track 08 - Gimme Love

shuhua later felt the pain in her ankle after calming down. she was wearing ankle brace. her face blushed, she sat back on the platform with her side facing soojin. soojin was unbothered.

"okay, so..." shuhua tried hard to find something to change the atmosphere, "that company..."

"hey, you promised."

"oh, right, sorry." shuhua forced her brain again to think about a topic, "uhm... you were wearing an interesting outfit. i was amazed when i first saw it, the jacket that looks like jeogori, a skirt like a hanbok and a tube top on the outside. that modern clothes were styled in a korean way so well. you were looking stunning. do you have a personal stylist?"

"is that what you thought when you got hit by a car?"

"no, i mean, maybe."

soojin sighed, "i don't have any stylist. i wear my clothes myself."

"you have superb fashion sense then."

"thank you" soojin smiled timidly.

"actually, now that i think of it, you would pull this off well."

"pull what?"

"my assistant said she was going to leave the neverend magazine to focus on her career in a different way. so i will be lacking of an assistant. you could work with me if you weren't wealthy already. i bet you'd be good at it."

"i know nothing about how magazines work."

"it's just a matter of experience."

"i see"

"how about we get in? it's getting cold."

"okay"

***

the morning of the monday was quite misty which was making it somber. shuhua was at the bus stop, looking up to the gray sky. a girl carrying a camera approached.

she took a picture of shuhua.

"good. now smile a bit."

shuhua looked at the girl, "yuqi, what are you doing?"

yuqi sighed and sat beside her.

"good morning" 

"morning"

"taking photos. it comforts me."

"what's up? why do you look like you are going on vacation rather than work? you even got a camera around your neck."

"i wanted to wear comfortable clothes, so what? anyways, how was your weekend?"

"it was..." shuhua shifted her gaze to the ground, "interesting"

"yeah i can see that. you're wearing an air walker boot. what happened?" 

"oh it's nothing. and it's not the interesting part. the thing is, i kissed a girl."

"and?"

"on the lips"

"wow, who was that unlucky girl?"

"aren't you surprised?"

"why would i?"

"i mean, i kissed a girl?"

"so?" yuqi smirked.

"wait, you already knew?"

"of course i'd know my best friend, moron. also you are so obvious. but it's okay, i have no problem with that. feelings cannot be wrong or right, they are just feelings. and you can kiss whoever you want. this is not my concern anyway."

"i think i'm starting to like you."

"who doesn't? i'm perfect."

"now i changed my mind."

"mean!"

"yeah"

"okay tell me, who is the girl?"

"seo soojin. or should i say cho soojin?"

yuqi arched her eyebrows, eyes widened, and tilted her head, "how on earth did that happen?"

"i mean, it's not like the kiss kiss though, it was a peck kiss."

"how?"

"we were playing a game, so long story short, she kind of misunderstood me and kissed me. guess it's not that important, but i can't stop thinking about it. it repeats again and again in my mind, vividly."

"i'd give you advices, but you'll never listen to me, so..."

"yes, they are useless."

"shuhua, you're so mean!"

"but you said it yourself."

yuqi sulked and looked away. shuhua giggled and linked arms with her.

"what about you? you guys didn't call me, and no one is talking on the group chat. have i missed something?"

"i haven't talked to them since saturday. and my weekend was..." yuqi stopped a little, "it was a mess. but i'm fine."

"a mess?"

yuqi saw their bus coming and stood up, "i'll tell you later. where is your bicycle by the way?"

shuhua also got up, "i'll tell you later."

***

the doors of the elevator opened, and yuqi entered the floor where her studio was, waving at shuhua. shuhua gave a cute smile and the doors closed back. then yuqi felt like crying because she couldn't tell shuhua about what she had been through in the last few days. she knew it was not her fault, but deep down she felt terribly guilty and ashamed. she wanted to forget the whole thing while standing there, watching her tears fall to the ground.

shuhua came to the floor and saw everyone was gathered in the middle. some guys were clearing out hwasa's office, and some were carrying new stuffs in. soyeon was sitting on a desk with minnie standing next to her. shuhua came over to them and asked what was going on. minnie hugged shuhua.

"oh, i miss you so much."

"unnie, it's been only two days."

minnie pulled back, "and it was like a whole year to me."

"hwasa got kicked out" said soyeon.

"what?!"

"and apparently moonbyul sunbae will give us a statement." added minnie.

then moonbyul came out of hwasa's office. everyone turned their attention to her. she cleared .

"hwasa was fired for some reasons and the head of our company appointed me as the editor-in-chief. although this situation saddened me as well, it is also a fact now i stand before you as both the head of dot-com and the chief editor of the neverend magazine. so i'm kindly asking you to follow my instructions. let's keep doing whatever we are doing in the same tempo. please take good care of me."

and she got in the office back, ignoring the questions some asked.

"fashion closet!" said minnie.

 "gosh! i'll get a coffee first." said shuhua and walked away.

***

the meeting started exactly at 10 am. soojin was there as she promised, and mr.cho was so nervous, drinking plenty of water. he was talking to the shareholders when hwiyoung barged in with two police officers. and then miyeon appeared after hwiyoung. and miyeon's mother came after miyeon - mr.cho had told her essential things about his plan. then the police arrested mr.cho, making everyone surprised.

"i am arresting you on suspicion of......you have the right to remain silent. anything you do say may be given in evidence."

soojin was watching them, frozen. after asking him if he understood his rights, the officers took mr.cho out of there. and a few moments later miyeon started to talk.

"... so in my father's absence, i'll be taking over the company." 

miyeon didn't even look at soojin, instead she left the room instantly after her short speech. this was tougher than she expected. she rushed over to the wc and washed her face. when she looked up, she saw soojin in the mirror and ignored her.

"miyeon"

with that, miyeon sighed and turned around abruptly, "what do you want?"

soojin walked towards miyeon with a cold, unemotional manner, and stopped right in front of her.

miyeon gulped, "what-" 

but soojin stopped her talking with a big hug. she wrapped her arms so tight that miyeon couldn't breathe for a second. and soojin started to cry soon after. miyeon hugged her back, surprised. she was so confused. 

"she is- she is dead."

"what? who?" asked miyeon.

"my mom"