Seulgi only managed to boot her computer and set her things down at her desk one Monday morning when the intercom rang, effectively making her jump.

“Kang, has the supplier replied your email regarding the documents? How long has it been since you requested?” Seulgi flinched at the urgency of the caller. It was her boss calling from his office, he must have seen her walking in and timed his call perfectly.

It’s far too early for this.

Seulgi sat down and hastily clicked on her email’s outbox to check on the task. “It’s been about three days, no reply yet so far. I sent them a reminder yesterday.”

“Give them a call. It’s faster.”

“Got it.” She hung up with a sigh and leaned back to stretch. It was definitely too early in the morning for it.

“Was he asking for the documents, again? He knows how difficult it is to get a hold of that particular supplier.” Seulgi’s cubicle mate and senior, Yoona, commented. She had arrived shortly after Seulgi and heard the whole conversation, their boss was known to speak very loudly even over the phone.

Seulgi sighed and went to make herself a cup of coffee in the pantry. Mondays were demotivating enough and if she was going to be spending all morning trying to reach their supplier, she was going to need some caffeine boost.

Yoona patted her back with an encouraging smile when she sat back down at her seat. Giving her friend a not-so-convincing thumbs up, Seulgi sipped her coffee and got to work.

Seulgi absentmindedly drummed the desk as she waited for somebody to pick up the phone, she had been on hold for at least ten minutes now and was getting impatient. Her previous four tries ended with her hanging up in frustration. She was about to hang up again when the music on hold stopped and a voice came through.

“Hello?”

Sitting upright, Seulgi cleared and got to work. “Hello, is this the billing department? This is Kang Seulgi from RFD1 Inc., I’m calling to ask-” Seulgi paused when she realised the person on the other end of the call had gone silent. “Hello? Is anybody there?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I’m a little confused.”

“Huh?”

“I’m trying to call the billing department, too. This is Irene Bae from TPV and Co.”

“Oh…” Seulgi laughed awkwardly. “I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have just blurted everything out like that. This is awkward.”

“A little but I’m sure things like this happen all the time.” Irene reassured her, obviously trying to make Seulgi feel better and less embarrassed.

The two of them talked for a little longer on the phone, mostly small talk and comparing war stories of their previous attempts to reach the elusive supplier. Yoona eyed Seulgi suspiciously when she finally hung up. Crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, she raised a brow at Seulgi, who blinked innocently back at her.

“Seulgi, why is your face like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like that. All smiley.”

“Oh..I just thought it was really funny.”

“Riiiiiight...”

“...and that Irene girl sounded really pretty.”

“That’s what I thought.”

***

Irene sat her things down on one of the tables in the pantry and sat down with a groan. Her friend and teammate, Joy, placed her things down, too, and made a beeline to the coffee vending machine. They were taking a short break in between meetings.

“Get me one, too, Sooyoung ah.”

“Got it, grandma. You just rest there.” Irene rolled her eyes at Joy’s teasing. “You seem to be in a good mood during the meeting.” Joy eyed her friend suspiciously as she handed Irene her coffee. “Negotiations went well with the supplier?”

“No, it’s a long story.” Irene waved Joy’s question away and looked at the papers she had with her, preparing for the next meeting.

Joy wasn’t going to back down that easily. “Then why are you in a good mood hmm~?”

“They connected my line to some random girl earlier.” Irene shrugged and chugged her can of coffee and casually tossed it into the recycling bin behind her.

“Good aim.”

“Thanks. I need to run, got another meeting to attend.” Irene stood up to straighten her skirt before gathering her things to do. As she breezed past Joy, the latter playfully slapped her behind, causing Irene to yelp.

“You’re telling me all about this during lunch later! Don’t think I’m letting you off this easily!”

“Damn it, Park Sooyoung!” Irene stuck her tongue out at Joy.

Irene managed to escape Joy for the rest of the day as she was swarmed with endless meetings and Joy had graciously left her alone to get work done. Irene loved her friend but sometimes she just wanted to strangle that giant.

Lunch the following day was such a time.

Joy had set her bento down just as Irene was about to start on hers. Seeing the gleam in Joy’s eyes, Irene sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Ms Park? What can I do for you today?”

“Don’t ‘yes?’ me! You know what I’m gonna ask!”

Irene sighed again, already regretting mentioning Seulgi the day before. Joy had the tendency to get a little over excited about Irene meeting new people because she was a homebody and didn’t go out very often.

“Whoa…” Joy managed to say as Irene finished her short story about yesterday’s incident. “Yah, this might be a sign!”

“A sign?!!” Irene almost choked on her rice. “Or you know, it might be just another regular mishap. It happens, you know?”

“Uhm...no? It doesn’t? I’ve never heard of it happening before.” Joy fished out her phone from her pocket. “What did you say her name was again? And where was she calling from?”

Irene rolled her eyes. It was going to be a long lunch break.

---

TBC