THE MAN IN THE ELEVATOR
Han Seo-ah had exactly three problems that morning.
Her alarm had failed to ring.
She had spilled coffee on the only clean blouse she owned.
And she was currently running through the streets of Seoul in heels that had been designed by someone who clearly hated women.
“Please, please, please…”
She glanced at her phone again.
8:47 a.m.
Her interview started at nine.
At Aureon Group.
On her first day.
Perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Seo-ah tightened her grip around her handbag and hurried across the pavement, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through her feet.
She had spent three weeks preparing for this job.
Three weeks.
She had memorized the company’s history, studied its subsidiaries, researched its executives and even practiced answering questions in front of her bathroom mirror.
She had promised herself that today would be the beginning of a new chapter.
She would walk into Aureon Group with confidence.
She would impress the interview panel.
She would get the job.
And she would finally prove to herself that she could build a life without depending on anyone.
Unfortunately, none of those plans included being late.
When she finally reached the enormous glass entrance of Aureon Group, she stopped for half a second to catch her breath.
The building towered above her, all steel, glass and cold perfection.
Even the security guards looked intimidating.
Seo-ah swallowed.
“Okay.”
She straightened her blouse.
“Act normal.”
She hurried toward the revolving doors.
And immediately crashed into someone.
Her handbag slipped from her shoulder.
Papers flew everywhere.
Her phone landed face-down on the marble floor.
And the iced coffee she had been desperately trying to save tipped forward.
Straight onto a perfectly pressed black suit.
Silence.
Seo-ah froze.
The man standing in front of her looked down at his jacket.
Then slowly looked at her.
Oh.
Oh no.
He was tall.
Painfully handsome.
And terrifyingly calm.
His black hair was neatly styled, his expression unreadable and his eyes so cold that Seo-ah suddenly forgot how to breathe.
A few employees nearby stopped walking.
Nobody said anything.
The man glanced at the coffee stain spreading across his white shirt.
Then back at her.
“Are you blind?”
Seo-ah blinked.
Excuse me?
She looked at the coffee.
Then at him.
Then at the coffee again.
“I…”
Her pride recovered before her common sense did.
“You were standing in the middle of the entrance.”
His eyebrow lifted slightly.
“I was standing still.”
“Exactly.”
A few people nearby looked like they were trying very hard not to laugh.
Seo-ah crouched down and began gathering her papers.
“I’m sorry about your shirt.”
“Your apology doesn’t appear particularly sincere.”
She looked up.
“And your personality doesn’t appear particularly pleasant.”
The entire lobby went silent.
Seo-ah’s heart stopped.
Why did everyone suddenly look terrified?
The man’s expression changed.
Barely.
But she saw it.
A flicker of amusement.
Then it disappeared.
He stepped closer.
“You’re quite brave.”
“I’m actually late.”
She grabbed the last sheet of paper from the floor and stood.
“So if we’re finished…”
She stopped.
There was something strange about the way everyone was looking at him.
One of the receptionists had gone pale.
A security guard suddenly bowed.
“Good morning, Chairman Kang.”
Seo-ah’s blood ran cold.
Chairman.
Kang.
Her eyes slowly widened.
No.
Absolutely not.
She looked at the man again.
The expensive suit.
The cold expression.
The entire building practically bending around him.
Her brain finally connected the dots.
Kang Ji-hyun.
CEO of Aureon Group.
The youngest executive ever to take control of the company.
The man whose name appeared on the very first page of the company report she had studied until two in the morning.
The man she had just called unpleasant.
Seo-ah stared at him.
He stared back.
Then his lips curved into the faintest smile.
It wasn’t warm.
It wasn’t friendly.
It was dangerous.
“Good luck with your interview,” he said.
Her stomach dropped.
He walked past her without another word.
Seo-ah stood frozen in the middle of the lobby.
A receptionist approached her carefully.
“Miss Han?”
“Yes?”
“The interview panel is waiting upstairs.”
Seo-ah closed her eyes.
Of course they were.
She looked toward the elevator where Kang Ji-hyun had disappeared.
Then whispered to herself,
“I am going to die.”
The receptionist coughed, hiding a smile.
“Possibly.”
Seo-ah’s eyes snapped open.
“What?”
But the receptionist was already walking away.
Seo-ah took a deep breath.
She had come to Aureon Group to start a new life.
She hadn’t expected her first five minutes to include humiliating the CEO.
And she certainly hadn’t expected that the man she had just insulted would soon become the most important person in her life.
At the time, however, Han Seo-ah had no idea.
She only knew one thing.
She hated Kang Ji-hyun.
And Kang Ji-hyun?
He had already decided that Han Seo-ah was going to be trouble.
A lot of trouble.
The kind he should stay away from.
The kind he would eventually find impossible to live without.
