobby is ready by the way. They said it'll delieved by tomorrow.” she informed him.

Seokjin groaned in frustration, “Aish, that Australian guy again? I hate myself when I speak English.”

Yoon Min suppressed a giggle but unfortunately, he noticed that. “Find that funny, don't you? How about you try talking with him?”

“You know Mr. Freeman likes me more than you.”

Seokjin scoffed at her answer before leaning against his seat. “Yeah. I forgot my secretary is more fluent in English than me.”

“Thanks to my beloved Kdramas!” Yoon Min announced happily while meeting his uninterested eyes through the rear-view mirror. Sealing her lips shut, she focused on driving but got interrupted by a sudden thought. She glanced at him through the rear-view again, “Ah by the way, Ms. Kim is going to--”

“I heard the news. No need to tell.” Judging by the tone of his voice, he definitely wasn’t happy with the news.

Yoon Min licked her lips before asking, “How are you feeling?”

“Awful.” he replied honestly.

“Aish Sir, you always overreact about her career. At the end, Ms. Kim is always going to choose you, right?” Yoon Min forced some words out of her mouth with a fake smile.

Seokjin sighed and looked outside through the window. He wasn’t sure if he was worthy enough for Jisoo to choose him over others.

-----------

As both of them walked inside their office, all employees bowed to him. Seokjin bowed back lightly before walking quickly to the elevator. He never used to bow back to people earlier. But Yoon Min adviced him to do so, according to her, it made him look more kind.

He monotonously got inside the elevator while his secretary was humming when getting inside, “Elevator, my old friend~” she stood behind him with a creepy smile. He still didn’t figure out her obsession with elevators.

Some minutes were silent with both in their own thoughts. But Yoon Min suddenly spoke up,

“Ah, CEO Kim. Your anniversary's tomorrow.”

Seokjin squinted his eyes in surprise and realized what she said was indeed true.

“Right. Oh my God, I forgot it again!” he slapped his forehead out of remorse.

He curiously asked her, facing her with his back, “Why is it that you remember this day every year unlike me?”

Yoon Min's smile faded away slowly by his question. The elevator door opened with a ding by then so Seokjin got out and she followed him.

“I guess you don't remember that as well.” she slightly chuckled while walking behind him.

“It's the day w-we first met.”

Seokjin suddenly stopped in his place as realization gobbled his soul. She was right. He encountered with her at the Orphanage on this day.

He bit his lower lip and pretended not to care about it. He continued walking forward while keeping a poker face.

Seokjin's office was the second largest room in the whole company after the meeting room. And Yoon Min had her little, personal room right beside his. She had to work nearby because mainly her duty was to assist her CEO whenever he ordered her. So basically if he had to find her, he just had to call her using the telephone and she would arrive inside his office in a few second.

Their rooms were the only ones at the highest floor of their office but they were never alone as cleaners and employees would pace in the floor busily every minute.

“I'll knock on your door a few minutes before the meeting will start.” Yoon Min stopped in front of her room and reminded him. That's where they usually parted ways every morning. His office was just a few steps ahead.

Seokjin hummed in response.

------------

Yoon Min was printing some papers in front of the photocopier in the employees' room. It was past 5 p.m. already so they had only an hour for the working hours to end. Some days were faster than the others. She had the team leader of the PR team beside her, engaging themselves in a serious conversation.

“Let me guess, CEO Kim didn’t remember this time as well, right?”

She pressed her lips in a thin line before shaking her head. “Unnie, he's too busy to remember things like this.”

“Yeah, busy with God knows what, that he forgets his anniversary date every time.” Go-eun mocked him openly. “He doesn’t know you save his life every time.”

Yoon Min smiled unwillingly at the comment, not exactly relating to it.

“But let's admit, Kim Jisoo is the goddess of our country. Have you seen how perfect she looks in every angle? Our CEO is bound to fall head over heels for her.”

Chucking, Yoon Min arranged the papers together before patting the other's shoulder, “Don't worry, Unnie. You are beautiful too.”

“Stop joking, Yoon Min.” somehow, she caught her lie. Shs was an expert in this field.

Suddenly, a male employee burst inside the room, running out of breath as he faced the women fastly.

“Secretary Song, I think she's here.”

“What do you mean she's here? I don't hear anything.” Go-eun asked monotonously.

The male was about to reply when suddenly everyone could hear a yelling from the lobby, “For God's sake, don't ask for autographs here!”

“Oh no, it's her.” Go-eun glanced at Yoon Min worriedly.

She already had a scared expression as she cursed mentally and handed all the papers to the team leader swiftly. “Shit, CEO Kim doesn’t know!”

With that, Yoon Min ran out of the employees's room in the speed of a rabbit. She ran to the elevator section and pressed a button. But unfortunately, that elevator was already occupied and coming up from the lobby, so it had to be her who was coming. Cursing again, she took another elevator and fortunately, it was empty. Immediately getting inside, she pressed the button which would take her to the highest floor.

After a few seconds, the doors opened and she ran out of the elevator, straight to the CEO's office. The shoes she was wearing wasn’t high so they didn’t bother her that much. But she did trip sometimes and got hurt in the ankle.

Slamming the door open without knocking, Yoon Min looked breathless and exhausted as she found Seokjin staring at her dumbly.

“SIR, SHE'S HERE!”

He raised an eyebrow, “Who?”

“JISOO! KIM JISOO!”

Hearing her name, Seokjin jumped out of his seat and panicked mentally. His fingers automatically went through his styled hair out of nervousness. He glanced at her and pointed his finger, “Hold her as long as you can.”

“But she--”

“Go, Yoon Min! We got no time!”

Rolling her eyes, Yoon Min nodded and closed the door. She again ran to the elevator but unfortunately, that's when the elevator's door opened with a ding, revealing none other than the most awaited person.

Yoon Min got startled to see her in front of her so it took her some seconds to reciprocate the situation and bow to her, “Ms. Kim! You've come!”

Jisoo however didn’t show any response. Instead, her sharp eyes behind her sunglasses were examining the tiny drops of sweat rolling down from her forehead and her hair strands seemed slightly wet. Also, she noticed how heavily she was breathing as her chest was rising up and down too fast.

“Were you weightlifting, Secretary Song?” she asked in her deep voice.

Yoon Min trembled mentally upon hearing her and raised her head to look at her with a fake smile, “Not at all. My uh...AC broke down. Quite hot today, right?” she hand-fanned herself to make her statement look real.

“Hmm...that's why I told your CEO not to put any AC in your little office. It's a waste of money anyway.” She said coldly before walking pass her, her heels clicking on the floor sharply.

Yoon Min tried ignoring her words and followed her quietly.

Turned out, Jisoo didn’t like the idea of Seokjin bringing home a poor, random girl years ago. And when she disliked something, nothing could change her mind about it. She would hate, disgust that person. Yoon Min was unfortunately a victim of her hatred too.

Pushing the doors open, Jisoo walked inside while Yoon Min prayed he was ready already.

She peaked her eyes open and a huge relief washed over her chest when she saw Seokjin changed into a formal suit, nice leather shoes, tie and a wide smile. Thank God.

You see, Jisoo didn’t like it when Seokjin wore semiformal outfits outside. It was her belief that he looked too good and he should only look good in front of her.

“Hi, Babe.” Seokjin held out his arms for a hug.

Yoon Min tried to pull her gaze away from his attractive forehead. Wait, what?”

Instead of Jisoo hugging him, she took off her sunglasses and slapped his forehead and spoke coldly, “How many times do I need to tell you Not to reveal your forehead!?”

Seokjin winced and whined, “Hey I had a meeting with an Australian businessman. Ask Yoon Min if you don't believe me.”

Jisoo this time stabbed him with a murderous glare. Gritting her teeth, she murmured lowly so that only he could hear her words.

“I told you not to call her by her name, didn’t I?” she didn’t prefer her boyfriend muttering another girl's name when she could be called as Secretary Song.

Stealing a glance at Yoon Min, he gulped down silently and also muttered lowly, “I meant...Secretary Song.”

She finally seemed to calm down as she stepped back one step and let out an exhale. She sat on a sofa before letting out,

“I got casted in the drama.” she finally smiled, looking at him.

“That's...amazing.” Seokjin tried to sound as happy as possible, rubbing his forehead. As if it was a great news for a boyfriend to hear his girlfriend would be kissing another guy.

Jisoo hummed in response and began to give details, “They already decided they would cast me for the drama. But, the director doubted my emotional acting so I had to show my skills today. He should know who he's casting, I've been in entertainment industry for 9 years and he thinks I can't cry well.”

Yoon Min was silently standing by the door and listening to their conversation unwillingly. She could leave gladly but how could she when Seokjin signaled her to stay? He always did it in every chance. To keep her in front of his eyes.

“Now, don't get mad for a silly thing. You know I always cry whenever I see you cry on screen.” He tried to lighten her up.

Jisoo smiled lightly at his comment. She suddenly clapped her hands once and announced,

“Let's go out tonight, shall we? I need to celebrate for my 14th drama.”

She wasn’t asking him. She never asked if he was busy or unwell or wanted to go out with her. It was always her decision.

Seokjin looked flabbergasted, “W-we already are going out tomorrow, right?”

“So that's a No? You're not gonna celebrate your girlfriend's good news?” it only took her a second to lose her temper.

He immediately denied, “No! I didn’t say that, Jisoo.” he paused for a second. “Yeah, let's go out. Let's have some drinks.” it was completely against his will.

“Great. I'll meet you at the lobby.”

She wore her sunglasses again and stood up to leave the office.

“Don't just stand there, Secretary Song. Open the door for me.” Jisoo ordered her when she saw Yoon Min staring at somewhere else instead of focusing on standing still.

“Ah yes, of course. Sorry, Ms. Kim. I was--” Yoon Min didn’t bother to explain as she opened the door for her.

Jisoo was about to walk out when she stopped and glanced at her, “Do your job properly, will you? Maybe if you had parents, then you could be taught how to focus on your job.” saying that, she walked out of the door, leaving a gunshot in her heart.

Yoon Min licked her lips and sighed.

“Don't let her bully you, kid. How many times will you let her?” Seokjin scolded her after watching everything and taking his coat.

Yoon Min shook it off with a playful smile, “Aigoo, it was nothing. Moreover, she's my favorite actress. I can bear some scoldings at least.”

He smiled at her thought and walked to the door in front of her.

“Alright, I'll be leaving then. Go straight home at 6 p.m. Don't wander off, okay?”

Yoon Min nodded, “Yes, don't worry. Have a good night, Sir.”

That time, she didn’t know if she was hurt by Jisoo's harsh words or Seokjin going out with his girlfriend and leaving her alone.