𝑩𝑻𝑺 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 ✓

Business Talk - Kim Namjoon

The most handsome businessman to ever walk the earth— wait, why does it sound like I worship him?
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Careening through the office doors, automatic sliding glass ones that blended with the sturdy windows encasing almost all of the building, I cursed in my head.
I had been dreading this day. This important, and very stressful day.

As someone from a fairly modest background, working in a highly-respected company with so many classy people has always been exhausting, even after years of being here.
My position required a lot of research with co-workers, meeting preparations, and then presenting findings and suggestions to higher-ups.

Sure, my family, friends, and colleagues would all jump to profess my knack for public speaking, especially when in front of people who scrutinise every lower employee's move.
I can't deny that I'm pretty good under pressure.

However, it was different this time around.
One of the many superiors sitting there would be Kim Namjoon.

Hard-working, innovative, intelligent, and thought-provoking. He genuinely listened to his employees' ideas, no matter where they were ranking in the tight hierarchy.
The other year, everyone had heard that he met with many janitors to learn of any conditions plaguing them here, and he helped relieve them.

Of course, anyone would be nervous presenting before him; admiring and striving to impress him.
Obviously, I was one of them, but there was another reason for the stress fatiguing me.

I had been set up on a blind date with Mr. Namjoon a few weeks prior.

Turned out we have a mutual friend, and said mutual friend had arranged for us to meet.
My heart dropped when I saw him saunter towards the restaurant table I was seated at that evening.

Yes because he was absolutely gorgeous in the flesh, but also because this man was my employer!
He had never spoken to me before but the sentiment counted — this was inappropriate.

I was thinking of 'playing it cool' and pretending not to know him (which sounds idiotic now since everyone in the firm knew of him) and if, if things progressed in the slightest, he'd probably discover that we were under the same company and we'd awkwardly break it off without any consequences.

No big deal, right? Right.
Wrong.

Sweat beads began shining on my skin in an instant, a stark contrast to my deadpan countenance as he sat down.
It immediately told him that something was wrong.

After a few uneasy seconds, I confessed and we apologised to each other before leaving the restaurant.
I almost cried in embarrassment on the phone to our shared friend (while munching down on several chicken nuggets), who was also mortified at their well-meaning error.

So, to say that I had been dreading this day was a severe understatement.
Still, I made my way to my office with my trusted co-workers, refining any last details left before the presentation.

•••••••

The time flew by that early morning, and I found myself standing in the meeting room before long.
So many things were being once, twice, and thrice checked over by us, anticipating our superiors.