Byul can’t believe that she was having a pep talk with herself, but that was exactly what she has been doing for the last 15 minutes. Starting from when she was queuing for coffee, during the lift ride to their 35th floor office and now as she walked toward the paralegal area.

‘just stay cool... just stay cool...’

That mantra accompanied her until she was standing in front of the intern, who by the look on her face, was already engrossed in her work.

Dangling the large cup of ice americano in between Wheein’s line of sight with her laptop, Byul watched as the young woman simply took the plastic cup with her left hand and took a sip, her right hand kept scrolling the mouse and her eyes glued to the laptop in front of her.

“Thanks.” Her voice was muffled by the straw still stationed inside of , never once looking up.

She glanced around the still deserted area, Hyejin told her that Wheein would be coming in early to check the discovery evidences and by the looks of it, no one else was there yet, then why Wheein didn’t look up to check who gave her coffee? 

Byul stared at the top of Wheein’s head, willing the younger woman to look up, but minute passed by and the younger woman still fully engrossed with her laptop, completely ignoring her surroundings.  Clearing , Byul spoke softly, “Do you always take drinks from strangers?”

Wheein looked up upon hearing Byul’s voice, and took another sip of her ice coffee while staring at the senior lawyer, “You’re not a stranger.”

“You don’t know that when you took the coffee from my hand, what if it was poisoned?”

“Then I’ll be dead.” Or something that sounded like that, Byul can’t be sure since Wheein said it with the straw still attached to .  She sighed and shook her head, “Been here long?”

The younger woman shrugged, still staring at Byul as she took a huge sip of her coffee making the older woman at a lost on what to say. One look at Wheein and her brain literally turned to mush and the perfectly worded apology just flew out the window.

Finally disconnecting herself with the giant cup, she raised it while looking curiously at Byul, “What is this?”

“Coffee.”Byul stated a matter of factly.

“Tastes like one too.” Slurping the coffee again, Wheein continued to stare at Byul. 

Unable to break the eyes contact between them, Byul opened up to speak, yet it seems like the words stuck on and won’t came out.

“Do you make it a habit to buy your intern ice coffee?”

Scratching a non-existence itch on her eyebrow, she shook her head, “I was being an to you yesterday.”

Taking another huge sip from her cup, Wheein just stared expressionlessly toward the older woman and Byul fidget nervously, tucking and un-tucking her hands inside her slack pockets. 

“It was wrong of me to lead you on and for treating you like crap, you didn’t deserve all of the crap that I put you through, and for that I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t say sorry for kissing me.”

“Should I? I’m not sorry about the kiss, we’re both adult and it was consensual. But I can’t forgive myself for the way I handle the aftermath, like I said, I was being an .....”

Wheein raised her hand, stopping Byul mid-sentence, “You’re being a giant arrogant disrespectful insensitive full of yourself douche bag.”

Byul smiled a little at that and nodded, “Yes, I was being a giant arrogant disrespectful insensitive full of myself douche bag and I’m sorry.”

“And solemnly swear that you would be a better person and treat the person you’re being a douche bag to the utmost respect and would do anything that the person wanted.”

Biting her lips to stop the emerging laugh that want to bubble up , Byul could only nodded, “and I solemnly swear that I would be a better person and treat Wheeinie with utmost respect and would do anything that Wheeinie wanted, provided always that the request should be within reason. Now, do you want all that in writing and notarized?”

Looking at Byul with narrowed eyes and still sipping her ice coffee with a gusto, a cute little frown formed between her eyebrows, “the request should be within reason, but the definition of what fell under the definition of reason should be solely depends on Wheeinie’s discretion.”

A short laugh came out as she looked at the satisfied smirk on the younger woman’s face, “I will send a notarized copy of my pledge to you by the end of the day.” Her face turned serious then, “I mean it when I said I was sorry.”

Finishing her cup and threw it to the bin under her desk, Wheein sighed and tucked an errand hair that was out from the low ponytail she was sporting under her ear, “I came on to you too strong, so in a way there’s fault on my part as well, doesn’t excuse your crappy attitude though.”

“No, there was no excuse for what I did. And I’m....”

“If you’re going to say sorry one more time, I would... I don’t know, shove my feet warmer into your mouth or something. I get it the first time, and I hate people saying sorry like it was a cheap word. Beside, by the end of the day, I will have you at my beck and call. I pretty much got a bargain.” Wheein winked at the suddenly concerned looking Byul.

“Let’s put duration on that agreement.”

“Let’s not.”Wheein crossed her arms in front of her chest and playfully glared at Byul who mirrored her action.

“3 months.” 

“10 Years.”

Moonbyul scoffed and shook her head, “No way, 6 months.” 

“5 years.” Stubbornly looking at the older woman, Wheein have to remind herself not to pout. 

“Nope, 9 months.”

“Geez, you make me feel like a pregnant woman, that you’re just being on my beck and call during the pregnancy period. A year! That’s the least you could do.”

Byul pretended to face palm herself and groan out loud, “Fine, a year of being your slave.”

“Oh please, stop being so dramatic. You had it coming. Now shoo, I have to finish this before Hyejin-nim kill me for not finishing this before lunch. Uh....” Realizing that she hasn’t told Byul about her transfer, she bit her lips and smooth down her hair, “Uh.... about that....”

“Hyejin told me, and given the circumstances, I couldn’t blame you, so don’t worry about it. What are you working on?”

Wheein quickly revert her attention back to her laptop, her heart skipped a beat when Byul looked at her with a gentle expression. “The embezzlement case, the prosecutor office sent us the other part of the discovery motion, un-sequence documents. It took me half a day just to sort it out into the correct time line, and I still couldn’t make sense of all of this junk.”

Moving to stand behind Wheein’s chair, Byul leaned down and looked at several documents opened simultaneously on the laptop. “Hmmm...” tapping at the screen, Byul murmured “Enlarge this one, the internal memo. It was an approval for setting up a Cayman Island bank account and the authorized signatories. What’s the name of your client?”

“His name was not on the list. His name was not on the list!! OMG! He won’t have the authorization to transfer the fund to the Cayman Island bank account! But wait, one of the accusations was for signature forgery....” her excitement quickly deflated, and a frown settled once again on her face.

“It was a code.”

“Huh?” distracted by her own excitement, Wheein blushed when she moved her face and found out just how close she was with Byul who was leaning down to look at her laptop, her lips were only a few centimeter away from Byul’s smooth cheek.

“The authorized signatories were given a code instead of using signature to authorize money transfer, look for any possibility of your client getting his hand on the code, if not, then that’s your reasonable doubt.”

Byul turned to face Wheein and quickly straightened up, if either one of them just move an inch their lips would touch. Faking a cough, she tapped Wheein’s head softly, “You can do it.”

Smiling, Wheein nodded, “Thanks.” Turning her attention back at the task at hand, she didn’t see the smile that adorned Byul’s face.

“Oh and Byulyie Unnie?” Wheein called without looking up from her laptop.

“Hmmm?”

“A bag of chips and an ice chocolate would be awesome right now.”

Barking a laugh, Byul has to restrained herself from tousling the younger woman’s hair, instead she found herself walking toward the convenient store down stair, “Yes, Princess!”

***

The three friends found themselves sitting in their usual seat in one of the most celebrated fusion restaurant in town. Hyejin took a sip of her sweeten ice tea and looked pointedly at Byul, “So... I didn’t see any flowers on Wheein’s desk.”

Letting out an exaggerated gasp, Yongsun kicked Byul’s leg under the table, “Ya! I told you that flower would do wonders!”

Glaring at the slightly older woman while rubbing her abused shin, Byul scowled, “I bought her ice coffee and chips and ice chocolate already!”

Two identically hard slap landed on each of Byul’s arms at the exact same time, “Ya! Stop abusing me!”

“Then stop being a moron!” Hyejin wondered whether she should’ve just hit Byul on her head, maybe then her brain would be back on its correct spot.

“I can’t believe you can be THIS dense.” The eldest of the three looked like someone just kicked her puppy, disappointment literally shown all over her face.

Byul scowl deepened and she reached inside her briefcase to pull out a folder, “Don’t be so quick to judge, that little minx drove a hard bargain.” She gave them a quick recap on how things really went down this morning and showed them the freshly notarized deed.

Bursting into an uncontrollable laughter, both Hyejin and Yongsun had tears on their eyes after they finally managed to control themselves, much to Byul’s chagrin.

“Oh my god, that was actually ingenious.”  Hyejin almost burst into another laugh when she saw the resigned look on Byul’s face.

“Someone actually one up you in your own game, I can’t believe the day finally come when someone actually managed to make you do this. I think I like her. Honestly, Byul.” Pretending to send a little prayer to up above, Yongsun shouted a little ‘hallelujah’ and Byul rolled her eyes.

“I have to applaud you for actually notarizing this though, that’s just so..... Gentlemanly of you.” Hyejin nodded her approval and snickered when Byul cocked one eyebrow at her.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment? Cause it didn’t seem like one from where I’m seating.”

“Chill, this...” Giving back the folder that she’d been holding the whole time back to Byul, “is actually worth more than flowers.”

Yongsun nodded, “You will be on her beck and call for a YEAR! A YEAR!! I would say it worth even more than a whole flower shop. Oh... one more thing....” suddenly turning serious as if she just remembered something, Yongsun tried to look menacingly at Byul.

“Do you know that your fridge only contain six bottles of beer and a 2 weeks expired milk?”

“Really? The milk expired?”

Yongsun groaned out loud, “Please don’t tell me that you still drink it!”

“Wait... wait....” Hyejin looked at both of her best friend questioningly, “Why in the world would you know what HER fridge contained?” 

“I just checked them this morning, and seriously Byul, I know you have a cleaning lady and all, but do you really have to throw your clothes around your bed room like that?”

“I’m tired, okay, everytime I got back to the apartment I just want to go straight to the bed.” Byul whined and Hyejin still looked at both of them with this curious look on her face.  

“and how did you get inside Byul’s apartment again?” she looked pointedly at Yongsun, but Byul answered instead, “Well, I gave her my security code.”

“You gave Yongsun your security code? What, are you sleeping with her now?”

“WHAT!!?? NO!” came the simultaneous answer from both of them, shuddering as if the though repulsed them to the bone.

“That would be uous!” / “I would rather be a monk.” Both speaking at the same time and then looked at each other, Yongsun throwing murderous glare at Byul.

“A monk? Really? Am I not attractive enough for you?”

“Of course you’re pretty! You’re so pretty the sun cannot compare to your brightness.”

Hyejin put her hands up in the air to stop the duo, “Stop, I think I might hurl, you two are so weird. You two flirted like crazy with each other, and so help me god, I already need a therapy from having to listen to it, but Yongsun is straighter than a pole and YOU don’t like pole. It’s moonsunception.”

“Don’t mind us, it’s just how we roll. Okay, back to the topic! Just so you know, our friend here seems to be on a liquid diet. Alcohol that is! So I volunteer to stock up some food for her. End of the story.”

“Yeah, like I want to jump into bed with you.” Byul rolled her eyes and took a sip of her beer.

Gasping, Yongsun quickly sent another kick toward Byul’s shin, “You wish!”

Hyejin groaned and quickly raised both of her hands, “Okay, that’s it! Time out! I’m friends with children I tell you, CHILDREN!!”

***

Nearly four months has passed since the incident that was now famously dubbed by Hyejin as the ‘Wheebyul-Gate’ and in a twisted the-universe-love-pulling-pranks-on-human-being kind of way, the three best friends got themselves a newfound member in their close knitted group.

Hyejin was the first who invited Wheein to join the trio usual coffee breaks, citing that she needed to discuss work anyway with the younger woman. The coffee breaks turned into invitation for lunches, then into their bi-weekly dinner and without anyone realizing it, Wheein already became a fixed feature on all their lives.

Wheein was crazy smart with a sarcastic streak and wittiness that could either shut or crack Byul’s up, she connected in a spiritual level of weirdness with Yongsun and Hyejin basically found her long lost twin sister. The two of them work so well together, so much so that Hyejin refused to partner up with any other assistant but Wheein, the partners noticed and called them the new dynamic duo of criminal law department.

Their bonds deepened when one night while they were meeting up for drinks, Wheein told her new friends that she was looking for an apartment of her own. Already used to living by herself, she felt odd to suddenly have to live with her parents again.

Jumping with joy at the thought of decorating a new apartment, Yongsun who secretly love decorating (well, not exactly a secret to her best friends that has to endure her excitement for decorating, especially during holiday seasons), volunteered herself to help Wheein apartment hunting.

The eldest of the group practically dragged the other three to go on apartment hunting in their spare times, much to Byul’s chagrin and Hyejin’s annoyance, but all of their protests died down when both Yongsun and Wheein gave them a mirroring puppy eyed pleas.

Much to their delight, they finally found the perfect studio apartment for Wheein within the same apartment complex as Hyejin. Not so much to their delight, Yongsun started ordering them to help with the decorating project. They went on shopping spree with Byul as their designated driver while Hyejin tagged along as the voice of reason since Yongsun and Wheein could spent hours just arguing over paint colors, wood floor or marbled floor, window binds or curtains, or which pictures would goes well with the overall tone of the living room section. 

Bonding over beers and buckets of chicken while repainting the plain white wall with a darker shade of beige, nearly sand color (because Hyejin and Wheein both loves the beach), replacing the tiles with wood flooring which Byul stained herself, arguing over where to place the dark wood furniture and the white plush sofa, with the occassional pillow fights when they were too tired to move and just spent the night, the foursome successfully turned the once empty space into a cozy, modern yet still have that homey feeling studio apartment for their youngest member.    

And it was the same exact apartment where Byul found herself standing, waiting for Wheein to open the door so they can go to dinner with the other two.

“You wear a dress.” Those words left Wheein’s lips as soon as she opened the door to reveal Byul standing there with a knee length black dress. Her shoulder was bare, only slightly concealed by her hair that she left down that night.

“Hyejin told me that I should dress up, she want to have dinner somewhere nice.” Argued Byul while she took in the tight pale blue jeans that seemed to mold to Wheein’s calves and thigh like second skin up to the untucked buttoned up crisp white shirt, with sleeves rolled up to her elbow. Her usually immaculate hair was casually blow dried, leaving it slightly wavy around her almost make up free face. Wheein looked... softer... and beautiful.

“Yongsun unnie just texted me that she won’t be able to make it to dinner, Hyejin just called me and said that she scored herself a last minute date and that she already texted you to just pick me up and eat somewhere casual.”

Byul frowned, “I left my phone on the car, but she must’ve texted me while I’m already on my way to your place.”

Wheein sighed then and started ing her shirt, “What are you doing?” Alarmed, Byul closed the gap between them and stilled Wheein’s fingers.

Cocking her eyebrow at Byul’s hand on hers, Wheein giggled when Byul quickly dropped her hands and tried to tuck it into her usual pocket only to realize that she was wearing a dress, “I’m changing my clothes, let’s eat at a fancy restaurant then, you’re all doll up and all.”

“You know what, don’t worry, let’s just go to wherever it is you want to go.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you’re wearing a dress.”

“I’m sure it will be worth it, I mean, I’m going with a beautiful woman to dinner. Anywhere would be fine.”

Wheein laughed and shook her head, “Sure, let’s go. Let me just grab my bag then.”

***

The little Korean restaurant that Wheein took her to was a dream. The place was cozy and warm since it was bathed in soft yellow lights and the space was only enough to place a handful of people at once. Escorted to the small table at the back of the room, they sat facing each other, their legs brushed every so often due to the limited space, but neither of them minded.

While Wheein still having difficulties to decide on what to order, since apparently everything is good in this place, the owner of the restaurant greeted them.  An elderly couple who knew Wheein since she was still in diapers, their warm hospitality only topped by the amazing samgyetang made by Mrs. Park, who swore that it was a family recipe handed down from generation to generation, which they would never find anywhere else.

Byul not quite sure how the evening really progress, all she remembered was that she needed to remind herself to breathe every once in awhile. She watched as Wheein’s animatedly conversed with the elderly couple, hugging them and being all cuddly with the grandmotherly Mrs. Park.  She remembered the smile that never left Wheein’s pink lips and the way her eyes seemed to glow with genuine happiness and how the lights bathe her in a soft glow, creating a halo around her. Byul was surrounded by the warmth radiated off from the beautiful woman in front of her and a fleeting thought crossed her mind that she wouldn’t mind spending an eternity just like this.

Their food came, a bigger portion compliment of the owner and Wheein squealed in delight creating a smile on Byul’s lips because of her cute action. If someone told her that the two of them would be having a dinner like this months ago, Byul would laugh in their face. But now, any traces of awkwardness were completely non-existent and to be perfectly honest, she would never phantom that they would have this level of comfort with each other. It was almost like the old time, with Byul teasing the young woman mercilessly, the only difference was; now Wheein equally as bad.

"Ugh, I think I might burst." Wheein rubbed her full stomach and puffed her cheek.

Chuckling softly, Byul shook her head. "Well, I wouldn’t surprise if you do, you practically wolfed down yours and still stole from mine!"

"But it was soooo good!!!" Wheein pouted slightly and Byul rolled her eyes.

"I heard you the first hundred times you said that, but yeah, it was good. Why’d you never take us out here before?"

Wheein shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear, she took a sip of her hot tea and sighed with satisfaction, "Hyejin and Yongsun unnie usually already made reservation on our behalf, so I just tagged along. But yeah, we should drag them here some other time. Ughhh, I don’t want the night to end, I needed this weekend off!"

"Hyejin have been working your of lately huh? Anyway, speaking of work, you two need to plead out the drug offender case. I looked at the case file; it was his first offense, no sense getting into trial. Just plead out, he could get the maximum fine and then send into rehab."

Wheein cocked her head slightly, a confused look on her face, "Why are you looking at our case files?"

"You haven’t heard from your dad? Old Kwon was considering retirement, health reason, so he will lessen his load and until he picked his replacement, I would oversee the criminal department as well."

"Really? Dad hasn’t told me about that, so that's why he rarely came into the office lately. Have the partners talked about who would replace him?" Wheein looked at Byul seriously and the platinum haired lawyer shrugged.

"Not sure yet, we're still considering whether to promote Hyejin to partner or to hi-jack someone from other law firms. There were some talks, but we’re still considering it at this point. Now, I know that you and Hyejin are close, but you can’t tell her about this. The official announcement that I would oversee some of the Old Kwon cases would be announced this coming Monday, we're still thinking of the appropriate reason, so no one would be alarmed."

"Noted. Hey, do you want to grab a drink? Like you said, Hyejin been working me like crazy this week, and I needed a stiff drink!"

Byul laughed and nodded, "Sure, but you could complain all you want, however, I could tell that you'd been happier lately."

Wheein’s eyes twinkled and a soft smile appeared on her pretty face, "Yeah well, I never thought I would enjoy litigation this much, but I do. I mean, I have doubts settling down in Korea before, but now? I took online classes to prepare myself for bar test here, who would've thought right?"

Byul smiled, somehow ecstatic at the thought of Wheein staying put and seeing the look of pure joy on the young woman's face, she can’t help but be happy as well. Reaching out across the table to intertwine their fingers together, she looked deep into Wheein's eyes and smiled warmly, "Good... that's good."

Tightening her hold on Byul's hand, cheek dimpling with answering smile, Wheein nodded slightly, "Yeah..."

***

The two women walked hand in hand toward Wheein's apartment, both agreed that they needed the fresh air after they each finished off three bottles of Soju. They decided that since they both want to drink their off, they should be responsible and left Byul's car at Wheein's apartment first before grabbing a cab to their chosen bar.

"We shouldn’t finish that last bottle." Giggling a little and a bit unsteady on her feet, Wheein leaned into Byul slightly.

"Said the one who actually beg me to stay longer and wanted to order more."Byul was having a nice buzz, being the stronger drinker of the two, she definitely could hold her liquor better. Steadying Wheein by wrapping her arm around the younger woman's waist, she laughed when Wheein almost stumbled on her own feet, "Careful there.”

“Unnie, I think I’m drunk.” Byul’s quiet laughter turned into a grin when the younger woman stopped on her track, rested her forehead on Byul’s bare collarbone and hugged Byul tightly, “Carry me!”

“I’m wearing heels!” protest Byul although a laugh escaped her lips. She glanced at the tall building ahead of them, Wheein’s building, which was only a few hundred meters away and relented. “Okay, do you want a piggy ride on my back or do you want me to carry you?”

Wheein eyes softened at Byul’s answer and she shook her head, “It’s near, come on, just hold my hand so I won’t fall.” tightening her hold onto the blond, Byul smiled “Don’t worry, I won’t let go.”

After several quiet whisper of ‘dont fall’ from Byul and laughter from Wheein each time they stumbled as they walked the few hundred meters together, the two woman stood in front of Wheein’s door safely without any accident or twisted ankle. 

“Thank you for tonight, It was fun.” Byul was pleasantly surprised when Wheein leaned in and gave her cheek a lingering kiss. Tangling her hand onto the soft tresses of Wheein’s hair, Byul whispered a soft ‘sweet dreams’ onto Wheein’s ear before reluctantly letting go. And as she watched Wheein entered her apartment, she wished that the night wouldn’t end so soon.

  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note

Hello lovelies!! As promised, another chapter by the end of the week. Anyone saw the latest event with the Wheebyul hug? I basically melted, I'm such a Wheebyul trash, and that fancafe memo where Wheein said that she choose Moon Byul Yi? *Heart eyes* I wish that it was some sort of a hint for this comeback that she would be paired up with Byul, especially since Hyejin has been extra cozy with Yongsun lately. Okay, enough of the delusional rant. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I just realized that I'm averaging on 4000 words a chapter nowadays, hope it's not too long. Talk to you guys soon, a cool Moon Byul Yi would be featured in the next chapter as a homage on how cool she looked in a suit. (So hard having a bias in Mamamoo....). Comments and Critics as always are welcome :) toodles!