Bae Joohyun doesn’t like Son Seungwan at all.

Whenever they are having a meeting to talk about the concept of her house, Seungwan always asks her questions that are totally unrelated to the design. She mostly asks her about her personal life, her personal preferences, and nothing about how Joohyun thinks her house should be. 

What color is your favorite? Or, what is your favorite food and why is it spicy rice cakes? Or, why is an alpha like her doesn’t have an omega as her partner? Or, what kind of omega does Joohyun like? Or, does she think Seungwan is pretty that day? 

Sometimes, she will release her pheromone into the air and Joohyun doesn’t understand why she did that out of nowhere.

It’s frustrating to say the least. Joohyun started to feel like this project is such a waste of time. What her coworkers told her about Seungwan being picky with something that related to her personal stuff, it totally didn’t happen to her.

“Can you please stop staring at my face?” protested Joohyun as her unimpressed eyes landed on Seungwan who had a sickening smirk on her expression. Her nose scrunched from the strong sweet scent of pheromone that is super distracting for her to focus on the task. Her pen pointed towards the design that she had ignored for half an hour. “We have had a lot of meetings to talk about the design of your house, but no progress has been made yet. Please tell me what you want for your house and I will adjust my design with your preferences.”

“You,” answered Seungwan, the same answer she has been giving her ever since this meeting started. Joohyun feels like she wants to bang her head on top of the table. “And I have been telling you that I want you, Joohyun.”

“It’s Ms. Bae,” corrected Joohyun in a soft whisper because she doesn’t want Seungwan to hear it. She never liked it when the actress decided to call Joohyun by her name informally when they are not even close. As far as she can remember, no one has ever done that before until she met Seungwan. “Ms. Son, it would be really helpful for my team and I to listen to your comment regarding our concept design for your house so we can start to work on it instead of wasting our time like this.”

“I don’t know,” Seungwan let out a hum, the sign that she will waste more time. “Doesn’t it mean that we will not meet each other again?”

“We can still meet each other during the process of building your house,” sighed Joohyun heavily. If the reason behind Seungwan keeps wasting her time is because she is worried that they will not meet each other again, Joohyun might legitimately hit her head against the table. “It’s normal for our client to supervise the process, especially when this is regarding the place you will stay at for the longest time.”

“Really?” reacted Seungwan as her smirk widened. She leaned forward and prompted her head against her hand that was on the table. “Let’s start the presentation, then.”

Joohyun swallowed the urge to break the small table in front of her as she finally started her presentation after trying to do so in several meetings before this to no avail. She sends a few glances towards Seungwan to see if she will definitely listen to this, only to find the actress still having her eyes on her without casting a glance on the proposal at all. Joohyun let out a defeated sigh, knowing there is no way out of this.

But to her surprise, Seungwan listened to everything she said without missing a word. The omega even gave her some input regarding the design and told her how she prefers it differently than the one Joohyun vision. Joohyun meticulously wrote the feedback Seungwan gave her as her mind started to come up with the way to adjust her design.

She will make a rough sketch to show Seungwan if she got it right with her new idea. And the actress would flash her a proud smirk as she leaned back against her chair. “Very nice work, gorgeous.”

The architect coughed from the sudden praise while her ears started to feel warm. “This is part of my work, so it’s nothing.”

“Never sell yourself short, Joohyun,” chuckled Seungwan as she gave her cheek a pat. Joohyun doesn’t understand why she did that. None of her clients has ever done that to her before. “What you did is outstanding, to say the least.”

After several more discussions and revision with the design of the house, the day of the construction has officially begun.

With the help of her firm, Joohyun manages to find a perfect empty spot for her to build the house that will allow Seungwan to reach the beach just by walking for a few minutes. The price of the ground turned out to be more expensive than building the house from scratch itself, but Seungwan came through with an easy splurge of money to own the lot as her private property. It makes Joohyun wonder how big of an actress her client is.

And that resorted to her secretly trying to watch her drama and movies instead of her usual home improvement and real estate TV shows during her free time. Joohyun starts to learn why her client and her manager were surprised that she didn't recognize Seungwan during their first meeting.

It’s an understatement to call Seungwan a great actress. She is beyond good when she acts as the main character. The version of Seungwan Joohyun gets to know during the house concept meeting doesn’t show at all on the screen. She acts with such grace that gradually develops for years ever since the start of her career as an actress. The camera does not even catch her lacking when she has a scene together with a senior actor.

Somehow it makes Joohyun wonder. Why is Seungwan so different when she’s interacting with her? She knows Seungwan is acting in her movies and dramas. But can’t she act a little bit like her character when they have a conversation together?

Joohyun started to regret the moment when she told Seungwan that she could come over during the construction of her house. The actress literally tails her everywhere like she doesn’t want to leave her alone to do her job.

When she was talking with the workers to tell them what to do in a certain part of the house, Seungwan was standing right beside her. When she was discussing with the foreman of the construction workers about the house foundation, Seungwan is there by being ‘curious’ and almost adding a lot of work for the workers to fix her mess she caused. 

Not to mention all the stupid questions Seungwan asked her as they walked around the construction site. Why is the ceiling of her house so high? Where will they build the stairs that lead to the second floor? Why does Joohyun make it difficult for Seungwan to put the laundry room at the far back of the house? Is the wood planks that will be made as a deck that leads to the beach strong enough? 

Seungwan is giving her a huge headache and Joohyun is this close to ban her from coming over if only she wasn’t her client.

She is in the middle of discussing the design plan with the team foreman regarding the second floor of the house when one of the workers interrupted her. “Ms. Son is coming over and she’s already outside, Ms. Bae.”

Joohyun can feel her migraine slowly developing inside her brain by the mention of Seungwan. “Please tell her to wait for me to come over to her. I need to discuss something important with Mr. Jung first before I can meet her.”

“Discussing what?”

Her body jumps in surprise when the familiar voice greets her ear. She turned around to find Seungwan already poking her head to take a look at the design of her house that they had agreed on two weeks ago. And how come she missed the scent of her pheromone? Her eyes took a quick scan of her appearance before she let out a heavy sigh. “Ms. Son, this is a construction site. I believe one of the workers will give you a safety helmet for you to wear if you don’t sneak your way inside. And you should have waited for me if you want another tour around your house.”

“Sorry. I can’t wait to finally meet you again,” answered Seungwan with a guiltless grin on her face. Joohyun held back the urge to roll her eyes from the blatant lie. “And I just did my hair today. I can’t ruin it by wearing a safety helmet!”

“Ms. Son, this is for your own safety,” sighed Joohyun while swallowing her anger to not snap at her own client. She clenched her hand into a tight fist. Everyone who takes a quick glance at her will know how much she is holding back her own emotion right now. Especially when Joohyun is the type of someone who can’t control her pheromone when she’s angry. “None of us care about how great we look today. The only thing we care about is our safety, and I expect you to also share the same sentiment.”

“Look, I will not do anything weird while I’m here,” Seungwan tried to assure her while patting her shoulder, also releasing more of her scent to calm her down. Joohyun stared hard at the spot where she just got touched, not liking it in one bit from how dismissive Seungwan is. “I will just follow you around and see you work!”

Something twitched inside her brain, something annoying and bothering her to no end. But Joohyun took a deep breath and decided to give up as she just let Seungwan follow her around like a baby duck with their mother once again. She decided to continue her discussion with Mr. Jung about the second floor. “So, you think it will be better if we don’t fully cover the second floor by just using half of the space?”

Mr. Jung nodded from her explanation. “If we want to maximize the high ceiling and the use of sunlight during the day, it will be better to have an empty space to give the feeling of spaciousness in the house.”

Joohyun replied with a small hum as her head started to come up with vivid imagination on how the second floor would be. She turns around to look at Seungwan who always has her eyes on her face ever since she made her appearance. “What do you think, Ms. Son? This is your house so your input will be helpful for the construction to develop.”

Her client let out a soft hum as she took a quick glance at the design concept inside Joohyun’s grasp. “What if we make the second floor U-shaped so that we can overlook the scenery from the huge window? That way, the floor can also serve as a balcony instead of building one outside.”

No one replied to her suggestion once Seungwan finished explaining her view. Her mind constructed the idea in silence as she imagined how the outcome would be. Joohyun can imagine the floor will allow the sunlight to fill up more space with their bright light and they can add curved stairs at the edge of the floor for an aesthetic value that can work together with the huge chandelier Seungwan requested during the concept meeting. “I think that’s a great idea. What do you think, Mr. Jung?”

“U-shaped design will allow us to not have a pillar in the middle of the house to support the second floor from crumbling down,” muttered Mr. Jung as he also tried to imagine how it looks before he gave them a nod. “We can work on that.”

“Great. I’m going to fix the design so the team can start working on it soon,” replied Joohyun as Mr. Jung gave her a nod for his confirmation before he leaves them alone to continue his work in building the house. She turned around to have her eyes back on Seungwan, who already put her attention on her face once again. “Thank you for your input, Ms. Son.”

“I’m glad to help,” grinned Seungwan as she crossed her arms to allow her to appear cocky in front of her. At least, that's what Joohyun thought inside. “I didn’t know you could change the design in the middle of construction.”

“Some adjustments are needed to build a better building without losing its efficiency when we add more aesthetic value in it,” explained Joohyun in a way that will make Seungwan understand instead of being too technical about it. “Your idea helped us to grant your wish of having a lot of natural sunlight inside your house.”

“Stop it,” dismissed Seungwan with a laugh and a push on her shoulder. “You make it sound like I’m a genius.”

Joohyun raised her eyebrow. She just can’t help it. “A genius would wear the safety helmet when they are required to during their visit to a construction site.”

“Oh, come on,” Seungwan rolled her eyes. “I just want to impress you with how good I look today!”

A thick frown formed between the two of her eyebrows when she heard something that sounded super ridiculous just now. “I don’t think something like that is necessary when we are considering your safety in a place like this.”

“What can happen, really?” snorted Seungwan. It ticks the anger inside Joohyun to watch her dismiss basic safety over her own appearance. Is this how a famous person always acts? Like they are full of themselves and thinking that nothing dangerous will ever happen to them? “Something falling down from up there? Something that can kill me in an instant-”

“Watch out!”

Like a muscle memory, Joohyun immediately stepped away and took Seungwan along with her by pulling on her wrist once she heard the warning yell from upstairs. She wrapped her arm around her waist to keep the actress close with her as the sound of something heavy and big made an impact against the unfinished floor they are currently standing on reached her ears. Her gaze hardened when Joohyun found out what it was from the way Seungwan looked over her shoulder with her eyes wide in disbelief.

It was a huge plank of wood that just fell.

“That is exactly something that could happen in a construction site like this. Everything is dangerous and we never know what will happen if we are not being careful,” yelled Joohyun in an uncontrollable anger and it just intensified the moment Seungwan landed her eyes on her. She can feel her body shake from the sudden surge of emotion she currently feels. Her head is hot with frustration. The whole site is dominated by Joohyun’s presence and her annoyance. “You are lucky I was here to save you. What if I don’t? Surely we don’t want your agency to make a press release for a statement of your death because you chose your appearance over your own safety, do we?”

Seungwan blinked her eyes before she visibly swallowed her saliva after she closed . “I’m sorry.”

Her jaw clenched from irritation as she let go of the hold she had around Seungwan before giving an instruction in a loud yell. “Someone please take her out and tell her to stay outside until the situation returns to normal. Make sure to see her wear a damn safety helmet if she wants to come inside again. And I need to talk to you, so come down here right now!”

“Y-yes, ma’am,” stuttered the man from upstairs who is the culprit behind all of this, followed by the rest of the workers who just witnessed Joohyun losing her control for the first time.

Joohyun let out a rough sigh as she leaves Seungwan alone under the care of the construction workers to calm down her emotion before she gives an earful of lecture to the sloppy worker. She never looks back to check on Seungwan as a way for her to die down her raging frustration that has spilled all over herself because of the accident.

And Joohyun missed the sight of Seungwan with a fully reddened face that was caused by her heroic act and her arm that was wrapped around her lithe waist. Along with releasing a constant sweet smell of her berry pheromone to neutralize the sour scent Joohyun has been releasing unconsciously.

---

The situation returns to normal in a few hours. Everybody is working with utmost focus right now. And that includes Joohyun who is busy herself in making a new second floor plan that will help as a guide for the construction workers to build it. 

Drawing has always helped her in having back the control she got for herself. It always calmed her when she watched the calculated of her pen being made into a concept design of her project. She is not as angry as she was earlier when the accident happens. But Joohyun started to feel guilty for yelling angrily at her own client when it wasn’t even her fault to begin with.

She fixed her glasses and was about to check over the design Joohyun just changed based on the suggestion her client was giving, when she raised her head and spotted Seungwan standing alone at the beach. The actress got her shoes off as she dipped her toes at the shallow part of the beach. Joohyun silently watched every movement she did.

Seungwan looks so free when she’s alone. When she doesn’t care about the world as she seeks after her own happiness.

Joohyun took off her glasses, mulling over this side of Seungwan she had never seen before. The carefree version of Seungwan who acted like no one in this country knew her as a famous actress. Her skin glows from the yellowish hue of the afternoon sunlight, allowing her to shine like a star just landed on the beach.

The architect decided to join her after she handed Mr. Jung the new design she just made with utmost focus. She slipped her hands inside the front pocket of her trousers while allowing her legs to walk casually on the soft white sand. The tiny gravels would be a bother when they somehow find a way to slip inside her safety shoes, but she decided to not mind any of them as the distance between her and Seungwan gradually becomes closer.

Her client is still in the middle of her own world when Joohyun stops with a safe distance between them to not breach her privacy. Joohyun still doesn’t know if she was allowed to join her, that’s why she chose to stand in silence and let Seungwan do her own thing.

Turns out, the actress knows she is there without Joohyun needing to announce her presence. “Such a nice breeze of salty wind, don’t you think so?”

She replied to her with a light shrug of her shoulders, although Seungwan didn't have her eyes on her like she usually would. “Is that why you want to have a house near a beach, Ms. Son?”

“Beach is one of my favorite places,” answered Seungwan in a soft mutter, as her voice flowed into her ears with the help of the ocean wind. “The soft white sand between my toes. The breezing wind that tasted salty on your tongue. The warm sunlight basking on your skin. It’s just a bunch of perfect things that can happen on the beach.”

Joohyun doesn’t say a word to her explanation as Seungwan crouches and scoops the white sand with her palm. They watch the tiny gravels fall through the gap between her fingers, following the direction of the wind. There is a small smile on her face. A smile that is calm, free of any hardships and filled with something genuine. The kind of smile she rarely shows when she acts in front of the camera.

“Having my house near the beach allows me to have a time for myself without a bunch of eyes peering at every action I make,” continued Seungwan while staring at the vast blue ocean in front of her. “For someone like me, privacy is a luxury not everyone can have.”

Something struck her when Seungwan said that. The reason why the actress always acted like that in front of her is because she was just being herself since there was no camera to take in every action she did. She trusted Joohyun enough to be herself, although some behavior does irk her sometimes.

“Ms. Son?” Joohyun gently calls for her, and patiently waits until Seungwan has her eyes on her. “I wanted to apologize for how I acted in front of you earlier. I shouldn’t have yelled at you for something that is not even your mistake to begin with.”

“But you have your own rights to yell at me, though?” chuckled Seungwan as she faced Joohyun after she wore her shoes sloppily. “I keep ignoring your warning when I should have listened to you ever since the beginning. If I were you, I would yell at my own client too for being hard-headed.”

A frown blooms on the small space between her eyebrows. “But you are still my client. I should have acted better during a dangerous situation like that.”

“I guess you will not back down, huh?” snorted Seungwan with a chuckle as she gave her shoulder pat once she was close enough in distance with her. It still feels uncomfortable for Joohyun to receive that. “Okay, then. Apology accepted.”

Joohyun scratched the back of her head as Seungwan left her behind while feeling confused if she accepted her apology or not. When Seungwan turns around to flash her a smile and her head as a signal to follow her, Joohyun can’t help but to let out a sigh before she starts walking back towards the construction site.

“Are you done with the new design?”

“Yes,” nodded Joohyun while her eyes watched every step Seungwan took to not let her trip over because she was walking backwards. “I already gave the new design to Mr. Jung. We will start the construction of the second floor once the first floor is done.”

“Great!” grinned Seungwan as she went back into how she usually acted in front of Joohyun. “My manager has already waited for me at the front. You must be glad that I finally leave you and the team alone to do your work.”

The architect can only stay in silence because Seungwan is correct. The latter only laughed out loud before she left the site after she bid Joohyun good luck in building her house.

Two weeks pass just like that after her last encounter with her client. Seungwan is busy with her schedules to come visit the site, allowing her team to increase their pace in building the house and finishing it. When the time comes for Seungwan to visit once she has her free schedule, the house is already done.

Her next visit is for Seungwan to move in and start living in her new house. Everything is already fully furnished, just like what Seungwan requested. From the curved stairs to the king-size bed inside her bedroom, from the huge chandelier to the swing on the small garden outside of the huge window. From the premium oven to the deck that leads toward the beach, everything is ready to welcome their owner in their new house.

There is some sense of pride inside Joohyun when she sees the amazed expression on Seungwan’s face as she walks around her new house. No words of protest were given during her time in getting to know her new private space. Even Sooyoung was awed by the way the interior looked. Joohyun is successful in granting all the wishes Seungwan asked for her house.

“This is the rest of the key of your house, Ms. Son,” said Joohyun as she gave Seungwan a collection of keys after helping her in setting the password for the front-door lock. “Once again, congratulations for your new house.”

“Thanks, Joohyun. For everything,” beamed Seungwan with a huge smile while she accepted the set of keys from the architect. Joohyun can’t help but to form a small smile on her face from the gesture. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for a while? I can get you some drinks, maybe?”

Joohyun gently shook her head. “No need, Ms. Son. I will go back to my office to attend a meeting for a new project I will handle after this. I wish you a good day.”

She gave her a polite bow before turning around to start walking towards her car. When Joohyun just reached the front gate, Seungwan stopped her by catching her wrist in her grasp and forced her to stay rooted on her spot.

“Look, I-” Seungwan paused while her eyes were shaking to look at somewhere that was not Joohyun’s orbs. The actress never acted like this before and Joohyun can’t help but to wonder why she was being like this. “I have been thinking about this for days and who knows when I will meet you again. I will kick myself on the if I don’t do this right now.”

“Is there something wrong, Ms. Son?” asked Joohyun with a slight frown adorning her forehead.

“No, nothing’s wrong. It’s just—, I never done this before,” hissed Seungwan after stuttering her words. Joohyun is really confused with the whole situation right now. “Look, Joohyun. You have caught my eyes ever since the first time we met each other, and I really don’t know if this is a wise thing to do between us. But I really like you—both as an architect and as an alpha to be my potential partner—and I want to get to know you better.”

Her eyes simply blinked while every word Seungwan just said started to dawn inside her brain. “Huh?”

“I like you, Joohyun. Romantically,” explained Seungwan further, like the alpha didn’t get that immediately once she finished her confession rant. “That’s it.”

The architect still didn’t say anything as her brain tried to put each of the puzzle pieces into one piece of information. From the first day of her meeting with Seungwan, from the way she acted with her, everything started to fall into their places. The reason behind why she always wants to see her and why she always wants to stay close to her, even when it was unnecessary for her to do so.

“Oh,” muttered Joohyun softly.

Now everything has started to make sense for Joohyun. 

Of course there is a reason behind why Seungwan told her to call her by her name instead of being formal. There is a reason behind why she was being so touchy with Joohyun and always trying to meet her, even when she didn't need to.

Seungwan likes her. That’s the only valid reason her brain can accept.

“So?”

Joohyun was brought back into reality after Seungwan demanded more of her answer instead of just a simple but vague ‘oh’. She scratched the back of her head, suddenly feeling nervous from all the attention Seungwan is giving her right now. She is no longer confused, but Joohyun doesn’t know what to do either in this kind of situation. “I-I don’t know. I have never experienced this before.”

“It’s not like I’m asking you to date me immediately,” snorted Seungwan in disbelief, but causing Joohyun’s ears to get warm because of her blatant words. “I’m asking if we can get to know each other better. You know, knowing each other’s likes and things we don’t like.”

“Um,” Joohyun played with her fingers as she is the person who doesn’t have the strength to look Seungwan straight into her eyes right now. “I guess it’s okay to try?”

“Great!” The annoyance on Seungwan’s face quickly changed into a happy expression along with a wide grin. “I will start to text you more often from now on and ask you to go out with me when we are free. What do you think?”

“I’m fine with it, I guess,” stuttered Joohyun meekly because she really doesn’t know what to do in things like this and she thought it’s not a bad idea to let Seungwan handle everything while she gets used to it. “I-I really never done this before, Ms. Son.”

“No need to worry. I will be the one who takes care of everything,” smirked Seungwan before she tugs her closer by pulling her shirt. “And call me ‘Seungwan’ from now on, Joohyun.”

“Sure—Seungwan,” muttered Joohyun softly as she tried to roll the name off her tongue. It still feels odd, if she needs to be honest.

“Exactly,” grinned Seungwan before she leaned forward and gave her cheek a simple peck. Joohyun can feel her face starting to warm up. No one apart from her family has ever done that to her before. “I like it more when you call my name.”

Joohyun swallowed the ball of nerves starting to form inside . She touched her cheek, on the place where Seungwan just kissed her after the actress bid her goodbye and walked back into her new house. Leaving Joohyun alone in front of the gate to handle what just happened to her in a span of a few minutes.

The craziest ten minutes Joohyun has ever experienced in her whole life.

---

another flashback chapter!

to make it clear for everyone, joohyun never honestly thought that seungwan like her during her obvious advances towards her. she does not even like her but since joohyun is an attentive person she easily notices on things although she never thought of it romantically (does it make sense...) to keep it simple, joohyun is stupid in things like this bcs just like what she said, she has never experienced things like this before

anyway, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about this story so i can use it as my motivation to start writing for the next one! if you want to interact with me, you can find me on twitter (just follow, i will accept)! feel free to also buy me a coffee!

i think that's all from me. thank you for reading, i hope you enjoy and like this, and see you in the next chapter!