“Good work, team. The proposal looks very promising,” Mr Lee praises. They are huddled around the main table in their little office. It’s messy with papers and documents, but the final draft lays in the centre, seemingly sparkling among the mess. “And thank you for printing my documents yesterday, Jaera.”

The team of four interns clap for themselves. The proposal for the swimming pool indeed looks good for the short amount of time given to prepare it.

“Another thing, congratulations for completing the covered pathway project. We’ve already passed it on to the engineers, so our work here is technically done.”

Jaera smiles. Her first real project, with her very own design at that! She feels a sense of satisfaction blossom over her.

“Mr Kim Minseok has offered to treat the committee and team of interns out to dinner tonight. I hope everyone can make it to reward yourselves on a job well done.”

Everyone nods in agreement, but Jaera is having an internal battle. She promised Junmyeon to dinner last night, and even though she is still tired, she was looking forward to it. On the other hand, it would be rude to sit out on the first company dinner. She knows that it’s part of the working culture in Korea.

“My mum got discharged yesterday,” Sooyoung relays to Jaera in a whisper. “I definitely can’t afford to miss the dinner. Rumour has it that Mr Kim tends to remember faces who turn up at non-work events.”

“Oh, is that so?” She starts to sweat.

Suddenly, she feels a vibration in her pocket. It’s a text from Junmyeon, asking to reschedule their dinner plans because they both have to attend Mr Kim Minseok’s dinner. She replies him with a smile of relief, not unnoticed by her colleagues.

“Are you coming, Yerim?” Jaera asks. From the corner of her eye, she sees Mr Lee perk up. He listens to their conversation, pen poised in the air.

“Yes, of course,” she answers. “I’m in definite need of a break.”

Jaera needs a break herself, maybe even more than Yerim, but she doesn’t voice her opinion. She’ll just wait for Junmyeon to speak to his cousin, and they can have a better working environment. She hopes Yerim won’t get too mad at her.

Sehun scoffs. This means he’s been listening to their conversation. He and her haven’t spoken directly since that fateful day, but she has seen him trying to approach her on several occasions before giving up.

Tonight, she tells herself. I’ll settle things tonight.

-

They’re at an all-you-can-eat barbeque for dinner. Heaps of beef and pork fill the grills and it smells heavenly. It’s a bit awkward as well, since it’s the first time the interns have gone out for a company dinner like this.

The guys have their top buttons undone and sleeves rolled up while the girls have their hair let down. Small talk is exchanged between the workers.

“Help yourselves!” Mr Kim Minseok exclaims. He is seated with the other superiors at their own table. “Congratulations on a job well done for the covered pathway of Chungdam High School. I hope to see continuous hard work from all of you.”

Jaera steals a glance at Junmyeon, who is sitting beside the man. He is already looking at her, transfixed.

“This smells so good!” Sooyoung comments, breaking Jaera away from her reverie. “Have you ever eaten here before?”

“No, I haven’t. I’m excited to try, though.”

Mr Lee, who is sitting across from them, speaks up. “Mr Kim likes to treat us to buffet-style restaurants because we tend to eat a lot and it’s easier on the wallet. This place is famous for their pork belly. Eat up, everyone.”

It’s nice. Enjoying grilled meat while getting to know more about her colleagues. Yerim shares her experience about studying abroad, Sooyoung talks about playing basketball for her province and Sehun tells them a little about his hobbies. When it’s Jaera’s turn, she isn’t really sure about what to talk about. Her life is quite boring anyway.

“You were in the same high school as Jun- Mr Kim, right? What sort of student was he like?” Yerim asks, leaning forward in her seat.

Jaera laughs, noticing Mr Lee raise an eyebrow as well. “He was a model student. Played football, was the president of our Art Club, got good grades. He was pretty popular among the girls too.”

“Aw, don’t you have anything juicy to share about him?”

Other than the fact that she used to have a huge, fat crush on him? She decides to share a different story. “One time when he was playing football after school, he accidentally kicked the ball and it hit my head. I had the bruise the size of the moon for a few days.”

The table erupts in laughter, earning curious looks from the superiors and other team of interns. She quickly waves her hands in an attempt to quiet them down. She doesn’t need this unnecessary attention on her.

“Is that coming from Mr Lee’s table?” Mr Kim Minseok beckons. “Do share the laughter with us.”

Mr Lee snorts. “Miss Park Jaera over here was just telling us about how Junmyeon kicked a football to her face back in high school.”

“It was an accident!” Junmyeon exclaims. “You told me you were fine!”

“She bruised pretty badly, from what she told us.”

Jaera shrinks in her seat. “I didn’t want to make you feel bad. You even took me to the school nurse when your team had to practice for the interschool tournament.”

Junmyeon’s friends jeer at him, accusing him of not being a gentleman, of being such a wild child in school. He only swats them away good-naturedly.

“Is that why your design had such a tall barrier?” Mr Kim asks, before guffawing loudly. “Oh, Junmyeon, you traumatized the poor girl until she remembered after so many years. We had to cut down the height of the barrier in the final draft.”

She smiles sheepishly at them. Hopefully the story is enough to satisfy them, and they can move on to the next person.

Fate, however, has different plans. Mr Kim a brow, not at her, but at Junmyeon. “Then what kind of student was Miss Park Jaera like? Anything you’d like to share?”

“She was a model student,” Junmyeon parrots after her. “President of the Art Club, played volleyball, got good grades, popular among the guys.”

“You’re no fun!” Mr Byun jeers.

“But there was this one time,” he starts off, making eye contact with her. His lips form a cheeky grin and she doesn’t know where this is going. “My friends and I were going for football practice, and we walked past Jaera and her friends. Suddenly, Jaera tripped and fell.”

Oh no. She remembers that day. How could she forget?

“She looked so embarrassed and would’ve been even more embarrassed if we went to help her up. So, I pretended to fall as well. And then my friends caught on, so we all just fell one by one. In the end, everyone was looking at us instead of Jaera.”

“Yeah, but then even the other students caught on and they started falling too,” Jaera points out. “You guys got scolded by your coach.”

Junmyeon shrugs. “Worth it.”

Their colleagues laugh, sharing stories of their own school days. Jaera turns back to her own plate, where Sehun is silently grilling the meat for their table. He has been quiet the whole dinner. Suddenly, he looks up, catching her in the staring act.

She immediately averts her gaze. Yerim, out of all people, notices the exchange and softly coos at them.

Sehun excuses himself to use the restroom before Jaera hurries after him with a similar excuse. The others barely pay any mind to the two, caught up in conversation and laughter.

“Hey, Sehun.”

He breat