CHAPTER 1

Wendy Son had a good night's sleep. She remembered having a soju night with her best friend Joy last night and the alcoholic drink helped the sleeping so much better. They were not wasted. It was just a light, chill session, enough to have them both tipsy and call it a day. She earned it. After a dreadful week of workload in the publishing house, she definitely deserves to have a little fun sometimes. Well, that fun last night involved a lot of kissing for sure, so yes, for the most part, it was indeed fun.

𝙒𝙖𝙞𝙩. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩?

Her eyes flung open after realizing what happened. 𝙅𝙤𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙?? 𝙉𝙤. 𝙉𝙤. 𝙄𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢.

She was so sure that it was just a dream because it would not really make sense for her to be kissing her best friend in real life. But then, it was a really weird dream.

Rubbing the sleepiness off her eyes, she was greeted with a little beam of sunlight streaming through the window. What a calm and beautiful Sunday morning. She thought of starting it with a hot cup of coffee, a bread toast and a good book. She reached for her phone to check the time and the day plastered on the screen made her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

MONDAY 9:31 AM

There must have been a mistake. Joy and her do not do soju sessions on a Sunday night. It is always on a Saturday. She panicky stood up and strutted over to the full body mirror she has in her bedroom to face herself. She must still be dreaming. What she saw in the mirror made her realize that it was never a dream. Her eyes widened in terror as she frantically checks the very noticeable red mark on her neck. 𝙊𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙙.

She stared at her phone hoping once again she could wake up from this nightmare and the day on the screen would change. But it didn't. The screen darkened due to the lack of inactivity and then suddenly came back to life with a full volume ringtone of Red Velvet's Power Up that very much startled the blonde. She cursed at herself thinking why does it have to be Joy, of all the people.

"Joy... I.. I'm.. Last night.."

"Ya! You overslept, did you?!"

Wendy has to pull the phone away from her ears because of Joy's loud voice. 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩? 𝙅𝙚𝙚𝙯.

"Ya! You have to get your ass up and hurry! Your boss will kill you."

"Wait, it doesn't make sense. It was soju night last night and it was Saturday."

"Dumbass. You have totally lost track of days and time overworking yourself with that manuscript and that secretarial job of yours, huh?"

"What?"

"Ya! You said we couldn't do soju last Saturday because of the manuscript that you needed to send to your boss, so you moved it last night. I even reminded you that you have to work today and you said you can manage."

"Shit.", the short-haired blonde muttered. "Look. About last night. I'm not really sure what happened but—."

"Oh for fuck's sake, Wendy. We both agreed it was nothing and we have just done it for fun. Stop acting weird. We can talk about it later during your break. Right now, you should hurry up or you can say goodbye to that dream promotion of yours."

Wendy let out a heavy sigh. "Fine."

"Don't forget to drop by the café. I'll prepare the usual for you and the boss."

—---------------------------------------------------------

Luckily for Wendy, her apartment was just 10 minutes away from the publishing house and Joy's café is along the way as well. She could still make it before 10am. She could drop by the café to get the coffees and still have time to run to the publishing building. She had to be there before the boss. The woman was already tormenting her with loads of work and she didn't want to provide another reason for the witch to be as pissed as she probably is her whole life. Glancing at her wrist watch, it is already 9:46. If she hadn't spent so much time choosing what to wear to hide the hickey on her neck, she would not have to run this fast. She eventually decided with a Band-aid as using a scarf to hide it in this kind of weather would make it more obvious. She could make up with something like accidentally hurting her neck or whatever. 𝙂𝙖𝙖𝙖𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚.

Facing Joy is another issue. Why the hell did they do that? She remembers Joy saying something about her not getting laid for a long time and her mischievous friend wants her to remember what a kiss feels like. The alcohol in her system must have made her agree to that. But if it's just a kiss, why the hell does she have a hickey? A lot of touching and sucking might be involved.

𝙐𝙂𝙃. Wendy groaned as she did not hesitate to open the door of the café shop that her best friend owns as there was no time to contemplate whether she would get that coffee or not. It shouldn't be a question. She needs to get that coffee. Her evil boss needs that coffee.

It was a long line to the counter but she already saw Joy approaching her with 2 tall cups of coffee in her hand.

"Uh. Hi.", she said, panting like crazy.

"Dumbass.", Joy rolled her eyes. "Here are your regular coffees. 1 for the boss and 1 for her super cute secretary.", the tall brunette smiled, eyeing the blonde from her heels, pencil cut skirt to her simple white polo blouse.

"Stop it.", Wendy blushed. "Lunch later?"

"Yeah. Whatever. Get out of here.", Joy shooed her away.

—---------------------------------------------------------

Finally entering the Reve Publishing building, Wendy made her way to the elevator. She almost missed the ride but fortunately, there was still a spot left for 1 person inside the lfit.

"You're cutting it close, Ms. Son.", said the floor receptionist as Wendy entered the floor.

"Yes. One of those mornings. Good morning to you too, Ms. Obvious.", she was about to give the receptionist an eye roll but the blonde bumped into something, earning a few gasps from the few employees who witnessed the little incident.

"Holy shit!", she cursed as one of the coffee cups spilled on her shirt. She noticed that it was the old messenger guy with his cart full of documents and envelopes and she couldn't be mad anymore. She deeply inhaled and exhaled to shoo the frustration away and told herself that the old man didn't mean it.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Son. I did not see you.", he said with a tired apologetic gaze.

"It's okay, Gramps.", she said. "Please be careful next time.", she said, throwing a soft smile to the old man.

As there was no time to chit chat, she called over the janitor to have the mess cleaned and hurriedly made her way to the cubicle of a certain colleague.

"Somi, I need your cardigan. Now.", the blonde said demandingly.

The girl looked up to her. "You're kidding, right?", her colleague's eyes furrowed as she eyed Wendy's coffee-soaked shirt.

"2 Eat-All-You-Can Korean Grill gift certificates for your cardigan. You have 5 seconds to decide."

"Wha-"

"5. 4. 3. –"

Somi handed the cardigan to Wendy which the latter wore immediately to cover the stain marks on her shirt. She grabbed the small mirror on her colleague's desk and checked her face, wiping the remaining sweats she earned running through the streets of New York just to get here.

She noticed that Somi's computer screen lit up with a message from the employees' group chat saying "IT'S HERE." and that's enough to get Wendy's ass moving.

The blonde can see everyone on the floor scrambling to their feet to get back to their stations. Some just wanted to get out of the boss' way as they really did not want an encounter with the witch. Some had stopped and threw whatever quick snack they were eating and many had pretended to be in a phone call. Everyone seemed to be suddenly busy with anything. Even her colleague Somi had started typing away on her keyboard, fully focused on the computer screen and not wanting to draw attention from the woman that everyone fears in the company.

Wendy can understand why everybody is like this. This is not new to her. This is already an everyday scenario inside the publishing house. The infamous editor-in-chief is pushy, mean, arrogant and has no empathy. She was disliked by everyone in the company. Even Wendy does not really know how she is putting up with her boss' bitchy attitude. That woman is always cold, aloof and always talks about business and work like it's the only thing that matters to her life. Wendy has been her secretary and personal assistant for almost 2 years now and never once has Wendy managed to penetrate or even crack the chief's thick walls. Rumor has it that before Wendy was hired, there was no secretary that stayed longer than a month because they couldn't handle the pressure of the chief's demands.

Wendy proceeded to wait inside the chief's office, standing by the door with a cup of coffee in her hand. Quickly stretching up her skirt and running a finger through her hair, the blonde still wants to look as presentable as possible in front of the woman. Despite her hating the guts of the witch, that woman may still be a huge factor on Wendy's dream job, to be an editor.

"Good morning, boss.", she greeted, handing the coffee to the woman.

The boss took the coffee from her and proceeded to her huge oak table. "You have a conference call in 30 minutes. Ms. Bae", the secretary said.

"Yes. About the marketing strategy for the Queendom Books. I know.", Irene Bae, the editor-in-chief of Reve Publishing Inc. answered nonchalantly as she started scanning the files on her table.

"Budget meeting at 9am."

"Did you email the finance head for an invite? I want him to be there."

"Yes, I did. He confirmed his attendance. Also, your immigration lawyer called. She said that it is urgent and you need–"

"Call her and tell her I'll write her a check and to keep doing what she's being paid for."

Wendy let out a sigh but she kept it as quietly as possible. "Copy that.", she said as she handed out some important documents for the chief to sign.

"Also, get a hold of the PR team and have them start drafting a press release for the launch of Kingdom Come. We have confirmed an official release date."

Though the boss did have an unpleasant attitude, Wendy cannot help but still give credits to her dedication to her role and how she keeps everything running under her management.

"Wow. Nice work with that."

"If I want your praise, I will ask for it.", Irene said.

Wendy immediately took back the compliment she made inside her head. She tried her best not to roll her eyes to the snarkiness of the chief.

The blonde was about to get out of the office and head for her station to do some paperworks when Irene called her attention.

"Uhm. Who's Joy?", Irene asked, holding the cup of coffee Wendy bought her a while ago. "And why does she want me to call her?", showing Wendy the part of the cup where Joy apparently wrote CALL ME with a teasing wink emoticon.

𝙐𝙜𝙝. 𝙅𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙮!

It was probably to tease her about last night. She didn't notice the note earlier and it was really unfortunate that it was Irene's cup that was spilled.

"Uhm, she's my.. She's my be–"

"Is she the one who marked you?", Irene asked, eyeing the band-aid on her neck.

A tinge of pink crawled its way to Wendy's cheeks when reminded of last night's event. That was really none of the chief's business but Wendy cannot just tell her to fuck off and mind her own, can she?

Irene seems to be still waiting for an answer. "This.. this is.. I scratched myself so badly.. It.. it bled.", she managed to say. "And that was originally my cup."

"And I'm drinking your coffee, why?"

"Because your coffee spilled."

"Hmmm.", the chief took a sip from the cup. "So, you drink brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso?"

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠?

"Yes, the taste is phenomenal."

"Hmm. You're lucky it suits my taste."

𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚. 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙡. Wendy was about to think of a subtle rebuttal to the chief's remark when Ms. Bae's telephone began ringing. As her personal assistant and secretary, she answered the phone on behalf of the chief.

"Good morning. This is Ms. Bae's office... Oh hey, Ms. Jennie Kim. Okay. Please wait a second.", she glances towards Irene as she cups the microphone so that the person on the other line couldn't hear her speak. "It's Jennie Kim."

"Tell her we're on our way to her office."

The secretary nodded. "Actually, we are headed to your office right now... Yes... Okay.", and Wendy hung up the phone.

"Uh boss, why are we headed to Ms. Kim's office?"

"You'll see."

Irene Bae tidied up her desk and rose from her seat, taking the cup of coffee with her. "Let's go."

—---------------------------------------------------------

"Can I ask you something?", the blonde hesitantly asked as she kept up with Irene's walking pace.

"Yes."

"Have you finished the manuscript I sent you?", she might already know the answer to this question because she sent it on a Saturday night when it's Irene's day of rest and the chief may not even have opened the package yet. She still wants to ask anyway. That manuscript is important to her.

"I read a few pages. I wasn't that impressed."

Wendy let out a heavy sigh. She didn't even try to hide her disheartened expression. She knows that it is already too much to ask the almighty Irene Bae to read a manuscript recommended by a mere secretary but she wants the editor-in-chief to at least give it a try.

"Uh, boss, I've read thousands of manuscripts, and this is the only one I've given you. There's an incredible novel in there. The kind of novel you used to publish. I promise it's that good.", she insisted.

The chief didn't even acknowledge what she said and just continued on walking until they reached the door of Jennie Kim's office. Wendy let out an internal scream and encouraged herself not to strangle the life out of this woman.

"Remember, you're just a prop in here. Just stand in the corner.", Irene Bae instructed her.

"I won't even say a word.", Wendy answered and opened the door for the boss.

The office revealed a lady standing by her desk. "Oh! Our fearless leader and her underling! Please come in.", Jennie Kim greeted them as they entered the room.

"I'll be straight to my point. I don't want to waste everyone's time here.", Irene Bae said, getting into business.

"Sure, sure. To what do I owe the pleasure?", Jennie Kim asked with the prominent smugness on her face.

"Jennie, I'm letting you go."

Jennie Kim's face contorted in confusion, not really sure of what she had heard. "Pardon?"

"I asked you a million times to get a release date for Kingdom Come, and you didn't do it. So, you're fired."

Even Wendy was taken aback by this. Jennie Kim is the second in command next to Irene Bae. She was the one in charge to oversee the company whenever the chief is not around or has other important matters to handle. Wendy thought that it is such a bold move for Irene to fire a person with a high position. But who is she to question the chief's decision? It is Irene Bae we are talking about here.

"I have told you that it is still impossible to get a release date. They are also considering our competitor's offer.", Jennie said.

"Well, that is interesting because I just had an emergency meeting with them yesterday and they have signed the contract with us."

The exchange of arguments is getting really interesting. But as much as Wendy wants to witness how this would end, she's starting to feel uncomfortable being here in the middle of this crossfire.

"Excuse me? They did what?", Jennie asked incredulously.

"You didn't even call them, did you?"

"But–"

"I know. I know. This is too much for you to deal with. I understand that you cannot do it. Now, I will give you a month to find another job and then you can tell everyone that you resigned. Okay?"

With that, Irene Bae exited the office with Wendy trailing behind her.

Of course, Jennie Kim was not having it. She went after the chief and the secretary who are now outside her office.

"Irene Bae!", Jennie called. "You poisonous bitch!", she said in a venomous tone.

Everyone outside doing their respective jobs stopped moving. Wendy heard gasps as she knows this is quite entertaining for the employees. They always knew that there's a beef between the two and everyone is dreading to witness the day when these two bosses finally decided to snap at each other.

"You can't fire me!"

Irene stopped walking and turned to face Jennie with a bored expression on her face.

"You don't think that I see what you are doing here? Sandbagging me into this Kingdom Come thing just so you can look good to the board? Because you are threatened by me!"

The lady chief was letting the woman finish with her blabbing.

"You are a monster.", Jennie added.

"Jennie, stop." the chief suggested.

"Just because you have no semblance of a life outside of this office, you think that you can treat all of us like your own personal slaves?"

Now, a lot of people could agree to that. But Irene seems to be unbothered by Jennie Kim's attack.

"You know what? I feel sorry for you. Because you know what you're gonna have on your deathbed? Nothing and no one."

All of these are happening in front of Wendy and the whole floor. She's kinda torn with this whole situation though. Jennie is making sense with a lot of things and she agrees to the most of it especially the part about the boss treating them like their personal slaves. Well, Wendy could actually relate to that because that was basically her job description. But Irene is her boss. And for that, she wants to show a little bit of loyalty by just merely standing there with her.

"Listen carefully, Jennie Kim." Now, it's Irene Bae's turn. "I did not fire you because I feel threatened. I fired you because you are lazy, entitled, incompetent and you spend more time cheating on your actress wife with that Thai girl supermodel on the next building than you do work inside of your office.", the chief said in a calm tone. "And if you say another word, Wendy will call security and have your ass thrown out."

Jennie was about to say something but Irene cut her off with a hand in front of her face.

"Say another word Jennie, and I will tell your wife about your cheating whereabouts. Is that what you want?"

Jennie's silence says it all. She was still obviously furious though.

"Didn't think so. Now I have work to do." Irene turned her back and left, not giving Jennie the chance to refute.

"Have the maintenance team take that beautiful painting out of her office and put it in my conference room.", she instructed Wendy as they walked out of the scene.

"Will do."

"And I need you around this weekend to help review her files, manuscripts and the other pending deliverables on her plate."

"This weekend?", Wendy abruptly stopped walking and Irene did the same.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

𝙂𝙖𝙖𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜.

"Uh no. It's just that it's my grandmother's 90th birthday so I was going home and be back by Wednesday because it's my vacation leave but..", she doesn't really like the glare Irene is giving her right now. "It's fine. I'll cancel it."

"Good."

—---------------------------------------------------------

"Jeez. Your boss is not someone to mess with.", Joy Park commented after hearing the latest tea from this morning.

"I told you she's a monster.", Wendy said as she casually ate her lunch in a local diner. Her eyes widened in pleasure as the savoriness of the food hit her taste buds. "Gaaad. This black bean noodle is so good! How did you discover this place?"

"One of my ex-fling, an American, wanted to impress the Korean in me and brought me here. At first, I expected it to be a so-so Korean resto in the middle of New York but it was surprisingly good and authentic. From then on, I have always frequented here whenever I crave something Korean."

"I'll keep this on my list. I should try the other food on their menu next time."

"Yes, this is really a good find. They even have soju."

As soon as Wendy heard the wicked alcoholic drink, memories of last night came flooding to her mind. She stopped chewing on her food as her cheek flushed.

"There you go.", Joy rolled her eyes.

"W-what?"

"You're being weird again."

"I'm not!"

"You are."

"No, I'm not."

"Son Seungwan, I've known you since we were kids. We were both born and raised here. Sure, I have missed you in college days because you decided to go back home with your parents and study college there but when you once again came back here to pursue your dreams, you are still the same person that I knew."

Joy calling her by her Korean name means Joy is being serious about this talk. Wendy cannot argue with that. She's being weird indeed and her best friend can see right through it.

"I'm sorry.", the blonde sighed. "But last night was really weird though.", she frowned.

"Ya! I told you it was just nothing! We were just both tipsy and giddy but that was it! No feelings there. You're seriously not thinking I am into you, right??"

"You made it sound like I am not a likable person at all.", the blonde frowned but quite relieved at the same time that this issue has already been addressed and they could go back to being friends without getting weird with each other.

Joy scoffed. "What? There are times when I don't want you to meet the people I'm dating because they always end up asking for your number." Joy rolled her eyes. "Not likable my ass. Look at you and you're gorgeous blonde hair!".

"Stop it. You're flirting." Wendy smiled at her friend.

"Just stating facts, dear."

"Ya! I just remembered! What's with the hickey?!"

Joy's laugh filled the table. "I purposely did that because I know your boss would see it."

"Well yeah! You succeeded! It was embarrassing! And stop putting notes on my cup!"

"Well, I bet it made your boss think that you have a life outside of work unlike her."

"She knew. But still chooses to enslave me with office works anyway. Everyday."

"Why are you even putting up with her? You have a choice. Just ditch her and go home and–"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Park Sooyoung." It's now Wendy's turn to be serious. "We already talked about this. Can you just be supportive of my dreams, please?"

"I'm just concerned about you, you know."

"I know. I appreciate you being there always and that's enough for me.", she's giving Joy the cute hamster look because it always works like magic whenever she wants to get away with something.

"Ugh! Fine! This is the last time that I will tell you to quit your crappy job."

"Thank you!", the blonde exclaimed in glee. "I love you!"

"I love you too but this one's on you.", Joy said as she gestured to the food on the table.

"Fucking little scammer."

"Fucking little scammer that you love."

"Touché."

Wendy and Joy's laughs can be heard throughout the restaurant as the two best friends finish their meal.

—---------------------------------------------------------

"I know. I'm sorry. Tell Halmi I'm sorry, okay?". Wendy is now back in her station, located just right outside the chief's office. She's on the phone with her mom telling her that she has to work her ass off through the weekend.

"What? No, mom. I can't. I really can't.", the blonde sighed as she imagined her mom's upset face on the other line. "What can I do? She's making me work through the weekend. I can't say no to the boss."

She really does not want to go home yet. Sure, she missed her grandma and her mom and everyone else back home and a quick vacation sounds really good right now but she does not want to go home yet. Not until she has finally fulfilled her dream. She doesn't want to go back home with an empty pocket.

"Listen mom, I've worked too hard for this promotion to just throw it all away, okay? I'm sure that Dad is pissed but if the boss says no, then it's a no."

Wendy noticed that the boss got up from her chair and was walking towards her through her peripheral vision. "I gotta go. She's here. Bye.", she whispered and hurriedly hung up, not wanting the boss to know that she's using the company telephone for personal reasons.

"Was that your family?", Irene asked.

"Yes.", the blonde does not see the point of hiding it anymore as the boss obviously knew.

"Did they tell you to quit?"

"Yes. Every single day.", she smiled innocently.

The telephone started ringing again which Wendy answered immediately to get away from the topic. "Ms. Bae's office... Yes... Okay. I'll tell her. Bye."

Irene remained hovering over Wendy's station, waiting for the blonde to tell her what the call was about.

"Anderson wants to see you upstairs immediately."

Irene Bae groaned. "Okay. Come and get me in ten minutes. We've got a lot to do."

"Will do."

—---------------------------------------------------------

Irene Bae wonders why she was summoned by the chairman of the board of directors. Two things come to her mind. One, it's about her pay raise. Two, the chairman wants to congratulate her for securing the launch date which made the board very happy and will eventually lead to number one, her pay raise. That's all she could think of.

Entering the floor where the chairman's office was located, she was greeted by his secretary. "Good afternoon, Ms. Bae."

Not wanting to waste much time, she didn't acknowledge the greeting and proceeded to open the door to the office. She has a lot of work to do downstairs and she wants to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Hi, Scott.", she greeted the man sitting behind his table.

"Irene, congratulations on the Kingdom Come thing. That's excellent news.", her superior acknowledged her accomplishment.

"Oh. Thank you. This is about increasing my pay raise, isn't it?", she chuckled, trying to probe it as a joke.

The chairman responded with a chuckle as well. "Irene, do you remember when we agreed that you wouldn't go to the Oxford Book Fair because you weren't allowed out of the country while your visa application was being processed?", his smile fading as he speaks.

"Yes, I do.", Irene nodded.

"And you went to Oxford anyways?"

"Yes, I did. We were going to lose GD, a great novelist, to the competitor. I really did not have a choice.", the chief explained.

"It seems that the United States Government doesn't really care much about who publishes G-Dragon, Irene." the chairman said, not really pleased with this issue. "We just spoke to your immigration attorney about this."

"Great. So, are we all good? Everything's good?", Irene inquired, assuming that the matter at hand was already taken care of knowing they have already contacted the immigration lawyer.

"Irene, your visa application has been denied."

"Wha–"

"And you are being deported.", the chairman continued.

"Deported?", Irene asked incredulously, not believing what she's hearing.

"Apparently, there was also some paperwork that you didn't fill out in time."

"Come on. This is unbelievable. There must be something that we can do about this.", she said worriedly.

"We can reapply, but unfortunately, you have to leave the country for at least a year."

"A year?", she breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down. This is very much stressful for her right now but she doesn't really want to cause a scene and appear unprofessional in front of the chairman. It was her fault anyways. "Okay. Okay. Well, that's not ideal but.. I can make it work. I can manage everything from Seoul with videoconferencing or Zoom or G-Meet. A lot can be used with the internet nowadays."

"Unfortunately, Irene, if you're deported, you cannot work for an American company.", the chairman said. "Until this is resolved, I'm going to turn operations over to Jennie Kim."

Irene was not having it. She suddenly felt sick in her stomach just by hearing the name. "Jennie Kim? The girl that I just fired??"

"We need an editor-in-chief and she is the only person in the building who has enough experience and competency next to you."

"You cannot be serious. I beg of you.", she sounded so desperate, yes, because she is. She can't have the other girl taking the reins. She was the one who helped build this company from scratch, the first Asian woman to be an editor-in-chief of what is now known as one of the most reputable publishing houses here in New York. Jennie Kim is good, that's why she was the second in command. But there's a reason why Irene is the chief. It's because she's the best. And her ego won't let her live if the position she worked hard for would just be turned over to a person she just fired a while ago. That would be extremely embarrassing.

"Irene, believe me, we are desperate to have you stay. You are the best that we have and you are the one who keeps this company on its toes. If there is any way, any way at all that we could do to make this work, we'd be doing it.", the chief said in a serious but sad tone. Sincerity was evident in the gentleman's voice.

"I'm begging you. Please, do something—"

A series of knocks on the door was heard. The knob turned and revealed her blonde secretary.

"Excuse me, we are in a meeting.", the chairman said, stating the obvious.

"Hi sir. Sorry to interrupt but—"

"What? What do you want, Wendy?", Irene asked. She was so annoyed and irritated that she forgot she told Wendy to come and get her from this meeting.

"The finance head, Mr. Griffin called. He's on the line and he's on hold. He needs to speak to you right away."

She knows it's not true. Her secretary just came out with an excuse to get her out of this office and that's not important right now. She doesn't want to be saved from this meeting anymore. She wants to save her job.

"Please tell him I'll give him a call back. Thank you."

Being observant as she is, her secretary picked up what is going on in here. The blonde knew that they were in the middle of a serious discussion.

"Yes. I told him that you are currently engaged in a meeting. He insisted on letting you know so... my apologies again for the interruption, Ms. Bae, Mr. Anderson.", the blonde secretary turns to leave.

Hearing the word 'engaged', a bulb lit up inside Irene Bae's head.

"Uh.. Wait.", Irene called. The secretary stopped her actions and gave Irene a confused look. "Come here.", the chief said in a quiet voice. Wendy obliged, her eyebrows scrunching up as she did so.

This may sound so absurd but this is her only way to solve this issue. She wishes her secretary would just go with whatever she is scheming right now cause otherwise, she would really end up being deported.

"Uh. Sir.. I understand the... I understand the difficulty that we are in.", she said with her voice full of uncertainty. "And uhm... there's a... I think that this is something important that you should know."

It's the chairman's turn to be confused.

The editor-in-chief breathed deeply before letting out the most ridiculous announcement her secretary might have ever heard in her life.

"We're getting married.", she smiled as if the news was exciting and true.

Wendy Son was utterly confused.

END OF CHAPTER 1