"Ms. Baek, good morning." Lee welcomes me to the office and then hands me a coffee. She takes my coat and my bag. "Let me take this,"
"Thank you. Good morning everyone, wow you guys are early." I greet fellow employees as I walk to my office. It's like 20 before 9am, I try to be on time at least. I open the glass door to my office as Lee, my assistant follows me. "So, Lee, what happened with the building deal? I received an email at 3am from the attorneys." I sip my coffee and take a seat.
"Yes, the owner of the building wants more money for it. He said the offer wasn't enough." Lee looks down on her agenda.
"Fuck..." I roll my eyes, sighing. "We have to win that building." I open my email in the computer. "I'll make the offer personally, invite him to dinner, I'll push 15 more and he'll have to accept." Lee writes down in a notebook. "Confirm the dinner with the architects for this Saturday. Mr. Yeon called?"
"Yes, he says he can meet you this Friday." I shake my head.
"No, I have plans, cancel everything for Friday afternoon." She nods, writing down.
"Also, the Shanghai headquarters invited you to their anniversary by end of the month, Saturday the 29th." Damn. "Do you want me to prepare a speech for you?"
"No, I'll do it. Uh... do I have anything else for that day or the previous?"
"No, you'll be free from 4pm that Friday and nothing on Saturday."
"Good, please have the jet ready by 8pm that night and make a reservation for the hotel I always stay in Shanghai." Lee nods.
"Oh by the way, US offices emailed us, apparently a young man is being sent to us to be part of your team of designers and architects, will be joining us this Wednesday. This is his résumé." I open the folder, Kim it's his last name, graduated from NYU, mentions a few projects he's been involved, impressive, similar to mine.
"Okay? Did they say why and on whose authorization?"
"Mr Baek recommended him."
"Guess I don't have a choice then. We'll see if he has what it takes." I say it out loud, but more like to myself. "Okay, let's get him a place ready,"
"Yes, we have an apartment for him ready."
"Good."
"And lastly, reminder for your meeting with the investors and the attorneys, 1:30pm."
"Yes, confirm it." My cellphone rings. A picture that I took on his birthday smiling with a glass of wine shows up. "That's all, thanks Lee." She leaves the office.
"Hey Hobi, what's up!" I put him on speaker phone as I grab paperwork on my desk and start skimming through them.
"Hey kiddo. You at work? Did you remember to have breakfast?" I scoff.
"Yes, mom. I did." I smile. I didn't in fact, just this coffee. Of course, I will not mention it. "And you?"
"Most important meal of the day, of course. Hey listen, you free for dinner tonight? You know how crazy Rae is for cooking these days, she's making pasta, salad, steak. We thought of you coming over to join us. We haven't seen you in a while."
I scoff. "We literally saw each other last week, remember? Tae's party?"
"Oh yeah? I don't care, whatever you're my family, get your ass here at 7." I chuckle.
"Yes, mom." I smile. "I'll bring the wine, fresh bread and pastry. Anything else you need me to bring?"
"No, that's all, you know you should invite Yoongi,"
