TWELVE

“Going again?” Kyungsoo asked, his voice dripping with annoyance.

Seorin nodded slightly before heading to the door.

“Why does she always get to go somewhere, leaving us with all the work?” Soojung complained aloud.

Jongin nodded jokingly in agreement. “Give her a pay deduction!”

“We’re unpaid interns,” Sehun murmured flatly, straightening a pile of papers.

“Then a demotion!” Jongin cried out righteously.

“… There aren’t any lower positions than an unpaid intern,” Sehun reminded.

Kyungsoo sighed. “Shut up, all of you,” he muttered tiredly.

“You’re just bitter cause Seorin won’t listen to you,” Jongin quipped with a cheeky grin.
“It’s cause she’s not a hard worker like I am, right, Jongin-ah?” Soojung cooed.
Jongin nodded just to flatter his pretty coworker and even pinched her cheek for good measure.

“No PDA in this room while I’m the head,” Kyungsoo snapped.

“You’re just jealous,” Jongin retorted.

Kyungsoo knew his friend was kidding, but he couldn’t help but think it was sort of true. When was the last time he heard any kind of praise or compliment from anyone?
“I’m going to go for some coffee – do you guys want anything?” He muttered, feeling like he just really needed some air. His coworkers listed their requests and he headed out to the café across the street. He didn’t like the one in the lobby – it was the one Seungsoo got, and he personally thought it tasted like sewer water.
 

He wasn’t paying complete attention to his surroundings when someone bumped against him, knocking him back into focus. “Watch it,” he hissed, clearly not in the mood to be jostled.

“Oh, Kyungsoo, sorry!”
It was Sunyoung. He in a breath sharply as his heart unintentionally beat faster. It was strange – no matter how much he thought Seungsoo’s hand-me-downs were disgusting, his body wouldn’t listen.

“Where are you going?” Her sweet voice rang through his ears.

“Just getting some coffee,” he replied shortly. “Bye.”

“Hey!” She shouted quickly, grabbing his arm. His heart raced. “You’re too mean, Kyungsoo… Why are you in such a hurry to leave? It’s just coffee.”

He bit his lip uncomfortably. His mind hated this; he hated the feeling of her fingers wrapped around his forearm. But his ears felt hot and his knees slightly wobbly… She’s marrying Seungsoo, he reminded himself loudly in his mind. And Seungsoo was trash. Therefore, she was no better.
He composed himself and cleared his throat to excuse himself one more time.
 

“Oh, look who we have here…” Sunyoung spoke before he could. She was looking over his shoulder so he turned around.
It was Seorin. Her eyebrows were furrowed angrily as her eyes met with Sunyoung’s. He noted how she didn’t even give him the slightest glance, her attention completely consumed by her hatred for Sunyoung.

“I still can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that you're an intern here,” Sunyoung seethed. “… I guess Kangdo still thinks they should give the dumb ones a chance.”

Seorin scoffed. “Who are you calling dumb when you can’t even comprehend that I work here? You found out more than a day ago. Do you need more time? Shall I check up in a week from now to see if you’ve wrapped your head around it by then?” She had every right to be hostile – Sunyoung had started it after all.

“Excuse me?! Do you realize that you’re talking to the fiancée of the VP here?!”

Kyungsoo stared sternly, deciding it was time to intervene. There were people beginning to take notice of the commotion. “You – come with me.” He grabbed Seorin’s hand and dragged her away.

“You really have to stop doing this – the dragging, I mean,” she snapped, pulling her hand away. “Is it like a habit of yours? To just drag people around wherever you feel like dragging?”

He sighed. “People were around,”