Meet the Boss
MEET THE BOSS (EXO Cheese Challenge Day 8)
KaiYeol
PG | 922 words
Oh god, Chanyeol. What mess did you get into this time?
Chanyeol was on his knees, futilely scrubbing someone else's shoes. On the subway, nonetheless, where dozens of people were raising brows and whispering around them.
He would spill coffee on some random dude on the day of his job interview.
"I am so sorry about this." The tall, young man cried out, scratching his head in frustration when the dark, dark stains on a man's sleek shoes and suit pants were still there. "Could you please send me the bill to clean it? O-or tell me where I can buy a replacement...?"
A beat passed, before the man wearing the stained black suit said, "...Don't worry about it."
Chanyeol looked up to...a surprisingly young-looking man. He wondered how the guy could be so calm about this situation. The suit looked expensive too.
Chanyeol laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head again. "No, no I really insist." He sighed, since he was tight on money too. But he couldn't just leave this guy on the train with a dirtied suit.
His phone started beeping, indicating that it was--
"Ah, shit. Nine o'clock." Chanyeol scrunched his nose and heaved out a sigh, looking to see how many stops he had left.
Two.
He could be late for his interview. It was just his luck.
Chanyeol forgot about the guy still standing there, before the latter spoke up again. "I'll take your card then?"
"Oh!" Chanyeol slightly jumped and reached until his bag, scouring for his stack of business cards.
Finally he grabbed one out and grinned nervously. "Yes, I'm Park Chanyeol, by the way." Chanyeol bowed while giving him his business card . "Please do contact me when you get the suit cleaned o-or if you need me to buy you a new one. This is my stop! Um...sorry about this again."
With that, Chanyeol straightened up, grinned, and ran out of the station as fast as he could.
The man in the black suit tilted his head slightly, before getting off the train as well.
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Chanyeol was sitting in the lobby, trying to stop himself from tapping his foot against the floor. He bit his lip as he looked around the waiting area, seeing around ten other people who looked calm and collected. His competition.
Finally, a young man stepped into view.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Baekhyun. Uuum, it seems that the interview got moved to upstairs, so I'm here to take you guys there...If you can just follow me, please."
The group stood up and calmly collected their belongings, as Chanyeol scrambled to catch up.
Baekhyun led them all onto the elevator that was surprisingly bigger on the inside.
An awkward silence passed as the elevator went up.
"So sorry about this. It seems that Jongin wanted to see everyone or something."
The elevator dinged at the 20th floor and Baekhyun was still muttering about Jongin when--
"Oh! There he is." Baekhyun walked out of the elevator and started to bow immediately at the man who was walking their way.
Chanyeol gaped at who stood in front of them.
him?"
"Oh, have you already met Jongin?" Baekhyun rose a brow toward Chanyeol, ushering the group toward the man in a black suit.
A very familiar black suit that used to have a very familiar stain on it.
Just my luck.
"Thanks, Baekhyun. I'll take over from here." A very familiar face with a very familiar voice placed a hand on the shoulder on the shorter man, who still looked confused when he walked away.
Chanyeol's mouth still hung open, and he tried to find his voice as the man in front of him was leading the group...somewhere. Chanyeol couldn't help but initiate a conversation.
"So you're--"
"The boss."
Chanyeol groaned and covered his face with his hands in embarrassment.
"Well, what a great first impression I must have given..."
Jongin shrugged without looking back. "It's memorable, at the very least."
They suddenly stopped, and Chanyeol almost crashed into the man, but the next thing he knew, he was pushed down onto a chair, with his potential new boss leaning over him.
Chanyeol froze in his seat, and out of reflex, grabbed the armrests. After what seemed like minutes of him sitting there and a man looming over him, he suddenly felt a hand squeeze on his shoulder.
"This is a replacement suit. Don't forget about the dry cleaning." The man whispered in a serious voice.
"...I...Yes, sir...?"
With that, Kim Jongin stood up straight and took a glance at the other applicants, who avoided eye contact as soon as Jongin scanned the area. Finally, he looked at Chanyeol again. It looked like he was going to say something else, but he coolly turned around and made his way back to the elevator.
Jongin didn't even bother looking back. Chanyeol wasn't sure why he felt slightly disappointed.
"Park Chanyeol?" A small voice interrupted his train of thought.
"Yes?" Chanyeol sat up straight, looking around to see who was the source of the voice.
"They're expecting you." A woman smiled at him politely, pointing toward the double doors that would lead to the people determining his fate.
Chanyeol looked over to the elevators one last time, even though Jongin was long gone.
He confidently smiled to himself, stood up and thanked the receptionist.
When he reached the door, he paused and nodded at himself.
You can do this. You're Park Chanyeol, after all.
With that, he pushed.