Almost Lover

Chapter 7 - The Road to Incheon

The Road to Incheon

I got a call from the President the following week saying that since Jaewoong decided not to take me as his personal assistant, I needed to act as Youngwoo's temporary personal assistant instead, while his regular PA was on vacation.

Youngwoo didn't take this news too well. Apparently, after I had challenged him about Minjoo, he developed a dislike toward me. I guess it was just a rival's instinct to hate on the competitor.

Youngwoo and I rode on the elevator in silence. He was still mad at me for what happened last week. Aside from turning his bribe down, he also pinned the blame on me for Minjoo's emotional episode. How on earth was that my fault? I barely opened my mouth when the debacle happened!

The elevator stopped one floor before our destination and then, to my uncomfortable surprise, in came Jaewoong with a female employee I had not seen before. I wondered if she was his new personal assistant. No, she couldn't be. She looked straight, and I remembered President Lee's words – I don't allow female assistants to be with my grandsons..., so she couldn't be his new personal assistant. I wondered who she was. Maybe just an employee he was talking to; nevertheless, I felt a slight pang of jealousy.

"Hyung!" Jaewoong greeted as he stepped inside the elevator. He turned to look at me, bowed his head slightly, and said, "Annyeong hasseyo, Bae Sunmi-ssi." Too formal for my liking, but whatever. I greeted him back with the same formality. He turned back to his brother. "Are you going somewhere, Hyung? With Bae Sunmi?"

"Yeah. She's my assistant for the moment," Youngwoo replied.

"Oh."

Oh, so Jaewoong didn't know that I had become Youngwoo's assistant?

"Annyeong hasseyo," Youngwoo greeted the girl beside Jaewoong, and the girl greeted him back. She must be new because Youngwoo didn't address her name.

"Where are you going?" Jaewoong asked.

"Incheon office."

The elevator chime dinged and the doors opened to the main lobby. "I'll see you later," Youngwoo told Jaewoong and then walked off. I half-ran out of the elevator just to catch up with him and didn't even get to say goodbye to Jaewoong.

"Here," Youngwoo said, handing me a key with a peace sign on it as we walked toward the parking deck of the building. It was mid-morning; the sun seemed to be at its highest position already, but the breeze that hastened past us was still cool with morning mists.

I stared at the key for a moment before asking him, "What's this?"

"Sunmi-ssi, are you blind? It's a key, duh," Youngwoo said with sarcasm as if I was the stupidest person in the world.

"Youngwoo-ssi, I know what it is. I was just asking why you're giving me a key," I said, doubling my pace to catch up with his strides. Why must he have such long legs?

He paused and looked at me. "It's to drive the car, duh," he said, rolling his eyes at me before continuing to walk.

"Will you stop duh-ing me!" I yelled and walked briskly again to overtake him. "May I remind you that your grandfather hired me as your temporary personal assistant, not a driver."

Youngwoo continued walking without looking at me. "Driver, bodyguard, personal assistant, same thing."

"But I don't know how to drive," I lied. I really didn't want to drive his expensive Mercedes. I was afraid of wrecking it. I couldn't possibly allow myself to wreck two of the Lee's expensive cars in less than a month.

"WHAT?" Youngwoo asked, incredulous. "If you can't drive, then what kind of personal assistant are you?"

"Uh... the kind that sits in the passenger seat?" I said, biting my lip to prevent myself from laughing at Youngwoo's I-can't-believe-I'm-hearing-this expression.