Clara sighed as she stretched her arms out, tired from her first day at work. She glanced over at her phone, it was already 11 pm and she was finally free. After Woo-hyuk’s response to the deputy manager’s comments to Clara, the new employee had ended up having to do more work than necessary for someone of her employment status. Peeved and embarrassed that she had been called out for her behavior, the deputy manager handed Clara a stack of reports and ordered her to organize them. On top of that, her supervisor had also forced Clara to write up a product proposal and make a PowerPoint for the meeting tomorrow on the product. Clara had stared at the woman, speechless, while her supervisor sweetly smiled back at her before shoving her shoulder into the new employee. She had never expected that she, an expert in foreign policy, was now working overtime on a PowerPoint.
She saved the finished PowerPoint as well as the product proposal she had written all night onto her flash drive before she logged out from her computer. With another stretch of her arms, Clara quickly gathered up her things and glanced over at Woo-hyuk’s desk. She scoffed as she turned off the lights and headed towards the elevators- ready to run away from the company and have a can of beer when she got home.
“I can’t believe he just left right at 6pm… And I can’t believe they LET him go while I had to stay and work overtime… No wonder people hate office jobs in Korea.” Clara muttered bitterly.
Clara dragged her feet to the subway station, relieved that she at least didn’t have to deal with rush hour. As she neared the subway, her phone rang. Looking down, she smiled happily as she answered her phone.
“Cameron! I’m so glad you called me… You have no idea what my day’s been like…*” she whined to her older brother as she walked towards a nearby bench.
“Hmm? Why? What happened?!” he exclaimed, concerned about his little sister.
“My co-workers started a rumor about me… It's not even close to the actual truth... Ha... Honestly, how do people come up with such things?” she asked, rhetorically.
“Well, what’s the rumor about? Should I go beat them up for you?”
“Haha, no! It’s nothing too serious, I can handle it by myself. How are you doing though?” she asked, with a laugh. Talking to Cameron always lifted her spirits.
“I'm fine, but… Clara… Are you sure about all of this? I know you’ve been planning this for a while, however... I’m just worried about you. It’s not too late to—” Clara cut him off before he said anything else.
“Cameron, I know what you’re saying, but… I need to do this. I just ask for your support.” she replied with a sad smile as she kicked a pebble away from her.
“Ha… All right. No matter what, mom, dad, and I are always, and I mean always, on your side. Don’t ever forget that. Let me know if I can help you with anything.” he reminded her, earnestly.
“I will, oh, I need to go now! I’ll talk to you some other time! My train’s going to be here soon!” Clara looked at her watch— she only had five minutes until the train arrived.
Clara and her brother said their goodbyes as she hung up the phone. She quickly walked towards the subway station, waiting for the light to change. She shivered as the strong autumn wind whooshed past her. She clutched her suit jacket a little tighter to prevent the air from reaching her bare skin. A black car stopped in front of her, signaling the change of the lights. Clara hurriedly ran to the subway station, as Woo-hyuk watched from the backseat of the car. He stared at Clara, as she ran down the stairs of the subway. He hummed before he tapped his father’s secretary’s shoulder in front of him.
“Yes, Young Master?” the man asked as he glanced back towards Woo-hyuk.
“Can you look into the rumors about Clara Astley from Team #1 of the Marketing Department? I need to find out who started such a ridiculous rumor in the first place.”
“Of course, sir. I’ll look into it and report to you by tomorrow morning.”
“All right, thank you.” Woo-hyuk said curtly as the car lurched forward, heading off towards the distant lights of Seoul.
Clara walked into the train and plopped down onto the seat, drained from her first day of work. She stretched her neck as she stifled a yawn. She wanted to just sleep, but since she was still unsure of how to get back to her place, she stayed alert the entire 20-minute ride back home. Clara thought about what her brother had said about giving up on her plan to get revenge on her father and his mistress. She sighed. She knew why he said that, but how could she give up now after all the research and planning she had done for the past 10 years? Clara sighed as she thought back to the day her brother had found out about her past- her status as the sole heiress to GK Group.
It had been her first year of college and she had come back home for winter break. After much searching, Clara had been able to track down the police officer who had helped her adoptive parents take her to the hospital that night in Sokcho. Clara had reached out to the officer, posing as a law student, to ask him about the events of that night and if there had been any missing reports of a child in the vicinity. She also tried to gain more information about the murder of her mother as well...
However, no matter how much Clara had pressed for answers, the officer had refused to disclose any information about the missing case of Cha Soo-hyun or the murder case of Lee Jae-kyung. But he did inform her, that despite some suspicions towards her father, Cha Min-woo, they decided to rule him out. The higher ups had decided he didn't have any connections to the case, considering his status in society and his paternal relations to his missing daughter. In fact, they came to the conclusion that he was a victim who lost his daughter and wife within a day. It was beyond ridiculous, but her father had managed to sway the public’s opinion of him as the suspect, to a mourning husband and father.
When her brother had read that email, he had been shocked. He, along with his parents, were under the impression that Clara had no idea as to what happened that night. Yet, she was communicating with the officer who had helped to rescue her? He had demanded to know whether Clara had remembered everything that happened to her when their parents found her. At first, the teen had refused it. Claiming, that she really was just curious about the missing case of Cha Soo-hyun. However, her brother didn't buy her excuse, as he asked her if she was the missing child, she was inquiring the officer about.
Clara, not knowing what else to do, made her brother promise her to never tell their parents that she remembered what happened that night. Her brother had been reluctant to promise her, until he listened to her retelling the events of that night. Cameron had thought his little sister was joking, when she produced the massive emerald ring that was in a plastic Ziploc bag from under her bookcase. He had stared at it in shock, realizing what she had told him was all true. Since then, the two siblings had worked together to research about her mother's case.
The announcement of her stop made Clara snap out of her thoughts, as she looked at the notification on the panel of the train. She got up from her seat and made her way up to the exit, still thinking about that night 20 years ago. The former lawyer tapped her transportation card on the sensor, as she walked towards the stairs, pulling out her phone from her purse. Clara stared at the message on her screen, as she tilted her head, not sure what to make of it.
"What the hell... Why are they inviting me to this chatroom...?" Clara muttered as she shoved her phone back into her purse and walked up the long stairway of the subway station.
The team members of the Marketing Department had sent Clara a request to join their chatroom on Cacao-talk!, a messaging app. Clara sighed, she didn't have the energy to deal with them after what happened at work earlier that day. She trudged to her apartment, stopping by at the nearby convenience store to pick up some snacks and beer. Clara arrived at her apartment and set down her beer and snacks on the coffee table, tossing her jacket and purse onto the sofa. She plopped down and relaxed for the night, not knowing that a notice from SONGHWA Hotel was sent to all employees:
"Warning to all departments and employees: Spreading of false rumors and or information of SONGHWA Hotel employees are strictly prohibited- CEO Kim Joo-hyuk."
SIDE NOTE:
*: indicates that the dialogue is in German
**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.**
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