The afternoon was spent in busyness.
Nearing the end of work, Jiyeon finally completed all the tasks Chengxiao had directed to her.
She verified the form, informed the Documentation Department about the certificate of origin, and supervised the freight team’s moving process . . .
Although it wasn’t complicated, it took time and patience to watch over them, so it was impossible to relax even a bit.
This kind of job was indeed suitable for a newbie like her. Clearly, Xiao kept that in mind when she made the arrangements.
Jiyeon sighed, typed the last words on the chat screen, and suddenly felt relieved.
“Want a piece of chocolate?” Seeing that she had stopped working, Yeonjung who had been idle the entire day, peered over and stuffed a piece of chocolate into Jiyeon’s hand. “You’ve been working for so long, take a break.”
“Thank you.” Seeing her insist, she didn’t refuse and accepted it with a nod.
“It’s tiring, right?” Yeonjung smiled and looked at her. “Speaking of that, if Chengxiao already knew she couldn’t come to work today, she should’ve finished everything yesterday. Instead, she just had to leave the rest to you.”
“If you had the background, you really could do whatever you wanted . . .”
Although her voice was low, the attitude she wanted to express was obvious.
She’s talking behind someone’s back and was even . . . looking forward to her response.
Jiyeon raised her eyes and, as expected, she caught a glimpse of expectation in Yeonjung’s eyes, as though waiting for her to ask about the so-called background she mentioned.
Ah, what’s the matter with this girl.
Jiyeon paused, ate the rest of the chocolate, and then smiled lightly.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” she said, “I am a newcomer, so it makes sense I should train more.”
Probably not having expected such a response, Yeonjung was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed awkwardly. “That’s true, haha.”
“But still, be careful to not overwork, because there won’t be any place for you to cry.”
Her tone held the same hint of cynicism as before.
Jiyeon could not be bothered by her and simply responded, “Thank you for the chocolate.”
Without waiting for Yeonjung to say anything else, she turned around.
Before long, a small sound of “Tch” came from behind her.
Yeonjung rolled her eyes and soon turned around to continue chatting with others.
Jiyeon caught a few words. They seemed to be talking about so-and-so from the Domestic Trade Department. She couldn’t help but shake her head.
There were still more than ten minutes before work ended. She already completed her job for the day, so she found a comfortable position, leaned back in her chair, and scrolled through her phone, checking out what Luda and the others had planned for the evening.
Unlike her, her best friends were born with a silver spoon. Their daily life consisted of sleeping, traveling, more traveling, eating, and more eating.
They seemed to have a new hobby lately—chasing after young ladies.
As soon as she opened the group chat, she saw Sojung send out a series of exclamation marks, followed by screenshots of steps, asking them to help vote for her favorite idols.
Jiyeon quickly agreed, promising to look over the steps and vote after returning home from work.
Sojung replied with an ok emoji and began advertising the same thing to Luda and the others. The group chat was noisy and peaceful at the same time.
She stared at the group chat for a moment, then smiled and returned to the main screen, wanting to see if there were any other messages.
Then, she saw Hyunjung’s name.
When she added her earlier in the afternoon, she changed her nickname. At that time, she thought nothing of it, but looking at it again, her heart slowed a beat for some reason.
She subconsciously opened her profile and stared at her kakao account for a while.
This should be her boss’ phone number.
She was silent for a moment and finally opened her contacts, typed in a series of numbers, and then noted her name.
Looking up again, it happened to be time to get off work.
“Let’s go!” The office quickly regained its vitality. Everyone clocked out and ran quickly toward the elevator.
She was a step too slow, and by the time she arrived at the elevator, the first wave of people had already gone down.
Their office was on the middle floor of the building, so taking the stairs didn’t actually take that long, but Jiyeon was really tired today, so she didn’t even consider it.
Time quickly passed by as she chatted with her colleagues while waiting, and the elevator soon returned to their floor.
Upon opening, there was a person inside.
A familiar suit, a familiar face, and a familiar light fragrance.
It’s President Kim again!
She almost couldn’t catch her breath.
The elevator was about to become their special meeting spot!
At the moment, her boss was carrying a stack of documents in her hand. It seemed as though she just returned from working overtime outside.
Having learned the lesson from last time, she immediately grabbed the colleague next to her and greeted, “Hello, President Kim!”
“Yes.” Hyunjung nodded, glancing across hee face before quickly stopping and said, “Kim Jiyeonsshi.”
Suddenly having her name called, she was taken aback for a moment, and then began to reflect on whether she had done something wrong and provoked her.
Fortunately, it didn’t seemed as though Hyunjung wanted to scold her, and simply asked in a gentle tone, “Do you have any plans after work?”
No way, did she want to keep her overtime?
Jiyeon lightly coughed and wanted to refuse, but before she could speak, she added, “I’ll only need a few minutes of your time to help me sort out some files.”
She couldn’t say any words of refusal at this point. She raised her gaze and nodded slowly.
It was unclear it was an illusion or not, but she felt as though the light within Hyunjung’s eyes softened a bit and that her straight lips soothed out.
“. . . . . .”
—
She did indeed not use up much of her time.
In fact, there wasn’t even any small talk. She simply told her how to organize the files before walking toward the window to make a call.
Summer had just begun, and the days were long. The sun that was hanging above the treetops finally showed signs of descending, and rays of light shone through the window.
They happened to cage Hyunjung within the light, elongating her slender body’s shadow.
There was a hint of inexplicable loneliness.
Jiyeon finished organizing the documents, and seeing that her boss still wasn’t done with the phone call, she didn’t move and sat in place, staring at her back in a daze.
It wasn’t until now that she realized not only was Hyunjung is good-looking, she also had a pleasant voice. It was as clear as a spring, and she felt at ease just listening to it in silence.
As she listened to her, she couldn’t help but feel sleepy, and so she sat there and secretly took a small nap.
The next time she opened her eyes, Hyunjung had finished the call and was standing before her, staring at her.
“. . . . . .”
Her eyes were born to be good looking, but because she always had a stern look on her face at the office, no one dared to meet her in the eyes.
But it was different now. That fierce energy was gone, and a gentleness returned to her field of vision.
It made her unconsciously recall that night at the supermarket.
Jiyeon was taken aback, and half of her desire to sleep disappeared as her cheeks turned red.
“I finished organizing the documents,” she said, “I didn’t want to bother you earlier since you were still on the phone call.”
“Yes.” Hyunjung nodded and didn’t say anything else. She took the organized files and looked through them for a few moments before speaking, “Not bad.”
Is she complimenting me?
Jiyeon widened her eyes, almost thinking that she may still be in a dream.
Not noticing her change in emotions, Hyunjung finished flipping through the documents, then returned to the desk and sat down. Without looking at her again, she said, “There’s nothing else, you may go home now.”
“Alright.” Jiyeon nodded and hurriedly packed her things to leave. “Goodbye, President Kim.”
Before she finished her words, Hyunjung seemed to have just remembered something and beckoned her over.
Now what?
She could only walk back toward her and stand in front of the computer, staring at her.
“Do you have any interests in Izakaya?” she suddenly asked.
Ah?
Jiyeon was taken aback, and her thoughts scrambled all over the place. Then she soon remembered the photos of food Hyunjung sent her that afternoon.
It seemed that the name of the restaurant was Izakaya.
Jiyeon felt speechless at the moment.
You obviously sent those photos on your own initiative, how come I’m now the one who’s interested in it.
But she could only think that way internally, and didn’t dare express it on the surface in any way. She merely nodded in response to Hyunjung’s words said a few words of agreement.
As soon as her voice fell, she saw her take out an exquisite small box and place it on the table.
“This is the souvenir they gifted me. It’s useless for me, so I’ll give it to you instead,” she said in a serious manner.
After speaking, she opened the box, and the contents appeared in their field of vision.
It was a . . . large and black conch shell.
—
Work just ended, so a lot of people were on the bus.
Jiyeon got on, squeezed through the crowd of people, and found an empty seat in the back. She finally could breathe again.
She slightly adjusted the bag she was carrying, moved around until she felt comfortable in her seat, and then took the conch shell out of the box to observe it.
It really was ugly.
She sighed and examined it over and over again. She refused to believe this was given as a souvenir.
It couldn’t possibly be that Hyunjung deliberately took the conch shell back after roasting its insides to joke with her?
She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then quickly rejected this guess.
She’s the dignified President Kim, how could she have the time and thought to play around with her.
Unless there’s really something special about it . . .
She had no choice but to look at the conch shell over and over again, but she couldn’t find anything outstanding.
Just as she was about to put it back in, her thoughts suddenly took a turn, as though realizing something.
She took a deep breath and carefully picked up the foam sheet from the bottom of the box. And there it was, just as she expected. She discovered a VIP card for the Izakaya at the bottom layer.
A feeling of disbelief rose in her heart, and Jiyeon opened her kakao, wanting to confirm with Hyunjung if she, perhaps, accidentally left it there.
Then, she quickly obtained her answer.
“It actually wasn’t all that delicious, and since you’re interested, I’ll gift it to you.”
“Help me get rid of it.”
So . . . it’s really for her, but did she really need to use such a method . . .
Jiyeon quickly sent “Thank you, President” over, then turned off her phone and sat in her seat, staring at the dark conch shell in a daze.
Their President Kim, turned out to be such an awkward person?