minjoo was a professional. she was calm, collected, skilled, experienced.

that didn’t stop her from standing there, absolutely shocked, as the papers fell out of her hand and onto the floor. nor did it bring her to move at all; she just stood there staring at an equally shocked face.

the face that’s been haunting her for the past seven years.

the only reason either of them jolted out of their stupor was because of the sound of something falling noisily outside of the room.

“uh--let me just, yeah,” minjoo says stupidly, rushing to pick up her scattered papers. the woman silently joins her and hands her the stack.

“thank you, um, yeah. i’m! i’m kim minjoo! call me minjoo. my coworker asked if i could fill in for her as something came up, so here i am!”

oh god.

she’s tripping all over her words and she knows her voice is an octave higher than it should be. she’s good at being professional and warm, but everything she’s learned and practiced over the past few years has completely gone out the window.

“nice to meet you,” she finishes sheepishly, not willing to meet the gaze burning into the top of her head. she holds a hand out in greeting but doesn’t realize how bad of an idea it is for her sanity.

so when that soft, comforting, familiar hand grasps hers and shakes it lightly, it takes everything in her power not to lose it completely.

“i’m kim chaewon,”

i know who you are, chaewon-ah.

“the pleasure is all mine, minjoo.”

~~~

she’s trying so hard not to look at chaewon. she tries to avert her gaze out the window; the view was surely as nice as the one in her own office, and it wouldn’t be that bad to just look there instead. surely she didn’t need to keep looking at chaewon’s slim hands gripping the thin drafting pencil and drawing delicate lines across the page. if it wasn’t her hands, then she also didn’t need to look at how chaewon’s hair would fall over her face in little strands; god, how tempted she was to just tuck them behind her ear and caress it gently. she had to sit there fidgeting until chaewon finally did it herself.

it’s been nearly thirty minutes, but minjoo feels like she’s been here for hours. it was just so odd, for one, because chaewon had gotten straight to the point and had asked minjoo tons of questions regarding the design and what the company wanted. she wasn’t cold or off-handed; she was perfectly kind and professional.

so why did she feel so anxious?

“something like this?” she asks after a minute of sketching something in her notebook. she holds it up so minjoo can see, using her pencil to point at a certain part of the drawing.

even in her messy state of mind, minjoo couldn’t help the surprise and amazement at how perfectly chaewon had captured her requests and laid them out perfectly on paper within a few minutes. minjoo had mentioned many different things throughout the past 30 minutes, but it looks like chaewon had every single point down.

but then she suddenly forgets how to breathe when she meets chaewon’s eyes.

“is this okay?” she asks again with a little tilt of her head.

“oh! yes, yes, it’s perfect, thank you.”

she smiles sheepishly at chaewon and receives a smile far less uneasy than her own.

“is there anything else you would like?”

yeah, you.

“no, that’s about it,” she responds while also looking for ways to prolong chaewon’s stay despite her also feeling like she’s suffocating.

“okay, i’ll take my leave then. do call if you need anything else.”

the way she moves is so confident and collected. she’s just gathering her things and getting up out of the chair, but minjoo is in awe. she’s sure that everyone else feels the same way. the grace with which she moved while also having that aura of warmness--it was shock-inducing.

not to mention the woman was absolutely beautiful.

i guess some things don’t change.

when she smoothly flips her hair over her shoulder minjoo’s jaw almost drops.

“it was nice meeting you, minjoo, and i hope my work is up to your standards.”

the smile is relaxed and so is the hand that lifts up to shake minjoo’s once more, but minjoo can’t match the calm of either.

she takes a deep breath (hopefully chaewon didn’t notice) and firmly grips the hand presented to her. she thinks that it’s better than their handshake from earlier. well, by that she really just means that she’s less shaky and stutter-y. of course, she still has to catch herself from holding on too long.

“yes, the pleasure is all mine. thank you for your work; it was quite impressive.”

chaewon laughs lightly in response and minjoo almost wants to run and hide under the table.

i’m pathetic.

“i’m glad. well, perhaps i’ll see you sometime.”

she walks towards the door with her papers and sketchbook in hand. she gives minjoo a smile and wave as she places her hand on the doorknob.

“see you, chaewon”

when their eyes meet that final time, it feels like the entire world around them stops entirely. everything seems to be moving in slow motion, but all that was happening was the meeting of two special gazes.

chaewon is the one who looks away first.

this time, the smile is tight-lipped and certainly not as relaxed as it was before. she only offers a curt nod before closing the door behind her.

the second the door closes shut, minjoo falls to the ground gasping. she doesn’t know if she’s crying or just hysterical, but this was all too much.

she thought she knew how much missed chaewon, how much guilt and remorse she felt. but if the painful pounding in her chest and the tears threatening to fall (or maybe they’ve already fallen; she’s not too sure),

it was so much worse.

so, so much worse.

don’t go.

not again.