1 Shy Peach

This is a work of fiction based on real-life events.

Organizations, institutions, characters, incidents, and jobs are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

An important note: if you are not comfortable with very mature content, S&M relationships (femdom), mentally unstable characters, violence, physical/sexual assault, or yandere characters and stalking/obsessive/manipulative behavior, you might want to skip reading this novel.

There is non-graphic rape, so read at your own discretion.

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"Shy peach" - the color of the lipstick she uses the most, it's almost time to buy a new one. Her favorite warpaint. Today's choice of armor - a pastel green loose-tweed "Channel-like" dress decorated with fake pearls. Light, gentle movements, almost intangible steps, a sweet smile, and bright eyes - these are the weapons she uses on a daily basis. And they've proven to be deadly.

Whenever she is getting ready to leave the house, she puts on a mask, a bulletproof shield to conceal her real personality to live a normal life, the life of a socially accepted woman, a woman that can be loved and admired by everyone.

The life of Yoon Se Ah, a twenty-nine-year-old office worker, is nothing but a fake performance, written and staged by herself, and this performance is free to attend by anybody who likes to live a normal life, unburdened by anything out of the ordinary.

The users' account management department is always the only one to show the best results in the whole company each month, and it's all thanks to Yoon Se Ah. She is the first one to come to the office, and she is the last one to leave it. She is competent, efficient, hard-working, and incredibly kind-hearted - a perfect employee who is always ready to help her fellow colleagues in need. This is the image she chose for herself, and this is the image she shows to others. It is a sturdy wall that never fails to protect what's truly hers.

"The Office Fairy" - the name Yoon Se Ah received after a month in the company and she has been keeping it ever since. It's better this way. It's safer.

"Miss Yoon, would you like to go to a mixer party with me? A bunch of guys from the development team is going to join it this time, perhaps you will meet someone nice as well?"

Miss Lee Joo Yeong, her colleague in charge of development team A, smiled at Se Ah and tilted her head to the left like a curious dog.

"That's alright, I'm not looking for a relationship right now, I want to concentrate on my career first."

"Who says you have to jump into a relationship here? A steamy office affair is always a nice experience, don't you think?"

She winked but Se Ah only shook her head lightly and put on her usual friendly smile.

"Thank you, Miss Lee, maybe next time."

"You promise? People keep asking me about you, you know. I get it that career is important for us women but it should never get in a way of our romantic escapades!"

The crimson red lipstick spread wide on her powdered face before she finally turned around and left for her desk. It was not the first time she approached Se Ah with such offers - Lee Joo Yeong, although one year younger, was a famous matchmaker in the office, due to her vast social circle, it always seemed like she knew everyone and everyone knew her. She liked to organize office mixer parties where she made people meet one another in hopes of either a quick affair or a meaningful relationship, and somehow, she herself would always be satisfied with whatever outcome those mixers reached.

Unfortunately, Yoon Se Ah was her Everest - no matter how hard she tried to set her up with men, her failure was inevitable. "You have no idea how many times I've been asked to introduce her to someone! She is young, pretty, and has a very good character but boy is she hard to approach!" - she would repeat these words every time Se Ah rejected her invitation with a mixture of sadness and annoyance in her voice as if she was her mother herself, which made it even weirder for both Miss Yoon and her other colleagues.

'She only wants me to settle down because she is jealous of all the attention I get. At some point, I think I started rejecting her invites merely out of spite.'

Se Ah grinned at that thought and got back to her computer screen. It was true that her career was important to her but she wasn't entirely against the idea of having a relationship. The problem lay, however, in the type of relationship she wanted to have. Not everybody would be up to it.

"Did you guys hear? Apparently, they hired an intern to join our department."

Woo Hyo Seop, a 30-year-old account manager in charge of the Production Team walked into the room and fell into his chair. Once he said those words, everyone's eyes were fixed on him, which made him straighten his posture and smile.

"Manager Park said they hired a total of five interns and they all start working tomorrow."

Lee Joo Yeong clasped her hands and melted into an almost ecstatic smile.

"That's awesome! I hope it's someone capable, we really need another person on our team, we're basically drowning here. Oh, and I hope it's a guy, a fresh face will definitely brighten the mood in this gloomy old room!"

"Here she goes again, Miss Lee, are you really that tired of our faces?"

Mr. Woo leaned forward in his chair and threw a questioning look at Miss Lee to which she faked a smile and waved her thin, manicured hand.

"Whatever, Mr. Woo, you men will never understand the importance of handsome men in a workplace."

Joo Yeong pouted her lips, then winked at Se Ah, and went back to her seat. In an instant, the room became rather quiet again as everyone got back to work but it was obvious that Miss Lee's words have shaken up the female part of the team - while the account management department was famous for their efficiency, they were obviously understaffed and were in a dire need of help. Now everyone, including Yoon Se Ah, had high hopes for the new intern.

The next morning, Se Ah came to the office early as always but there was one thing that has already stirred up her usual routine.

"Good morning, my name is Lee Min Hyun, I'm the new intern. It's nice to meet you."