Caught Up Chapter 3 - New Girl
"Nice to meet you, Sir."
"You don't have to call me that. Very well, the team and I are off duty today so you'll meet everyone tomorrow. I have to go."
Lee Hyeri paused and took another look at the station after she walked out of it. She heaved a sigh when she remembered his team leader that she just met awhile ago.
Ryu Jun Yeol
Hyeri thinks he looked strict and arrogant. But their meeting was quite quick so she decided to shake off the first impression and give him another chance. But of course, she's hoping for the best.
"I'll find out tomorrow."
Hyeri arrived in Jangan-gu yesterday and she thought she'll have to immediately report to work, she decided to postpone getting her things settled in her new apartment.
But since she'll officially start working tomorrow, she decided to go home instead.
Being late at work got her in trouble and was the reason why she was transferred. Because of this obvious reason that she decided to rent an apartment that is only 3 blocks away from the station. It's not exactly ideal but she thought it's for the best.
She cannot mess it up again. Not this time.
Not in Jangan Police Department.
She met the old man again earlier.
After 4 years, they meet again.
"Ahhh! I'm not here for him. I'm here to work. Get it together, Lee Hyeri!" She brushed off the thought and went straight home. Day 1.
Fortunately, Hyeri arrived at the station right on time. On the dot. She's not late on her first day at work and it's a good thing. As soon as she arrived, she went straight to her desk that was assigned to her yesterday.
But the other desks around her are still empty. Did she arrived way too early that everyone from the team are late?
She held her head high as she get her things settled on her new desk. She was having her own little proud moment when the door of the conference room parallel to her team's bay came wide open, popping out few men and - to her surprise - including Jin Goo and Ryu Jun Yeol.
"Good morning, Sir." She politely greeted Jun Yeol as soon as he walked up to her.
"I believe I already told you not to call me that." He said with a flat tone.
"Ah. Joseonghamnida.. Sunbae."
"You're late." "Ne?" She was taken aback.
"I said you are late. And on your first day, Hyeri-ssi." "Uhm, I'm not late. I got here on time, Sunbae." "Ahh. You're new. Well, just so you know, I always require my team to be at work 30minutes before regular hours which means you should be here by 7:30 AM. And since it is your first day, I believe should have been polite enough to be here earlier than expected. Right, Ms. Lee Hyeri?" "Uhhhh.." Hyeri is at a loss for words. She knew that being a new transferee will be tough but not this tough.
"I often conduct team huddles before getting to work. Since you are late, you obviously missed the meeting we just had about today's team agenda." "I'm sorry, Sunbae. I didn't know." She said with her head down. Obviously, she got transferred from one asshole boss to another. "Whatever. Okay, since you missed the meeting. You are on desk duty for now." Then he walked past her. At least he didn't asked me to get his coffee. Or so she thought. Ryu Jun Yeol paused, turned to her and said.. "And coffee. You're on coffee duty. Go get everyone their morning coffee then I'll introduce you when you get back. Hurry." Hyeri heaved a deep sigh as she watch his back walk further away from her desk. "Uggghhh? What have I gotten myself into?" "Trouble." "Yah, kkamjjagiya!" "Oh, sorry." A tall, fair-complexed pretty boy smiled and stood beside her. He also saw him got out of the conference room earlier with Ryu Jun Yeol. "Sorry about that, I'm Go Kyung Pyo. I'm part of the team. You're the transferee from Gwangju, right? Welcome to Jangan-gu." Finally. Someone nice enough to welcome me. Finally. "Ah. Annyeong! I'm Lee Hyeri." They shook hands and it was nice to see him smiling the entire time. Kyung Pyo is very welcoming. "Tough first day, huh?" "Tell me about it." "It's going to be fine. Well, I'd love to introduce you to the team but I heard Jun Yeol sunbae said he'll do it after you get coffee so, I'll let him be. He'll be furious if I do it." "Is he that bad?" "I wouldn't say that. He can be a little rough sometimes but he's nice, too. It just gets hard when he's pissed off." "Oh. I should get going, then. I think I already pissed him off enough." "Yeah.." "Uhm, Sunbae. Can I ask you something?" "Sure, what is it?" "What kind of coffee should I get and how many?" Go Kyung Pyo gave out a light laugh that made her heart swoon a little. She liked the sound of that.
Self, stop.
"You can get Americano for 5." "I see. Thank you! I'll go now." "Arasso." She left her bag on her desk, picked up her wallet and immediately ran out of the office to get her team and her grumpy boss some coffee. As soon as she got back, Ryu Jun Yeol introduced her to the team as "the new girl". It was so quick that she didn't catch anyone's name except the ones she already heard like Jin Goo's and Kyung Pyo's. Jun Yeol went back to his office after the introduction that barely lasted a minute and she had to approach the other teammates just to get their names. Around 10:00 in the morning, two of her teammates left the station to check on something that they apparently discussed during the team. Thirty minutes after that, Junyeol left with JinGoo and KyungPyo to checl on something as well. She asked her leader if there's something she needs to do. All she got was a blank stare for 10 seconds and an order saying "sort out the files and cases on my table then go home when you're done." And so she did. Even though it felt like working on a school project instead of working as an actual cop. She finished everything by 2:00 PM and as a sign of respect, she waited for everyone to return. She decided to leave the office and call it a day when it's already 7 in the evening and none of her teammates has come back. Day 2. To make sure she won't be greeted with lectures early in the morning, Lee Hyeri arrived 45 minutes before the regular working hours. One by one, her teammates arrived as she welcomed them with a smile. The last one to arrive was the guy named Bong Sun who arrived 15 minutes before 8:00 AM. "Why isn't he here yet? I thought the huddle starts 30 minutes before 8?" She asked herself.
Whistling with his sunglasses still on, Ryu Jun Yeol arrived at the office at exactly 8:00 AM. On the freaking dot. Just like she did yesterday. He walked past the entire team after waving a hand to them and went straight to his own little cubicle. Hyeri shook off the annoyance she feels towards her arrogant boss as she prepared herself for the huddle she's expecting to take place any minute now. 8:30 AM... 9:00 AM... 9:30 AM... 10:30 AM... It was at 10:45 AM when he walked out of his office wearing a cap as he called Bong Sun and Kyung Pyo, asking them to come with him. Before they got out, she politely and bravely called him and asked.. "Sunbae!" "Who was that?" "Lee Hyeri. Here!" "Oh. What is it?" "Aren't we going to have a meeting?" "No."
"No?" "Yeah, no." "But you said..." "Yeah. I said, "often", didn't I? I said often, not everyday, Ms. Lee Hyeri. Back to work." Then there goes.. "Back to work." "Back to work? What work?! UGH!" And that's how it went for the rest of the week. She goes to work on time, the meeting is over. She arrives even an hour early, there's no meeting or even a word for the entire day. It was as if he was purposely making her miss a meeting. It was at 10:00 AM of her 10th day at the new station when once again, she arrived early and no meeting was conducted. His asshole boss came out of his office carrying a bag and asked Jin Goo to come with him. She called his attention twice but he kept ignoring her. Then she had enough.. She ran after them and then.. "RYU JUN YEOL SUNBAE!" Her voice echoed through the entire police department that made Ryu Jun Yeol stop on his track. With a smug frowned face, he face her. Without breaking the frightening eye contact, he slowly walked up to her. "Step into my office, Ms. Lee Hyeri. Now." Right there and then, she wished the floor would swallow her down. But then she thought.. It's now or never, Lee Hyeri.