Yerin grew distracted as she glanced at her watch for the nth time. Inyoung has been done with school and Kyungsoo should have been out of here, it's his weekend turn and yet again, he managed to be this late to pick the kid up. She has tried texting him a couple of times but he wasn’t responding. From what she heard a moment ago, his parents and the Gong’s went into his office and they’ve been inside for a while now. It gave Yerin a great amount of anxiety. Are they out now? Did they tell them about Inyoung? Did he keep his word and still said no? Or did he give in and agreed to the marriage?

She feared so many possibilities.

“Boo.” She jumped on her chair when she felt a light boop on the tip of her nose. It was Junsoo. “O-oh, Mr. Kim. Can I do something for you?” She asked and looked back to her computer to continue her work. “You seem stressed out or something, what’s up?” Instead of leaving her alone like she would hope so, he leaned on the edge of her mini desk and folded his arms, looking down to her with so much interest. “Oh, I’m just a little bit worried. My daughter hasn’t been picked up by her dad from school. It’s his turn this weekend. I d-don’t know what he’s up to right now.” She vaguely confessed, there’s really no point hiding that fact. All she needed to hide was the identity of the father. “Oh, want me to call an Uber for her? I could do that easily, what school?” Junsoo immediately took his phone out and started typing.

“No no no, it’s fine. I think her dad wouldn’t be too happy about that. I just—I guess I just need to give him a call? Is that okay?” She asked. Junsoo stared at her for a couple of seconds before smiling. “Oh god, you’re so pretty when you’re being such a kind mother. Geez, I don’t know what it is. A new or what? God damn it. I don’t usually like single mothers so it’s not like I’m actually gunna go for you cause I freaking hate kids, this is so annoying.” The man walked away and back to his table as he muttered those words, he was quiet but still coherent enough for Yerin to hear. He sounded pretty genuine which made Yerin laugh awkwardly, she was quite confused and amused at the same time. “I appreciate that, Mr. Kim. You’re so silly.” She chuckled before stepping outside. She rushed to the bathroom to make the phone call as private as possible. Once she was inside the employee washroom, she took her phone out.

There was still no text back from Kyungsoo. She immediately hit the call button on him. As she listened to it ring, she started noticing faint sobs coming from one cubicle. “Hello, not right now. I’ll be done soon, I already told her I’ll be there soon. I promise. Bye.” She heard Kyungsoo’s voice from the other end of the phone call. “Okay okay, just be quick. I don't want Inyoung to wait too long again, come on.” She sighed and listened to the call end immediately. He sounded really stressed out as well. Just then, that one cubicle door opened. To her surprise, it was Soyoung. Gong Soyoung. She was crying. As soon as their eyes met, the woman looked away and wiped her tears. “Uh—Miss Gong? Everything alright?” Yerin asked with concern. Soyoung walked to the sink and washed her hands. “Sorry, yeah. Things are just stressing me out so much.” She chuckled in between sniffles.

Yerin walked over beside her and washed her hands as well. “B-by the way, congratulations. I mean—you know—the engagement.” She tried to be polite and greet her. Soyoung’s face was unreadable. “Oh that. . . nah, I’m sorry you guys had to see that during the party. I-it was our parents, kind of impulsive of them, right?” She laughed but Yerin could see tears forming in her eyes again. “H-how come? You and CEO have been t-together for a while now, right?” She asked trying to sound as oblivious as possible. Soyoung was silent for a while. She leaned on the sink after wiping her hands with a paper towel. “No, we were never anything but friends, unfortunately. Uhm. . . we’ve actually been trying to discuss it together with our parents that we don’t want the marriage at all. . . in a way that they will understand. My parents actually won’t ever understand him like I did. The two of us talked alone a few days ago and I finally understood and knew him better after all these years. I don’t expect our parents to understand right now. That’s why I’m helping him to get this over with in a different way.” She started confessing as if Yerin wasn’t just some random employee who consoled her. Yerin slowly nodded as she grabbed a couple of toilet paper. “T-that’s too bad. You guys—you guys look great together.” Yerin faked a chuckle while staring at the wall to avoid the woman’s eyes.

“Nah, I’m not a homewrecker. The man has a family, well technically.”

Yerin froze and her eyes widen. She gulped hard. “W-what?” She couldn’t help but to finally turn to her, big shock on her face. There was silence between them for a while. Soyoung simply smiled at her. “M-miss Gong, why—why are you telling me that. Someone m-might hear—don’t worry, I will keep it a secret, I promise. Oh my god, that’s. . . that’s so much information.” Yerin panicked while looking around. Soyoung didn’t seem bothered at all. “I used to think I’m just that unlikeable to him. I used to think he just never really found me attractive and that made me feel like I just need to try harder. It but. . . we’ve all been there, right? Love. I didn’t know he was feeling that for someone else all this time. He’s way too good in hiding it, isn’t he? He almost seemed heartless. I feel bad for him that he's too afraid to show what kind of person he really is, I feel like he could be quite a cool guy, don't you think?” The woman continued talking while wiping her tears although this time, her tears showed relief and letting go.

“W-wow, Miss Gong. I—I don’t think I have the right to know all these, I’m sorry I went into the washroom. But d-don’t worry, I understand confidentiality, I will keep it all to myself. You can let it out as much as you can if that will make you feel better.” Yerin awkwardly apologized while still looking around to pretend clueless about all these. Soyoung simply chuckled again before looking down into her purse. “Anyway, I should probably get back in. Our families are still not getting that I have this imaginary secret lover for years now.” She whispered the ‘imaginary’ part. “It’s taking a while to convince them and Kyungsoo is the worst actor, even he didn’t seem convinced while trying to convince them that he had known this secret lover of mine exists.” She started walking away but paused just as she brushed against Yerin. “If you could sell me some random man to introduce to my parents temporarily and make this whole thing easier for us, that’ll be great. Kidding.” Soyoung whispered seemingly joking but it just didn’t sink into Yerin’s already bewildered mind.

She was left alone in the now empty washroom and all she could do was lean on the wall to support her weakening self. 

T H E N

Last Wednesday night, Dalkom Café.

“Thank you for coming, Miss Gong.”

Soyoung took the chair across him. “Of course. I t-thought we really needed to talk anyway; you just beat me into it.” She answered, faking a chuckle. It was silent for a moment but she cut it short. “Kyungsoo, I want to marry you but I know you don’t want to. That announcement. . . was a shock for the both of us, am I right? And my mom has told me you’ve been trying to talk to them about it. So, I’m sorry that. . . our parents did that.” She started the conversation knowing he wouldn’t. Kyungsoo looked down and grabbed the coffee that he has ordered. Soyoung on the other hand grabbed the menu on the table and started looking. “Coffee’s good here, I’ve been here before.” She mumbled.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat after taking a small sip of his drink. “Miss Gong, we’ve known each other for years. I know I’ve always been distant to you but I hope you believe me when I say that I feel quite comfortable with you and I see you as a good friend. I just. . . I’m bad at showing that to people, I do admit to that. You’re a very kind and beautiful woman, inside and out. I always failed to let you know that even if I thought of you as a friend.” His surprising confession made her heart jump. Despite that it was obviously an official rejection of her feelings, she felt glad that he said that. Finally, he said something outside of work. “Hm, now that you tell me that. I see it. You’re awful. But. . . thank you. That’s quite sweet to hear.” She laughed. Her tears started forming but she held them in. Kyungsoo let out a faint smile as he looked down. “Anyway, with that said. . . I have a confession to make and once I tell you this, I believe you will fully understand my feelings about the marriage and everything about us two.” He muttered.

There was a brief silence. Kyungsoo went so silent that Soyoung even had the time to order a drink really quick. Kyungsoo watched the server go before looking at the woman again. A part of Soyoung started thinking about his preference. She has heard the rumor a lot and she feared that it was the confession. Before coming here, she already readied herself to hear it. She looked down and closed her eyes to prepare herself, she didn’t want to look at him when he says it. When he cleared his throat, she gripped on the edge of the t