There he was - tall, slim, with black, rather untidy hair, broad shoulders, and an incredibly warm smile on his young face. He was dressed unusually simply for an office employee - straight black pants, chunky white sneakers, and a white, carefully tucked-in T-shirt, a rather refreshing look.
"My name is Yoon Se Ah, I am an account manager in charge of the sales team. Nice to meet you too."
The guy nodded and smiled again which made Miss Yoon feel somewhat awkward. She dropped her purse on the top of the desk drawer and fell into her chair, ready to start her day. Min Hyun stared at her for a minute, then placed another chair next to her, and set down.
"Do you always come to work this early? I thought you guys start at nine."
He put his left elbow on the edge of Se Ah's desk and leaned on it, still looking at her with surprisingly dreamy eyes. Without looking away from her laptop, she let out a tiny sigh and answered,
"Yes, our department always has a lot of work so before everyone starts working at nine, I organize the schedule and workflow of the team I'm responsible for."
"I see, that's quite impressive!"
Se Ah finally looked at his face to which the guy reacted with a sudden flinch in his whole body. He straightened up his posture and widened his eyes a little - it felt strange to have her intense look on his pale face.
"Lee Min Hyun, why are you here so early?"
Min Hyun exhaled unexpectedly loudly as if he was holding his breath all this time, then scratched the back of his head, and looked down, embarrassed.
"Well, I was too excited to sleep so I came here the moment the subway station opened."
Miss Yoon let out a short scoff, then turned her face away and started typing.
"This won't last long. Once you start working, you'll feel like you never get enough sleep."
Min Hyun did not reply, and after some time, when she realized that he was neither going to move someplace else nor stop staring at her, Se Ah put on a fake smile, stood up, and took her purse.
"Lee Min Hyun, did you have breakfast? Would you like to eat something with me?"
The guy almost jumped on his feet and nodded enthusiastically, like an overexcited child.
'This is already burdensome. I hope Team Leader Shin won't make me mentor him.'
The company-owned coffee shop downstairs was already open but was still quite empty - even though employees received quite a big discount there, people still did not want to sacrifice their precious time just so they could eat there before work. Se Ah, on the other hand, was a regular customer there because she found it bothersome to cook her own breakfast, or any other meal, for that matter.
She bought two cups of Americano and a variety of pastries since the new intern decided to rely solely on her personal choice, then sat down in front of him at the table next to the window, and pushed a hot cup toward his big hands.
"Thank you, Miss Yoon, but you did not have to insist on paying! Although I'm just an intern, I still have money."
His handsome face melted into a happy grin as he said those words and Se Ah could not help but find it charming.
'Lee Joo Yeong will be ecstatic once she sees him. He definitely is eye candy.'
She smiled back at him and took a sip of her coffee.
"So, Lee Min Hyun --"
"Oh, please, Miss Yoon, call me Min Hyun, I am younger than you, after all!"
Se Ah raised her eyebrows at his blatant assumption but decided not to react to it with words, it was only natural that he was younger, he was an intern.
"How old are you, then?"
"I'm twenty-five! Fresh out of university."
He grinned again and took a bite of his chocolate bun, downing it with a rather generous sip of coffee.
"And you were hired by our company just like that? That's very impressive."
In all honesty, Se Ah was not impressed at all, on the contrary, she was quite jealous - she had to go through three unpaid internships at different tech companies while she was still in university before she even dared to apply to work for this one, therefore, the thought of someone being hired just like that, made her feel somewhat miserable.
'Perhaps times really are changing for the better.'
She spent the rest of the time eating in silence and for some unknown reason did not want to look at Min Hyun, while he, on the other hand, could not take his eyes off of her. When it finally became unbearable, Se Ah let out a quiet sigh and looked up when she heard a familiar voice calling out her name.
"Miss Yoon!"
Team Leader Shin Eun Tae waved his hand at her, then walked up to their table, and placed a brown paper bag on it.
"Good morning! I'm used to seeing you eating breakfast at your desk, this is a pleasant surprise."
Not letting her reply, he shifted his eyes to his right and gasped.
"Oh! I see you have already met our new intern! Quite a handsome fellow, don't you agree? Miss Lee will definitely approve, haha! Anyway, I'm glad you are already this close because, Miss Yoon, I want you to train and mentor this guy starting today."
"What?!"
Both Mr. Shin and Min Hyun widened their eyes and she herself was shocked by her unusually strong reaction.
'Great, I jinxed it.'
Team Leader Shin burst into laughter to cover up the awkward atmosphere she had created just a moment ago, then patted the intern on the shoulder, and said,
"Miss Yoon is just a little surprised because it's been a while since we had a new employee to train. She is the most capable member of our team so you, Lee Min Hyun, will learn a lot from her, I have no doubts."
Min Hyun smiled back at him and nodded.
"I'm looking forward to it."
When the three of them got back to their office, the other team members were already working which made Se Ah feel extremely uncomfortable - it was the first time in years that she had to step into the room after everyone else has already arrived there.
Mr. Shin cleared his throat and called for everyone's attention, and six pairs of eyes focused their attention on him almost simultaneously.
"Good morning, everyone. This is Lee Min Hyun, he is the new intern hired by the company, and starting today, he will be working closely with Miss Yoon whom I assigned as his trainer and mentor. Please be nice to him but also make sure he does not cause any trouble."
A mixture of voices echoed through the room as people started to greet the new guy and the nonchalant expression Min Hyun had all morning, was replaced by an awkward combination of shyness and politeness.
"Wow, Miss Yoon, you are indeed very lucky! I wish I was in charge of his training."
Miss Lee pouted her lips playfully, then melted into a satisfied grin and gently slapped Min Hyun on his muscular arm.
"Good job growing well, Lee Min Hyun, I hope we will get along."
The intern smiled back at her and when he thought that no one was looking, wiped his arm with a subtle expression of disgust. When he noticed that Se Ah witnessed his previous action, he simply winked at her, then walked up to her desk and said in a sweet voice,
"I'm all yours, Miss Yoon."
'What the hell?'