Byul takes a deep breath while looking out for the rooftop view. Yes, they have a rooftop view in this company but Byul rarely coming up here because usually, it swarms with staff. But early this year, Mr.Lee banned staff from coming up here excluding the artist and their manager. Then, Byul pulled out her phone when there is a notification message. 

'I'm sorry. If you're not feeling comfortable, then it's okay. We will do the recording in the interview anyway. So you can check later.' 

Mr. Lee's messages make Byul closed her eyes and sigh at the same time. She wasn't feeling mad at him anymore but it's more towards herself. She's overreacting over something that she should let go of a long time ago. Byul massages her temple and flips her hair. She calls Chanyeol when she didn't know what to do in this situation. As she waits for the ring to end, unfortunately, it ends with a voicemail recording. Byul sighs and stomped her feet in frustration. She sends a message to Chanyeol saying that she's on the rooftop. 

"Byul sunbaenim?" Byul jumped out and turns around in a second. Her eyes widen as she sees Sowon with a man that she avoids meeting. Byul eyes went to their hands that are intertwined and Sowon seems didn't notice to care to get caught by her seeing their intimacy. Byul stares at their hands and when Sowon notices that, she finally released his hands then Byul starts to look away. To avoid getting caught in her own emotion, she guesses. 

"D-Do you have a new comeback, sunbaenim? You're back in the company." Sowon tries to make a conversation but Byul didn't feel like it so she walks away. 

"Congrats." his voice stops her. Byul didn't look up as she is sure that his eyes staring at her. "On your dating news," he said again. 

"Oh, right. Congratulations, sunbaenim. You look so good with Chanyeol Oppa." Byul turns to them and there she makes eye contact with Jeonghan but shifts to Sowon a second after.

"I thought staff or outsider can't be here. What is he doing up here?" Sowon bit her lips. Jeonghan smirks. Byul narrowed her eyes as she tries to act tough. 

"I'm staff in this company and not an outsider." Jeonghan answers while grabbing Sowon's hand. Byul sees that but she tries to control her expression but smirks back at his action. 

"Then you know that you didn't belong up here. You should go back to your table and do your ing job." Byul curses slowly to him. Jeonghan walks slowly to her with Sowon following from behind because he dragged her. 

"O-Oppa." Sowon whisper to call him but Jeonghan didn't stop from walking closer to Byul. When he is getting closer, Byul is taking a step behind, hesitatingly.

"I'll be in the interview later. Didn't you see my name?" Jeonghan asked her. Byul clenched her fist. "I hope you do. Because I'll be your manager again, Byul-ssi." Jeonghan keeps taking small steps towards her. Byul blinks at him. 

"You can't. That's the company rules and I have a right to pick my own manager." Byul told him off. Jeonghan chuckled. 

"I'll make them quit their job until I'll be next to you again." Jeonghan gives him a death stare. Byul sighs and rolled her eyes. Sowon is staring at Jeonghan because she didn't understand why Jeonghan is giving this attitude towards Byul. She'll never see this side of him. 

"Stop Jeonghan-ssi!" Chanyeol's voice makes all of them turn to the entrance door of the rooftop. Byul sighs in relief and walks to him. Chanyeol grabs her and hides her behind him. "I won't let you touch my girl, Jeonghan-ssi." Sowon holds Jeonghan's shoulder. He smiles.

"I'm glad that you finally have your own man. So now please, don't disturb me and Sowon." Jeonghan's words make Byul frowning. It seems like she's the one that wants him so much or trying to avoid him and it one-sided all this time. Jeonghan and Sowon walk past them and get out of the rooftop. Chanyeol turns around and hugs her. 

"Are you alright?" he asked. Byul looks up and nodding her head in confusion. His words play in her mind a few times. 'Don't disturb?' Byul feels pissed off. 

"I'll better get going. The interview is starting in 15 minutes." Byul said. Chanyeol rubs her head. 

"You want me to be there with you?" Byul chuckled. 

"I'm fine. I was having a little fight with Mr.Lee but it's okay now." Chanyeol kisses her head. "Sorry, I disturb you." Byul continues. Chanyeol chuckled. 

"You are not, babe. I thought you want to have..." Chanyeol paused his sentence so Byul looks up and when she sees the naughty smile on his face, she slaps his chest. 

"Stop, ert!" they laughed and spend a few minutes on the rooftop. Then, he drops her off at the level and left. Byul walks past the candidates and bows to them politely. When Byul enters the room, Mr.Lee is sighing in relief. He walks to her with an open arm and Byul replied by hugging his waist. 

"I'm sorry for mad at you, Mr.Lee." 

"It's okay. My bad for not informing you about it. I'm sorry too." then he drags her to the table. In 5 minutes, they start. After an hour passed, Jeonghan finally came in with a smile on his face. Mr.Lee eyeing Byul but she stares at him like it's nothing. Jeonghan takes a seat in front of them and his lips due to nervousness. 

"Okay, Jeonghan-ssi. Explain why you want to be a manager?" an HR manager is asking him a question. Jeonghan smiles. 

"Well, first of all. I do have experience of being Byul's manager. I know there is a rule in the company that a manager can't work for the same artist for the second time but I'm the only one that knows her criteria, her interest, her hobby, her grumpiness, and her joy. I can make her tired day turns into some fun day. I believe in that." everyone in the room gasped. 

"J-Jeonghan-ssi, as you are aware of the rules, you're here to be interviewed as a manager for another artist under the company. You cannot work for Byul-ssi, anymore." the HR manager told him. 

"What is my joy?" Byul suddenly asking him. Mr.Lee is surprised to see her reaction. Jeonghan looks at her and giving her the sweet smile that she used to receive. Byul flinched but tries to control her expression. 

"Well, your joy is having nice people around you after a tiring day. You need a company." Jeonghan answering in simple context but personal for Byul. She sighs because he is correct but she wants to reply to him. 

"I have a company every night now," Byul replied him, and Jeonghan nods. 

"Not the whole day, Byul...-ssi," Jeonghan said. "A manager will stay at your side almost 24 hours and you need to expect them to be your company more than the company itself," Jeonghan answers strongly that it makes Mr.Lee loosen out his tie. Byul leaned her head to the side. 

"My grumpiness?" she asks again. 

"We fought a lot, aren't we? But in the end, we...know each other well. Very well." Byul knows what he means by that. "I can handle your grumpiness by giving you the coffee or maybe chicken panini." Byul clenched her fist when he mentioned the food that used to be her breakfast for months. The memories play in her mind like a movie clip. 

"I can take care of your 3 meals a day. You know how good chef am I." Byul nods her head. "I'll be your chef also." Byul pouts. 

"I have my own chef now. No need to worry about that." Byul tries to show off Chanyeol in a way of mentioning that. But Jeonghan didn't flinch at all. 

"Whole day?" Byul smiles fade. "3 meals a day? Or extra dessert?" Jeonghan chuckled. "Let me handled that... Byul-ssi." he winks. Byul rolled her eyes. 

"If you be my manager, you are automatic will manage my boyfriend's schedule or obey my boyfriend's order." Byul emphasizes the 'boyfriend' word to make Jeonghan expression change. The HR manager and Mr.Lee is looking at both of them. One is confusion and another one is tension for what's happening between them. Jeonghan's smile did fade but he recovers it. 

"Then my salary will be double if I have to manage two people at one time," Jeonghan replied with confidence. Byul laughs in smirks while closing then rolled her eyes. 

"You won't get 6 times salary if you handling 6 people in a group. You will get the same salary every month. The same goes for me. You will get the same salary but you will manage me and my boyfriend. We are... duo group. Think in that way." Byul emphasizes the words again. This time, Jeonghan loses his cool. Seeing that, Byul assumes the winning and smirks. 

"Err... Jeonghan-ssi, I think that's all for the time. We will see you again if there is a chance. Thank you." the HR manager quickly ended their session. 

"We will take 5 minutes to rest." Mr.Lee told them. Byul grabs the bottle and drinks to her thirst. "What are you doing, Byul-ah?" he whispers to Byul. She looks at him and sighs. 

"I'm sorry but I won't let him win and showing that he can control my life or my feelings." Mr.Lee shakes his head. 

"By doing this, he definitely knows that you still have feelings for him." Byul is shocked. "Why you need to fight with him? He is in a relationship with Sowon and you know that. He won't cheat on her again after almost everyone knows that he is with Sowon." Byul flips her hair. 

"I don't have feelings for him, Mr.Lee. And I won't fall for him." Byul replied short. Mr.Lee put both of his hands up in the air as a sign of giving up. 

"Okay. If you say so. You, yourself knows better. I hope you won't fall for him all over again or otherwise, it's going to be a messy fight. Again." Mr.Lee shakes his head for nth times. After another hour of interview, they finally finish with the last person stepping out of the room. Byul is stretching herself when her phone is ringing. She answers it.

"Yeah, babe," she said without hesitating or bother about people around her. "Okay, sure. I need something to discuss with Mr.Lee anyway." she paused and smiles in love. Everyone in the room is sneakily giving her a glance with a shy smile. 

"Okay, I'll call you when I'm ready." she paused again and looks at the door that opens. Jeonghan enters the room with a brown bag in his hands. He walks towards the table. Byul is ignoring him. 

"Okay, be careful. Love you too, babe." she ended the call after that and gets up from the table. "I'll go to the bathroom first, Mr.Lee." he nods and continue his talk with Jeonghan. Byul left the room and goes to the bathroom. When she finished her business in the toilet, she walks out but to her surprise, Jeonghan is waiting for her. She ignores him but when he calls her, Byul stops. 

"Can we talk?" Jeonghan asked her. Byul turns around and she walks to the end of the hallway. Jeonghan follows her. She didn't say anything but looking out of the window. 

"I don't like our first meeting after so long being us fighting again," he said softly. "I'm glad seeing you have a new life with a new boyfriend. I-I am truly glad." Byul shifts to him. "But...I miss you." she frowned. 

"Jeo-" 

"Don't misunderstand me. When you left me, my world... shattered. It was not the same as before. I don't... feel like I'm alive." Jeonghan gulped. "But when I know that you already moved on, I realize that I should do the same," he said with a sigh. Byul heart is slowly melted to his words. 

"To tell you the truth, I think Sowon knows about my feelings towards you. She just...didn't want to let me go. She..." 

"She might want to fix it." Byul continues his pause sentence. Jeonghan looks up at her. "She is a good girl, Sowon. Please try to fix the relationship for her sake." 

"I'm trying, Byul. That's why I-" 

"You won't get pick to be my manager, Jeonghan-ah." he looks up in shock. "She won't understand and Chanyeol won't like it." he frowned. "Yes, Chanyeol knows about you and me. I told him. But he never lets me go and I'm willing to try with him. I did it, Jeonghan-ah. You should do the same thing." 

"You and Chanyeol are a real thing now, huh?" Jeonghan asked her. Byul nods in smiles. 

"I can see he loves me a lot. And I'm..." Byul smiles become big without her realization. "...happy with him. He is my joy, my company, Jeonghan-ah. Even though you said he won't be with me the whole day but he knows my whole day without me telling him. He is awesome." that straight compliments from herself make her heart beating fast. She never said this to Chanyeol. Jeonghan blinks. 

"I love him a lot too, Jeonghan-ah. I'm not lying. I love....d you. But I'm over it." Jeonghan smiles bitterly. "I don't want to hate you, Jeonghan-ah. You're the best cooker, won't deny that. But, you're... a friend." Byul offers her hand. Jeonghan looks at her hands. 

"Are you sure?" he asks. Byul nods. 

"Are you really in love with Chanyeol?" Jeonghan tries again. Byul pulled in her hands and take a step back. "If you do, take me in as your manager. Then, we can be friends." Byul frowned. 

"You won't feel threatened with me because you love Chanyeol. If you don't pick me as your manager, I assume that you still have feelings for me and I'll court you." Jeonghan gives her the eyebrows look. Byul sighs. 

"I love Chanyeol. But you can't be my manager again. The rules?" Byul reminds him. Jeonghan rolled his eyes and relax his body. He leans at the wall. Byul is relaxed as well. 

"It's a rule. We can change it. You can change it. Hey, aren't we friends?" Jeonghan shows the fist, to do the fist bump. Byul bit her lips. His eyes shift to her lips and make eye contact with her.

"I'll talk with Mr.Lee first. He will disagree but I'll try."

"See. That isn't hard enough." Byul rolled her eyes and starts to walk away from him. "Byul-ah." she turns. "We're friends. Don't disturb me and Sowon." Byul frowned and when he walks past her, she grabs his wrist and turns him around. He stops and looking back at her. 

"What did you mean by that? You said it once on the rooftop. And now, this. What do you mean?"  

"We were making out up there but then someone kicks something or stomps their feet. She wants to stop. I thought I'll get some exercise this morning." Jeonghan winks at her and Byul lets his wrist go. Jeonghan lefts laughing. 

"That is a joke, right?" Byul follows him and wants him to deny the story. Jeonghan laughs. 

"I'm in heat, Byul-ah but you ruined it." Byul shows her disgusted expression. Jeonghan laughs when he looks back to check on her. "Aren't you in heat as well, Byul-ah? Superstar-ssi?" he teases her. 

"We are not some kind of animal, Jeonghan-ah," Byul replied. 

"Oh, really?" the conversation ended well but Mr.Lee overheard them as he hides in one of the corners when he sees both of them at the end of the hallway. He shakes his head and sighs. He is worried if both of them will ruin their relationship once again. Or worse, ruined their life together. Either in career or life aspect. 

 

 

Original - 18/8/2020

Re-write - 25/2/2021 | 3:31PM

Re-check - 30/3/2021 | 10:23AM

 

*I think why not released two chapters? So, what do you think? Let me know, please. I'm nervous about 1st April because of this. Thanks for reading!!