paper cuts and bitter tea
secret/u-kiss kiseop/jieun
1650 words ; pg-13 (for some language) ; office au
one day she meets someone like herself
She sighed as she pulled more envelopes from their mail cubbies, separating names by floors into their respective compartments on her trusted cart with squeaky back wheels.
It was the same routine she had for months now ever since she got this dumb job. When she got her interview with the company, Jieun honestly thought all the work she put towards her degree would finally be paying off. After months of no call backs, she somehow managed to get an appointment with one of the best PR agencies in Seoul, and maybe unlike most of her old friends from college that were still job hunting, she'd be the first to get hired.
And hired she was. As the fucking office mail girl.
She should've turned it down. She should've just said no to accepting the job and just kept on looking and maybe would've gotten hired somewhere else. But who knows when she would hear back from any of those places, it could take even longer and Jieun really needed to help out Hana with their bills and rent...
Besides, she could always make her way up in the company right? Get to know people, have connections, wheedle her way up there and become a media publicist before she knew it.
Utter bullshit.
Jieun had been here who knows how long and no one knew her name. Everyone was always too busy to socialize or notice her but when they did she was always referred to as "mail girl" or "hey you!" when they had a complaint. She learned very quickly that people could get awfully grouchy when it came to their mail sometimes. It took her a few weeks to develop her delivery system and figure out the people on each level.
There weren't many people on the ground level aside from herself except the two security guards at the door, the janitor, and receptionist (whose name she found out was Sunhwa based on her name plate). She never got a chance to speak to her since she was always on the phone taking or making calls but they would nod at each other in greeting every morning.
The people on the first floor never seemed to stop moving. Every day she made her stop by there were workers constantly on the move and she wondered if they ever sat down. Everyone was so noisy from yelling across the room or typing who knows what on their computers or just talking on the phone. Jieun always got a headache after visiting them. Second floor was a lot more pleasant and was by far her favorite stop. Things were more quiet there since it was half filled with board rooms which were usually occupied. The staff there were pretty quiet unlike the previous floor, and the loudest sound she ever heard there came from the air conditioning. But more than anything she dreaded the third floor. All the biggest publicists and agents worked on that level and most of them were either complete assholes or just rude. Everyone there seemed to look down on her or think of her as a nuisance and or sometimes she wasn't even acknowledged at all. Most of the mail went to their floor so Jieun always tried to finish quickly so she could leave as soon as possible.
She honestly wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last here. How could she even learn anything if no one knew she existed? Maybe she should start making more copies of her resume and get ready to call around again (unless Hana forgot to pay the phone bill..).
Jieun pushed her cart out into the hall with her deliveries ready for the day. Luckily the elevator was right by the mail room so she never had to worry about it being too far away. The first floor was as loud as ever. She almost hit two people rushing by with her cart, dropped off a bouquet of roses to a women from her husband for their anniversary, and surprisingly no one had yelled at her (yet). Maybe today would be better than most.
She went back up the elevator and now it was on to the next level. The instant the doors opened her nose was hit with the overwhelming smell of expresso and vanilla. Set up against the wall to her left not too far from the elevator, was a mini coffee stand. Giant silver canisters that read 'Americano', 'Decaf', and 'Earl Grey tea' were set in the back of the station on heaters. On the front of the small counter she could make out what seemed to be an expresso machine and a tiny platter of baked goods.
Standing behind the counter pouring coffee into a disposable tray with four styrofoam cups, was a young man about her age. He was very tall, obviously a whole head or two taller than herself and kind of lanky but she could tell his arms were defined with muscle. He wore a black visor on his head and it only made his dyed red hair pop even more. Jieun continued to watch as he carefully pressed the lids down onto each cup and neatly folded some napkins to place in the center of the tray. She hadn't realized how long she'd be staring until he glanced up in her direction and smiled brightly at her.
Wow. He was really cute. And he was staring back. Embarrassment hit her like a wave and she could feel her face heat up rapidly - she'd bet anyone she resembled a tomato at the moment.
Jieun broke eye contact and rushed forward to start handing out mail. She had wasted enough time ogling him as it is. But out of the corner of her eye she couldn't help but take another peek and sure enough he was still looking as she passed out envelopes, though with a slightly puzzled expression set on his handsome face.
She completed this route faster than usual from being so flustered, but today the sooner she finished her deliveries and got back to her 'office', the better.
However things didn't look like they were about to go her way because there he was standing by the elevator holding the tray of coffee in his hands. Smiling at her. (Why the hell didn't this place have two elevators like a normal building?)
"Hi," he said brightly when she finally reached him. "I figured you're going to the third floor next, so I thought I'd wait for you so we could go up together."
Oh geez what did she ever do to deserve this.
"A-alright. Thank you." Jieun mentally cursed at herself for stuttering and pushed her cart inside and pushed the button for L3. He followed her in and the doors close a few seconds later.
"I don't think I've seen you around here before. How long have you been working here?" He asks, making some small talk.
Unlike everyone else here, the guy actually seems nice so she goes along with it. "Quite a while now. I think it'll be eight months in two more weeks, but I stopped keep track some time ago. I only work on the week days. I know I've definitely never seen you here."
"Oh that makes sense!" He laughs and it's one of the cutest sounds she's ever heard. "I used to only work part time on the weekends when they have extra work but recently they asked me to start coming here daily for the whole staff. Today is my first day being full time." He smiles at her again and she can't help but smile back.
"Welcome to being full time." Jieun says and the automatic doors open as they reach their stop.
She rushes out a "It was nice meeting you" before she goes on her way to the first row of desks with some envelopes all ready in her hand. By the time she reaches the following row she sees the guy a few feet away, patiently standing next to a woman's desk (one of the ones with an attitude) as he waits for her to finish a call.
"Here's your order, three Americanos and one Earl Grey." He says kindly as he holds out the drink tray.
"About time. You sure took long enough." The woman snaps at him, roughly taking her order. She sighs as she digs through her purse, pulling out some bills and tossing them onto her desk. "Next time you better be faster, coffee boy." And with that she briskly walks away towards one of the offices at the very back.
"It's Kiseop..." Jieun hears him mumble to nobody in particular and he folds the money up before putting it in the pocket of his orange apron. She watches him sigh and wander back over to the elevator. Part of her can't help but be overcome with sympathy.
She quickly wraps up her remaining deliveries and walks faster than usual to where he's standing, waiting for the doors to open.
"Hi," she says and that gets his attention. "I'm the mail girl, but you can call me Song Jieun." She sticks out her hand and smiles softly at him.
He looks down at her hand and then at her face and smiles back. "Hi Jieun," he takes her hand in his and it feels warm. "I'm the coffee boy, but I prefer Lee Kiseop better."
"It's nice to meet you Kiseop." They shake.
"You know," he starts as they enter the elevator. "There's a lot of extra lemon bread today. If you're not already busy I could swing by during lunch if you want any. Free of course." He looks down and takes a sudden interest in his shoes.
Jieun's smile grows at Kiseop's bashfulness and she wonders what she ever did to deserve this.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
a/n: it's a miracle - i actually love something i've written. lmao
was meant to be for the 4th prompt at aupairs ut i kinda wandered away from the prompt orz still happy with this though. the title doesn't make much sense but i like how it sounds. pretty sure i cleaned up all the mistakes now too ^^
1650 words ; pg-13 (for some language) ; office au
one day she meets someone like herself
She sighed as she pulled more envelopes from their mail cubbies, separating names by floors into their respective compartments on her trusted cart with squeaky back wheels.
It was the same routine she had for months now ever since she got this dumb job. When she got her interview with the company, Jieun honestly thought all the work she put towards her degree would finally be paying off. After months of no call backs, she somehow managed to get an appointment with one of the best PR agencies in Seoul, and maybe unlike most of her old friends from college that were still job hunting, she'd be the first to get hired.
And hired she was. As the fucking office mail girl.
She should've turned it down. She should've just said no to accepting the job and just kept on looking and maybe would've gotten hired somewhere else. But who knows when she would hear back from any of those places, it could take even longer and Jieun really needed to help out Hana with their bills and rent...
Besides, she could always make her way up in the company right? Get to know people, have connections, wheedle her way up there and become a media publicist before she knew it.
Utter bullshit.
Jieun had been here who knows how long and no one knew her name. Everyone was always too busy to socialize or notice her but when they did she was always referred to as "mail girl" or "hey you!" when they had a complaint. She learned very quickly that people could get awfully grouchy when it came to their mail sometimes. It took her a few weeks to develop her delivery system and figure out the people on each level.
There weren't many people on the ground level aside from herself except the two security guards at the door, the janitor, and receptionist (whose name she found out was Sunhwa based on her name plate). She never got a chance to speak to her since she was always on the phone taking or making calls but they would nod at each other in greeting every morning.
The people on the first floor never seemed to stop moving. Every day she made her stop by there were workers constantly on the move and she wondered if they ever sat down. Everyone was so noisy from yelling across the room or typing who knows what on their computers or just talking on the phone. Jieun always got a headache after visiting them. Second floor was a lot more pleasant and was by far her favorite stop. Things were more quiet there since it was half filled with board rooms which were usually occupied. The staff there were pretty quiet unlike the previous floor, and the loudest sound she ever heard there came from the air conditioning. But more than anything she dreaded the third floor. All the biggest publicists and agents worked on that level and most of them were either complete assholes or just rude. Everyone there seemed to look down on her or think of her as a nuisance and or sometimes she wasn't even acknowledged at all. Most of the mail went to their floor so Jieun always tried to finish quickly so she could leave as soon as possible.
She honestly wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last here. How could she even learn anything if no one knew she existed? Maybe she should start making more copies of her resume and get ready to call around again (unless Hana forgot to pay the phone bill..).
Jieun pushed her cart out into the hall with her deliveries ready for the day. Luckily the elevator was right by the mail room so she never had to worry about it being too far away. The first floor was as loud as ever. She almost hit two people rushing by with her cart, dropped off a bouquet of roses to a women from her husband for their anniversary, and surprisingly no one had yelled at her (yet). Maybe today would be better than most.
She went back up the elevator and now it was on to the next level. The instant the doors opened her nose was hit with the overwhelming smell of expresso and vanilla. Set up against the wall to her left not too far from the elevator, was a mini coffee stand. Giant silver canisters that read 'Americano', 'Decaf', and 'Earl Grey tea' were set in the back of the station on heaters. On the front of the small counter she could make out what seemed to be an expresso machine and a tiny platter of baked goods.
Standing behind the counter pouring coffee into a disposable tray with four styrofoam cups, was a young man about her age. He was very tall, obviously a whole head or two taller than herself and kind of lanky but she could tell his arms were defined with muscle. He wore a black visor on his head and it only made his dyed red hair pop even more. Jieun continued to watch as he carefully pressed the lids down onto each cup and neatly folded some napkins to place in the center of the tray. She hadn't realized how long she'd be staring until he glanced up in her direction and smiled brightly at her.
Wow. He was really cute. And he was staring back. Embarrassment hit her like a wave and she could feel her face heat up rapidly - she'd bet anyone she resembled a tomato at the moment.
Jieun broke eye contact and rushed forward to start handing out mail. She had wasted enough time ogling him as it is. But out of the corner of her eye she couldn't help but take another peek and sure enough he was still looking as she passed out envelopes, though with a slightly puzzled expression set on his handsome face.
She completed this route faster than usual from being so flustered, but today the sooner she finished her deliveries and got back to her 'office', the better.
However things didn't look like they were about to go her way because there he was standing by the elevator holding the tray of coffee in his hands. Smiling at her. (Why the hell didn't this place have two elevators like a normal building?)
"Hi," he said brightly when she finally reached him. "I figured you're going to the third floor next, so I thought I'd wait for you so we could go up together."
Oh geez what did she ever do to deserve this.
"A-alright. Thank you." Jieun mentally cursed at herself for stuttering and pushed her cart inside and pushed the button for L3. He followed her in and the doors close a few seconds later.
"I don't think I've seen you around here before. How long have you been working here?" He asks, making some small talk.
Unlike everyone else here, the guy actually seems nice so she goes along with it. "Quite a while now. I think it'll be eight months in two more weeks, but I stopped keep track some time ago. I only work on the week days. I know I've definitely never seen you here."
"Oh that makes sense!" He laughs and it's one of the cutest sounds she's ever heard. "I used to only work part time on the weekends when they have extra work but recently they asked me to start coming here daily for the whole staff. Today is my first day being full time." He smiles at her again and she can't help but smile back.
"Welcome to being full time." Jieun says and the automatic doors open as they reach their stop.
She rushes out a "It was nice meeting you" before she goes on her way to the first row of desks with some envelopes all ready in her hand. By the time she reaches the following row she sees the guy a few feet away, patiently standing next to a woman's desk (one of the ones with an attitude) as he waits for her to finish a call.
"Here's your order, three Americanos and one Earl Grey." He says kindly as he holds out the drink tray.
"About time. You sure took long enough." The woman snaps at him, roughly taking her order. She sighs as she digs through her purse, pulling out some bills and tossing them onto her desk. "Next time you better be faster, coffee boy." And with that she briskly walks away towards one of the offices at the very back.
"It's Kiseop..." Jieun hears him mumble to nobody in particular and he folds the money up before putting it in the pocket of his orange apron. She watches him sigh and wander back over to the elevator. Part of her can't help but be overcome with sympathy.
She quickly wraps up her remaining deliveries and walks faster than usual to where he's standing, waiting for the doors to open.
"Hi," she says and that gets his attention. "I'm the mail girl, but you can call me Song Jieun." She sticks out her hand and smiles softly at him.
He looks down at her hand and then at her face and smiles back. "Hi Jieun," he takes her hand in his and it feels warm. "I'm the coffee boy, but I prefer Lee Kiseop better."
"It's nice to meet you Kiseop." They shake.
"You know," he starts as they enter the elevator. "There's a lot of extra lemon bread today. If you're not already busy I could swing by during lunch if you want any. Free of course." He looks down and takes a sudden interest in his shoes.
Jieun's smile grows at Kiseop's bashfulness and she wonders what she ever did to deserve this.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
a/n: it's a miracle - i actually love something i've written. lmao
was meant to be for the 4th prompt at aupairs ut i kinda wandered away from the prompt orz still happy with this though. the title doesn't make much sense but i like how it sounds. pretty sure i cleaned up all the mistakes now too ^^