Whatever excitement of finally being able to leave the office waned after a few months as Seulgi found herself wanting to return to her desk more and more. Work was starting to pile up thanks to new company engagements their boss had worked hard to secure in the last few months and Seulgi was starting to tire from the repetitive nature of their work.

Their fieldwork schedule was also gradually becoming more and more hectic to say the least and the Super Rookies trio were just about at their limit. They had been going on fieldwork non-stop for a few weeks consecutively, all quite a distance away from where their office resided and the commute plus the workload was taking a toll on them.

Jessica had recognised the signs of fatigue they were giving out and benched them at the very first opportunity she could. Seulgi all but skipped to work in delight that Monday, having missed her desk and their quaint, little office. It was almost like coming home, a sentiment that both Seungwan and Joy shared.

Seulgi plopped down on her seat unceremoniously with a sigh and folded her arms on her desk, resting her head on them, smiling contently.

“Are you that happy to be back?” Joy, whose seat was opposite Seulgi’s, asked.

“Yeah. I mean, I complained a lot about being stuck at this desk at first but now, man am I glad to be back.”

“I know what you mean,” said Seungwan who just arrived, “I missed my desk a lot too. At least now we can take it easy a little - do some housekeeping, filing, maybe read an old case file or two. I got the best sleep in a while last weekend because there weren’t any pending working papers to worry about.”

“Ugh don’t remind me of the working papers, please.” Joy made a face. “Seohyun just reviewed mine last Friday and sent them back with a tonne of review points. I’m going to be spending the entire week clearing them.”

“I know, you told me. Which is why I made you these!” Seungwan ped her bag to produce a small, brown paper bag. Joy seemed to already know what the contents were because she accepted it with much glee. Seungwan then took out another one and handed it to Seulgi. “Here’s some for you, too!”

“Thank you. What’s inside?”

“CUPCAKES!!” Joy settled the bag on her desk and pulled Seungwan into a bone-crushing hug, nuzzling into the latter’s neck instantly. “You’re the best!!!”

“You always get into a mood whenever you have to clear those review points so I thought these might make you less grumpy.” Seungwan patted Joy’s back and pulled away.

“You’re in for a treat, Seulgi! Seungwan makes the best cupcakes. You won’t want to buy any from bakeries anymore after this!” Joy gushed and Seungwan went into an adorable shade of pink.

And they were really that good.

***

The week they were benched passed slowly and it was exactly what Seulgi had wanted it to be. None of their seniors seemed to have needed their help with anything so Seulgi had taken it upon herself to study an old case file to pass time, but she wasn't actually going read it, she just needed something on her desk and in her hand for it to seem like she was doing something. She figured she deserved a bit of rest after the hectic weeks they had. Even Seungwan and Joy were doing the same. Seulgi later found out that it was a norm in their line of work - it was called ‘The Art of Acting Busy - How to Avoid Being Given Jobs’.

All was calm and peaceful until Jessica had informed them via email that they were going on a new fieldwork with Seohyun as their leader in two weeks and reminded them to use their free time wisely. In other words, to read up and prepare. Seulgi’s eyes widened when she read the client’s name and the department they were going to work on, the Procurement Department of CCSJ Corp, also known as Ms Bae’s department, who was Seulgi’s biggest distraction.

Seungwan nudged Joy when she saw that Seulgi had been staring at her laptop screen unmoving for quite a bit. It was as if her brain had crashed and rebooting was taking a long time. Joy waved her hand in front of Seulgi to catch her attention but she didn’t even blinked.

“I think she’s still buffering, Joy.”

“I think so, too. Seulgi? Earth to Seulgi? Hello?” Joy waved a few more times and Seulgi finally noticed them.

“Huh? Oh sorry guys. Were you saying something?”

“Yeah. Did you get Jessica’s email? We’re going out again in a couple of weeks to a new place.”

“I got it. And it’s the place that I went with her to a few months back for the high risk assessment interview thing.”

Seungwan had a moment of enlightenment.

“Oh! Ms Bae?”

“Miss who?”

“Ms Bae. Apparently she’s this very pretty girl who works there and Seulgi went on two lunch dates with her!”

Seulgi explained again and again that they were just two very regular people who had lunch together but Joy was not in the mood to listen and proceeded to tease the poor girl endlessly about Ms Bae - asking if Seulgi had missed her in the past few months, if she had tried to keep in touch and what not. Seungwan was just enjoying the spectacle and didn’t realise that they were causing a scene until Taeyeon had cleared .

“Do you three have something to share with us? What is this about lunch and a ‘Ms Bae’?”

Taeyeon calmly asked while the other occupants in the room had turned their attention away from their work and towards their supervisor and the Super Rookies.

“Oh, Seulgi has a crush on somebody called Ms Bae from CCSJ.” Joy nonchalantly told Taeyeon and Seulgi wished that the floor would swallow her up. To her surprise, instead of giving Seulgi a lecture about being professional, Taeyeon threw her head back and burst into a hearty laugh, Jessica frowning in disapproval from her seat.

“Of course you would, Seulgi-ah! It’s ok I don’t blame you though, nobody can resist my cousin.”

Seulgi’s eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of their sockets after hearing Taeyeon’s revelation.That made Taeyeon laugh even more and pretty soon everybody was laughing at how ridiculous the situation was.

“Sica yah! You didn’t tell her?” Taeyeon turned to Jessica, looking at her incredulously.

“It wasn’t even relevant to the job scope. I didn’t see the point in letting her know. Besides,” Jessica made eye contact with Seulgi and she gulped. She knew whatever Jessica was going to say next would not be good for her. “Seulgi was probably too busy ogling her to realise. She even scored two lunch dates with her that week, didn’t you, Seulgi?” Jessica finished very smugly.

A whistle was heard, followed by a “damn girl, you got game!” and the whole office roared with laughter once more.

“For the last time, it was NOT a date!”

***

Seulgi was stressing herself out with the fieldwork to CCSJ because Jessica was their supervisor instead of Taeyeon. She would’ve preferred the latter since Taeyeon was more relaxed and carefree but since there was an issue about related parties, their boss had forbad Taeyeon to supervise her team and told Jessica to do it instead.

With Jessica personally overseeing the fieldwork to CCSJ, Seulgi felt slightly more pressured compared to her previous outings with Taeyeon. Jessica would be expecting Seulgi to know how the department worked since she had sat in on all the interviews a few months before. Seohyun seemed to had read her mind and cornered her before the fieldwork began.

“Seulgi, why do you look so stressed? The fieldwork hasn’t even started yet and I’m the team leader. I should be the one who is supposed to be stressed, not my assistant. Are you afraid of me?”

“N-no! It’s just I feel like there are things that I should know since I’ve been there before and I don’t want to disappoint you or Jessica so I guess I’ve been a little hard on myself.”

“A little? Seulgi, you’ve been very hard on yourself. Please take it easy. Ok?”

“Ok.”

“Besides, you have Seungwan and Joy with you. There’s nothing to worry about.”

True enough, there was nothing to worry about. The fieldwork was off to a good start. They had conducted an opening meeting with Mr Jung to discuss the work scope of the departmental review and despite being difficult during the risk assessment interview, Mr Jung seemed to have been placated and was actually cooperating with them - providing them any sort of documents that were requested and answers to any sort of questions asked. He even had directed them to their documents storage room where the rookies trio set to work immediately, picking out whichever files that were needed and transferring them to the conference room that would be their work base for the coming week or two.

Seulgi was in the copy room with Joy, with Seulgi prying off staplers from the stacks of documents and passing them to the latter to be copied. They were working in relative peace until a voice bellowed Seulgi’s name from outside the tiny room.

“Seulgi!”

The two rookie consultants turned to the door to see a girl waving at them. Joy’s eyebrows furrowed, confused as to who that person was until it occurred to her that it must be the infamous Ms Bae. Seulgi confirmed her suspicions instantly.

“Ms Bae. Nice to see you again.”

“It sure is.”

She was leaning against the doorframe at that point, arms folded, looking amused as she caught Seulgi trying hard not to stare at her, not that Seulgi noticed.

Goodness, she got even more adorable.

“And who might you be?” Ms Bae turned her attention to Joy.

“Park Sooyoung but please call me Joy. Pleasure to meet you, Ms Bae.”

“You seem to have heard of me. What have you been telling them back at your office, Seulgi-ah?” Ms Bae teased. “All good things, I hope?”

There it was again, Seulgi wanted to tell Joy and to point accusingly at Ms Bae, th-that thing she did with her eyebrows when she spoke. It was infuriating this time around because she looked so smug.

“Only the best, Ms Bae. Our Seulgi is very fond of you.” Joy seemed to have caught wind of Ms Bae’s intentions and joined in.

I’m going to murder this giant later no matter what Seungwan says!

“Really now? That’s good to hear. Seulgi, why didn’t you tell me you were coming for the review? I thought they were sending some other consultants over, somebody called Seohyun?”

“Th-that’s our team leader, Ms Bae. She’s the one who has been coordinating with you guys for this review.” Seulgi explained while Joy, who was clearly entertained by the whole situation, watched silently. The flustered girl was slowly turning red, much to Joy’s delight.

“Fine. Next time let me know alright? We can have lunch again or something.”

Seulgi went a shade redder.

“Eh? Uhm...”

“I mean it, Seulgi. You have my card. Use it.”

And with that, she walked off, leaving Seulgi behind to deal with whatever teasing Joy was about to unleash on her. When Seulgi was both sure that Ms Bae was a good distance away, Joy squealed with, well, joy.

“Seulgi! Oh my god, Seulgi! Did you just hear what she said?”

“Wha-what? Huh? What just happened?” Seulgi was still processing what had happened.

“She totally said to call her. Seulgi, do you know what this means?!” Joy was clearly having too much fun.

“I..uh..uhm..yes? I’m not sure? Maybe she didn't mean it that way? I mean, we barely know each other.”

“Oh my god you are so dense! Fine. We’ll ask Seungwan and Seohyun for their opinions later.”

Seulgi could only stare at Joy, mouth agape.

---

“...did you just roll your eyes at me?”

“What? Oh come on, it was so obvious she meant it that way!”

---

Unfortunately for Seulgi, the fieldwork was almost ending and she had barely seen Ms Bae after that incident in the copy room. Heck, to even bump into her while walking around the office proved to be a challenge of its own, which was ridiculous when her desk was literally right outside the conference room they were using.

The assistant manager, it turned out, was constantly being tied up by meetings with their suppliers day after day that week, negotiating for bulk purchases for an upcoming company project. It seemed that Mr Jung had ordered her to attend on his behalf while he had to entertain the team of consultants who were conducting their review that same week. Seulgi wanted to ram her head against the wall in frustration when she found out.

“Aaaw there there, Seulgi. There’s always next time!” Seungwan tried to cheer her up.

“Yea! And it’s not like you have to wait till the next review to see her. You can, oh I don’t know, give her a call?” Joy said matter-of-factly, earning herself a glare from Seulgi.

“Why am I friends with you again?”

“Because I’m awesome and you know it.” Joy replied smugly.

“Girls, might I remind you that we are still on the clock? Please be professional, at least for the next 15 minutes.” Jessica reminded the trio while tipping her pen towards the wall clock in the room.

They immediately quieted down and went back to their work, checking their respective working papers for errors and making sure their explanation sufficed to avoid an onslaught of review points from their team leader afterwards.

Working papers were the bane of their existence, Seulgi thought. Initially she had wondered why Seungwan and Joy would complain about them because it all sounded very simple. All they had to do was transfer the information in the documents into some tables drawn up in an Excel spreadsheet. It wasn’t until when Taeyeon had returned her working papers with an obscene amount of review points did she understand why her two friends had complained so much. Clearing them was a huge pain in the .

Seohyun, who left the room earlier for a discussion with Mr Jung, returned much later, apologising profusely for taking so long. Jessica had brushed it off because she was just doing what was needed to be done, there was nothing to apologise for. Seohyun nodded but looked apologetically at the Super Rookies because they were obviously hungry and tired after a long day of work.

“Let’s grab dinner before we head home. What do you girls think?” Seohyun suggested as they were waiting for the elevator.

“I’m ok with it. Joy? Seulgi?” Seungwan asked her fellow rookies.

“We’re cool with it.”

“Alright. Jessica? Do you want to join us for dinner?”

“Sorry but I’ll sit this one out. I’ve already promised to have dinner with Taeyeon today.”

Just as the elevator door opened, Seulgi gasped.

“Guys, I think I left something back in the conference room. I’ll meet you guys at the lobby!”

“Ok, don’t take too long.”

Seulgi turned to her heels and headed back to their work base with great haste. She sighed in relief when she saw that her wallet was still sitting on the table, exactly where she left it when they got back from lunch earlier. She quickly stuffed it into her bag and left the room only to freeze completely when she stepped out because there she was, the elusive Ms Bae that she had missed the entire week, was packing up her things to go home, too.

“Seulgi? I thought all of you left already.”

“Ms Bae..I mean..Irene” Seulgi corrected herself when she saw a frown forming. “I left my wallet behind just now. Everybody else is waiting for me at the lobby.”

“Ah. Alright then. Shall we?”

“Shall we what?”

“Shall we go? Unless you want to stay here for a while longer? I don’t recommend it though, we’re the last ones here.”

“Oh! Go. Right. Yes! Let’s go. Elevator’s this way.” Seulgi pointed to the way she came in and Irene chuckled at the bumbling girl.

“Yes, I know. I’ve been working here for the last five years or so.”

“Oh! Right. Yes, silly me. Uhm..let’s go?”

Irene giggled this time.

“Yes, let’s go. Lead the way, Seulgi ah.”

***

When Seulgi and Irene stepped out of the elevator together, several pairs of brows were raised and Seulgi groaned internally. She was not prepared for another round of teasing especially if it was going to happen right in front of Irene. Thankfully, everybody kept quiet while Irene brisked pass them towards the door. She was about to push the glass door open when she heard her name.

“Irene?”

Turning around, she was greeted by the sight of a blushing Seulgi and her snickering colleagues. It was quite easy to guess what was going to happen next.

“Yes?” Irene raised a brow and Seulgi faltered slightly.

She has got to stop doing that eyebrow thing!

“Uhm..we’re about to go get dinner and uhm..I was wondering if you would like to join us?” Seulgi had tried to her best to sound confident but it wasn't very convincing. The other three were holding their breaths, silently cheering for their friend.

“I’m sorry, Seulgi-ah. Thank you but I can't tonight.”

“Oh. Uhm..that’s ok. Uhm…”

“I’m free tomorrow though.” She added and Seulgi, for once in her life, understood the hint.

“I’ll call you tomorrow then!”

“Already looking forward to it. See you tomorrow, Seulgi.”

“Okay!”

Irene smiled that bedazzling smile of hers and gave them a little bow before exiting the building. Hearing the faint sounds of cheering as she walked further, she smiled to herself and shook her head.

Not bad, Kang Seulgi. Not bad at all.

---

“Wow. You made the first move?”

“...can you please give me some credit?”

---