It has been a week since I started working out of Jin’s office.

And a full week since Wonsik has been able to bother me.

Thanks to Jin getting me a desk to work in his office, Wonsik hasn’t been able to catch me alone at work. Plus, Jin has taken me home every single night, meaning that even if he waits around, he still doesn’t have a chance to catch me. It’s like Jin has become my guardian angel or something.

At first I was worried that sharing an office with him would be super awkward, but it has actually been the opposite. We can go ages without saying anything to each other, but despite how cold he may look on the outside, he’s actually really friendly. I wonder if he just keeps up the cold act because he’s the boss? It’s strange because he’s really likeable… especially if you like dad jokes and bad puns. Both of which I’m a massive fan of and there have been several occasions where I have actually burst out laughing at him when we’re meant to have been working.

I smiled to myself as I grabbed some snacks from the kitchen and took them through to my living room to watch a movie. It was kinda late to be starting a movie when I need to be up early in the morning, but Jackson was been whining at me to watch this movie for forever so I need to watch it if I don’t want to suffer through another day of him complaining about how this is the best movie ever filmed.

Halfway through the movie and I was hooked. Mental note: thank Jackson for whining about this movie for so long. I was staring at the screen, my snacks long since forgotten when a sudden knock at my door caught my attention. “Who is that at this hour?” I asked aloud as I checked the time on my phone. I made my way to the door and hesitantly opened it.

“Wonsik!” I said, shocked to see his familiar face in front of me. “What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed. I could smell alcohol on his breath. He wasn’t completely wasted, but he was far from sober. “How did you even know where I live?” I asked. After we had broken up, I couldn’t stay in our apartment any longer. I had moved out and hadn’t told Wonsik or his family my new address. “That doesn’t matter.” He said, his words slurring slightly. “Can I come in?” he begged. I shook my head, “No. You're drunk. Go home.” I said as I tried to close the door.

Wonsik's hand shot out, stopping me from closing the door. “Wonsik, stop!” I said a little louder than I had meant to as I shoved at the door, but it didn’t budge. “I just want to talk to you.” He shouted. “I’ll talk to you when you're sober.” I promised as I gave the door another shove. “Just go home for now.”

“Do you not have any feelings left for me at all?” he asked, his voice wavering slightly. I stopped pushing against the door and sighed. “Wonsik, we’ve talked about this.” I said, my voice weary from repeating myself so many times. Wonsik huffed loudly. “You weren’t this cold to me before. It’s because of that Seokjin guy, isn’t it?” he said accusingly, his voice rising. “Wonsik, I have neighbours!” I warned, surprised that he had suddenly brought up Jin.

“It is, isn’t it?” he asked again, thankfully lowering his voice so that my neighbours wouldn’t complain to me in the morning about the noise. “Wonsik, my feelings for you changed the second I caught you with her. It has nothing to do with Jin, or anyone else.” I said as calmly as I could. Wonsik snorted at my words, his hand tightening on my door. “Jin?” he said, almost spitting out his name as if it was a dirty word. “Since when have you been calling him that?”

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. “That’s none of your business. Now go home. Or I swear I’m going to call the police.” I threatened. Wonsik stared at me for a long minute. I held his gaze, refusing to let myself be swayed by the familiarity in his warm, brown eyes. Eventually, he sighed and slowly let go of my door. I wasted no time in slamming it closed and locking it. I let out a long breath and waited until I heard Wonsik's footsteps disappear down the corridor before I went back to the living room.

What the hell was he hoping to achieve by coming here? How the hell did he even know where to find me? My parents wouldn’t have told him my address. Did he ask one of my friends? Surely none of them would have told him… ugh. My head fell back against the back of the couch as I sighed. “This is ridiculous.” I muttered as I looked back at the paused movie in front of me. The notion to watch it was completely gone. Wonsik's interruption had ruined the mood of the movie for me. I turned off my TV and made my way into my bedroom, determined to just fall asleep and wake up tomorrow, hoping that Wonsik turning up had only been a nightmare.

I woke up after another night of crap sleep. I had to drag myself into the shower before choosing my most comfortable work clothes and applying the minimum amount of make-up. It was only first thing in the morning and I was already ready to go to back to bed. I made my way into work in a complete daze, I don’t know how I didn’t miss my stop on the subway. My body was running completely on autopilot.

I sat down at my desk and my computer. Thankfully Jin had a meeting scheduled so I have some time to get myself together. I went to our small break room and made myself a coffee. Jackson waved to me as I walked by, mouthing a ‘are you okay?’ as I passed. I gave him a half smile and mimed being sleepy to him before I went back into the office that I now shared with Jin and closed the door. I don’t know if he bought my lie, but I just don’t have it in me to care right now. I hadn’t seen Wonsik this morning, but I honestly couldn’t care less right now about that either. I really need him to just give up on whatever hope he's clinging onto.

I know that’s probably horrible of me, but I've made it explicitly clear that there is no future between us. I don’t know why he’s being so persistent. Is it out of guilt because of what he did? Does he think that if we get back together that it will erase what he did? I sighed and ran my hands through my hair as I tried to focus on the screen in front of me. “Focus.” I muttered to myself as I started typing, hoping to bury myself in work and forget all about Wonsik and his little visit last night.

My brain barely registered when Jin finally came into the office. I was focusing on my screen so intently that an earthquake could have happened I probably wouldn’t have blinked. It wasn’t until he practically shouted my name that I finally looked up. “Huh?” I said, blinking up at him. He was frowning at me, a small crease appearing in-between his eyebrows. “I asked if you were alright, you look like death warmed over.” He asked worriedly as he came around to perch on the end of my desk.

I leant back in my chair and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, I’m okay.” I lied. One of Jin’s eyebrows quirked upwards, his expression showing that he didn’t buy my obviously terrible lie. “Did something happen last night?” he asked, a hard edge to his voice. I looked into his warm, gentle eyes and my resolve broke embarrassingly quickly. “Wonsik showed up at my place last night.” I confessed quietly. I saw Jin’s hands curl into fists, but he somehow managed to keep his expression neutral.

“It’s not really a big deal.” I added quickly, noting how tense his jaw was. “It is a big deal.” Jin said. “He’s harassing you and it has to stop.” Jin said harshly. I sighed again, subconsciously reaching out and taking Jin’s larger hand in mine. “It’s fine. I’ve told him that if he bothers me again I’m involving the police. He won't be so stupid to keep it up any longer.” I said, hoping to convince myself as much as him.

His gaze was locked on our intertwined hands. I hadn’t meant to do that. I just did it naturally to try and calm him down. The briefest flash of a smile appeared on Jin's face, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it came. He took a deep breath, his eyes slipping closed as he breathed in. He exhaled loudly and looked at me. “I wish I could do something.” He muttered quietly. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “This is enough.” I said. “Being there for me when I need you most, that’s more than I could ask for.” I said, hoping that I wasn’t overstepping the mark by being so intimate with him.

Jin opened his mouth to reply but we were interrupted by his phone ringing from his desk. He glanced back at his phone then back at me. “You should answer that, it might be important.” I said as I reluctantly pulled my hand from his. He nodded and returned to his own desk, picking up the phone and answered it as if we hadn’t just shared a heart-warming moment. I discreetly put my hand over my heart to help calm it down. It was beating so quickly I wouldn’t be surprised if it exploded right out of my chest. I could only hope that my cheeks weren’t flushed from embarrassment as I turned back to my computer, suddenly finding the endless presentation slides incredibly interesting.

Jin

Of all the times to receive a phone call. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to not hang up. When I finally managed to come off my call, Nari was already engrossed in whatever she was doing on her computer. My heart skipped a beat as I looked at her. She looked terrible. There were bags underneath her eyes and it was obvious that she was upset and just plain exhausted from having to deal with Wonsik. My hands curled into fists, that now all too familiar feeling of wanting to punch something welling up inside of me.

I forced the feeling down, but my anger didn’t fade. I had been staring at Nari for a full five minutes before I got up and stepped out of my office, my mind only on one thing.

Wonsik.

I stormed my way down the corridor, heading straight towards the small office that I had given him to use in an attempt to put some distance between him and Nari. Thankfully, it was far enough away from the rest of the office that no one would be able to overhear us.

I threw his door open and slammed it shut behind me. Wonsik looked up at me, thinly veiled anger on his face when he spotted me. “Is there a reason why you almost ripped the door off the hinges?” he asked as he stood up to face me. I wasted no time in pouncing. I grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him backwards, his back slamming into the wall behind him. He grunted at the contact, his eyes blazing as he glared at me. “What the do you think you're doing?” he growled as he tried to remove my grip from his shirt, but anger fuelled my strength and I shoved him backwards again, pinning him in place

“Nari told me that you turned up at her place last night.” I said, my voice low and threatening as my grip tightened, I could feel the strain on the material between my fingers. “You need to give up whatever pathetic attempt this is to try and win her back. She is not interested. All you're doing is giving her a hard time. If you truly loved her, even a fraction of the amount that you claim to do, you would let her live in peace.” I ground out, my grip not loosening up for a second.

He shoved back against me, but I only moved back half a step. “This has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it.” He spat at me. I grit my teeth at him. “If you're bothering Nari, then it is my business.”

“What the hell is going on here?”

Wonsik and I spun around to see Nari standing by the doorway, looking worriedly between the two of us. Crap. I glared back at Wonsik one more time before I released him. He shoved me back a step before straightening out his shirt. “We’re just trying to work something out.” I said back as calmly as I could as I put my hands into my pockets, trying to act casual as if she hadn’t just caught me pinning her ex against a wall by the neck.

I saw Wonsik glare at me from the corner of my eye before he turned to Nari. “Nari, you need to know what’s going on here. Your boss just assaulted me because he seems to think that it’s his place to get involved in our business. But he’s not just doing it as your superior.” My hands fisted in my pockets. I knew exactly what he was going to say.

“Nari, he likes you and he's trying to come in between us.” He spat out as he looked at me again. I forced my expression to stay neutral. “Do you deny it?” he spat at me. I looked back at him, my teeth clenched before I allowed a smile to spread over my lips, which only widened with his look of confusion.

I turned to face Nari, as if Wonsik wasn’t in the room at all. “This isn’t exactly how I planned on confessing.” I said with a shake of my head. “But he’s not wrong… Nari… I like you. I have done since you started working here. I was wondering if you would be open to the possibility of going on a date with me?”

It was hard to tell who looked more shocked; Wonsik or Nari. Here’s hoping I didn’t just make a huge mistake…