The winter atmosphere was sure cold this morning yet unlike most people that were rushing, you found herself halted in place staring at the same thing that managed to get your attention every single time you were to pass by.
Was it the color that was so captivating and eye-catching or was it the beautiful letters on top of the page that created your most favorite title ever? For most, the reason to stop and stare at the poster of that magazine would have been probably the celebrity that is occupying the first page, yet for you, it was pure admiration for the magazine where you dreamed to be at, one day.
Not as a celebrity on the cover obviously. There was no way that you could ever be as famous as the actor that was currently on the first page. Park Jimin. However, you sure would have loved to have been the one that would have gotten your article in that magazine. An article good enough to be the solid reason that someone would buy the magazine and anticipate it. A writer of which the writing was to get admired and appreciated by many.
In a trance, you stayed there for minutes, not minding the cold breeze nor the people that were rushing by, till your phone started going off that is, reminding you that you shouldn't be taking your day so casually.
You started rushing down the street once the realization hit you, smoothly avoiding an elderly couple that was walking on the pavement with which you almost collided. A quick apology escaped your lips as you kept going, heading to a place you should have been at since fifteen minutes ago.
It was the third time this week that you had gotten late and in all honesty, you really didn't like that at all. Not about the fact that the lead housekeeper might scold you and warn you of losing your job as you did already two times this week but because punctuality was one of your good trades which you seem to be breaking too often for your liking this week. Nonetheless, you didn't consider this your fault. Since you had seen that announcement of the magazine you wished to work for, you had gotten very distracted.
Who could blame you? You had two years that were trying to get a position as a reporter in that company and now that they announced that they were looking to hire, you were more than thrilled. However you were well aware that even now that they were in need of employees, they probably wouldn't hire you. You had been rejected enough times by now to know that well but the fact that you were lacking the required Academic background was not something that would hold you back and make you give up on pursuing your dream career.
You had worked hard and studied on your own. You had read million of articles and write as many yourself in an attempt to better your skills and even though years had passed by and your dream was still far from your reach, you were confident that you now had the skills that the position required. The only thing that you needed was a great topic. Something that would make your article irresistible to anyone.
"Good Morning HyunShik~" You greeted the porter as you entered and waved from afar at the receptionist before turning to the right, hurrying towards the changing rooms where you would soon find yourself in your uniform and going on with your job as a maid in this grand hotel. ' L'étoile Hotel' known as one of the best hotels in the country and of course the most warrant, currently having one of the best security systems in the world.
Two years working in this environment, with people that came and go of various classes and positions. Someone might think that in this time frame you would have come up with a good topic by now and truth was that you had. Maybe more than once. Thing was, You seemed to have a specific superpower of some kind. Power of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A power of somehow getting to know things that you weren't supposed to. Things that others kept secret but you always ended up finding them all and you didn't even try to do so. Since you remember yourself, you were aware of everyone's secrets. People that you may have gotten closely associated with and people that you weren't particularly close, fate always had it and you somehow found yourself hearing secrets that weren't meant for your ears.
Now now, no you weren't eavesdropping, well maybe you were but that never was your intention. No matter the intentions though, information always finds you. That fact was the only thing that had assured you that you will only be taking warnings no matter how many times you actually were to get late because the lead housekeeper was no exception. You knew a secret about every single person in this building, starting from the common staff such as the valet till the Hotel's general manager. Honestly, though, You didn't really want to know and in your life, you were often burdened by the fact that you had knowledge of things that others wanted to keep to themselves. You valued others' privacy a lot and You really could never understand how were you caught up in all those situations where you would find out about one more thing that you had to keep to yourself and pretend that you didn't know.
"Miss Song Y/N. Third time withing the week. Just what do you think this is?" You heard Miss Kwan's pleasant greeting instantly after you had stepped out of the changing room, dressed in your black and white-colored uniform.
You could tell that Miss Kwan, the lead housekeeper was unpleased with your behavior by the way her stare got pinned on you and how her red-colored thin lips were falling downwards at the corners, creating some more wrinkles at her face.
"I am terribly sorry. It won't happen again, I give you my word." You reassured her as you lowered your head apologizing properly for your unprofessional behavior.
"This is the last time I will let you off this month, Miss Song. I really hope this won't be repeated." She said as she held her chin higher and looked down at you with a stern look before finally turning around and taking her leave, letting you breathe more comfortably now and go on with your work which you were already late at.
After her leave, you headed out however as soon as you got to the corridor, you halted your steps again, having encountered the wife of the general manager of the hotel for which you held utmost respect. You greeted her with a bow and Mrs. Yoon SunHee -as her name was- smiled at you with her usual friendliness as she gifted you a sweet good morning and continued with her path, probably heading towards the office of Miss Kwan.
If only all were like her.
You thought as you observed her go, feeling your admiration for her grow more. You didn't know her personally but as far as you had seen all these years, she was an exceptional lady, and wife, always being a lovely sight to the workers, whenever she was to pass by with Mr. Yoon, which was the general manager of the hotel.
A voice called to you, getting your attention and making you turn around and continue your way towards the staff's elevator in order to go up to the floor which you were assigned on today and as you kept walking you couldn't help but let your thoughts go back to the housekeeper and her nagging. A smile forming on your lips, imagining how the stern face of Miss Kwan would have fallen if you were to have responded to her by mention the reason why she had stayed single at the age of 49 as she currently was. You had found out about her secret a year after You had started working at this hotel. It was late December as you clearly remember because of the holiday season and you had passed by a supermarket after getting off of work. You would have never thought that at the parking lot of that supermarket you would find Miss Kwan making out at the back seat of her car with her sister's second husband. To say that You were surprised would have been an understatement as Miss Kwan seemed always like a cold and collected professional. Nonetheless, you just put this on the closet with the other things you knew that weren't supposed to know about people and kept your mouth close, regardless there were moments like this when Miss Kwan would get pretty bossy with you that you admit that you get tempted to shut her up with just a single sentence. Unfortunately, your morals and beliefs have prevented you from ending up using your knowledge for your beneficial porpuses.
This has been a big problem for you many times in the past as you had found yourself in a dilemma many times regarding your article. Your golden ticket in that dream position. It had been hard to choose to do the right thing while you could have taken many shortcuts through blackmailing some here and there with the knowledge you held but you didn't find it proper nor fair and you wanted to win that position on your own. One day a good story will surely fall to your hands and then you will write it so well that anyone would hire you. Or at least that's how you imagined it in your head, every day and night for the past two years and a half.
"Hey, Y/N. Late again?" The maid that called you earlier, named MiOk talked to you as you met in front of the elevator. Her dark hair combed back in a low bun, reminding you that you had yet to properly fix yours.
"Yeah. Do you perhaps know in which room Sonia is currently at?" You asked her just before the elevator door opened and they both stepped inside.
" She is absent today. Health issues I thing so you are on your own for the two suits ." You were sure unpleased by the information you just heard as Sonia was the maid with which you cleaned together and today it was your shift of cleaning two of the most well-known suits of the hotel. Cleaning that all alone and at the same timeline as it is required, will surely put some strain in you but you have no choice. If you were to ask for another maid to accompany you, you knew well that such an action would weight even more on Sonia and she would face more extra hours of work when she returns as a way to pay up for the inconvenience her absence caused. Miss Kwan was sure not tolerated in such things.
"Wish me luck." You smiled at your coworker before exiting the elevator that it had just opened its doors setting you free on the floor you desired to reach. A floor where you were to pass eight hours of your shift, hurrying and running from place to place in order to finish everything on time.
---Change of set---
-"So, what's that supposed to mean? Did you sleep with him?" The man looked hurt as well as perplexed as he spoke of that sentence and the girl before him, left a single tear roll down her cheek as she mumbled a 'sorry' and gave her best guilty facial expression till the voice of the director was heard in the atmosphere.
"Cut! It's a wrap! Good job." The two actors broke out of character immediately once those words reached in their ears and thanked the others for their hard job as well as each other while each taking their leave from the scene, being aware that this was the last scene they had to film for today.
"Jimin, Good Job. You were great once again." DongMin rushed at the male actor's side as his manager and praised him for his good work quickly the way he usually does while offering him a water bottle which Jimin, didn't hesitate to grab and drink from it eagerly since he had gotten really thirsty. And all that just because he was standing there playing and replaying this scene for half an hour now just because the tear of his costar wasn't rolling down the way the director desired it.
"Just get me out of here, please. I am dead tired."Jimin asked of his manager as he handing back the water bottle, still keeping a polite smile on his face as people were still watching and bidding him goodbye for the day.
"Let's get in the car. I have already ordered food for you at your house." DongMin patted his back reassuringly and Jimin smiled happily at him feeling well-taken care of by his manager of two years now whom to him had started becoming a trusted friend as well.
"That's great, let's eat together. You have been working all day too. You must be as tired."Jimin invited him and DongMin nodded his head as they walked out of the set and till the van in which once inside it, Jimin left some sounds of exhaustion escape from his mouth as his back laid on the leather chair that soon grew to be so comfortable to him.
His manager soon took his seat and drove the vehicle away, leaving silence to fill the atmosphere with thoughts that Jimin might end up falling asleep and taking a slight rest till they get to reach home and after some minutes that DongMin's thoughts started leaning more towards becoming reality, just as Jimin's head started leaning at the window and his eyes closed, a piercing sound ruined the quietness and drove him back to his woken state.
Jimin looked around for a moment taken aback as he had momentarily dozed off and then his mind enabled him to realize that the sound was coming from his phone, he started looking for it as he couldn't momentarily recall where he had left it. He grabbed his black backpack but the sound stopped before achieving to find the device however he didn't stress about it as if it was someone important of course he had to call them back.
As his hand finally took hold of his phone, he heard one more short sound indicating that a text had arrived so when his screen came to his view, he instantly swiped up to read that message. His eyes trailed over the simple words one time and two as he fought with a smile that was threatening to reach on his lips then he put his phone aside and cleaned his throat while watching out the window, supposedly interested on the view outside.
---Time skip---
By the time you had thrown your eyes at the watch on your wrist, you were sweaty and your hair was no longer looking proper. Your legs were hurting and your shoe number had changed as your feet had gotten swollen, fitting perfectly your working shoes which you intentionally had bought a number bigger than your actual foot size. But at least it was over. One more day had come to an end and you could return home and practice writing articles again and again till your tiredness takes over you and you fall asleep.
Since your shift was over, you decided to take a look at the magazine's website as you did every day, in order to stay informed with the topics of the current articles that made it to the front page. You wanted to write an article so good that it wouldn't only get you a permanent position as a worker in that company but leave an impression, enough to be on the first page, why not. You surely dreamed big when you started getting into that process. Small things were never on your radar when it came to your dream job. It was always all or nothing in your mind and you really wanted to succeed.
As you placed your hand in your apron's pocket and your hand came in contact with nothing but the fabric, you panicked and looked down discovering that your phone was no longer there and this definitely was not good news as your phone was turned off because it is a requirement to have your mobile off while on working hours or on mute if you had Miss Kwan's permission which you had never asked for since you lived alone and you didn't have many people that would bother calling you while knowing that you were working.
Gosh, where to look for? I cleaned fifty rooms today.
You complained in your head, terribly exhausted already but of course, you could not just let your phone be and not even try to look for it. With great lack of will, you dragged your feet heading at the end of the corridor you currently were and then head to the other floors which you had passed by today.
You knocked on the rooms one by one, some still empty that allowed you to look better and some already occupied by new costumers which you just informed them and requested of them to return the phone at the reception desk if they were to come across it. You were done with thirty rooms with no luck of finding it when you suddenly thought of giving up and just report the event at the front desk so they could ask the people that were occupying the certain rooms you had cleaned today if they had come across your phone. Yet again chances were that some people wouldn't return it even if they had happened to find it in their rooms so maybe you should just forget about it and accept the fact that you lost it.
One more room and I am over this.
You thought to yourself as you knocked on the door with number 2006 and waited for any kind of response that didn't come. You knocked two more times just to make sure before finally pulling out your card key and opening the door, entering the room.
The place looked exactly as you had left it which indicated that the room was not occupied by anyone yet so you could take your time to look around and that was a good thing. You searched around, looking well on the floor and under the bed in case it had slipped off her apron's pocket and had fallen on the ground, ending up in any corner that would be difficult to notice at first sight or even under the bed however as you looked you found out that wasn't the case and your face fell in disappointment.
You stood up having accepted that it was no use at that point but as you were about to turn around and leave, the light of the sun that shined on something on the floor near the curtains, drew your attention, making you take a closer look that put a smile on your face. Your phone was there and you grabbed it feeling extremely happy that you finally found it. But your happy moment got distracted by the sound of a card key opening the door, making you panic at the unexpectancy of costumers and open the balcony door that was in front of you and step outside, hiding there.
A move done out of reflex that you never thought that would bring you to one more situation that you weren't supposed to know. One more time you were at the wrong place at the wrong time or were you?
---To be continued........