2. Snap, Bend or Break

++soft smiling pupperinos++

Seulgi was scrolling down her newsfeed on her phone while waiting for her usual break to end in a the cafe next to her workplace. She had ordered a croissant that she had finished a long time ago and she was now slowly finishing her bitter espresso. She knew it wasn’t healthy to skip a meal, especially when she perfectly knew she wouldn’t be able to find another time to eat before going back home in a few more hours and that Chanyeol would make a fuss about it but she simply couldn’t find the will to eat more than that. The events of last week at the terrible wedding kind of always threw her appetite away whenever she was about to eat.

How could she do this? Her of all people? To say that the usually quiet, unproblematic, diligent and responsible Seulgi made a mess at that wedding was an understatement. Apparently, Chanyeol had brought her to a hospital quickly after she fainted and because Baekhyun insisted on accompanying him, he was also there when she woke up to the sound of the doctor explaining to the two men that she had gone way over her poor alcohol tolerance and her liver who never had to experience such terror couldn’t stand it and kinda shut down. Basically, she blew herself up.

Seulgi pretended to be unconscious the moment she saw a strand of Baekhyun’s hair and closed her eyes as soon. Nobody needed a doctor title to see that an idiot like her had clearly messed up and was too stubborn to stop when told so.

More than her liver, Seulgi felt like her pride had taken the biggest shot of the night. It wasn’t only the shame and embarrassment she would feel when Baekhyun would land his eyes on her poor sick self that made her fake unconsciousness, she really didn’t want to admit that he was right. She would rather die than agree with him and admit that he had been more reasonable than her, more mature and certainly a lot less stupid. He didn’t deserve all this credit.

So she faked her sleep for the whole hour he spent in her room with a lot of difficulty until Chanyeol convinced him to go back home because he had to work the next day and most of all because she didn’t deserve all this care: “This brought this on herself,” he said with a deep sigh.

Seulgi would have surely hit him if she hadn’t been in such a precarious situation but she had priorities and her brother could wait. She shifted in the uncomfortable bed for the first time since she had woken up and turned her back on them to finally be able to open her eyes.

Doesn’t he have other things to do for God's sake? she thought.

Seulgi was growing impatient. Her back hurt, she had clusters on her feet from dancing in heels for hours, she had trouble breathing properly, her head was spinning if it wasn’t giving her the biggest headache of her life considering she felt her heartbeat resonate through her head and now she had to stop moving because someone was being nosy.

She kept looking at the wall in front of her and dreaded how she was going to explain herself to her brother, her aunt, her cousin and especially her mother for ruining the night. Of course, she had embarrassed herself in front of the last people she wanted to see but Seulgi was more scared of what her mother would say about it and how Hyunseol would never let go of this story and bring it back at every family gathering. She could already hear her mocking: “Do you remember that time when Seulgi passed out at my wedding? She put up such a show! I bet people thought I payed her to entertain the guests. [insert evil laugh] A-ma-zing.” Seulgi sighed.

Her eyes scrolled the wall and she noticed the clock above her for the first time since she turned her back on the two men chatting behind her. She contained a gasp when she saw that it was almost 4 AM.

Oh no, oh no oh no.

Was she feeling bad now for making Baekhyun stay so late? A bit. Just a tiny bit. Seulgi could be petty but she wasn’t heartless.

She wondered if she should say thank you for staying by her side for so long although she cursed him for it just before or apologize first for making such a mess. Before she could do anything about it the said horseman bid goodbye to her brother and walked away.

“You can stop pretending, Seulgom,” Chanyeol said as he pushed her to sit on the bed.

“Shut up,” she said without much conviction.

“What was all this fuss about? I couldn’t recognize you.”

“There wasn’t any fuss. I was in complete control.”

Chanyeol chuckled at his unreasonable younger sister.

“Sure.”

“If anyone asks you, I don’t remember anything,” Seulgi cautioned. “I’m serious Chanyeol.”

“Sure.”

“And make sure to tell them that I’m not usually like that.”

Her brother heartily laughed.

“Do you want anything to drink? I’m going to the cafeteria,” he said as he got up. “Other than champagne of course,” he joked but Seulgi didn’t move one bit. “Cheer up, Bear cub,” he finished before patting her back and leaving the room.

Seulgi remembered falling asleep right after her brother’s comforting words and there she was now, a week later still not over the incident. She felt bad for having disappointed her family and she always felt a tug on her heart every time she remembered the look Jongin gave her when she became wild as Wendy called it. Oh how she wished she had stayed away from alcohol. She had never been a heavy drinker or someone who liked alcohol that much but the stress her exes made her go through that night caused her to lose all rationality. Yes, she was going to shamelessly blame them for everything. She thought that was only fair.

Seulgi sighed as she saw that she had about 10 more minutes before the end of her break. She put on her coat and was about to take her bag when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

She had received a notification from Instagram.

@baekhyunee_92 has liked one of your pictures!

She curiously opened the app and saw that he had double tapped a picture of her in front of one of her favorite Klimt’s work of art that she had posted two weeks before. She didn’t even know he was following her account as she wasn’t exactly active on it: posting some selcas once in a while, a few pictures with for main highlight her outfits, her drawings and mostly art made by her favorite artists. Really, nothing special. Seulgi scoffed and was about to put back her phone into her pocket when she received another notification from @baekhyunee_92. It was in her message box.

Seulgi started walking towards X Korea’s headquarters and finally left her phone where it belonged since she didn’t want him to know that she had seen his message so fast. He could surely wait a bit.

She passed her employee ID to pass through the gates and took quick small steps towards the elevator that was about to close on her. She thanked the person who held the doors and pressed the second highest floor on the building which was reserved for the creative department higher ups and made the people around her gasp a little bit.

Seulgi heard a girl in the corner whisper that she could be an intern because there were indeed some interns on that floor but she just took off her employee ID and pretended to yawn to show off the words “Creative director” in bold placed right under her name. She chuckled a bit when the woman bowed to her and hid a bit behind the friend she was gossiping with. It was always like that when she was the one to press the button with how young she looked. She loved these childish games of showing off her employee card, it wasn't much but it was still more entertaining than her dark thoughts.

Seulgi took out her phone and realized she still had about 3 minutes to get to her office before the end of her break. She let the people behind her pass as they all had to go to lower floors and that was only then she decided to open Baekhyun’s message.

Hey!

10:23 AM

How are you doing sunshine? I heard from Chanyeol that you are slowly recovering. I’m glad to hear that it was nothing too intense and that you are doing fine.

10:26 AM

I wanted to stay at the hospital to talk to you but you took so long to wake up ahah… I guess you still really like to sleep.

10:26 AM

Seulgi could internally hear his soft and shy laugh in her head as she continued to read.

Could we see each other for a bit? I’d really like to talk to you. I know things have been awkward between us but we can still be friends, right?

10:27 AM

seen.

Seulgi went out of the elevator and walked past the first out of the two mixed teams of interns and employees she had to train who all bowed to her before going straight to her office and taking off her coat. She opened her computer and took off her heels before tying her hair into a high ponytail. She rummaged through the documents left on her desk probably by an intern of another department and looked at her phone again.

“Hmm... nope,” Seulgi said as she decided to turn it off completely and tell her secretary that if anyone needed her they could contact her through her office’s phone number.

She opened some of the files, started reading them and pondered on which one she would start with when she heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Seulgi sang song like she always did when she liked the new projects she was given.

“Oh you’re already there?” said a well-dressed woman with dark hair holding a bunch of makeup products by the door.

“Jisoo!” Seulgi almost yelled with a bright smile.

The said woman pulled a chair and and sat in front of her friend as she mirrored the same smile.

“You know nobody would say anything if you came 10 or 20 minutes after the end of your break, right? Take it easy, boss.”

“I’m not your boss Jisoo,” Seulgi corrected her friend. It was true, Jisoo wasn’t even assigned to the same department as her since she was in charge of the 'Models and Features' one. “And if I come back late, it means that I’ll have less time to finish these,” Seulgi explained while pointing to the pile of files in front of her. “Plus, my interns won’t take me seriously.”

Jisoo whistled.

“I forgot how responsible Miss Seulgi was, sorry,” she joked.

Seulgi cringed at the word as she remembered what happened last week.

“I don’t think I am qualified for this word anymore,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Do you have your break now?” Seulgi asked to change the subject.

“Me? No. I was just strolling,” Jisoo smiled foolishly. “I mean passing by,” she corrected herself when she saw Seulgi’s disapproving stare. “I had to give a document to Junmyeon before his meeting. Something about a super important presentation.”

Seulgi laughed at Jisoo’s strange facial expressions.

“The people from the editing department are always so stressed, it’s scary.”

“They have the most stressful job after all,” Seulgi reminded her friend while typing a brainstorm of ideas for a new project. “It’s called editing but they also write the articles and are the last to receive the magazine before it comes out so they have to be extra careful with mistakes. It’s understandable.”

“I love my job so much,” Jisoo said as she started searching for something inside her bag. “Interacting with good looking men and nice idols is a lot more fun.”

“Then go back to your job,” Seulgi mocked as Jisoo got up.

“I am!” the latter said defensively. “Here, friend,” she mumbled before letting a candy nicely wrapped in a gold and shimmery packaging on Seulgi’s desk. “Take it easy, man. And don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Seulgi smiled as her friend left her office. She distantly looked at her turned off phone for a while before going back to her work with a smug. She took the candy and munched on it while completing the first out of the many files she had to finish for the day.

I can handle this.

. . .

It was around 5:47 PM and Seulgi was technically done with work since 17 minutes ago but she couldn’t resolve herself to go home without finishing this last project. She had finished gathering information and proceeded on putting it all in text with a description of each design she wanted to use and why they were the best for next month’s issue to present them to the next board meeting.

She heard the voices of the interns packing up their things to leave when she was printing the plan of the powerpoint she wanted to use to present her innovative ideas. Going to the wedding did bring something nice after all.

Someone knocked on her door and she didn’t have to say anything before a guy with a shy smile slowly pushed it and passed his head through the small opening he created.

“Do you need any help?” he said after bowing his head.

“No, I’ll be fine thank you Ten, you can go home,” she said with a soft smile without taking her eyes off the screen.

Seulgi wasn’t so comfortable with the opposite after her misadventures and she despised how men never thought things through before saying significant words or even engaging into something serious. It was just so easy for them to act and then think. She was either distant with them, showing them the respect she owed them depending on their position and nothing more. She was just cold by doing the bare minimum to keep the conversation going most of the time.

Seulgi wasn’t only uncomfortable around them, she felt intimidated and feared the most whenever they opened their mouth. There was even a point in her life where she hated them all to the core (you can easily guess when). She eventually grew out of this phase when she realized that she needed money and that it wasn’t by talking to women only that she was going to make it in that company. The fear never really went away, it just got toned down for a greater cause.

But she acted differently with Ten. She never felt the need to remind him of his position or scol