07

"You've been on my mind while I was gone."

". . . P-pardon?" You look up at Namjoon who is leaning against the long table. Your body begins to heat up as you adjust your white blouse before straightening your posture and crossing your legs.

The man has always been appealing to you, with subtle features and eyes so enticing that you'll be drawn in if you stare too long— he is someone you can't help but admire. Despite his bulky, six-foot-tall frame, and short blonde hair, he chooses to settle for a more simple yet classy look.

His affinity for silver rings compliments his tan skin even more, and you suddenly feel more empowered about your light brown skin and dark brown eyes. Namjoon makes you feel more confident in your skin.

"Y/N," your name rolls off his mouth smoothly as he flattens his hands behind him on the table. "Do you have anything to say to me?" He asks and your head instinct is to say 'No'.

"I apologize for being late. There are no excuses for my carelessness and for that, I take full responsibility for my actions."

Namjoon hums. "Anything else?"

"No, Sir. I believe that is all," you shake your head and he raises a brow at you as if he was displeased with your answer.

". . .That's it?" He inquires, and you begin to doubt if you've done anything wrong. "You're not gonna explain to me why you decided to go against my orders?" He says, a hint of frustration in his voice. "I told you to stay there until I got back, didn't Jin tell you?"

"He did, but I didn't see a reason for me to stay there longer, Sir. I don't want to bother you or your family. I think two nights is enough." You simply answer with a lighter tone and he sighs deeply before licking his bottom lip. "Y/N. . ."

"I don't see the need to apologize, Sir."

"You never listen to me. Can't you see I'm trying to help you?" He mumbled. "You need to get checked by a doctor—"

"Sir," you interrupt him with a stern voice. "I said I was perfectly fine."

"You don't know that!"

When he abruptly raises his voice at you, all you can do is stand in the middle of the room silently. "Sir, we don't need to make a big deal out of this. Please, I'm fine—"

"God, Y/N," he grumbles, scratching his brow in frustration. "Stop being stubborn, it won't get you anywhere." He says it out of nowhere, and you have no idea why this is bothering him so much when you clearly said that there was nothing to be concerned about.

"I'm not—" you try to defend yourself until you earn a glare from him and decide to stop talking.

"Have you been taking your medication?"

"I don't need it."

"See," he scoffs in disbelief. "You can't even take care of yourself, Y/N. How do you expect me to believe you when you say everything is fine? You should be grateful that I'm even trying to get you checked up for any possible health issues." When he finally finishes his sentence, your mouth drops open and you look at him, perplexed.

You feel like an idiot; offended that he thinks of you as careless and incapable of taking care of yourself. Although there were times when you had your shortcomings, you know you did your best with no regrets. You rarely got sick and never had to worry about any underlying health issues.

He should know that because you never missed a day of work, even when you had bad days like everyone else. You showed up where and when you were needed. It was nice that Namjoon cared about your well-being, but he had no right to assume that you lacked self-care.

Finally, feeling the need to defend yourself, you respond. "Sir, with all due respect, I don't see how that's any of your business."

His eyes widen. "It is my business what happens to you. You're still my employee, and if anything happens to you I'll be the one to blame."

"Sir, I'm not blaming you for anything." You feel the need to reassure him that you have no ill will toward him as a result of what happened. He's clearly still blaming himself for the past events.

"Not right now, you're not." He says.

Your brows furrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"You're not gonna blame me right now for what happened but if it all gets serious I don't want to end up on the news-"

Unbelievable. You can't believe you're hearing this from him of all people.

"You think I'm going to blackmail you and ask for compensation?"

"Look, Y/N, I'm only trying to explain what could possibly happen if-"

"Nothing will happen," you assert with anger in your voice now that you truly feel offended by what he's trying to say. "I'll be resigning soon, so you won't have to worry about me showing up here to tarnish your name."

"That is not what I'm trying to say-"

"If you're upset that I left Ilsan and went against your orders, you can punish me. I'll take responsibility. But I would never think of hurting anyone for my own benefits."

'Especially to you' you wanted to add but you don't think he deserves to hear that right now.

You weren't going to pretend you weren't affected by his words, because it was likely the harshest thing he'd ever said to you.

"Y/N. . . we can't just keep going back and forth with this."

"I don't have a problem if you don't," you nonchalantly say. "We can move on to more important matters, Sir." You tell him, feeling like this was not the right place to talk about your issues.

"No. I don't want to move on without resolving this. We're both adults, so we should talk it out like adults."

You want to say no and just run out of this place to avoid confrontation.

You hate it.

It was uncomfortable enough to be locked alone in a room with your boss, what more than forcing two individuals to talk about their feelings. It wouldn't solve anything.

"I don't want to," you lamely respond and Namjoon's brow furrows at your unexpected response. "Not right now, I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?" He taunts you while eyeing his wristwatch. "I've got time."

"Your schedule is full for the next few days," you attempt to steer the topic. He clicks his tongue, rolling the sleeves of his dress shirt before he gets on his feet to near you.

"If you want, I can cancel all of them for you," he says lowly as he closes the distance between you two and you can almost smell the pleasantry of his skin, which must be from his lotion, not some kind of perfume.

"Sir, this is not the right time for this," your breath catches as Namjoon stares at you intently

Tilting his head to catch a glimpse of your heated face, he finally mumbles, "Okay, fine," before letting you get back to work. "But we're not over this."

✧ ✦ ✧

Lunchtime.

Your favorite part of working in one of the biggest companies in South Korea is partly because of the amazing catering service. And after you've spent half of your lunch break waiting in line, you are finally seated at a table in the corner, near a garbage can. A freaking garbage can!

It was a bit weird to see the CEO's assistant seated near a garbage bin, but you didn't care enough to complain when all you really cared about was taking the first bite of the Tonkatsu. And god was it heavenly the way it had your eyes fluttering close and your mouth sighing with contentment.

You'll miss this part the most.

One of the best aspects of working here was that no one seemed to care about gossip. There was no drama among the employees, and everyone got along well, except when someone missed company dinners because someone had forgotten to invite them. They would get in small altercations and then never come across each other again.

You were about to take the last piece in your mouth when you feel a presence in front of you. "S-sir," you quickly rise from your seat to greet him. "Did you need anything? I was just on my lunch break, I have a few minutes left, then I'll get back to work."

"Have a seat," he says before taking out a paper bag and placing it in front of you. "I got you your favorite."

You look around the cafeteria to see if anyone is witnessing any of this, but it seems like they're all too immersed in their conversations. To them, it's just a boss and his assistant talking about business. Nothing more.

You give in and sit quietly, watching him prepare the food in front of you. There's so much that it appears you're having a feast. "I hope you're not too full to have another bite," Namjoon chuckles, and it's wrong that you can't seem to focus on anything but his full lips and the way his dimples hide in the depths on the apple of his cheeks.

"Sir, this is too much. You didn't have to buy me anything," you say, embarrassed by the gesture. His actions are confusing, and you're not sure why he's doing the opposite of what he normally does. Asking you to buy him lunch from his favorite go-to place, send gifts to his admirers to keep their investments, and set up casual dates for him and whoever he thought was a potential business partner.

Unfortunately, none of the models, actresses, and entrepreneurs worked out because Namjoon dedicated most of his time to work and didn't have enough time to shower them with the attention they wanted, so they eventually broke it off with the CEO.

You've never thought about your boss' love life until now, but you remember his recent ex-girlfriend. She was stunning, to say the least, and very smart, it was sad to see it end after a year. They both parted ways when she chose to move to the States to pursue her dreams of becoming a fashion designer for luxury brands.

You witnessed how Namjoon was hurt by how it all ended, that you had to watch him drown himself in alcohol, carrying him back to his Penthouse with the remains of sweat bodies and the foul smell of hard liquor, and then you'd go back to work as if nothing had happened the night before.

Nevertheless, you saw how proud he was of her since they still kept in contact with each other. It was only a few months ago when Namjoon had requested for you to send a bouquet to her home in Gangnam to congratulate her on her success. She was pleased with your boss' sweet gesture, and it made you realize that this wasn't anything different from the previous years.

You weren't anything special to him. He only saw you as one of his business partners that he had to keep, and nothing more.

"It's nothing, Y/N," he snaps you out of your stupor, and you look up to see him already staring at you. "It was mom who sent it," he grins. "Said she was sorry you had to leave before she could say goodbye."

"Oh," is the only word that escapes your lips. You smiled sincerely as you pushed some baby hairs out of your face.

"I'm jealous," Namjoon playfully chuckles. "Sometimes it's like she forgets that I'm also her son," He can't stop staring at your perfectly round face as you stare in awe at the same dish his mother made when you visited a few days ago. "I think she loves you more than me." He jokes and you almost burst out in laughter.

"Hey! That's not true. . . your mother is just a sweet person." You say, eyes bright with gratitude, "I am not sure how to thank her for her generosity."

"I got it from her," Namjoon teases, leaning back against his seat to give you space, flexing his arms against his chest as you try to fix your gaze on his face. "In fact, I think I'm more of a romantic."

You stop chewing on your food and keep your mouth shut, fighting the urge to roll your eyes at him.

"I know how you can make it up to her," He comments smartly.

"Oh, yes," your face lights up with an idea you've had on your mind. "I'll return the gesture and perhaps send some of her favorite goods from back home? Do you think she'll like it—"

"No need," Namjoon interrupts. "I have a much better idea." He smirks, causing you to tilt your head in anticipation. "Her birthday is coming up in a few days, and I think we should personally attend to surprise her."

"But we've got the interview for the new position in a few days, Sir-"

"Then we'll have to reschedule," he tells you.

"OK, if we really can't do it that day, how about we move it tomorrow? The candidates are well prepared and it won't take long, Sir. I just need your confirmation and we'll have them ready for an interview tomorrow—" You try to persuade him to expedite the process so that you can finally find a good candidate to fill your position. But looking at him, he doesn't look anywhere near pleased by your proposal.

"Y/N, you don't get to decide when I should interview these candidates," he says, and you can't deny that he's right. "Are you this eager to leave the company?" His face twists with offense.

"Sir, of course not. I'm just making sure that everything is well taken care of before I leave." You explain with a soft tone, a frown decorating his face as he slowly realizes how serious you are about resigning.

Meanwhile, he's doing everything he can to stall the process in the hopes that you'll reconsider and realize you don't want to leave him, or the company.

"Y/N, stay for a little bit."

'Stay for a little bit until I'm finally able to let you go' he wants to say, but it is not up to him.

"Sir. . ."

"Would it hurt if you stayed a little longer?"