2 weeks later:
"Jung! where are the blueprints of this project?!" Haneul shouted, throwing a file on his desk
"s-sir..I gave them to Tania.." Jung stuttered, but he was getting better now, he was now used to Haneuls anger issues, actually he felt weird on days Haneul didn't scold him or throw files at him
"send Tania in and bring my coffee!" Haneul ordered as he turned to his laptop
"yes sir.." Jung said, quickly marching out his cabin, "oh! Tania..sir is asking for you and take the blueprints I gave you along with you.." Jung told Tania and ran off to the cafeteria to get Haneul's coffee.
~
"sir..may I come in?" Tania asked, opening the door to his cabin, enough to fit her head between
Haneul didn't look up and gave a single nod.
He was wearing the same angry expression, frown on his face again,
he looked up from his laptop and saw Tania, his expressions softened a bit, only a bit
"blueprints?" he said, extending his hand towards her, Tania handed him the blueprints and cleared her throat
Haneul looked up at her again, then back at the blueprints, not saying anything
"uh sir..can I leave?" Tania asked reluctantly
"yes..uh wait..Tania..prepare the presentation for the project quickly, the clients have decided to meet us after lunch.." Haneul said, still not looking at her
"okay sir.." Tania smiled as she walked towards the door
Haneul's frown returned, he opened his mouth to say something but then his phone started ringing and he gestured Tania to leave.
~
"congratulations sir on signing yet another great deal!" Jung exclaimed as he followed Haneul out of the conference room, they were coming out after signing a deal with their clients
"hm..where am I supposed to be at this time?" Haneul asked, checking his watch
"uh oh yes sir..you're supposed to meet Mr.Smith, from London? I'll get the car ready, you're supposed to meet him for lunch.." Jung whispered the last part, because he knew Haneul would get super angry because he already had lunch with the previous clients and he wasn't going to eat again but..Jung was wrong. Haneul didn't say anything rather he went inside his cabin with a nod and a "hm."
"he must be hungry.." Jung thought to himself
~
"Doctor Ash? there are no more appointments..you can leave now.." the nurse said, sticking her head inside Ash's office
Ash smiled and nodded, "alright.."
5:30 pm:
Ash got off the cab and looked at the time, "man..it's only 5?" she asked herself as she walked inside the building
"good afternoon ma'am! she's waiting for you inside..she hasn't eaten anything, she kept asking for you.." the receptionist told Ash
Ash's face lit up with a smile, "she was asking about me?"
"yes..she kept calling your name.." the receptionist replied
Ash excitedly walked to the last room in the hallway and fixed her hair and walked inside
"A-a-a-a-sh!" a little girl, 6 years old, in a beautiful lavender frock, jumped into Ash's arms
Ash hugged her tightly and smiled, "hi somi..hello! did you miss me?" she asked, her eyes twinkling
"y-yes! a-a-alot..I-m-missed y-ou a-a-lot!" the girl replied and a tear fell from Ash's eye as she pulled somi into another hug
"I missed you too Somi..wow! look at this dress you're wearing!" Ash exclaimed twirling her round
"Somi..? I'm very hungry! I haven't eaten anything since morning..should we both go buy something to eat?" Ash asked
"y-yes! I w-want to eat k-k-kim-chi!" Somi replied and Ash nodded, "let's go eat kimchi!" she said holding her hand and taking her out
"can I please have the gate pass? for an hour..we'll be back after eating kimchi!" Ash said to the receptionist, who handed Ash a card and nodded, "have fun Somi!"
"T-thank y-you.." Somi replied
~
"Mr Haneul! you're here..I must say your punctuality is commendable..and this place is perfect to discuss this project! You're really a business tycoon, as I've heard from your clients! ahaha" Mr.Smith said, greeting Haneul
"haha, nice to meet you Mr.Smith..shall we start discussing the project?" Haneul said, sitting down
"oh Mr.Haneul, I forgot, you are a busy person, let's order first and we can discuss later..I am supposed to start a restaurant chain..I must know the flavours too!" Mr.Smith declared
"of course..we shall order first.." Haneul said, gesturing the waiter to come
As Mr.Smith was asking the waiter what was the best on the menu, Haneul looked around, carefully examining the building, while doing so, his gaze stopped on something, someone.
Ash, who was entering the restaurant with a child
"Somi, let's sit here!" Ash said pointing at the empty table next to the kitchen
"n-no..i-it is t-too n-n-noisy!" Somi exclaimed, pulling Ash away from the table
"but Somi, the other tables are not empty..we should sit where there's space.." Ash explained, bending down and fixing Somi's hair
"n-n! I d-don't w-want..t-to!" Somi whined
Ash took a deep breath and looked around for an empty table, there was none
"I w-w-want to sit n-n-next t-o th-the wi-win-window!" Somi said pointing towards a table next to the window
"but somi there are people sitting there already..we can't sit on their laps, now can we?" Ash smiled
"no..I- w-want t-to s-si-sit th-there!" Somi kept insisting so Ash decided to try and request them to let them sit there
"excuse me, sir..I'm extremely sorry but if you don't mind, can you please let us sit on this table?" Ash bit her lip and looked at Somi, who was looking at Ash expectantly, "actually..this child here-"
"No. Why should we give you our table? is your name written here? no.buzz off!" the man said, as he continued eating
Ash whispered a sorry to Somi, who now had tears in her eyes
"so Mr. Haneul..I was thinking, the interior must be the same for all the branches..uniformity, you know.." Mr. Smith said, opening the file given to him by Haneul and pointing at a design, "like this! this is wonderful!" he said
"alright, about the entrance..I was thinking that we should put on big light here and three warm lights on each side..like this.." Haneul explained, drawing something on a piece of paper
"that's a good idea, make these 5 warm on each side..the entrance should be bright!"
Haneul nodded in agreement
"p-p-please l-let m-me s-si-sit h-he-here!" Somi requested the man herself, the man slammed his chopsticks on the table and turned to look at Somi and Ash
"I said no!" he shouted
This caught Haneul's attention, he rubbed his forehead when he saw Ash, "of course it has to be Ash..the queen of making people angry.." Haneul whispered to himself
"p-p-ple-please s-si-sir!" Somi requested again, this time the man got up and pushed Somi away, "h-ho -how a-b-about N-n-NO!" the man said mimicking Somi, Ash helped Somi up and wiped her tears
"did you get hurt?" she asked, checking her legs and arms for any scratch but Somi shook her head
Ash wiped Somi's tears again and fixed her hair, "don't cry..please don't cry.." Ash said blinking a few times, "here look at this.." Ash handed Somi her mobile and made her sit on the chair facing away from her.
Then she took a deep breath and turned to look at the man who pushed Somi, he was eating his food as if nothing had happened, and Ash couldn't let him off after making Somi cry
"excuse me.." Ash said slamming her hand on their table, the man slammed his chopsticks on the table once again and stood up, he was huge and tall, Ash looked like a baby in front of him, but she didn't back away
"what do you want?" he asked, folding his sleeves
"I want you to apologize and also..join a school or something..since you look like you lack basic education.." Ash replied, even though her hands and legs were shaking, her voice was clear
"buzz off! bitch!" the man sweared and pushed Ash, hard enough that she stumbled and was going to hit her face on the table if Haneul hadn't caught her
She opened her eyes slowly and a familiar scent gushed into her nostrils, Haneul helped her stand, " are you alright?" he asked, looking right into her eyes, Ash nodded shakily
Haneul made her sit on the chair and then he punched the man, and before the man could react, the police was there. they took the man and the owner of the restaurant thanked Haneul for calling the police as that man had been threatening him for months.
While all this was happening, Ash had left the place with Somi. She took Somi back to the school and it was getting dark now.
Now she had one more job and after that, she could go home to Aki and Akira and sleep peacefully.
She rushed to the "Seung Constructions", greeted everyone and bumped into Jung, who was restlessly pacing in front of Haneuls cabin
"hey Jung! what are you doing?" she asked
"praying.." Jung replied, biting his nails
"for what?"
"my job..my life.." he replied looking over Ash's shoulder towards Haneul's cabin
Ash followed his gaze and then back to him, "what..happened?" she asked, scared to know the answer
"he came back after meeting a client, even though the client called and seemed happy, as they signed a deal, yet he is really angry. He threw out a model because he didn't like the colours used! I have no idea what happened to him! He's going to explode any time now..and it's already past office hours and everyone is still here because he's working! I'm so scared Ash.." Jung started pacing back and forth again
"I'll go talk to him.." Ash said
"what?! no! are you crazy? I cannot let you do that!" Jung said holding her arm
"Jung..he isn't going to stop working until someone stops him..I should go and tell him it's already past 6 and everyone has to go home..don't worry, I'll be fine!" Ash said as she walked towards his cabin
"Ash! we love you!" Jung said giving her a thumbs up.
~
*knock knock*
no reply, Ash knocked again but there was still no response.
Ash opened the door and walked inside, she saw Haneul typing in his laptop and occasionally looking away to see something from a file. He had a usual frown on his face, Ash cleared her throat
"sir..?" she said
Haneul paused, he stopped for a few seconds before he continued what he was doing, completely ignoring Ash.
Ash tried grabbing his attention again but failed again.
She pulled a chair and sat on it and started tapping the table, she could see that it was effecting Haneul, because he stopped for a few seconds but he still ignored Ash.
"For earlier..thank you.." Ash whispered, looking at her feet because she was too shy to make eye contact with Haneul, Haneul lifted his head and looked at her upon hearing her saying thank you
"but..I was handling the situation..you didn't have to help me.." she continued, this angered Haneul and he got up from his chair, "Miss Ash! do you get paid for sitting in my office and blabbing nonsense?!" Haneul questioned
Ash got up from her chair, she got scared when she saw the anger in Haneuls eyes, the fire burning inside his eyes, it was scary.
Ash couldn't say anything, she was too scared to even move..Haneul turned away and rubbed his forehead when someone entered the office, Haneul turned to look who it was, "Tania.." he said, in a more calm voice
Ash hadn't moved at all, Haneul looked at her from the corner of his eye but ignored her,
"Tania, you prepared the blueprints I asked for? sit down.." Haneul said, his voice was smooth, soft.
Tania gave Ash a judgmental look as she pulled a seat and sat down.
Haneul looked at the blueprints and smiled, but when he saw Tania looking at Ash uncomfortably, he turned to Ash,
"If you have nothing else to say, please le-"
but before he could complete his sentence Ash rushed out of his office, tears falling from her eyes
"Ash! what happened?" Jung asked, running after her but she didn't stop, she grabbed her bag and left.
Jung covered his mouth in worry, knowing Haneul made Ash cry, "why did I let her go inside..poor Ash..she was crying so much..I hope she reaches home safely, her car is at the workshop.." Jung decided to make sure Ash got a cab but before he could go out and check he was summoned by the devil, Haneul.
~
Ash sat on her balcony with Aki and Akira sleeping on her lap, as tears rolled down her cheeks. The way the man in the restaurant pushed and made fun of Somi and how Haneul shouted at her..thinking about all this made Ash cry, she had held her tears in all day and now there was no one to stop her from crying, so she cried..trying to wash away all the pain with her tears..
