Like A Boss (REWRITING)

다섯

Chef Lee entered Mingyu's office curious as to why he was called by his friend. Mingyu offered him a seat and bluntly asked him if he knew about Eunseo's "prior commitment". Seokmin chuckled at him and said he doesn't have to meddle in other people's private matters, but he let Mingyu know that Eunseo always asks to be absent on two certain days every month. Mingyu found out that Eunseo comes to a hospital on those days to settle some family matters.

Mingyu didn't want to stick his nose in other people's business, but he did not like the idea of having employees absent especially on important events such as the Team Building. It was only now that he decided to hold one, so he wanted it to be perfect and that included perfect attendance from his crew.

So Mingyu did stick up his nose in Eunseo's prior commitment and followed her to the hospital that day. He did some "research" about it, though Seokmin called it "stalking", before he had decided to help Eunseo out without her knowing. She doesn't have to know that her boss paid for her family's hospital debts, nor does she have to know why he did that for her.

Eventually, Eunseo learned about a "mystery man" paying for her debts after she followed up on the subject with the officer in the hospital. The woman described the "mystery man" to be quite tall, handsome, and had tanned skin. The only person in her mind who fit that description was her boss, so she immediately came to him in his office at her own risk.

"Eunseo? I didn't call for you yet."

"Yes sir, but I heard my family's hospital debts got fully paid yesterday."

"And?"

"I think you know who paid for it."

"Dammit, I told her not to say it was me." Mingyu cursed lowly at the side.

"Actually, she only described who it was and I just assumed it was you." Eunseo nodded. "Why though? Why would you, my boss, do that for me? Do you maybe like the feeling of me being grateful towards you? Did you like the vanilla latte, sir?"

"Ani, I have my own reasons. Just act like I didn't do it."

"How can I do that, sir? Not that I'm complaining, but I don't see why you'd do that for me. Could you tell me why exactly?"

"Rather than telling you, why don't you make sure everyone attends the Team Building instead, eung?"

"BUt why? Is it all about me missing the Team Building?"

"Because you are, technically, in debt towards me now that I paid for your sake." Mingyu said as he stopped what he was doing to look at her. "The Team Building is important, so please do what I asked you to do. Now."

Eunseo left the office still confused. She was beginning to think that Mingyu was not only mean and scary but also very weird in many ways. She did what Mingyu ordered her to do, while she continued to think conspiracies about her boss.

***

On her free time, Eunseo came back home to Incheon to bring her parents the good news, although it wasn't exactly good news for her. She had come to tell them they are finally free from the debt that they had left when Eunseo's mother fell ill. Eunseo's parents were ofcourse surprised, and asked their daughter how that was possible.

As much as Eunseo wanted to keep everything a secret and pretended Mingyu didn't do that for her, she was a weak wall infront of her parents. In the end, she told them that her boss was nice enough to help her pay the rest of the debt, but in return she has to follow all his orders at work (or maybe not at work, whatever Mingyu wanted). As her parents adored her "compassionate" boss, Eunseo rolled her eyes and groaned at the nice adjectives she was hearing from them.

She thought it had ended when she came back to Seoul, but she had the feeling it wouldn't stop there. She had to feel embarrassed at some point, and while at work the next day, she heard from Chef Lee that a parent came to see Mingyu in his office.

Quickly, Eunseo came upstairs to find her mother who was already having tea with Mingyu in his office. Mingyu looked at her with a slight smirk on his face while her mom tells her to come sit with them.

"Ah, Juyeon-ah, your boss here is such a nice man. Your father would've been so glad to meet him." Eunseo's mother smiled.

"Eomma, you're embarrassing me~ Why did you have to come here?"

"Your dad and I wanted to thank him personally. You've been working so hard to pay that debt, now our prayers have been answered through your boss. He's such a blessing, and a handsome one!"

"Eomma, please, let's get you home. I'm sorry, Mr. Kim, we'll get going." said Eunseo and held her mother's hand.

"Oh no, it's okay. I'll ask my driver to have your mother taken home. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Son."

"Ah, he's also very polite. It's a pleasure for me too, Mr. Kim. Juyeon-ah, when would you find a boyfriend like him? Aigoo~"

"I'll decide on what my boyfriend would be like, eomma." Eunseo smiled sheepishly before leading her mom out of Mingyu's office.

***

A little later, Mingyu called for Eunseo on the intercom only to talk to her about what he and her mother discussed. He told her how Eunseo's mom was so thankful towards him that she promised to have Eunseo attend the Team Building no matter what. Eunseo deliberately facepalmed herself and Mingyu repeated how indebted she supposedly was to him and it meant she didn't have any choice but to go.

Mingyu assured her that she doesn't need to be stressed about the Team Building, because he postponed its schedule for next week as he has some important things to work on in Jeju. He let everybody in the Avenue know he was leaving for Jeju in the next few hours and put Seokmin in-charge while he's away.