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All morning long Sehun had succeeded in keeping her at her desk while he remained locked inside his office. The tasks she completed were making some phone calls, setting up appointments, and reserving tables at restaurants for get-togethers with other businessmen. Then after taking a restroom break she knocked on Sehun’s office door, intending to invite him to have lunch with her.

Only, he wasn’t in when she opened the door. The office was as well as abandoned. That was, until she discovered him on the lower floor by Kai’s publishing department, holding onto Namjoo. Her expression darkened at the sight and she watched with pursed lips as the two competed for someone whose identity they had no clue of.

It was amusing, yet spiteful.

Inhaling, she stepped forth. Erasing her dark expression off she asked with curiosity, “Everyone’s gone for lunch. What are you three doing here?”

“We’re about to do the same.” Kai stiffly replied without looking at her. Hayoung’s brow twitched and she glanced at Namjoo, who avoided eye contact.

“Why, someone might misunderstand if they pass by and see you three cooped up here alone. Don’t you think?” Hayoung questioned.

Her insides screeched in victory when the tension in Kai lessened as he looked away. Of course, he should know well, she presumed, he was the President’s son. First and foremost, if any rumors sprouted he would be first to be reprimanded.

“You can let her go,” Hayoung looked at Sehun. “Choonhee might get angry at you. She does hold grudges.”

Her eyes locked with Sehun. He narrowed his eyes at her, expressing his irritability with her interruption.

Ignoring him she said, “Lets have lunch, Choonhee.”

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Namjoo glanced back and forth between Sehun and Kai once more before hurrying off after Hayoung, like a dog. Even she felt pathetic, but it was better than remaining there with the two guys and feeling like a mouse underneath the heavy tension.

The cafeteria was huge and everyone seemed to be segregated into groups of the like. The golden lights cast yellow glows onto the white tables. A wide variety of food was served along the left, like a buffet. Today, fried chicken was on the main menu along with fried noodles. A variety of side foods were also available along the line, and took Namjoo almost fifteen minutes to decided what she wanted on her tray. By the time she sat down at Hayoung’s table she was barely done with her lunch.     

Without a sound Namjoo began stuffing herself hungrily, glorifying the taste of the food in . Everything around her became drowned out as she savored the food and only returned to the cafeteria consciously when she grabbed her glass of water. Hayoung was staring at her, her eyes flat and stupefied with what she was seeing.

Namjoo quickly gulped the water down to freshen and hesitantly looked at Hayoung again.

“What were you doing earlier?”

“What?” Namjoo grew nervous under the stare of the girl. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Alright then.” Lifting up her glass Hayoung also took a sip of the cool water.

Namjoo intently stared at the Barbie doll and quietly muttered, “Um…thanks. About earlier.”

“I didn’t do it for you.” She stated coldly.

Well, Namjoo assumed she expected no less of a reply from her. Amazingly she didn’t feel any more hurt than she cared.

“Just be careful,” Hayoung warned. “Sehun and Kai might not be as nice as they seem.”

Grabbing her tray she stood up and left the table before Namjoo could ask what she meant. Swiveling around in her seat Namjoo watched Hayoung disappear from the cafeteria, partly wondering if Hayoung was being nice to her.

Why did the woman have to be so confusing?

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At first, Kai thought Hayoung had been bluffing about what she said to him yesterday. Right now as he sat glued to his seat in his personal office, he wasn’t so confident. Just earlier, the gaze Sehun had given him – he’d never received it before.

“What if I tell you that Sehun says he wants her back?”

He hadn’t believed her. Now he was starting to think he should, because what if Choonhee would go back to him? No matter the lie, Choonhee had been attracted to Sehun. A fist constricted within his chest and he bit his lower lip suddenly distressed.

He planned on delaying the engagement till after everything was settled and the business was well in process of raking in some revenue, but he didn’t think waiting was the right thing anymore. Time was the essence of everything and one of the things he couldn’t lose hand on. If he waited longer for the engagement he knew Sehun would snatch the moment first. And if he had her again, his parents would cry in joy and shamelessly try to climb up. Those two things would use their son to control the power in the company, and like a dog, Sehun would follow with tail wagging.

Kai hated it.  

Leaning forward in his seat at the thought of scenario, Kai bit onto his thumbnail. He knew Sehun would have work piled up for him since this was the first week. He would have too many things to handle to even worry about Choonhee, yet that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything to worry about. Sitting back right now could be one of the worst mistakes he could make.

Agonized by the many worries he abruptly stood up and walked toward the door. Pulling the door open he stepped out to find that the empty department was again, starting to fill up with his co-workers. His eyes swung around the room to see that Choonhee’s desk was still empty. Anxious, he hurried forth to grab a random person and asked, “Do you know where Choonhee is?”

“I think she’s still in the cafeteria…” before he could finish his sentence Kai pivoted away and started toward the doors.

And just as told, he spotted Choonhee sitting alone at one of the tables. The sight of her calmed him immediately. He was glad that she was alone and unaccompanied. Slowly making his way toward her, his eyes absorbing the view of her to his heart’s content he finally grabbed the chair Hayoung had been sitting in and joined her.

“Are you that hungry?” he asked, looking at all the food on her plate.

Choonhee looked surprised by his voice and laughed awkwardly without saying anything, suddenly appearing agitated with his company. She never laughed in such manner before – being all awkward, even sounding nervous and avoiding his eyes. He had thought about commenting on it but hadn’t. Now, he was starting to think it was cute and it made him feel good to know he could make her flustered.

“This weekend,” he spoke, “I was thinking we could go on a picnic.”

Lifting her eyes up from her tray she repeated, “Picnic?”

Nodding, “Mmm…just something to do, the two of us. How about it?”

“Ok.”

He expected to see her eyes brighten up and lively smile at him. Instead, she sounded edgy and unsure, nervous. For a second, he wondered if Sehun had said something to her. Or maybe Hayoung had.

Shoving the worries away he told her, “Don’t tell anyone, ok? You can think of our date as…lets say, something private between us?”

Because he was worried that if she told either Hayoung or Sehun about his plans, they would intervene. Kai didn’t trust either of them.

Choonhee looked puzzled and nodded slowly, as if trying to sink in his words. “Ok.”

“Alright then,” he smiled and reached over to bop her playfully on the head, “take your time before coming back up.”

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Displeasure might be the word to describe his vexed emotions. Sehun was bothered, perhaps annoyed that he was going along with Hayoung’s plan; that he was doing this out of self-satisfaction because it made him feel good to see Kai’s all-so-lucky gaze plummeting. And because he felt drawn to Lee Choonhee.

Retreating back to his office he sunk into his big comfy chair unable to enjoy the view outside his window. Damn Choonhee. She should have said she wanted lunch with him. He came first for her after all, knowing that Kai would have abandoned her because he had too much things to do. And he knew Choonhee wasn’t very familiar with the business atmosphere. She might as well be bored out of her mind.

Here, she wouldn’t be able to listen to her beloved music or play her great piano. In this place she would be blued to the computer, her hands not on black and white keys but on a bland keyboard, not listening to those keys making beautiful sounds but instead tap tap tapping noises. She would go crazy, he could see it inside his head. The stress building up in her eyes and how tense her body would become because office work wasn’t something she was accustomed to.

Sehun actually felt a little sorry for her.

“If you record an album, I’ll buy it. Really.” He had promised once.

He scoffed at the thought of it. Yet, ignoring him she’d sold her beloved instrument, throwing it away as easily as unwanted food.

The knock at his door made him turn. Quickly sitting forward he pulled a pile of stapled paper toward him in order to look occupied. Though his eyes were locked on the printed words, which were barely processing through his mind, he knew by the tapping of the heels whom it was that had come in. Sehun only glanced up when Hayoung set something down onto his desk.

“I assumed you didn’t have lunch,” she peered down at him through glazed eyes. He thought they looked like they were laughing at him, at the same time, worried.

She then walked away and he started debating about whether to eat or not. He’d lost his appetite after failing to get lunch with Choonhee and he couldn’t even tell why he felt like a loser over it.

“Next time,” Hayoung started without turning around, “don’t do it again.”

His brow twitched.

“You looked pathetic.”

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Namjoo really looked forward to heading home, taking a shower, and dropping into bed. She couldn’t take any more of this…sitting here in front of the computer thing. She would admit that at first she felt it a leisurely thing to do. Now, all the things she had felt about it were nowhere near that.

She despised it, hated it, and dejected it. Her eyes and her head hurt, both physically and mentally. She didn’t know how the others went about it but she was damn sure she’d rather be on her feet, maybe even running away from those guys who used to pickpocket her.

“Choonhee,” Namjoo turned at the sound of the voice to see the woman who’d earlier handed her the USB. There was a comfortingly nice smile on her face, as if to assure her she wasn’t trying to be mean.

That was when Namjoo spotted the USB she’d handed back to her half an hour ago back in her hands. She could almost feel it that it was going to be returned to her. The hopes of seeing daylight began draining from her almost immediately.

“I think you made some typos,” she explained gently, as if if she scolded her she’d be the one in trouble for the mistake. After all, she was close to their managing director, Kai. Everyone probably knew that. Realizing that made Namjoo feel looked down on. She made no comment though.

“And you missed some typos. Could you go back and correct them?” the woman asked. Her face was kind and her expression was gentle. Namjoo could tell she was nervous with trying her best not to tell her off.

Dread swept over her. Why did it make her feel not so good? Namjoo would have loved to feel feared, but this…wasn’t it.

Namjoo nodded and took the USB from her, “I’m sorry.” She apologized. “I…I’ll do it.”

“We’re going to review it for publishing tomorrow,” the woman explained, “and come up with a concept for the book cover. The publishing date is getting near and we’re a little behind. If you could finish it by tomorrow…”

Namjoo smiled, hoping it would settle the woman’s nerves. “I understand.”

With another nod the woman turned to walk away then Namjoo switched her attention back onto the computer. She watned to groan and bust her head against the desk. She wanted to go home – her real home would be even better.

Another headache was pounding through her head and she forced herself to plug the USB into the computer and open up the document. After another three hours she closed her eyes and listened to the others begin to pack up to leave. Inside her head she imagined herself following them out of the building, eager to return home to a good dinner prepared just for her.

“Still working?” when she opened her eyes she saw Kai standing at the side of her desk with his body leaning against it.

He was so suave, she thought. Then quickly catching herself quickly minimized the internet page she was on – a grammar and punctuation page. She didn’t want him to see because if he realized that she was looking up help on the internet he might notice she wasn’t Choonhee. Because the dead twin, Namjoo imagined, probably knew her vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

“Yea,” Namjoo nodded, “still busy,” then laughed nervously. “It might take a while.”

“Ah…really?”

Namjoo nodded again, wondering anxiously if there was something he wanted. “Yea, really.”

“I was hoping we could grab a bite of something before taking you home.”

Namjoo could feel her stomach twirling at the suggestion of it. “That sounds nice.”

“Then set your work aside and lets go,” he gestured his head toward the exit.

Namjoo followed his gesture then glanced at him, “No, I can’t. You need this by tomorrow, so I should get it done first. You go on first.”

“What are you doing? Maybe I can help.”

Her heart barely leapt out of her chest and Namjoo reached for the mouse before he could touch it. If he realized how slow of a typer she was and how bad she was at even putting a sentence together, he would know she was a fake. And none of that she could risk right now. She didn’t want to die by Hayoung’s hands and she wanted – she knew – that if this were to end, she’d want to go scotch free and at least with some money in her hands.

“I’ll be fine. It won’t take long,” she promised, trying her best to sound persuasive. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ok then. If you need anything, call me.” he patted her on the back and with another smile, walked away. Namjoo watched him leave with despair and turned back to the computer with a sigh.

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The sun had set. It was dark and the moon was up. Tonight there were no stars and Sehun could imagine the cool night air brushing against him when he walked out. He couldn’t wait to get home, soak in a warm bath, and then head off to bed.

Closing the office door after him he jiggled the doorknob to make sure it was locked and walked past the empty desk in the hallway that belonged to Hayoung. The leather furnishing across from her desk still reeked of fresh material.

Stepping into the elevator he pressed for the lobby floor and watched the red numbers tick down. Out of curiosity he pressed the stop button at the third floor, curious if everybody had left. Every other light along the hallway were turned off to save energy, but beyond the hallway he spotted a light shining from the publishing department.

Cliqued with even more curiosity, wondering who may still be left behind, he started out of the elevator. The glass doors were shut but at some cubicle inside the now dim room, he spotted a light glowing – all but meaning someone was there. Pulling the door open he quietly stepped inside and when he neared, discovered Choonhee sleeping at her desk.  

***Cover-up because Hayoung put Sehun down because she was actually worried about him skipping a meal; Kai being nice and using the picnic as an excuse to get things working his way; Namjoo pretending to be smart Choonhee when she isn't; and Sehun putting on a face that he doesn't care. Everything is a facade. So who's being real and who isn't?