GTFO 2

Chap 12: Incharge

Eunwoo's POV

"Yeah, I'm going back to my office, why?"
I asked Jungwoo on the phone as I pushed open the doors of the meeting room. Greeting the employees on the way out, I tried focusing on what he was saying but he seemed exhausted and couldn't get his words out right.
"Are you okay?"

"The interns need help," he choked out before ending the call.

Groaning at the mention of the interns, I rubbed my temples before brisk walking towards the elevator.

I vaguely recalled that they were assigned to work on the 4th floor where it was pretty deserted, meaning they won't be able to disrupt others' work. Such a smart decision on my part.

Except that they were wasting one of our main chief officer's time.

I stepped out of the elevator into the quiet room as if there wasn't a single soul present there.

Just as I took steps backwards into the lift, I heard my name being called and walked towards the voice, already knowing it belonged to Jungwoo.

All of them were sprawled onto a chair each with a bunch of files piled up on their tables. They didn't seem like they could get up for a while, but still, Jungwoo pushed himself off his chair and proceeded to leave.
"They moved all the files so, my job here is done."
He waved at the interns as he walked away without any burden on his shoulder from passing it to me.
"I believe the CEO is more capable in explaining the work to you guys."

I stood there speechless for a while as the boys stared at me expectantly. Clearing my throat, I pointed at the pile of files.

"Finish them."

Their jaws dropped simultaneously as their eyes widened with the same expression of 'What The Heck'.

"All of them?" One of them sat up straight on his chair while reaching out towards a file near him.

"No, just do as much as you can, I guess. But, that's the estimated workload for 6 months."
Right as I said that, they exchanged glances with each other before looking back at me to see if I was kidding.

"Alright, I'll leave you all to it now."
Just as I was about to leave and was already facing away from them, I heard a timid voice speak out as softly as it could get before it'd turn into a whisper.

"Sir?"

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to not turn back into the direction of the voice, knowing all too well who it belonged to.

"Yes?"
Why was my voice so much more firm than normal?

Before he could say anything, I interrupted him.
"Don't worry, I'm sending some employees down to help you guys."
Sighing, I mumbled under my breath, "I'm not such a bad guy," more to convince myself than to assure them.

I took a quick glance at my watch before realizing I had a few hours on hand before the next meeting since my secretary cleared out most of my schedule today for the interns.

Excusing myself from them for a quick second, I called down five of my most efficient employees to guide them. I did want them to provide me their best work so I had to keep an eye out to see if they have potential.

As we waited for them to come down, I tried maintaining some small talk with them about their studies. However, one of them was unusually quiet and seemed to be lost in thought as he stared at the table in front of him.

Was I too harsh?

Should I apologize?

While the others were talking among themselves, I walked towards the boy who was seated as an outcast.

As I quietly leaned against the edge of his table, I made sure to look away from him so that I wouldn't make him uncomfortable.

"What're you thinking about?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him shake his head before his head tilted forward. When I finally gave in and looked in his direction, I felt a pang in my heart.

He had the most heartbreaking expression on his face even though it seemed as if he was trying his best to hide his emotions. He looked so small and vulnerable, so that hadn't changed since I last saw him, and every part of me wanted to hold him in a tight embrace.

"Are you not gonna talk to me?" I asked, and only received another shake of his head.

"Are you thinking about whatever I said just now?"
He slowly turned to me to read my expression, probably to base his answer on that. To me, my expression was pretty calm since I didn't want to intimidate him but, I most definitely couldn't read what ever that was going on inside his mind. I caught on the slightest nod of his head before he went back to avoiding my eyes.

I took in a deep breath to apologize to him but, just as I reached my hand out towards him, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

A female voice followed it and I recognized it as one of the five employees I had called down.

As they introduced themselves, I kept an eye on Renjun, seeing that his mental state was not well. When it was his turn, he was stuttering a lot and when I looked down to his hands, they seemed to be shaking. As confused as I was, I was just about to leave it at that when all of a sudden, it hit me like a ton of bricks on what was going on.

He's having a panic attack.

"Hold on, let's continue the introductions later," I interrupted before waving the topic off.
"Excuse us, I need to have a word with Renjun. You can choose who you'd want to work with and start in the mean time."

I held onto his wrist as lightly as I could and looked back down to his face to give a reassuring smile. His already trembling hand flinched as he looked away and I could only let out a sigh since his repulsion towards me was to be expected.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble," I stated while keeping my tone as calm as I could.

As we made our way upstairs to my office, I could feel his arm getting colder in my hand and his steps were swayed. I held on a bit tighter and hoped it didn't alarm him. I opened my office's door and entered behind him.

"Sit on my chair and rest," I urged him since it would let him rest his neck and would overall feel the most comfortable.

He nodded and took a seat while I rung up my secretary.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

He shook his head before leaning back on the chair and closing his eyes.

"Send up a glass of orange juice."
I set down the phone and sat down across him in a room filled with silence.

•••

Thanks for reading ❤❤❤

Happy birthday to our Full-Sun UWU 💕💕💕💕💕

HYPED FOR DNYL
but Renjun crying in the teaser broke my heart 😭💔