When I finally arrived at Anaïs, I made a beeline for the bathroom and attempted to dust myself off. I splashed my face with cold water and slicked my hair back with my hands, trying my best to look halfway presentable. I readjusted my tie and tried to dab my sweat away with paper towels but it was no use. I rushed out of the bathroom and approached the secretary at the front desk, trying to calm my hyperventilated breaths.
I must look like a madman right now..
"What do you need?" The secretary asked me, lowering her reading glasses and looking at me up and down with a grimace.
"I'm here for my interview with Lee Minho," I said, then deciding to correct myself, "I mean Minho Lee or whatever, you guys do things differently here in America."
"Oh, you're his 9'o clock?" The woman asked me, her look of disdain turning to contentment. "Mr. Lee has been expecting you!"
"Where's his office?" I asked her with a polite smile on my face. "Sorry if I look like I got hit by a bus, I ran here."
The woman at the desk who's name was apparently Karen M. according to her name-tag looked around for a moment before pointing at a man who was walking by with a stack of papers, "Seungmin, honey, can you do me a favor?"
The man walked over to her and said, "What's up?"
"Can you show this man to Mr. Lee's office? He's expecting him," The woman said, smiling at him.
"Anything for you," The man joked with her, causing her to laugh. He began walking with me and asked me, "Are you here for the personal assistant opening?"
"Yeah, I am," I said, still trying to calm myself from my run. "Your name's Seungmin, right?"
Seungmin chuckled, "Yeah, it is. What's yours?"
"My name's Jisung Han but I usually just go by Han," I said. "I'd put my hand out for you to shake but your hands are full and mine are sweaty."
"Did you run here?" Seungmin asked me, trying to stifle a laugh. "You look like shit, dude."
"You would not believe the morning I've had."
"If you get the job your mornings are never going to get any better," Seungmin said, chuckling. "I think I'd rather shoot myself in the fucking face than be Mr. Lee's personal assistant."
"That's vivid," I joked, causing him to laugh. "What's so bad about him, though?"
"For starters, I've never seen that guy smile or laugh, ever. I mean ever ever too," Seungmin said. We reached the elevator as people were exiting and he put the floor number in. Before the door could close, a man with parted black hair rushed in. "Oh, hey Changbin."
"I want to strangle Mr. Lee," The man named Changbin mumbled with a sour look on his face. "I fucking hate that guy."
"See what I mean?" Seungmin said, his face twisting. "He's the worst."
The man stuck his hand out for me to shake and said, "I'm Changbin."
"I'm sweaty," I shook my head. "Wait, no. My name is Han and my hand is sweaty, you don't want to shake it."
Changbin retracted his hand and laughed, "You good, dude?"
"I fucking ran here," I sighed. "This morning has been shit."
"Han over here is one of the personal assistant applicants," Seungmin said, smirking at me and then to Changbin.
Changbin burst into laughter, "Good fucking luck."
I threw my hands up, "What's so bad about this guy? I don't get it."
"He's an asshole and a genius," Changbin said. "He's the smartest person you'll ever meet but also the most condescending. He treats everyone like they're dumber than him, which, even if that is true, you still need to respect people. The only thing good about this job is the pay."
"Well, damn," I mumbled to myself. We reached the twenty-fifth floor and Seungmin lead us past cubicles galore and down a long hall which presumably lead to...
"This is his office," Seungmin said, putting his back to the door. "Want us to wait out here until you're done in case you walk out crying? You wouldn't be the first and I doubt you'll be the last. Don't make eye contact either, you're inferior to him. Remember that. He won't make eye contact with you either, he hates that shit. He either looks right through you or he doesn't even have his head turned in the same direction as you when you're speaking to him."
I nodded my head and asked him, "Can you walk me in there? I'm nervous as hell."
Seungmin nodded his head and knocked on Mr. Lee's door, "Your next interviewee is here."
"Send them in," I heard him say with a stern voice from the other side.
Seungmin opened the door to his office and I stepped inside after him. I didn't dare to look up from my feet at Mr. Lee as Seungmin guided me to the seat placed in front of his desk. He waved me off and when I turned my head back to face the man, the realization hit me and my stomach dropped to my feet.
"You-,"
"Oh my god-," I slapped a hand to my mouth. "You're the guy I hit this morning."
"Yeah, and you're the guy that hit me," Mr. Lee said with a softened voice, meeting my eyes. "I see why you were in a hurry, I like the dedication. I haven't called your insurance company yet, by the way."
Oh, wow.
His eyes are beautiful.
Wait, why is he making eye contact?
This is strange.
"I did not want to miss this," I said, then beginning to ramble. "Getting the call for this interview was a dream come true, honestly. I'm really sorry I hit you, by the way. I was on time when I left the house but the traffic was so bad-,"
Mr. Lee cut me off, "Don't worry about it, alright? Nobody got hurt and you're here now. That's what matters, right?"
I cracked a smile, "Yeah, you're right."
Before he even looked at my file, he asked, "You're Jisung Han, right?"
"You remembered my name?" I asked him, tilting my head.
"You wrote your name down on a piece of paper when you hit me with your car, remember?"
"Oh, right..." I trailed off.
God, I must sound so stupid. He's going to think I'm an idiot. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Fuck.
Mr. Lee looked around his desk until he found my file and began to examine it closely, "I have to say, even though you hit me with your car this morning, your resumé is the most impressive I've seen so far."
"You think so?" I asked him.
Ignoring me, Mr. Lee continued to read and then looked up at me, "You graduated from M.I.T?"
"Yeah, that's actually why I came to America," I said, nodding my head.
Mr. Lee closed my file and sat it back down on his desk, "So, what brings you to the Valley?"
"Working in the tech industry has been my dream since I was a kid," I looked up at him. He met my eyes and I continued, trying my best to not stumble over my words, "I've had this plan since I was a kid to start in Cambridge and then migrate to San Francisco when the time was right. I've been out here for a little while doing freelance work but this job would honestly get my foot in the door. I've been waiting for an opening."
"Believe me, I get it. Judging by your resumé, all that's left for you to do is catch your big break and you're in," Mr. Lee said, crossing his arms. "Let's say you do get this job. What's your work ethic like? What can you contribute?"
I thought to myself for a moment before speaking, "Do you want me to be honest?"
Mr. Lee looked taken aback by response but said, "I'm listening."
"I'm one of those pushovers that'll work voluntary overtime just to get something done because my brain doesn't let me stop once I start something. If you ask me to jump, I'll ask "How high?" That's my work ethic," I said, cracking my back and rolling my neck before continuing. "Sorry, I'm stiff. As for what I can contribute? That's up to you, not me."
Mr. Lee looked me up and down inquisitively for a moment before speaking, "You're hired, you start tomorrow at 9. I'll send you an Uber."
My jaw dropped, "Are you serious right now?"
"Yeah, I am," Mr. Lee said, standing up to shake my hand. "It was good to meet you, Jisung Han."
I stood up and shook his hand, "You can just call me Han."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Han," Mr. Lee said to me as I approached the door.
"See ya,' Mr. Lee!" I smiled at him, opening the door and shutting it behind me. I looked around and found Seungmin and Changbin talking amongst themselves against a wall around the corner. I approached them with a smile and said, "Guess what, guys."
"Wait, he's smiling," Changbin said to Seungmin, pointing a finger at me. "Why are you smiling?"
"I got the job!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together in excitement.
Both Changbin and Seungmin stared at me in shock for a moment before the latter spoke up, "He hired you? Just like that?"
"I'm just as confused as you guys are, trust me," I sighed. "I rear-ended him on my way here too, hence why I had to run the rest of the way."
Changbin burst into laughter and Seungmin asked me, "You fucking rear-ended the guy and he didn't threaten you with his millions of lawyers?"
"I kind of abandoned my car before he got the chance...." I trailed off, causing Changbin to laugh even harder than he was.
"This is the funniest thing I've ever heard," Changbin said, trying to suppress his laughter but failing miserably.
Seungmin shook his head, "You're telling me that you not only rear-ended him, but you also abandoned your car with him to deal with and you still got the job?"
"Yeah, I guess I am," I shrugged with a shy smile. "I'm about to head out because I don't start until tomorrow but do you guys want my number? I don't have many friends out here, honestly. I only got here a little less than a year ago."
Seungmin and Changbin both handed their phones to me and I handed mine to them. We exchanged numbers and passed our phones back to one another.
"I'll see you around, Han," Seungmin said to me as I put my phone back in my bag.
"It was nice meeting you," Changbin said with a smile.
"It was nice meeting you guys, too!"