If It Hurts This Much (Chaelisa)

Chapter 4

Early November 2021

"Lisa!"

Lisa jolts from her desk, knocking over her coffee mug and spilling some of the contents over the signed contracts lying out on her desk. Shit. Coffee stains are hard to get out. And she would snap at her boss for scaring the crap out of her, maybe say something catch or witty, or just something that'd sting in general, but she likes her job. Then factor in the e-mail she just received from Wedding Day Inc. about Miyeon wanting a fifty thousand dollar wedding, unemployment probably wouldn't be the way to go, so no shouting at the boss today.

Instead, she grasps the contracts and flicks them back and forth, droplets of coffee dropping off pale skin and white paper and reaches for the flashing button on the office phone sitting on her desk.

She clears her throat, placing down the stained contracts. Thank the Lord for copies. "Uh, yes, Sir?"

"My office, now."

Lisa grimaces. She never has been and never will be one for being told what to do, especially when it's her asshole of a boss who doesn't even have the decency to say freaking please. Like, seriously, how hard is it to be polite? But she can tell by his tone it's something important and keeps telling herself that she needs to stick with this job. She needs to stick with it and get past the wedding and then think about her future plans seeing as there's no way in hell she's staying at this job forever.

"Yes, Sir."

Releasing her finger from the button, she stands, smooths out the creases on her skirt and heads for the door. She won't lie, she's a little nervous. Her boss sounded pretty serious, and he never personally calls into her office to see her. When he does it usually either means she's in shit or... Well, she's never found out a second possibility as to why. The only times he's ever called her is was because she was in shit.

Just great.

With a quivering hand, she raps on the door three times and awaits instruction. A deep "come in" sounds through the door not a moment later and she takes in a deep breath, pushing open the door to find her boss, Henry, sitting behind his desk, chubby sausage fingers clasping a pen in one hand whilst the other is clutching some sort of file. Glasses are perched on the end of his nose, and they're almost so comically small that Lisa barks out a laugh seeing as they make her boss' fat head look fatter than usual. A pin striped power suit dons his body, and his head shines in the light, a few wisps of hair combed over, trying and failing to hide the fact that he's balding, and honestly? Lisa doesn't know how this guy's married.

She's not a shallow bitch or anything, but her boss isn't nice, nor does he have the body to make up for his lack of personality and shit, the only thing she can possibly come up with right now, as she stands in the door gaping at her boss is that his wife must be staying with him for the same reason he has a four thousand dollar watch resting nicely on his wrist.

"Mr. Lau," Lisa states, making herself sound formal. "You asked to see me?"

Eyes slide toward her. "Yes, Lisa. Please, sit."

There's a slapping sound as the file her boss was clutching is thrown to the desk, skidding over varnished wood to come to a halt at the edge of the desk, in front of the chair Lisa's just about to sit in. She eyes the file skeptically, looking between the manilla folder and her boss to see if she's done something wrong but there's no twinkle in her boss' eye that says I'm going to fire you because of what's inside this folder so it's all good so far.

As soon as her ass meets the cushion of the chair, she crosses one leg over the other and reaches for the folder. "What's this?"

Her boss slowly rises from the chair, pushing off each armrest with stubby arms and Lisa watches them bend beneath the pressure. If it weren't for the tension in the air, she'd probably laugh. But she doesn't and instead picks up the file, flicking it open but keeping her eyes on her boss.