seven.

“Sir! Sir you can’t go in without permission!”

Seulgi looked up from her paperwork when she heard the commotion outside her office and the next moment, the door to her room burst open and an angry-looking Bogum stormed in.

“Miss Kang! I tried to stop him but he insisted…” The secretary apologized profusely.

“It’s fine, let him be.” Seulgi replied, lifting a hand to calm her down. “Please leave us alone now.”

She bowed and left the room while Bogum and Seulgi continued their staring contest with Bogum shooting her a fiery look and Seulgi responding with a blank stare.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure for your gracious presence, Mr Park?” Seulgi leaned back on her chair, swivelling side to side leisurely. “Oh, that’s right. You came with your boss to discuss some matters with our company. How kind of you to remember to pay me a visit.”

“I told you last time. Stay away from Joohyun.” He said through gritted teeth, emphasizing each word slowly. “Haven’t you hurt her enough? Why do you have to continue putting her through hell by bothering her and constantly reminding her of her pain?” He demanded, hands forming fists.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Seulgi replied. “I haven’t seen her since last week when you told me to stay away.” She said honestly.

“Bull. Then why did she suddenly…” Bogum faltered as he realised he shouldn’t be giving away so many details.

“Suddenly what?” Seulgi asked, eyebrows creasing.

He cursed under his breath. “You must’ve done something. She started to overwork herself; she didn’t eat, she didn’t sleep and now she’s sick and acting like she doesn’t have the will to live. She hasn’t been like this since she finally got over you but you just had to come back and make her torture herself like this again!”

Seulgi paused. Joohyun’s sick? She cleared , lifting her gaze back to meet his. “Really? You’re blaming me for something I have no control over? Look, I didn’t tell her to think about me. I can’t help it that she wants to.” Seulgi shrugged.

“Are you serious Kang Seulgi? How can you say this like you aren’t responsible!” Bogum shouted, walking forward and slamming his palms on the desk but Seulgi didn’t even flinch. “How can you act like you’re not the reason she’s living in hell every day!”

“If you care about her so much, shouldn’t you be looking after her now instead of coming to confront me?” Seulgi asked. “What are you trying to achieve here? Do you want me to apologize? Or do you want money?” She pulled out a chequebook, writing hastily into the blanks with spitefulness. “How much do you want?”

“Not everything can be solved with money!” Bogum swiped the chequebook off the table furiously. “You’re hopeless.” He said, breathing heavily as he glared down at her. “I don’t understand why she still thinks of you.”

Seulgi opened to reply when the door opened and two familiar men in suits rushed in, grabbing Bogum from both sides and the chairman strolled in after them. She stood up, bowing to him.

“Ah, what do we have here?” He asked, turning on his heel to look at Bogum who was struggling against the firm grips on his shoulders. “Another person causing a commotion and bringing trouble to my assistant?”

“It’s nothing, Mr Jung. You didn’t have to trouble yourself with coming here.” Seulgi said, looking nervous for unknown reasons to Bogum.

“Of course I had to.” He replied, dismissing Seulgi and turning his intimidating gaze back on Bogum. “Those who bother my people, are messing with me directly too.”

“What do you want?” Bogum growled, wanting nothing more than to throw a punch at the man.

Sangmin hummed, glancing at Seulgi. “How about you decide how we deal with this offender?”

Seulgi blinked, looking at Bogum who glowered at her as if daring her to do her worst. “I…” She glanced at her boss who was waiting expectantly. “Just kick him out of the building and never let him set foot inside again. It’s not like he caused a lot of trouble or anything.”

The bodyguards began to move when Sangmin called for them to stop. “No. Seulgi, this is your one problem.” He said to her. “You’re too nice. You can’t be lenient on people who need to learn their lesson, or else they will only keep on taking advantage of you and bring you trouble. You must show them that you have the power over them, and let them know not to mess with you.”

Seulgi swallowed, “Then, what do you suggest I do?”

“We’ll teach him a lesson the old fashioned way.” He smirked. “Take him to the basement and you know what to do boys.” He nodded and the two men started marching him out of the room. “That’s what you’re supposed to do.” Sangmin said to Seulgi who just nodded meekly, knowing exactly what Bogum’s fate was. She’d seen enough of it in person- what Sangmin did to people who offended him. He looked at his wristwatch, “I have a dinner to attend, I’ll be going now.”

Seulgi bowed as he left and she waited a few minutes, considering what steps to take next before she ran outside.

…

Bogum was taught since a young age that cursing people wasn’t nice, but those notions were all tossed aside as he cursed Seulgi in his head like there was no tomorrow.

It was her fault that Joohyun was sick and it was her fault that he was getting beaten up. He kept his mouth closed because he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of him begging them to stop. Although, they had no intention of stopping and were just getting started.

The lights to the basement carpark flickered and shut off completely, plunging them into darkness. The kicks stopped and Bogum held his breath, wondering if this was his chance to slip away. A radio-like device crackled and a voice told the guards to hurry upstairs to check for suspicious activity. The two men ran immediately, leaving him behind and Bogum thanked God for this coincidental mishap that may have just saved his life.

A torchlight hit him and he flinched, looking away from the bright light. A figure walked up to him, a cap covering their head and a mask on their lower face.

“Hurry up, you don’t have much time.”

Bogum’s eyes widened when he recognised the voice and saw the eyes of the person under the cap. “S-Seulgi?”

“There’s less than 4 minutes until the lights come back on, get up.” Seulgi reached down and grabbed his arm, dragging him up while he winced at the pain from the multiple bruises on his body. “If you didn’t show up in the first place, I wouldn’t have to do all this.” She muttered under her breath.

“Why did you help me?”

She snorted, “I didn’t help you, I saved you.” But she didn’t answer his question and she walked him over to a car that was already waiting and had a driver inside. She opened the backdoor, pushing him in and he was still baffled by the fact that this wasn’t a coincidental mishap, and it most definitely wasn’t God that saved his life.

“Do not tell anyone you saw me tonight.” She said seriously before moving to close the car door.

“Why did you save me?” He asked, not letting her close the door yet. “I-I thought you hated me. Why would you go through all this trouble?”

Seulgi stared at him and if it weren’t for the mask, Bogum would’ve seen the small smile on her face that was tinged with sadness.

“Because you still have to look after Joohyun.”

…

“Bae Joohyun, I swear if you don’t open the door I’m going to break it down.” Seungwan knocked rapidly on the door. “I know you’re not sleeping.”

There was some shuffling on the other side and she heard the lock click after a while. Seungwan sighed in relief, immediately swinging the door open just as Joohyun crawled back into bed. “Hey, when will you be good and eat something?” Seungwan walked over blindly since the room was completely dark and she patted the covered lump that Joohyun had curled up into.

“I’m not hungry.” She mumbled.

“If you don’t eat, your body only gets more weak and you’ll get sicker.” Seungwan scolded, disapproving of her current destructive lifestyle. “Have you eaten your medication today?” There was no sound and she knew the answer was a no. Seungwan sighed, why was this girl so stubborn?

The doorbell rung and Seungwan ran back outside, closing the door to let Joohyun rest since she didn’t seem keen on doing anything else. It was starting to get late and she didn’t think anyone would visit at this time; not even Sooyoung would show up without warning like this.

She opened the door, saw Seulgi’s face and tried to slam the door straightaway but Seulgi was faster than her and stopped the door from closing on her face.

“Seungwan wait!” She pushed against the door until Seungwan stopped fighting back and she folded her arms, blocking the doorway instead.

“What do you want?” Seungwan asked unwelcomingly. “Why are you here?”

“I heard Joohyun was staying with you.”

“So what?”

“Is she still sick?” Seulgi asked, looking concerned even though it was none of her business.

“Why do you care?” Seungwan shot back. “You obviously didn’t care about her when you chose to throw her behind and work for Jung. Isn’t it too late to care now? Just go back to your Krystal or whatever.”

Seulgi’s brows furrowed. “What? What do you mean? I’m not-”

“Save it, Kang. We all saw you with her. But that’s not the point here.” Seungwan shook her head for going off topic. “The point is, you’re supposed to stay away from Joohyun yet you even dared to show up at our door?”

“I just want to make sure she’s doing okay.”

“She’s not and we all know it’s because of you.” Seungwan refrained from raising her voice just in case Joohyun overheard. “So just do us all a favour and leave us alone. Go on and live your wealthy life and don’t mix with us peasants just in case we contaminate your oxygen or something.”

Seulgi looked like she had a lot to say in response to that but she bit back her words and from her dejected expression, Seungwan realised her words may have been harsher than intended. But did Seulgi deserve mercy from her? Not really.

“I’ll leave but only if you promise to give Joohyun this.” Seulgi picked up the large bag at her feet and Seungwan stared at it warily as she ped it to explain each item inside. “There’s medicine-”

“You think we wouldn’t have medicine?” Seungwan retorted quickly.

“I know you do.” Seulgi replied calmly, completely unfazed by Seungwan’s rudeness. “But I don’t think Joohyun would’ve told you that she hates taking pills.” She held out the medicine packet to show her. “This is liquid medicine, trust me she’ll be less stubborn about taking this.”

While Seungwan was rendered speechless, unable to think of any snarky retorts, Seulgi continued and pulled out a few scented candles from the bag. “She hates having the lights on in her room because it’s too bright, but candles can light up the room without causing any discomfort. She likes this brand and this scent, it’ll help her feel a lot better.”

“Why-”

“And I also have this.” Seulgi didn’t let Seungwan speak, taking out more things from the bag. “Because she gets cold easily, these hot packs can keep her warm since...”

“Since?” Seungwan prompted when Seulgi stopped talking all of a sudden and spaced out.

Since I’m not able to.

Seulgi shook her head, dismissing the thought. “And lastly, this.” She carefully took out a plastic takeaway bag. “It’s porridge from her favourite street stand. Even if she doesn’t have appetite for anything else, she won’t turn this down.”

“How are you so sure?” Seungwan asked doubtfully.

Seulgi handed the things over to Seungwan who obediently accepted them because she was still dumbfounded and she just smiled briefly before leaving like she promised.

“Because I know her.”

...
 

a/n: happy seulrene day! (ironically doesnt have a seulrene moment in this chapter)

do you think it's time to reveal the big truth in the next chapter? seulgi's big secret??
i swear its really cliche so please dont have high hopes haha..