And I can’t help but stare,

´cause I see the truth somewhere in your eyes.

It could have been a perfect, peaceful, regular day If only fate hadn't wanted Soon-ok to suffer so much. She should have known that Chief Kim's assistant walking in the office, prompting everyone to straighten up, could've meant anything but good luck. Her breath had hitched in when the assistant parted his lips to speak, and the graveyard-like silence told her that she was not the only one hoping nothing was craved from her. 

"Byun Baekhyun," He called out and Soon-ok sighed out in relief, "And Park Soon-ok." She had joyed too soon, and now life was laughing in her face.

"Chief Kim wants you in his office." That was all he said before walking off, expecting the two to follow suit, which they did- slightly clumsily as they hurried from their seats. The rivals could barely even utter anything to each other in a state of shock and displease. Baekhyun's brows were twisted into a pondering frown, but the woman could tell that he wasn't about to figure anything out until they entered that office.  

Soon-ok couldn't help the scenarios playing in her head as she walked, it would be a lie if she said that she wasn't the slightest worried or fearful. The fact that Byun Baekhyun, out of all people, was walking beside her rang a dangerous bell within her. 

Once they entered the Chief's office, the two were immediately offered a seat. Kim had a frustratingly unreadable look on his features that had Soon-ok give up on figuring the situation out. Both Baekhyun and Soon-ok were thoroughly shocked when Chief Kim let out a burst of bubbling laughter, "Ease up!" He chuckled and shook his head at the two, "I'm not going to fire you." The two visibly relaxed in their seats, although they had figured out it couldn't have been that either way. The chief smiled in satisfaction when his employees took his words. After a short sip of his coffee, the middle-aged man was quick to unveil the cards on the table.

"The reason I called the two of you in here is that we have received a very special request from an incredibly important company." Kim's large palms closed around one another as he leaned closer to the rivals before him, elbows resting on the desk. 

"We cannot afford to make these clients unsatisfied, and so, I thought of you two. You do know that you are the most skillful employees in the department, right?" The two quietly nodded. 

"Great, my conclusion to this meeting is to have you two team up and work on this project. I'd like to see your forces united and the amazing outcome. Are you okay with that?" Absolutely not, was the very first answer that had taken place in the rivals' heads, but it wasn't like they could have said that to their boss. Hence, it wasn't like any of the two could afford turning down such an opportunity for their pettiness towards one another. It was a chance to show their boss once again what they could do, to showcase their worth within the field.

"Thank you for this opportunity, sir." Soon-ok bowed her head slightly, as Baekhyun accepted the offer right after her. The older man had a thankful smile blooming on his lips as he waved them off, allowing them to leave.

When the office door closed behind her shoulders, Soon-ok let out the long breath she had been holding the entire time, her nervous heart was still skipping beats against her ribcage. The first thought crossing the pregnant woman's head was that she was absolutely not going to work with Byun Baekhyun. Just a glance in his direction had been enough to tell that the man had been thinking the exact same thing. It was a further confirmation when Baekhyun had sensed her stare burning through him, and so when he met her gaze, his was just as threatening, eyes b with anger and discomfort.

Despite their raging emotions- despite the words tingling on their tongues, the two swallowed their complaints down before they could start a fight in front of the chief’s office.

 Soon-ok was the one to break the provoking eye-contact as she started walking, and as Baekhyun followed suit, in a heavy silence the two headed back to their office. 

Lips were sealed, the two refused to acknowledge each other, not even sparing each other of a single glare, almost as if not bringing this new situation up would make it disappear. But deep down, they both knew that at some point, they would have to put everything aside and work together.

There had never been anything she’d dreaded more than getting paired with her rival.

 Soon-ok felt troubled and not less frustrated when Baekhyun wordlessly sat himself down at his desk and busied himself right away, although the conflicted frown on his face and the uncertainty in his eyes gave him away. Though if anyone had peeked at his screen, they could have seen how he hadn't even opened his projects up, eyes blankly staring through the screen.

Silently watching the male in hopes that he would quit acting indifferent to her was to no avail, and so with a defeated sigh, the woman left for the kitchen. Her tongue felt dry and parched after the meeting, even though it had been highly beneficial, the nerves had wrecked her. Nonetheless, Soon-ok found herself spacing out once she had taken a glass from the cabinet, the water she had poured in it no longer seeming as alluring as when she had craved it. Her eyes had started focusing beyond the glass in her hand until a little bottle of orange juice entered her view. Soon-ok, startled, whipped her head in the direction the juice had come from, surprised to see her new colleague giving her a gentle smile.

“You look a little pale,” she stated softly and nodded towards the juice, “Please, have it, fruit sugar will help." Soon-ok was hesitant when she took the small bottle, eventually cracking a grateful smile at the young Jinah.

“Woah, thank you so much.” Soon-ok breathed out while Jinah just waved her off, taking her used glass and started to wash it.

"Um," Jinah then hesitantly started, gaining Soon-ok's attention. "I didn't mean to pry," She started vaguely and the woman found herself frowning slightly.

 "But you and Byun Baekhyun seemed very troubled on your way back. Is everything alright?" Song Jinah only found the courage to meet her eyes once done talking and was extremely relieved when Soon-ok showed no signs of anger at her question.

"Aahaha..." Her laughter came out painfully forced and Soon-ok found herself giving up on the attempt right away. "Was it that obvious?" She groaned and stressfully opened up the orangeade bottle to diminish the overwhelming sensation of embarrassment. Song Jinah provided an apologetic nod of her head as she placed the glass to dry and leaned her waist against the counter.

“I bet you guys have a job to do together that you both don't want to do?" The new girl made a guess right off the bat but couldn’t have been any more right. Soon-ok's mouth hung open at the bluntness, it was just so genuine and random that she couldn’t feel anything but amusement.

“I noticed since the first day here that you two have quite hostile ways towards each other.” She pondered out loud, a shocked expression traveled on her face as she realized what she had done.

“Oh gosh, that was very rude of me, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to pry or seem as if I was judging you guys.” She hurried and then continued, “It’s just that I noticed today how you got put in a complicated situation, and-” Soon ok just shook her head with a reassuring smile on her lips.

“Hey, it’s fine. It’s not really a secret that we don’t like each other here. Even our boss knows, but rightfully so, this is a professional space and so he decided to ignore that.” Soon-ok explained. “I do understand why he would put me and Baekhyun together to do this.” She sighed, “But…”

Sensing the hesitation in her voice, Song Jinah placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze. 

“I can only imagine how much of a burden it must be, but trust me, it’s better to get it over with than to let it brew for too long. I know I’m new here, and I might not know much…But I have been in similar situations and definitely learned my lesson.” She concluded gently, her breathy voice was gentle and soothing to Soon-ok who could only observe her beautiful young features contort with worry.

"Maybe just this once, you guys can forget about everything you have against each other and, you know...Just do it?" Jinah ended with a little chuckle as she shyly scratched her hair, seemingly trying not to fidget with her hands, and Soon-ok softened at the view. She was surprised by this side of Jinah that she was being allowed to witness. But she didn't hate it, not at all- hence, there was excitement bubbling like soda in her chest.

She had longed for something like this. She wasn’t very close to the other women in her department, they had all always been very professional and solitary in the workplace, making it hard for her to befriend them. It was easier to hang out with Minseok and Jongin rather than the other females.

"Do you like Baekhyun?" The question came a little out of the blue, but the smirk on Soon-ok's face told her that she had already figured it out. Though, the older woman had found immense amusement in Jinah's flustered frown as an adorable blush had painted her round cheeks.

"W-w-what!? S-stop teasing!" She exclaimed while stressfully covering her reddening face, to which Soon-ok only laughed fondly at. Though she was pleasantly surprised when Jinah muttered through her pouty lips: "I mean...He is handsome...Very much so- Ah! What are you making me say!" She whined and ran back to her seat before she could spill more of her thoughts on the thirty-year-old male. 

Soon-ok only shook her head with a silly smile on her lips as she then found Baekhyun with her eyes once again, his skin lit up by the screen display. A little crease had formed between his eyebrows.  

The tangy flavor of the orange juice sunk into her tongue as she sipped it, immediately feeling energized by it. The strong taste motivated her to speak up with her rival. So that's what she did after downing the whole bottle in one go.

Soon-ok sat down on the chair with unusually slow and careful movements that were necessary for her, but she hoped nobody else would find it odd. Her belly wasn’t visible under the larger clothing that she had chosen purposely. But it still had started to weigh down on her body, moving around freely was slowly becoming harder and harder to do.

The way Baekhyun had frozen in his seat when he had sensed her presence hadn't gone unnoticed by Soon-ok.

She sighed.

“Listen, I don’t want to do this either,” Soon-ok tried softly, looking anywhere else but at him. “But let’s just do this and get it over with. I promise this will be the only time I ask you to collaborate with me.” Her words were trapped in silence, and she was starting to feel stupid for even trying until Baekhyun’s deep exhale shattered through her train of thought. Without a word, he spun his chair to face her with his whole body.

“I also ask you...To collaborate with me.” His voice was serious but had a hint of strain in it.

A smile of relief bloomed on her lips and the sight shocked the male. Never had he ever thought that the woman would smile in his presence. Whether the smile was towards him or not, never had they ever shown such an expression to each other. The male couldn’t help the small shocked beat that his heart skipped. His lips hung open for a while but he eventually noticed and closed them. Giving a curt nod and hum before turning back to his screen. As his fingers danced over the keyboard he murmured.

“Then from tomorrow on we will meet in the conference room at our lunchtime since we can’t put it anywhere else, how does that sound?”

Soon-ok nodded in agreement.

***

Soon-ok's foot repeatedly tapped on the floor of Sehun's car as he sped down the street. Her heart was beating fast and her hair was all over the place. She couldn't believe she had overslept until lunch. How had this happened when she had gone to sleep in time?

"Sehun oh my God please hurry," Soon-ok begged stressfully, her hands clenching the purse in her hands. The level of agitation could only rise within the overwhelmed woman, she had never been late, how would she face her colleagues, how would she face Byun Baekhyun? 

"I love you Soon-ok but I would not break the law for you," The best friend sighed, not knowing what he could do to ease her nerves. Sehun could tell just by looking in the rearview mirror, how her teeth had been constantly abusing her lips anxiously, that this was something only she could solve once arrived at work.

"We're almost there," he then murmured calmly and placed a gentle pat on her knee and Soon-ok finally felt herself relax at the sound of his words. His hand on her knee provided soothing comfort as she allowed herself to sprawl against the seat for just a little while. Only a minute later, Soon-ok's tired gaze had caught the logo of her company in the near distance, and so by the time Sehun's glance found her again, the woman had already sat up and unlocked her seatbelt. 

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter