after hours | jungri

6

yerim was met with a handsome face, slightly aged with wrinkles and smile-lines. it took her a few seconds to register who this man, that had appeared so suddenly beside her, was.

in an instant, she was bent down in a 90° degree bow.

'of course i had to meet the woman my son so hastily begged to be his new assistant. kim yerim, is it?'

yerim shot up, gently nodding. the man had extended out his hand and yerim graciously shook it with care, 'yes, i am yerim. it's nice to meet you.'

'i apologise for not seeing you sooner, i'm jeon jungho, the founder and chairman of this company.' he said with a warm smile.

yerim returned the smile, just as warmly. 'no need to apologise! and i am well aware of who you are, i am a big fan.' yerim bowed once again.

jungho chuckled deeply, 'you sure are charming, i see why jungkook was so desperate to change his assistant.' he complimented her, yet yerim couldn't help but feel embarrassed, meeting the chairman of jeon co. looking like that. 'i hope he's not overwhelming you with work.' he continued, smoothly.

at this point, the other women standing around yerim had managed to disappear in to the crowd of partying workers.

'fortunately, i have been keeping up with things well.' yerim smiled, suddenly feeling a little wobbly on her feet.

'well, that's good! i'll leave you to enjoy now, have fun!' he beamed, walking away gracefully.

yerim had to blink hard a few times in order to stabilise herself and her surroundings. damn, she shouldn't have downed that whole glass of red wine so quickly, especially being the complete lightweight she was.

no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find that group of women she was initially with at all. the dark room and blaring disco lights didn't make things much easier.

yerim decided to just walk around, manoeuvring her way through large crowds of middle-aged employees. she thought to herself, there must be younger people somewhere — surely, level 1 employees had to be on the more youthful side.

at that point, she made it a mission to find the level 1 employees. maybe then, she'd fit in more.

subconsciously taking a few more sips of her drink, she continued on her way throughout the room, looking at the faces of people everywhere she went. after a few solid minutes of walking, she found a pair of two girls, as petite as her, going at it with their drinks.

bravely, she decided to approach them with a smile. 'hello!'

the two girls looked her way, and at first yerim was scared that they'd coldly reject her but luckily they turned to her with kind, pretty faces.

'hello?' one of the girl's chuckled.

'sorry, i'm new here and... i don't really know many people.' yerim explained, hoping they'd invite her in.

'ah, really? what's your name?' the other girl asked, looking yerim up and down. 'you look beautiful, by the way.'

'kim yerim, and thank you! you both look gorgeous also!' she grinned, returning the compliment sincerely.

then, the two girls' eyes appeared to widen as they shot looks to each other. 'kim yerim? the new girl?'

yerim parted her lips, before closing them and just nodding gently.

'oh my god, we've been wanting to meet you! hi, i'm wendy and this is lisa.'

yerim was shocked at the two english names that she heard, 'ah, nice to meet you! are you both foreigners or something?' she piqued, curiously.