Joohyun felt like puking the instant she regained consciousness the next day. Fortunately, Seungwan was already by her side and had ran out and returned with a glass of warm water as well as plastic bags for her.

“You drank too much and too fast last night,” Seungwan said immediately, helping the girl up.

As memory gathered back to her, the President realised that she must have caused a lot of inconvenience to Seungwan the night before. It made Joohyun guilty as she realised how there was no reproach in Seungwan’s voice at all, only utmost concern for her. Joohyun wanted to nod to acknowledge her folly but even the slightest action would aggravate her headache. The urge to throw up intensified and she did so, into the bag.

Seungwan had not even flinched and instead had her hand on Joohyun’s back the entire time, soothing her. The caring Seungwan even had tissues ready for her.

“Slowly… Are you feeling better?” Seungwan asked fretfully.

Joohyun managed a small nod this time round and heard a brief sigh of relief from Seungwan. This all felt foreign to Joohyun, she had never had a hungover in her entire twenty-three years of life.

“Let me get you some more water… and uh… dispose of this,” Seungwan said and got up swiftly.

Joohyun would have liked to follow Seungwan if only she was feeling so weak. As she laid against her bedframe, her eyes were fixated at the door as she awaited for Seungwan’s return. Bringing a hand up to her temple, she rubbed it and thought back to the previous night’s events. It was foolish of her yet maddening really. She simply could not believe that she was jealous of the moments shared between Taeyeon and Wendy. Not even Chanyeol’s affairs with Seungwan could affect her this greatly. Maybe Joohyun had truly overreacted. Afterall, Taeyeon could not possibly do anything with Seungwan even if she was interested in her.

When Seungwan had returned with a meek smile and a glass of water for Joohyun to rinse , Joohyun had restarted their conversation in a slightly awkward manner.

“What time is it now?”

“11:24 AM.” 

Joohyun nodded her head weakly and remained quiet for a long minute before she asked the much-dreaded question.

“Did I… embarrass myself last night…”

Seungwan’s lips went taut and the side of it quivered as if trying to hold in her laughter. It made Joohyun all the more nervous and she queried more urgently. She wondered if she had perhaps punched someone, perhaps Taeyeon, out of jealousy?

“W-What did I do?”

Seungwan merely shook her head. “Nothing… you were just cute.”

Joohyun glared at Seungwan, knowing that the girl was withholding something. “What is it?”

When Seungwan shook her head again, Joohyun tried to punch her but Seungwan caught her hand.

“You just babbled a little like a baby.”

“And…?”

“You claimed me as yours… in a rather… fierce baby manner,” Seungwan said shyly.

“Oh gods… I did that?” Joohyun pinched her forehead. “Wait, what did I do?”

“Y-You kissed me…”

“I… what?! In front of everyone?”

Seungwan nodded grimly.

“I thought you would find out sooner or later when Joy asks you about it.”

Joohyun was rubbing her temples as she imagined. Bits and fragments of memory did materialise in her mind. Wendy had refused her demand to order another drink and Joohyun was disgruntled. As untimely as it was, Taeyeon had also intervened and supported Wendy’s decision. That was when Joohyun felt as though a long dormant volcano within herself had erupted. She had indeed marked Wendy as hers by giving Taeyeon a fierce glare and then took Wendy’s lips in hers, roughly. There was a collective gasp from all of them and some more noises from Joy.

“Oh gosh… I… did that…” Joohyun squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

“Yea…”

“And you said I did nothing,” Joohyun said reproachfully.

“Thought you might faint if you recalled what happened. You look as pale as a sheet right now. I told Joy to keep it a secret.”

“Joy?! She would never keep shut!”

“I made her promise me,” Seungwan said softly.

“What did you give her in return?” Joohyun asked in suspicion.

Seungwan chewed on her lips and shielded herself from another punch from Joohyun. “I-I just… promised her that I can do her part for our school project.”

“You did what?!” Joohyun screamed.

However, upon seeing the guilty look on Seungwan’s face, Joohyun’s insides had turned to liquid. How could she get angry with Seungwan, especially since it was her fault to begin with and Seungwan was only trying to mitigate the situation.

“Don’t be angry… it was only a small part. I will make sure Joy understands what I have done.”

Joohyun shook her head. “You are spoiling her too much.”

An abashed smile appeared on Seungwan’s face. Joohyun would have liked to kiss Seungwan if only she had not just thrown up, rinsed and thought it might have been disgusting to do so. They shared a long look of fondness as they recalled what they had achieved just the day before. The pitch competition, they had won the pitch competition.

“We did it,” Joohyun said raspily and saw the smile on Seungwan’s face.

Seungwan was so adorable and Joohyun really wanted to squish the girl so badly.

Their moment was interrupted when a set of furious knocks came from the door.

Joohyun sighed. It must have been Joy and Joohyun slid down into her covers as she resigned to fate while Seungwan answered the door.

Joy had stormed into their room after throwing a scowl at Seungwan.  

“Oh wow. Should I even pretend to be surprised that you two are roommates? Or should I be more surprised that Seulgi found out even before me?” Joy asked in a mocking tone.

Joohyun groaned as she tried to get up from bed again. “Joy… please, my head hurts. Complain another day.”

“’My head hurts, complain another day’, the president says. Please, President, my heart hurts. You didn’t even tell us anything and just dropped a bomb on us like that! How could you? I felt so betrayed!” Joy whined.

Joohyun sighed. “Okay, I am sorry okay, baby Joy.”

“Sorry Joy, its my fault… It’s just… a little difficult for us to tell anyone anything. I don’t want Joohyun to become a target of gossip because of me.”

Joohyun’s felt pins pricking her heart when she heard Seungwan said that. It did come across her mind that their relationship would likely become a scandal in school but Joohyun did not want to make Seungwan feel as if it was entirely her responsibility. Joy seemed to have mellowed upon hearing those words from Seungwan. “Well… that… Aish! Okay, I will promise to keep your relationship a secret.”

“Thanks, Joy.”

Seungwan gave Joy a fragile-looking small smile that made Joohyun’s ache even more. It was only when Joy mimicked a cry and hugged Seungwan that eased Joohyun’s ache a little.

“Seungwan is really so cute. No wonder our President is so in love with her,” Joy teased.

“What?!” Joohyun exclaimed and gave her a dirty look.

“Nothing. Anyway I am still mad that Seulgi got to know that you two are roommates even before me but I will forgive you, President. Plus you are right, you look terrible, your head must be hurting a lot. I shall be off now,” Joy said cheekily and avoided Joohyun’s slaps as she escaped from their room.

Seungwan only gave Joohyun a wry smile and brought warm towel for her as she rested for the remainder of the day, with Seungwan caring tenderly for her.  

**

In the buzzing metropolitan city of Seoul, Mr Son, the high-powered CEO of the established hedge fund, was receiving rare updates from two of his favourite employees.

“Miss Son did pretty well that night. Her pitch was smooth and polished,” Hyukjae reported.

“Yes, it reminded me a little of the elder Miss Son but I think she still has a lot of room for improvement to reach her elder sister’s standards,” Donghae included.

That comparison made Mr Son’s heart throb a little but he appreciated Donghae’s candidness. The two then began narrating the plus and minus points about Seungwan and evaluate the potential of her. It has been a very long time since Mr Son did anything to monitor his youngest daughter, especially after Sooyeon’s passing.

Mr Son knew he would have to be very careful with Seungwan, now his only daughter. He was happy enough to hear that Seungwan had been performing well academically at the same time, he could not help but feel the urge to discover more about his daughter and exert some form of control over her.

Her daughter’s nightly activities since she was in high school had not gone unnoticed. However, since his attention had been on Sooyeon at that time, Mr Son had given Seungwan more freedom. Yet, he could not afford to make the same mistake. The strings of a kite if pulled too taut, would snap, like her elder daughter did.

No, with only around one or two years left to his daughter’s graduation, it was timely. Mr Son decided that it was time to groom Seungwan and reign her in.

“Oh yes, Mr Son, might I mention that there was a rather outstanding individual during the pitch. I thought we might like to have her intern for our company. I know Millennium does not hire interns nor fresh graduates but I saw the potential in this individual.”

Mr Son raised his brow at this random piece of information.

Donghae continued. “She is Miss Son’s team leader for the pitch. Perhaps we could suggest for both herself and Miss Son to be interns at Millennium. I would like an intern for myself.”

Hyukjae looked to him with disapproving looks.

Mr Son brooded on the suggestion. He could understand where Donghae was coming from. Introducing an internship programme would be too novel to a reputable hedge fund and people might start unnecessary discussion about nepotism. Yet, Donghae knew that Mr Son was really looking forward to nurture Seu