In Between the Lines | Completed

Chapter Three | First Impressions

I can practically imagine Meimei doing a dance as the 'devil on my shoulder' at the thought of me noting a man other than Rege Jean-Page as attractive. Mmm... Rege Jean-Page... yummy...

"I wouldn't think I'd need protection from anyone other than my publisher when I miss a deadline," I joke. "Charles gets a little... fanatic when it comes to deadlines."

"You'd be surprised how seriously fans get when the story doesn't go how they think it should."

"You'd be surprised how many death threats I received when I published the sequel story, and they didn't expect the surprise twist." My words come across as a joke, but I know how serious they could be in that situation.

Du Shin-Il doesn't reply with anything other than a grunt, so I take it as a chuckle for my earlier joke.

"Miss Jones!"

I look up as a tall gentleman with an easy-going smile and a long straight nose comes up to her, holding his hand out. I look at him surprised, trying to place where I had heard his voice.

"Miss Jones, this is Bu Seok, the lead writer for most of our productions and the native writer for 'Behind the Scenes.' He will be in charge of the cultural translation needs as I mentioned earlier," Du Shin-Il introduces him and I recognize his name.

"You're the one who came up with the idea for me to move here, aren't you?" I ask, shaking his hand.

"That would be me. I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow, but it's great you're here today! How are you enjoying your time here so far? Any ambitious mamas trying to snag you for their eligible sons yet or is it just me in the running?" Bu Seok flirts, shooting me a wink as he holds my hand.

Wow, bold much?

My eyebrows raise at the blatant flirting, and I look at Shin-Il in surprise, the request for a silent rescue evident on my face.

"He's a terrible flirt, you can ignore him like most of the women on our staff do," Shin-Il deadpans.

So, you do have a sense of humor, Du Shin-Il.

"You and I both know they love it," Bu Seok responds, dropping my hand and pointing as his coworker. "And terrible? I think we can all agree that I'm terribly charming."

"Terrible is one way of putting it..." I murmur, trying to hide my smile. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Bu, but Mr. Du I need to—"

Wow this will get confusing quickly with the names... as if it wasn't already...

"Call me Bu Seok, no need for 'Mr.' and if the cranky bastard next to you hasn't invited you to call him by his name informally, you should probably find a new assistant. You'll be spending a lot of time together after all. As for me, I would be happy to assist you."

Bu Seok throws me another exaggerated wink and I let out a small snort at his flirting. It seems he knows how to keep things lively at least.

"Miss Jones prefers to keep things professional," Shin-Il rolls his eyes. "Which means your flirting is probably more inclined to make her want to assign a new lead writer than for her to find a new assistant."

I bite my lip and hide my smirk at Du Shin-Il's quick retort.

I was right, he does have a sense of humor. It's dry, but it's at least something.

"I heard Americans preferred men to be more forward. At least, the portrayal of Mr. Tyrant tells me that." Seok snarks back.

"So, you've read my book?" I ask, my interest piquing as the conversation turns. "Do you think it's adaptation will run smoothly?"