The sound of her alarm jolted Clara awake, as she fumbled to turn her phone off. She stretched as she checked the time, it was 6:30 am. She groaned as she lay back down on her bed, too jet-lagged from her trip. She was about to doze back off to sleep when her alarm went off for a second time. Startled, she abruptly sat up and turned off her alarm, a bit more awake than the first time. With a sigh, Clara groggily got up and padded off to the bathroom to get ready for her first day at HANSUNG Group’s SONGHWA Hotel, a company with friendly ties with her father’s corporation, GK Group. 

The two companies, SONGHWA Hotel and Daesung Foods (one of GK Group’s subsidiary companies), were located just across from each other in the Gangnam Business District, the two tallest skyscrapers in the area. Clara had specifically chosen to become an employee at SONGHWA Hotel in order to keep tabs on her father’s company as well as any business deals the two companies would partner in. Clara’s phone pinged, as a notification from the Korean Herald uploaded a news article about GK Group. Surprised, she stopped putting on her clothes as she opened the app on her phone, reading it.

“Just in! Daughter of GK Group’s chairman, Cha Jung-hyun, has been rumored to be engaged to HANSUNG Group’s heir, Kim Joo-hyuk. Both corporations have not yet confirmed these rumors. It has been reported that Kim Joo-hyuk, who has never been seen by the public will now be working at one of HANSUNG Group’s subsidiary companies! However, this has not been confirmed yet as…”

Clara scoffed as she set down her phone on the dresser and continued to button her shirt before putting on her black suit jacket. These news companies were now writing articles with unconfirmed sources? What a train wreck, Clara thought as she shook her head in disbelief. Clara checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror, hoping that she wouldn’t stand out too much—though she was sure, there were probably already rumors about her circulating in the company. With a sigh, Clara grabbed her phone and a purse from her closet, before walking out to the kitchen to get a bite of breakfast.

Clara hummed to herself as she quickly poured her coffee into a tumbler and grabbed a scone from the kitchen counter. She made her way to the living room and plopped down on the sofa, as she turned on the news. She still had about an hour before she had to be at the company by 9am. She listened for anything related to HANSUNG Group or GK Group but was only met with the speculations she read on her phone earlier. Rolling her eyes, Clara turned off her TV and finished her scone and coffee before heading out for work.

After a chaotic 20-minute subway ride, Clara was already exhausted. She had never experienced a morning rush so intense as this one, back in Germany. She rested for a short while on a bench, feeling haggard. Was it going to be like this every time? Clara groaned. She didn’t know if she would be able to survive the week riding the subway. With a huff, Clara got up from her seat while checking the time on her phone. She had less than five minutes to get to the company!

“Damnit!!!” she yelled out as she sprinted up the stairs of the subway. She was going to be late on her first day!

Huffing and puffing, Clara barely managed to get up to the Marketing Department, that was on the 14th floor, just in time. She let out a deep breath before she entered the office. Everyone stared and whispered as Clara made her way to the team leader’s room at the back of the office. Ignoring them, she knocked on the door when a tall figure overshadowed her. Startled, Clara looked behind her to see a tall man, around in his mid-to-late twenties stare down at her with a questioning look. He was quite dashing, with smooth skin, a chiseled chin, high cheekbones, and broad shoulders. Whoa, he looks so handsome, is he a model?! And where did he pop out from? That scared me!, she thought as she let out a small gasp, looking away from him. She glanced over at him and saw that he was still looking down at her.

They awkwardly stood in front of the team leader’s office, staring at each other, before Clara broke off her eye contact with him. He may be handsome, but he’s making me feel so awkward! Why is he just standing there staring at me? And where the heck is this team leader?!, Clara thought, as she felt her cheeks start to heat up from embarrassment. She heard the man chuckle but ignored him as she knocked on the door again. There was silence. She was about to walk away when a voice from behind called out to them.

“Hello there, are you two the new employees?” a middle-aged man asked with a friendly smile.

“Yes, hello. Nice to meet you, my name is Clara Astley.” Clara replied, as she bowed to her new supervisor.

“Hello, I’m Kim J-… I mean, Woo-hyuk, nice to meet you.” said the man next to Clara as he also gave a slight bow to their team leader.

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Team Leader Park Gun-woo, but just call me Team Leader Park. Come, let me introduce you guys to the rest of the gang.” he chuckled, as he led the way to the middle of the office, that had two rows of 4 desks lined up.

“Everyone, say hello to our newest…”

After everyone introduced themselves, the deputy manager pointed at the two desks at the far end of the rows and motioned to them to sit. Hae-eun sat down on her seat and inwardly groaned as Woo-hyuk sat across from her. Just great, now I’ll have front row seating of the other three women in this office flirting with him, she thought as she sighed. The deputy manager brought over a stack of folders to them both and asked them to input all the data into a spreadsheet and left them to their tasks, obnoxiously clacking away with her heels. Rolling up her sleeves, Clara started to work on her task, ignoring the women who were swooning over the new male employee.

The morning went by without a hitch, except for the fact that no one talked to her. Everyone was busy staring and whispering about her to each other—what a great start to her first day at work! Clara sat at a table in the company's cafeteria by herself, trying to control her temper. She had already suspected that there would be rumors about her circulating—as it was not common for a well-off lawyer to become a regular office worker. However, Clara hadn't expected things to be this bad! She continued to eat her lunch half-heartedly, dejected to be the company’s designated loner, when she overheard the people behind her.

“Hey—she’s the one, right? That lawyer from Germany?” a male employee whispered as he peeked over at Clara.

“Yup… You think it’s true that she had an affair with the CEO of her law firm? Wow. She doesn’t look like it but… I can see it. She’s pretty cute.” giggled another, as his friends laughed along with him, while some whistled at her.

Clara coughed as she reached for her water, shocked. What? Is that what people have been talking about all morning?!, she thought as she wiped her mouth, her blood boiling with rage. She whipped around and glared at the circle of male employees behind her, who all stood up quickly, running away. She crumpled the napkin in her hands as she tried to calm down. Her heart palpitated rapidly as she stood up, trembling slightly, her bottled up anger was on the brink of boiling over. She set her tray down at the washing station and silently made her way out of the cafeteria, averting her eyes from the constant stares of her co-workers.

With a sigh, Clara sat down on one of the tables at the café nearby, exhausted. She hadn’t been able to finish her food as she felt a wave of nausea overwhelm her back at the cafeteria. Rummaging her pocket for her phone, Clara scrolled to the section under 'Business' on the Korean Herald, trying to pass time until her lunch break was over. Finding nothing of interest, she slumped over the table, too depressed to do anything when she heard a knock on her table. Startled, she sat up and looked up to see Woo-hyuk standing over her with a slight smile.

“Hey, here’s your drink, they’ve been calling your number for a while.” he said as he handed her the drink.

“Oh… Uh… thanks. Wait, how did you—” she started as she took her drink from him, noting how slender and long his fingers were.

“I was behind you in the line, but I guess you didn’t notice me. We should head back to the office now.” he cut her off, as he started to walk over to the exit.

Clara stared after him, before hurrying to catch up. They stood next to each other awkwardly, as they waited to cross the street. What a weird man, she thought as she glanced over at him. He stared straight ahead and as soon as the lights changed, he walked away with long strides towards the company. Clara rolled her eyes while also crossing the street. Couldn't he have walked together with her? 

As soon as they arrived at their office, Clara noticed the female co-workers glaring at her jealously. Inwardly sighing, Clara quickly scurried to her seat, not wanting to be seen next to Woo-hyuk. There was a loud slam as the deputy manager threw the folder Clara had handed in before lunch.

“Hey, Clara. Do you think I’m a joke? How could you organize the data like this?! Do this over again. I know you had a lot of fun when you were a lawyer, but this is a place of business. Do it right, will you?” she snarled, ripping up Clara’s hard work in front of her, before throwing it in the trash bin. Clara sat there silently, trembling as she felt her last bit of sanity snap. She was about to retort when Woo-hyuk spoke up.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If anything, deputy manager, you were fooling around all morning trying to talk to me. I think you should hold a better example of yourself as our superior.” Woo-hyuk argued, as he stared up at the woman with a cold gaze, who stared back at him in shock. There were collective gasps from the other team members as they also looked at Woo-hyuk in bewilderment.

“Why—"

“What’s going on here?” asked Team Leader Park as he looked at his employees tensed reactions from the entrance of the office.

The room fell silent as everyone went back to work, while the Team Leader looked around, in confusion before going into his office. Clara stared at Woo-hyuk in disbelief. What was up with him? He clearly didn’t seem the type to help anyone out. She was about to thank him, but Woo-hyuk shook his head, as he started working on some documents. Clara, stunned, did the same while the corner of her mouth turned up in a small smile. I guess, it's not that bad of a day after all, she thought.

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**