"Did you know why I asked you to stay?" Jennie returned to her seat.
"Y-yes." Lisa had to admit that all of her interest toward the latter was postponed temporarily.
All she could feel was nothing but fear.
"Good. It means I don't need to tell you what you've been doing wrong. Vice versa, tell me your mistakes that you've acknowledged." Jennie propped her chin with her palm.
"The issues happened because of the system and as a quality assurance; I should have known this problem and even prepared for the preventive action before it occurred. I'm the one who's responsible of the system sustainability and I have failed since there are so many issues happened and caused our division to suffer loss." Lisa said regrettably.
"Hmm.. Correct. But unfortunately, your grief, regret, or whatever you called it wouldn't change our situation now. I'm so disappointed, Lisa. I thought you were better than this but I guess I was wrong." Jennie sighed and Lisa was too ashamed to lift her head up.
"You are careless for not recording the issue. You think it's a small thing, don't you? You assume it won't matter that much. You guess that these small problems don't need to be handled properly but look at what you, your assumption, your guesses, your thought have done to this division." Jennie said with a flat tone.
She didn't raise her voice like what she had done not long ago.
"Did you even think of your team mate when you decided to ignore these problems? Did it even cross your mind that because of you, all of your team members got scolded by me? Don't you feel guilty about that? Don't you have heart to feel what they have experienced? I'm sure they will stay late today to take care of the issues." Jennie continued.
"I-I'm sorry." Lisa was on the verge of crying by now, not because of she was currently being scolded, but because she digested Jennie's words and realized it that its' true somehow.
It's all because of her.
"Not only that. You also caused your superior, me, other managers, and even Senior Manager to get punished and scolded by Board of Directors. Do you know that?" Jennie sharply breathed.
She was too tired to even get mad at Lisa.
"I.. I'm truly sorry, maam." Lisa couldn't utter a word but sorry.
She never knew such a thing existed. She had communicated with Business Process team regularly, sharing the issue by phone but Jennie was right, she never documented it properly.
"Stop saying sorry. It won't change a thing." Jennie's words stabbed Lisa right in the heart. It was bitter and painful but Jennie had full right to be mad at her.
"Make a table and data every issue found from the current system. Go around and ask to each of our members about the issue they have found, either the one has been resolved or still hasn't been fixed. Send it to Business Process afterward. Put my email and our division members' team email on your CC. Arrange a meeting with Business Process tomorrow to discuss about the issues." Jennie demanded, still with a flat tone.
"Yes, maam." Lisa nodded, still with her head hung low.
"I'm done talking with you. You're allowed to go back to your seat." Jennie switched her focus and turned to her laptop.
"Excuse me, maam." Lisa got up and bowed.
Jennie ignored Lisa, still feeling disappointed and all.
"Hey, cheer up, Lis. It's not your fault." Seulgi looked up from her computer screen and smiled sincerely.
"I-I'm sorry, guys. It's all because of me. I'm so sorry all of you got scolded because of my careless and unprofessional act." Lisa stood in the middle of cubicles and confessed while bowing her head lowly.
"We're not mad at you, Lisa-ah. We know how hard it is to adapt with the new system. We just never thought it would be this bad." Hanbin approached and tapped Lisa's shoulder which was shaking wildly.
"That's right. How could we able to learn new things if we never made a mistake, right? It's fortunate that we found the issues now. If we found it later, I'm sure it would be much worse than this." Bobby got off from his seat too and joined Hanbin.
"Bobby is right. He always makes mistakes but never learns from it yet he survives up until now. Miracles happen you know." Joy walked to Lisa.
"Let's hug, forgive each other and promise that we will do better next time! We are one team, Lisa." Seulgi finally approached her employees and initiated a group hug.
"Hwaiting Lisa!" They said at the same time while pumping their fists upward.
"Thank you, guys." Lisa genuinely smiled even when tears were still wetting her face.
"No worries, Lis. Now go and wash yourself. After that, go back to work and you need to work harder and better this time." Seulgi helped kindly Lisa to brush Lisa's tears with her thumbs.
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Lisa did as she promised.
She worked much harder that she lacked of sleep, lacked of rest, and didn't bother her weekend. They met Business Process and conducted a serious meeting, talking about the issues thoroughly.
Lisa even made a note about the due date regarding their promises to resolve the issues. Finished with the meeting, Lisa made a MOM in a detailed way and sent it to them by email.
Jennie saw a huge change with Lisa's ways to work. She couldn't say she's not happy with transformation but she could judge from Lisa's expression and how Lisa wore loose shirt that Lisa worked too hard.
Jennie noticed the dark circles around Lisa's eyes.
It was too distinct to be ignored.
She also acknowledged how Lisa's body became thinner. It's not because Lisa had made a mistake to buy oversize shirt because Jennie was so sure, she ever saw Lisa wore the same shirt some time ago and it looked just fit perfectly before, unlike now.
Lisa would still work when it's time to break. She would eat while doing her job. She kept a close monitor toward Business Process team to collect the update regarding the issues regularly. When the issues had been resolved, she made a plan to make her own manual Job Aid to help her team adapt with the new system better. All of her resolution had been conducted perfectly. It's just the impact of her doing wasn't as perfect as her work.
"Where's Lisa?" Jennie came late as usual.
She frowned when she passed Lisa's cubicle and couldn't find the girl.
"She got a high fever, maam. She just texted me, saying that she cannot attend work today." Seulgi answered by phone.
"Ah. She informed me too. I just checked my phone. Okay then. Thank you, Ms Kang." Jennie said before hanging up.
She replied the message and told Lisa to just rest for the day.
Jennie worked until the sun is gone from her sight and replaced by moon as usual. She typed on her laptop keyboard, sending email to various people. However, it was different now that Lisa wasn't there to accompany her.
Her stomach growled and that's when she realized, Lisa was always there to ensure her stomach wouldn't grumble because Lisa always served her food, no matter what kind of food it was.
Jennie stopped working and just called the day off for today. She again walked passed Lisa's cubicle when she's about to get out through the front door.
"Was I too harsh on her?" Jennie asked herself while waiting for the elevator to reach the lobby.
It was the third day that Lisa gone from work. She still called in sick but she managed to send report to Jennie every day. It made Jennie satisfied with the professionalism that Lisa owned but at the same time, it made Jennie felt kind of guilty.
She wondered whether Lisa's sickness was really serious.
She wanted to text her but she didn't want to disturb Lisa, in case the girl was resting by now. Unable to hold her curiosity anymore, she called Seulgi to come to her office room.
"Is Lisa still sick?" Jennie asked the person in front of her.
"Yes, she is." Seulgi nodded.
"How bad is it? Where is the hospital she's currently in?" Jennie asked again.
"She's in her apartment. She hates hospital." Seulgi sighed.
"Eh? But isn't she living alone? Then who takes care of her when she's sick like now?" Jennie's concern could be detected easily by the latter.
Seulgi hid her smirk but she felt glee inside. Even though, it's still unclear whether Jennie liked Lisa too or not, at least she cared.
"I've grown tired of trying to knock some sense into her head. She's just too stubborn and ignored my plea to make her stay in hospital instead of her apartment. At least, there will be nurses and doctor to take care of her." Seulgi explained.
She felt curious about Jennie's respond.
"Why does she hate hospital?" Jennie didn't know why she felt worried about her employee. Yes, she wasn't that heartless but the last time she remembered, she wasn't a person who got worried easily over someone. Perhaps, it's because Lisa was a person who often accompanied her at work.
Yes, that's must be the reason.
"Beat me." Seulgi shrugged her shoulder.
"Have you seen her?" Jennie tapped her fingers on the table.
"Yeah. Her fever is stubborn like her. It doesn't want to leave her alone." Seulgi recalled her visit to Lisa's apartment yesterday and Lisa was a lot thinner than she over remembered.
"Okay. Thank you for the info, Ms Kang. You may come back to work, now." Jennie decided not to pry further.
She didn't want Seulgi to assume things she herself hadn't even sure. Not long after, she ignored her work and got ready to leave.
"Seulgi, I have to meet a client so I will leave first. Please make sure to inform me the progress of today's work." Jennie walked to Seulgi's table and informed her.
"Okay, Ms Kim. I'll send you an email later." Seulgi obediently agreed.
"Thank you." Jennie smiled and left.
"I hope you go to the place where I think you will. Lisa-ah, don't lose hope just yet. I'm sure she will eventually reciprocate your feelings." Seulgi unconsciously smiled while picturing Lisa's face on her mind.
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*DING DONG*
"Ughh... Who could that be?" Lisa held her head tightly while trying to get up.
She felt dizzy, warm, and her stomach churn.
She hated to be sick because it would make her feel useless, moreover when she was living alone with no one to take care of her. At times like this, she just wanted to go home and meet her family.
*DING DONG*
"Wait!" Her voice cracked but she still tried to speak loudly to make the person behind the door hear her.
"I told you that I would be-" Lisa thought it was Seulgi but she was wrong when whom she saw was the person she missed the most.
"Ms. Kim?" Lisa cleared her throat and tried to be as clear as possible when she mentioned her boss's name.
"Can I come in?" Jennie saw the pale face with messy hair, yet it didn't reduce Lisa's face feature a bit.
"S-Sure. Come in. I'm sorry I haven't had time to clean up my apartment so yeah.." Lisa opened the door wider and let Jennie in.
She sustained her body by holding onto the wall.
"How are you feeling? You look bad, Lisa-ah. Why didn't you go visit a doctor?" Jennie removed her coat and draped it on the couch.
She then placed her purse on the coffee table.
"I'm okay, maam. I will try to attend work tomorrow. I'm sorry I can't do my work properly while I'm sick." Lisa thought Jennie visited her just because of work; because she unable to do her works since she stayed at her apartment.
"I'm here not because of that reason, Lisa-ah. I'm not that heartless you know." Jennie said sadly.
She felt bad for Lisa only thought she cared for work, not for her employee.
"O-oh. I'm sorry. I thought you were going to scold me for being a failure employee." Lisa slowly led herself to the couch and sat on it.
She felt her surrounding rotated in a fast motion. She shut her eyes tight and massaged her temple.
"Are you okay?" Jennie quickly tried to help Lisa.
She touched Lisa's arms and startled by her body temperature.
"Oh my God! Your body is burning! Come, let's go back to your bed and I'll call the doctor." Jennie helped Lisa to get up and walked to the bedroom.
Lisa lay on her back and slowly fluttered her eyes open.
"No~ I hate doctor! I don't want to be injected!" Lisa whined and Jennie chuckled.
She only knew by now that Lisa hated doctor because she's afraid of injection.
"You're such a kid!" Jennie laughed.
"Whatever." Lisa frowned. She felt her head throbbing. She winced and sighed.
"Have you eaten?" Jennie asked worriedly.
"I ate cereal this morning." Lisa answered shortly.
"But it was hours ago! It's 4 pm now! You need to eat something!" Jennie concern made Lisa smile. She felt happy for the person she liked felt worry about her condition.
"I'm not hungry~" Lisa stated and pouted.
"I didn't ask whether you're hungry or not. I asked if you have eaten or not and obviously, you haven't so I would make call to order some food." Jennie casually exclaimed and didn't even bother to hear Lisa's protest.
She took her phone and dialed the nearby restaurant.
"Why are you here, Ms Kim?" Lisa asked once Jennie had back to her room.
"Because I want to." Jennie didn't lie. It was partially true even she hadn't told the main reason why she's there.
"Sighed. Do whatever you want, maam." Lisa obviously disappointed with the answer.
She kind of hoped Jennie would say that she got worried or something like that.
"What are you doing?" Lisa got distracted when Jennie suddenly rested a cold small towel on her forehead.
"Since you hate to be taken care of by a doctor then I will personally take care of you. End of discussion." Jennie's tone more like an order.
Lisa subconsciously smiled idiotically.
"Ah! That's must be the food!" Jennie snapped her fingers and abruptly got up to get her food.
"Maybe I do have a chance with her." Lisa still grinned remembering Jennie's words that she wanted to take care of her.
For once in her life, she felt thankful for being weak and sick. It was more like bless for her.
She wouldn't mind to continuously being sick if that's what it took to make Jennie take care of her.
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150 votes for another 2 updates? hehe