Office Diaries

"You girls look like you're all having fun."

Huh?

The soft, casual comment broke through the merry chitchat and Yanee lifted her head to see a tall man approaching them, and she slightly frowned. Everything about the man screamed 'playboy', from his wild, longish mane, to his handsome face with a devil-may-care smile, to his neat dark suit, and his pair of shiny Italian shoes.

"Yes, we are," Ash Li answered with a beautiful smile, and Yanee was amazed by how the man's face suddenly warmed up as he turned to her.

He let Ash hook her arms on his and pulled him closer to their group.

"Darling, this pretty lady here is Yanee," Ash said as she pointed at her. "Yanee, this is my husband, Alex."

Yanee smiled politely as she bowed in his direction. The man totally looked like a Romeo who'd take a lady's hand and kiss them upon introduction, so she took the initiative to bow in greeting as what she usually did in Japan.   Western greetings, even if she's used to living abroad still made her uncomfortable most especially with flashy men like this one.

She's an idiot, and the act was, of course, a bit rude in an international setting where people would normally shake hands. But thankfully, the man didn't take it to stride, and instead threw back his head and laughed.

"Oops, sorry," he apologized as he remembered to return the bow. "I'm glad to finally meet you."

Yanee shook her head. "Ah, no, the honor is mine CEO Li," she quickly replied, but the man waved his hand holding a champagne flute at her.

"Drop the title Yanee – call me Alex," the man said and Yanee felt she was in the twilight zone once more.

Alex Li, CEO of Mercury, the biggest shipping and Logistics Company in Hongkong called her by her first name and asked her to do the same.

What's happening?

But she should stop being surprised already. The girls had already shocked her enough by their warmth and immediate acceptance of her. They treated her like a little sister, so she shouldn't wonder why the husbands were the same.

For example, the Kang couple – Yunjae and Jinho both addressed her by her given name now and asked her to call them by their names as well.

"Alex, are you trying to scare the little sister off?"

Huh?

Yanee turned to see another man walked towards them. Similarly, the newcomer exuded a unique aura that could only be emitted only by a person in power. Tall, dark, and handsome – this man was the epitome of such a description. However, unlike the eternally smiling Alex, this man only gave Yanee a small smile and a nod her way as a greeting.

"Nice to meet you, finally, Yanee," the man greeted her.

Yanee didn't mind the lack of showy gesture. She was, after all very familiar with the man, thanks to media and an event at school years ago. "Nice to meet you, CEO Chen," she greeted back.

Michael Chen was the CEO of Indigo, one of the biggest advertising agencies in Asia which won tons of awards. Also, the reason why she was familiar with him was that the CEO personally visited different universities across Asia to give free seminars about advertising trends. This activity was one of Indigo's educational programs aiming to help out talented students by giving free seminars and opening competitions. Students who joined and won were assisted and consequently hired after they graduated.

Yanee had a different major, but Michael Chen and his group came to her university once years ago and held an advertising campaign competition there.

She had only seen him from afar, though. The reason why she was not surprised by his cool demeanor was that Michael Chen was famous for being reserved. He was basically the original quiet boy that she thought Tohru James also was when she first met her boss.

Speaking of which, where's the potato? Yanee wondered as she tried to look around but didn't have to search for long. She had spotted Tohru coming to their little group with more people which Yanee also recognized as the 'husband club'.

They were the business tycoons the rest of the ladies with her were married to, ergo the husband club tag. Come to think of it…

Yanee had just realized as soon Tohru's group reached them that all of the people there saved for her and Tohru were married couples. But of course, they were all the people she was to interview for the next weeks. They were the reason why she was here with her boss, anyway – to meet them before she conducted the rest of the interviews.

Tohru introduced her to the rest of the men and was surprised to learn that some of them were related. In fact, Liam Kang, husband of Marian Kang, was Jinho Kang's brother, and they were all connected somehow. Some of them were classmates and childhood friends but all treated each other like brothers. So, in turn, their wives became close to each other as well like sisters.

Speaking of which, they called her sister too. Yanee didn't really know what to make of that. She'd just chalk it up to them being overly friendly – well, until they heard them call her boss.

"Little brother, until when are you going to stay here in Korea?" Marian asked Tohru, and Yanee couldn't resist looking at them.

Little… brother?

Yanee didn't know why, but hearing Marian call him that suddenly made her feel suspicious. After all, the air around them was too comfortable to be just business acquaintances.

"That's right, Little Brother. Are you busy tomorrow?" Jisoo asked and Yanee's bubble of suspicion burst.

After all, she knew Jisoo's background, and she only had a sister for her sibling. The title "little brother" must be similar to how they called her "little sister" and nothing more.

Anyway, she was curious why they were asking her boss' schedule. Her flight back to Tokyo was canceled as she would go to Hongkong to interview Ash Li there the day after tomorrow. Tohru, on the other hand, would fly back to Japan around the same time she would leave for Hongkong. Tomorrow would be a free day for them.

"My boss is –"

"Busy," Tohru James suddenly interrupted her.

When Yanee turned to look at Tohru with a frown and was about to refute his claims of being occupied tomorrow, she received a fierce look as if he was daring her to speak up otherwise.

Then it dawned on her why he said he's busy the next day, and Yanee didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In her mind, she translated Tohru Jame's glare as "Damn you, woman! Don't you dare forget we're getting my kimchi!" and so she shut up.

Kimchi addict potato…