Hyunjung's self-esteem had taken a hit, and it was unlikely to recover in such a short time.
Jiyeon had no choice, she would find ways to coax her during work. She didn't slack off when she went home at night either, attentively wishing her boss good morning and good night all the time.
At the same time, she even browsed the web for solutions on how to butter Hyunjung up.
But the results were all unsatisfactory.
Helplessly, she exited the browser and contemplated. Finally, her fingers moved as she searched in a new direction--
How would a child act if she was angered, and how do I coax her?
The loading circle spun a few times as the results finally popped up.
Jiyeon read it seriously, realizing this answer was closer to the truth.
It said that most children have high self-esteem, and it could take them a while to get over their anger. They would even do stuff like avoiding their parents, ignoring them, rejecting food, and the like.
She compared the actions from the webpage, wasn't it exactly what her boss was doing?
She sighed, then hurriedly scrolled down to find the suggested solutions.
It was pretty similar to what she had done before. Tempt them with snacks, apologize and be nice to them, and try your best to show them you want to make up with them.
If all else fails, you can only tell her to calm down by herself first.
Seems like it's the only solution left.
Jiyeon shook her head and locked her phone, closing her eyes to think. Hugging the soft toy next to her, she ended up falling asleep.
Who knows if it was because she had read so much about children's behavior before she fell asleep, she had a weird dream.
She actually...... dreamt of the president as a child.
In the dream, that person was around seven or eight years old, and she didn't look as stern and cold as she did now. She looked clearly like an undisguised crybaby.
Looking from afar, Jiyeon was shocked to find she was there too.
She was a child, just like her boss, and they were sitting side by side under a large tree.
Both of them had red eyes and tear marks on their faces as if they had just cried together.
But looking closer, there were slight smiles on their lips and happiness in their eyes.
Chatting the whole afternoon under the tree, they eventually stretched out their pinkies and interlocked them.
The feel of their small fingers hooked together felt incredibly clear.
It was so vivid that she could still remember it after she woke up.
Why did she have this sort of dream?
Jiyeon was in a stupor for a while, only snapping out of it when a call came in.
Looking at the screen, it was Soobin calling.
Calling her this early, it was pretty likely it was for something important. Jiyeon picked up the phone without hesitation.
Soobin's voice floated out from the receiver, greeting amusedly: "Jiyeon, good morning?"
"Morning." she yawned, then smiled and returned the greeting. "Why did you suddenly think to call me?"
After all, this person would usually look for Luda if there was anything wrong. It wasn't odd that she would ask this question.
"I just miss you." Soobin giggled from the other end of the call, but just as she was about to start complaining, she immediately got serious. "Okay, I need your help with something."
"I knew it." Jiyeon smiled wider. "Spit it out, what's the matter?"
"......"
Because of that call, Jiyeon found out Soobin had a cousin. Son Juyeon.
Although it was her younger cousin, there wasn't much of an age difference, just a year.
She was the same age as Jiyeon though, also at the stage in life where she had graduated and was about to start working.
Coincidentally, her workplace was the building right opposite her office.
According to Soobin, she had been spoilt from a young age and might have difficulties integrating into society. Since Jiyeon had been working for a while, she wanted to ask Jiyeon to help take care of her.
"You don't have to do too much either," Soobin said. "Just eat with her during lunch break and teach her generally about what newcomers to a company should take note of, that's all."
She even said: "I believe in you. Hwaiting!"
Her tone was filled with anticipation and excitement. Having said so much, even Jiyeon smiled after hearing it.
She felt obliged to tease Soobin: "You're a sister with the concerned heart of a mother."
"I'm a beautiful, cute little fairy." Soobin started laughing as she spoke. "You're the mother."
"No, I'm......" Jiyeon wanted to refute.
But as the words reached her mouth, they died there as she suddenly thought of Hyunjung's face.
She realized, there was no way to refute it.
Soobin was right.
She coughed dryly and awkwardly changed the topic, chatting about something else with her friend.
After that, she quickly got ready and rushed to the office.
The president wasn't around this morning.
A lot was happening at the factory lately, she had to make frequent trips back, with some of them lasting for an entire day.
Jiyeon waited fruitlessly for a while, then decided to bury herself in work and settle the stuff she had left.
It became noon quickly.
It was about time to meet Soobin's cousin.
Soobin had booked the venue beforehand, it was a coffee shop beside Jiyeon's office.
Because she had heard so much from Soobin, Jiyeon had thought the little cousin was a girl who was unfamiliar with the world. She had even worried if she should use a softer tone when speaking to her.
In the end, she realized it wasn't the case at all.
This person was much smarter than Soobin said.
It was honestly quite impressive. She understood everything in the office, and her observation skills and perceptiveness were top-notch as well.
After chatting with her for a while, Jiyeon realized she had nothing to teach her at all. Thinking this kid could be busy, she didn't waste time either, settling the bill first and leaving the coffee shop with her.
Halfway through, Juyeon said she wanted to buy some snacks for her colleagues.
She pointed at a shop that was well known for its cream red bean paste pastries.
Cream red bean paste pastries, huh?
Jiyeon looked in the direction he was pointing, then nodded after a bit.
She seemed to remember her boss eating it before, and she looked as if she had enjoyed it.
Why not she buy some for her too?
Hyunjung had gone to the factory at five in the morning.
There had been a mistake with some important calculations at the quality checking department, and she didn't want to slow down production, so she had gone over it herself to check it. After she had settled it, she went to the production floor.
Once everything had been settled, it was already quite late.
She should be able to rush back to the office before work resumed in the afternoon.
In her heart, Hyunjung had figured that she could eat lunch at the factory before driving back to the office.
On the route back though, all she could think about was the issue with Jiyeon.
She had already let go of her anger after so many days.
But she had never really had many friends, and she didn't know how to handle this sort of situation at all. She didn't know how to make up with Jiyeon, and she was too embarrassed to be the first one to start talking.
She wanted to find a suitable method, but she hadn't thought of one even until now.
Hyunjung felt a bit down, returning to the office absent-mindedly. Right as she was passing by a snack shop, inspiration struck.
She thought, why not buy some for Jiyeon?
Then she could ask Assistant Nam to deliver it and help her say some nice stuff to Jiyeon.
This shop's cream red bean paste pastries were delicious, she should... make up with her after eating them.
Hyunjung thought it all through.
Her body followed her thoughts automatically, parking the car on the road shoulder and she joined the end of the queue under the blazing sun.
While queueing, she thought to herself, she was a good boss.
Still deep in thought, she lifted her eyes to see a familiar person near the front of the line.
It was Jiyeon!
Why was this person also buying snacks?
She froze, then craned her neck to the side to try and see if what she was holding was cream red bean paste pastries.
But before even catching a glimpse, she realized there was a woman next to her.
She's probably what they call the "puppy" type on the internet, pale and clean, with curly hair, and when she smiled, her small canine teeth showed.
The two of them looked very close, standing closer together than anybody else, chatting while staring at each other.
They said something or did something, and Jiyeon smiled.
Her almond-shaped eyes curved, and her mouth corner dimples appeared as she smiled exceptionally sweetly.
"......"
She had never smiled like that when she was with Hyunjung.
Taken aback by the smile, she took a while to snap back to reality.
Not knowing what she was feeling, Hyunjung was a bit lost, silently taking out her phone and opening kakaotalk.
There was no need to care about that person, she was much closer to Jiyeon than she was. Jiyeon was her subordinate, and she owed her a lot of favors, the two of them had even gone out together to play before.
These two days, Jiyeon had sent her greetings every morning, afternoon, and night without breaking her streak......
The timestamp on the last message in their chat was yesterday, at 1:08 PM.
The streak was broken.
There were quite a few people in the line, so Juyeon, Soobin's cousin took this chance to tell Jiyeon a joke.
It was unexpectedly funny. Jiyeon burst into laughter for a while, to the point that she was almost in tears.
But before she stopped laughing, the Juyeon suddenly opened her mouth again.
This time, it wasn't a joke. She moved closer and asked her softly: "Jiyeon, there's someone behind who seems to be staring at you......"
"Ah?" Jiyeon paused immediately, turning her head around to look, but she saw nothing.
She looked back at her and asked: "Who? Where?"
"They've left," Juyeon said. "They were at the back of the queue just now, staring at you for a while. I thought I saw wrong at the start."
"Any identifying features?" Jiyeon asked.
"It was a lady!" she said. "She was quite good-looking, tall, long hair and she was wearing a black suit......"
She went on: "Jiyeon, you didn't see it, but that person walked fast. She was gone after a short while, like a big black mouse."
Big black mouse?!
She was dumbstruck.
Why did it sound a little like President Kim?
Her guess was quickly confirmed.
Jiyeon felt it was possibly her boss, and she was worried that she might have seen something, misunderstood something, and ran off to sulk alone.
She couldn't get back fast enough.
Their break in the afternoon wasn't considered short, and even though she was out for a while, it was still relatively early and everybody was all asleep.
It was extraordinarily quiet.
Afraid of disturbing the rest, Jiyeon walked in with light footsteps, carrying that bag of cream red bean paste pastries as she crept to the president's office to sneak a peek.
This person had indeed come back.
Just like Juyeon said, black suit, long hair......
So the big black mouse was you.
She sighed, about to send in the snacks and try to patch things up again, but she froze in shock after taking a few steps.
Even though there was a glass door in between, she could see every little thing that was going on inside.
Jiyeon saw that her boss looked like she was crying.
It wasn't the same way she was crying that time from work, she looked much more upset this time.
Her eyes were all red, and teardrops were clinging to her eyelashes and her cheeks as her hand held onto a bunch of damp tissues.
Maybe she was worried about the people outside discovering it, so she was biting down on her lips and not making a sound. Only her body was softly trembling.
She was clearly in a suit and leather shoes, but she looked just like an upset child.
Jiyeon's heart ached as she watched.
A thought suddenly surfaced in her brain too, worrying that this person might have seen her with Juyeon and misunderstood.
Could she think that Jiyeon was abandoning her and didn't want to be friends anymore?
Or...... it was because she did care for her.
Jiyeon didn't have time to think so much, she stood at her original spot and stared at the crying president through the glass door for a while before she couldn't bear it anymore.
She didn't call to let her prepare, she just pushed open the door and went in.
Placing the cream red bean paste pastries on her boss' desk, she urgently raised Hyunjung's face to take a look.
She looked so pitiful, crying until she looked like a tabby cat.
Even her makeup had smudged and ran down her face.
Did you smear mud on your face?
Jiyeon paused, ignoring Hyunjung's attempts to flee. She reached out to grab a tissue and bent over slightly.
Looking at her, Jiyeon carefully wiped away the tears on the crybaby's face.
She was incredibly gentle.
Even her words were soft: "President Kim, I'm here to apologize to you again."
"I even bought cream red bean paste pastries for you, I queued for so long. Would you mind trying some now?"
"Let's not continue fighting after you've eaten it, don't cry......"
At those words, Hyunjung immediately froze.
Staring at her for a few seconds, Hyunjung finally remembered she was crying and rushed to wipe away her tears and sit up straight.
She started complaining, saying Jiyeon, you're too annoying. How could you come in without knocking?
She even said her eyes were irritated by the wind outside, and she had only just felt slightly better.
"I won't cry even if you cry!" She said, her eyes filled with anger, looking at Jiyeon unhappily. "Only children would cry!"
"So that's the reason." Jiyeon smiled, giving her a way out as usual. "Then I'm the one who saw it wrongly."
"The wind outside is indeed strong. My eyes were irritated when I was buying the cream red bean paste pastries too, I had to ask my cousin to blow on them for a while before I felt better."
To ease the president's mind, Jiyeon borrowed this opportunity and placed special emphasis on the words "cousin".
She then quickly turned around and carefully opened the box of cream red bean paste pastries.
Choosing the biggest and prettiest piece, she held it in front of Hyunjung, asking gently: "So seeing as I went through so much trouble, would you give me the honor?"
She couldn't have been more sincere.
With a smile on her face, she was prettier than when she was smiling at the joke earlier. Her eyes were bright and aside from the amusement in them, it was filled with Hyunjung's reflection.
Warm and sincere.
Seeing it, Hyunjung fell silent for a moment, before reaching out to take the piece of the bread.
She chewed and swallowed, then said in a small voice: "Alright, now we've made up......"
Jiyeon's smile grew even wider.
Nodding, she replied softly: "Now we've made up."