"And for the last request, let's listen to this sweet letter on the occasion of Week of Appreciation.

Hey you, Pizza Girl,

We started Purple Line life relatively at the same time. I came here on Monday and on Tuesday, I had already seen you at the ground floor. My first impression about you is that we were from the same student organization. Well, it's something you might never know because I no longer wear the "I'm single because I'm busy changing the world" badge on my backpack. But I was also impressed because you remembered what I liked. Or was it part of your job? Anyway honestly I sometimes thought you did so because you did notice me. Ha! How delusional I am!"

I could hear staff laughing from many directions in the office to Yongsun's lively reading voice. The opening of the story had received attention as colleagues sent in tons of laughing reaction to the "delusional requester" on the livestreaming channel. I sat silently at my place, kept an eye on the livestreaming and at the same time, secretly watched Juyeon, trying to notice every expression on his face. But he just stayed calm and attentive so far.

"Unfortunately, my impression on you wasn't that good. Do you remember the day we both coincidentally ordered the same pizza from the same restaurant and somehow two orders came minutes apart, resulting in our fight over whose the first pizza was? I still remember every detail of that incident as from that moment, I accidentally fell for you. Sadly, you started to hold a grudge against me and only called me Hey, Pizza-ssi everytime we see each other."

To my big surprise, Juyeon suddenly took off his earbuds - He told me earlier that he'd prefer listening to my show online as the sound would come clearer with earbuds on. He darted his eyes around as if he was looking for something (or someone?), then pulled out his phone. It turned out Juyeon was making a call, not that he was showing reaction to the story. I couldn't help but having a doubt right at this point - if the story was real, and if Juyeon did have sort of connection with Hong Sol, he would not look that composed.

"Sorry for being delusional but I'm truly frustrated for not knowing how to show my care to you without making you misunderstand. And my second apology is for being this abrupt. As Week of Appreciation is coming, I just want to thank you for always welcoming people with your brightest smile no matter how much burden you are going through with classes. And here's a gift to you, the song you've been playing at 9 lately: Rose by D.O., wishing we could really be friends."

This move by Taehyung did work. As D.O. was still belting notes on the radio, some new requests had made its way to my mailbox, for the occasion of Week of Appreciation. My colleagues were also exchanging guesses on who these Pizza Girl and Pizza Guy would be and no less than once did they mention Juyeon and Hong Sol. Yet they just quickly brushed it off due to a very common reason: no relevance. Well, were there a lot of celebrity couples that were considered a surprise once being publicized as they originally didn't have no relevance to each other? Anyway, those were real couples. This story and the alleged crush that Juyeon might have on Hong Sol were all Taehyung's work, though.

As I was immersed in those random thoughts, I didn't realize that Juyeon had left his seat. I stood up and looked around the office but it seemed like he had gone, taking away his personal belonging. I sighed, did feel a little disappointed. No significant reaction from Juyeon, there was high possibility that this story was merely fictional work nicely written by Taehyung. The Mamamoo girls at my house, who were also anticipating something swooning would be at the same level of disappointment as I was.

I collected my stuff and put it neatly in my locker. As I closed the locker door, I almost fainted to see Hong Sol standing next to me. She was holding empty dirty glasses, she must have come upstairs to collect drink glasses ordered for VIP meetings. I snarled at the girl who was in her senior year at university.

"You're freaking me out, Hong Sol ah."

To which she replied with serious facial expression.

"YOU did freak me out, unnie. That Rose request, is it really true?"

"What do you mean?" - I played innocent. Well, somehow I was truly the innocent. Taehyung was the one to blame but if only people knew he was behind it. - "How could I fake something for the show?"

Liar. Such a big fat liar by Jung Wheein. But unlike any Mamamoo girls who would start interrogating me whenever I rolled my eyes saying something, Hong Sol did believe in me - perhaps that was the result from my regular feedback for her assignment presentation deck. Hong Sol leaned closer to me as she whispered.

"Ah no. It's just... Can you check if it went with someone's name?"

"Why?" - I frowned.

"I just want to see if... Well...Is it...from...er..." - She hesitated for a while and then went on with the words I had been unconsciously anticipating from her - "...Lee Juyeon sunbaenim?"

***

"Taehyung-ssi, where are you? We need to talk. Seriously."

I spoke to the phone as soon as there was a hello from the other side. Surprisingly, Taehyung didn't sound as calm as usual. Instead, he was breathing heavily as if he had just taken intensive running exercises on a breezy field. Was he practicing for tomorrow's Fitness Day?

"What's up MC Jung?"

"The pizza story you wrote --" - I went on - "Is true. Hong Sol has confirmed with me."

"See? I told you that I'd never cook things up."

Taehyung laughed and even though we had just got to know for a very short time, I could still imagine his signature expression at this kind of moment, chin up and all inflated with self-pride. However, I still had my own concern due to our male lead's reaction.

"It's just half of the story." - I told him as I walked out of the elevator. - "The incident is true but I still doubt Juyeon's feeling."

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't have any significant reaction."

"It's not wise of him to have reaction to such a sensitive topic. He's got lots of attention on him."

Taehyung explained. It seemed like he had stopped moving around as his breath became steady.

"Plus you might not know much about me yet . . ." - Taehyung continued as if he was afraid of me not feeling persuasive. - "But if I said I won't cook things up, I really mean it. Believe me."

I was then making my way to the office entrance, heading out to the bus station on the other side of the street. But as I passed by the café, I heard Rose being played in the then deserted store and Hong Sol was totally focusing on her laptop calculating today's performance instead of humming to the melody like she usually did when it came to this favorite song of hers. "I just hope that it's Lee Juyeon sunbaenim. That incident is between us two. Nobody would bother making up a story and playing with me, right unnie?". Hong Sol told me so back at the locker room when I refused to reveal the sender's identity. So basically, what Taehyung wrote did happen, from the pizza incident to their addressing each other Pizza Girl and Pizza Guy. But in a dramatic way, thinking she might not be on his league, the girl tried to catch the guy's attention by pretending not to know his name and bossing him around whenever she had the chance. Well, if only I could tell Hong Sol that mentioning her did put a smile on Juyeon's face and he looked like he didn't mind being bossed around by her. Yet, subjective observation and a made-up radio story whose only the background had been validated up til now would not be of much help.

I sighed without realizing the call with Taehyung was still on.

"Hey Wheein-ssi, are you ok?"

Taehyung asked, startling me and bringing me back to the reality. I glanced to the outside where it was getting darker and resume walking.

"I'm just..." - I spoke to him while slightly bowing to a few colleagues passing by. - "...concerned if we had given Hong Sol false hope. What if Juyeonie..."

I stopped halfway. I had just realized that among the colleagues I had bowed at on my way to the entrance there was Juyeon. To be exact, he had been sitting on the waiting bench for company visitors in his black athletics outfit. People might think he was taking a rest after practicing for Fitness Day tomorrow but from that bench, he could look across the hall and see what was going on behind the glass wall of the café, where there was only Hong Sol right then. It could not be a coincidence, right? At this moment, it sparked on me that Taehyung really had his point: Juyeon couldn't go noticeable with his reactions.

A mischievous smile crossed my face. I knew it sounded absurd but I just suddenly found it interesting, to the extent that I really wanted to go on with it without challenging it like I had done with Taehyung and his story - which was no longer a fictional work, at least from Hong Sol's side. For the first time in such a turbulent week full of changes, shocking news and even health problem, I had found something that could stop me from the verge of digging on my anxiety hole. I gleefully told Taehyung as I sprinted towards the entrance.

"Taehyung-ssi, I'm so sorry that we couldn't cooperate properly for this week's show. But are you ready for next week?"

"Huh?"

Taehyung responded with confusion. It was expected, what I said was really out of place. I held back my tiny giggle and put on my serious voice instead.

"I just suddenly have an idea as a follow-up to your brilliant story. Wanna hear?"