after hours | jungri

2

the morning after, yerim headed to jeon co. as usual, skipping out on the iced choco this time in attempts to avoid bumping in to anyone else with her drink — especially that man.

she arrived at level 3, meeting room #11 seven minutes early to try and redeem herself from the previous day's tardiness. she sat in the room alone, waiting patiently for kang jieun to enter.

she only had to wait a couple minutes until jieun opened the door with a smile. yerim immediately stood up and bowed, 'good morning miss kang.'

'morning yerim. i actually have some news for you.'

'news? good or bad?' yerim questioned nervously, her right brow raised in confusion as to what this news could be.

'good! i think.' jieun grinned. 'looks like you'll be heading to level 10 this morning!'

yerim's eyes widened immediately. 'level 10? really?' she asked with a doubtful tone.

jieun nodded, 'they haven't told me where or why. i was just told to alert you and i'm sure someone will direct you once you're up there.'

'd-do i go up there now?' yerim asked, stuttering with disbelief. this was such a turn of events and her day hadn't even officially started yet.

jieun chuckled, 'yes, don't be so nervous! it must be a good thing! go on, you don't want to be late again!'

yerim nodded, bowing quickly and rushing out to the elevators at once. she walked in and couldn't help but feel like this was a joke. what  could be the reason?

with a deep inhale and exhale of air, yerim timidly pressed button '10', biting down hard on her lip. the elevator doors closed and began to rise. yerim tapped her heels on the polished marbled floors unconsciously; she had never ever imagined taking the elevator up to level 10 any time soon, especially during her internship. her mind was in shambles, trying to think of what the reason could be that she was called up. she found herself taking deep breaths in attempt to ease her racing heart.

before she knew it, the elevator doors opened: lo and behold, was level 10. immediately, yerim could notice the difference compared to the lower levels of the company. all she could see was white, everywhere.

gingerly, she stepped out. a skinny, middle-aged man, with narrow spectacles and a bushy black moustache atop his lip, noticed her and was by her side in an instant. 'ah yes, the red hair.' was what he greeted her with. 'follow me.' he ordered, before stepping down a white-marbled hallway.

yerim didn't have a chance to greet him, or even bow. she obediently trailed behind him, butterflies circling around in her stomach at rapid speeds.

a few dozen strides later, yerim was brought to the outside of a room. she couldn't help but be drawn to the gold-plated name card above the door:

'JEON JUNGKOOK - vice president'

'jeon jungkook? the vice president?' yerim read the bold, fancy lettering in her head, before reading it once more. her mind was beyond puzzled. she had heard of the name and knew he was the son of the chairman of jeon co., but she had never ever seen him, heard him or known anything else about him. how on earth did he know of yerim and why on earth did he bring her up here? before she could even think of any possible answer, the middle-aged man opened the door and gestured her to walk in.

the butterflies were racing at record-breaking speeds now. yerim gulped and took a step inside the room which was incredibly large, spacious and dazzlingly white. the man closed the door behind her so that she was now the only other person inside the room.