A Soft Place to land

10

"Pops-" Wolf caught himself before he could say any more.

There are times like this where he forgets that calling the head of the sales department 'Pops' isn't exactly the best work etiquette. So, as a good employee would, he immediately stood from his desk with his back straight. "I mean- good morning Director Kyung." Wolf corrected himself and timidly bowed to his uncle out of courtesy.

His formal bow was stiff and needed practice, almost comedic, and comparable to the Tin man from 'The Wizard of Oz'- which was, quite depressing to say the least.

With his background as an overly confident and prideful little brat, he found bowing quite hard. Considering that he never felt the need to show respect to elders prior to his responsibility shift.

Thankfully the present Wolf was actually trying his best, even if he looked like a rusty machine in dire need of oil.

But his uncle didn't seem to mind, as he patted Wolf's back and gave him a hearty chuckle in response. "Now, now, don't be so nervous, it's just me." That, in which earned a small (genuine?) laugh from Wolf.

And Wolf, cautiously staring at his uncle, slumped his shoulders in relief and pushed up his glasses to take a good look at his old man.

Uncle Kyung was a jolly man, his face always looked so happy and serene- a little bit too serene sometimes, which was -to say the least- super intimidating.

At some points, his peaceful grin would start looking more like a creepily sly grin, like he always has something up his sleeve (which he usually does). But despite that and his short height, he had quite the big heart, and was very empathetic.Thankfully empathetic enough that he was willing to house a disrespectful teenager for long enough for him to stand on his own.

So basically, despite how creepy he could be; Uncle Kyung was a godsend.

"Anyways Keum, I actually came down here to personally invite you to my office to have a little chat." Uncle Kyung smiled at him with that creepy, condescending grin, and Wolf couldn't help but get a bad feeling in his gut. He's been to his Uncle's office before- it was definitely spacious and airy, but for some reason, the place just had an unexplainable tense aura that always bothered him.

"That is, if you're finished with your documents." His Uncle finished, staring him straight in the eyes.

"Sure, but, what are you planning on discussing with me?" Wolf looked back up at him, attempting to combat his piercing gaze- which, ultimately failed. But his uncle only squinted his eyes and stroked his chin exaggeratedly in response, as if brainstorming excuses for Wolf to follow.

"Ah! I wanted to review your sales pitch for the board meeting later." he concluded, very obviously lying. But Wolf - knowing that despite how shady he was, his Uncle wasn't the type of person to do anything bad- reluctantly agreed to his Uncle's invitation.

The office wasn't that far away- being just a floor above, all they had to do was take the elevator up, and stroll through the hallway on the right leading straight to his Uncle's double plexiglass doors. And from then on, everything was basically just plexiglass (the floor, furniture, and the back wall being the only exceptions.)

As Wolf followed behind his uncle to his gigantic Oak desk, he stared at the view on his right side. The right wall of the Office served as a wide, clear pane of glass, that overlooked his busy co-workers and their cubicles. He even saw that there were some of his Juniors peeking at him from behind their monitors, curious and wide-eyed.

"So!" Uncle Kyung exclaimed, breaking Wolf out of his little trance.

"Yes, so about the pitch-" Wolf started, only to be interrupted by his Uncle who let out another hearty chuckle.

"Wolf, you know I didn't call you here to actually discuss your sales pitch. Why would I need to discuss that with you, I'm already two hundred percent sure you'll do great!"

He complimented, glancing back at his nephew with a genuine smile on his wrinkled face. And Wolf, once again felt that uneasy feeling in his gut despite the flattering compliment. If it wasn't the sales pitch he wanted to talk about, and especially now that he's speaking to Wolf informally, that meant that he probably called him over for the only reason Wolf could possibly think of.

"I wanted to talk to you about your parents."

Fuck.