Kang Seulgi politely nodded her head at the other secretaries and sweetly greeted them before knocking on the door.
"Ah, be careful Seulgi. The boss isn't in a good mood this morning." One of the other secretaries warned her, to which she slowly nodded.
"I know."
Just then, a gruff voice can be heard from inside the room. "Come in."
She pushed the door open while balancing a stack of paper on one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
Sitting behind the black oakwood desk and typing away on the computer was no other than the man of her dreams. As always, he was wearing glasses while working. It was obvious that he had run his fingers through his hair a lot with the way it's swept back with a few strands framing the right side of his face.
The tinted glass walls let in enough sunlight to enhance his lightly tanned skin. She was at a loss at his suave appearance while he concentrated on work, his rough and calloused hands furiously typing away. She was sure he was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
Not only was he incredibly good-looking but he also treated her very well. It was pure luck on her part that she had been hired to become a part of his team of secretaries right when she graduated from college. It was her first work experience and she used to make a lot of mistakes.
Her boss was not a man who gave out second chances but he had surprisingly given her plenty. Whenever she made mistakes, he would remain patient with her because she's a beginner. She had strived to improve herself in the hopes that she would someday be worthy of Park Jimin's attention.
While Park Jimin liked every member of his team to be competent, he also knew the value of honing someone's skills and helping them grow as a person. Personally rearing beginners into talented subordinates would ultimately gain their loyalty.
To him, Kang Seulgi was the perfect example of that. The only reason why he didn't dispose of her is that he needed people he can trust and he saw potential as she genuinely tried to perfect the craft.
Besides, her diligence and persistence used to remind him of someone...in particular, a pestering little girl that used to follow him around.
"Are you just going to stand by the door?" He lifted his head to look at her and his voice was irked from what he saw this morning.
Her warm smile would have hypnotized other men, but with the number of beautiful women who had tried and failed to climb up his bed, he has long been desensitized by these trivial things. Only one woman's smile could make him stop in his tracks...
"I apologize, CEO Park." She sheepishly said. She approached his desk and gently placed the coffee mug down.
"Here's your coffee. One teaspoon of sugar, and two spoonfuls of cream, just as you like it." She told him before setting down the papers and neatly organizing it on his desk. She had purposely said it as if she makes his coffee every morning instead of simply handing it over.
"This is the report that you wanted this morning with regards to the profit and revenue of Seoul Mall in the past month. Here is a draft of the timeline from Yang Corporation, along with the signed proposal. This is the USB with a copy of the presentation for the board meeting later, and right here are the other reports about the stock market." She pointed out the relevant papers as she explained.
Park Jimin pleasantly hummed in response as he sipped his coffee. His mood slightly lifted upon seeing the competence of his employees and how fast they had worked, despite the immense stress and pressure placed upon them.
"Is there anything else, CEO Park?" She gently asked him while tucking her hands in front of her to stand in a very ladylike manner.
"Check with Kim Namjoon on the other reports I've requested." He spoke up while taking another sip of coffee.
She nodded her head. Before she left, she silently watched as he began to examine the contract. Her keen eye picked up a small detail on the contract and spoke up.
"Sir, there's an error there." She said, pointing to the page that he was currently on.
"Where?" He frowned as he went over the same page in the contract again. He didn't notice any visible errors in the paper.
Kang Seulgi walked behind the desk and stood right beside him while placing a hand on his enormous leather chair as she pointed out the figure she was referring to.
"There's an extra zero here which would give them the budget of 8 billion, instead of 800 million." She was confused at how he didn't see the glaring error.
Park Jimin barely paid any attention to the documents he had been signing. He had stayed up all night, reminiscing on the past and how disappointed he was at the anticlimactic ending of his childhood affection.
He had managed to tune out snippets of her life that his sister would occasionally mention during dinner at the main mansion. He only stepped in when Yang Marco had decided to sever all ties with the Jeong family.
Their unplanned reconnection after years of no contact had enlightened him. It was a pleasant surprise to see that she had evolved into an outstanding woman, and his forgotten feelings had come surging back in full force.
His head kept replaying the memory of her taunting words. After all of his attempts to pursue her, she still had the audacity to say something like that? He gritted his teeth when he thought back to her words that were like a harsh slap to his face.
Being the king of both the business world and the underworld, he had made sure that everything that comes out of the media about him passes through Kim Namjoon. All the previous headlines about him and his 'mystery' woman had his approval after all. In fact, he has kept a copy of all their stolen photos together.
His right-hand man had been intuitive enough to add news about Rosè Yang to their watch list. This is how he had gotten a pile of unsavory photographs to look at the moment he got to the office this morning. It was enough to send his blood boiling and his fingers itching to hurt something. Preferably, to beat that man down to a pulp.
"Sir?" Kang Seulgi called out to him, perplexed to see him spacing out. Her boss rarely did that...It seemed he was really strange today.
Park Jimin angrily pinched the spot between his brows, his jaw clenching in annoyance. The more he thought about Rosè, the more he grew annoyed. That foolish, stubborn, stupid woman! He wished he could stop thinking about her already.
"What is it?" He seethed, forgetting why Kang Seulgi was even behind his desk. He was so distracted by the thought of Rosè that he didn't realize how close she was standing to him.
"There's an error here." She repeated with her hand still on the paper.
Park Jimin looked down and sure enough, there was an extra zero. How did he not catch that? This was the most important page and he barely gave it a thought when he signed it.
Letting out a tired sigh, he ran a hand through his hair. He barely slept a wink last night, thus, he was forced to function on just two hours of sleep.
Kang Seulgi snuck a glance at her handsome boss. She always thought it was strange how he treated her better than most of his employees. Her colleagues had all pointed it out before. They would tease her that it was because he liked her since she was never in danger of being fired or harshly scolded. Not even the Ice King, Kim Namjoon , had disciplined her before!
Unknowingly to her, Kim Namjoon had only ignored her mistakes because he knew his boss's plan of organically growing his own subordinates.
Park Jimin only favored her a bit more than the rest of his secretaries because her behavior and attitude truly resemble that stubborn child from the past...
Kang Seulgi bent down a bit to properly examine the contract. "Oh, there's another one here." She said, pointing to the top of the page. Her hair fell beside her face, and she pushed it back, revealing her tiny face and sharp jawline. With her neckline revealed, a soft and sweet scent exuded from her, but Park Jimin didn't even notice it.
Park Jimin tilted his head to look at where she was pointing at and sure enough, there was another one. He didn't realize that by leaning to get a better look at the paper, their proximity seemed intimate. She was basically hovering over him but his brain was too cloudy to even realize that.
Just when Park Jimin saw the error, the door to his office opened and what greeted him was the sound of something hitting the floor.
He turned his head and his eyes flickered with surprise upon seeing who had just arrived. He stared at her, mouth slightly parted. He had never seen her in casual clothes, but not surprisingly, she looked beautiful in it. The purse hanging on her shoulders particularly suited her. It was the one he had gotten for her that she stubbornly tried to return to him. It was the first shot that started their gift war.
He was once again, awestruck by her. But she wasn't looking at him. Her face turned stone cold, her eyes reflected a sense of betrayal at the familiar scene before her. A painful memory flashed across her mind quickly followed by many more, and soon, she was reminded of something she desperately wanted to forget...