A month into their “marriage”, Sooyoung felt like nothing changed.

Well, not nothing-nothing. Her life just turned 180 degrees (for better or for worse, Sooyoung didn’t know yet) but it wasn’t like everything changed. She was still Sooyoung, albeit a rich, married Sooyoung.

For instance, she was called Mrs. Kang. It felt weird, and, if she could, she would prefer it if people call her Park Sooyoung. But the news spread fast and before she even realized it, everyone was calling her Kang Sooyoung. Everyone except her best friend, Wendy.

She also usually forgot that she’s now downright filthy rich. Sooyoung did grow up from a rich family and she was a spoiled brat at some point but that was her life before she started modeling. Meeting a lot of people made her realize that many people weren’t as privileged as her. After she got her first modeling job, she stopped using her family’s money and became independent. She learned how to schedule her shopping sprees based on the season (thank God for sales and brand sponsors). But now, she realized, she could shop all she wanted without waiting for a sale or even looking at the price tag.

Aside from those, Sooyoung also noticed that all the “flirting” of her coworkers have stopped entirely. Even the most annoying suitors that constantly pestered her for days stopped bothering her. In her recent photoshoots, nobody dared to flirt with Sooyoung. She remembered that one time when someone did in one of her photoshoots the other day, and the poor guy received an earful from his boss and would’ve gotten fired if Sooyoung didn’t save his sorry .

Once again, Sooyoung wondered how powerful the Kangs are.

The “subtle” changes weren’t all good. Being a model, Sooyoung already had a handful of paparazzi following her. However, the moment she became the wife of a young CEO of a multimillion company, this handful became a -load. There were a few paparazzi who would follow Sooyoung anywhere, much to her annoyance. She couldn’t freely roam around Seoul (or anywhere in South Korea, really) as much as she used to. The last time she did, a few tabloids were feasting on a picture of her eating alone in a cake shop.

Marriage in shambles already? Kang Sooyoung, wife of Kang Empire’s CEO, spotted alone in a coffee shop!

Sooyoung was fuming in anger, glaring at the stupid headline that absolutely made no sense to her. She wasn’t even listening to her PR’s lecture anymore. Why did it even matter? Why do they have to make the smallest thing a big deal? What’s wrong with eating cake alone in a damn cake shop?

Because your wife is a CEO of a multimillion company, Wendy would tell her. As if she didn’t know that.

Speaking of her wife, she rarely saw Seulgi at the penthouse they shared. She was usually out, working in her office, and Jisoo, Seulgi’s secretary who Sooyoung recently became close with, told her that the alpha sleeps there often (before Sooyoung was added to the picture). It made her worry if the older woman was taking care of herself or not. They certainly are not close (yet, a traitorous voice in her mind added) but as her wife, Joy can’t help herself but worry.

It wasn’t like Seulgi was avoiding her duties as Sooyoung’s—she can’t still wrap her head around this—wife. In fact, Seulgi was very accommodating to her needs and whims, always checking up on the omega and allowing her to do whatever she wants. Sometimes, if the older woman had time, she would engage in small talks and ask Sooyoung about her day. Every afternoon, Seulgi would also text Sooyoung with her personal phone, making sure that Sooyoung had eaten lunch and informing her whether or not she could be home in the early evening. It didn’t feel like Seulgi was forcing herself; Joy could see her looking at her with an intense gaze, keenly listening to her every word, and giving comments now and then. In a rare instance, Seulgi would invite Joy to have lunch and they’ll talk about nothing and everything.

They were, in a legal sense, a married couple. But for Sooyoung, it felt like living with a roommate who rarely comes home instead of a wife.

Sooyoung knew that since they agreed in that divorce thing, they shouldn’t interact that much. She knew that Seulgi had no obligations to act as a wife to her. Sooyoung was confused as to why Seulgi was friendly towards her and actually looked like she wanted to get close to her. After all, their marriage was a business deal.

Despite convincing herself that she wasn’t bothered, Sooyoung was now in a coffee shop with her best friend, ranting about her ambiguous relationship with her wife.

“I don’t know why but it’s…” Sooyoung did weird gestures with her hands as Wendy stared at her, unamused. “Weird.”

“In short,” Wendy cut her off after her admittedly long rant, “she’s caring and friendly, and it’s bothering you.”

The omega blinked. It was actually a good summary of everything she said. “Yes.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Wendy asked, taking a bite of the red velvet cake they ordered. “I mean, to be honest, we thought that she’ll be a jerk. Shouldn’t you be glad that she isn’t? Just treat her like you treat a friend. After all, you’re planning on a divorce once your debts are paid off. Getting attached to her would just make things harder, you know.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “You’re making it sound like I’m going to fall for her.”

“There’s always a possibility.”

“You and your hopeless romantic .” Sooyoung shook her head, laughing. Wendy protested with a weak “Hey!” and a frown, making her laugh harder. “Anyway,” she cleared , “how’s your job-hunting going?”

Wendy’s lips turned into a pout. “Don’t change the subject.”

“I don’t want my best friend to be unemployed.” Sooyoung gave Wendy a sickly sweet smile, and Wendy’s shoulders deflated. “Not going well?”

Finally giving up, Wendy sighed. “The whole thing with the manager somehow gave me a bad reputation and the jobs I applied to didn’t want to take me in.”

“Or maybe you’re just really unlucky,” the younger woman snickered. After a moment, a thought suddenly entered her mind. “Wait, I have an idea.”

“I don’t like where this is going.” Wendy had all the right to be nervous, seeing the mischievous grin that was in Sooyoung’s face. Being friends for years, Wendy already knew (and experienced firsthand) about the omega’s “ideas” and her knack for mischievousness.

Sooyoung immediately fished her phone out of the bag, scrolling through her screen as she looked for a particular contact. She smiled when saw the contact she was looking for, and smiled a bit wider when saw the bear emoji beside the contact name.

She typed, [Are you busy right now?]

A few seconds later, a reply came. [just finished a meeting] was the text on the first bubble, followed by [i think i have the afternoon off], then another one [why???].

Sooyoung still can’t get over the fact that the Kang Empire CEO wasn’t the type to use capital letters in texts. She replied, [I want you to meet someone. She’s my friend.] After pondering a bit, she added, [She’s looking for a job.]

The omega stared at the seen mark, watching as the three dots danced on her screen. She quietly peeked at Wendy, watching the older woman look at her with a wary gaze, as if saying I don’t trust whatever you’re doing, Sooyoung.

Ding. Sooyoung looked back to her phone. There was a reply from Seulgi.

[come to the office then], then [i’ll see what i can do] and a smiley.

Sooyoung stared at the smiley and shook her head. Kang Seulgi was a cute person.

Sooyoung stood up, startling the eating Wendy in the process. She pocketed her phone and looked at Wendy, whose eyes were wide and mouth agape as it awaited for the red velvet cake that was halfway to .

“Come on,” she said as she grabbed her bag. “We’re leaving.”

“What?” Wendy looked at her incredulously, eyes flitting from the younger woman to her unfinished cake. She stood up anyway. “Where are we going?”

Sooyoung smirked. “To my wife’s office.”

No matter how many times Sooyoung entered the Kang Tower, it never failed to steal her breath away.

Sooyoung didn’t have any knowledge about buildings and whatnot, but she could already tell that the building was not an ordinary one. It was easily one of the highest buildings in Seoul, and you couldn’t even see the top unless you’re watching from a distance. The aura alone that the building exudes was already screaming money and professionalism.

Wendy craned her neck to see the entirety of the Kang Tower with agape. Sooyoung would’ve laughed if she didn’t do the same when she first visited the building.

Sooyoung felt nervous. She’s visited the Kang Tower a lot of times, especially when she drops by to eat lunch with Seulgi. In all of those times, she was just waiting by the reception on the ground floor, wasting time by chatting with employees while waiting for Seulgi. She never visited Seulgi’s office, let alone see it.

Let’s get this over with.

The moment Sooyoung stepped inside the building, the security guard greeted her with a nod of his head and a friendly smile. Heads turned towards her, the employees recognizing who just entered the building. Anyone could easily recognize her. After all, she is a model and there’s a huge framed picture of their wedding that was still plastered near the reception of the building. The sight made Sooyoung embarrassed. Maybe she should ask Seulgi to take it down later.

“Mrs. Kang.” A group of employees greeted her. All of them were bowing their heads in respect. Joy stood shyly, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

Despite feeling self-conscious, Sooyoung smiled. “Please don’t bow your heads. Treat me like how you treat your coworkers. Also, please call me Joy.”

“But…” one of the older workers weakly resisted.

“It’s okay,” Sooyoung insisted. “I’m not really one for formalities, and I’m just like all of you. Thank you for working hard, everyone. I hope all of you will continue supporting my wife in the company.”

It seemed like what she did was quite the display. Employees greeted her from left to right. The younger ones shyly called her Miss Joy much to her delight, but the older, traditional ones insisted on calling her Mrs. Kang. While they were waiting for the elevator, Sooyoung overheard two younger employees talking about her.

“Miss Joy is so kind,” the blonde one said to her companion. “She’s so pretty, too! Did you see her DAZED shoot? She absolutely killed it.”

“They look really good together with CEO Kang,” the brunette one said with a dreamy sigh.

Sooyoung felt her cheeks flush. She was used to compliments from strangers but hearing them from her wife’s employees made her bashful. Seeing the blush the omega had, Wendy threw a teasing smirk at Sooyoung. An elbow to the gut was what she received in return.

The two of them walked towards the elevators. Wendy, who was tailing her the whole time, kept on looking everywhere, eyes sparkling in amazement.

“Just how big is this building?” Wendy asked. She looked at the Sooyoung with an incredulous look.

“I don’t even know,” the omega answered truthfully with a wry smile. Seulgi was never the one to brag. When Joy asked her just how huge this building was, she only answered “Bigger than usual buildings, I guess.” Sooyoung knew better than to trust the judgment of someone who said hundreds of millions “wasn’t that big”. “But I heard they have four cafeterias, two coffee shops, a library, and a gym.”

Wendy turned her head to look at her, eyes comically wide in disbelief in surprise. Joy simply shrugged.

Finally, Sooyoung heard a familiar ding. She grabbed Wendy’s sleeve and dragged the alpha towards the elevator.

“Wait, aren’t we taking that one?” Wendy pointed at the bigger elevator where employees started to file in.

Sooyoung smirked and raised her ID card, the one Seulgi gave her in case she felt like visiting the company. “We’re using Seulgi-unnie’s personal elevator.”

“She has a personal elevator?”

As the two rode the elevator going to Seulgi’s office, Sooyoung ignored Wendy’s small rant about Joy not warning her about how rich and ‘awesome’ her wife is. To be fair, she didn’t exactly know how rich Seulgi was. Seulgi was recognized as one of the youngest and most successful CEOs in Asia. As for the awesome part, she couldn’t really see that. The Kang Seulgi she sees at home was very different from the Kang Seulgi she heard from rumors.

As they stopped on the floor of Seulgi’s office, Wendy commented, “Seulgi could fit right in Crazy Rich Asians.”

Sooyoung hummed in agreement.

The pair went to Jisoo’s office (Sooyoung was surprised after knowing that Seulgi’s secretary had her own office but Seulgi answered with “She can be annoying so I just gave her an office”) and, through the glass, saw that Jisoo was handling some papers. Sooyoung softly knocked on the door.

“It’s open.”

The young woman slowly opened the door and peeked her head in. Jisoo looked up from the files she was holding, eyes widening in surprise after she recognized her visitor. “Sooyoungie?”

“Jisoo-unnie!” Sooyoung walked towards Jisoo excitedly just as the secretary moved out of her desk. The two briefly hugged each other, both wearing wide smiles.

“I didn’t know you were coming here,” Jisoo said after the hug. She looked a bit confused. “Or maybe I just didn’t notice your text?”

“I told Seulgi-unnie I was going to come here. She said she has her afternoon off.”

For a moment, the beta looked peeved. “That dumb bear forgot to tell me,” she muttered under her breath but Sooyoung caught it. It made Sooyoung smile, thinking of how close the two older women were (and the adorable nickname). “She’s still in a meeting. We had to insert one because one of the investors from Taiwan had to go back tomorrow.”

A finger poked Sooyoung’s back and she looked back, seeing Wendy glare daggers at her. She almost forgot about her other unnie. Sooyoung smiled not so apologetically. “By the way, Jisoo-unnie, meet Wendy-unnie.”

Wendy awkwardly stepped forward and stretched her hand. “Son Seungwan, but I go by Wendy.”

“Kim Jisoo,” Jisoo took her hand and shook it. “I’m CEO Kang’s secretary.”

“Why are you both so awkward?” Sooyoung laughed. She felt a hand slap her back and another on her arm. “That hurts!”

“By the way, what brings you here?” Jisoo asked as she went back to her desk. She was arranging some files and were placing them in folders, desk neat and organized. Sooyoung remembered Seulgi saying that despite Jisoo’s mischievousness, she was efficient at work. Seeing that in action, Sooyoung felt her respect growing for the older woman.

Sooyoung pointed at Wendy. “My friend here is jobless—“

“Yah!”

“—and I asked Seulgi