I had only meant to go check if the newest member of our team had gotten lost, so when I found her lying on the floor by the elevator I was a bit worried. Then I somehow ended up joining her down there in my attempt to help her up. The whole ordeal was quite embarrassing and painful to say the least. I was still a bit dazed as we made it to the meeting room. 

“What happened? Why was she lying on top of you like that?”, Holly, the coworker who had witnessed the aftermath of my failed attempt to help Ms. Lee up, whispered to me, sounding almost agitated for some reason. I hadn’t even fully processed the fact that Hana had been lying on top of me and now was not the time to think about how it had felt and where my thoughts had gone in that moment. 

“Tell you later.”, I promised in a hushed tone as we took our seats around the table for the meeting. I could tell the rest of the team members were curious about Hana as well. Spencer seemed to be judging her from across the table and Alec looked a bit worried as he took in her disheveled appearance. Hana sat next to him and he whispered something to her, but she just frowned and lightly shook her head to get him to stop talking. Even in the state she was in she somehow managed to look calm and composed. There was something elegant about her…maybe it was her posture…she didn’t shrink into herself like other’s easily would if they were in her situation.

“I don’t even want to know what happened out there, but let’s welcome Ms. Hana Lee to our team. Do try to be on time in the future.”, Team Leader Quinn said as she gave Hana a pointed look. “Now, we’ve wasted enough time, let’s get to today's agenda.”

🝔🝔🝔

Things were looking good for me. I had heard that Hana had an impressive track record at the company, working her way up faster than anyone, but from the way things had started out, maybe those achievements had been exaggerated. She had been late after all and most importantly, did not seem to have made a good first impression on Team Leader Quinn. This was good for me, as I was aiming to become the next Team Leader. She was set to retire in 6 months and had yet to choose who would take over for her, but rumor had it that it would be someone from the current team - we just had to prove ourselves. Hana transferring to the team had worried me, as I wondered if she was set to become the next Team Leader, but no more. Maybe I could relax a bit, as I wouldn’t consider anyone else on the team to be my competition. I had an excellent track record myself. I had worked harder than anyone else to get this far, this promotion would be mine. It had to be.