"Giselle, please come here for a moment."

The said woman hurried towards Irene's desk, wondering if she was going to be given another important job. Irene had a sympathetic expression on her face.

"I was wondering..." started Irene, pausing as she fiddled with the pen in her hand. "I was wondering if you would like it if I requested for Yoo to be transferred to another department or something? Because I don't like it, seeing you working your off just because your co-worker isn't showing up at work to help you do the tasks she's supposed to be doing."

Giselle tugged at her necktie nervously, staring at the blank sheet of paper on Irene's desk.

Truth be told, she's been dealing with this for the past three years and as much as Giselle didn't want to admit it, if her co-worker who seemed to love slacking off on her job wasn't gonna be in the same office as her, it felt… it felt wrong. And Giselle was speaking as someone who was highly annoyed at Yoo Jimin, her co-worker's tardy behavior.

Could it have been due to the fact that she's been used to working with Yoo Jimin and her knowledge of the consequences that came with working with the woman who was regarded as the most useless worker in the company? Could it have been due to the attachment she had to her stupid co-worker that she just could not say that she doesn't want her around anymore because saying that is not entirely the truth but isn't a total lie either?

Giselle scoffed mentally. No way in hell she's ever gonna get too friendly with Yoo Jimin.

"What do you say?" asked Irene, pulling her out of her train of thoughts, smiling softly at Giselle. Giselle offered her a polite smile.

"I'm sorry, Miss Bae. But I think that I'll still be fine even if Miss Yoo didn't really show up at work."

"But, Giselle," Irene leaned forward, brows furrowed. "Are you sure? Your workload is doubled because everything that Yoo should be working on is being passed on to you instead."

The offer was tempting. To be frank, Aeri's always been irritated by the way Jimin acted since the start. She's never been one to be fond of lousy slackers like Jimin and the fact that Irene was basically offering a chance to be free of 90% of the workload she gets on the daily was mouthwatering. But then she merely gives Irene a smile and a polite shake of her head.

"I insist, Miss Bae. I think I'll still be fine. She'll come around, even though it's been three years," said Giselle. Though she couldn't help the bitterness that sneaks into her voice as she replied. Oh please, there's no way Yoo Jimin would try to change now.

Irene stared at her before sighing heavily. Then her phone rings and Giselle could see Irene's face lighting up when she sees the caller ID. She smiles apologetically at Giselle before standing up.

"Alright, if you say so. Now if you may excuse me, I need to answer a phone call from my wife. Yes, hello, Seungwan-ah?"

"Good day, Kwangya! Kim Minjeong here, delivering you the best updates on what's happening in our city as of 3 o'clock in the afternoon!

Right, I advise you to not head over to Synk Avenue. I'm afraid Nævy is not quite done wreaking havoc over there- Ah, fortunately enough, it seems that Dead Bunny caught up with her just in time and- woah, would you look at that!

Alright alright, I'm sorry – Ahem, back to the topic, it seems that all is well at La Maison Park. It also seems that White Dove has successfully eee-ended Brittle Maid – still baffles me how Brittle Maid thought of her name but anyways-

Seems to be nothing that particularly interesting today and I don't know whether we should all be pleased or disappointed at that but let's just all be thankful that we're all alive here still.

And that's all from Kim Minjeong for today, folks! Let's head over to Kim Jiwoo for the weather forecast!"

Giselle smiled before sighing, snatching the remote from Vivi.

"Don't you think that it's a bit suspicious how it's a little bit quiet in Kwangya right now?" asked Vivi, who was still staring blankly at the gray screen of the television. Giselle chuckled darkly.

"Living in Kwangya ever since the day I was born made me realize that you should never put your guard down. Especially when it's getting a little too quiet. It gets to the point that it's actually a very unusual occurrence. Kwangya being peaceful, I mean," said Giselle, sighing heavily.

"Oh God, please don't tell me Yoo isn't here again." The two look around to see an annoyed Kim Chaewon coming their way. Giselle looks over her shoulder to check and sighs when she sees that Jimin's desk was vacant once again. Of course it's vacant again.

"I'm afraid so."

But then, as if on cue, the door bursts open, revealing the tall figure of Yoo Jimin.

"Speak of the devil, she's here," mumbled Vivi, checking her wristwatch. The action makes Giselle look at her own wristwatch too. It's 10:30am, she thought exasperatedly. "Reckon she'd finally beat her 10am record and start going to work at 9am or 9:30am?"

"...I don't know."

"Good afternoon," Jimin greeted as she made her way to her desk, passing Giselle and she was about to put her briefcase down when Chaewon's voice resonated across the office.

"Yoo!" Jimin looked down at Chaewon, who was glowering up at her.

"Hm?"

"Word?"

"Sure?" replied Jimin with uncertainty. 

"Good," said Chaewon with a tired sigh before practically dragging Jimin outside. Vivi and Giselle both glance at each other.

"What was that all about?" Vivi shrugged. "Beats me. Anyways, gotta get going. I have an appointment to make with someone from the 5th floor."

"You mean Miss Jo Haseul?" inquired Giselle, wiggling her eyebrows at Vivi suggestively. "You sure it's 'just' an 'appointment', boss?"

Vivi waves at her dismissively, her retreating back disappearing behind the piles of newspapers stacked messily. Giselle smirks when she sees how red the back of the senior journalist's neck was.

It's a Saturday. And yet, Giselle is still working, sitting in their office as she tries to think of a good headline to start her article with.

"'New bomb explosions at the bomb'... Ugh, this isn't good... Hm... what about..."

If Jimin was here, she wouldn't be having any problems right now, thought Giselle irritably. Jimin could've been writing the many news articles that were stuck in Giselle's 'Reports Yoo would've been working on if only she showed up to work' folder in her computer but oh no, Giselle was the one working on those right now instead of the person who was supposed to be working on them.

The door slammed open. Giselle thought that it was Jimin because of how similar they looked until the newcomer looked up at her, an agitated look plastered on her face. Giselle realizes that this was not Jimin, but a much older-looking Jimin who obviously isn't Jimin, Jung Jinsoul.

"Gigi, I need your help."

"Cool, what's up?" asked Giselle lazily, still trying to think of a good headline for her new article.

Giselle actually hates working in an office.

She could've been touring around the world, chasing her dreams as a famous singer, writing her thoughts and feelings into several sheets of paper as her songs, meeting fans happily as she sang the lyrics to her self-written songs. But oh no, she was stuck here in this boring, gray office, putting up with a tardy co-worker, sacrificing her sleep just to write headlines and articles that wouldn't even make it to the final cut.

But what were her other options if her mother badly wanted her to become a journalist?

She sighed and gives up on writing the headline. Procrastination. That's the key, Gigi.

"The deadline for those articles Bae wants us to submit is in two weeks, I think we should be fine if we tried brainstorming and helping each other out with our reports-"

Giselle just stares at Jinsoul.

Ah yes. Her 'new' article was already due two weeks away from now.

"I- W- Huh? What do you mean the deadline's two weeks away from now?"

Jinsoul just shrugged, her black stilettos clacking around noisily as she frantically walked around the office. 

"Giselle, Irene's been asking us for our articles every hour, please don't tell me you never listened to her whenever she paraded around the office, reminding us to turn 'em in before July 30th."

Giselle shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Giselle wasn't one to ignore deadlines. In fact, the reason why she had been Employee of the Month countless times was the fact that she was never one to slack off, always turning in reports and immediately answering calls for her help at work whenever she was needed. 

Maybe too much has been on her plate lately, which was why she totally forgot that the deadline was just two weeks away from now.

"W-Well..."

Jinsoul scrunches her nose disapprovingly, as if this rare display of irresponsibility irked her. Nevertheless, the older woman gave her a tired but genuine smile. "Listen, just approach me if you want me to help you with anything you need help with."

Jinsoul was somewhat the substitute for Jimin. It wasn't exactly her official position but whenever Giselle needed any help, Jinsoul was always there to give her a helping hand to the point that whenever Jinsoul approached Giselle to help her, Giselle would continuously apologize to her for letting her do the work that Jimin should be doing in her stead, silently cursing Jimin in her mind as she did so.

"It's fine, I don't have much to work on anyway," Jinsoul would normally reply kindly. Too kind that it always made Giselle feel even more guilty. 

"Jinsoul, I…" Giselle sighed. "Thank you. For everything. And I'm sorry for making you do everything that Yoo Jimin can't do at the moment."

Jinsoul shakes her head. "Work on that article as your token of gratitude and apologies towards me. I wouldn't want us to be on Miss Bae's bad side," said Jinsoul, leaving the room, seemingly finding what she was looking for earlier. Not before yelling, "Don't forget about the deadline!"

Giselle sighed, writing the date of the deadline on a small Post-it note.

"Pst, Uchinaga."

Giselle looks around to see Cho Miyeon peeking at her from her cubicle.

"Yes?"

"Heard you're going to that fancy presscon tomorrow evening. Did Miss Bae state if Yoo was going to be with you?" asked Miyeon, looking at Giselle with expectant eyes.

Now that... was something Giselle didn't give much consideration. Jimin, who was somewhat like the 'assistant' of Giselle never failed to accompany her to important events despite not turning up at The New Evo's headquarters often. Well, Jimin probably needed to show up at least every once in a while for her paycheck.

"Not quite but I'm sure she'll show up. Honestly, I don't know how she knows about and shows up at important events, given that she doesn't seem to have much access to our schedules and stuff like that. We're not exactly that close either so..."

"I see. Good luck there, yeah? Don't get too nervous, champ. You're not Employee of the Month for 8 months straight for no reason."

Giselle chuckles at her words. 

"I've never disappointed our team before."

It was the night of the press conference. 

Giselle had picked out the best dress she could find at the finest tailoring shop in the city. Irene insisted on getting the fanciest dress she could afford, even going as far as to offer to pay for the rental fee for the dress. Naturally, Giselle declined, not wanting to