It took ten days for Namjoon's ankle to heal. Lia found herself missing him, and he must have missed her too because they texted quite a lot in those ten days, and when she went to visit him and brought angel cake and brownies, he seemed extra cheerful - and no, it wasn't just because of the cakes, he told her, but also because of her company. He had been quite grumpy because he could only take a day or two off from work, as it was a very busy time for the company and he needed to be there. "But luckily, Seokjin - my friend at work - helps me out a lot and I'm mostly sitting at my desk, so don't worry," he added hurriedly when Lia muttered something a little rude about greedy capitalist companies.

One day, on a Wednesday morning, Lia was snoozing on her couch , TV on in the background as usual, when her phone dragged her away from slumberland. Who the hell was bothering her on a Wednesday morning?! Eyes still closed and voice drunk on sleep, she answered it. "Hello?"

"Lia?"

Suddenly she was a bit more awake. "Hey, Namjoon-"

"Were you sleeping?"

She could just see the amusement that must be dancing in his eyes right now..

"Yeah, I was. I don't have morning classes so I made the best of my morning."

"Sorry for waking you up, I didn't know you would still be sleeping at eleven in the morning."

"Please, I know my sleep cycle is a mess, there's no need for that hint of disapproval in your voice," she huffed.

"Disapproval? Me? Never."

"Yeah, yeah, if you say so. So, do you have a good reason for waking me up?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," he said, laughter in his voice - which was weird, because Lia didn't find anything funny about their conversation. "So, the company I work at is celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary Friday night. And well, I was wondering if you would like to come... to come with me, I mean."

Lia's heart skipped a beat, morning grumpiness evaporating. Was this perhaps a date?

"Of course, you don't have to say yes," he added hurriedly. "It's a semi-formal event, and it will probably be boring..."

"It's this Friday?" she asked.

"Yeah. It starts at 6 pm."

"Thanks for inviting me," she said, little wings of excitement tickling her insides. A semi-formal dinner at Namjoon's company celebration! "Um, how do I get there?..."

"I'll come pick you up! Is that ok?"

"Yeah, that sounds great! Wait, what should I wear?"

"Um... well, do you have a dress? Or a skirt and kind of formal top? It's a semi-formal event, so..."

"I have a white dress," she said. "Like... it's really simple but pretty, and it's made of self-print fabric."

"Yeah, of course," he said, not knowing what on earth a self print fabric was. "You can wear anything nice, you know-"

"But I don't want to embarrass you," she cut in. "I'm going as your guest, so I want to make sure I don't embarrass you."

"Aw, no," he said, and it sounded like he was almost cooing. "Don't overthink this, ok? Wear that white dress, and don't worry about anything over there."

"Yeah, but-"

"You're an angel, you know that?"

"S-shut up!" she ordered, stomach doing a somersault, and he laughed. She had a feeling her stomach would be doing a lot of acrobatics on Friday night, and well, she wasn't wrong.

Lia conveniently forgot to tell Dok Mi and Eun Jung she was attending Namjoon's company event this week, and anyway those two were busy swooning over Eun Jung's almost-boyfriend and it was fun plotting different ways to seduce him, and Dok Mi threatening to tell him all of Eun Jung's kinks.

Friday afternoon came at last, and Lia rushed home to shower, do her makeup, and get dressed just in case Namjoon came to pick her up early. For her eyes, she just lightly dusted some silvery eye shadow before applying a slightly thicker coat of eyeliner than she usually wore. She was applying some pink lip tint when the speaker next to her door buzzed.

"Hey, it's me," came Namjoon's familiar voice through the intercom. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'll be right down! See you soon!" Lia hurriedly undid the rollers in her hair, grabbed her purse, and slipped on the pair of black high heels she hadn't had many chances to wear yet, and rushed to the elevator.

Namjoon was standing outside the gate of the apartment building, and Lia felt her heart stumble - he was wearing a navy blue suit and red tie. And yes, she had always found him quite handsome... but now.. in a freaking suit and tie... it made him look so dignified and sophisticated and when he looked at her and smiled, she felt weak at the knees.

"Very pretty," he said.

"Y-you too," she stuttered. "I mean, the suit. The suit looks really good on you."

There was a shy pause, and finally Namjoon broke it. "Shall we get going then, angel?"

A-angel? Her stomach was like a plane zooming around in the sky, doing loop-the-loops in the clouds. Thank goodness he couldn't see that!

He opened the door of the waiting taxi for her, and sat next to her. The closeness was too close yet too far at the same time. Lia sighed softly - why were things so complicated? She felt slightly nervous yet relaxed in his presence, shy yet playful... did that even make sense? And tonight, as the car went by the slowly lighting up city since the sun was going down, she was just so aware of him - of his nearness in this small, confined space.

"Did you eat something before coming out?" he asked softly.

"What? Oh! Um, yeah... I had a snack when I got home after classes..."

"Ok, good. I don't really know what time dinner will be served, and I don't want you to be absolutely starving."

"There's no harm in being hungry once in a while," she said, face heating up. She really liked it when he talked to her like that...

They made small talk until the car came to a stop in front of a rather long flight of white stairs, people in suits and pretty dresses milling about. It all looked so sophisticated... she had never really been to many formal events before.

Namjoon made her wait for him to open the car door, and he offered her arm. Lia knew that this was pretty much standard behavior, but no man had ever opened doors for her or offered their arm before.

"I feel like a princess," she joked, putting her hand in the crook of his offered arm.

He laughed. "Well I'm sorry to say, princess, that there won't be any ball dancing or princes tonight."

"You're the prince," she said playfully, carefully walking up the stairs - high heels were so impractical for stairs! She hoped she wouldn't lose balance and fall.

"And here I thought I was just an ape in a suit."

"Don't be silly!" she giggled. "You're a prince."

"Joon!" a voice called in the doorway. A tall man with the most powerful forehead Lia had ever seen was coming their way - he reminded her of a vampire, for some reason, with his pale skin and a perfectly symmetrical, beautiful face.

"This is Seokjin," said Namjoon. "My friend at work. Jin, this is Lia."

"Hey, Lia," said Seokjin warmly, and they shook hands. "I didn't know Joon had a girlfriend."

Namjoon had a sudden coughing fit as Lia blushed and said, "No, no, we're just friends!"

"Ohhh, I see. Well anyway, I hope you don't get too bored tonight - God knows I'm bored already," he confessed in a conspiratorial whisper. "And Joon, you better get inside, the Chairman would like to introduce you to some potential investors."

"Right, I'll be there in a while," said Namjoon.

"Don't let Yoongi get drunk again," Seokjin said warningly, and Namjoon groaned. "See you around, Lia! I hope you somehow have some fun."

"See you around, Seokjin, I hope you get less bored!"

With that, Namjoon and Lia went inside, and she tried not to stare at all the pretty dresses and jewelry some of the ladies were wearing. It was pretty, but it was a bit much - as though they were flaunting their wealth, or trying to appear wealthy. This event wasn't particularly fancy, it was just in a really nice large room, where people milled around, socializing, a table filled with drinks and finger-snacks on one side of the room. On the other side of the room were quite a few smaller, round tables, presumably where they would have dinner. Waiters weaved around the guests, serving champagne, wine, and fruit.

Several people greeted Namjoon, and he introduced Lia to them. However, she forgot their names even before she shook their hands.

"Finally, there he is," muttered Namjoon, after the people left. "See, Yoongi's lurking around the champagne!"

Yoongi. Namjoon's best friend. Lia gulped nervously, hoping that Yoongi would like her. She saw a rather short, small man with a glass of champagne in his hand smile sheepishly as they approached.

"Trust you to hang around the food and drinks," huffed Namjoon.

"I'm hungry," said Yoongi defensively. "And stop nagging me."

"I'm not nagging! Anyway-"

Yoongi held out his hand and smiled at Lia - it was a very gummy smile, and his teeth were small and square-ish. "Hey there. Lia, right? I'm Yoongi. And yes, I know your name, because this dork talks a lot."

Lia laughed, and they shook hands. "I know your name, too! It's nice to meet you."

"You too. So, you're a student?"

"Yeah, Business student."

"Sounds very fun."

"Do you work here too?"

"God, no! I'm a free-lance writer. I can't stand working under a capitalistic company. Would you like some champagne or something? You can drink, right?"

She nodded, and Namjoon gently removed her hand from his elbow. "You guys stay here while I go meet investors and stuff," he said. "Don't drink too much champagne, though, ok?"

"Stop nagging, Joon," said Yoongi. "No one gets drunk off champagne."

"I still don't want to haul any drunk assses around, Yoongi - and last time, you did get drunk on champagne and you also threw up on my boss's shoes."

"T-that was ages ago!" Yoongi spluttered, face turning crimson as Lia giggled. "Shut up!"

"Whatever! Don't let me catch either of you drunk, got it?" With a pointed look at both of them, Namjoon walked across the room to join a small group of people, bowing and shaking hands - they must be important guests.

"So anyway, want some champagne?" asked Yoongi.

Lia grinned. "I'm tempted to get drunk on champagne now, just because he told us not to."

Yoongi laughed. "So am I! But I also know he would murder me if we did, so..."

"Yeah, I don't really feel like getting murdered either."

"Oh, he wouldn't murder you," Yoongi rolled his eyes. "Even if you were the only one to get drunk, he would murder me for letting you."

Lia laughed. "Don't be silly!"

"Come on, haven't you noticed he's pretty protective of you?" Yoongi's gaze suddenly seemed a lot sharper.

Heat rushed to her face, and she held the glass tighter. "He's really nice... to everyone."

"Whatever