I spent the whole Sunday with the Mamamoo girls. We went shopping at the supermarket and cooked a hearty meal as an alternative to the payday barbecue party that didn't happen due to my vocal cord problem. Also because of it, Yongsun decided to cut down completely the amount of snacks we bought for this week. "We'll restock after your vocal cord gets better." She determined. Even Hyejin agreed with her - partly because she would be away for the next whole week to prepare for a wedding that took place far from the city and she wouldn't be able to eat any of the snacks.

Byul Yi also clarified with me about her attitude towards Taehyung last night. In fact, she didn't mean to get angry at him, she just got surprised to see me and Kim Seokjin's housemate together like that. But Taehyung looked really frightened, as if Byul Yi could hurt him anytime.

"If he hadn't have to get off the train then, I doubt that you would've beaten him." - I murmured, dicing some tomatoes. - "Judging from your expression."

"At first I didn't feel so good, to be honest." Byul Yi admited as she put a spoonful of Greek yogurt into the salad bowl and started tossing it. "But thinking twice, Seokjin is the one to be blamed. Taehyung just happened to share a house with him."

Byul Yi then diverted the topic by raising her voice to Eric, who had just appeared in the kitchen with a handful of stuff he brought from his home. "Oh hello, Eric oppa." I also said hello to Eric and returned to focus on my veggie dicing task. Mentioning Seokjin had never been comfortable for Byul Yi. That money borrowing incident was just a background story she had used to cover things up. What hurt Byul Yi was how Seokjin turned his back on her and left her for a new, bigger producing team amidst difficult time, regardless of how much Byul Yi tried to convince him to stay. Therefore, I was too afraid to ask Byul Yi anything as we got home last night. And I didn't have even a bit of confidence to reply Taehyung's text that came late at night asking if everything was still ok with me until now.

"I didn't see your message coming. Don't worry, Byul Yi is all fine about you."

Taehyung responded me with lightning speed.

"Wow, such a big relief."

"Yeah, me too."

"But by the way, do you think I should get a nickname as I go broadcasting next week?"

I snorted at his question. This guy was really full of surprises. One minute was all he took to switch topics.

"Your real name is cool, though."

I texted him short messages as I still had chores to do anyway. Otherwise, Yongsun would scold me for not being focused.

"It's cool but lacks of mystery." He continued ranting. "I'm supposed to be a character, not Kim Taehyung from Product department. That way, people would be more curious to learn about me and the program, right?"

"How about one-syllable name?"

I suggested randomly, thinking he would just reject it the way Yongsun usually did with my suggestions. I was totally fine about it as I had been rejected too many times. Yet, Taehyung welcomed it in a different way. His text and the emojis that follow all screamed excitement.

"Brilliant, Wheein-ssi."

"Then how do you think of V?"

"Not mediocre and not random at all, right?"

I looked at my phone and couldn't help smiling. I couldn't count how many times I'd said this but Kim Taehyung was really a full package of unexpected, from the surprises he'd brought during the whole week to even the way he thought. But also in such an unexpected way, I didn't catch Hyejin sneaking a peek at my phone as I was sending Taehyung an emoji. Only when she shouted out loud to everyone available in the kitchen did I realize my privacy had just been invaded.

"Unnies. Wheeinie is dating!!!"

***

I opened the dressing table drawer, took out some sleeping eye patches and squeezed them into the remaining tiny space in Hyejin's suitcase. She always forgot eye patches when packing for business trip and as a result, returned home with panda eyes. This time would not be an exception if I hadn't created a reminder to check her stuff before going to bed. Hyejin had already fallen deeply asleep, her arms and legs spread freely on the bed, occupying more than half of the space. I lay down and purposefully pushed her hard towards the other end of the bed to make space for myself. This was also my little revenge on her for being so loudsy about me dating someone. I had to continously explain to everyone that I was texting with my new radio partner, which was totally professional. Also, there was no way that he was interested in me and vice versa.

I put on the earphones for some pre-sleep music. Scrolling through the newsfeed, I bumped into Seulgi's latest Instagram update from yesterday with photos of her going drinking with some ex-colleagues. As I left on the photo a heart and a compliment on her outfit, it suddenly crossed my mind if there was something I could help her, given that I knew what agonized her behind that bright smile on the photos.

I was not so sure, to be honest. Seulgi was recruited as a young talent, having taken responsibilities for big projects and gone through specially designed development tracks. How could I, an average staff, give her valuable pieces of advice or career orientation?

"Wheein ah" Hyejin startled me by changing her posture and murmuring sleepily as I was still deep in my thoughts. "Are you texting with Hyojin oppa again? Tell him to sleep early."

Wait! Hyejin had really enlightened me, perhaps without her acknowledging it. Why didn't I think of the nagging Kim Hyojin any sooner? He was a coach - an apprentice coach who was gaining coaching hours to be certified, to be exact. But whatever his status might be, he could definitely help Seulgi to have a clearer view of her next step with his coaching practices. That was really a great idea! Whispering a thank you to Hyejin, I quickly DM-Ed Seulgi before reaching out to turn off the bed-side lamp and adjust myself on the bed, feeling all satisfied.

"Unnie, for your career next step, I know this person that can help you. Let's talk tomorrow."

***

I paused at the café doorstep and found myself smiling at what was happening inside. It was still early in the morning but Juyeon had already been present in the café, discussing with Hong Sol over something on her laptop. I could easily recognize it as I had used that laptop with a huge sticker of Apeach to give comments on Hong Sol's assignment slide deck. Now that they had officially become friends, she might have asked him to take over my role.

"Morning unnie, you're early today."

With her customer services instinct, Hong Sol looked up as I walked in and welcomed me with her big smile as usual. She then quickly dashed to the counter and made a few touches on the cashier machine to place an order for my default choice - Mocha Coffee. I nodded my head in return to Juyeon's greeting and asked Hong Sol under my breath as I pulled out my phone to scan the payment QR code.

"Is Juyeonie reviewing your slide deck? Already onto the next level, huh?"

"Nope. I'm just bossing him around as usual. But he doesn't seem to have that sense of aesthetics like you." She flashed her white teeth with a grin and raised her voice directly at Juyeon as the barista handed her a cup of Frappuccino. "Juyeon oppa, extra whipping cream, yeah?"

Juyeon responded with a merry yes and left the table for his order. All of that had me in awe. It had been less than 48 hours and they had managed to change how they addressed each other and even the attitude. I took a sip of freshly brewed coffee from my cup, slightly shook my head at them, commenting as Juyeon stopped next to me.

"You two look quite close, huh?"

"Geez, ain't we all close now?" Juyeon leaned his arm on the counter, throwing Hong Sol a warm look after questioning me back. He was really shining only with a white long sleeve shirt and plain black fitting pants. I understood why a lot of girls went crazy about him. He was just ridiculously attractive. And it was interesting to know that he secretly admired the goofy Hong Sol, who was in no way the definition of "gorgeous", if that was the assumption people might have about Juyeon's dream girl.

"She's just being jealous that I asked you to review my slide deck instead of her."

Hong Sol held up her palm and whispered as if she's exposing a secret to Juyeon while hiding from me, to which I rolled my eyes. Oh them kids!

"Juyeon ah." I imitatef Hong Sol's gesture to spill him a fact. "Don't let her fool you around. She's much more mischievous than you think."

"Eh...are you saying that I am...spoiling him?" Hong Sol pouted and it was Juyeon that comforted her.

"It's called being canny enough to boss me around without my objection, ok?"

Hong Sol gave him a mischievous "teehee" grin and thumbed up at him. I screamed inside, wishing for Taehyung's appearance to complain with him that the two kids no longer pretended around but slapped their flirting straight to my face! Yet seeing them being comfortable around each other like this did put a smile on my face. At least what I and Taehyung did last week brought about positive results.

Right then, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Seulgi making her way into the café - she was on time for our early talk. Implicitly pointing my chin to Seulgi to signal a new guest, I told Juyeon.

"Let's move aside for Hong Sol to continue working, Juyeon ah."

"And don't let Kang Seulgi see you two showing affection to each other." I tried to swallow this layer of meaning in my words and waved at Seulgi with excitement. I doubted that Seulgi had got over her recent breakup with Jimin. Therefore, seeing Juyeon, who happened to be Seulgi's mentee in the PLGP program, being all lovey-dovey with Hong Sol might recall unnecessary bad memories in her. At least, that was what I would think of if I were Seulgi. But I was not her, for sure. And I hadn't been in a relationship either - well, those unrequitted feelings back to my university days didn't count.

"Hey, ain't Juyeonie and Hong Sol a. . .thing?"

Seulgi asked as soon as we sat down at a far corner of the café. My mouth almost went agape but I try to hold back and act casually.

"I don't know. They both are nice and kind to everyone, eh?"

To my confusion, Seulgi cupped her palms around her face and looked dreamily across the café at the two juniors who were chatting joyfully with the baristas while there barely any customers except for us, "Yeah perhaps so."

Then turning to me, she went straight-forward to why we were both here, at this early time.

"Now, surprise me, Wheeinie. Who is that person?"

"That person?"

"Yeah. . .The one you said to help me."

I gave her a crooked smile and took in a big breath then slowly exhaled. Recently, I had found that my anxiety tended to build up as people expressed their eagerness towards what I do. I had experienced it with Taehyung and now it was Seulgi's eagerness that gave me a little tension. Slowly taking my phone out of my pocket, I showed Seulgi Hyojin's personal photo on Instagram.

"Do you know this guy?"

"Er. . .nope. . ." Seulgi slightly frowned at Hyojin's photo, looking as if she was trying to browse her memory storage but in vain. She looked up at me, asking. "Your acquaintance?"

I nodded. "Kind of. I used to do voluntary work with him."

"And how would that help me?"

"He's a coach." I quickly shared the most important information. "I mean that kind of life coach you often mention in PLGP mentoring sessions."

Seulgi was a smart girl. She rapidly captured my idea and clarified.

"So you want me to get a coach. And this guy. . ." She pointed to my phone, asking with a tiny smile ". . .is the coach?"

She raised her voice a bit at the end, which did sound a bit skeptical. It scared me off as she might think I had gone overboard with such suggestion.

"Yeah. . ." I cautiously replied her "He's a good guy. I mean, he used to help me out with my anxiety disorder, just listens and provokes questions for me to think about. Sometimes giving a few pieces of advice. I just think you need that kind of support."

Because Seulgi wouldn't have anyone to share. Her ego didn't allow her to appear vulnerable, especially when she had built her personal branding to be a tough, can-do lady. Sharing her problems to the manager could be an option but I doubted she would opt for it now. That said, getting external and objective support was a lot more reasonable. I told her so, of course without the ego part as she would be mad at me for making such feedback, and stayed silent for a while to wait for her response. The office was getting more and more crowding as I looked around - Hong Sol and the baristas were busy taking orders as more colleagues were queueing up. Some recognized and greeted us - they wouldn't think we were having a serious conversation in such a chilling atmosphere.

"So unnie" I asked Seulgi again. "What do you think?"

Seulgi flipped her hair to a side and reached out to pick up my phone. She swiped though Hyojin's scattering updates on his Instagram, which were mostly about his work at PyeongHwa and his shoes collection. Her brows furrowed.

"Have you told him that you would introduce him to me?"

She asked and I shook my head in denial.

"I'm supposed to ask you first."

"Then ask him now." Seulgi smiled and returned my phone to its original place on the table. "I will give it a try."

***

My phone vibrated in the middle of the day. Two messages came at almost the same time.

"I've made up my mind. I'll go by V. Thanks for the inspiration."

"Ok. I'll try to help your friend then."

I smiled at the two messages. After a stormy week, this week seemed to start off just fine.