Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Excuse me..."
The voice from behind Sangyeon should have been enough to make him move from his statued spot, but when he didn't budge he thought that maybe he wasn't ready for this.
"Do you plan on going inside or staring at the building all day?"
Again, the boy didn't budge. His life began to flash before his eyes and he was sure at any minute his heart would fall out of his mouth.
"Dude," the voice now whispered from beside him. "I'm trying to save you from the absolute embarrassment when you turn around and realise it isn't only me waiting for you to move."
Finally, the boys eyes widened as he turned ever so slightly to see the girl who was just in height level with his shoulder.
He barely gave himself a second to process her presence, never mind the fact that she was beautiful.
The type of beautiful that was plain to see. Anyone whom she greeted or spared a glance to would be able to see it.
He could assume that her eyes were her most prominent feature even as they bulged out of her head at his mortifyingly delayed actions, but what struck him the most was how the auburn of her hair matched the hazel of her eyes.
"Huh?"
"Don't look," she hissed, nudging him forward. "They're all judging you."
With that, he opened the door and heard the rummage of those behind him.
When he got inside, he stared at the marbled flooring and the glass walls. His mouth hung agape as he thanked himself that the interview was online.
He watched as everyone scurried past him in their suits and pencil skirts, their eyes glued to their destination.
He even dared to look up, seeing the floors above him as the elevator manoeuvred up and down.
"Are you trying to cause a ruckus?" He heard that voice again, turning to see the girl still standing behind him.
"Not intentionally," Sangyeon shook his head. "I'm just in awe."
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing..." she trailed off, her own eyes wandering the building. "But if you start at 9 o'clock sharp, you better get moving."
He watched as she walked towards the elevator, trailing behind her like a lost puppy. "Wait!" She turned on her heels, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know where I'm going."
"You're a big boy, figure it out," she joked unknowingly to him, sighing as she watched his confused face. "Where are you headed?"
"The finance department," he said cluelessly. He watched as she waved her hand, pressing the button as he trailed over.
"Me too," she smiled, turning to look at him as they waited. "I'm Jangmi."
"I'm Sangyeon," he let out a sigh of relief. He maybe could have made a friend. "First day?"
The girl nodded as they stepped inside, a joking smile on her face. "Can't you tell?"
Sangyeon sighed as he reached his room. Months upon months of the same thing every day wasn't what he had initially planned for his life.
He wanted to go to university, party on the campus and complain of a hangover every morning class he went to.
Yet here he was, slaving to a multimillion company for twelve hours every day. He barely had a second to think to himself.
"You made your bed, son," his mother would tut when he walked in the door looking drained and dishevelled. "You have to lie in it."
She was right, he guessed, but it didn't make it any easier.
That was until his eyes skimmed briefly over his inbox displayed on a screen that was far too bright for his heads capacity, reading the words over and over again.
"We would like to interview you for the senior team management position."
He re-read it until it felt like the words vanished into thin air.
Grinning, he grabbed his phone before texting the first person who came to mind. "Guess who just might become your new manager..."
Jangmi grinned as she read his text, her thumbs moving quicker than her thoughts at the sight of his name appearing on her screen. "Don't get too big for your boots, my friend."
The girl watched as the boy she once considered her good and only friend in the office turn into someone that she could barely recognise.
Sometimes she felt stupid for waiting for him to respond a joke she had made or to look her way and make a stupid face like he used to do - but that never came.
The day he got his own office was the day she realised that she never truly knew Sangyeon at all.
She spent her time often wondering how a man who had no degree or experience moved up so quickly, but as she watched him at the front of the room, everyone beckoning to his call, she could see why.
He was a natural leader. He was born to lead.
He thought so too, so why was it so difficult for Jangmi to listen to his commands? "Did you hear me?"
"I did," she replied bluntly as he found himself in front of her desk. "It'll be done within the hour, as you asked."
"Any sooner, perhaps?" Sangyeon chanced his luck.
He watched as she looked up at him with a glare, her pen pointing to the mountain of sheets in front of her.
With a nod and a raise of his eyebrow, he walked away.
Leaving Choi Jangmi to wonder just what happened to Lee Sangyeon.
