When she had arrived that day at Han Consolidated, the plan had been simple:

1. Talk to Handong
2. Make her finally fall for her charms 

To Minji, it seemed like a foolproof and well thought out plan; but, well, how was she supposed to know trying to use her family name at her advantage would backfire and almost get her escorted out of Han Consolidated by security?

Since her previous two attempts of being her usual casanova self had failed, Minji had decided that another approach was necessary. It was unusual but if she wanted to make Handong fall in love with her -just in order to win the bet, not because the redhead meant something for her, obviously-, she had to become a different Minji, a more sensible one.

If only she knew Handong as well as she did before, she could use her knowledge to her advantage and become Handong’s ideal partner, thus winning the bet with ease. 

But since she basically knew nothing about Handong now, she would have to wing it and hope for the best. It seemed that trying to be softer and nervous had not worked as planned, since once again, Handong had rejected her efforts.

One would have thought that maybe Handong’s stubborn resolve to want nothing to do with her would have thawed a little after Minji had saved her from meeting a terrible fate; and for a moment, as she gazed into the redhead’s eyes Minji swore there was something there, something that made her insides tingle in anticipation.

But then Handong had ran away from her, again.

If she was being honest with herself, everytime Minji had seen Handong walking away from her without a second thought, it stung. It was a huge blow to her ego, after all.

(There was no way she’d ever admit that it made her confidence waver and her heart hurt, she was Kim Minji and she always got whatever -and whoever- she wanted.)

What happened next surprised Minji, the article about her supposed blooming romance with Handong came out of the blue and blindsided her. She had talked to Siyeon as soon as her family’s publicist let her know about the article, and after asking her to take it down, Siyeon friend had simply laughed at Minji and said one of the head editor’s had approved it and there was nothing she could do about it (even though she was technically the boss).

Minji really hoped the article wouldn’t hurt the basically nonexistent progress she had made with Handong; after all, she had managed to spend more than two minutes in the redhead’s presence before the latter ultimately ran away.

While being on the headlines of trashy magazines never bothered Minji -for her, it was a fun pastime to see what crazy they’d pin on her next-, there was something about this article that rubbed her wrong. 

She didn’t know if it was how the article (and the following ones that popped up) portrayed them as the Romeo and Juliet of the business world, the crazy theories about their entire “relationship”, the comments section (and subsequent online craze for JiDong) going wild with speculation, or the picture of her holding Handong.

(It was absolutely not the picture, there was no way Minji had looked (more than once!) at every single picture Daze Magazine had uploaded for everyone to see and micro-analyzed everything about it: was she imagining the glint in Handong’s eyes? Had she really held her as if the redhead was the most precious being in the whole wide word? Did they really look like a couple in love?

Pff, of course Minji would never ever do something like that, she had only read over every comment and looked up the JiDong hashtag in social media just so she could see what people were saying about her, she was only checking to see if there was a point where she would had to talk to her publicist to deal with it.)

Siyeon and Yubin had told her that maybe she could use the article to her advantage, the public’s eyes were on them and that would surely affect their interactions; there was no way Handong could run away from her again or blow her off publicly without facing some kind backlash.

After all, since both were important public figures, they were always in the spotlight for one thing or another.

And while it seemed like a smart idea, it rubbed Minji the wrong way; usually she would accept any shortcut she could take, but there had always been something about Handong that just made her want to take the harder road and take matters in her own hands.

So, Minji had tried everything that had made her past conquests swoon: flowers. 

It seemed like the minimal effort since she basically paid someone else to choose the gifts and delivered, but it had always worked in her favor; she had never seen the appeal of it though, even if they were beautiful, flowers would inevitably die within a short period of time. But, well, they got the work done, and after she had sent an arrangement or the other, the recipient would always find themselves under her spell.

This time though, she had decided to do the work herself, from choosing the flowers after meticulously looking up their meanings, to writing some cheesy notes with little doodles and her phone number in them. 

Once again, her plan seemed foolproof and well thought out, it had never failed before, so why would it fail now?

But from the lack of response from Handong, it seemed like all her efforts were for naught. 

And back to step one she was.

After talking to her friends about it, Yubin had simply laughed to her face while Siyeon had told her to go bigger and bolder, that what Handong needed was an extremely romantic and over the top gesture to finally fall for her charms. 

(That had been surprising, since as far as they knew, Siyeon was the same or worse than Minji when it came to woman, her motto was basically -them-and-leave-them; so Siyeon suggesting something romantic had surely been extremely out of character.)

But no, if Handong was anything like she had been in the past -and while people could change, something inside Minji told her that maybe this Handong wasn’t that different from the one she knew- there was no way that she would respond kindly to that. What Minji needed was a more subtle approach.

Now that she thought about it, maybe sending her the most expensive flower arrangements money could buy had been an awful idea; remembering how her father used to say that her mother got through his heart through his stomach, she set her sights on something that everyone couldn’t live without: food.

From hiring Gordon Ramsay to make his signature Beef Wellington to Christine McConnell making one of her curious but tasty creations, Minji had blown hundreds of thousands of dollars in getting the best food money could ever buy just to get the redhead’s attention.

(She had even gone as far as to make her famous donuts from scratch, something she had never done for anyone else before. But that was a secret she’d take to her grave.) 

Everyday Minji did not wait with bated breath for her phone to ring, she was obviously not waiting for Handong to either call or text her. Sometimes she wondered if maybe her gifts hadn’t made it to Handong, but after confirming with her third cousin twice removed, Myung Soo, that his sister had been personally delivering her gifts to the redhead, Minji was puzzled.

Shouldn’t she be calling or texting me already?, Minji thought as she did not stare at her phone for the umpteenth time, waiting for it to ring. But as time passed, she was beginning to lose hope.

[Kim JiU]
hey! myung soo!  

[Kim Myung Soo]
for the gazillion time, Dubu
has delivered your gifts
to your lovely gf
stop texting me just
to ask that 🙄 

[Kim JiU]
it’s just that
she hasn’t contacted me
yet 

[Kim Myung Soo]
well…
maybe you just gotta fix
whatever mistake you did
by idk?? apologizing
in person???

[Kim JiU]
why would you assume
i did something wrong?
some cousin you are :(

[Kim Myung Soo]
you are the one
that has been sending
her gifts for weeks??
you have no romantic bone
in your body, so the only
logical thing to think about
that is that YOU ed it up
lol

[Kim JiU]
blocked

[Kim Myung Soo]
i’ll tell dubu you’re being mean
say goodbye to your
personal courier

[Kim JiU]
🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 

[Kim Myung Soo]
just talk to her in person bro??
don’t ladies like talking their
feelings out and ??

[Kim JiU]
one, that’s ist
two…
you may be right

[Kim Myung Soo]
i always am lol
that’s why my side of the
kim family tree has always
been the superior one

[Kim JiU]
🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 

Minji sighed after she finished talking with her cousin, maybe he was right after all and she had been approaching this in the wrong way. Handong was nothing like her past conquests, and as such, she deserved a different kind of treatment.

Groaning in frustration, Minji flopped face first into her bed, her mind running a mile a minute trying to come up with something, anything, that would help her with her newly amended plan:

• Get Handong to talk to her (for more than five minutes without walking away from Minji.)

1. ?????

It may not seem as well thought out or as foolproof as her past plans but as long as she could accomplish part one, she would consider it as a win.

What to do?, as Minji thought about it, her eyes fell on the framed old photograph that was right in her bedside table. A lightbulb in her mind. If Handong didn’t want anything to do with JiU, maybe she would change her mind if Kim Minji was the one in front of her.

Getting Handong’s schedule from her cousin had been easy, Dubu had always been a er for romance -even if the youngest had always been oblivious to it in her daily life- and had jumped up and down at the opportunity of Minji finally patching thing’s up with Handong.

(Of course, when all this had started, Minji had said that Handong was indeed her girlfriend and that they were going through a rough patch in their relationship since they had been outed on the news. While Minji had initially refused to use the aftermath of the article and JiDong becoming even bigger than Brangelina ever was in its peak, using it to get her cousin to help her wasn’t technically wrong since she was putting in the work and effort in her gifts. 

Furthermore, having somewhat of an inside gal at Han Consolidated surely had its perks. Moreso after she was kinda banned from the company, and the lobby’s receptionist  basically hated her.)

Under Dubu’s instructions, she had made her way to Han Consolidated half an hour after the majority of the personnel had went home; she found her cousin waiting for her at the lobby -thankfully devoid of the receptionist- and used her badge to grant both of them access to the main offices.

Their ride up to the last floor where the CEO’s office was located was spent mostly in silence. While they had seen each other in the annual Kim Family Extravaganza, their age difference resulted in very little interactions, Minji had always been much closer to Myung Soo while growing up; and when Dubu had renounced the family name after “The Scandal”, their interactions dwindled down to zero. The only way she kept up with her cousin was through her brother, and that’s how she found out the ever elusive Dubu was now working at Han Consolidated.

When the elevator finally reached the top floor, Minji turned to look at Dubu and smiled softly at her, thinking that maybe she should start putting more effort in getting to know the other woman.

“Well, this is my stop”, Minji said as she walked out the elevator, “Thank you for helping me Dubu”

Her cousin smiled shyly at her and rubbed her neck, “It is nothing. Just make sure this doesn’t trace back to me, I really need this job”.

“I could always get you a job at KGS, you know?”

“Nah, the farther I’m from the family the better”, she shrugged.

Minji shook her head, “Just because you renounced the family name doesn’t mean you aren’t still family to me”.

With one last wave, her cousin closed the elevator’s doors and left Minji just standing there. Taking a deep breath, Minji headed to where Dubu told her the CEO’s office was and entered the empty room.

According to her cousin, Handong would surely be making her way back from a business meeting any minute now. So Minji sat down on the couch and took in her surroundings while she waited.

From what she remembered, Handong had always been a simple and cozy kind of gal, revealing in the simple things life had to offer rather than enjoying the finest things in life that had always been offered to her in a silver platter; but now, looking at the luxurious office space she started wondering if maybe Handong had truly changed that drastically from how she had been in her youth.

(Minji still held that small thread of hope that there was still something from her Handong inside the other woman, that what she was about to try wouldn’t be in vain.)

She didn’t have to wait for long for Handong to show up, the other woman had been unaware of her presence, so Minji made herself known with a soft “Hey”.

Handong immediately stopped right at her office’s doorway, and with a clenched jaw asked Minji what she was doing there; Minji internally sighed, maybe this was gonna be harder than she thought.

When she saw Handong’s eyes stray to the emergency button on the doorway, Minji stood up from her seat with her hands up in surrender, hoping to convey to the other that she wasn’t here to give her any trouble.

“Wait… I’m just here to talk to you.”

Minji saw the long look Handong gave her, as if the other was analyzing her whole being and trying to pinpoint some hint of foul play; so she just stood there, shoulders down and her finger nervously playing with each other, waiting with bated breath for the other’s response.

The redhead walked to her mini bar and poured herself a drink before saying, “What’s there to talk about?”

“Since it seemed like my gifts didn’t work, I thought I’d come in person. To apologize. Again”

“Okay, let’s hear it”

“I know I’ve been coming on too strong”, Minji forced herself not to let her nervousness show when the CEO snorted at her, “and that to you I might be nothing more than the womanizer the media paints me out to be”, she took a step towards the other woman, “but I want to show you that I’m more than that. You’re different from anyone else I have ever met”.

Handong crossed her arms, “I bet you tell that to all the girls.”

“It’s the truth”, Minji gazed into Handong’s eyes, hoping to convey her sincerity, “I want you to know me, and I want to know you.”

Handong seemed wary and Minji couldn’t blame her, she was behaving extremely differently than to the other times she had interacted with the redhead, gone was her usual cocky self and in her place was the real her.

With a sigh, Minji took out with care the old photograph she was carrying in her pocket, this was either going to make it or break it. And after she gave it to Handong, there would be no turning back.

She walked to the CEO’s desk and carefully laid the photograph face down on the other’s desk, then she started making her way out of the office; when she crossed paths with the other on her way out, she softly said, “Maybe after you see that, you’ll change your mind. You know where to find me”.

With that, Minji walked right out the door, giving Handong one last look before leaving.

The blonde didn’t stop until she made her way to the elevator, and once she was inside she let out a deep sigh, slumping against the elevator’s wall. Minji couldn’t believe what she had done, after all those years where she had sworn her past was as good as dead, here she was, bringing it to life once again. 

There were only a handful of people -specifically those she called her closest friends and her immediate family- that knew about it, and she had worked damned hard to keep it that way. 

But if she wanted to win the bet -after all, that was all this was about-, she’d have to make this enormous sacrifice, she just hoped that at the end it’d all be worth it.

Once outside the building, she gave one last long look at the top of it, where -in the deep darkness the city was now enveloped in- a long window could be seen lit; it was all out of her hands now, the ball was in Handong’s court, and whatever the woman decided to do, Minji bowed to do her damn best at winning this game.

what did you think about minji's side of things??? let me know in the comments!!
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