(Might be a double update for some of you as I've updated just a few days ago. Don't forget to read Ch-56 before you read this)

(PS: pictures of outfits are provided to help the readers visualizing the characters' outfit only. Don't focus on the faces or other things in the pictures)

                                              ______

 

 

One week later....

 

 Munhee ended the call with her mother before checking herself into the mirror. Her knee length off-white dress fitted her perfectly, her makeup was not as light as she used to wear, but it wasn't that bold either, it sported a visually good contrast with the pale coloured dress she was adorning. Part of her makeup was solely used for hiding the dark circles that had settled under her eyes without any invitation. She let her now short hair, which managed to reach her shoulders, flow in their natural wavy state. 

It was a tough decision for her to let go of her long and cherished hair, but everytime she would see her hair, it would unceremoniously remind her of Baekhyun's liking towards her long hair; also, since she wanted to have new vibes inside her to boost her internal strength, getting a haircut seemed to be an appealing idea. She now grasped the rationale of girls opting for a new haircut after their breakups, it was really helpful in a psychological way. She was thankful to Sehun that he had brought the hairstylist into his house for her a few days ago, since she wasn't yet ready to go out of the house.  

Taking her matching grey long coat, purse and new phone, which she got herself a few days ago along with all her new dresses and accessories, she made her way downstairs. Her steps were confident, and other people looking at her might not get a whiff of how nervous she actually was. She was going to Moonlight's office today, she had finally decided that she shouldn't step away from her responsibility towards the project, even though she didn't need to do much in the first place. 

One relief was that, she would be accompanied by Sehun, for the formal photoshoot before the photoshoot in their chosen location. It would be a lie if she said she wasn't dreading to see and probably to talk with Baekhyun, as both of them were most important personnel of Moonlight, so they were bound to maintain professionalism. But she also knew she couldn't avoid him like a plaque forever, in fact, she shouldn't be the one dreading to meet him since she didn't do anything wrong to him.

Sehun finally reached at the living room after a few minutes. He was clad in a well fitted dress shirt and formal pants, looking as handsome as ever. "Are you sure you want to go there?" He asked her for the third time of the day.

"Yes, Sehun. I am sure." Munhee stated with firm determination. 

Sehun stared at her in silence for a few seconds, before he nodded. "Okay. You look beautiful by the way, as always." He didn't forget to give her a compliment.

Munhee didn't feel abashed at the compliment, her tummy butterflies didn't flap their wings teasingly at Sehun's words like Baekhyun's words used to do to her, so she only gave him a thankful nod and both of them went out. Since they were going to go together anyway, Sehun drove both of them towards their destination.    

They reached at the office on time.  "After we're done here, I'm taking you to that Japanese restaurant I was talking about. Don't forget!" Sehun reminded Munhee when he held his car's door open for her to step outside. 

Munhee wanted to protest since she wasn't feeling like going somewhere else unless it was work related. But before she could open to let the awaiting male know, her eyes caught something, or more like someone. Someone whom she didn't expect to see here at all. She watched with stilled eyes how Liana stepped out of none other than Baekhyun's car, while Baekhyun himself held the door open for her. She neither missed how both of them smiled at each other when Liana said something to him while passing the parking lot. Munhee stumbled in her step out of utmost shock, and was saved from landing on the ground due to Sehun's fast reflexes, he did it by holding onto her waist securedly.

Her storming gaze caused Sehun to look at the direction she was silently shooting lasers at. "Who's the woman with him?" He asked curiously.

Munhee took a huge breath, she wasn't yet fully recovered from the internal havoc breathing inside her, caused by Baekhyun. And now, it felt like cherry on top by seeing Liana and him together. She didn't know what she should presume and what she should expect anymore. "S-She's Liana. Baekhyun's friend's sister, his... friend as well."  She had no idea either how did she manage to answer Sehun. 

"They look close." Sehun hummed and commented. Of course, they looked close. They were talking comfortably with each other while they walked past the parked cars.

"I... I don't care." Munhee gritted, unreasonable rage surging through her veins out of nowhere. And to add more fuel into her agonizing soul, Baekhyun had to pause from walking farther ahead, to stare at her direction exactly at that moment. The small smile gracing his lips erased slowly, as he watched Munhee from a few steps away. Liana also saw her, but the elder girl merely looked away, looking annoyed, which wasn't any surprise for Munhee at all. 

The way Baekhyun had stopped when he noticed her, made her think had he might come to her way to talk. But his gaze trailed somewhere downward at her and Sehun's direction, something changed into his face after that, but Munhee couldn't decipher it from afar, before he tore his gaze away and led Liana inside the office. 

When he was off from the parking lot, only then Munhee could let out a shuddering breath. "Are you okay? I can take you back home if you want to?" Sehun looked concerned while he offered her. He must've also noticed that something was off in between Liana and her. 

"No." Munhee breathed, shaking her head firmly, also noticing Sehun's hold still being on her waist, she gently loosened his hold herself. It took her a long time and lots of lengthy self-lecturing to garner her broken self confident, and step out of her protective bubble. Now she couldn't step away just because there was someone unexpected and unpleasant present there. "Let's go inside. We're going to start the photoshoot at sharp ten. No compromise with work." She told him and almost dragged the male with her. 

"Are you perhaps jealous with that woman?" Sehun asked when they were steps away from the opening of the office. Munhee tried giving him an incredulous look. He only shrugged, "Just asking. You know... maybe I can help you with that. Let's act lovey dovey before them, what say?" He offered sincerely.

"It's not necessary, Sehun. And I.. am not jealous of her." She almost spat. Lie. It was a big fat lie from her side. She was jealous, extremely jealous. Not only of Liana, but everyone and everything that could stay closer to Baekhyun, she was jealous of every entity like that. 

When they entered the office, Munhee could see few of their employees gave her and Sehun cautious looks. Probably they were confused to see her and Baekhyun reaching here separately, that even with different man and woman with them. She ignored their curious looks and led Sehun towards the second floor where they had a spare space prepared for the formal photoshoot. She was grateful of Jongin that he had informed her the details of today's activities in advance, though she would've been more at ease if the younger male himself was present here, but she wasn't his boss so she couldn't decide his working place. So she wouldn't be needing to communicate with Baekhyun for such things.

Most of the needed people for the supposed photoshoot were already present at the shooting space. Naturally, her attention was drawn to the very male in the crowd of people, whom she didn't want to see at all. There were so many people around her, and some extremely good looking models as well aside from Sehun. Yet, her shameless gaze would only find it's way towards Baekhyun and Baekhyun only. If she was a believer of superstitious stuffs, she would've undoubtedly believed that this man had done some sort of black magic on her.

The models along with Sehun and Baekhyun were ushered towards the huge changing room since they would be wearing the formal collection of Moonlight. Munhee got busy discussing the progress in the factory level with the factory management team head, Mrs. Hwang. However, she was interrupted by none other than Liana herself. "Hey, Munhee." Her voice was laced with fake friendliness, it was really obvious.

Munhee excused herself from Mrs. Hwang and bravely faced the elder girl. "Hi." She kept the greeting short. If she was to be honest, she wanted to walk away from the girl as she pretty much disliked her from the core of her heart.

"Your boyfriend is good looking. Congratulations for always caging handsome males as your partner." The other girl told her, while twirling her curls with her left hand. 

Munhee could've given her a piece of mind for commenting on other's personal matter without even knowing any details, but her attention was caught by the glimmering diamond ring sitting on her ring finger almost immediately. She felt uneasy seeing that ring, even though she should feel happy for someone who was most probably going to get married. 

Liana noticed Munhee's source of attention, she smiled slyly at her, "Oh this?" she wagged her fingers before Munhee's face, "I'm finally going to get married... with the man I love. He proposed me last week, and I had to say yes because we have already wasted so many years being apart from each other. Don't worry, I'll send you a special invitation. You have to attend my wedding, okay?" She urged while giving her almost convincing sweet smile.

Colors drained from Munhee's face as she heard Liana's words one by one. The murmurs of people around her was becoming faint as she could only hear Liana's words repeat inside her head like a stuck up radio, of course with full volume. Harsh wind of realization slapped on her face mercilessly as she connected the dots. 'The man s-she loves... B-Baekhyun..'   It was as if someone was brutally choking her already sore heart, making it difficult for her breath properly. 

She didn't know what else Liana said to her or when did the girl left her alone, she only managed to almost blindly stumble out from the suffocating place, she couldn't stay here a second longer and breakdown in front of everyone present there. She felt she couldn't breath there even though it was a spacious space. Turning down the few concerned employees' query of whether she was alright or not, she managed to reach at her office room, utterly grateful that it was empty. Throwing her purse mindlessly onto her designated desk, she dragged her already ragged self inside the washroom. 

Tears already flooding through her eyes similarly as the faucet, from which she tried to splash some water into her face. But nothing worked. Her knees gave out as she slid down through the wall behind her, painful sobs resonating from the deepest corners of her crashed heart. She couldn't grasp the fact that Baekhyun had moved on from her this soon? It didn't matter whether they were like any other normal couples or not, he could've at least respected their marriage a bit and waited for her to send the divorce papers first. 

 Didn't he say he only loved her sister? Wasn't it one of the major reasons for him to heartlessly reject her feelings? Then how could he propose Liana to marry him? Or he had been just spewing lies about being loyal to Myunghee whereas his heart somehow started wanting Liana? 

Her thoughts didn't make sense, but at the same time only them made sense. How stupid of her to be deciding to stay back at Sehun's place so that she could make Baekhyun suffer. In the end, it was she herself who was suffering like this. Baekhyun was probably celebrating his freedom from her, and planning for his bright, happy future with Liana. This thought alone had managed to break her poorly glued broken self again, she could practically see all of her efforts was peeling down from every inches of her body.

Munhee had no idea how many minutes, or hours, she had spent silently wailing and whimpering out of sheer disappointment at her fate, but she did manage to finally push herself up from her pathetic fallen self. She forced her palms to collect waters and harshly splashed them to her face again, using them as a wake up call from her miseries.

Staring back at her reflection in the mirror, she found a defeated and wounded girl. Her self-pity cries had successfully ruined her makeup. Her hairs looked a mess even though they were way too shorter to look this messed now. "No. I can't break like this every ing time. I can't!" She hissed under her breath. She wouldn't let any Liana or Baekhyun break her for the second time. She wasn't going to go back to her bubble. Giving herself a few more encouraging pushes, she walked out of the washroom. Noticing the time, she concluded that she was inside there around forty to fifty minutes. So it hadn't been that long. She grabbed her purse and stormed inside the washroom again, to correct the mess she had created on herself. She couldn't let anyone see her at this broken state. 

Fixing her state in a minimal way, Munhee stepped out of the washroom in hope of managing to catch the last few minutes of the photoshoot, she dared to think about going there again even so she knew she had to see both Baekhyun and Liana again, and she told herself that she would do it no matter how painful it would get. She barely managed to step out of the washroom when her steps had to cease all of a sudden, she almost gasped when she saw Baekhyun standing just a few steps away from the washroom. But she composed herself soon and wore a neutral face, at least tried to. 

Baekhyun was silent for a few seconds as he only stared at her, before he stepped closer, and stopped at a decent distance. He seemed like he wanted to say so many things, opening and closing his mouth a few times in failed attempt to spike up a conversation. "You... You've gotten a haircut? You look pretty in short hair as well." He lastly offered in a slight nervous yet friendly tone. 

Munhee whipped her eyes at his, sharing full face to face contact, she was sure she was glaring at him, it was uncontrollable, she couldn't help it. "Whatever." She mumbled before walking past him. It just took her to hear his voice again and have his seemingly soft gaze trained at her to evoke all kind of emotions inside her on instant, and rage was definitely the most intense one among them. How wrong she had been when she thought she could go back to the shooting space and stand before him without giving in to the overwhelming mess of emotions inside her. Realizing how vulnerable she was at this moment, she decided she didn't want to be with him at all, he just didn't deserve to see her weakness.

"H-Hey! Wait!"  He weakly called her, or maybe it was her own weak self who thought his tone sounded sorr of weaker. Munhee stopped, despite not wanting to be in a closed space with him even for a second. "How have you been?" He gently asked her. Her jaw ticked at that. 'He has the audacity to ask me how have I been after everything he's done?'

Munhee turned back with a mocking smile on her face, teeth clenching hardly,  "As good as you've been, Mr. Byun. Couldn't have been better." She gritted as calmly as she could, and was about to turn back again and leave the office room, but her clumsy self managed to bump into a chair kept on the other side of her desk as a result of her hasty moves. 

"! Are you okay?" Baekhyun was beside her within a blink, his hands steadying her even though she didn't need it. Munhee hated it, she absolutely hated how much she longed for his touches, his voice, his warmth, his caring gestures, and basically him. But she only wanted to hate him more for making her feel like this towards him. She forced herself to remember what this man had done to her, be it done directly or indirectly. 

Munhee's skin crawled with his unnecessary display of concern after that, she angrily swat his hands away from her. "Mr. Byun, next time, please remember to ask my permission before touching me." She pointed out rather roughly. Not that she would give him the permission to touch even a single hair of her body, she only said it for the sake of it.

Baekhyun retreated a step farther from her after that, "S-Sorry, I was just trying to help-"

"I don't need your help! And if you don't remember, let me remind you again, stay away from me." She spat, her nostrils flaring out of rage, not giving him a chance to speak. Probably because she knew she was again going to blindly trust whatever he was going to say.

Baekhyun nodded several times. "Okay, I understand. I will try to maintain my distance from you. You should also be careful, you know? If you keep being clumsy, I would have to come forward to help you."  He pointed out.

Munhee crossed her arms over her chest, like always, getting way too irritated at his calmness. He could stay this calm because it didn't matter him much, right? While her, she was acting like a salty person, revealing her hidden rage and ultimately making a fool out of herself. She let out a secret sigh before composing herself, "I will keep that in mind, thank you for your valuable advice, Mr. Byun. And congratulations, I wish you have a great future ahead." She told him with as much calmness as she could grasp, it was really hard for her to speak like that, but she had to do it. She needed to show him that it didn't effect her either. 

Baekhyun's face contoured into confusion, "You're congratulating me for what?" He asked, tilting his head a little to think. Munhee had to downright ignore how attractive he looked when he was being all serious and indulged in thoughts. And her such thoughts caused nothing but more anger upon herself for being so weak for this man. 

The way he was looking so innocent as if he had no idea what she might be talking about, also added another protion of frustrating rage inside her. Before she could think what she was doing, her hands worked on their own as they marched forward to grab his shirt's crisp collar, bringing their faces closer at the impact, she didn't even care that she was letting her frustrated tears flow in front of him,  "Don't act smart before me, Byun Baekhyun. You have played me. You have been playing with me for god knows how long. Just... stop this now." She gritted with vexation.

Baekhyun looked taken aback at her actions, his eyes not leaving hers as he listened to her, when her words registered in his head, his brows furrowed, "What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't-"

"You don't dare to say you didn't do anything wrong! At one hand, you kept saying that you still love my sister, at other hand you played me by showing me your caring and affectionate antics. But in reality, all you wanted and waited for was an opportunity!" Her grip tightened onto his collar as she kept spatting whatever came to her mind at that instant, "You waited for the opportunity to kick me out of your life, so that you could marry Liana. Right? You had me almost fooled that you actually liked me, by your smooth acting. And you had again fooled me by showing that you were doing it for my own happiness. You are such a goddamned good player, Byun Baekhyun."  

"Munhee, you are misund-"

"No!" Munhee pushed him away from her when he tried to manipulate her with his conflicted eyes, "I had been misunderstanding everything until now. But now, I am understanding everything clearly. And I... I hate you for everything you did to me. I h-hate you, Byun Baekhyun!" She yelled at him, vigorously wiping her tears. 

Baekhyun stood there with his hands fisted into balls, jaw clenched tightly, he only stared at her with unrecognizable emotions. They had no idea for how long they stood like that, gazing and glaring at each other, until there was a few knocks on the door.  

Munhee was the first to break from her stature, she took her purse, which had previously fallen onto a chair when she stumbled upon it, and dashed towards the door. Sehun was standing on the other side, his face concerned when he noticed she wasn't alone here. Somehow grasping onto the thick tension in the room, he acted on his instincts and held Munhee protectively, "Babe, I have been searching for you and here you are! Come, I have already reserved a table for our lunch date. Let's go."  He murmured loudly enough for the male behind Munhee to hear. He slipped his hand on Munhee waist and took the devastated girl out from there. 

 

 

                                              ______

 

 

Sehun ended up taking Munhee back home, seeing how out of it she was, by the time they settled inside the car. When they entered Sehun's house, the girl was about to shut herself inside her room again, but he stopped her from doing so.  "Stop it, Munhee. For how many days you are going to cry for that man? He has given nothing but pain to you. Why do you even bother talking to him? And what did he say to make you this devastated again? You weren't even present at the shooting, did something happen before it?" He inquired and led her to sit on the bed as her grip from the door loosened, indicating that she was tired of pushing it. 

"H-He's getting married... w-with Liana. S-She told me and showed me her r-ring." Munhee was dryly hiccuping as it seemed like she might've finally emptied all the tears in her system. However, there was still the leftover of that unconditional rage inside her from earlier, her hands fisted firmly while she talked.  "It's making me really mad that h-he is moving on this easily, whereas I... I am still stuck on him. I've got to be the most stupid human being ever to be fooled by him all this time."  She murmured in sheathing anger upon Baekhyun, upon herself, upon her stupidity. 

Both of them fell silent after that. Probably after five minutes or ten, Sehun stirred from where he was seated beside her. Munhee watched with furrowed brow and somewhat a gaze full of disbelief as she witnessed the male discarding to the ground, and then he was kneeling in front of her. His large hand enveloped hers, while his other reached upwards to pad on her cheek, softly wiping her tears away, only then she realized that she was yet to empty the never-ending container of tears inside her.   "Mun, you are not stupid."  Sehun said with a soft voice. 

Somehow the words again repeated inside her head, but from a different voice, a voice which she wanted to loathe right now. 'You're not stupid. And you're no less than anyone else. You're beautiful. You know that, right?' His sweet voice ringing in her ears unstoppably. Was everything really a big inevitable lie? Had he never been sincere with the words he had rendered her? She could swear his eyes had always been sincere. Then what went wrong? What went so wrong for their life to be tangled like that? 

Or had she lost her touch in recognizing people's true colors? Or perhaps Baekhyun was an excellent actor to be able to keep fooling her for all this time? Maybe that was it. "Munhee?"  Her thoughts cleared when Sehun shook her shoulder lightly.  "Did you hear me? I said you aren't stupid. And I think I've had enough of seeing you cry for that man. Why can't you see I am sitting right before your eyes? Okay, tell me one thing, during the whole time we were dating, did I ever make you cry?" He asked.

Munhee didn't even need to think for a second to reply him at this, "No."  She shook her head firmly.

Sehun gave her a small, almost proud smile.  "And have you counted how many times you had to cry because of Baekhyun?" He then asked. 

Munhee's head hung low after hearing his question. Did she count? Was it even possible to count or measure the amount of tears she had shedded during her married life with him? No, it actually wasn't possible. 

Sehun patted her cheek, "Hey, it's okay. I didn't ask you to make you feel bad. I just wanted to show you the reality, that the only person that could keep you happy is me. I have realized your worth even more after losing you, I know how to treat you better-no, actually I will treat you in the best way. Just... just say 'yes' once." He mumbled softly. Seeing Munhee blinking at him with confused eyes, he continued, "Don't worry, I am just asking you to say 'yes' for dating me again. I am not asking for marriage, though I wouldn't mind marrying you right away, because I know I love you so so much." 

Munhee pried her hold away from his hand, she shook her head tiredly, "Sehun, I... I can't. I just... you know it's not easy to stop loving someone. Like, I want to h-hate him so bad right now, maybe I even do to some extent. But even if he's out of the picture, it won't be easy for me to gain the courage for loving someone a-again. And don't you think it's gonna be unfair for you? I mean, I have been married to someone else for two years already. Doesn't it make us unequal?" She tried to explain even though her own thoughts were jumbled mess. 

"No. I honestly wouldn't even have cared even if you were with a child of your and your husband. The most unfair thing to me is being unable to call you mine even if you're with me right now. Please just give me a chance? I know it's hard to fall in love again, I promise I won't force you to love me unless you're ready again. I just... after all that happened with me, behind my back, I just need some sort of assurance that you would be mine. I will be okay being the one to love for the both of us in our relation. You just have to be you, I ask nothing more of you." He explained and again held her hand, while Munhee sat there, tongue tied, not finding anymore excuses to prevent him from pleading like this. "So.. will you date me, again? Will you be my girlfriend for the second time?" He asked with hope dripping from his tone.

Munhee closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her mind was too numb at this moment to think things clearly. Baekhyun, Liana, Jongin, Sehun, everyone's words whirling inside her head, leaving her unable to grasp a single word from there. In such vulnerable emotional state, she thought it wouldn't hurt her to give this man another chance, after all, he had never hurt her unlike someone else. So as an answer, she numbly nodded her head.  

Sehun's smile was priceless, he immediately sat up on the bed to give her a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you so much. You don't know how happy I am. I love you." He kept rambling out of happiness.

 

 

 

                                        ______

 

 

 

Few days later...

 

Munhee was back at Moonlight, for a meeting, where she was to meet up with Baekhyun and some important employees for the final discussion of their winter collection. Since winter was already approaching fast and them being a rookie brand, they wouldn't launch more than two or three designs for this year's winter collection. The rest would be discussed in the meeting. 

She shrugged off her overcoat as the office building's temperature was well maintained for the employees' comfort. She opted to go inside her office room to keep her things there, cursing the day when she thought it would be an excellent idea to have both of her and Baekhyun's office being aligned together like that. Now that meant, she had to face him again, which she would never prefer now, of course. 

Speaking of the devil, she found him sipping his coffee while he sat on the common sofa situated inside the room. She had been feeling moderately better this morning, since Sehun had to go to somewhere out of the town due to work, and she didn't have to smile forcefully to keep him away from thinking that she is still not over her internal miseries. She even used public transport to reach here which made her feel really independent. But now, after she had seen this very male's face, the good feelings ceased from inside her, giving her pricking thoughts immediately. 

Baekhyun gave her a glance, looking torn between greeting her or maintaining his own business like she wanted him to. "I would've asked for an extra coffee if I knew you'd be early today." Of course, he had to speak up, because why would he do things which would help her keeping her head cool? 

She slammed her purse on her desk a little louder than what could be considered a normal thud, hung her overcoat at the back of her chair. Not even bothering to plaster any fake smile on her face this time, she turned to face him, "I am more than capable in asking for my own coffee if I'd want to have some." She relied. Taking only her phone with her, she started walking out of the room, since no matter how nonchalant or tough she was showing herself to be, but in reality, her insides were crumbling badly after seeing his face again. He looked like he had lost some weight, like her, his visible eye bags only gave it away even more. 'Must be dieting to look more fit on his wedding day.' Her inner self concluded bitterly, despite having zero idea about the time and date of his supposed wedding day with Liana. 

"We still have fifteen minutes left for the meeting." His voice stopped her. Munhee had to stop in order to give him a raised brow, she was glad that she had gained enough confident inside her to do so. "I think it's better to not go in the conference room yet, the employees must be preparing there and they would become nervous if there's a higher up watching them while they did their last minute work." He explained like the experienced businessman he was. 

Munhee wanted to laugh at disbelief because not going to the conference room meant she would have to stay back here for another agonizing set of fifteen minutes. "So what do you want me to do? Sit down here with you and have some chitchat like old friends?" She asked while rolling her eyes in irritation. 

Baekhyun gave her a shrug, "Actually, we could do that, not a bad idea." He said, and went to the extent of scooting away from the center of the sofa to give her some space.

As always, his cool and calm stature made Munhee want to rip his hairs out of his head, as it would always give her unquenchable frustrations. At that very moment, her phone ringed, indicating an incoming video call. Despite knowing that he wouldn't care about anything going on her life, she still found herself sitting on the spare space beside him, keeping a respectful distance. She received Sehun's call, making sure her teeth would be shown while she smiled widely at the screen. "Hey!"

"Hi, Babe. How's your day going?" He asked from other line. Munhee could feel Baekhyun stirring in his seat, only a little bit. 

"It was going fine until five minutes prior. How is your photoshoot going?" She asked with as much enthusiasm as she could garner, while her heart beated stupidly fast as she was sharing the small space of a sofa with the man, who had turned her whole life upside down within the matter of a few days. 

"I just finished a few minutes ago. Called you as soon as I reached my changing room. Because I am already missing you badly." The male said a little sadly, only after he had said he was done with his work, then Munhee noticed the traces of makeup on his face, before that, her foucs was solely on someone else.  

"Stop being a baby. You'll be back today!" Munhee giggled while chiding Sehun.

"Yeah, be ready. We're going on another date. And I will be picking you up from Moonlight." He stated. Munhee wasn't that keen to go on the date with Sehun, as he had taken her out a few number of times already. It's not that he didn't treat her rightly or he didn't put much effort in making those outings a good one for her, it was her who couldn't seem to grasp the idea of going out with someone whom she didn't like that way. She even dreaded those times when he would softly take her hands and talk about their bright future. Somewhere at the back of her mind, these things made her uncomfortable, made her want to back out from this arrangement. But then again, her mind would make her recall that she should also learn how to move on, she also deserved to be loved and cherished, she also deserved to be happy without having to put all the efforts alone. Also, that she needed to prove herself and the whole world, especially Baekhyun, that she could stay happy without the very male. So she would tell herself to try getting comfortable with the idea of being with Sehun, knowing that he was so much more worthy to get another chance.

Munhee was a little startled when she heard Baekhyun keeping his coffee mug with a little too force than needed. But she composed herself before nodding at the awaiting male on the screen. "I'll be waiting. Can't wait for getting out of here." She eyed the male beside her with irritation before muttering.

"Okay, Babe. I'll get changed now and then meet with some staffs. I'll try to come sooner. Bye. Love you." Sehun lastly said, making Munhee froze. She was already constantly regretting her decision of agreeing with the idea of dating Sehun again. And everytime he would say these supposed magical words, it automatically came with a pressure of saying those back, but both her and Sehun knew she was far away from saying it back. Maybe that's why Sehun didn't wait for her reply and ended the call with one of his handsome smiles. 

"Boyfriend?" Her sadness filled thoughts were interrupted when she heard Baekhyun. 

Her eyes whipped towards him. He looked somehow at unease or something like that. But other than that, it didn't seem like her talking with Sehun had effected him anyway. Why would it? After all, he was the one who had pushed her to another man without any restriction since she didn't have any value in his heart, he was the one who was ready to move ahead and marry someone else, so it's obvious that it wouldn't matter to him. "Yes." She gritted while trying not to let the lump in get condensed.

Baekhyun gave her a small smile, more like a formal smile that was suitable for a stranger to stranger communication. "That's.. great." He stood up while saying so. "Umm excuse me, I need to check something outside." He excused himself and he was gone from the cabin just like that. 

Munhee sank into the Sofa, counting from ten to zero and zero to ten while breathing calculatively, it helped her to regain some composure. "It's okay, you can survive the day. Only a matter of one or two hours." She told herself, trying to convince herself.  

 

Later, in the conference room, the meeting was going in quite organized way. Munhee was glad that the females they had chosen as their employees, they were all quite talented in their field of work. The designs proposed for the winter collection were mostly so unique and already looked cozy, that she wanted to launch almost all of them. "I think we can consider launching more designs, like as family sets and individual sets as well. And we should focus on every generation so the range of our customers wouldn't be fixed within any particular generation?" Munhee had said exactly what came up at her mind when the presentation of designs were done. She was quite engrossed in the meeting, mostly because she wanted to avoid a certain someone looking at her direction every now and then, and she couldn't even contemplate beforehand that whether she would sound like a fool if she said her ideas aloud. It was natural for her to feel anxious since she was the most inexperienced among the people present there.

Munhee was certain that her idea was real crap and that's why now not only Baekhyun, but everyone was staring at her. The silence was getting even thicker when the others started murmuring to themselves. 'Oh god! Should I just tell them to forget what I said? They must be judging me so hard. You're an epitome of embarrassment, Munhee!' She kept rambling inwardly. Despite her unwillingness, she found herself glancing at Baekhyun, the male seemed like he was thinking something deeply, while his eyes were still fixed at her, he looked like those intimidating bosses in dramas as he sat with his fingers on his chin. 

"What do you guys think of the idea?" Baekhyun asked in his neutral tone with a neutral face, the question was aimed at everyone in general. Only then he had broken his silent staring from Munhee and looked at others, Munhee was secretly thankful of this fact. 

"It's quite good but as we know that Moonlight is still rookie. Not all people know about it." Mrs. Hwang said. 

Baekhyun nodded and looked back at Munhee, "What are you going to say about this issue?" He asked her in the same businessman voice.

Munhee gulped, all she wanted to do was to run away from there because she was panicking. Out of all people, she had to embarrass herself in front of this man. 'He might be glad that he is going to marry a woman who has far better knowledge in business than you.' Her inner self didn't leave the opportunity to mock her. But she still managed to hold herself still and straight, mind running everywhere for conjuring any answer. "But aren't we already quite known since it's related with Byun Corp.? And we are using advertisement and all? And we also got huge response after the first launching? So I think Moonlight is already quite familiar." She blabbered whatever she thought might salvage her answer. Her hands were sweating as it was nerve wrecking for her. 

Another few seconds of silence, as they waited for other's to say anything or point out more issues. "Excellent." Munhee slightly gasped at Baekhyun's exclamation. He looked with somewhat proud eyes at her, "It's an excellent idea. And I think everyone present here would agree with me. We're going to start taking further measurements in this regard."  

After Baekhyun, almost everyone told Munhee that they found her idea better, making her feel flustered and inwardly giddy, she tried to formally thank everyone for their kind words instead of being shy. 

The progress of their meeting was then cut short as they were informed about sudden weather forecast that there's a chance of heavy rain at somewhere in the afternoon. So they let everyone off early for the day. Munhee went back to the office, thinking that there was still sometime before it's noon and the sky