"What is this?" Seulgi questioned from the other end of the phone.

She heard Jongin softly chuckle. "What is what?"   "This thing sitting infront of my room's door."   "Oh, that. Well Seul, they're called flowers," Jongin explained sarcastically. "They have petals and stems, and they come in different colors, they even have different names, now those are called tulips--"   "Shut up right now, you moron." Seulgi rolled her eyes, staring at the little blue vase of yellow tulips right in front of her room on the floor. "I mean, what are they for?"   "For you."   "Why?"   "Just because," She could almost see Jongin's little smirk by the sound of his voice. "I wanted you to start your day right."   "Uhuh." Seulgi decided to let it pass, as she let out a long yawn, and stretched her hands up before reaching down to pick up the vase with her free hand, taking a short sniff before she entered her room again. "What time is it?"   "Past lunch--"    "WHAT?" Seulgi gasped and instantly started panicking, almost dropping the vase on the floor. "I had training this morning, Jongin." She groaned. "Why didn't you wake me up?"   "Cause by the time I was supposed to wake you up, you only just fell asleep." Jongin explained. "And by then, I figured you wanted to come in a little late."   She mumbled a soft, "Oh." as she carefully put down the tulips on one of her bedside tables. She only woke up a few minutes ago so she still wasn't in a completely proper mental state, and a flashback of the events from earlier began to gradually enter her mind only now. She felt the dried up tears on her cheeks, and realized how heavy her eyes felt. She remembered the smell of Jongin's body attached to hers, purely of a mix of expensive cologne and a shower-- embracing her in all its warmth. "Well, god. My manager's gonna kill me--"   "Besides, I've already taken care of it." Jongin pointed out. "Even if I wasn't exactly sure if you were coming back to work today. It's been a week since you last did--"   "Wait, what do you mean you took care of it?" Seulgi asked, stopping in the middle of her panicking of throwing random articles of clothing into her duffel bag.   "Pulled a few strings." Jongin calmly answered, chewing on a french fry from the plate of lunch laying on the desk infront of him. "Have you forgotten who I am, Kang Seulgi?"   Seulgi refused to acknowledge his rhetorical question and just plopped back down on her still messed up bed. "Where are you, anyways?"   "The company."   "Wow, working for two consecutive days," Seulgi said in sarcastic surprise. "That's got to have beaten some sort of record, Mr. Kim."   "I know right." Jongin laughed under his breath, thinking of the real reason why he had to be at work a lot more now at the back of his head. "Maybe, I'm in the mood to fix my career." He lied.   "That's funny, cause I am too." Seulgi proudly announced. "I've decided to solely focus on my training from now on. No more side jobs, no more distractions."   Jongin's mouth curled up as he spun seated on the leather office chair of his father. "That's good to hear."   Seulgi smiled confidently to herself.   "But may I ask how you expect to pay for rent now, Ms. Kang?" Jongin questioned playfully.   "I don't think that'll be a problem though. You see, I have a filthy rich roommate," Seulgi explained. "And I'll pay him back double when I become an idol."   "You sound so sure? Proud of you." Jongin let out a small chuckle, beaming in the realization that Seulgi seemed to have gotten her belief in herself back-- as much belief as Jongin's always had in her since the day he saw her perform. "And that isn't necessary, I'm sure you can pay him back in some other way." Jongin assured her, ideas swimming through his thoughts as the grin widened on his expression.   "You know you could have waited for me and we could have gone there together." Seulgi scoffed, sitting up and scooching to the edge of her bed.   "And you know, if you need a ride, I could send a driver." Jongin pointed out, a hint of cockiness in his voice.    "Nah, I'll take the bus." Seulgi said, standing back up and grabbing her towel before she walked to the bathroom to take a shower. "See you later, bye--"   "Too late, driver's on his way." Jongin announced after clicking a few buttons on his dad's telecom. "See you later, Seul."    And Seulgi heard the beep signalling the call has been ended before she could protest.   ---   "You're lucky you're a good dancer, so catching up wasn't a problem." Her coach stated, voice firm and steady. "But I hope this never happens again, Seulgi." He said, referring to her unannounced one week absence.   "It won't, coach." Seulgi assured him. "I'll be training twice-- maybe even thrice as hard from now on." And she meant it.   "Good." Her coach said, eyes still on the papers he was currently arranging. "You may leave."   "Thanks, coach." Seulgi slid the door of the training room open leaving their coach inside, holding on tight to the strap of her duffel bag hanging on her shoulder, seeing her friends waiting for her. "See you tomorrow." She called out before sliding the door back shut.   "What was that about?" Joy asked, all three of Seulgi's friends standing up straight as soon as she came out.   "Not much." Seulgi answered bluntly. "I just have to keep showing up."   "Yeah, you should." Wendy agreed, walking ahead of them towards the elevators. "We missed you, Seul."   "Good to have you back." Irene flashed her a wide grin, draping an arm around her shoulder, the other hand clicking the elevator doors.   As they reached the lobby, Wendy purposely left herself behind, "I'll go get the car." She announced, the elevator dropping down to the parking lot.   Upon reaching the steps outside the company building, a sleek black Mercedes Benz inevatibly caught their attention. From afar, all they could tell was there was a boy in a tan trench coat with a turtleneck under leaning against the car, his dark hair curled up, and his focus on the smartphone in hand, its light shining against his chin.   The remaining three of them walked closer, arms crossed as the winter cold made itself more present. The boy's head shot up once he heard footsteps coming closer.   "Seul?" He called out.   "Oh god." Seulgi groaned, shutting her eyes, looking in one direction cause she could recognize that voice in a heartbeat without any doubt.   "Hey, Seul." He repeated, pocketing his phone and standing up straight.   "Seulgi, it's Jongin--" Joy whispered, as they reached the part right in front of Jongin's car.   "I know."   "Are you seriously going to pretend you can't hear me?" Jongin questioned, laughing under his breath.   She tilted her head slowly to face him, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. "Yes, Jongin?"   "I was waiting for you." Jongin proclaimed. Irene and Joy behind them shot looks at each other upon hearing this. "Your training ended at 7, right? What took you so long?"   "Yeah." Seulgi answered. "But coach wanted to talk to me."   "Are you screwed?" Jongin joked.   "For your information," Seulgi raised the arrogance in her voice about to purposely brag, throwing Jongin a glare. "He said I caught up pretty quickly and I quote that I was a 'good dancer'."   "And I wouldn't expect any less." Jongin mutterred with a soft smile.    Irene elbowed Joy's side, resulting in Joy failing to fully suppress a scream. "Why were you waiting?" Seulgi asked, ignoring both his previous statement and her friends' side reactions.   "Figured taking you home would suffice as compensation for not waiting for you this morning." Jongin said, opening the passenger's seat with one hand. "How about you, girls? We could