Chapter 3

Seulgi

This. Is. Not. Happening. Clearly I’m losing my mind. I just need to close my eyes and breathe and then I’ll realize that my new partner is some other ridiculously tall, dopey, gorgeous God. Right.
 
Seulgi squeezed her eyelids shut and, after uttering her hundredth silent prayer, risked a glance to her right. She let out an almost inaudible sigh. No one was there.
 
“Looking for me?” Only Seulgi’s years of extensive training kept her from responding to the low, raspy voice by jumping out of her shoes and making friends with the ceiling tiles some dozen feet above them. Positive that her face hadn’t betrayed her inner turmoil in the slightest, she shot Sehun the most cursory of glances.
 
“Don’t flatter yourself. I saw all I needed to see the other night, Sehunnie. Frankly, I wasn’t that impressed.” She repressed a satisfied grin as she felt, more than saw, the much larger boy flinch beside her.
 
“Hey, wait a second. Are you mad at me? I swear I didn’t know that we were going to be partners last night…” Sehun’s uneven, indisputably hurt voice was enough to give Seulgi pause. But only for a moment.
 
“Mad? Don’t be ridiculous.” her voice, she was sure, was frosty enough to lend his words a nearly-tangible quality; icy projectiles hurled directly at the heart of her new partner. “There wasn’t anything memorable enough about that night to stir within the deepest pits of my soul anything but indifference. As far as I’m concerned, it never happened.”
 
Seulgi turned, her excellent posture never compromised, and took a step away from the now dumbfounded Sehun. In her mind, she viewed herself as the epitome of disinterest and grace as she left her partner quivering in her tracks. A perfect ice princess.
 
In reality, this effect was ruined by Seulgi’s slight limp. A limp which, of ing course, was the result of her wild night in the toilet with none other than Oh Sehun. She balled her hands into small, tight fists and tried to look dignified as she limped away.
 
“Seul! Wait!” The already too familiar voice rolled over her. Dammit.
 
“My name is Seulgi, not Seul. What could you possibly want now, Sehunnie?” She spat without breaking her uneven stride.
 
“Uh… well, I noticed you were limping. I just wanted to make sure that you were… I mean I didn’t… did I?” Seulgi could feel the boy crowding her from behind, too closely shadowing her every step.
 
She spun around. “How very perceptive of you, partner.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You were my first. Okay. Fine. Come to think of it, my most recent toilet you know. I’m fine. Now can we both just focus on work?” Narrowed, icy brown eyes stared Sehun down until he bowed his head in acquiescence.
 
“Good. I’ll see you later for training.”
 
-
 
Seulgi slammed the door to the restroom stall shut behind her.
 
. ing. . She could feel herself worrying away the top layer of skin on his bottom lip. It was one of the first bad habits she had learned to kick during her training. But sometimes, when she was exceedingly and royally stressed, she relapsed. Like now, for instance.
 
Who the hell did this Oh Sehun think he was? Seulgi loved her job. Hell, she basically lived for her job. And she was not about to let some lousy (okay, maybe ing brilliant was a better word, but that’s beside the point DAMMIT) one-night stand jeopardize her years of hard work. She was better than that. Kang Seulgi did not freak out, except when she did.
 
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? Sehun was refusing to meet her own carefully constructed disdain with anything but whole-hearted regard for her well-being. It was sweet and endearing and so freaking attractive that it just wasn’t fair. How was Seulgi supposed to do her job, which required constant composure, with the single most maddening person on the planet as her partner?

She pulled out her phone and typed out a quick message to Wendy, her best friend. So my new partner at work is that guy I ed in the toilet last night…
 
Just sending the text allowed some of the stored up tension in her muscles to dissipate. Wendy was calm and rational, Seulgi’s more grounded