She took the side entrance to avoid attention as she is taking big steps, hoping that no one would notice her reporting to work 2hrs later than most of the employees in that building. She could almost hear the whispers and the judgement she would spark when people notice her tardiness again.
She kept her eyes on the floor to avoid eye contact as she wait for the elevator to take her to the 25th floor where the Marketing office is located. There is no line in the elevator as most people are already in their respective areas so when the elevator finally arrive she entered it alone and pressed the button to her floor.
She lets out a sigh, relieved that she did not have any awkward interactions with any of the other employees. Her relief was gone when the elevator doors open again just after partly closing as two women with iced coffee tried to ride the same elevator. She stepped back to provide room for the employees and bowed her head but as soon as they saw her inside, they bowed and apologized while stepping back to wait for another elevator. She knew that they recognized who she is. She was about to say it's okay but she decided against it and just pressed the close button again.
"Good morning, Ms. Yoon..." her supervisor greeted her while bowing his head as she entered the Marketing department.
"Good morning, Manager Hong..." she replied and bowed her head awkwardly as well. "Sorry for missing the team meeting this morning" she said but before she could further explain, he waved it off and smiled at her.
"Don't worry about that, Ms. Yoon... it's not an important meeting anyway." he assured her. She nodded and went to her secluded area where she spends most of her time alone as a Management Trainee for one of the subsidiaries for Queen's group. She works under Mr. Hong who is the manager of the entire Marketing department.
Mr. Hong followed her with the new list of print ads proposal for the new product that they would launch. He gave her the instructions and left.
Having this work and completing her requirements to finally finish her undergraduate degree is really exhausting. She was up until 3:30 this morning because of a last minute revision that her professor wanted for her feasibility paper. She barely even managed to get up this morning because of the migraine she has due to lack of sleep.
She was about to start with her deliverables when her phone rang. She checked and it was Seo Dan, her only friend in uni. Seo Dan is also coming from a rich family but compared to Se Ri, she is more easy going and has no interest in their family's business. As she would always tell Se Ri, that is what her brothers are for. She is in charge of spending the money that they fight over.
"Se Riiii" she greeted her in a high pitch tone that triggered her migraine.
"Seo Dan, calm down. What do you want?" she asked as she kept her phone way further from her ear in case her friend would scream at the phone again. "Nothing, I just miss you, that's all..." which made Se Ri smile.
It took Se Ri a long time to finally find a friend. All her life she would isolate herself even before other kids in her schools would reach out to her. She would always appear cold and distant as if she does not think that they are good enough to talk to her but it was really a defense mechanism she has learned to master in a very young age to avoid herself from getting hurt.
"If only you attended the final lecture for Econ last week, you would not miss me that much." Se Ri said teasing her. "It was not mandatory, is it?" her friend replied. "I already told you, I would only attend a lecture if the professor is hot or if it is required for me to graduate, but other than that I'll just turn in my requirements to get this degree done and over with."
Se Ri laughed at her friend who is very honest and candid. "Well that's true, Professor Kang is not that hot anyways." she joked referring to their 60 year old professor.
