The Impassioned Interchange (Park Chanyeol)

04: The Aftermath

"Miss Choi, what is the meaning of this?" Chanyeol asked his employee, his teeth clenching as he prevented himself from screaming.

Hana's lips quivered. "I-I'm sorry, sir. I-It's my fault. I shouldn't have let my friend up in your office," she explained, blaming the fault on herself as she didn't want her friend to get involved. After all, she would likely lose her job today, so at the very least, she decided to save her friend's job.

It was a mistake that she knew herself was wrong from the very beginning, too. As a secretary who her boss had relied to for administrative support, she knew that she was done for. After all, reliability is the name of the game when you're a secretary. Whether you are secretary to a single boss or to a team, you'll be indispensable to them as you help ease their workload by providing support and helping them organize their time.

It didn't look so though because of the mistake that she did.

Friend. That word had made Chanyeol freeze.

His mind wandered as to when he last had a friend. Not once did his friends stuck to his side after those two days that ruined his life. First and foremost, his mother, who he had treasured, was not only the woman who brought him to this world but was his best friend as well. But she left him. His friends inside and outside the company had avoided him as well, as they were afraid of his sudden change in personality.

Despite his cold exterior, his heard had broken apart. After all, there was nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship, yet he had none – his traitor friends had proven that point.

He broke his line of thoughts and brought his gaze back at the monitor, his mind telling him not to believe and to believe his secretary at the same time. He knew that it wasn't enough proof that she had took a picture from the picture frame on his desk too. Yesterday, he had happened to open his desk's drawer and saw that picture frame. He remembered how he grazed his fingertips on the frame then brought the frame on his desk, facing down.

He remembered how he left the office then.

The morning after, he entered his office with her secretary inside, wiping his desk. He remembered how she looked, her eyes glinting as if she was a deer caught in the headlights, yet her hands held a handkerchief that she apparently used to wipe his desk clean.

He knew better then, and he knew that she had done something she probably didn't want anyone to know, but instead of suspecting her of any mischief, he simply waved the topic off and proceeded to work, as he believed that it was probably nothing major as she had done her job pretty well the past few days.

Realization took over his eyes as he pushed the replay button on the controls and waited impatiently until the scene from before he had arrived on his office emerged. He pressed play and watched, his arms crossed at his chest. A deep frown soon took over his features as he watched Hana lift the picture up from the desk. He paused the video and slapped his hands on the controls.

"In my office. Now!" He barked, storming out of the room and heading towards his private elevator. The employees outside the room who had head his uproar had jumped up, surprised.

Hana flinched, and walked out of the room, bowing his head down. She felt eyes on her, her own eyes stinging with unbound tears. The gazes that the employees gave her made her feel as if she was sympathized at, which was right. Most of the employees shook their heads, knowing how the scene would end up: Hana would packing her things sooner or later. Two or three employees even gave her a pat on the shoulder as if telling her to be strong, but she couldn't.

How could she?

She didn't lift her head up, not even when she had entered Park Chanyeol's office. There he was, sitting on his desk with a very pissed off expression on his face. "Why did you do it?"