Almost Lover

Chapter 8 - The Romantic Idea

Chapter 8

The Romantic Idea

I came to work early today, excited about what the day had to offer, only to be surprised at finding my whole workstation empty, save for a desk phone and a chair. For a moment, I got confused and thought that I had gone to the wrong cubicle. When I looked around and realized I was in the right place and not dreaming, I got even more befuddled.

I walked over to Minjoo's cubicle to ask her about the mysterious disappearance of my things. I found her sitting on her chair, facing her computer, breathing in vapor from a white teacup she was holding. "Oh, good morning, Sunmi! You're early today... Do you want some mango black tea?"

I shook my head. "Minjoo, do you know what happened to my things?"

"No... why? What happened?"

"Everything's gone."

"What? What do you mean gone?"

"Like there's nothing in my workstation!"

"What???"

"Do you think I got fired?"

"Oh, gosh. I hope not."

Minjoo followed me as I walked back to my workstation. I was anxious and concerned. It's not easy to find jobs nowadays; it took me two months to find this one.

I let out a ponderous sigh as I slowly lowered myself to the chair, trying to think of who could have done this to me, if the whole thing was just a joke. It must have been that Lee Youngwoo. He probably couldn't stand competition. Dang, my idea backfired on me!

"Somebody should have told me beforehand, right? Like they wouldn't get rid of my things before telling me I'm axed..."

"I'm gonna ask around and see if anybody witnessed anything yesterday," Minjoo said, probably seeing that I had no idea what to do.

At exactly nine o'clock, the desk phone in front of me rang.

It was Lee Youngwoo, demanding that I run, (take note – run) into his office at once. Based on the urgency in his voice, you would think someone was dying in his office, and I was the only one who could perform CPR. "Be in my office in ten seconds!"

I did exactly just that, thinking maybe I could still salvage my job if I tried to abide by all of his rules and follow his commands from now on.

"Yah! I told you ten seconds!" he said in a not-so office-appropriate voice as soon as I stepped into his office. "You're three seconds late!"

I was scared of being fired, but I still showed him my composed self, unflurried by the inappropriate decibel of his voice. I walked over to the back of the black leather couch that stood near his table, perched on the back rest, crossed my arms over my chest, and said, "What's the emergency?"

A clearly triumphant smile crept across his face. "I got Minjoo something, and this time I'm pretty sure it will be points for me. It will surely knock your pathetic little plastic rose and your "get-well" fruits off the trophy shelf and send it straight into the garbage bin." He let out an evil laugh for efficacy. I put on a pout of defeat and pretended to mutter out irritation; little did he know that I was overjoyed inside. Finally, Minjoo would know of Youngwoo's real feelings. And I was not fired. At least not yet.

"What did you get her?" I asked, curious and excited for Minjoo.

"I got her seven dozen flowers, each dozen represents each of the seven characters in the word saranghae," he replied with a complacent look, twirling a pen in his fingers.