“I’m not your play toy. Or like any of the other girls you bring up here.” 

Yoohyeon slinked off the messy bed, reaching down to grab her shirt she haphazardly threw when they entered the penthouse. 

“You’re right. You work here!” 

Minji was insufferable. But Yoohyeon just couldn’t resist. She never could. 

Yoohyeon glanced over her shoulder. The other girl had her head propped up with her hand, staring right at her. She tried not to trail her eyes downwards, but Minji sure was making it hard not to. “I have to get back. I promised Handong I would be down by sunrise.” 

“Will you be back later?” 

Slam! 

“Earth to Yoohyeon?!”

She shook awake with a gasp, placing a hand over her erratically beating heart. Yoohyeon whipped around, about to berate the hell out of Handong when she noticed what the other girl was holding in her hand. 

“Someone has requested their toilet to be plunged, but I can’t find the janitor around. The guest says that it’s an emergency and they need it done ASAP.” 

“For which room?”

“The penthouse.” 

Yoohyeon facepalmed. “Oh, for the love God— Handong. Do not take anymore calls from the penthouse. You know it’s just Minji trolling with us!” 

Handong set the plunger down carefully away from the two. Yoohyeon was ready to go off on another rant when she cut in. “I thought we were at the guests’ beck and call.” 

“You take this job too seriously.”

Handong’s stare hardened. “I do.” Her voice firm. Yoohyeon found it odd, but she chalked that up to how the other girl just is. They haven’t known each other long, but they bicker like they have been friends for years. Yoohyeon enjoyed her company despite all of that. 

~

Minji slammed the landline into the receiver. She had just gotten an upsetting message from Siyeon. Months had gone by without seeing the other girl but now she was starting to feel that particular itch, the one she would get right before she went on an unhinged binge. 

And no one was there to stop her. 

Siyeon relayed that her and Bora still had things to deal with and wrap up before even thinking about returning. Minji was under the impression that they would be back before the year ended, before the worst time of the year for her. 

She gazed at the mirror in front of her, eyes turning red, a telltale sign of her emotions intensifying. Minji needed to get a grip.

She peered back down at the landline, debating whether or not to dial the front desk and ask what Yoohyeon was up to. Minji came to a decision and picked up the phone again. 

“Front desk, Handong speaking. How may I help you, Miss Kim?” 

“Why are you addressing me like that?” She laughed. “Is Yoohyeon there?”

Minji could hear some shuffling and a faint voice in the background that sounded oddly just like the girl in question. “She told me notto say that she is.” Next she heard a groan loud and clear coming from the other end of the receiver. 

“What do you want?” It was Yoohyeon’s voice now, triggering a grin from Minji. She checked the mirror again, eyes still red. “I’m working.”

“Well, if you come up to help me, does it still count?” 

The line went dead, the incessant beeping tone blaring into her ear. Damn. 

~

Yoohyeon wasn’t sure when it happened. When shy stolen glances and evil flirtatious smiles evolved into… well, this. 

She promised herself it would only be just this once. The biggest lie she has ever told herself, but she refused to admit it even after the fifth time Yoohyeon found herself in the penthouse. 

It had been particularly quiet and slow for the winter around here, the hotel having a record high in empty suites. Yoohyeon found it odd, why wouldn’t people be traveling during this time of year? The holiday season? 

She figured it would be fine leaving Handong to watch the front desk alone while she was…elsewhere. 

“What’s on your mind?“

Yoohyeon felt a hand creeping up her side, slowly tracing a circle around her navel, pulling her out of her thoughts in time to hear the other girl’s question. She felt like indulging. 

“Just how business has been the worst in all the time I’ve been working here.” She looked straight into Minji’s dark brown eyes. “Maybe you’re scaring everybody away.”

The older girl retracted her hand to lightly slap her stomach. “If anyone was scaring off customers it would be you!” 

“Actually, maybe it’s Handong.”

The two chuckled at that, momentarily forgetting what the conversation was even about. Or why Yoohyeon was there in the first place. 

Her shift had ended hours ago and she found herself riding the elevator all the way to the top floor, letting her feet take her to the last door down the hall. 

It was like she was possessed.