Taeyong panted heavily as he leaned back on the wall, waiting for the elevator to reach the top floor. He rolled up his sleeve and looked at the watch, “,” he cursed and wiped off the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. He was always late, late to meetings, photoshoots, and so on. But he usually only made people wait about five minutes or so… Except for the photoshoot with Seulgi whereas they were a whole hour late. And now, he was an hour late as well.

As the elevator doors opened he took big steps towards the second door to the left. He stopped and inhaled the air, calming himself down before knocking on the door. He heard Lee Soo Man call for him to come in so he opened the door, carefully peeking his head inside the room before walking in. He closed the door and bowed ninety degrees.

“I’m so sorry for being late,” he apologized and went to sit down on the empty chair beside Seulgi. His expression turned from an apologetic one to a confused one as he noticed both Lee Soo Man and Seulgi eating one bowl of pasta each.

“We knew you would be late so we ordered Italian.” Lee Soo Man told him and did a gesture to Seulgi. She put her bowl down and reached for a plastic bag next to her.

“I didn’t know if you preferred Alfredo or Bolognese so I ordered both,” she said and handed him the bag. He noticed her looking down at the bag, not even sparing a glance at him. He didn’t think too much of it and accepted the bag, a little “thank you,” coming out from his mouth. He furrowed his eyebrows as he put the bag on the floor, he knew that Lee Soo Man always liked Seulgi, but he would’ve never expected to see them eating pasta in his office room so casually.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Lee Soo Man smiled and leaned forward on the table, his elbows supporting him. “Your performance at MAMA was really successful and fortunately many fans liked and supported it. You’ve been trending everywhere for the past week and the stocks have gone up by ten percent.”

“That’s great, isn’t it?” Taeyong implied, not knowing why Lee Soo Man sounded so disappointed.

“It is very good for the company,” Lee Soo Man said and took a pause. “However, I know that you two don’t like each other that much and I don’t want to force you two into this dating scandal anymore.”

“So, you are saying that..?” Seulgi asked, even though she knew what he meant.

“I’m not going to force you into any more couple schedules, you two can focus on your own schedules and lay low until we release a break up statement later this year when the hype around you two together has gone away.”

Taeyong turned to look at Seulgi, hoping to get a “telepathy conversation” to know what she thought about the situation. But he saw her looking the other way and noticed her fixing her hair multiple times. “Did something happen?” he thought.

“You don’t have to feel like you’re forcing us into this dating scandal,” he then stated with an unsure smile and from the corner of his eye he noticed Seulgi swiftly turning her head to him. He shut his eyes and cursed in his head, she probably did not think the same.

“Is that so?” Lee Soo Man asked him. “What have I missed?” he then said while pointing at the two of them.

“Actually,” Seulgi spoke before turning her head back to Lee Soo Man. She pursed her lips before continuing, thinking deeply about what to say. “Recently, Taeyong and I have gotten along and I don’t think it would be a problem to continue with the fake dating.”

“Yes,” Taeyong stated, feeling relieved that she wasn’t mad about this. “It is beginning to lead to great things. I mean, the fans support us now and the hate has died down. The stocks are going up and Red Velvet are one of the most popular girl groups in the industry at the moment while NCT are still doing well.”

“Exactly,” Seulgi agreed.

Lee Soo Man looked at them with amusement clearly showing in his expression. “Are you two dating?” he then asked them and Seulgi immediately widened her eyes.

“What?!” she exclaimed, maybe a little too quickly, causing Lee Soo Man to raised his hands in surrender.

“Alright,” he smiled. “Then I’ll let you continue with the fake dating. I still won’t force you into any schedules together so feel free to just hang out in public or so.”

—————————————————

“Hey, are you alright?” Taeyong asked Seulgi as they walked out of the company building together. “You seemed a little off today.”

“I’m still overwhelmed by the sudden support, I think.” She turned to him with an unsure smile. “I got so used to the hate.”

“The netizens love you right now,” he smiled and she shook her head in disagreement.

“I wouldn’t say that they love me,” she spoke. “But I’m happy they’re starting to appreciate my hard work and talents now, even if most of them just like me because I’m in a relationship with you.”

“Yeah,” he uttered and they continued walking along the streets.

“Hey,” he then said and they both stopped in their tracks.

“Hm?” she said and turned to him.

“Do you have any plans right now?” he asked her.

“Uhh…” she trailed off and fixed her bangs. “I’m supposed to meet up with a friend for dinner, but that isn’t until in three hours.”

“Could you help me with something then?” he asked her and Seulgi furrowed her eyebrows.

“With what?” she asked.

“I need to find a christmas gift for my friend,” he told her and she raised her eyebrows this time.

“Who?” she asked.

“No one you know,” he said and she fake gasped.

“You have friends outside the company?” she asked, acting surprised.

“Very funny,” he stated sarcastically and earned a playful smile from her.

“Why do you need my help for that? I’m pretty sure you know what your friend likes more than I do.” She then said as a matter of fact and Taeyong shook his head.

“I need advice from a girl.”

“You’re buying a gift for a girl? That’s easy! Just buy her