“Joy, please—“

“I’m sorry, Mark, but we’re over.”

“Joy, you just can’t do this to me.”

Joy smiled, though there was no mirth in her eyes, and looked over her shoulder. “I just did.”

Joy walked away before the beta boy could argue back, heels clicking against the tiled floor. She immediately fished her phone out of her pocket as she felt a vibration, and answered the call.

“Park Sooyoung!” Joy winced at the loud voice, smiling wryly at the worry and panic she heard. “Where the hell are you? You have a photoshoot in an hour!”

“Don’t worry, Wendy-unnie! I’m on my way.” It was a lie, of course. Joy knew that her best friend already knew that, judging from the loud, exasperated sigh she heard from the other line. She could imagine the older girl sitting on a chair with her free hand massaging her temple, and she bit back a giggle. “I just had to deal with something, that’s all.”

Or someone, rather.

“You broke up with Mark,” Wendy said, more of a statement than a question. Joy opened her car and quickly went inside.

“Yeah,” she muttered absentmindedly as she placed her bag by the passenger seat. “I told you last night that I was going to break up with him.”

“I thought things were going well with him?”

“Yeah, things were okay.” Joy nodded and hummed, though she knew the older girl couldn’t see her. “It was getting boring.”

She heard Wendy laugh. “You really are something else, Park Sooyoung.”

Joy started the car, grinning to herself.

“I try my best, unnie.”

“You’re late, Park Sooyoung!”

Sooyoung looked at the older girl scolding her, amused that a shorter hamster was lecturing her about punctuality and being early with her very animated expressions and hand gestures.

Son Seungwan, or Wendy, as Joy often called her, was her senior by a year and her best friend for life. She met the older girl back when she was still training to become a model. Wendy, at that time, was working in Sooyoung’s company, as a fresh intern who came from a prestigious school in the US. When Sooyoung heard that a foreigner was working in their company, she immediately took interest and decided to befriend the older girl.

“Hello!” Sooyoung greeted. She’s so pretty, she couldn’t help but think as she watched the red-haired woman, who she assumed was the new intern, turn around in her chair. “Are you Miss Seungwan?”

“I go by Wendy but yes, that’s me.” Seung—Wendy chuckled.  “And who is this pretty young lady?”

“I’m Sooyoung!” Sooyoung grinned, cheeks blushing at the compliment. “I’m training as a model.”

“Oh, a model.” Wendy nodded, before adding, “No wonder why you’re so beautiful and tall. Say, why are you here?”

Sooyoung froze at the compliment, cheeks getting a bit redder before she regained her bearings. “I-I heard you were from U.S.” Wendy nodded again, so she continued. “Can you teach me English, Miss Wendy? Please?” Wendy looked reluctant, and she was desperate to have someone teach her. She pouted her lips and pulled out her big guns: her puppy eyes. “Pretty please?”

After a few tense moments, Wendy eventually gave up and scratched her head wryly. “Fine. But don’t sneak out of your practices, okay?”

“Yes!” Sooyoung squealed in joy. “Thank you, Miss Wendy!”

“Unnie.”

“Huh?”

Wendy smiled softly. “You can call me unnie.”

As months passed by, the two simply got closer. Even when Sooyoung found out that Wendy was an alpha (she didn’t expect that, honestly; her unnie was kind and soft and gentle and everything she knew an alpha wasn’t), it didn’t stop the two from getting closer. Soon, Wendy found another job and moved out of her company. Despite their busy lives, with Wendy working more hours in her new company and Joy debuting in the modeling world, the two remained in touch and occasionally met to catch up.

Five years later, despite all the fights and dealing with her admittedly troublesome escapades, Sooyoung was glad that she has found a friend for a lifetime.

“Yah, Sooyoung! Are you even listening?”

“Yes, unnie.”

Sooyoung smiled, showing her perfect white teeth. Wendy simply shook her head in exasperation, already used to the younger girl’s antics.

“Your photoshoot will last for three hours so I’ll look around for jobs in the meantime and pick you up later,” Wendy said, checking her phone for the time

“Unnie,” Sooyoung whined, clinging on the older woman’s arm. “Don’t get a new job and just be my permanent manager instead.”

The older girl simply laughed and knocked her knuckles on the latter’s forehead. “Silly Sooyoung. You know I can’t.”

“Miss Park! Please prepare now. Shoot starts in 15 minutes.”

Sooyoung groaned, and Wendy laughed again. Wendy pulled her towards the changing room, telling her she’ll be back later with a hug.

When Sooyoung came out of the changing room with designer clothes, killer heels, and heavy makeup, Sooyoung was gone and Joy was back.

It's showtime.

Joy loved modeling, and modeling loved her back.

She was born with the looks, the resources, and the attitude. Even when she was young, her parents and the people around her already told her that she was model material. Though she knew she was going to inherit her family's business one way or another, it didn't stop her from pursuing her dreams of becoming a model. In the end, her parents gave up on forcing Joy to study business and even supported Joy when she first started training in one of South Korea's well-known modeling agencies.

The trainers and mentors loved her. The trainees either wanted to befriend her or bring her down. She was fast to move, fast to think, smart, and dangerous. It was her element; the fast pace of changing clothes and makeup, posing in front of the camera, and walking on the runways. It's what she does best.

It didn't even take her long for her to debut—at the age of 19, she already swept the runways, magazines, and advertisements all over South Korea with a storm.

Even though she was pretty stubborn with her principles, and, as the people who don't like her call her, "obnoxious and wild", Joy was pretty good at her job. Everyone who worked alongside or has seen her work can attest to that. She was a force to be reckoned with in the industry. People loved her for who she was, and she loved who she was.

And maybe being an omega did help her in her career.

Joy took pride that she is an omega. It was a fact that omegas often gave off more appeal and that certain pull than any other class. It was in their scent and their aura, that once you look at an omega, it’d be hard to tear your gaze away from them. Though there were times when she was berated for being an omega, she loved being who she was.

Maybe a little bit too much to the point that people called her strange. She doesn’t care. She wasn’t strange—just unique.

Joy hated being average, so she did her best to exceed everybody’s expectations.

“That’s a wrap! You did fantastic, Miss Park.” Mr. Choi, the photoshoot’s photographer, placed down his camera and approached Joy for a handshake. “They weren’t kidding when they said you’re a great model, Miss Park.”

“You flatter me, Mr. Choi.” Joy smiled professionally. She wasn’t dense and she saw the way the photographer was looking at her. He was definitely going to a