A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Embrace

A week had passed since she finally drafted something that she felt proud enough of to submit to Embrace's editors. But knowing that if she sent it to Dara, her beloved manuscript would never see the light of day, she had cheated a little by sending her draft straight to Julie instead of going through her most immediate supervisor.

Dara was so busy, anyway, Jisoo doubted she would miss it.

It was nearing the end of Jisoo's shift. She was in high spirits as she sat at her work station, reading over submissions and checking the formatting for the proper submission guidelines. It was a quick way to weed out the unlikely ones, since anyone who truly merited being published in Embrace would care enough to make sure their manuscript followed the guidelines. Normally, this was a tedious job. Jisoo would sit at her desk measuring font size and wishing she was doing something else.

But today was different. She had actually done something, had actually taken action, and she was glowing with pride in herself and in her work. Measuring text font size no longer felt like a job she only deigned to do. She was happy to be of service.

Then it all ended when Dara slapped something down over her work.

Jisoo gasped, startled as she looked up and met the ire in Dara's eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dara shouted, causing everyone in the office to look up at them. Jisoo's heart started pounding. All at once, she started zooming back through the recent past, making sure she hadn't messed up on any tasks.

"Excuse me?" Jisoo said, shocked and a little scared. Dara leaned in, bringing her furious glare closer to Jisoo's shaking form.

"You think I don't see you sneaking around behind my back," Dara hissed. "Snuggling up to Julie and changing your title? What is this? Are you after my job?"

Jisoo's voice shook as she spoke. "What? No! I... I don't understand what you're talking about—"

"This!" Dara shouted, pushing the stack of paper closer to Jisoo on the desk. "I'm talking about this! Look at the byline! Read it out loud, new girl."

Jisoo's felt frozen in her chair, but she reached a hand out, took the paper from the desk. It was the mock-up of the upcoming issue. For just a moment, Jisoo surged with pride seeing that the story printed on it was the one she had sent to Julie. But then she read from the byline as Dara instructed. Jisoo swallowed.

"Kim Jisoo, Editorial Assistant?" she said. She looked up at Dara, who was still seething.

"I don't understand," Jisoo said. Dara scoffed and leaned in again.

"Editorial Assistant?" Dara said, spitting the title out as if it were vinegar. "What game are you playing at? Aren't you the optimist?"

Jisoo looked around at all the people who were staring at the Associate Managing Editor yelling at the new girl. But she still didn't understand what had made Dara so angry.

"But... I am the Editorial Assistant," Jisoo said quietly. Dara flushed red with fury.

"You're not an editorial assistant yet, missy!" Dara shouted. "You're just my assistant, my secretary!"

"Dara, that really is my title," Jisoo said, trying to keep herself calm, but her heart was pounding and her breathing was getting hot and heavy. "I'll even go down to HR with you to confirm it—"

"Are you calling me stupid?" Dara said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at Jisoo. "Do you seriously think that I don't know my own assistant's title?"

Jisoo swallowed a painful lump in her throat.

"But I really am the Editorial Assistant! Julie said—"