4. Bad Boy Down

++she protects but she also attacks++

Seulgi was restlessly walking around in her apartment with her phone in one hand and her toothbrush in the other, erratically going from one place to another in a matter of seconds. Why was she in such a hurry when she had plenty of time ahead of her? It’s not like she wasn’t almost done or that she planned on taking another hour to finish up her look but she was just so stressed.

It was the kind of stress that you wake up with in the morning and that you dismiss because it is nothing to worry about, but then wonder what’s that terrible feeling that makes your stomach churn like this in the middle of the day and that grows during the whole day until it becomes a monster that you can’t do anything else but acknowledge by the afternoon.

The party had already started but Seulgi intended to be late by an hour or so as nobody expected her to be there in the first place. It would add a slight element of surprise to her whole entrance. Nobody expected her presence other than Wendy, of course, because she was the one behind all of this and she couldn’t stop texting her from the party itself.

Where are you? Are you okay? Is your date still coming? Don’t stress and take deep breaths.

8:21 PM

When do you plan to come? By 9? The party already started and almost everyone is here I think.

8:26 PM

Seulgi I think I saw Gordon Ramsay!?!?!??

8:33 PM

False alert it was some kind of blonde writer for New York Times. Where the hell does Baekhyun know all these people from? I think I just saw the actor Lee Joongi pass with a glass of Chateaubriand.

8:33 PM

Seulgi chuckled at her friend’s messages as she turned off her hair straightener and securely put it back into her bathroom’s cupboard. She then went over to her bedroom to choose some earrings and a purse.

Before she could decide whether or not to go overboard with her necklace, she heard her doorbell going off from the living room.

“Who could that be at this time?” Seulgi asked herself as she walked over to the door. She gasped when she saw who it was through her camera’s door. She quickly unlocked the door and turned the knob to let the man behind it come in.

“What are you doing here? I said I would come get you,” Seulgi said before he grinned at her with his usual boyish smile.

“I can’t let a girl come get me, even if she’s my boss and she has a nice car,” Taeyong explained flatly as he glanced inside her apartment with his curious eyes. “Can I get in or this whole thing is cancelled because I decided to come get you? I don’t really care but I know you need me.”

Seulgi could only sigh to not say something that would compromise her night and let him in.

“It’s the 21st century drama boy, nobody cares about gender roles,” she said before closing the door behind him.

“You’re certainly living the good life, huh,” he commented as he scanned her spacious apartment with his eyes. “Is that one of those edgy and expensive paintings people buy just for the sake of buying them?” he asked as he pointed to a canvas Seulgi had bought from an exhibition last month. “Honestly, there are way cheaper decorations.”

“Do I comment on the way you spend your money Lee Taeyong? And what do you mean good life? Is money the only thing that matters?” she uninterestedly asked as she went back to her bedroom to finish what she had been doing before he interrupted her. She kept the door open to hear him if ever needed her with something but deep down already knew he wouldn’t and that he was only going to say more thoughtless stuff.

“No but it matters a lot to everyone,” he said. Seulgi could see him run his hands trough her book shelves from her room. “Everyone who doesn’t already have other things to worry about because money isn’t a problem. Just like you who focus on love because you've had weird relationships.”

Seulgi shot her head up because of his statement but decided to let it go and get her black high heels from her wardrobe instead. From the two days she spent getting to know Lee Taeyong, she learned three important things:

First, he liked to trigger her. Second, he didn’t care at all that she was his boss. Third, if he ever had a filter for things he could say and things he couldn’t talk about, he definitely lost it a long time ago.

If she had been in her right mind, she would have fired this insensitive prick a long time ago but he was right, she really needed him.

Seulgi then proceeded on applying lipstick and sprayed a small amount of perfume onto her neck and her wrists. She quickly turned around when she noticed Taeyong’s reflection in the mirror.

“Hey,” he softly called from her bedroom’s door frame.

“No, no, no, this is off limits,” Seulgi said before pushing him outside. “You don’t come inside my bedroom, that’s a big no.”

“Why? You didn’t say anything when I went to the living room,” he reasoned although he didn’t protest as she brought him back onto the couch. “The only difference is that there’s a bed. Is it because of the things that can be done on that bed that you don’t want me there? I know I’m attractive but you should be able to control yourself at your age.”

Seulgi rolled her eyes. She was sure she had heard him say something similar when she asked him to come to her office two days ago.

“Enough with the ual innuendos,” she grumbled. “Is that the only thing men think about? That's so vulgar.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to generalize a whole gender but you do you, I guess.”

“Men have yet to prove me wrong.”

“Oh please Seulgi, it was a joke.”

Seulgi almost choked on her spit.

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“You didn’t just call me Seulgi, did you?” she asked more to herself than to him as shock was plastered all over her face.

“Why? It has a nice ring to it, I like it,” Taeyong answered with a shrug.

It would have been surprising enough to hear him drop the “director” in Director Kang only to call her with her last name but to go straight to Seulgi was beyond any reasonable thoughts. Was he out of his mind?

“Are you perhaps nuts Lee Taeyong? I’m still your boss.”

“You said yourself to call you Seulgi,” he recalled from the last minute meeting they had together two days ago.

“I said at the party,” Seulgi growled. “Does it look like there’s a party going on in this apartment?” she asked before sarcastically pointing to her place where they were totally alone.

“How do you expect me to call you Director Kang here and then switch off to Seulgi at the party?” he argued. “What if I slip off? Aren’t you going to get mad at me for blowing up our cover?”

“It’s not a cover, it’s a project,” she corrected.

“Project where the clients are you exes? Sure,” Taeyong sarcastically laughed.

Seulgi could only bite her lips. This was bad, this was just so bad. She might have told him a bit too much after getting carried away Thursday because she had finally found herself a date. Seulgi wasn’t feeling so great now that she realized that she had brought up one of her intern into her affairs (mixing personal life and work never really worked out for the better), let him get inside her apartment, see her bedroom and now he decided to call her without any honorific. And all of that without mentioning how he knew important details of her love life. She shouldn’t have listened to Wendy, this idea was just so bad and she should have known from that the start.

“I believe you are too intelligent to make that kind of mistake.” Seulgi decided to not comment on his previous remark. “If you aren’t smart enough then you are definitely too sly to let anything slip out of those lips. Right?”

Taeyong eyed her with his usual disinterested look.

“Whatever,” he said in a way that annoyed Seulgi to a serious point. “I’ll keep calling you Seulgi because that’s what you asked me and because I like it, Seulgi.”

She was boiling with anger as she felt her ego take a shot. She was his boss, not the other way around for God’s sake.

“Don’t get too used to it,” she spat before walking over to her bedroom again. “It’s only for tonight.”

“Then I will enjoy it as much as I can, Seulgi,” he chuckled when he saw her cheeks’ subtle shade of red.

Seulgi continued to get prepared for the party without paying much attention to the male who was trying to find something to do while waiting for her in the living room. She heard him turn on the TV a few minutes before turning it off as soon because there was nothing interesting to watch. She even heard him sing a bit while reading some of the magazines on her coffee table.

“This or this?” Seulgi asked as she went to find him in the kitchen where he was already busy serving himself a glass of milk.

She wasn’t even surprised. Lee Taeyong was the type to do whatever he wanted and she surprisingly always found herself forgiving him for it. It’s not like he had ever really crossed the line once. But then again, what was crossing the line for Seulgi?

“I think you suit silver better,” Taeyong answered as he pointed to a small necklace that put more emphasis onto her bare collarbones. “Do you want me to help you put it on?”

"Yes, please."

He turned her around as Seulgi held her hair up to help him have easier access to her nape.

“You look great,” Seulgi said after she finally took the time to take in his outfit. He was wearing a casual grey suit with a warm white turtleneck. Not too bad, she thought.

“Thank you,” he said with an adorable boyish smile.

Seulgi glanced at him expectantly.

“You too,” Taeyong smiled before he broke into small laughing fits as her expression turned sour. “Is that what you wanted me to say?”

Gosh, that was such a Lee Taeyong thing to do, she internally sighed.

“You do,” he said after he stopped laughing. “You look beautiful.”

Seulgi looked at him dubiously.

“Really,” the younger male assured her. “I might be a jerk but I don’t lie to women.”

Then there’s still some hope, Seulgi thought.

“That's what a liar would say," Seulgi pointed out before taking out her car’s keys. "Anyway, we should get going."

“Yes Ma’am,” Taeyong said before he lent her his arm.

“I can walk on my own,” Seulgi brushed off with a scoff.

Men and their double personality.

They went all the way down to the parking lot and hopped inside Seulgi’s BMW in a few minutes.

“At what time does it start?” Taeyong asked as he buckled down his seatbelt.

“Eight,” Seulgi answered curtly.

Taeyong looked at her incredulously after verifying that it was truly 8:57 PM and that no, it wasn’t just his eyes playing with him. He was certainly not used to see his boss being so late. Heck, he couldn’t even recall one time where she arrived one minute after what she was supposed to since he entered the company.

“Is it normal that we only leave now?” he cautiously asked before she started the engine.

“Don’t worry, it is completely planned,” she reassured him with a warm smile. “We should be there in no time.”

Seulgi drove out of the parking lot while Taeyong decided to turn on the radio against her will because he was in a good mood as he said.

“You should be happy,” he claimed after she mocked him for it. “I always come up with better insults when I’m in a good mood.”

. . .

As Seulgi finally parked into the parking lot of Baekhyun's apartment building just like what Wendy had told her on Tuesday, she felt the stress from before come back. She had totally forgotten about it when Taeyong came because he distracted her away from her fears (which she was thankful for but wouldn’t admit because he already had such a big ego) but now that she was so close to doing it for real, she was scared. Did she even have a real plan? Showing up with a really good looking guy, dressed nicely and dolled up for the simple purpose of making heads turn? Could that even be considered a plan? She was starting to doubt herself again.

“Let’s go,” Taeyong excitedly said before coming out of the car. He jogged to the other side to open the door for her but Seulgi wouldn’t put a foot down. “Are you seriously going to chicken out now?”

She gulped with difficulty.

“No, I was just checking if there was something on the floor,” she awkwardly laughed as she took the hand he offered to help her get out. “I wouldn’t want to get my Louboutin dirty.”

“What the hell is Low Boutan,” Taeyong asked before he dragged her to the door of the luxurious building.

“I said Louboutin,” Seulgi amusedly repeated. “They are overly priced shoes that look like any other high heels with some red on the outsole,” she answered with a grin. “But don’t tell Wendy, she might kill me.”

“Why?” Taeyong laughed although he didn’t exactly know who was the Wendy Seulgi was talking about.

“She fought with someone in Italy to get them for me.”

They joked about the repercussions of capitalism in today’s society and cut it short when the elevator’s doors opened to the 16th floor.

Seulgi tensed up a bit and Taeyong tried to make her laugh one last time to shake away her stress but she couldn’t find the strength to do so even if he was funny because all her attention was now brought onto the last door at the end of the corridor: they had arrived.

She was really going to do it. She couldn’t back down.

“Wait, Taeyong, I don’t know anymore,” Seulgi quickly said as she pulled onto his arm.

“What are you talking about again?” he scowled. “I didn’t reserve my Saturday night for you just so you could let me down last minute.”

“It’s n-not about letting y-you down,” Seulgi stuttered out of nervousness. “There are many people in that room, many important people, and they are here, and I said I wouldn’t go to Baekhyun and Jongin but here I am, coming uninvited like this with you. Oh my God,” Seulgi panicked.

“Calm down, Seulgi just breathe for ’s sake.”

“Don’t swear,” Seulgi found the time to say amidst her crisis. “I’ve never done something like this. Is that a rebellion? I’ve never rebelled once in my life, that’s not my thing,” Seulgi rambled on.

“Rebel against who? Your exes? What—”

“Rebelling as in, oh no I think I’m panicking.”

“No way, really?” Taeyong sarcastically said with an eye roll.

“Coming all the way here like this was such a bad idea. What if they say I can’t come in without an invitation or something. I think I’m going to faint on the spot if they humiliate me like that.”