Word count: 4226 words. (very) long chapter ahead lol.

The Solicitation

I had just finished applying my lipstick when I heard the doorbell of my apartment chime. Not a second later, the sound of someone entering my apartment’s passcode also echoed. “Wait a moment Hun!” I hollered when I heard the front door being opened. “I’m almost ready!” I quickly pack my things to my handbag, along an extra bag for my laptop and research notes about my thesis. I sneaked a glance at the clock, it was indeed 10AM.

“How do you know it’s me?” Sehun came into my bedroom. “It could’ve been an intruder,” he muttered under his breath. I rolled my eyes at him, “Only my family and you know the passcode to my apartment, and my family would’ve just barged in without ringing the bell, so it’s no one else but you.”

“Okay, let’s go,” we walked out of my bedroom. As I was wearing my shoes by the foyer, Sehun wordlessly picked up my extra bag that contained my laptop and notes and opened the door for me to go out first. “Thanks,” I murmured. He just hummed and closed the door, making sure that it was already locked. We headed down using the elevator to the basement, where he parked his car.

“You could’ve just call me and wait in the lobby, you know,” I told him. He rolled his eyes at that, “I might end up waiting for 15 minutes or more, and most probably the security guard would’ve told me to scurry off the lobby,” he replied. I slapped his arm at that, while he only laughed hearing my respond.

“How’s your week?” he lifted his hand up above my head, and I just knew that he was going to ruffle my hair. “Don’t you dare,” I glared at him while slapping his hand away. He snickered at my reaction. “Nothing too much, just a few meetings, course planning, working on the research,” I shrugged, answering his question from before. “You?”

“Too much translating,” he groaned. “I should’ve picked my internship place in some university with some Professor like you, instead of a telecommunication company,” he grumbled. It was my turn to snicker, “I told you back then to apply together, but you’re the one who wants to work in a ‘real office’,” I air-quoted what he told me two months prior. “Shut up,” he huffed, making me laugh at his pettiness.

Both Sehun and I were in our last semester in university. As absurd as it was, we had to do both internship and thesis for us to be eligible to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Due to that condition, I thought that it would be best to intern as an Assistant Professor, because I would have more time to work on my thesis, compared to if I work in a corporation.

Sehun, however, thought differently. He was already set to take a master’s degree in business as he was going to take after his father’s position later on, so he thought that it would be better if he started little by little to learn about corporation life, from the bottom. I asked him once on why did he take literature as a bachelor’s degree when he was definitely going into his family’s business later on, but he simply replied that it was his passion, and he was allowed to do it as long as he still take after the family business.

“Come on,” Sehun prodded me to walk out of the elevator. I belatedly realized that we had reached the basement. “The new Stinger?” I raised a brow upon reaching his car. He put my belongings at the backseat as I went in the passenger seat. “Perks of being Kia’s only heir,” I mused while buckling up, after he got in the driver seat. “Shut it,” he buckled up and started the engine. “It’s not like you’re not part of the circle,” he retorted. “Just drive,” I rolled my eyes. “Of course, young miss,” I could hear the playfulness in his voice. “Are we going to the Korean Air main office?” I slapped his thigh, and he finally started driving while laughing at my reaction.

“Where are we going, by the way?” I asked once we hit the main road and after he calmed down. “I was thinking for a classic place like IKEA, but today’s a Saturday,” he started. “Never go to IKEA on a Saturday,” I snorted. And I meant it, because the crowd was unbearable on weekends. “Any other place?” I asked him again. “Well if we’re avoiding crowded places, that means we’ll have to avoid malls and markets” he continued. “But then again that means the only places left are campus towns- and Kyunghee’s campus town is the best.”

I thought for a bit while looking at the map on my phone. “Let’s just go to Lotte Mall, we can just look for a café there,” I concluded. I did not hate campus towns, but it was the weekends, and I just wanted to look for other places that was nowhere near my workplace. Sehun just hummed and drove to the said destination. Both of us simply enjoyed to the music that played through the audio system, which is on shuffle of the trending Western music. It was not until when we have entered Seodun district when Sehun started speaking again.

“Right, do you get the invitation for Samsung’s launching party next month?” he asked. “Obviously,” I snorted at that. “My sister is dating Kim Jongdae, remember?” I reminded him. “Right,” he nodded to himself. “Sometimes I forget that Kim Jongdae is from that Kim family,” he added. I just laughed at that, “Not many people know about it anyway, he literally hides in the shadows, aiming to be an English Professor instead.” Sehun laughed a bit along with me.

“Well, back to the topic, are you going to the party?” he started looking around for any signs to enter the basement parking lot, as we have arrived. “There’s the entryway,” I pointed out to him when I spotted it. “Depends,” I answered his question from earlier. “If my brother is going, then I’ll most definitely be his plus one, but if he isn’t going, then I won’t go too,” I explained. “I mean, you know that I’ve always avoid that kind of events unless I really have to Hun, sort of explain as to why you only found out that I was part of the circle a few months ago,” I added. “That’s true...,” Sehun hummed to himself.

It was safe to say that I liked end of years the least. No, it was not because of the seasons- winter was my favorite because I was a winter child, but I did not particularly like business agendas. And in the business world, end of years meant galas, banquets or parties, to celebrate the company’s success over the past one year. However, I was not fond of those parties. Being born in one of the most prestigious families in South Korea that owns a multi-billion dollars company, those kinds of celebrations are sort of a normal thing in our circle- but it did not exactly mean that everyone had to like it. I was one of those odd ones, who preferred to stay out of the radar instead of being in the spotlight. But of course, I still had my duties as the youngest daughter of my family and took part in the business too- only sometimes though. And this time, I attended the year end gala that was held by my family and company, Hanjin Group.

“Why is it that you just have to not have a companion on this year’s party,” I grumbled in a low voice to my older brother. We had just arrived at the hotel lobby, and since my brother just broke up with his long-time girlfriend some time ago, I had to step in as his plus one. While it was not mandatory to bring a plus one, my brother reasoned that it was only proper for him to have one as the President of the company. However, I knew that it was just a reason to make me join the celebration, as the last time I attended was over three years ago. It also made me return back home from England two weeks earlier, cutting my supposedly holiday short. Well, at least the winter in Korea was not as cold as the UK.

“Please, you’ve finished your exams already,” he muttered back while patting my hand that was on his arms, trying to sooth down my anger. I was in my second to last semester in university, and I went away to Nottingham for a student exchange program for one semester. While I had finished all of my exams at the end of November, I decided to only return back to Korea in the middle of December, because I want to have a short solo-travel around Europe first. But of course, my brother just had to send our private jet and call me back to be his plus one for our family’s year end gala. The gala was on the first week of December, so I had to return right after I finish my exams, so that my jetlag would not be a problem by the time of the gala.

“And you do know that I wanted to travel around by myself first,” I snapped back at him. He only rolled his eyes at that, “Fine, just go on the travel next week or something.” I replied with another eyeroll, “I don’t have enough time, I had to start looking for internship and plan my research for my thesis,” I grumbled at him. That was the main reason I wanted to travel right before I returned to Korea- I had too much things to do at home. My brother sighed at that, “I’m sorry, okay?” he told me for the nth time. “Let’s go wherever you want when you’re free, for however long you want, and I’ll pay for you too,” he tried again. That was honestly a tempting offer. I mean, while my bank account could also be counted as... well, countless, having my brother paid for me for a vacation was something not to be ignored. “You better keep your promise,” I gave him a final glare. Knowing that he had sort of succeed in plac