14 Office Office (2)

"Pretty Noona, are you lost?"

She observed the angelic face, now standing in front of her.

He had a young face with cute dimples that appeared when he smiled. His face looked like the result of a photoshopped picture.

'Are all young kids this beautiful these days?' Lina thought.

He had curly hair that reminded her of the new friend she made at the airport.

Seeing her stare at him, he smirked like this was expected.

"Look at those long legs and perfect body proportions, he would do great as a model!"

Lina had just said her thoughts out loud.

The guy was shocked at first, then gave a satisfied smile.

"Noona surely thinks too highly of me!"

'Does she really not know who I am? Or is she trying to gain my attention?'

He thought and saw her look up at him again.

Seeing her face again with the sunlight from outside reflecting on her, it made her look like some otherworldly being.

'Anyway, she succeeded.'

"Noona, are you lost?" Repeating his question for the second time, he flashed his winning smile.

"How old do you think I am?" Lina said after swallowing her saliva that she almost drooled.

"Huh?" The guy was confused with her sudden question.

"You keep calling me noona, so I wanted to ask how old you thought that I was." Lina explained her question.

"Oh! Noona looks like she's just a few months older than me. That's why I called you noona." He replied with a shy smile.

*Ping* came the sound of her heart being hit by a cute little arrow.

Which woman would not be pleased to hear that she looked younger than her age.

And that is exactly what this guy did and then let out a small laugh looking at her facial expressions.

Coughing she tried to calm herself.

"No need for flattery, I'm only 22."

"So noona is just two years older. The age gap won't be a problem." He said, checking her out while rubbing his chin.

'Is something wrong with his brain?' Was lina's thought.

----

The receptionist who was watching them talk from a distance, slowly walked up to them.

"Mr. Stephen is everything alright? Is this woman bothering you?" Said the woman dressed in a hot pink formal suit.

She looked at Lina, shooting daggers at her and then turned again to face the man Stephen with a smile.

'Wow, I wonder how she can change expressions so quickly.' Thought Lina and looked at her with an amused smile.

"No, I was just talking to my Noona. You don't have to worry about it. Sorry for causing you trouble, I'll be taking her with me now." Stephen showed a grateful smile and took Lina by the hand and dragged her to the private elevator.

She turned her head and saw that the receptionist's face was twisted with anger.

If only the daggers in her eyes were real, then Lina surely would die because of the excessive blood loss caused by multiple stab wounds.

She turned back to face Stephen and found him smiling at her with a mischievous smile and then winked at her.

As the elevator opened up, he pulled her along and waited for the doors to close.

He then waved at the receptionist, who was still staring at them.

The moment the doors closed, his smile fell.

"So Noona, tell me, what are you doing in this building?" He again put on a charming smile and looked at Lina.

'Did I see it wrong? His expression changed quicker than that receptionist.'

"I came to meet my brother. But how could you just take me into your office? What if I am a corporate spy sent by the rival company?" She asked, to which all she heard was a chuckle.

'I have to talk to Wade about his staff's reckless behaviour.' Lina made a mental note to herself.

"Are you a spy, noona? Are you going to steal our designs?" He asked with a low voice as he inched closer to her.

"Of course not! But how would you know that? You don't even know who I am!" She said in a flustered voice.

"That's simple then, let me introduce myself." Stephen clapped his hands.

"Hi, I'm Stephen Jin. Pleased to meet you!" He stretched forth his hand.

"Hi, I'm Lina Yang" She accepted his hand and rolled her eyes.

Stephen then pulled Lina a little too close, and whispered in her ear.

"I don't like people rolling their eyes at me, Noona. That's a bad habit." Then he released her hand and took a step back. As if the guy who was dangerously close to her was someone totally different.

Rubbing her red ears, she practically stuck to the elevator wall, far away from him.

"Noona, I won't bite." he teased looking at her red face.

'I'm being played like a fool by this little kid.' Thought Lina and her anger rose.

Glaring at him, she said, "Stop calling me Noona!"

"Okay!" He readily agreed.

"I din't know that you had that type of fetish. Then I'll call you…" Then once again stepping close to her he looked into her eyes and said.

"Onee san"

Once again, she turned red.

"Let's play office office, Onee san." Then took a step forward till there was only a few inches distance between their faces.

"Office office?" She asked while tilting her head to the side, completely forgetting the uncomfortable lack of personal space between them.

'She looks like a confused puppy!' Stephen put his head on her shoulders and started laughing loudly.

Finally seeing how close they were, Lina hurriedly pushed him away.

Right at that moment, the elevator door opened and two office workers got in.

Looking at how Stephen was pushed aside and Lina put her head down, they gave a knowing smile and looked into their phones.

The elevator was engulfed in silence.

The next time the elevator doors opened. Stephen once again dragged Lina out.

The two men inside, shook their heads and one of them said,

"These young people get started anywhere.".

-----

" Onee san, here's my floor." He proudly presented the place where he worked.

"But this is not the floor that I want to go to." She complained.

"Onee san, you never told me the floor that your brother works in. How would I know? So I just brought you here." He looked at her like she was an idiot.

'I'm being insulted too many times today.' She grumbled.

"How about you call your brother here? We can have tea till he arrives."

Saying so, he dragged Lina through the crowd of young interns who had gathered to see him and took her to his work area.

'Did boss just bring a woman into his space.' Was the thought in the interns' mind.

They remembered when Stephen threw a hissy fit when someone entered his space to give him some documents.

The number one rule that this kid genius had was,

'No one enters my space even if hell breaks loose!!'

----

Inside Stephen's work space, Lina was being treated as an esteemed guest.

He poured her his favourite tea and even offered the cookies that he saved up for his special occasions.

"Noona, have some more." He insisted when he saw Lina playing with her phone.

"I was just texting my brother to come to the 18th floor to pick me up." She answered.

"And I thought it was onee san now." She teased him back.

Stephen, who was worried about some other guy entering his space, saw her smile and laughed.

"You still haven't told me what office office means?"

"Oh!! Well do you remember playing house when you were small? Pretending to be husband and wife? " He asked her.

"Of course!" She answered seriously.

"Well this is the grown up version. Where you play with anyone in the office." Saying so he winked at her.

"Lame." She was about to roll her eyes, but remembering what happened in the elevator, she stopped herself.

Seeing her eye roll stop mid way. Stephen laughed again.

"Don't you think you are laughing a little too much?" Lina said with a huff and glared at him.

"That is why I like you, Noona. You completely brush away my innuendos. Unlike the other girls." He said thinking of the others who literally pounced on him when he tried to judge their character by his little play.

"Well you are the one inviting them, how can you be angry that they accepted your invitation?" She explained while looking at his angry expression.

"Ahh? I never thought about it that way before. But how will I know which one wants to be my friend and which one just wants to take advantage of me?" He asked, taking life lessons from Lina.

"That you won't know unless you try. But let me give you a tip, if the other person only comes to you when they need something and vanishes after they get that thing. That's a fake friend right there!" She told him the result of her research for spotting fake friends.

"My Noona's so smart!" Then he rushed and gave her a big hug.

'He is a little kid after all.' She thought while rubbing his back in a soothing manner.

"What exactly is going on here?" Came a loud voice from the door.

There stood an angry Wade Luo, looking at the two people hugging on the couch.