"Hey, Hyejin," Jinkyung said as she slid down into her seat. 

"Hello," Hyejin smiled, minimizing the Internet browser with the unfinished entry on her blog in one of the tabs in a quick click from the shock. She hadn't expected that Jinkyung would return so soon with Chen. If she had, she wouldn't have searched for ways to feel better there and then. 

Well, she still might have done that, to be honest with herself. After all, it was proving to be a horrible day for Hyejin because of the straining feeling in her heart. 

"Chaeyoung and Taehwan aren't back yet, huh?" Jinkyung glanced around the mostly empty office. 

"Nope, Taehwan just messaged to tell me that they were stuck in a jam," Hyejin replied. 

"Do you think they'll be back in time for us to go for the company dinner together? I mean, with Taehwan the chatterbox it'll be less awkward in Jongdae's car later when he drives us over, although honestly Jongdae is a chatterbox as well. Wait, you do know Jongdae's giving us a lift right? Like, because he'll be there as well." 

Ah. The company dinner. Hyejin almost forgot — but of course she didn't say that. "Yup, I know that," she said — and it wasn't technically a lie. She did know, she just forgot. "But I think they'll be back. How far is it from here to Seongdong? Probably less than an hour's journey, right?" 

"Yeah, probably," Jinkyung nodded, then locked her eyes on Hyejin's computer screen. Just when Hyejin was about to clear to reduce the awkwardness of the sudden silence, Jinkyung asked, "What were you doing just now?" 

"H-Huh?" Hyejin's eyes widened. She ended up choking on her saliva. 

"Like, what were you typing out just now before you closed the tab? I thought I saw something about moral correctness and self-esteem or something." 

"Oh, ah," Hyejin swallowed. "I-I was writing an entry on my blog." 

"About… moral correctness?" Jinkyung raised an eyebrow at Hyejin. She nodded — anything could go for now. 

"Seriously?" Jinkyung burst out into short peals of laughter. 

"Yeah," Hyejin lied, unsure of what to make out of the situation. 

"Sorry for laughing," Jinkyung said as she tried to keep back her composure. "It's just that I thought you were doing work and turns out you're blogging about a random topic like this. I thought you were hardworking to stay back for lunch just to complete your work. You know, If I were you, I would definitely actually be doing work — no offence, though." 

Oh. 

"N-None taken." Hyejin forced out a smile and hoped it didn't look too coerced. At that moment, she felt it would be better if the floor just opened up and swallowed her whole. 

You do not feel stupid, Hwang Hyejin, you do not, she told herself continuously, and ended up being amused even at herself for overreacting. 

She tried to concentrate on her work the next few hours or so, but it was tough when her brain was messing with her real bad — it told her she wasn't good enough to be in WS Group, and that she had to stop trying so hard because she'd never be like Jinkyung, or even Chaeyoung who was from KAIST — the elite Science university of Korea — and was working for her Master's degree. 

Hwang Hyejin, she thought. Average economic status. Average number of friends. Average looks. Average grades. If you averaged that out, she would just be average. 

Was it bad? 

Honestly, she hated herself for thinking like this. Hyejin believed she was strong, but now as she moved on to a new environment, realised she pretty much wasn't. She had let the walls which once guarded her from feeling weak crumble down. Was this self-pity? 

"No, stop," Hyejin muttered, then let out a soft confused chuckle. What was up with her today? 

______________________________________

Somehow, Hyejin managed to finish the tasks set for the day. Taehwan and Chaeyoung returned just when they were about to set off, and the four of them plus Chen left for the company dinner in Chen's car, which was a sleek, imported one that didn't look cheap. 

"Woah, Jongdae! Are you some rich man's son or something?" Taehwan asked as he the smooth black paint of the car door in awe. "Isn't this model really expensive? Ah, did your father get it for you to celebrate your Twentieth Anniversary of Knowing How to Swim or something?" 

Jongdae put one arm around Taehwan's shoulder and neck, strangling him, and used his other to whack Taehwan's head playfully for making a stupid joke like that. "Excuse me, don't make me out to be such a freeloading, pampered guy, okay? I saved up for a seriously long time just to pay the down payment for this car." 

"So you are a rich man's son, then?" Chaeyoung sqeaked, and automatically everyone's heads turned to her. She hardly spoke in the beginning, and now everyone was glad she was finally opening up a little, even though all her words came out in meek squeaks. Chaeyoung would get over that phase soon, everyone knew. 

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Chen teased ambiguously, then unlocked the car, making big gestures to get them all into the automobile quickly. "You guys, seriously… Don't you think it'll look bad if our team is the only one that turns up late? Why are we talking about useless stuff out here like this?" 

Jinkyung, Taehwan and Chaeyoung filed into the car one after another, and when it was Hyejin's turn there wasn't much remaining space at the back. 

"Sorry," Jinkyung mumbled, but one could tell her apology was sincere. "Guess you'll have to sit in the front this time." 

"Hey, is sitting in the front with me that bad? You're making it out to be a horrible thing," Chen shook his head at Jinkyung jokingly. "Jasmine Princess, you don't mind sitting next to me in front, right?" 

"Jasmine Princess..?" Taehwan asked, laughing at its incredulity. 

"Well, Hyejin goes around smelling like a flower garland," Chen put his arm on Hyejin's shoulder. "So, Jasmine Princess, you don't mind, right?" 

Hyejin shook her head. "I don't mind." She did, but it was okay. 

As soon as she got into the car, she buckled her seatbelt and looked out of the window even though there wasn't anything much to view in the office carpark, propping one elbow on the car door and resting her head on it. The car engine whirred into life and she sat still and quiet while listening to the friendly conversations going on at the back. 

"Guys! Are you leaving Hyejin and I out in your conversation? That's mean," Chen joked. "Let's talk about stuff together. Like, to know each other better." 

"Okay! What are your favourite foods? Three, two, one!" Taehwan said. 

"Jjajangmyeon!" "Korean beef!" "Army Stew!" "Ox Bone Soup!" The five said simultaneously. 

"Aye, Jasmine! I like Ox Bone Soup too! High-five," Chen said as he lifted one hand off the steering wheel and, without taking his eyes off the road, raised his hand for a high-five. 

"I like my mum's Ox Bone Soup the most," Hyejin beamed, returning the high-five. 

"Hmm. Okay. List your best friends," Chen said. 

"That's such a dumb question," Taehwan rolled his eyes and chuckled. 

"I know. That's why I asked," Chen grinned, then pointed to Chaeyoung. "Want to start?" 

"Alright then. I'm best friends with two other girls called Dahyun and Nayeon. They're from my neighbourhood and we grew up together," Chaeyoung said softly, then let out a delicate smile. 

"My best friend is probably this guy called Kangjoon. I mean, we do crazy stuff together like taking the subway to the other end of the line and back again just for fun," Taehwan grinned. 

"My best friends are probably my roommates from when I was studying overseas. Especially since it was tough there knowing nobody and missing home but we braved it out together," Jinkyung mused, smiling slightly at her fond memories. 

"For me," Chen said. "They're my friends from middle school and high school, three absolutely mad guys called Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. We still meet up quite often, like tonight after the company dinner we're meeting at my house to catch the big game."

Hyejin knew it was time for her to speak when there was pause after Chen said his piece. "It's my turn, right? Give me a moment," she said, laughing stiffly to get rid of the awkwardness. "I don't know what to talk about." 

"You can just say their names," Jinkyung said. "It's fine!" 

"Ah, their names," Hyejin repeated, nodding. "Their names." 

Who were even her best friends? She realised she hadn't thought about that before. Hyejin did have friends, like a whole bunch of people who ate lunch together with her, studied in the library together, and tagged along when someone wanted something from the mall. But she didn't have a few particular friends that she was especially close to — no one she would have heart-to-heart conversations with, no one she would call at 3am in the morning just to have someone to accompany her to do something dumb, no one she was close enough to go overseas together. 

"I don't really have best friends," Hyejin managed to admit in the end. "But, hey! I'm not a social loser. I have many good friends, just no one I'm extremely close to." 

Was that bad? She asked herself for the umpteenth time that day. 

If only she wasn't so awkward — oh well. For now the people in the car could be her best friends.  

______________________________________

"To the new trainees and to-be employees! Bottoms up!" One of the team leaders of the other teams exclaimed, and everyone raised their soju glasses into the air, cheering. 

After they had all taken a sip, Hyejin glanced around and seemed like she was hit by a sudden thought. "Are you the youngest out of all these team leaders?" She asked, looking directly at Jongdae. 

"I look the youngest, don't I? Yeah, I am," Jongdae beamed. 

"President's son confirmed," Taehwan said, nodding his head. 

"Lee Taehwan, I'm going to make you pee in your pants for the first time if you don't stop this nonsense." Jongdae cracked his knuckles, then fisted both of his hands at Taehwan, who pretended to flinch and be scared. 

He turned back to Hyejin, doing what he thought looked like a cool pose. "It's not hereditary. It's pure intelligence and hard work." Jongdae wiggled his eyebrows, and Hyejin found herself rolling her eyes and snorting to herself. 

"Intelligence," she repeated, then nodded slowly. 

"It's true! Believe me," he pressed. "I'm a smart chap." 

She flipped the pieces of meat on the grill, pressing them down to cook them faster. Jongdae later helped, using tongs to check their doneness and giving them out to the trainees in his group. 

"Why do you girls eat so little? You should watch Taehwan and learn," Jongdae nudged the man who was stuffing mounds of meat into his mouth, relishing its taste even when he had to cool the meat pieces after he had put them into his mouth. 

Jongdae took three pieces of meat and gave one piece each to Jinkyung, Chaeyoung and Hyejin. "Jasmine-ah, leave the rest to me. You should eat first." He took the tongs away from Hyejin and started to cook the meat by himself. 

The girls sure did have a small appetite, especially that Hyejin. She was hardly eating much, and when she did she took only small nibbles, mostly looking down at her plate and playing with the remaining meat, rearranging them continuously. Was she okay? Jongdae watched her. Her body language showed she was feeling upset about something, like in the car she slumped down into her seat, but when he watched Hyejin as she conversed with the other trainees, she had a smile on her face most of the time. 

She was probably just tired, Jongdae decided in the end. Did he give her too much work? 

"Hey, eat more. You're eating the least," Jongdae told Hyejin, giving her a few more pieces of meat. "Do you not like meat or something?"

"No, I do! It's just… I'm not very hungry," she said. 

"But you didn't eat lunch either, right? You were in the office when me and Jinkyung went to eat at the office canteen," he asked, this time a bit more concerned. 

"Yeah, but it's okay. I think it'll go away tomorrow — I mean, it should. I'm usually a ravenous creature." 

"Are you stressed?" 

"Nah." 

"Hey, tell the truth. If you're really stressed you have to speak up, you know? I can control your workload." 

"No, I'm okay," Hyejin looked up into Jongdae's eyes, then gave him a small smile. "Really." 

Jongdae didn't know whether to believe her or not but he just left it as that. If she still continued not eating, he would do something. 

It was around half-past ten when they finished their dinner and started to leave, and Chanyeol was already sending crazy messages to Jongdae to ask him to hurry and drive over to meet them at the supermarket nearest to his house. Apparently, Baekhyun was suddenly hungry and craving for Kyungsoo's food and only Kyungsoo's food (typical Baekhyun, Jongdae sighed). That's why the three of them ended up at a supermarket, getting ingredients at one and a half hour to midnight. 

Jongdae made it in time to find Chanyeol and Kyungsoo bickering over which brand of sauce they should buy and Baekhyun prancing around in the other aisle, grabbing random chocolate bars and boxes of coffee and putting them into the cart. 

"Byun Baekhyun!" Jongdae gave him a high-five as a greeting, then looked down at the basket full of Baekhyun-style junk and sighed. 

"What?" Baekhyun blinked innocently at Jongdae. "Anyway I'm not the one paying for these." 

"Very nice, Byun Baek." Jongdae paused, then had a twinkle in his eye. "So who is?" His lips curved into a smile. 

"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun chirped, piling more chocolate bars inside. 

"Okay, pile more," Jongdae approved. "And later if he complains just either make him put it all back by himself or pay for it. I'm a hundred percent sure he'll pay for it because he is a lazy jerk." 

Jongdae glanced around, looking for things he could pile into the cart too. He was tempted to pile random candy and coffee mixes into the basket as well, but he figured the load would probably end up in his own house since he was the one hosting that night's gathering. 

It was then that his eyes locked onto a green box with Chinese words written at the front. Going closer to take a look, he smirked amusedly. He picked up the box and read the ingredient list to confirm that it was really what he thought it would be. 

"Jasmine tea," he read, smiling to himself. Jasmine, like the scent he smelt every day at work, because of that Hyejin. He imagined her reaction when he offered a cup of this tea to her. Would she be surprised? Had she even drunk this tea before? 

He tossed the box into the cart, and Baekhyun immediately took it out. 

"Baek, put it back," Jongdae extended his hand to reach for it. 

Baekhyun examined it, turning the box back and front. "Kim Jongdae, you put only one item in and it's this? Jasmine tea bags? Do you even drink tea? I thought you liked caramel macchiato! And and you even know how to read the Chinese at the front? I know you learnt a bit of Chinese but that doesn't mean you have to go all peaceful and tea on us!" 

"Are you crazy? I bought it not because of that reason, obviously." 

"Then? You are so weird, you dinosaur." 

"It just reminds me of someone," Jongdae said, kicking Baekhyun. "Don't even ask who that person is." He took the box of jasmine tea out of Baekhyun's hands and put it back into the basket. "Now let's go and see whether those two idiots are still fighting over which brand of sauce to use." 

"I thought they were fighting over which cap looked nicer," Baekhyun commented before tagging after Jongdae. 

They walked over to the other aisle, and Jongdae took both bottles of sauce out of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo's hands. 

"You guys," he sighed jokingly as he shook his head. At that time, Kyungsoo had a indignant expression on his face and Chanyeol just a sulky one. 

"Kyung, you're paying for it right?" Jongdae then asked. 

"Yeah! And this stupid jerk keeps using the fact that he's being taller than me as a reason to decide which brand of sauce to use," Kyungsoo poked Chanyeol in the ribs. 

"But it's true! I loom over you," Chanyeol tiptoed over Kyungsoo, and was immediately defeated by a quick punch by Kyungsoo on his side.  

"Which is more expensive?" Jongdae asked, and Kyungsoo pointed to the one on the right. 

"Okay, settled." Baekhyun brought the cart full of junk to where they were and Jongdae tossed the bottle in. "The more expensive one is the better one, right? And you're paying for it so it doesn't matter," Jongdae told Kyungsoo, and made jazz hands at Chanyeol, who was by then overly hyped up. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and said something about giving up but still helped to push the cart. 

When they reached Jongdae's house at long last (after two more arguments about some nitty-gritty details and one escape of Baekhyun when Kyungsoo finally found out about the useless junk Baekhyun had 'forced' him to buy), the boys lay on the sofa lazily, opening the fridge like it was theirs to take out cans of soda and beer. 

Kyungsoo headed to the kitchen and prepared a quick dish, one he could do in less than half the amount of time he spent arguing when Chanyeol over which brand of ingredient to use, and brought it out to the boys who were lounging on the sofa. 

"Here, doggies — your food," he placed the plates on the table and rolled his eyes as the boys devoured the food he cooked, but despite that, a small smile formed on his face. 

"You've eaten more than ten years of my cooking. Aren't you sick of it?" Kyungsoo asked as he squished down into the sofa next to them. There was a muffled sound from one of them, but he couldn't exactly tell who since they were all concentrated on eating. 

Kyungsoo checked his watch, then kicked Jongdae on the . "Guys, the match is starting in like no time at all. I'm going to take away the remainder and never cook for you guys again if you don't watch it together with me." 

The boys sat up immediately. Kyungsoo never joked about such things. Putting one hand under his mouth to prevent the food in his mouth from dropping onto the floor, Chanyeol tried to talk but ended up spewing chewed up meat all over Baekhyun, who stepped on Chanyeol's feet hard in return. 

The game started in a matter of minutes. Cheers resonated through the house as the night got deeper, each cheer louder than the previous, the boys hugging each other when the team they supported scored a goal. The nights they spent watching soccer matches were probably the only times a person wouldn't find them at loggerheads with each other. 

They were friends despite their constant arguments. Best friends.