Almost Lover

A Lion's Lair

Chapter 2

A Lion's Lair

“Yoo Minjoo-ssi, explain to me what the heck is this?” Mr. Lee Youngwoo asked, dropping something on Minjoo’s desk with a thud.

I gingerly stood up from my seat and took a peak at the disturbance in the next cubicle. I was being nosy; I wanted to see what was causing Mr. Lee’s sudden outburst this early. I wondered if hot-temper ran in the family since Jaewoong acted the same way that day I first met him. Or was it a severe case of constipation?

“It… It’s the… new advertising concept… for the new cell phone campaign… Sir,” Minjoo stammered.

“WRONG!” Mr. Lee yelled. I saw Minjoo jerk up from her chair, obviously rattled by Mr. Lee’s sudden rise of voice. “Yoo Minjoo-ssi, this is garbage! All the ideas you’re proposing here are useless piece of crap! I want this revised in an hour,” he said, his voice still a decibel too high for an office setting, disturbing the early-morn peace and quiet. Heads started popping up around; necks craned to see what the ruckus was about. “There’s nothing to watch!” Mr. Lee yelled at the prying employees, including me, of course before he turned to go back to his office. He stopped midway and turned to look at Minjoo. “And my coffee. I need it pronto!” he added.

When he left, I saw Minjoo wipe something off her face. I knew she was crying, so I walked out of my cubicle and went to hers to offer consolation. She had been nothing but nice to me these past two weeks, so I was naturally inclined to be a supportive friend to her also. “Minjoo, are you alright?” I asked as I walked around her desk to stand next to her seat.

She shook her head. “I hate that arrogant son of a…” she said, grabbing a couple plies of tissue from a box next to her computer. “But I can’t freakin’ quit because I need this job.” She looked up at me, a mixture of sorrow and anger painted all over her face.

“I’m sorry, Minjoo. Like you said before, they are not going to be here all the time, anyways. At least you don’t have to deal with him everyday,” I said, running a hand on her back.

“You didn’t get the memo, did you? They’re permanently assigned to run the Seoul office starting today…”

“What? Are you serious?” I asked, incredulous but somehow not exactly disappointed.

“I’m dead serious,” Minjoo replied. “Now my life will be a living hell.”

“I’m sure things will be better, but for now, is there something I can do to help?” I asked.

She looked up at me. “Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. Can you make his coffee for me, please? I have to revise this proposal.”

I nodded. “Sure.” It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to make coffee. I can do it, I thought.

“He wants 1 1/3 shot of espresso, half-a-cup of steamed whole milk, seven teaspoons of white chocolate, ¼ cup of boiled water, and 2 tablespoons of powdered creamer,” Minjoo said. I took a piece of post-it paper and a pen from Minjoo’s desk and asked Minjoo to repeat the ingredients of Lee Youngwoo’s coffee. “Make sure you do it right because he’s very anal about his coffee,” Minjoo added.

I walked over to the board of directors’ break room. The regular employee’s break room paled in comparison to this room. This one had a complete set of contemporary black leather living room furniture, a small bar, and a flat-screen TV that almost fit one whole wall. I knew the grandsons were spoiled brats, but I didn’t know they were this spoiled. Why would they need a TV in a place where they are supposed to work?