Interns

Chapter 06: His Guardian Angel

Naeun did not dare make a sound. She just let Baekhyun quietly yet deftly move her to a spot that was further away from the pantry. She was both startled and puzzled, but did not try to put up a fight.

"Thank goodness you cooperated and kept quiet. Or else I'd have to resort to other means of silencing you," he said to her, keeping his voice low.

She stared at him, wide-eyed. How could he still joke around when whatever was going on sounded so serious? "Will you tell me what's wrong?" She whispered. "I was just looking for Yixing."

"He's in trouble. It's not his fault, but he's in trouble. The one who's bellowing at him right now, that's our Director. You're new, so you don't know it, but she has the worst temper in the company and if I'm not wrong, she's had a shitty day so she's taking it out on us employees right now," Baekhyun explained solemnly. "If you go out there, you're going to become her punching bag as well. I wanted to spare you that."

Naeun licked her lips nervously, but there was no hesitation, not even a little bit. She ignored Baekhyun's warning, pushed him away from her, and marched to the pantry anyway, which left him shocked as what she did was the opposite of what he had expected. If he had not been so astounded he would have been swift enough to stop her, but he was too late and just grasped at thin air.

Naeun's mind did notice that both the Director and Yixing were holding in their hands something to drink, but her body was quicker to react. Promptly, she took them by surprise and stepped in between them, not minding the least bit that the water was spilled onto her clothes. She was not even sure what she was doing; it might look wrong but it definitely felt right. It also felt primal, as if it was deeply ingrained in her that this was the way she was supposed to act. She pushed Yixing slightly so that he would have to take a step back and keep his distance from the Director. Then she whirled to face the Director, and confronted her boldly and shamelessly.

"Why are you shouting at him?" Naeun demanded. "He didn't do anything wrong."

She would stand up for Yixing no matter what. However, a part of her also noted that if this were happening not to Yixing but to another colleague, although she might have felt just as bad for them, she might not have had the guts to defend them like that. She would just have known her place and stayed where she should be.

The Director was so astonished that even though she opened her mouth, no words came out. Yixing, being the polite and well-mannered man he was, decided it was better to just say sorry and hoped to end this confrontation, but Naeun was not going to just let it go. It just made her blood boil to see that he had to be the one to lower his head and apologize when he was not even at fault.

"He's not the one who should be apologizing," she added, glowering at the Director. "It's you. Or have you no manners at all?"

"Director-nim!" Minseok showed up and intervened, while all of the other office employees sat in silence and observed the scene from the corner of their eyes. "I'm very sorry for their behavior. It won't happen again. I hope that you can pardon them as they're newcomers. I'll deal with them appropriately and issue a suitable penalty. I'm sure they didn't mean to inconvenience you. Is there anything I can do to help?" He said hastily, as if reciting lines he had been rehearsing. With a cautious frown, he also motioned for Naeun and Yixing to get away so that neither of them could have the chance to make things worse.

"No!" Naeun did not want to give her boss more trouble but she had to speak up for what she believed was right. "Mr Kim, you don't have anything to be sorry for either. Director-nim, I won't let you, or anybody, do this to Yixing. So you can fire me after this, or even now, but I'm not leaving until you apologize to him," she insisted, folding her arms. "I just can't believe you think it's okay to treat your employees like this."