Jisoo marched into the office as though lifeless. Her face was sullen, her eyes blank. No words came out of , when usually she was the first to greet every co-worker she passed on the way to her cubicle. Sehun, who had been watching this rare entrance, continued watching even as she dropped on her seat and sulked in front of her computer.

Casually he walked over and kicked the bottom of her chair to get her attention. "You look like a beaten-up dog left on the curb, waiting for someone to beat it up again."

No response.

Sehun inched closer to get a better look of her face, but she pushed herself further into the cubicle and hid her face behind her hair. Curiosity poking at him, he decided to go another direction. "So I actually got some tickets to Hawaii..."

Still no response. He frowned. Refusing to believe that it was more than concern that he felt, he grabbed her shoulder. She shoved his hand away before he could even blink. Sehun moved back in disbelief when he caught the traces of tears in her eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened?" He'd never ever seen her cry before. And he hated tears more than anything. The first thing that came into his mind was someone had gotten hurt. "Is your family all right? Irene noona?"

At that, Jisoo's bottom lip began to tremble. Why would that be the first thing he asked? Wasn't it obvious from her face? When she stared at herself in the mirror, all she saw was heartbreak written all over it. "You're so weird!" She cried, covering her face with her hands. "Why would you ask that first?"

Sehun shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly realizing his mistake. It had to be something related to Suho. Of course. How stupid could he be to miss that completely? It was just that the last time he'd seen someone look that devastated was when Minhee had died. He shut his eyes momentarily, pushing the thought away, then looked back at Jisoo. "What did Boss do now?"

Jisoo grabbed the handkerchief he pushed against her hand and violently wiped away her tears. She would stop crying over him. She had to. There was just no point in it. As she sniffled, she admitted to herself that it really wasn't Suho she was crying about anymore. Over the last two days, she felt all her self-worth vanish. There was a dreadful sense of hopelessness hovering inside her and it fuelled the tears.

When she dried her eyes and finally looked up, her eyes met his. Her heart jerked in response, and afraid of what that was, she looked away and fisted the handkerchief in her hand.

"He really took me for granted. And I was really stupid to believe in…" She couldn't even finish the thought. "I just…I might end up drowning in my sorrows again before this day is over. Can you keep my mind off it somehow?"

Immediately he thought of a way. "If I catch you bawling your eyes out or even let one teardrop fall, you have to sing a song. A really, really embarrassing song right there." He pointed to the middle area of their floor, where many people often crossed paths. "And you have to sing it loudly, with passion. I get to pick the song."

Losing track of her pessimistic thoughts, Jisoo blew her nose, then said, "No."

"What do you mean 'no'? You just asked me to get your mind off it. Let's make it a deal. If you go all day, that's eight hours, without crying, I'll owe you."

She paused for a moment and mulled it over. "You were joking about those tickets to Hawaii, right?"

Sehun blinked at the sudden question and then began to laugh. "Sadly, yes. Look, I'll buy you whatever you want. How's that?"

For some reason, she felt her spirits brighten up a little. It made her realize just how badly she needed someone to understand and take care of her right at that moment. Why Sehun ended up being the one to do so, she couldn't comprehend and frankly had no energy to try. "Okay." With hesitation, she then continued by murmuring, "Thanks, Sehun."

Still unnerved by the way she looked right now, he turned away and went back to his desk without saying another word.

...

The day ended and Jisoo was glad to say that she shed no single tear since that morning outburst. Oh she might've felt rotten emotions tumbling to the surface when Suho would walk past her. But like Sehun said, she kept the deal in mind, and the last thing she needed was self-inflicted humiliation.

It was just sad how different Suho was. She had seen a side of him no one in the office knew about. As much as it hurt, she was glad for it; she would no longer be duped by that perfect image he liked showing to everyone. Of course, she understood the need to maintain some kind of persona in front of others. She had her own pride too. But there was such a thing as taking it too far to the point of projecting someone completely separate from your own true identity, and he certainly had done it in front of her.

Jisoo stood and stretched her back. Reminded of Sehun, she glanced over and noted that his chair was empty despite the disorganized pile of papers and folders on his desk. She then scanned the office and saw him hanging out at the kitchen.

After packing up all her things, she walked to the kitchen with her purse in tow. Sehun was looking out the window while drinking a bottle of cold water. Watching him now, she felt that uncomfortable tug in her heart. The look in his eyes seemed to reflect sadness, for some odd reason.

"I didn't cry."

At that, he turned. It was funny how fast his facial expression could change so quickly. Sehun grinned. "I guess I owe you then."

Jisoo automatically held the handkerchief in her pocket and held onto it tightly. "I really needed that today." She sat down on one of the bar stools at the counter. From the kitchen window, she could see that the sun was still shining even though it was already evening. "I asked myself over and over again, why don't some relationships work? I thought…if you wanted something badly enough, it would come to you."

It was a rare moment, the two of them sharing a thoughtful conversation.

"Sometimes it's out of your control." He turned back to the window again. Minhee had been a special woman in his life and no matter how much he loved her, she didn't return the feelings. He couldn't do anything about that, could he?

"I don't know why I'm telling you this. I'm probably just really depressed right now," she began with a sad smile. "I've never fallen in love. I thought I was, with Suho. Then he turned out to be someone completely different. A lot of it is my fault. I really made him out to be some kind of fairy-tale prince in my head."

Sehun didn't have to look at her to discern how she was feeling.

Feeling an urge to comfort her, he offered some kind words. "You'll meet somebody again, as loud as you are. I mean, I guess you have some other qualities to offset that mouth." He said with a smile. "But here's an advice. Lower your expectations. Otherwise, you really won't find anybody out there. There's no prince charming in this world, I can tell you that."

Why did Sehun keep surprising her like this? The last person she had expected to give her the comfort she needed was him, and yet here he was, returning the hope that she felt like she'd lost. Sehun had a caring side that she was fortunate enough to see. All this time, she must have been taking his jokes too seriously after all.

"Have you fallen in love?"

At the question, Sehun met her gaze. Then he slowly nodded.

An odd feeling passed through her. "You broke up?"

"No, we never ended up together. It was one-sided."

For some reason, she imagined he would've fought for a girl he really loved. She then stood up and buried his handkerchief back into her pocket. She didn't want to give it back; not yet. She felt like she saw that other side of him again; not the Sehun who taunted and teased incessantly, but rather, the one who'd taken care of her blisters and cheered her up when she was down. He'd comforted her more than he knew, and it wasn't just from the encouraging words or the available ear.

Baffled by the sudden pounding in her chest, Jisoo stood. "I'm going home."

"See you tomorrow."

She smiled briefly before walking out of the kitchen. When he was left alone, Sehun took another gulp of his cold water. He refused to accept the fact that this woman was starting to stir something in him he'd been fighting like hell to protect.

But as he watched her walk to the elevator, he was worried something had changed in their relationship that day.

.............

Exhausted, Sehun sat on an empty bench by the park. It was yet another sunny morning and he had decided to take advantage and run three miles before going to work. Summer was probably his favourite season, so it was a little disappointing to see time go by fast. It was already mid-July.

As he watched people and dogs pass him by, he began to wonder what Jisoo was doing right now. Probably sleeping, he mused. She'd had an awful week, he knew. From the lack of communication between her and Suho and the hard projects that suddenly just started piling up on her desk, he figured there was a sense of bitterness between them and probably the need for revenge, for Suho at least.

Sehun caught himself. Why was he even thinking about that? It wasn't his problem. She wasn't his problem. He'd never thought of her outside of work before. He wasn't interested in Jisoo that way. Yeah, it was just natural concern over how depressed she'd looked the past week. That's all. Suddenly annoyed, he got up and began to run.

Maybe it was time to start dating again. He'd taken a six-month-long hiatus from the dating scene, so he was just missing a warm woman's company. That was all it was, he repeated to himself. Just because Jisoo seemed to be on his mind more often than before didn't mean anything at all. It was perfectly normal if you thought about it, considering how he worked and interacted with her every damn day.

Give me a break. She's not my type anyway.

:::::::::

Friday mornings were a pain. It was the end of the week and people still had to wake up early and work like a slave for 8 hours. It wasn't a surprise that on the last day of the week, every worker was more agitated and less able to focus on what needed to be done. Jisoo was no exception. In fact, she was quite the example of what a lacklustre worker would be on a Friday. After two weeks of hell, she just wanted two days to clear her mind and start afresh.

When she got into the office building, Jisoo mentally counted the number of deadlines she had to meet by the day's end. Even before stepping foot into her floor, she could feel her stress level rise. While in the midst of deciding what project to tackle first, something caught her eye. Sehun was laughing with a female co-worker Jisoo recognized to be Kim Eunji. She was one of the newer employees working a floor above theirs.

She didn't know why it irked her, watching Eunji lean nonchalantly against the divider between her and Sehun's desk. Jisoo pursed her lips and decided to act civil, even though the sight of the two of them flirting so transparently in public brought a slight feeling of antipathy in her heart.

"Good morning."

Sehun and Eunji turned. "Good morning, Jisoo! Oh, is this your desk? Sorry," Eunji laughed in apology as she grabbed the coffee cup she'd placed on Jisoo's desk.

After a pause, Jisoo looked up and sent her a small, vague smile. "That's fine."