"yerim, are you sure you don't want to come with me?" seulgi pleads one last time at the blonde, who is too immersed in her laptop to even give seulgi a glance.

"seul, you know i'm not cut out for that kind of stuff." yerim answers, all the while clicking her mouse frantically, the statistics erupting on her computer screen discernable by the red reflections in her eyes. "i know i mapped out the route for you already, but remember to follow the goddamn GPS, so that you don't get lost like you always do."

"fine." seulgi replies, but yerim doesn't seem to hear.

"but since you're not going with me, you're only going to have to pray that i won't wreck your car." the brunette adds nervously. kang seulgi had failed her driving test more times than she remembered.

yerim, however, remains unconcerned, far too lost in the flurry of sound effects that flood from her laptop.

"hope it goes well!" yerim calls out just before seulgi shuts the door behind her.

sighing, seulgi picks at her outfit as she walks down twenty-two flights of stairs. she'd dressed rather comfortably with leggings and an oversized grey sweater, and at this point seulgi didn't know whether she was under or overdressed.

when she found herself gasping for dear life on the hardwood floor of lee taemin's dance studio, however, her clothes were the least of her worries.

"that's good for today." taemin, the dance instructor, announces as he terminates the music blasting from a cd player on the floor. "you're welcome to stay at the studio for extra practice if you need it. just be sure to turn off the lights if you're the last one."

seulgi, along with twenty other students, nods hurriedly in unconcealed relief.

no, seulgi definitely hadn't expected dancing to be so demanding. she'd been an all-star athlete in high school (hence her lack of a dating history-soccer girl problems were a reality for a seventeen-year-old kang seulgi.) and practically played every sport, but none of them had required such concentration. hitting the ball was an instinctual move, kicking the ball was a simple maneuver, and running was just, well, running. sure, she needed practice and proper form, but none of those actions required her body to be manipulated in such extensive ways.

in short, kang seulgi had never felt more clumsy and out of control of her limbs in her whole life.

climbing up from the ground, still panting slightly, seulgi is the last to leave the practice room. she heaves over once more, however, as soon as she reaches a comfortable ledge to lean on.

when she finally feels the numbness in her overworked body subside, seulgi realizes she has no idea where the exit of the building is. in her hurry to catch her breath at the water fountain, she hadn't seen which direction the others had gone in, and she also couldn't quite remember which way jongin had lead her to the practice room either.

deciding to simply walk (after all, she'd eventually find the exit if she kept moving, right?) and try out her own luck, seulgi came to find that she indeed had absolutely no sense of direction.

and, yes, seulgi was one of those people who often forgot where they parked their car.

seulgi takes a right, then a left, then a right.

the halls seem so alike in stature that they blur together, and seulgi barely has time to register that she isn't exactly supposed to be where she is standing when she is caught more breathless than she had been trying to follow taemin's choreography.

the brunette's eyes widen as she sees a light-haired boy in a nearby room, his back turned to her.

suddenly, the music starts, and he begins to move, his body morphing with every lilt of the beat, his movements as sharp at the same time they are fluid.

the sight is all too breathtaking (literally) and seulgi's attempt not to blatantly stare falls in vain. if looks could carry out their true intentions, kang seulgi would be on the ground in a drooling mess by now.

when the song draws to an end and the deep echoes of the last verse fade, seulgi is mortified when she finds her entranced stare matched by a set of warm brown eyes.

"sorry, i was just trying to leave the building, and i got kind of lost-" she begins to explain, trying her best not to stutter.

her words, however, fall short and her tongue runs dry when the golden-haired boy offers her a kind smile, and seulgi simply melts, like pineapple shaved ice in the summer. seulgi soon realizes that she has never experienced true sunshine until now when she hears the boy's gentle, smooth voice. her insides give out and suddenly she's no longer just melting--she's already an ice cream puddle.

"it's fine." he responds, tiny beads of perspiration on his face from earlier exertion. "to your left, walk down the hall until you reach the bathrooms. then make another left."

he doesn't seem to be judging her like she thought he would, and for the next fraction of a second, they are still staring in the depths of each other's eyes.

seulgi directs her gaze to the floor first, nodding hastily with a murmur of a second apology upon her lips as she turns to leave. she's suddenly thankful for her thick, evenly-cut bangs, which hide her vision from perceiving just how badly she has embarrassed herself.

to her surprise, he follows her out to the hall. seulgi ducks to her right hurriedly, wanting to escape the situation as soon as possible.

"hey!" he calls after her, and she stops dead in her tracks.

seulgi turns to face the boy once more, eyes wide.

"left is this way." he reminds her awkwardly, and seulgi feels her cheeks turn a deep crimson, heating up like they are (curse her negligence in forgetting to apply makeup this morning) on fire.

"damn it." she curses herself inwardly for being so clumsy, and jimin's eyes disappear into the most adorable, tiny slits once more.

seulgi gulps as she watches his full, pink lips stretch wide in a laugh, revealing a single row of pearly white teeth. "i'm park jimin by the way." he says, but seulgi is far too horrified to introduce herself as she bolts past him and out the door faster than her high school track record.

kang seulgi, kang seulgi. just what have you gotten yourself into?

---

the music blares at an ear-piercing volume inside the packed floor, neon lights rendering a soft rose glow on the face of a sullen heiress.

the heiress, who goes by the name joy, nurses her drink begrudgingly, deep in thought as she sits on the elevated leather seat at the bar.

"what's got you, kitty?" chanyeol says from beside her. he slaps kyungsoo's casually as the shorter man joins them, at which minseok, the bartender, raises an eyebrow.

"grandmother." joy answers curtly, taking a swig from her bottle before slurring slightly, "you know how my dad is. he's too scared of her to do anything behind her back."

chanyeol glances down at the bottle's label, unsurprised. knowing joy's spending habits, the bottle of alcohol clutched firmly in her manicured hand was probably the most expensive one in the club.

"don't kill yourself with the hangover." he reminds his cousin with his usual smirk as he s the collar of his dress shirt. the club they were seated in was rather crowded, and as much of a party animal as park chanyeol was, he didn't much like coming to clubs.

yes, chanyeol loved chaos--it was his nature. but, he rather enjoyed creating it more than he relished experiencing it.

"it's not like she's going to be alive for long." chanyeol adds in reference of the park family's most crucial shareholder. "the other side isn't much better off with her anyways."

joy, however, is far from tipsy. "dead people leave wills behind, you . i can't have her screwing me over in her coffin." she snorts as she raises her eyebrow and takes another shot's worth of burning liquor.

"she'll never accept me or my mom." joy laments once more. she brushes a lock of her raven hair over her shoulder, of which half is piled atop her head in a messy bun, and the other half spills over her back.

"you know, you'd be fine if you cleaned up your acts." kyungsoo, ever the practical one, pipes up from beside her. "all you need to do is show her you can manage the company better than park chaeyoung."

"and how the hell am i gonna do that?" joy grumbles, though she's thankful for the short man's advice.

"well, don't you have a neighbor named bae irene?" chanyeol asks, and joy's sharp eyebrows knit in response.

"how did you know?" she interrogates the older man in turn, who shrugs in reply.

"rumors in the industry. i heard she's fresh off wall street." chanyeol answers nonchalantly. "if she's willing to help you out, i think you'd be fine."

joy groans as her past mistakes dawn on her. "too late, yeollie, i already ed things up."

the two men in the conversation simply blink, unsurprised. the name park joy practically translates to destruction anyways.

"don't tell me she's the one who called the cops on you." kyungsoo deadpans.

"spot on, hot shot."