Jiah's POV
Dad! It has only been two weeks since I started working with the Yoo family, and you know I am doing this for you, right? The job gets harder and harder every day, and the head cleaner is so cruel!" I spit out ruthlessly as I recall the harshness of the head cleaner, but I wasn't done talking when my father broke in with his shaky old voice.
"Soon you will be free and be able to take care of me. It is now the opposite of my vow to your late mother," he was already in tears. I can't stand that; I can't stand Dad in a teary emotion, let alone in a pool of tears. I look at him again, wishing he didn't go through the cruelty of life. My dad was too innocent for the way life treated him; he didn't deserve it. I did not know when we ended up crying together, and then we fell asleep in each other's arms.
It was a new day, my alarm jolting me out of bed—oh shit! It was another terrible Monday; I hated Mondays like rotten eggs. Mondays were always the longest working days of the week. I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed, angrily shifting my duvet to the corner of my bed. Even though I knew that lateness would soon accompany me down to work if I persisted, that didn't change the lethargy I felt while getting ready for work.
As I was getting my ass ready for work, memories of Hyejin's habit of meddling in other people's work kept knocking me down. Dad knows that I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for him.
"Ahhhh!" I let out a tiny bit of frustration since it helped me get a clearer view of my already chaotic day. Thirty minutes had already passed, and I was just heading to the bathroom, reaching for my chopped toothbrush—it looked like a community toothbrush. I hadn't seen the terrible state of this brush for a long time until now. It was overdue for a change. I glanced at it again and scooped out too much paste from the paste bag onto the oversized face of my brush, then I reached for the shower, turned it on, and let it slap against the hard tiles while I went back to rinse my mouth. In seconds, I dashed out, grabbing the first blouse I laid my hands on. It wasn't dirty, nor was it torn; I just didn't keep them where they were supposed to be. I hadn't planned my morning; I had forgotten it would be a Monday morning.
In the kitchen, I shoved a slice of bread in my mouth, devouring it like a prisoner before I knocked over my coffee. The mug shattered, but there was no time to clean it up as I got busy thinking of the next lie that I would tell Hyejin at the office. I heard my father's faint voice from his room; the shattered mug must have startled him, but that didn't bother me. I looked around for my handbag and my keys.
After taking a glance at the mess I had just created, I took a deep breath, grabbed my sandals, and dashed out the door. Barefoot and breathless, I already longed for a more composed morning.
"This is the third time you are coming late! See me in my office," Hyejin ordered, looking like a piece of hungry thing. She was good at faking things, always wanting to please the people she worked for and displease the ones beneath her by making their work a never-ending struggle for any employee who found themselves working and taking instructions from her. I know she knows that I do not like her one bit from the things Yula had told me about her, but I try to get out of her way!
"I promise," I find myself saying.
"I hope it never happens again; if it does, I will fire you!" Hyejin threatened, forgetting that she had no direct power to fire anyone, especially not me, who was working under a contract.
Sungmin, the only son of the Yoo family, had arrived in town. The news spread so fast, and everyone knew he was back. His every move was under scrutiny since he was the new manager of his father's company—his father was completing the official transfer of the company to his son, Sungmin. This was part of a deal: he was to engage and marry the young lady whose father was the biggest investor in their company. Kangdae, Sungmin's father, is a man who doesn't go back on his word.
Yula, on the other hand, is my only friend and co-worker. She admires our boss to the extent that she tells me about her love adventure with him.
"The boss is here," she whispered to me. And we both rushed back to our jobs—mopping with seriousness on our faces. It wasn't long before he showed up, but thank God we had continued our jobs. I was already hearing the sound of my heartbeat. I didn't know why I was nervous, but I was—trying to fix my eyes on the tiles that I was mopping, but my mind had fled out of my chest the moment Yula told me that our boss was around. I also felt like everyone was looking at me.
Could he have seen us talking on duty? My thoughts and I again. I continued mopping, refusing to raise my head, and just then I realized what I had been mopping—a black shiny shoe. Huh! I know the shoe must have cost a lot. My first week at work was already a mess, and I knew it was my boss's feet. Even if I had to work an extra hour every day, I still wouldn't be able to afford his shoes. I gathered the tiny pieces of courage that were left in me—staring. I realized I couldn't let go of those eyes. I continued staring. He was more handsome than I imagined. A smile struggled to show off at the corner of my mouth, but I wouldn't let it, not after I had mopped one leg of his shoe.
"I am sorry. Forgive me, sir!" I said, recalling my sanity. He still didn't speak, so I knelt to clean his shoes with my clothes. Maybe that was the act that got him pissed. Disgust was written on his face in bold letters, but just before he let out a terrible speech, the security had rushed to bundle me away. I saw him give them a sign to let me go. My friend was too stunned to speak. I saw that familiar look on her face; she must be wondering how much of a fool I was. I returned a helpless look, and then my boss's voice sounded in my head. "You smell like fish! Get some nice perfume for yourself!" I perceived an extra layer of silence topping up the silence that already existed. My boss was now a few steps away from me. And then a soft voice—
"Sungmin, my love!" We all turned to see whose voice it was. It was hers. The clingy fiancée Yula once spoke about; I knew it from the boldness in her tone. I am sure my boss was not expecting her because the look on his face said so. I watched her rush into his arms, and yes, he embraced her even though he didn't expect to see her.
"Don't you know you should leave?" Yula said, taking me by my hands away from the scene. "What do you think you are doing? Huh!" she continued with arched brows. I was still in shock from the drama that was played earlier. I had nothing to say to her; I only watched her lips move up and down, but not one word of hers stuck in my head.
"Appa! (Dad!) Appa! (Dad!)," I called out several times as my dad gently came out of his room to the sitting room to console me. He knew my tone anytime I was emotionally drained. Immediately I set my eyes on him, I couldn't help but lean against his weak shoulders, pouring down lines of tears from my eyes. "Appa (Dad)," I called again and cuddled him.
Donghan's POV
I knew she was going through a lot that she couldn't explain, so I patted her gently on her back as I sang one of the bedtime songs her mother used to sing for her when she was three years old. Her mother would sing bedtime songs every night while Ji-ah lay close to her doll, and in a short while, she would fall asleep. I watched her sleep calmly on the sofa, so I gently took off her shoes and covered her. She always reminds me of her mother because she looks so much like her.