Cursed | Yang Hongseok

•2

I spent the whole night tossing and turning in my bed. I was just so nervous that I was going to meet my first client ever, and the mysterious circumstances only made my anxiety worse.

"Focus, Xia, you have to get some sleep." I kept repeating to myself. "You have to impress Yang Hongseok tomorrow, otherwise he might change his mind."

I wasn't sure what time it was when I finally drifted into sleep. I only knew that the dreams I had that night were nothing like I've ever experienced.

They didn't seem connected to each other in any way, but I still felt like all of them together made some kind of a story that I wasn't quite able to understand.

I saw a lot of different places all around the world, and it seemed as if I saw them in different periods of time.

Again, they didn't seem to have any connection whatsoever, at least not until I noticed one thing that they all had in common.

In all of those places, I could see a pile of ashes on the ground in front of me, and I could see my hands holding them. Or... at least I though those hands were mine. Because, when I took another look, they seemed more like they belonged to some man.

*

I was woken up by the sound of my alarm, so I quickly got up and turned it off.

It was really early, so only a few sunrays were shyly lighting up my room.

I went to the bathroom to do my morning routine. I had it all memorised in my brain. Wash your face, brush your teeth, brush your hair, do your makeup... It was a story that kept repeating itself everyday, but I didn't mind. After all, today was not just going to be any day.

After I was done, I went back to my room and opened the wardrobe, scanning the options that I had for today's outfit.

Something elegant would be nice for this occasiaon, I thought, trying to choose a perfect combination.

After a few minutes, I finally decided to wear an elegant white shirt and a tight dark grey skirt that was pretty long, so it even covered my knees.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I never liked wearing those kinds of clothes, because they always made me look old and feel uncomfortable. But this was what I had to wear in order to look professional. I was afraid that, if I appeared at the meeting looking any different, my client would perhaps get the wrong first impression of me.

And for some wierd reason, I really wanted to impress him.

I checked the time on my phone. Good, I thought, when I saw that I still had almost an hour left before the meeting. I'll be there in time.

I checked myself in the mirror once again, making sure that my makeup was alright, and after that I left my home.

*

After about thirty minutes, I finally arrived at my workplace, feeling a bit more nervous than usual.

The place I worked at was a huge building with a lot of employees, but I was lucky enough to get hired and get a nice office on the fifth floor.

When I approached the reception desk to take the keys to my office, I noticed a familar face smiling at me.

"Xia, you're early today."

"Hi, Seungyeon." I greeted my co-worker, a lovely dark-haired girl who was around my age and whom I first met when I started working here a few months ago. "Yes, I have an important meeting today."

"Oh, right, I remember." Seungyeon nodded, checking the schedule on her computer. "Well, you can go to your office, I'll let you know when your client arrives."

"Thanks." I said, trying to hide the fact that I was really nervous.

I took the keys and then went to the fifth floor where my office was. It wasn't that big, but it was pretty cozy, so I liked it.

I took a seat in my usual armchair, turned on the computer and stared at the screen for a couple of minutes, not really knowing what to do.

Time passed quite fast, which was the exact opposite of what would be expected from these kinds of situations. The office phone started ringing without me even realising it, so it took me a good couple of seconds to get it together and pick up.

"Yes?" I said, although I was well aware of the upcoming sentence.

"Xia, Mr. Yang is here. Should I send him to your office?" Seungyeon asked.

I gulped.

"Of course." I said, taking a deep breah. "Tell him to come in."

*

After just two minutes, I heard the knock on the door, which made my heart skip a beat, but I needed to act normal.

"Come in." I said in the calmest way possible, and just a second later, the door opened, leaving me speechless.

The man that was standing there looked like he was around my age, maybe a bit older. He was really tall, his skin was a beautiful shade of honey and his hair was as dark as black coffee. He was dressed in an elengant grey suit, similar to the color of my skirt.

I was shocked by how good looking he was, but beside that, I had another feeling lingering inside me that I wasn't quite able to explain. His whole appearance was so strange, as if I really have seen him somewhere before.

Maybe An was right, after all. He said that his name sounded like it would belong to an actor, and this man in front of me really had everything that such job would require. He looked like he was created by the God himself.

I stood up from my armchair so I could greet him.

"You must be Yan Xia." The man said, shaking my hand politely. Even his grip on my hand felt surprisingly strange. "My name is Yang Hongseok, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Yang." I smiled, looking straight in his eyes that were as dark as his hair. "I look forward to working with you."

"That feeling is mutual." He said with his sweet, soothing voice. "And, please, call me Hongseok."