"so, what was i saying?" joy asks, the straw of her juice box dangling from the corner of . she'd gotten distracted earlier by the vase of fresh flowers in the center of irene's dining room, courtesy of namjoon.

"you were telling me about how you convinced the doctor to date you." irene replies from across from joy, sipping from her own cup of water.

joy had just flown back two days ago from her two-week shanghai trip, which had been a huge success. she'd snatched the collaboration deal single-handedly, and although joy still retained her own flair of mischievous ventures here and there, she was surprisingly diligent when dealing with business, fueled by her desire to prove herself in front of her family.

"ah, right." joy clears before setting her now-empty juice box on the table delightedly, "so i was at the part where i went back after i slipped him my number, right?"

irene nods intently in return, crossing her arms across her chest as she listens quite quizzically to joy's detailed account.

---

joy was due in shanghai the next morning. she'd decided to personally pay another visit to the east seoul general hospital when seokjin had ignored her texts for the umpteenth time.

in fact, joy had tried practically all the tricks up her sleeve: she'd even pinched her ankle, feigning injury, in effort to provoke a response.

however, kim seokjin was a stubborn one. it just so worked out that joy, to an extent, was a patient hunter.

she had made her way to the outside of the surgery rooms bearly three hours ago when seokjin walked out, his head hanging as he bowed deeply to an old woman that was standing with her hands clasped together.

joy craned her neck, attempting to decipher the hushed tones and quiet sobbing which ensued. her eyes widened when seokjin fell to his knees, bowing to the ground.

for a while, the figures stood there, instilled in the shroud of incoming oblivion.

yes, of course seokjin had always known, that life was a losing game. but he had held too much trust in the abilities of his own two hands to prevent this loss--he was a young doctor, graduating at the top of his class only one year ago, and this was the first patient who had succumbed to death mid-surgery.

the figures shifted, and in a flurry of echoing steps seokjin was the only one left in the hospital wing, still sunken on the ground.

sehun had it easy, seokjin thought in that moment, dealing with broken bones that could be mended with time. but kim seokjin was a lung doctor--how many more would he have to send away, his knife still clutched in his gloved hands?

it was then that joy approached him, her fingers coming to rest on his shoulder, smoothing the fabric of his pristine white coat.

"it's okay." she said, a rare sympathy smoothing the tones of her voice. she didn't have to ask to know what had happened. in that moment, she'd forgotten about her romantic conquest, forgotten about having fun and being the spoiled heiress she was supposed to be.

she was simply a human comforting a human. (seokjin would later recall this moment as why he finally gave in to her relentless advances, because park sooyoung was more kind-hearted on the inside than she let on.)

when he turned to look at her, salty tears hung in the corners of his wide eyes, which churned like the ocean in a storm, the dim lights from the hospital rushing together in them like seafoam.

"you don't understand." seokjin placed his head in his hands, his fingers arching into his hair angrily.

"i can a little." came her response.

"i failed." he spat out again, bitterly.

"no, you didn't." she countered once more, shaking her head, but he simply stared at her.

"c'mon." she reached down and tugged at his limp hand, still unfazed as ever. "your shift is over, right?"

"yes." he nodded. perhaps it was because he was still caught in the beep that had sounded when the heart of his patient stopped, but seokjin let her guide him as she saw fit, blinking as they exited the hospital and stood in front of the parking lot.

"did you drive your car today?" she asked, but he answered with a query of his own.

"where are you taking me?" he questioned.

joy gave him that award-winning smile as she answered, "i'm driving you home. i won't let you drive yourself home in that mentality."

seokjin began to object, but joy pressed on.

"look, unless my bmw isn't up to your standards, you're coming with me. don't think. just listen to me." she insisted, "you know i'm right."

stubborn as he always was, however, seokjin stood his ground.

"joy, i only want some peace right now. i want to be left alone." he hissed harshly, his voice fading to a strong whisper when he realized those passing by were staring at their tensed interaction.

joy only stared back at him blankly.

"i'm sorry." seokjin apologized quickly for losing his usual calm demeanor, but she shook her head.

"no, don't be sorry." she reasoned, "this only proves that you shouldn't drive yourself home. i'm not letting you hurt yourself physically if you're going to mentally screw yourself over."

"no-"

"fine," joy held a hand up to silence him. "we'll compromise. you're going to eat dinner with me, then i'll let you drive yourself home. deal?"

seokjin frowned, but he ultimately led her to his car as she had asked, handing her his car keys.

as joy drove, occasionally rapping her fingers against the wheel, she tried her best to enlighten the mood.

"i waited three hours for you outside that surgery room." she began, humming nonchalantly. "you were operating on an empty stomach, weren't you?"

seokjin stared out the window aimlessly in response, quiet.

"just because one surgery didn't work out doesn't make you a bad doctor." joy tried again, "you're not a robot, and you're not a superhuman. nothing will always go the way we want it to."

he sighed, too jarred and upset to be surprised at the fact that such words could come out of park sooyoung's mouth.

"he wasn't just any patient." seokjin murmured. "he was one of my first patients. these months, i watched him become weaker and weaker. i watched the sickness take place in him. he died before my prediction-"

"doctor kim, i'm telling you, you're not a robot." joy repeated, a hint of finality in her tone.

seokjin's gaze remained fixed out the window as he sighed once more, and a comfortable silence settled between them when they arrived at the restaurant, where joy decided that seokjin was required to eat.

"i don't eat dinner." seokjin objected, but he was quickly hushed by a look from joy across the table.

she poured him a glass of red wine, holding the glass out by the stem for him to take.

"look, joy, it'd be better if you let me go home and reflect-" seokjin's hands are in his hair again.

"reflect?" joy gawked with a roll of her eyes. "i don't even know what that is. life doesn't need to be reflected on. we live in the present, and all we should be doing is making the best of the present."

seokjin argued no more when she said this, for he knew that park joy wasn't bluffing through her words--even from far away one could see she led a free-spirited life.

finally, he picked up his fork, his first filling in a long while. it was a miracle he only suffered heartburn here and there. at the rate which he so often forgot to eat after long hours in surgery, he'd bound to have developed a few stomach ulcers by now.

satisfied, joy began to dig into her own dish, and throughout their meal, she prodded at him to converse with her about anything but his profession.

her efforts didn't go to waste--for that moment, seokjin really did forget about flat lines and white sheets.

instead, he learned much about joy, and he came to develop a fondness for her straightforward nature. she didn't have the best relationship with her extended family members, and she didn't share his appreciation for literature and classical music, but she was entirely fearless, almost in a way that was shameless.

park sooyoung, in other terms, was iridescent.

"don't beat yourself up, promise?" she stared up at him with sweet, widened eyes as they exited the restaurant, breathless from laughing at the waiter's expression after receiving joy's hefty tip.

he agreed with a nod, though this time, he insisted on driving back.

when they arrived near her apartment building, seokjin turned to face her, a soft smile on his lips.

"thank you, joy, for trying to help me." seokjin said, the pool of his gentle eyes churning like an ocean of ink.

joy smirked, and though her reaction was more delayed than usual, she didn't hesitate to snatch the opportunity before her.

"well," she purred giddily, playing with a lock of her raven hair. "do you really want to thank me?"

seokjin nodded, quite intently, and the current of those two oceans lapped gently at the boundless shore.

"take me out for a meal when i come back from shanghai, then." she mused, a satisfied smug on her full lips.

"easy." seokjin answered confidently, before clearing his throat and blushing profusely, "it's a deal." he mumbled, referencing joy's earlier negotiations that had landed him at this point.

at that, joy was out the car before he could register her absence, the car door slamming quickly behind her.

seokjin rolled down the car window frantically, calling after joy's diminishing figure.

"y-yah! w-wait! where are you going?" he hollered, quite baffled by the turn of events.

"i'm not giving you a chance to regret what you said." joy yelled back as she strode across the road. once she reached the sidewalk safely, she turned with a grin, raising her fingers to her ear and signaling a phone call.

"call me, mkay?" she shouted before skipping happily into the apartment building.

---

"by the way, you saw the info i sent you on your man, right?" joy giggles, switching the topic after she had recalled the entirety of her encounter with her new interest quite clearly to irene.

"what do you mean my man?" irene scoffs, incredulously. the older girl shakes her head, quite baffled by joy's assumptions.

"if you weren't into him, why would you ask me to search him up?" joy asks, her lips waning slyly.

"namjoon's company is considering an expansion." irene clears matter-of-factly. "he's asked me to see whether we would want to buy out a smaller company, or collaborate with kim taehyung's family."

the amused expression on joy's face quickly turns sour. "you ruin all the fun," she whines, kicking her feet in the air for emphasis. "you tell me, what kind of thirty year-old woman isn't interesting in hitting the bed sheets?"

"park sooyoung-" irene begins to admonish, but a ringing from joy's phone cuts the elder girl off abruptly.

"honey," joy whines into the phone immediately, fire-engine red lips forming a pout.

irene takes a chug of her water to keep from gagging. she shakes her head just as joy giggles, "of course i will, babe. see you in a few."

were all couples like this? irene shudders at the pure saccharinity of it all, evoking a smirk from joy across the coffee table.

"see you later, unnie. i've got a date," joy sing-songs, giving irene a soul-crushing hug before sauntering out the door, the lingering scent of fruity perfume the only remnant of her presence.

irene sighs, taking up her own phone on the table and sliding it into her purse. she herself had a meeting to attend anyways--with none other than kim taehyung, that was.

it is funny how destiny can be so obstinate, irene thinks, in manipulating two unsuspecting people to cross paths.

she picks up her keys from the counter, taking one last sweep at the files joy had sent to her (which she had then printed out and scrutinized closely, for none other was the work ethic of bae joohyun) before departing.

on her way to the restaurant, it is this very file that troubles irene deeply.

kim taehyung, you see, came from an originally middle-class family that had started up the company when taehyung was five years old. since then, what had been a small furniture-manufacturing startup had turned into one of the largest household product manufacturers in the country.

according to joy's reports, however, his family seemed to be only a notch down in complications compared to joy's family--there were many accounts of his father having affairs with other women, and there was a huge divorce scandal a few years back that almost tore apart the company.

kim taehyung, personally, though, remained a mystery. irene had quite thoroughly examined his records (and joy had indeed found many, even down to an extensive list of past girlfriends dating back to high school) and found them impeccably clean, but she wasn't sure about his relationship with min yoongi.

after a conversation with seungwan two weeks ago, irene had still been unable to decipher where kim taehyung had fit into the puzzle of suspicious gang activity.

"ah, we're here." irene murmurs to herself, her thoughts dissipating abruptly as she enters the restaurant, following the guidance of a well-dressed waitress.

the past two weeks of managing namjoon's company had been nothing short of busy. as namjoon's father had been gradually receding from the business and passing things on to his only son, namjoon had become frequently more occupied, and therefore these sorts of negotiations, so to speak, had increasingly begun to fall on irene's shoulders.

it isn't long before irene arrives at her destination.

"taehyung-ssi." irene greets when she sees kim taehyung seated at an elegantly set table, poised with his chin tilted towards the window like a living painting. the midday light filters through the glass and alights the amber flames in his eyes, resting on the individual strands of his soft brown hair.

beautiful, that is the only way to describe it, irene thinks, to describe him.

he stands to reciprocate her bow, before accepting her extended hand. irene's fingers are cold when she shakes his larger hand, even though she feels warm.

kim taehyung is quite different, she soon discovers, from those that come of the same background.

irene had expected very little--in fact, she hadn't considered the collaboration at all until namjoon insisted it stay a valid option.

she could now see why namjoon so believed in kim taehyung. he had ambition, but moreover he was captivating--he was dynamic, with visions of his own and a deep understanding of his resources.

"the group as a whole will be able to expand both capacity and consumer base." kim taehyung finishes with a flourish, "while the small company your group is planning on taking will not be able to achieve the same results."

"sounds good. i like it." irene nods, struggling not to blush when he stares blankly at her, as if he was not expecting such a direct answer.

"i apologize for being so blunt." irene says as she picks up her fork hastily. "i usually don't attend these type of meetings."

namjoon had really ought to stop sending her as his envoy, she thinks to herself.

he, in turn, tilts his head to the side, the embers in his coal-black eyes flickering alluringly. "i like it." he states to her surprise. "i like your bluntness."

irene narrows her eyes ever so slightly in response, running the tip of her tongue over her suddenly parched pink lips.

meanwhile, three streets down, park joy is scrutinizing the main course offerings of the restaurant she and seokjin had chosen when a familiar laugh reaches her ears.

suddenly, joy glances up from her menu, her eyes wandering about the restaurant like a hawk scanning for its next meal.

"wait, is that-" she starts, wood sounding against floor as she stands from her seat abruptly.

"what?" seokjin furrows his eyebrows. his eyes widen adorably in confusion, but joy is in no manner to fawn over the sight--she is already skirting across the room, weaving through tables and waitresses quite indiscreetly.

"son seungwan?" joy giggles delightedly as she confirms that, indeed, the red-haired woman who is sitting at the table by the window is her frenemy-esque neighbor.

"do i know you?" seungwan blinks, the corners of her lips rising uncomfortably.

joy, however, continues to laugh.

"well if it isn't my sister's mortal enemy," drawls a familiar voice from the man seated across from seungwan.

the laughter come to an abrupt halt when joy turns her head to see the face of none other than wang jackson--

park chaeyoung's half-chinese step-brother from hell.

---

seulgi brushes back her bangs, her hands reaching back to tighten the elastic on her ponytail. jimin stands in formation just beside her, but surprisingly, her mind doesn't drift to the boy and instead focuses on the position of her hands in front of her.

seulgi exhales, her muscles trembling slightly. ever since things had been tight on money, she'd decided to banish her feelings for jimin as childish, and instead focus on what she deemed more fruitful allocations of her efforts.

"hey seul, catch you later sometime?" yugyeom asks when practice is adjourned. the boy's stutter had slowly gotten better in the past two weeks, and now seulgi found a pleasant friendship with the boy.

"of course. when i'm not broke." she jokes with yugyeom, and jimin's eyes dart to the floor, his golden hair brushing his eyes as he lowers his head.

"hey, seulgi!" jimin calls after her just as she and yugyeom reach the door.

it's apparent the boy hasn't quite thought through what to say when he quickly mumbles, "drive safely."

"thanks." seulgi says, shrugging nonchalantly, but she pays him no more attention that she usually would.

the golden-haired boy swallows painfully when she leaves the room, his cheeks blossoming with a roseate hue, but seulgi doesn't notice.

she'd much rather head home to ask irene and joy some questions she's had about their businesses, anyways. perhaps she'd expand the shop to also sell coffee makers, who knows. bottom line is, the brunette has long decided to readjust her priorities.

(she doesn't quite know yet, that this would prove to be an indisputably effective method in making park jimin realize he had made a mistake.)

seulgi comes back to level 23, however, to find things have very much gone scorched earth.

seungwan is standing in one corner of the living room, toothpaste foaming at the mouth and a toothbrush clutched furiously in hand. across from her, an equally seething park joy props her manicured hands on each hip, grim expression painted on her face, while a sullen yerim is stationed on the couch, arms crossed over her chest.

"do you really think you'll find happiness acting like a clingy piece of mud beneath our shoes?" joy snaps as seulgi walks in the apartment.

the brunette should have known something was awry when she had seen that the door to apartment 2302 had been left ajar.

"leave me alone, joy." seungwan responds through clenched teeth, toothbrush still wavering threateningly in the air.

"then don't come wailing when you find out about the hundreds of other girls revolving around the exact same man you call yours, wannie." joy's large eyes narrow as her finger flashes out accusingly.

"so what?" seungwan retaliates, "you just can't bear to see anyone else happy, can you?"

"hey-" seulgi attempts to intervene, but the poor girl is cut off almost immediately.

"i'm warning you, son seungwan." joy hisses, just as seungwan slams the door to her room, leaving the joy to storm out of the apartment.

yerim follows joy out the door almost immediately, likely to teach the latter a lesson. irene, who had been raised out of her own apartment by the commotion and ended up listening to the conversation, too, shadows behind the two younger girls to the elevator, leaving behind a very shaken kang seulgi standing frozen in the living room.

"g-guys?" seulgi blinks at the sudden silence. what in the world just went down?