chaewon wasn't really lying when she said she was going back to the lab, because that's exactly where she goes to. 

when she enters the office, her boss frowns, "it's 2am, why the hell are you here?" 

chaewon pulls out the bottle of vodka, "want a drink?" she asks, completely ignoring the question. 

"a half-drunk bottle of vodka is all you're offering for me to drop the subject?" her boss asks, "really, chaewon?" 

chaewon laughs, "oh c'mon, i'll let you have the whole thing, soojung unnie," she tilts the bottle toward soojung, enticing her with the drink. 

"okay fine. but please tell me you're at least taking tomorrow off," soojung replies, already walking to the pantry to get shot glasses. 

it's not abnormal for them. chaewon would randomly show up at the office, especially when she has her 'eureka' moments. 

soojung is always in the office between 2pm to 6am, sometimes even longer since she stays just a block away. 

"nah," chaewon walks with soojung, "we're so close to finishing it, i can't possibly take breaks now." 

'it' referred to a machine that allows doctors to have greater accuracy and precision during operations.

ever since chaewon graduated from university with a degree in biomedical engineering, she's been working on such a machine along with some of her university friends, one of them being soojung. 

soojung stops right outside the entrance of the pantry. 

"kim chaewon," she begins, "it'll take at least 2 months to finish the prototype and 8 months after that to finish the tests. i know you know this and i'm saying this not as your boss, but as your friend, you need to take a break." 

chaewon takes a breath and nods, "i know. and i will, eventually. it's just, you know how important this is to me and i can't wait to see it working, you know, helping other people. if something goes wrong during tests or prototyping, i want to correct it, i want this to work." 

soojung lets out a deep sigh, "i know, chaewon, but overworking yourself like that isn't good for your health. if you fall ill, eunbi would be worried sick and you don't want that, do you?" 

chaewon swallows at the mention of her girlfriend (ex-girlfriend? she doesn't even know anymore). 

honestly, chaewon isn't even sure eunbi would be worried anymore. but soojung doesn't know about this and chaewon doesn't want to emotionally burden her favourite university senior. 

so she just agrees with her boss. 

"yes, yes, fine. i'll take tomorrow off," chaewon pushes soojung into the pantry, "now that all that boring stuff is over, let's get to the drinks." 

soojung rolls her eyes at chaewon, but they do end up drinking the night away. 

-

chaewon returns home at 10 in the morning, expecting eunbi to have already left. 

but when she enters their shared room, she's met with the sight of eunbi sprawled across the bed, blanket only half covering her body. 

chaewon smiles wistfully at the sight of her girlfriend-but-maybe-not-anymore and she readjusts the blanket to fully cover eunbi. 

eunbi starts stirring and chaewon wants to run. she's not ready to talk to eunbi, but her legs stay rooted to the ground. 

but the first word that comes out of eunbi's mouth has chaewon out of the apartment within a minute. 

eyes still closed, eunbi says hoarsely, "chaeyeon?" 

yep. chaewon definitely can't do this. 

she bolts out of the room and the apartment, not caring that she only has her transport card and wallet with her. 

-

she ends up in minju's apartment. thank god the girl works from home. 

"chaewon?" minju sits down with chaewon at her dining table, "what're you doing here?" 

scratching the back of her neck, chaewon responds, "uh... kinda got forced to take a day off because i've been working too much. in the first place, which boss scolds an employee for working???" 

minju laughs. she knows how much of a workaholic chaewon could be, especially when she's close to finding something out. 

"it's soojung, you know she only means well," she stands