The Lounge is a swanky establishment in the business district of Seoul, swarming with men and women in business suits and cocktail dresses. Their mindless chatter provided a different buzz from the soft jazzy music playing in the background. The two women were seated in their usual spot at the corner in the back, creating a sanctuary from any other prying eyes.

“So, do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Byul pushed around the salmon steak in front of her, not really having an appetite.

Yongsun rolled her eyes and gave Byul a knowing glare, “Your lips were swollen, your shirt was rumpled, your hair was messy and you have this glassy look on your eyes. Wheein? She was in almost the exact same state as you. Plus, I saw the papers scattered all over the floor. Did you two do it on your table??” Yongsun eyes widened and Byul cringed.

“Almost...” she whispered dejectedly and sighed, “It’s complicated....”

Yongsun looked at Byul weirdly, “Honey, there’s nothing complicated about , it’s either your do it, or you don’t. Oh! Please don’t tell me you two didn’t do it because of me, am I being like a you-know-what blocker for both of you? Ya! You shouldn’t have told me to come to the office during lunch then!”

Moonbyul looked at the flustered Yongsun like she just grew another head and bit her lips to contain her laugher, “Okay first of all, my darling heart, you can’t be my you-know-what blocker, since I don’t have a you-know-what....”

“It’s a euphemism!” cut Yongsun, throwing both of her hands up and air quoting with her fingers for emphasis, which Byul blatantly ignored.

“.... and she’s the Old Jung daughter, so she’s definitely off limit.”

“You have a limit? Wow... have I’d been transported into another alternate universe or something?”

Moonbyul glared at the grinning Yongsun, “You and Hyejin, ya! How could both of you think that I will just sleep with anything that have two legs?”

The dark haired woman rolled her eyes and gave Byul a pointed look, “Could you blame us? Babe, you changed women faster than I change my underwear!”

Moonbyul snorted and shrugged. See, the thing is dating is not really Byul’s forte. She doesn’t date, she... well to be truthfully frank, she s. Plain and simple. No string attached. No headaches.

“Wheein... she’s just... off limit, okay? She’s not like the other women that I picked up. She’s.... I just don’t want to hurt her and I can’t give her what she wants.”

Yongsun’s face turned somber, “About that, I think you already did hurt her. What happened?”

Byul sighed, “I kissed her.”

“Oh, I think you did more than just kiss her. You stopped didn’t you? And not just because I barged in into the office, it’s that stupid off limit thing that stopped you isn’t it?”

Byul tapped her beer bottle with her thumbnail, creating a rapid tap tap tap before ever so quietly whispered, ‘yeah’ she then looked at Yongsun and found herself looking at the sad expression on Yongsun’s face.

“You care for her.”

The platinum haired lawyer shrugged then nodded, “I knew her since she was a teenager, she’s not a stranger and she was so nice to me back then.” Byul smiled at the memory of the small ball of energy that was the teenage Jung Wheein.

“I was unsure of myself back then, I think a part of me didn’t think that I was smart enough. She was the one that asked her father to have me tutor her.” Byul shook her head, smiling slightly, “That kid was a genius, she didn’t any tutoring, but she asked anyway.”

“She wants to be close to you.” Yongsun found herself smiling indulgently at the cute memory.

“I think it’s her way of showing me that I’m good enough? She picked my brain like nobody ever did. I missed her like crazy when she was sent off to America. But then life happened, I was busy with work, she was busy with school. We lost contact along the way....”

“And now, she’s back in town, not a teenager anymore. She definitely likes you, and you ARE attracted to her, right???”

Byul chuckled and shook her head at Yongsun’s apparent enthusiasm, “Do I not still have eyes?”

Yongsun rolled her eyes at Byul’s cheeky response, “Well, at least you admit that you’re attracted to her. Look, I know that you’re afraid of hurting her and stuff, but you will never know until you try. Honey, I just want to see you happy, so what’s really stopping you?”

*You...*

Moonbyul smiled slightly at the concerned Yongsun and shook her head, “She’s too young for me, and knowing myself, she’ll better off with someone else.”

Yongsun let the discussion slide, at least for now. Knowing Byul like the palm of her hand, she knew that the lawyer would just shut off if she kept pushing.

“Well, whatever you reason was, you still hurt her. So you’ll need to apologise because I refused to be friends with a , and you’re definitely being a to her. So, un- yourself.”

“You do realized there’s no such thing as un- yourself right? Is that even a vocabulary? Do you want me to enroll you to school again?”

“Yes! There is, see now you’re being a to me.” Yongsun stuck out her tongue before hailing the waitress, “I want dessert, do you want dessert?”

“Babe, you just finished off the pork ribs by yourself, and the mash potatoes, and the macaroni and cheese. And you still want dessert?” Byul shuddered when she imagined all the food that already took their residency in Yongsun’s lean body.

“I have another space especially made for dessert.  Ice cream?” the dark haired woman looked at Byul with such a hopeful look on her face, the latter can’t help but squished the squishy cheek.

“Whatever you want, honey, whatever you want.”

***

“If that’s not food, then go away!” an annoyed laced voice greet Wheein’s ear when she knocked on Hyejin’s office.

Eyes widened, she quickly ran back to her corner and grabbed her take away lunch before knocking once more at the senior lawyer’s office.

“What!?” a disheveled looking Hyejin opened the door and then blinked with shock when she saw Wheein standing there.

“Uh, Hi?” Wheein smiled uncertainly.

“What are you doing here?”

“I bought chicken.” She raised the bucket of chicken in front of Hyejin as evidence.

Standing there raising a bucket of chicken, Wheein fidgeted under Hyejin’s appraisal. Her mother said that no one can resist chicken in Korea, she hoped that it held true with this woman as well.

She sighed in relief when Hyejin took the bucket of chicken out of her hand and told her to get inside.

“So, to what do I got the honor of this visit?” Hyejin took a piece of chicken and chewed slowly, her eyes boring into the fidgeting puppy on her couch.

Taking a deep breath, Wheein looked pointedly into the other woman’s eyes, “I want to transfer my internship to your department.”

Raising an eyebrow, Hyejin stopped chewing and put the un-eaten chicken on a piece of tissue, “Okay, talk to me, what did Byul do?”

“Nothing. I just think that I need to broaden my horizon. My major was in business law, but I always been interested in criminal law, so, yes. I want to try to see for myself whether criminal law would be a better fit for me.”

She was convincing, but Hyejin didn’t buy even one word that came out from .

“Criminal law is very different from what you are used to. We’re talking about visiting clients in prison, gruesome pictures instead of prettily worded words, endless hour of cross checking evidences, being waken up at ungodly hour because the police think that the best time to bust crime is around midnight and you have to bail someone out....”

Wheein cleared and Hyejin stopped talking, “I know, and I don’t mind. Like I said, I want to learn.”

Hyejin pursed her lips, looking at the determined look at the young woman in front of her, she knew that something must’ve happened.

“It would not be a walk in the park.” She warned.

“I won’t expect it to be.” Wheein nodded, sitting up straighter.

“I’m not an easy boss to handle.”

“Everyone knows you eat intern for breakfast, but I’m not an easy intern to handle as well.” Wheein shrugged, “Dad always says that I tend to offense people with my choice of words.”

“And how, does it usually happen?”

Grinning shamelessly, Wheein brushed an errant whip of hair and tucked it behind her ear, “Let’s just say that I tend to speak up whatever it was on my mind. I have zero filter.”

Letting out a breathy laugh, Hyejin picked up her piece of chicken and munch happily, “Good. I hate it when people beat around the bush. Just like what you did when you came into my office and want to transfer under my tutelage.”

Blushing, Wheein ducked her head slightly, “Sorry about that. But I really do want to learn criminal law, so if you would just give me chance, I know I could be a good addition to your team.”

Motioning with her head toward her almost unrecognizable desk, Hyejin looked back toward the intern, “You see that stacks of documents on my desk? If you could re-arrange it into a coherent and understandable time line? You’re hired.”

Beaming, Wheein literally leaped from her seat, “Aye, Aye mam!” she saluted and walked like a trooper toward the desk, causing Hyejin to bit back on her laugh.

*This should be interesting*

***

Moonbyul walked into the junior lawyer den, bearing a bag filled with bread and pastries from the famous bakery just around the corner of their building. She noticed the pinched concentrated look on Seulgi’s face and berated herself once again for being an idiot throughout the day.

Carefully placing the bag in front of the startled junior, she smiled warmly and gestured toward the bag, “A peace offering, because I acted like an today and I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

Almost drooling from the delicious smell coming from the bag, Seulgi looked at Byul carefully, “It’s not poisoned isn’t it?”

Barking a laugh, not the very least offended by the question, the platinum haired lawyer shook her head, “Nope, I can assure you that it’s safe to eat it.”

“Oh good!” quickly pulling out one sweet bread, Seulgi almost moaned when the warm bread nearly melted in . Talking with full, she nodded toward her boss, “You’re forgiven. I mean, I could kiss you just for giving me this bread. I don’t have time for lunch, the old Jung gave me tons of work load.”

Shaking her head lightly at her assistant antique, Byul patted Seulgi’s shoulder before she walked back out from the room, “Don’t forget to share, I don’t want you to pass out from the sugar rush.”

Taking a few cleansing breath, she took measured steps toward the paralegal area. She recalled Yongsun telling her to send flower to the young intern, since apparently women like those kind of sweet gesture. However, she’s not sure whether sending Wheein a flower would be the best way to apologize. The last thing she need is to give the intern a mixed signal, and boy did she already gave mixed signal already.

Bracing herself for whatever might happen, she took one last big breath and entered the paralegal den only to find the spot where Wheein was stationed, empty.

A frown made its way toward Byul’s face. She noticed that her laptop was still there as well as her designer bag. Making her way deeper into the office space, she asked one of the paralegal where Wheein is, only to get a negative response that they haven’t seen her since lunch time.

Surmising that Wheein probably off somewhere doing errands, she decided to walk back to her office, promising to herself that she would apologize before the end of the day.

Cringing as she looked at the papers scattered all around her work area, Byul sighed and slowly picked up the mess that she created, *if only apologizing to Wheein would be as simple as picking up these papers.*

Stifling a yawn and massaging the kink off her neck, she looked at the digital time on her laptop and blinked. 9 PM. Time sure fly around here. She looked at the closed door of her office and sort of wish that a certain ball of energy with long flowing blond hair would barge in. Unfortunately, after staring that the closed door for a minute, the door stay closed.

Moonbyul sighed, she made three other trips toward the paralegal area and strangely, Wheein was still not on her desk and the other paralegal still has no idea where she went. The only reason why she didn’t think that Wheein took off from the office was the fact that her bag was still there. Although knowing that her parents gave her a car with chauffeur to drive her around, it wouldn’t be hard for Wheein to just leave her bag in the office and went home without it. However, she would like to believe that Wheein wouldn’t resort to act like a child and simply left.

Looking back at the blinking cursor on the laptop, she rubbed her tired eyes. Her vision was getting blurry and she knew that she should just call it a day and leave.

Trying her luck once again, she walked toward the paralegal area and saw the place was already deserted. Not only that, she noticed that Wheein’s bag was nowhere to be seen as well. Confirming her feeling that the girl was in the office the entire time and now already left.

*Maybe I should send her flowers like Yongsun said.*

***

The high-end loft was partially bathed with the street light coming through the curtain less window when she entered her apartment. One shoe came off then the other, she didn’t even bother to put them on their rack before she padded bare feet into the spacious apartment.

Tossing her briefcase onto the couch, she fixed herself a stiff drink and sighed when the liquid burn a trail down . Grabbing the scotch bottle with her, she walked toward the couch and sat down. She could almost hear Yongsun’s voice telling her the downside of having too many drinks, but at the moment she really didn’t care.

She toyed with the idea of calling Wheein on her cellphone, or even driving up to the Jung’s mansion. But she quickly dismissed the thought, she didn’t think that Wheein would appreciate it if she suddenly showed up at her parent’s place. It would just be too awkward.

Moonbyul looked up when she heard the knock on her front door. Heart beat racing, she almost ran toward the door and opened it to reveal... Hyejin.

“Oh, it’s you.”

The short haired woman raised her eyebrow and slipped past the older woman, walking into the still dark apartment, “Geez, did you forgot to pay the electricity bill or something?”

Fingers busy tapping the power switch, lights bathed the place and Byul squint a bit to adjust her eyes to the sudden brightness.

“What’s up?”

Helping herself with the drink, Hyejin took off her shoes with a satisfied groan, “Ugh, the pain that us woman would endure just for beauty.” She massaged her calf softly, ignoring the snorted that came out of Byul’s mouth.

“You seems disappointed when you saw me at the door, expecting someone else?” smirking when Moonbyul kept mum, she continued her teasing, “Like, I don’t know, maybe a certain someone about my height, long flowing blond hair, a cute little dimple on her right cheek.”

“You know, one of these days, I would make sure to give you a shower with whatever I’m drinking at that time. Preferably hot coffee.”

Laughing at the annoyed look on Byul’s face, Hyejin took a slow sip of her amber liquid, “Oh god, I needed the drink. My head been killing me since morning, I was this close...” she inched her two fingers together while taking another sip, “... of finishing my motion when the prosecutor office played dirty and only sent in more discovery evidence this morning and I have to submit the motion in 3 days! 3 days! I want to strangle them so bad!”

“Strangling public officer would be a capital offense and they will send you to jail so fast you’ll get whiplash.” Countered Byul dryly, also taking a swig of her drink.

“Geez, understatement much? Well thankfully that Wheepup work fast, I should be able to finish the motion tomorrow.”

At the mentioned of her little nickname for Wheein, Moonbyul looked at Hyejin with a slightly confused look, surely she misheard. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, your little puppy transferred to intern at my department.” Hyejin shrugged non-chalantly, which only irked Byul even more.

“Since when? I never approved any transfer!”

“You don’t have to, unless you forgot, she sort of has her ol’ daddy wrapped around her sweet little fingers, so when she asked for a transfer, boom! It happened.”

Moonbyul gaped at her best friend, she slowly put down her tumbler lest she really would throw the content to Hyejin’s face. “And you only mentioned this to me, why?”

“Did you not hear what I just said? The prosecutor office....”

Byul cut her off with the motion of her hand, still bewildered and felt slightly betrayed, “I hear you just fine! But you used to have time to bother me and you couldn’t even bother to text me?? You know just a short little message that alert me of the fact that now she interns for you?”

“And this would concern you how?” Hyejin countered the older woman coolly, “We never interact directly with the interns, you even more so. If my memory serves me right, just this morning at breakfast you asked me to take the puppy off your hand. So, what changes?”

Raking her fingers through her hair in frustration, Moonbyul took the tumbler off the table and finished off her drink in one gulp, “Nothing. Whatever.”

Watching Byul’s reaction with skepticism and narrowed eyes, the younger woman scoffed, “Please, you look mad enough to throw that drink to my face. The puppy might not want to tell me what happened, but judging by your reaction, something did happen and it was big enough to unhinge you and made her running to me.”

“I have this conversation with Yongsun already, I screwed up okay?”

“Should I be worry about a ual harassment suit from... oh, I don’t know, our own managing partner daughter!?”

“Oh for petesakes, I haven’t slept with her!”

“But you want to.” Byul shrugged and topped off her drink just to have something to do.

“You never let anything stop you from screwing a woman before.”

Byul cringed and scratched her eyebrow, “I probably need to check myself into a anonymous group or something, both of my best friends think that I screwed anything that moves.”

“Well, not anything, just beautiful gorgeous women and never the same one, because, and I’m quoting you on this, ‘sleeping together more than once breeds familiarity, familiarity breeds attachment, attachment leads to relationship and I don’t do relationship.’ End quote. Dude, I don’t even think you date.”

“I don’t.”

Hyejin threw both of her hands in the air, “Exactly. You just do one night stand.”

“A one night stand would actually involve staying the night.” Byul blurted out subconsciously before grimacing, “Oh wow... maybe I do need to check myself into rehab, I sounded like an .”

“You ARE an . Unfortunately those women love your bony .”

“Not all people in this world could have a perfect like yours.”

Both women grinned at each other, before Moonbyul sighed and leaned her head back, looking at Hyejin with a lost look on her face.

“I screwed up big time.”

“You need to fix it.”

“I know.”

“Flower could work wonder.”

Byul snorted and shook her head lightly, “You and Yongsun, next thing you know, you’ll recommend me buying the puppy some sort of jewelry, because women could never say no to shiny things.”

“A diamond studded collar would be awesome, but I don’t think you two are at that point just yet.” Hyejin winked and barked a laugh when she saw the shock look on Byul’s face.  “Oh don’t get innocent on me now, you’re kinkier than that!”

“You need to bleach your brain, you left it on the gutter for too long.”

“Yeah, and you need to use your brain, because since the day you met that puppy again? You’ve been acting unlike you and to be honest? It scared the out of me.”

Chuckling softly, Byul nodded, “I’ll try to find my brain from the gutter as well, I think I lost it somewhere.”

Drinking in silence, both friends just enjoyed the silent camaraderie until Hyejin decided to call it a night, stating that she need to make sure that she still has enough brain cell tomorrow morning to finish her motion. Again, mouthing off at the tricky move that the prosecutor office made to withhold the discovery until the very last minute permissible by law.

“Hey dude? Take care of her for me, would you?” asked Byul when she walked Hyejin to the door.

“Would it be enough if I promised not to eat her for breakfast?”

Laughing softly, “That would do, yeah...”

“She’s a great kid.”

Nodding softly, Byul cant agree more, “I know.”

“So you better fix this, you hear me Moon Byul Yi?”

“I hear you the first time, mom.”

Hyejin kissed Byul on the cheek and then wiped her lipstick stain softly, “Yeah well, you can be dense sometimes, so I will be your not so gentle reminder, got it?”

“Loud and clear.” Byul smiled, slightly feeling better after two sessions of heart to heart with two of her favorite person in the world.

And tomorrow, tomorrow she will make things right.

Hopefully....

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Notes: 

Hello there new readers and subscribers! Thank you for tuning in and Hiya to old friends! It's kind of a filler chapter? Just to tone down the drama from last installment and we'll get into Wheebyul interaction again on the next chapter. Have I mentioned how much I love writing Hwasa? She's so sassy, it's always a pleasure and a challenge to give her a sassy line. 

Oh! and thank you for the sweet and encouraging comments, I'm always smiling myself silly whenever you guys post a comment and it does gives me a push to write faster LOL. See ya soon lovelies!