"Press conference and yet no one even got to ask anyone any questions!"

 

Everyone around the table flinched as Irene slammed her fist against the table. 

 

"Press conference but why were journalists from The New Evo the only people wearing fancy outfits?" mumbled Choerry next to Giselle so that Irene couldn't hear. Giselle snorted but didn't answer, shrugging.

 

"Five journalists from our team at the presscon and nobody got to ask the speakers any questions?" continued Irene. "I thought that we all agreed to have anything that would be award-winning?"

 

Vivi raised her hand calmly, drawing everyone's attention to her. 

 

"Miss Bae, I assume that you haven't heard of the attempted – what do you call it – ah, assassination a few nights ago?"

 

Irene blinked. "A-A- A what? An assassination?"

 

"Attempted assassination, my dear lady," Choi Jisu corrected. "Had guns and all that but thankfully, you know that organization of superheroes? They managed to be there on time. God knows how the mayor would've been already shot dead if it weren't for those people."

 

Irene gaped at everyone around the table, as though she was expecting that they would bring out a large banner that said 'Happy April Fools!' in large letters. But then again, it was already mid-July, not April.

 

"Miss Bae, aren't you usually the one who's updated about this sort of... affairs?" asked Chaewon. Irene frowned.

 

"I had other things to deal with. I'm also quite sure that I asked Jo Haseul to take care of everything – or was it her? Ah, I think it was someone else but my point still stands."

 

"Miss Bae, with all due respect, that was quite irresponsible of you, no?" Jaehyun sneered. Irene's right eye twitches. Everyone gasps at him. No one's ever dared to talk like that at any of their superiors, much less Irene, of all people. So it was a shock for Jaehyun to talk back to her and even call her 'irresponsible'.

 

"You're pretty cocky for someone who's failed to submit your mediocre reports on time, claiming that you would've made a better Employee of the Month than Uchinaga," Irene coolly said. Jaehyun's smirk fades away, replaced by an ugly look that did not suit him.

 

"Everyone, please calm down," said Haseul, chuckling nervously.

 

Irene slowly sat down, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well... Well alright, what now?"

 

"'What now'?'' repeated Yeri, drawing everyone's attention to her. "What do you mean, 'what now'? Shouldn't you be giving us instructions on what to do next? Should we run around Kwangya carrying our cameras and microphones with us, interviewing traumatized people who were there during the assa-"

 

"Yeri, no," mumbled a frightened Jinsoul next to her, glancing at Irene, who was sporting a dangerous look. "You wouldn't want Miss Bae to kick you out of the office or else you'd be kicked out of The New Evo if she does."

 

"What, are you implying she'll fire m-"

 

"That's enough," Choi Soobin spoke up. "I'm sure Miss Bae still has something to say, no?"

 

"Yes, thank you Mr. Choi," said Irene. Checking her wristwatch, her frown deepens. "Is Yoo around? Where is she?"

 

"Ah," Jaehyun spoke up, smirking. "That sleazeball Yoo? You all still think that she'd come here on time?"

 

"God, when will you shut your noisy mouth up?! And don't call her that," hissed Giselle.

 

"But it's true, isn't it?" asked Jaehyun, raising a brow. No, it ing isn't, Giselle was about to retort angrily when Irene cut them off.

 

"If you two continue arguing like that here, I would like you to get out of this room and continue your silly little arguments outside."

 

But you looked like you were already close to strangling Jeong a while ago, ing hypocrite, thought Giselle angrily, subtly rolling her eyes. The pair fell quiet, with Giselle glaring at Jaehyun, who yawned loudly as if to irritate Giselle further.

 

"So anyways," continued Irene, clearing . "As you all know, the annual POS-itive Awards will be held somewhere around late Augu-"

 

"Wait wait wait," Hitomi looks up with bright eyes. "Are we invited again?"

 

"And we'll surely not win this one again," muttered Choerry, drawing a small humorless chuckle from Giselle. 

 

Even with the amount of effort The New Evo has been giving to provide the best results for the citizens of Kwangya, it never seemed to be enough. Compared to other outlets like BBC Network, IZ*Press, and a lot more of their rivaling companies, they were never recognized very well. Unlike LNA News, who boasted their ability to deliver important news to the public in a matter of milliseconds, or IZ*Press who provided the Kwangya citizens with words that told everyone what they needed to know about everything, The New Evo was just somewhere between overtly popular and… not popular. Irene believed their success was organic and was never tainted by bribery or anything of the sort. Though she did express her disappointment of never getting as much recognition as their rivals for the past seven years multiple times.

 

"We've always been invited every year," deadpanned Irene. "Though I'm afraid we haven't won any awards since… seven years ago. It would be a nice change if we managed to win at the very least one award this time around."

 

"No, sending Yoo's works to an important event like that would be like sending a rabbit to chase after a wolf," said Giselle when Jiwoo suggested submitting an article written by Jimin for the show, heaving a sigh. "Does she even write anything?"

 

"Well, why don't you write something and we'll send your article with Yoo's?"

 

Giselle stares at Jisu in horror.

 

“And have her chicken out again?"

 

"Ah, but maybe she had to go to the bathroom or something that evening?" suggested Jiwoo dumbly, eyes twinkling. Giselle snorted.

 

"That's dumb, no offense."

 

"We'll rent a fancy limousine," Irene said out of nowhere. 

 

"What's a limo got anything to do with the award show?" asked Choerry.

 

"To make us look presentable and expensive at least, if we're not gonna bag any awards… again."

 

Everyone around the table laughed at Irene's words. It's pretty saddening how they have to deal with the depressing state of their company through dark humor.

 

"On a more serious note though, I still don't understand why we haven't won any awards for the last eight years," said Irene, massaging her temples. "Last year, IZ*Press won when that Kang girl only wrote something cliché, like that report that talked about the overused topic of waste segregation. Honestly – I'm not biased or anything, but I think that our own Johnny Suh's article about how Enozi City's former mayor was revealed to be rigging the elections to keep on winning was more interesting than the one IZ*Press submitted to POS-itive."

 

"You should've read Uchinaga's piece about the press conference, boss. She already wrote something about the 'tragic' ambush and how that new hero in town came in to save everyone with her team of heroes, I mean" said Minjeong, taking a bite from her chocolate doughnut. "A magnificent article, I say. If we submit it for Pos-itive, I'm positive that we'll bag the top award."

 

Giselle blushes at the compliment, turning even redder when everyone in the room started clapping for her – Yeri even whistled with approval.

 

"Can testify to this, chief," Hitomi piped up. "Everyone's been buying several stacks of our papers for their stores because their stocks always seem to sell out! I've read it and as Minjeong said, it was a magnificent article! Earlier this morning, I overheard Yabuki and some other people outside discussing the identity of that new hero – Specked Feline? Spotted Feline?"

 

"Speckled Feline," corrected Giselle. 

 

"Ah yes, Speckled Feline! Everyone's been gossiping about her ever since that night. Perfect body proportions in that y suit, they said,” said Hitomi, wiggling her eyebrows.

 

A few of them whistled at her words, murmuring in agreement. 

 

"Well, I need to get reminded of submitting your work to POS-itive then," said Irene, smiling at Giselle. Giselle's heart soars at her boss' words.

 

"They said that they're moving the new press conference to next week, given how the last press conference was...  a complete failure," said Miyeon suddenly, sighing heavily.

 

"Are we still sending the same people there?"

 

"'Course we are," replied Irene without missing a beat.

 

"Ah , here we go again," muttered Giselle, making Choerry snicker behind her palm.

 

Irene was about to discuss something else when there came a knock on the door.

 

"Who's there? Come in!"

 

The doorknob twists and the door opens, revealing Yoo Jimin's small face poking from the door. She flashes a grin at them.

 

"Good afternoon, am I late?"

 

Giselle rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. Tardy .

 

"If I were you, I would've waited for the meeting to finish," said Irene coldly, glaring at her. Jimin was still smiling, though apologetically.

 

"Mind if I still come in?"

 

Irene continues glaring at her before sighing, gesturing to the empty seat next to Jiwoo.

 

"As I was saying before Yoo interrupted, I would like it if Miss Ning Yizhuo…? The girl who got into the company a few months ago, is that her name?" she asked Giselle, who nodded. "Yes, I want that girl to do an exclusive with SMCU's dean on the explosion at the university."

 

"You, Kim," she addressed Minjeong. "Tell the girl to meet me here, I need to tell her about it ASAP."

 

"Right now?"

 

"Right no- Well, of course, I'm talking right now! Did you not understand ASAP? Time is gold, kid! Come on now!" Minjeong quickly stood up, dashing to the door.

 

"Any questions?"

 

Everyone glanced at each other before shrugging.

 

"No."

 

Irene clasped her hands. "Alright. I guess that will be all for today. You may go now."

 

"Where's that new intern – the Im Yeojin one – yes, that new kid. Where is she? I need her to run to the nearest store to get coffee – everyone's complaining that we ran out-"

 

"Weird, wasn't it?" Choerry asked the moment they stepped out of the meeting room. Giselle looked at her questioningly. 

 

"What is?"

 

"The meeting," answered Choerry. Giselle hummed in response. 

 

"In what way?"

 

"Dunno. I just kinda noticed that it was different from our previous meetings."

 

"Huh?" asked Giselle, frowning in confusion.

 

"I don't know if I was the only one who noticed, but it was a bit disorganized. Miss Bae didn't even bother doing that pep talk she does every time she holds a meeting and she looked a bit lost. Too many topics at once, small disagreements between everyone, informal language being used between everyone, you get my point, right?"

 

Giselle stays silent. And concludes that Choerry was right.

 

"Yeah. Yeah, I do. Now that I think about it, you're right."

 

 

 

Sometimes, Giselle forgets that Jimin was living in the same apartment as her. But, believe it or not, it never crossed her mind to just march towards Jimin's door down the end of her floor and continuously knock against the door to wake Jimin up so that she could finally go to work on time. 

 

And maybe she'll be doing just that today.

 

So she pompously makes her way towards where Jimin lives (she was on the fourth floor, in room 411, while Giselle was on the third floor, in room 310) and raises her hand to the door. She was about to knock when she heard a faint voice from inside. 

 

"I told you – no, Soobin. Wait until the 21st of the month. Yeah, yeah, alright. Okay, I'll hang up now, I need to attend to something important, bye."

 

Giselle stood still, hand still in midair. Regaining her senses, she knocks four times. There was a pause. Then came the shuffling of chairs and light footsteps and – a meow?

 

The door opens, revealing Yoo Jimin, who seemed to be scratching the head of an orange tabby cat that looked grumpy...?

 

Giselle doesn't remember Jimin ever housing a cat before. Hell, pets were not allowed in their apartment. Was it a stray cat Jimin thought she should take care of? Jimin was the type of person to sneak stray cats into the apartment because she felt bad. That girl loved cats too much. But this cat didn't look like it came fresh from the streets.

 

In fact, it looked well-groomed. 

 

"Good morning. Yes? Do you need anything?" asked Jimin casually as if she wasn't running late for work already. She was dressed in a simple, crumpled white t-shirt and blue striped pajama trousers. Her hair looked quite messy and her face was void of the light makeup she normally wore to work.

 

"Ugh, get that cat away from me, please," said Giselle, scrunching her nose. "I could already feel my nose itching." Giselle even scratched her nose to prove her point.

 

The cat hissed before jumping out of Jimin's arms, and walking away, not before glaring at Giselle with its brilliant yellow eyes. Jesus, what was this cat's problem with her?

 

"So? What's up?"

 

Giselle glares at her.

 

"Are you perhaps forgetting that you've got work that requires you to be present at your workplace at all times?"

 

A small smirk tugs at the corner of Jimin's lips. 

 

"Wanna come in?"

 

...

 

"So why haven't you been going to work regularly for the last three years?" asked Giselle as soon as she sat on Jimin's (surprisingly comfortable) sofa, Jimin's tabby cat still glaring at her. She glares back of course, why would she let the cat sit there, glaring at her without fighting back?

 

"Family and personal matters," replied Jimin casually, buttering her toast, and stuffing it into . "And Miss Bae herself assigned me herself to 'research' for interesting – what was the term she used – 'tea' to her advantage. Hey, do you want toast and coffee?" 

 

"Ever since you stepped through the doors of The New Evo three years ago?" asked Giselle in disbelief, ignoring Jimin's offer.

 

"Yep."

 

"Miss Bae was threatening to fire you!"

 

Jimin isn't listening as she casually sips from her morning mug of coffee, grimacing slightly at the bitter taste as she reads the newspaper. Giselle raised a brow. 

 

"You're drinking coffee," Giselle commented. Jimin stopped sipping briefly, before shrugging, taking a small sip from her mug again, frowning.

 

"Yeah. It's warm, I kind of like it now. You love coffee, don't you? Are you sure that you don't want a mug?" Jimin asked Giselle, who rolled her eyes.

 

"Whatever. I already had breakfast earlier."

 

"Well, you could've just told me when I offered you toast and coffee first," said Jimin lightheartedly, flipping to the next page of her newspaper.

 

"You haven't been doing a great job at what she's trying to make you do," sneered Giselle, steering their conversation away from morning coffee and breakfast. “Have you? That’s why she’s been itching to fire you lately.”

 

Jimin shrugged, walking to the sink, her fluffy gray slippers padding across her brown carpet. Giselle could hear the sounds of plates clanking with each other from the kitchen. "Not really," Jimin said loudly. 

 

Giselle scoffs at the brief response. "You're incredibly lazy."

 

"Mhm."

 

"Too lax."

 

"Mhm."

 

"You're not enjoying your job."

 

"Mm, I wouldn't put it that way."

 

"You're too cocky."

 

"Mhm."

 

"You act as if you're already an established journalist when in reality, you are not."

 

"Mhm."

 

"Your laziness and idiocy will be the downfall of our company."

 

"Mhm."

 

"My God, Yoo Jimin! Why are you like this?" Giselle asked frustratedly, groaning loudly as she covered her face with her hands. If there was anything Giselle hated the most, it was the way Jimin was just so casual about everything. If you told Jimin about the most terrifying thing you've ever witnessed, chances are that Jimin would laugh heartily and shrug casually as if it was the most ordinary thing she'd ever heard of.

 

Jimin grins at her cheekily, dimples digging deep into her cheeks.

 

"Because I am?"

 

Too frustrated at how Jimin was acting, Giselle actually (almost) facepalms herself.

 

"Shouldn't- I don't think that you're supposed to be here right now,” said Jimin suddenly.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You still have work,” repeated Jimin matter-of-factly. Giselle stares at her, disdainful. 

 

“No, we both have work,” corrected Giselle, glaring at Jimin. “And I’m not leaving until you go to work. With me."

 

Jimin looked at her weirdly, a crease on her forehead before sighing heavily, shrugging.

 

"Okay."

 

The piece of toast in Giselle's hand almost drops onto the carpeted floor at the singular word that came from Jimin's mouth.

 

"'Okay'?"

 

Jimin shrugged, walking to her bedroom. "Yeah, okay. Why? Have you changed your mind and decided you don't care whether I go to work or not?"

 

Giselle blinked. "...Huh"?"

 

Jimin came out of her room seconds later, holding her business suit in one hand and a comb in the other.

 

"You're telling me that you're actually going to work?" asked Giselle as though she couldn't believe her ears. 

 

"Yes," said Jimin, sighing exasperatedly. "I will be going to work, Giselle."

 

"Oh." Giselle's at a loss for words as she watches Jimin pet her cat. Jimin stares at the cat for more than 5 seconds and Giselle reads this wrongly.

 

"Oh please, don't tell me you're going to bring that stupid cat to the office!" The cat seemed to understand her words, hissing and spitting at the bespectacled brunette.

 

"What?" Jimin laughed, moving to take her shirt off. Giselle looks away, flustered by the action as she mumbles 'You have a room, why not change there?'.

 

"I'm not going to break the rule where it states that we're not allowed to bring our pets there." Jimin continued and Giselle could hear Jimin zipping her pants up.

 

"And you've probably broken more than 50 rules in the company by not showing up to work every day," muttered Giselle crankily, turning around to face Jimin when she was already sure that the taller girl was done changing. "And besides, did you forget that the rules of this apartment included no pets allowed? I never knew you owned a cat. The last time I went here-"

 

"-Was five months ago and a lot can change in five months, Gigi," said Jimin without skipping a beat.

 

"Stop calling me that," hissed Giselle through gritted teeth. 

 

"But you like it though," said Jimin, grinning.

 

"Not from you," retorted Giselle, smiling triumphantly when Jimin pouts.

 

Jimin turned away from Giselle, struggling with something. 

 

"Yah, Yoo Jimin? What's up with you?"

 

For some reason, Jimin shook her head, still not facing Giselle. Giselle took notice of this and stood up from the couch, walking towards Jimin. When she sees what Jimin is struggling with, she laughs loudly.

 

"You don't know how to tie your necktie?"

 

Jimin visibly turns red at the accusation. 

 

"I-It's not like that!"

 

"Jimin, your necktie always seemed alright when you're at work. Does someone usually tie it for you?"

 

Jimin doesn't answer her question, face still red as she struggles with her necktie. Giselle watches Jimin's poor attempt to tie the long piece of fabric before heaving a sigh.

 

"Come here."

 

Jimin gives her a skeptical look before relenting anyway, pouting.

 

"I'm not a child."

 

"You're already an adult but you certainly still act like a toddler," said Giselle coolly, relishing the smooth silky texture of J