#yes it's nice kind of it's not a negative but this is not standard workplace conversation and idk why it's happening or how to respond

[existential-dread-in-the-am]

People keep complimenting my clothes ???? Confused. It's a plain dark green cardigan. Why.

[supplyforall]

Life Through Lenses

If there is one impactful tool that I have cemented into my every day, it is to relentlessly look at life through lenses.  Not just eyeglass lenses centered in those cool, clear frames picked up at Warby Parker, but intangible lenses that act as constant filters for thoughts and actions.

Think back to your childhood.  If you were lucky enough to have parents or teachers that actually parented or taught, you may have heard expressions such as, “always do what’s right, kind, and good,” “think before you speak,” or perhaps something similar to the most effective phrase preached by my own Mother; “treat others as you would like to be treated.”  As a child, you wanted nothing more than to ignore these lessons and run back to playing Need for Speed, chatting on AIM, or skateboarding in the streets.  As an adult, I am finding that there is nothing more important than holding mantras such as these front and center in your mind, or as related here, over your eyes.

As noted, treat others how you would like to be treated, is one lens that I have strived to always keep in front of my eyes, filtering every word spoken and each action taken.  When utilized consistently, this single, very simple lens is one sure fire way to create a lasting relationship, show someone that you truly care about them, or even just to put a smile on someone’s face.  Still, to this day, I repeat these words in my head as I solve problems in the workplace, communicate with my girlfriend, or any friend, when placing an order at public businesses, when interacting with family, and so on, and so on.  This is one lens that can be applied to all situations, and one that I will never remove, as I find nothing but positive outcomes

This lens seems straightforward, right?  Before you act or speak, just ask yourself, “Would I like someone to speak to me this way, or treat me this way?”  If the answer is no, you would not like to be spoken to or treated that way; no further questions needed, it’s back to the drawing board.  Back to finding the words or actions that you would like to hear or receive yourself.  Easy.  Easy once you have arrived to your internal debate, yes, but arriving in that dialogue is certainly no mindless feat.  This is where the power of imagery and analogy may help to create that consciousness and permanent filter for your thoughts.

Imagine you’re wearing your all time favorite pair of sunglasses.  I’m talking all time favorites.  Could be a pair you’ve held onto for years, currently sliding around the bottom of your briefcase, or that pair of Tom Fords you thought you’d never see anywhere but in the sparkling clean case at Neiman Marcus.  Well, now they’re yours!  Slide those puppies on - the arms up and over your ears, the bridge sitting nice and high on your nose, and the lenses front and center over your retina.  Next, imagine the lenses are polarized - the kind that make the world appear brighter and in more vibrant hues.  Wow, these lenses take sunlight and not only remove the negative, dangerous aspects, but create a world of increased light and beauty!  These are your lenses.  These are the shades that you must wear as you do absolutely everything in life.  Before you make a decision, before you speak your mind, before you take action; imagine yourself in your shades, and imagine looking through the lenses that will brighten whatever scenario you are in.

Just last week, I had the chance to flip the roles and teach the teacher, my own Mother, in one of the exact scenarios listed above.  We were out on our usual dinner and movie date when we approached the ticket counter at the theater and I heard her say, ”we need three tickets to Widows.”  She did not have a rude tone or a demanding demeanor, and may have even added “please” to the end of her request.  The problem was that she was not speaking to the theater attendant how she would like to be spoken to.  Who, while standing at a POS system, taking orders for 8 hours a day, would like to be instructed or demanded time after time by each customer?  Not me, not the guy we were looking at, and certainly not my Mother.  So, looking through the very lens that she permanently affixed over my eyes throughout my childhood, I leaned over, put my hand on my Mother’s shoulder and gently said, “Mom, when you place an order, make sure to ask, ‘May I please have _____, instead of telling the person what you will have.”  She looked a little taken back that her son was giving her etiquette lessons, then responded, “Oh, is that how you’re teaching your employees to speak to people, or how to order something?”  I said, “No, that is how I am hoping all people will speak to others, or order something.  Think about if you were the guy working at the counter - Would you like someone to ask you nicely for the tickets with a “please” and “thank you”, or declare that they need them?”  I think she was surprised to hear that something she said could have been interpreted as not-so-nice sounding, and perhaps more surprised that she had broken her own golden rule.  Or, as I see it, she had, at least in that moment, not been wearing her favorite shades with the polarized lenses.  Luckily for me, for my Mother, and for everyone, glasses are quick to throw back on.  Just as easily as they slipped off of your head and out of mind, you can slide them right back on and begin again to filter all of your thoughts and actions.  I think in that moment, my Mother did just that. 

Now, that is just one example of viewing life through lenses.  There are thousands of lenses and infinite applications.  I am currently developing the structure for a business that I would like to one day open.  Within that framework are lenses for myself and the staff, often known as values when referring to the internals of a company.  To give you an idea of how lenses may be used in a business, or even just to show some varying lenses in general, i’ll provide my companies’, followed by a brief list of how each may look in a more practical application:

How We Do Anything Is How We Do Everything: Consistency, Quality

Worth Your Time, All the Time: Efficiency, staff and guest experience, always make it right, workflow, time management

Never Stop Improving: Continued education, mastery training, open minded, opportunity minded, self improvement, progress not perfection

Open Door Window: Transparency, no bad questions, the sky is the limit, constant staff and guest feedback

Not Like You: Embrace individuality, accept differences and take time to learn how to work with other types of people, build off unique strengths, personality assessments

Own It: Be responsible, own your mistakes with an outlook of, ”what did I do wrong, and how can I improve next time?” as well as owning your wins while remaining humble

Simplify: Simplify, simplify, simplify! Workflow, visually, aesthetically, training, communications, scheduling, etc, etc, etc

Care: CARE, EMPATHY, love, equality, employee benefits, B corp, our mission

As my staff and I make decisions and take action on a daily basis, we will be looking through each of these 8 lenses, as well as the even grander lenses of our mission and vision.  In turn, we will become a single unit who are all operating on the same basis.  We are unified by our lenses.  Our actions are working toward the same goals, and around the same parameters. 

Think about your job.  Does your employer provide lenses for you to use in your work each day?  If your mind goes blank, sadly, the answer is likely no.  Without lenses, how are you supposed to know the guidelines for how your employer would like you to make decisions?  How to communicate?  How to take action?  You won’t!  Without lenses, or values, each employee is simply floating on their own cloud, possibly making decisions using their own personal lenses, or most dangerous, using none at all.  Without company lenses to look through, you may often find yourself confused and struggling to feel confident in your work.  You may feel like your coworkers are acting against you, or using another agenda that hasn’t been given to you.  Know that none of this is your fault.  It is due to the lack of direction that is provided by values in a company. 

As I have done to set my future business and staff on the right track to a productive culture and working as one unified machine, each business owner must give you the appropriate pair of polarized shades to throw on each day.  They must provide the framework for your thoughts and actions, or it will feel and look as exactly that - a structure with no frame. 

Without lenses, our lives and businesses are susceptible to flowing with the wind.  They have no standards and will never operate coherently.  So, I challenge you to think about the lenses that you would like to see your life through.  Think about what kind of filters will be most effective for your thoughts, words, and actions, and then add them to your shades.  Layer them up!  Most importantly, never take them off.

[spicy-pozole]

Thanks a lot Mr. Han - Chapter 1

Okay, I decided to start putting my fanfiction on tumblr as well! It’s rated Teen by AO3 standards, for kissing! Lots of kissing! More! To! Come! You have been blessed warned! I just used MC as a place holder name for the reader, but this is a very Jumin centric story and so this is not the typical MC from the game! Also, for story purposes this is a very modest, successful in business, and German fluent MC.

I hope you all like it!

Link to story on - AO3

Next Chapter

-

“Chairman Han sets up his son. In possibly the worst most unprofessional way.”

The first time Jumin met her was at a meeting when C&R made the deal proposal with GoldStar, the company she worked for. She was acting as a representative, an assistant manager, and a highly favored one at that.

He was impressed of course with the straightforward way that she spoke, intelligent and clear, not muddled with unnecessary or flowery words that he often heard among businessmen. But there was something strange about her too. It didn’t feel as though she was simply there for business. She had a kind of warmth to her, a friendliness that he hardly saw. Usually he would label this as unprofessional for the workplace, but she kept an interesting balance, and he found himself addressing her rather than the chairman of GoldStar multiple times, making himself course correct often.

There was something about her smile too, it was human. He could tell when a smile was forced. Seeing a genuine one on her made him feel good about the deal, and good about the company. He had to hold himself back from directly asking her if she would consider working for C&R, though he did joke lightly about it as he complimented her work ethic.

It wasn’t till the meeting had progressed for a few hours that he realized it was the first time in a long time that he’d felt this comfortable around a woman coworker. Jaehee didn’t count, of course, but whenever he spoke to a woman at the company they would do one of two things. Either they would be obviously too scared to look at him straight or emotionally vacant, or they would be trying to flirt with him. Both made him frustrated. He knew this was mainly due to how he acted and his reputation, so he couldn’t fault them, but it still didn’t change the fact that he didn’t feel comfortable around them.

But being around her was like a breath of fresh air, and it once again reminded him that he needed to be more careful about how he saw the women he worked with. He knew that he tended to have a negative opinion about them, due to his history, but he had been trying hard to not let that make himself treat them differently than the male employees. They made it really hard for him sometimes though.

“It was nice to meet you Mr. Han. Will I be seeing you at the dinner party tonight?” she asked as the meeting ended, holding out her hand. He took it, shaking it as he nodded saying,

“Yes, I’ll be there. I’d like to discuss your opinions on how we can get our competitor to work with us for this deal. I’m sure you have different opinions that others, and I’d be interested to hear them.”

She gave him one of those genuine smiles again and she said assuredly,

“Of course, I’d love to hear your opinions as well.”

He gave her a nod as he followed his father out of the room then, amidst the talking crowd, and he watched her smile until she was out of view. Walking back to the car, his father patted his back, making him look at him in surprise.

“That assistant... She’s so charming, isn’t she? I’m sure she has a big future in GoldStar.” Chairman Han said, and Jumin made a small noise of agreement.

“She was awfully pretty.” his father continued and Jumin rolled his eyes with a sigh. “She had the whole room captivated, didn’t she? I saw you watching her the whole time.”

“Father, please, you know how I feel about things like this.”

“I’m not talking about my relationships, I was just asking you if you thought a girl was pretty!” he laughed good naturedly, and Jumin had to hold back from giving him a very annoyed glare. Then he shook his head explaining,

“Father, to be honest I didn’t even notice. I was more focused on the business meeting we were having. If anything I was impressed with her way of words and knowledge of the agreement. She seemed more in touch than the chairman himself if I’m being completely honest.”

“Hmm, is that so? Well that’s good for you then, I was distracted, haha.” his father laughed, and Jumin wrinkled his nose for a moment. “I’m joking Jumin, don’t look so miffed. But really, at the dinner party let’s try to be a little more friendly instead of business oriented. It’s a chance to make friends and connections... it’ll be okay to notice things like appearance if you wish.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” Jumin said, trying to stop the conversation. Now he just felt nervous about the party. The last thing he needed was his father to fall victim to another woman’s charms... he hoped that she wasn’t like that.

---

Jumin was upset with his father. If his father hadn’t said anything then he wouldn’t be in this situation. He wouldn’t be standing in front of this perfectly mature and capable business partner, while still noticing what she looked like. She still had that smile on her face, but he noticed the rest of her now as well. The kind eyes, her nose, the way her pretty hair was tucked behind her ears. Since it was the dinner party now, she wasn’t wearing her business dress. Now it was a modest deep red cocktail dress, and it was so much easier to find himself glancing at her, the color continuing to catch his eye.

Women in red dresses seemed like a literal red flag in his mind, but he was allowing himself to get dangerously close to her still. She acted the same way she had in the meeting, although now she laughed as well as smiled, and asked the other party goers about the other parts of their lives, finding their interests and allowing them to express them.

Jumin didn’t realized he had been staring at her so much until he realized he was making eye contact with her, and that he had been for a minute or two. He immediately looked away, taking a drink from his wine glass. When he lowered it however she was there, smiling politely at him.

“Hello Mr. Han, it’s nice to see you again.” she said, smiling.

“Hello... it is nice to see you too.” he said, a little haltingly, which he instantly regretted. She began talking to him about the deal, and he was devastated to find that his mind continued to pull blanks. All he could remember were the basic details of the deal. C&R was joining alongside GoldStar to become business partners with a foreign company, Zimmerlein. Together they would all be able to open up new trade and possibilities that would benefit them all.

That was all that was in his brain at the moment though, he was having trouble remembering how to pronounce the company names anyways. Thankfully, by a miracle or her noticing his reluctance to speak about business for once, she instead asked him,

“Your father told me that you have a cat... what’s her name?”

Jumin immediately felt his anxiety calm down for a moment as he smiled saying,

“Elizabeth the Third...”

“That’s beautiful! I’m sure she’s lovely.”

“She is.” Jumin said, and he had to stop himself from pulling out his phone and showing her pictures. “You were talking to my father?” he asked instead, and she nodded with a smile.

“Yes, he’s quite friendly. He talked a lot about you, it’s admiring to see family members as close as you two are.”

“Thank you...” Jumin was lost as to what to say again, and she just smiled in the silence. He mentally shook himself and then began asking her about how she’d begun to work for GoldStar, and what she knew about future possibilities. The more she told him, the more interested he became, and he was finally able to get a grip on conversation again after a few minutes. When dinner began they sat beside each other, not wanting to finish their conversation, and he found himself beginning to smile back at her as well. They soon slipped into talking about ordinary things aside from business again, and she coaxed him into bringing out his phone to show her pictures of Elizabeth the Third, hiding it under the table so the others wouldn’t see.

It was at this point that he realized how unprofessional he had allowed himself to become, but he didn’t feel guilty as he saw her eyes light up at the pictures.

“Oh she’s beautiful! She’s like a little princess!” she said, swiping lightly with her finger to see the blurry pictures that he had taken.

“Jumin, you’re not making her look at pictures of your cat are you?” his father asked on the other side of him, and Jumin felt himself jump a little, pulling his phone back instinctively.

“Oh it’s okay! I asked him to show me!” she clarified, leaning over to look at the chairman who had a curious look on his face. “She’s a very pretty cat, I’d love to meet her someday.” she said with a smile, and Jumin felt like his face grew warm as he looked at her.

“Hmm...” Chairman Han glanced up at Jumin for a moment before looking back at his food, a smile on his lips. Jumin tried to ignore him, and continued talking to her, eventually slipping back into smiling.

By the time dinner was over, Jumin was sad to say goodbye to her, and was wondering just how to do it when her own boss walked over and told her news that made her face light up.

“I’ve been really impressed with you this whole evening MC... And after reviewing your qualifications and talking it over with others, I’ve decided that you should be the one going on the business trip and making the deal alongside C&R’s representative.”

“Really?! Thank you sir, that means a lot! I’ll make sure to do my best in securing the deal.” she said, shaking his hand, and Jumin smiled.

“Congratulations. I’m sure you’ll do well.” he said, smiling at her. She looked a little bashful at this and then said,

“Thank you... it’ll be nice to work with you! I guess I’ll be seeing you soon then!”

He was still smiling, taking her outstretched hand and just holding it for a second. Then he realized how awkward that was as her face began to turn a little pink, and he quickly shook it firmly before letting go.

“Yes... I look forward to it as well! Goodbye!” he said, and he headed towards the exit where his father was waiting for him to leave. Then his brain started moving again, his face feeling warm again as he thought back through what she had said. It would be nice to work with him? She’d be seeing him soon? He was confused as to what-

“I’m the representative for C&R, I’m the one going on the business trip!” he suddenly blurted out, feeling it click in his head. His father glanced at him, smiling but obviously confused.

“Yes?”

“So that means I’ll be going on the business trip with her- uh... Well.” he got ahold of himself again, taking a deep breath before finishing calmly, “Well that is sure to be a successful meeting, she’s more than capable. I look forward to working alongside her.”

His father didn’t say anything, he just grinned at him suspiciously and Jumin felt his face grow hotter.

----

“You’re sure the suitcase can’t get here in time?” she asked, trying to keep the worry from her voice.

“It’s been sent halfway across the world, Assistant MC, it’s not going to reach where you are until much too late! We’ll have it sent back here to Korea for you at your return.”

“I only have my business suit with me...  I can’t wear that for a week, it’s so humid in Germany during these months!” she said, already aware that it needed to be washed.

“Not to worry, I’ve been with Chairman Han the whole time and he said he’d immediately inform someone in the area to send you a lot of new clothes, he was practically all the way finished with the order as soon as he offered it.” her boss laughed, and she sighed, rubbing her eyes. “In fact it should be arriving at your hotel room soon, along with someone to pick up your suit to be laundered as well. How about- oh- yes hang on a moment.” the line was quiet for a moment, except for the faint voices that she could hear. Then he picked up again saying,

“Chairman Han is asking if he can talk to you, here he is.”

“MC! I hope your flight went well! I’m sorry to hear about your suitcase, but the replacement clothes should be over soon. I don’t want you to be stressed anymore, alright? What time is it over there? Almost midnight isn’t it? Jumin should have arrived by plane just awhile ago as well... how about you just take a shower and relax alright? I wouldn’t want you to be stressed over something this small, you have your jetlag to get over.”

“Alright... I’ll do that. Thank you again Chairman Han, you’ve done so much for me.”

“It’s no problem at all! Your one of my best friend’s best employees, I’d be happy to do anything for someone as charming as you!”

“Thank you.” she repeated, smiling at his words. He hung up after another goodbye and she sighed, putting down her phone. She really should take a moment to relax, it was a very long flight.

She changed out of her business suit, laying it out on a chair so that if the person with new clothes came they could find it, and she went into the shower.

It was very nice to take a shower, to finally let her hair down from it’s pins and just relax. She was tense from the upcoming deal, and tense from the long plane ride with the confusion of her suitcase as well. Everything was going to be fine, she knew it would be, but at the moment she couldn’t escape the worry clouding her mind from the day’s leftover panic. After a shower though she felt much better and she stood in front of the mirror, brushing through her wet hair for a few minutes. (Thankfully her toiletries had been in carry on bag with her) Just as she was finished with the comb she heard the door of the hotel close, and she assumed that meant that her new clothes had arrived. She wrapped herself into a towel, holding the fluffy fabric close to her as she stepped out into the hallway, hoping that the person would be gone by now.

However, she gasped as she immediately walked right into another person, and she bounced off of them a little, stumbling backwards. To her horror however, when she looked up in a panic to see who it was, it was Jumin Han staring back at her, his eyes wide in shock.

“Ah!” was all she could squeak, clutching the towel closer to her till her knuckles turned white. He blinked and then said, his voice weak and confused,

“Miss MC? Why... Why are.... Am I in the wrong hotel room?”

He quickly turned around, speed walking away to go read the room number on the door. He came back, looking more flustered and said,

“I’m in the right room, are you in the right room?”

She had backed into the bathroom by now, hiding behind the door as she asked nervously,

“W-What’s the room number?!”

“2008?”

“Th-That’s the right room! That’s the year my little brother was born in, so I remembered it!!!” she said defensively, still hiding behind the door. He looked more flustered than she had ever expected to see him before and he ran his fingers through his hair nervously, muttering about how it couldn’t be right under his breath. He then began opening the doors of the room, checking inside all of them.

“Wh-What are you doing?”

“Looking for another bedroom, maybe it’s a split one?”

“O-Oh! That would make sense!” she stuttered, her hand clutching the door knob.

After a few seconds however he stopped, and she could hear him sigh. After a moment of silence then he said, his voice returning to its original calm manner,

“I’m sure there was just a mix up of room numbers, not to worry. I’ll call my assistant immediately.” He took out his phone and she waited awkwardly by the door, trapped. Well she wasn’t really trapped, she had a towel, she could go grab her clothes and change, couldn’t she?

She was so embarrassed that the option didn’t seem like a practical one. So she just waited instead.

“Assistant Kang, there has been a mix up of my hotel room.” he said as soon as the woman picked up. He then began to speed through a telling of the events, not letting her speak until he finished and then he paused for a moment to finally listen.

“What? But you always make my room reservations, what do you mean someone else did? Who else, I need to speak to them.” he said menacingly, and MC cringed a little.

“Oh Ju- uh- Mr. Han, there’s no need to get anyone in trouble over this-”

“MY FATHER?”

That made MC stop and raise her eyebrows in surprise. Jumin walked away down the hallway, arguing with Jaehee and quizzing her on why his own father was the one to make reservations for both of them, and why had he messed up so badly. MC took this opportunity to move out of the bathroom and back into the main room, looking for her suit. It was gone however, with a pile of dress bags lying over the chair instead, a tag with her name on them. One hand holding onto her towel, she used the other to grab the one on top, hurrying back towards the bathroom. She and Jumin both yelped when they ran into each other in the hallway again, and he had to steady her so she wouldn’t fall down, letting go of her like lightning almost immediately after. She closed the door behind her quickly, waiting as she heard him begin to call his father.

He had put his phone on to speaker mode at this point, she wasn’t sure if it was because he couldn’t hear very well or if he wanted her to be able to hear the explanation as well, and she waited for a moment, listening to their soon heated conversation.

“It’s only one room father! Why would you do this?”

“It was the only room available Jumin, calm down will you? You’re a responsible adult, not a silly high schooler, why are you so upset?”

“Father, it wouldn’t matter who went with me on this business trip, it would be uncomfortable to share a room and bed with literally anyone, I’m really upset with you!”

“Sharing a bed? It’s a room for two people, there should be two beds, you know, with a desk beside both of them-”

“This is a suite with one bed, these things are always on the website, how could you have not noticed something that important?!”

“Oh ho, is that right? Haha, that’s funny-” there was something mischievous about the way the Chairman sounded, and Jumin noticed it.

“FATHER, THIS ISN’T FUNNY, I DEMAND YOU GET ANOTHER ROOM, EVEN IF IT’S AT A DIFFERENT HOTEL.”

By this point, MC had practically melted onto the floor, her head in her hands as she burned up and down in embarrassment.

“I can’t do that Jumin, that hotel is owned by Zimmerlein and the chairman specifically invited the both of you to stay there! Do you know how offended he’d be if you turned down the offer?”

Jumin groaned, sounding genuinely upset, and he said,

“I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable... this is really unfair to her. Didn’t you think about that, father?”

MC bit her lip, opening the bathroom door a little to look out and say quietly,

“Mr. Han... it’s okay. I know you don’t want me to feel uncomfortable, but I’ll be fine. Knowing that you worry about it is enough for me.”

Jumin looked at her, not knowing what to say, his face still red, and then he nodded a little, turning back around. He then walked further down the hallways to talk to his father a little more, quieter this time.

MC sighed and closed the bathroom door again, plugging in her blow dryer instead and beginning to work through her wet hair. It was a good excuse to be away from Jumin, who seemed too embarrassed to face her straight on at the moment, so she stayed in the bathroom until she was finished and her hair was dry. Then she unzipped the dress bag, curious as to what was inside it. Lying flat inside the bag it looked like it would be really pretty, a cute black cocktail dress, and she reminded herself that she needed to thank Mr. Han for it. It looked a little too fancy for just sitting in a hotel room though, she should have grabbed all the bags to find a better one.

She pulled on the dress and zipped it up, only to find that it was actually not the cute dress that she had imagined it to be. It was much more revealing than she had originally thought. The sweetheart neckline was lower than she wanted and the poofy skirt much shorter than she preferred. She couldn’t look at herself straight in the mirror.

She assumed that this is what happened when someone else tried to guess what clothes would fit on another human being, and had been mistaken horribly.

That being said, with how well it fit her she wasn’t sure if this was entirely the case.

She wished that her suit was back from the laundry already.

MC quickly pulled her hair over her shoulders, trying to help with the low cut of the dress, aware that this left her back free as well, and she stepped out into the hallway nervously. All she needed to do was grab the other dress bags and find one that fit her better.

“MC, I’m so sorry, I argued with him more but I don’t know if we have any other options-” Jumin stopped when he looked up at her, and her face burned even more. He looked away, back at his phone, and she walked nervously past him to the pile of dresses.

“Uh- um... That’s okay. I understand it was just a bad circumstance. You know, I’m perfectly fine sleeping on the couch if I’m going to make you feel uncomfortable-”

“Of course not- I- I wouldn’t allow a lady to sleep on a couch for my benefit, I’ll do it-”

“But I want you to have enough sleep, you’re too big to fit on that and sleep well, I’m smaller, you should let me do it-”

“No, that’s not important right now, I’ll be fine-”

“Please, it’ll be okay-” she stopped when she saw the dress that was inside the dress bag she had begun to unzip. If possible, this one looked worse than the one she was wearing.

“Oh nooo.... Please no...” she began moaning under her breath, opening the next one to find an equally revealing dress.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, standing up and coming over to see.

“W-Well... my suitcase somehow got sent to the wrong airport... so y-your father had new clothes sent for me... but uh- I- well- they’re all lovely.” she clammed up, unable to tell him that his father had only sent clothes that she was uncomfortable with.

“He sent this dress as well?” Jumin said, glancing at her again.

“Y-Yes. My dress suit is at the cleaners now...”

“I see.”

“These are all dresses... I was looking for some pajamas or-” she lifted up the bottom dress bag to find a clear package underneath that and she immediately dropped the dresses over it, her face red.

“I see.... So this is my father’s doing.” Jumin said, his tone icy. She was beginning to understand the situation a little better as well, but she knew neither of them wanted to address it outloud. She suddenly felt cloth against her shoulders however and looked at him in surprise as he put his suit coat over her, his eyes closed.

“I’ll order different clothes for you right away. And don’t worry, my father will pay for all of them. ”

She grit her teeth as he said this and he pulled out his phone, walking away from her so she couldn’t hear. She nervously uncovered the package again, picking it up to open it again. Inside were the lace underthings that she had already seen on top, but fortunately there was a nightgown too, one that she felt good about wearing. Slip was really a better name for it though, but it looked like something close to what she would normally wear to bed. There was a C&R tag on it, and she wondered if this was one of the things that they had exported once. It was long and white, with a shiny red satin ribbon to hold it in place, tied into a bow in the front.

She could hear Jumin arguing from down the hallway with his father, and she tried her best not to eavesdrop for anything in particular. She glanced at the time.

It was definitely time for her to sleep, it was past midnight now but combined with the jetlag it was much later than that for her. All of her felt tired, her adrenaline rush of panic wearing off now. She walked past Jumin, trying to ignore the fact that he was now condemning his father for setting up the entire situation, and she slipped into the bathroom once more. She changed out of the dress and into the underwear and slip, sighing as she looked at herself in the mirror. It was going to be a very long week. Hopefully it would all just end well.

Hopefully they’d be able to look at eachother in the eye even after all of this.

She took a deep breath and then went outside. Jumin was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. She exhaled, promising herself that everything would turn out fine in the end as long as she was practical and calm about it. That seemed to be the way to get to Jumin anyways, staying calm and logical.

“Mr. Han, I want you to know that I am not angry or upset at all. I don’t think we have to worry about what anyone else wants or things like that. I trust you to be calm in a situation like this, and I hope you trust me to do the same. Please do not worry over this, just go to sleep and get some rest. We’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.” she said calmly, and he glanced up at her. He was still red faced. She knew that if the paparazzi could even glance at the situation for a split second they would all be losing their minds.

“I’m sorry you had to be mixed up in all of this... I want to be honest with you about how this all happened and-”

“Jumin, I already understand. You don’t have to explain, and it’s not your fault.” she said, quietly, shaking her head. Then she stuttered quickly, “I- I mean Mr. Han.”

“It’s alright... You can call me Jumin if you wish. I don’t care at this point really.” he said, scratching his scalp in an irritated sort of way.

“Okay... you can call me by name too if you’d like. Oh! And here’s this. Thank you.” she said, handing his suit coat back to him. He nodded, taking it from her and draping it over the armchair. Then he mumbled something about changing and disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes as she crawled into the far side of the bed, sliding underneath the covers and turning away from the other side of the bed, curling into herself. If he still insisted on sleeping on the couch then she was going to fight him. He looked more exhausted than she did right now, and she knew the jetlag was going to murder them for the next couple of days.

Once he came back out wearing his simple silk pajama suit, Jumin (thankfully) sat on the opposite side of the bed, reaching over and grabbing pillows one by one, making a wall down the middle of the bed. She couldn’t help but laugh, trying silence herself as she covered her mouth. She couldn’t tell if he was more worried about her being uncomfortable, or just terrified of her in general. She remembered reading some accusing gossip articles about him once, they seemed to lack any basis of fact in them for the point they were trying to make, but she did know that the only woman he was ever seen with was his head assistant. On the other hand, his father was like a feeding frenzy for the paparazzi every other month in regards to his personal relationships. Jumin Han was certainly an extremely private man. Now she was the one who was worried about making him uncomfortable.

She turned over, facing the wall of pillows, high enough that she couldn’t even see him, and she heard him lay down as well, silence filling the room.

The light was still on though and after a few minutes of her eyes starting to ache she asked hesitantly,

“Hey... Jumin? Could you... turn off the light please?”

She could hear his breathing pause for a moment, and she waited, feeling her stomach twist uncomfortably. Then he moved and the light clicked off, filling the room with darkness.

“Thank you... goodnight.” she mumbled, and she wasn’t sure if she heard him reply or not. It wasn’t long before she was falling asleep, grateful that they had until afternoon to be awake tomorrow and getting things done. She needed as much sleep as she could get.