11

“So… How was your weekend? It was a blast, right? You were pretty wasted though…”

Joohyun cranes her neck to witness a smiling Seungwan, propping herself against the cubicle beside her—all jolly while wriggling her brows up and down. She shrugs and continues filling her report, her face stays expressionless despite Seulgi’s sincere smile and another deal that she has mindlessly agreed to, on that particular night are those things that come upon her mind when her best friend asks about her weekend.

“Seungwan, Mr. Park has his eyes glaring in our direction.” She reprimands under her breath without sparing a look and Seungwan’s body stiffens in a mere second.

Mr. Park is their head of Human Resources who’s famous for being overly strict, marked as an unqualified employee for breaking some company’s rules is not something she’s looking forward to being added in her list of achievements.

And so, Seungwan finds herself crouching down behind the white compartment that’s separating them with bated breath. But after a full minute aside of typing sounds coming from the other’s worker, she also hears Joohyun’s suppressed laugh ensue and figures it out immediately. She springs back to glare at the wicked woman. “He is out of town! You’re no fun!”

“Then wise one, you shouldn’t slack off.” The older woman replies without taking her eyes off her task. “What if Ms. Hwang sees you in this state?”

“Tiffany unnie will understand. I’m just taking a little break.” Seungwan counters.

Joohyun shakes her head at the informal address towards their boss. Ms. Hwang is their current CEO, but the woman always treats her employees equally the same, always the one encouraging everyone maintaining a good environment, friendly towards them just like what Seulgi does, but the latter is on another level of oddness—Joohyun shakes her head to get rid of her last thought. “We should keep it professional though, she’s still our boss.”

“Okay.” The brunette nods in agreement. She tilts her head as she inspects Joohyun’s still figure, something suddenly comes in. Seungwan snaps her fingers. “Ah… Have you already heard about the news going around our office for a while now?”

The black haired woman stops reviewing and looks up, noticing the glimmer in her best friend’s eyes. It spells trouble, but she can’t resist. “What news?”

Seungwan’s smile widens and without missing a beat, she has scurried to invade her workplace along with a swivel chair in tow. Joohyun raises one of her brows and points her pen in the latter’s direction with a frown.

“If it’s about those petty love affair gossips between our co-workers like the last time you blabbered off and I swear I’ll not hesitate to stab you with it.” She twirls her pen menacingly.

Seungwan laughs as she eases herself into her seat. She swats down the protruding pen and shakes her head. “No. No. No. This is different. A hot topic news!”

“Be quiet.” Joohyun hisses. “And be quick! I’m not done with my task here.”

“You see when I was in the pantry to retrieve some coffee this noon, I heard Solar from the sales division sharing some juicy news.”

Joohyun silently winces, she suddenly gets the hunch. “Okay, go on.”

“Yeah, and you know what? She said that our company will be merged into another, bigger, financially stable company---Swing Electronics, which is also a subsidiary company of the Double K corporation. You know that company, right? It’s the biggest company in this entire nation. This revelation only leads to one thing,” Seungwan pauses and looks at her. “Am I going to be jobless?”

“Why would you be jobless all of sudden?”

“You know, merged company spells getting job cuts in every division. Meaning to reduce the number of employees. Only the best ones left.”

“Then you should stop gossiping right now and work hard.”

Seungwan rolls her eyes. “Point taken but let this one slip.”

Joohyun scoffs lowly. “So much for fearing getting fired.”

The younger woman shrugs off her remark with another query. “Second question is, would Ms. Hwang remain as our CEO in this new arrangement?”

Joohyun stays put, although she knows the answer already—being her boss’s assistant has its own benefit after all. She hesitantly answers. “I don’t know?”

“Really? I heard about another thing,” Seungwan leans in her seat. “There’s a rumor that someone else will take Ms. Hwang’s position.” The brunette taps her fingers against the desk. “Look, I’m not against the idea though, I believe whoever takes the position is capable enough of it and will surely want the best for our company as well.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Why you didn’t seem surprised at all?”

“I’m surprised.” Joohyun feigns her surprise. “Believe me, I did.” A long time ago.

“Okay, it doesn’t look convincing at all.” Seungwan rebuts and pats her shoulder rather demandingly. “But, well, whatever. Back to my earlier question, how was your weekend?”

Joohyun grunts and pushes Seungwan’s seat away. “Go back to your place.”

“You and Seulgi seem really close-” She muffles with her palm and starts guiding her out of her workplace. Seungwan’s voice is no joke everyone. It’s a matter of time before her other colleagues on this floor get a whiff of their not so quiet conversations. “Break is over. So get the hell out, Seungwan.”

X

“You called for me, Ms. Hwang?”

The woman in her mid-thirties lits up, placing her phone down as she welcomes her with an open smile. An air of sophisticated is exuded from the said beautiful woman, gesturing towards the seat across her with such gracefulness. “Yeah, I do. Please have a seat, Joohyun. I want to ask you about something.”

Joohyun does what she is told and waits until the older woman speaks up. “There’s no schedule for today, alright?”

The said woman quickly checks her boss’s schedule one last time and nods, confirming the information. “You have none for the rest of the day, Ms. Hwang.”

“Good, finally a break.” A free laugh and Joohyun has to smile at that.

“It’s okay to call me, unnie now,” says the older woman between them. She leans back in her leather seat, her voice sounds carefree. “How long have we known each other again?”

Joohyun lets her lips curl into a grateful smile, eyes silently conveying her thankful words. “Eight years, unnie.”

“Great. I feel old now,” her boss chimes with hands draping over her stomach. Something is glimmering on her boss’s finger, and it quickly catches her attention. It looks somewhat different from her boss’s usual wardrobe. “Unnie… Pardon me to ask but,”

“Yeah?”

“Is that…” She motions silently with her eyes. “That’s a bit different from your usual ring? Are you getting a new one?”

The woman beams as she lifts her right hand and shows her the occupied finger. A very beautiful ring made of the finest gold with a gorgeous solitaire white diamond sits in the middle of it, complementing the overall look. Simple yet elegant at the same time, Joohyun dreads to know the price.

“I thought you would never notice it.” She chuckles, placing her hand on her office desk—letting Joohyun marvel over her ring longer with a genuinely happy smile. “I’ve been wearing it for a while now.”

“What? Really?”

“Yup.”

“It’s beautiful.” Joohyun traces as she brings her eyes to look at the older woman. “It really suits you, Tiffany unnie.”

“Right?” Tiffany chortles as her hand shoots up again, still admiring her ring with heart eyes. “My partner wanted to make it look simple, it turned gorgeous in the end tho.”

“Your partner?”

Joohyun blinks, feeling a bit lost. She stares at the woman and then her gaze trails at the said ring over and over again. “You’re… in a relationship, unnie?”

“Joohyun oh my god, are you really my personal assistant?” Tiffany laughs, finding her surprised expression quite funny. “With whom do you think I spend my free time these past years? When I summon you to take earlier leave countless time, do you think is it only work-related?” She smirks, as the younger woman tries to piece everything in the picture. “Huh?”

“Yes, we’ve been in a relationship for five years already and are engaged for five months now.”

Tiffany begins to trace her ring softly, another huge smile threatens to break free. “And my usual ring you’ve always seen before was my promise ring.”

“Oh my God…I didn’t realize it up until now.”

Joohyun stands up from her seat and runs over the woman to hug her. “Congratulation, unnie! I’m happy for you, really! You deserve all the best thing in this world!”

“Thank you so much, dear…” Tiffany returns her hug and softly pats her back. She pulls off and grins. “Don’t tell everyone yet, alright? Only you and my closest circle of friends who know about this top secret information.”

Joohyun bobbles her head up and down, feeling excited about the good news she has just received. “When is the wedding, unnie? Do I know this special someone of yours?”

“It’s a secret, but I assure you little one,” The older woman cackles as she smoothens Joohyun’s hair lovingly. Joohyun smiles at the gesture, she has considered her boss as her own sister for these past years, likewise as Tiffany does the same to her.

“There’s no wedding until we settle all these merged things between my company and Ms. Kang’s. After that we’ll be free to plan our wedding, my partner is currently busy, so yeah, gonna make profits for as much as we can. We aren’t in the rush, so it’s all good.”

“Ah… I see.” Joohyun sincerely beams. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks a lot, sweetie.” Tiffany observes her quietly, eyes curving into a pair of crescents. “Have you been good?”

“I’m good.” Replies Joohyun with a tiny smile.

There’s a pause as Tiffany’s eyes flicker with something so familiar.

“Anyway, I notice that you’re somehow friend with Ms. Kang? Well, that’s a surprise. Ever since when?” The woman asks with an amused smile and Joohyun has to groan mentally as she retrieves to her earlier seat.

“Was it…started from the first time I asked you to tour her around that you ended up running late for almost one hour back to the office? I was meaning to ask you, ever since that day. ” She hears her snickering and sighs inwardly.

“Not you too, unnie…”

X

“Good morning Ms. Kang and Mr. Lee,” Joohyun bows and gestures politely towards the meeting room as Seulgi and her attorney make their way passing her. “Ms. Hwang and Ms. Kim have been waiting for you inside.”

“Thank you, Ms. Bae.” The man in his fifty smiles as he walks past her and Seulgi tails behind him with a funny expression. Face animatedly scrunches as to make Joohyun’s unfazed look alters, but the said woman stays put in her calm character.

“He-”

Seulgi swiftly wears a straight expression when her companion happens to look back, hand already pushing the door open for her. “Ms. Kang? What are you waiting for? Let’s go inside.”

Joohyun swears she catch Seulgi’s face reddening in the slightest when the woman quickly enters the large room followed closely by him. She smirks at that accomplishment as she pulls the door close to let the private meeting begin.

X

Joohyun can’t contain her giggle any longer as she opens her buzzing device to see Seulgi’s childishly ranting at her through their chats. Ever since Seulgi made that weird face behind her attorney to mess with her, Joohyun was actually, dying of a laughter though her expression remained passive the entire time. Now, that she is alone at her workplace—after ensuring that no one is around to witness her, she finally bursts out laughing to herself. She even sheds some tears while typing her reply back.

Her thumbs hover cautiously on her keypads and she gulps. Her boss doesn’t have anything scheduled after this meeting so to say, technically there’s nothing left for her to do, aside from scheduling her boss’s next appointments and whatnot. She has to ask for Tiffany’s permission first before agreeing to her invitation.

Her hand nearly slips as several chats come rushing the moment she hits her send button. She stares in horror as she reads those chats surfacing on her screen. Surprised beyond herself, Joohyun types in a furious manner. Capital letters seem to suit her current overwhelmed emotions. She doesn’t even realize how fast she has typed her replies in order to kick some sense into Seulgi’s thick skull.

“Did she just go offline?”

Joohyun blankly looks at her phone and begins muttering some prayer. In contrary to her own words, the corners of her lips start to draw up against her will as she reads their banters yet again. She can’t say that she’s looking forward to spend their time together freely like this, can she? And as much as Joohyun doesn’t want to admit it out loud, she can’t deny the fact that she’s starting to enjoy Seulgi’s odd companion ever since God knows when.

Her phone dims and she catches herself smiling widely through her black screen. The smile that’s once presented slowly falls as she places her device down. Her heavy gaze then drifts toward the sight of one particular room in which Seulgi has just entered earlier.

“What did I get myself into?”

X

“I hardly see you playing around now. Good things finally happen for a reason.”

“There’s bell there so you can freaking use it before entering.” Seulgi flips pages after pages and continues to scan down the document as he moves to sit beside her. The couch deepens in his additional weight and Seulgi tries her best to concentrate on her paper as the sound of his breath starts to get louder than her favorite song. It’s such a bright day, she doesn’t have anything scheduled for that day, so she plans to review her papers while enjoying her playlist in a full volume, blaring through her Bluetooth speaker, but her cousin has come and managed to mess the perfect assemble.

“Can you breathe normally? I’m trying to hear Sam Smith’s beautiful voice, not your noisy breathing, oppa.”

She hears no response and lifts her gaze to see him staring at her in shock. “What the hell?”

“You finally take your responsibility.” Heechul fakes his sobbing and opens his arms widely, scooting near her with puckered lips. “Come here, oppa wants to hug you! Our bear is growing up well!”

Seulgi gives a weird face and pushes his face when he starts inching closer. She brings a cushion to barricade herself, effectively giving some space left for both of them as she places it in the middle of them. “God, why are you so annoying.”

“I like to annoy you,” Heechul responds and her demeanor scrunches in deadpan look.

“I’ll contact Jisoo and tell her to come back, watching she swing her spatula at the back of your head like she did when we were kids is a high-quality content I’m looking for these days.”

“She’s busy traveling around the world. No spatula targeting my head.”

“You’re lonely because your sister is away and in the end, I was the one left to bear your weird self. I should take a martial art class for safety reason.” She comments at the sight of her cousin’s sad puppy look and shakes her head distastefully.

“Way to act, oppa. You’re thirty-seven this year, not thirteen. Start searching for your significant other will you? Auntie Kim is always so vocal about wanting a grandchild from you.” She laughs at Heechul’s sour face.

But her victorious smile soon turns somber as he retorts back equally adamant with, “I can say the same to you. Start searching for a date or something if you don’t want Uncle Kang pairing you up with his colleague’s sons every damn time.”

“Damn you.” Seulgi jeers in disbelief. She shoves his shoulder and immerses herself again in her task. He can be such a killjoy with that brought up topic.

“Don’t start messing around with Kim Heechul, little rascal.” His lips pull into a smirk, but it doesn’t take long for him to morph his smile into the softest as he observes her serious expression. “The details of your deals containing legal merging and whatnot, are taking a big progress right? I heard it already from Mr. Lee, that is quite impressive.”

“Merging our companies will always be a good choice since we’ve different products and all. We aren’t competing in the same market so yeah, less hassle in dealing as we joined into one. In fact, we’ll straighten ourselves in providing a greater range of products against our other rivals in the main sector. Father and Ms. Hwang apparently have the same goals, so am I as the appointed CEO.”

“I’ve always thought that you didn’t listen to your classes back then in your college.”

Seulgi’s shoulders are elevated in a mild proud. “I can be responsible, you know.”

“Yeah, good to you then.” Heechul leans back in his seat, jerking a wide smile. His eyes dancing playfully. “I bet you’ll pee your pants the morning you take that new position though.”

“Such a positivity, I’m glad you’re my cousin.” She replies in a fake sardonic tone, she knows well enough that her cousin was cheering for her in a most uncharacteristic way and so, she smiles back.

Seulgi meets his line of sight and contemplates for a moment. She will regret doing this later, but it’s sure worth the shot. Placing down her task on the coffee table across her, she clears first.

“Hey, dear cousin, I know that you’re such a social butterfly. You somehow befriend famous people, though I can’t believe a great painter like The Key is willing to be your friend for example. Well, talking about The Key.... I know that he’s going to hold his second exhibition this Saturday… in Gangnam. Believe me, I’ve tried to purchase my tickets by myself but somewhat ended up getting nothing. The number of people buying was crazy.”

“Classy, rise and roast me at the same time.”

“Can’t help it.”

“So?”

“You’ve always known that I like arts,” Seulgi frustratingly ruffles her own hair. “Can’t you get a hint at the very least?”

“I do get it, but what’s fun in that?” Heechul adds with a shrug. He plays with his hair and raises one of his brows in a full anticipation when the younger woman gives him a look.

“What do you want me to do?” She asks begrudgingly when he pauses in deep thought. He straightens his posture and claps his hands as an idea swirling inside his head.

“I want you to beg with aegyo.”

She really, really wants to flash him her middle finger. “I swear I’ll scratch your car with a coin if you fail to get me free tickets.”

He cackles loudly, shrugging her warning off like a faint dust. “Fair enough, but wait,” his laughs are slowly subsiding as he finally gets reminded of something important. “God, I almost forgot that we have been meaning to attend our company anniversary. It’s on this Saturday as well, right?”

“I honestly plan to ditch it out,” Seulgi mutters under her breath. “Why would you remind me of it?”

“Uncle Kang will not be pleasant to hear that, Seulgi.”

His voice weighs down with concern when he clearly sees pain lingering in those dark brown eyes. “Try to endure for a little longer?”

Seulgi closes her eyes for a bit, wanting to stop herself from self-wailing and trying to be as positive as she can. But in the end, all the things that come from her lips after inducing herself with countless assurance is, “Can’t he understand that this is not what I want?”

“Even if it’s not the things that you want, you still manage to do it very well.”

She heaves a deep tired sigh and relents in her seat.

“That’s what he actually wants. Until I grow tired of everything and eventually accept my fate. Sadly to say, he’s never for once, considering me as someone with her own life.”

A string of empty chuckles is dying to be released out from the back of and so, Seulgi nonchalantly laughs it off. She bets it sound ironic though she can’t be careless. Her look hardens to form a slight smile as the lids of her eyes slowly fluttering open. “Perhaps, a mere puppet is all I can ever be in his eyes.”

THE PERFECT RED VELVET...

THE PERFECT RED VELV-

THE PERFECT RED VE-

THE PERFECT RED-

THE PERFHZASDFG....

WE GET A REPACKAGE ALBUM!

MAH GOD. WHAT AN UTTER SURPRISE! SM AND REVELUVS DO HAVE A LOVE AND HATE RELATIONSHIP, INDEED kkkk

THIS YEAR IS SUCH BLESSING!

HOPE 2018 SPELLS AS RED VELVET'S YEAR LIKE 2017 DID!
ANDDDDDD, SEULRENE'S MOMENTS THESE DAYS :"))))))))))

*EXCUSE THE CAPITAL OUTBURST*

*TRYING TO SILENTLY WATCH WENJOY AND YERENE'S TEASERS WITHOUT HYPERVENTILATING*

*WAIT FOR SEULGI'S IN THE CORNER*

Side note: This story is progressing quite slowly, so sorry for the lack of their romantic moments (?) kkkkkk. Some would think it might be boring but well, it's how I picture them in this story. Slowly but surely maintain a great friendship first--- bearing in mind that I'm not an expert either so it takes age hahahah..

Thanks for subscribing, commenting and upvoting my story! It means a lot and I appreciate each of it so thank you again!

To all the readers, thank you for reading it! Hope you enjoy this story so far :)

Until next time~ :)))