Jisoo stared down hard at her notes, trying not to look up and risk getting caught in the crossfire of Julie and Dara’s argument. The two women had been yelling at each other for all of five minutes, but the energy in the room got so tense that Jisoo felt like it had gone on for ages.

It all started when Dara laid down her three picks for the short feature, which included a draft that she’d written herself. Jisoo had read it before. She was still a bit sore about Dara humiliating her in front of the staff, so she had read Dara’s draft begrudgingly, but she was thoroughly impressed by the quality of her writing. She had written a short, dark romance that would’ve made Emily Bronte blush with embarrassment. But it was still a far cry from what Kiyoko wanted.

Julie said that she wanted a short feature that was going to match the new, light, simple vibe of the redesign. She had even brought out a mock-up of what the cover would look like. Jisoo was used to nodding her head and agreeing with what Julie said, but this time around, she had to side with Dara, who called the new design infantile. 

Then the yelling started. 

Julie insisted that change and adaptation were necessary to attract new readers and stay afloat in an industry that was going increasingly digital and to rebrand the romance genre and make it more appealing.

Dara agreed with all that, but she felt it was more important to keep the journal’s original integrity by staying committed to championing high-quality writing, writing that embodied all the best that the romance genre had to offer and all that it could be.

Julie said that championing good writing didn’t mean that the magazine had to be boring.

Dara countered saying that the bubbly font and bright colors put too much emphasis on the design and took attention away from the words themselves. 

Then Julie called Dara a stifling traditionalist with no sense for what today’s audience wanted. So then Dara called Julie a sell-out who’d lost touch with Embrace’s original vision. 

And the yelling sort of just went from there, and Jisoo had stopped paying attention, opting instead to devote all her interest to the ink drying on her notepad. She was beyond relieved when Seungri walked in, needing the conference room for a Skype call with Jeon & Sky’s editor-in-chief. 

Dara and Julie exited the room, still stiff with tension and Jisoo hurried to her desk, wanting to get out of that toxic atmosphere as fast as she could. She was no stranger to Dara’s ire, but Julie Kiyoko’s explosive outburst seemed to have come straight out of left field. The two women had never been anything but professional to each other. Only today did Jisoo realize that there must be more tension between them than they let on. 

Jisoo didn’t know what to make of the scene she just witnessed. Nor did she really know whose side she was on. As little as she cared for Dara, Jisoo didn’t deny that she had made some valid points. Jisoo had been supportive of the redesign in general, being a firm believer that change could be a good thing and that it was important to woo new readers. But Dara was also right about preserving the integrity of Embrace’s vision of legitimizing the romance genre. It was, after all, what had made her start reading it in the first place. 

Dara came storming out of her office again, and Jisoo bristled. Ever since Dara’s outburst, Jisoo had been walking on eggshells around her all week. But Dara ignored her completely and instead went to grab a cup of coffee from the break room. Jisoo relaxed her shoulders. On her desk, her computer screen was open to an email to a potential new writer. Dara had tasked her with replying to all new inquiries, pretending to be Dara, and telling them that unfortunately their submission box was closed until the next cycle. 

That was when Jisoo noticed Julie Kiyoko walk into Dara’s office. 

“Ms. Kiyoko?” Jisoo asked, taking her hands from the keyboard and standing up. Julie whipped around and stared at Jisoo through the open door of Dara’s empty office. She looked slightly alarmed.

“Yes, Jisoo?” Ms. Kiyoko said. Jisoo wondered why she looked so jittery. It wasn’t like Julie at all to be anything other than professional. Though she supposed that facade had come crumbling down in the conference room just minutes earlier.

“Dara just went to the break room to get coffee,” Jisoo said, walking toward the door. Julie clenched her fists. 

“Oh,” she said. “Is that right?”

Jisoo leaned against the doorframe. “Did you need something from her? Should I tell her to look for you when she gets back?”

“No!” Julie snapped. And then flashed her usual sweet smile. “No, that won’t be necessary,” she said, giggling. “I just came here to see if I left my phone in here when I came in. That’s all.”

“Oh,” Jisoo said, still not quite sure to make of Julie’s strange behavior. “Maybe it’s in the conference room. I noticed you using it during the meeting.”

“Of course, I’ll check there,” Julie said, folding her hands neatly in front of her. “Thank you so much, Jisoo. I’m sorry about what you had to hear back there. We’re usually much more put together.”

“It’s no problem,” Jisoo said, smiling with half . “Everyone loses their cool sometimes.”

Julie’s smile looked frozen. “That’s right,” she said. “You of all people must know best how… difficult it is to work with her.”

Jisoo’s smile faded and she looked nervous. “Oh, god, that’s not what I meant at all!” Jisoo said, waving her hands. “Dara’s… I mean, everything is alright… I didn’t mean to—”

Their conversation was cut short when Dara appeared behind Jisoo in the doorway, holding a mug of fresh coffee. She threw a curious look at both the women and Jisoo hurriedly excused herself back to her work station. She saw her two managing editors exchange a few words before Julie, too, ducked out of Dara’s office and returned to her own. Jisoo avoided looking in Dara’s direction the rest of the day. 

The rest of Jisoo’s shift passed without much more excitement. She finished sending the emails and signed off on each one pretending to be Dara, then she set up an appointment for Dara to meet with the Jeon & Sky Board of Directors and input some numbers from a readers’ survey into an Excel sheet and even got Dara’s coffee mug a refill. 

When six o’clock came, she packed her things back into her purse and bid the rest of her office mates goodbye. As she was stepping out of the elevator and walking through the lobby, she happened to check her phone. She had no calls or messages. 

She tried to tell herself to calm down, that it had only been two days, and even though Jinyoung was special, he was still a college-age boy and he was probably doing that stupid thing where he waits three days to call a girl back after making out in front of her apartment. Still, she was frustrated. How could he just give her the kiss of her life two nights ago and not have the decency to even text?

“Oh, excuse me,” Jisoo said, as she pushed the glass doors open and accidentally hit someone with the edge. When the person turned, it was Julie Kiyoko. Jisoo felt even more embarrassed.

“That’s alright,” Julie said, putting on her signature smile. She scooted over and let Jisoo step out of the building. The days were getting longer, so it was still bright out even though it was dinner time. Julie Kiyoko was standing on the side of the building.

“Are you trying to hail a cab?” Jisoo asked.

“What? Oh, no,” Julie flashed a pink valet ticket at Jisoo. “I’m waiting for my car, the valet will bring it around in a minute.”

“Oh,” Jisoo said. For a second, she thought about sticking around for a bit because she was curious what kind of car Julie Kiyoko, Embrace Managing Editor, drove. Would she have a sensible midsize sedan or a fancy sports car with more horsepower than she could even legally use on the streets of their city? 

“Can I ask you a sensitive question?” Julie suddenly asked. Jisoo’s eyes grew wide.

“Uh, sure, I guess?”

Julie smiled. “What do you think of Dara?”

Jisoo stared at Julie’s face blankly.

“Is this a test?” Jisoo asked. Was this some sort of trick? Was she trying to get her to talk about Dara, and then Dara would jump out of nowhere, revealing that this was a set-up and she’d heard every dirty word out of Jisoo’s mouth? Julie just laughed.

“No, I want your honest opinion,” she said. “Don’t hold anything back.”

“Oh. Okay, well,” Jisoo said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Dara’s… a very firm kind of person. She’s really committed to the journal and what it stands for… um… she… well, she has… really particular taste in coffee… she could really use a two-week vacation…”

Jisoo’s voice trailed off as she saw the smirk on Julie’s face.

“Jisoo,” she said. “Neither you nor I are exactly fond of her. Let’s stop pretending. Tell me what you really think.”

Jisoo searched and searched Julie’s face for a sign of joking, but there was none. She sighed and confided in her:

“Honestly,” Jisoo said. “I’m not her biggest fan. I’ve read her writing and she’s really good, amazing. But… she is a little stingy when it comes to feedback and supporting the junior staff. She’s snappy and hard to please, and she seems really scattered, though maybe because she’s so stressed—”

“What about the discussion we had today in the meeting room?” Julie pressed. “Who did you think was right?”

Jisoo dreaded the question. She didn’t want to take sides since she thought both of them had good points. But she figured since it was Julie who asked, she may as well try to be amenable.

“I think you were right about the redesign,” Jisoo said, mustering as much confidence as she could into her voice. “If the journal is going to survive and grab new readers, it has to rebrand.”

That must have been exactly what Julie wanted to hear because her sticky sweet smile came back, though it looked a little different this time. 

“I’m glad you’re on my side,” she said in a low voice. She reached forward and gave Jisoo’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. As a car rounded the corner of the street and stopped in front o