Just when she thought she could finally take a much-needed break, the after-effect from Jo Eun backstabbing finally came in the form of a summon from the shareholders.

Jung Woo hates dealing with the business side of her… well, business. She lives for the buzz of creative energy, in creating arts and the brainstorms that she could have with all her designer colleagues. Unfortunately, to be able to do that, she has to deal with the more boring yet trickier side of the business.

Just as she predicted, the other design houses already reverse-engineered her designs. Rumor has it that not only had several younger designers already made some alterations to add some elements of her design in their collections and effectively stole her originality, but several fast-fashion websites already started manufacturing based on the designs that were leaked through the Tik Tok videos.

All and all, there were concerns on whether or not her collection would be a success, and those concerns translated into a dip in the stock market, which of course, alerted the suits.

Dealing with the suits was like dealing with a big burly entitled kid in a playground, the likes that would use any kind of opportunity to throw their weight around just to show her who’s the real boss. Jung Woo had to practice her breathing exercises and had to be extra Zen as they questioned her ability. Although not as far as questioning her ability as the Creative Director, they did cast a shadow of doubt in her capacity to run the company.

The pressure from the shareholders, to put it mildly, was brutal. They wanted her to fix this yesterday and they wanted instant results.

Dealing with them was a pain in her , but she also knew that she had to make something, something to squash the rumor and also put all of her financial backers at ease.

So she did.

“You cannot be serious.”

“Yep.”

“You wanted to make a limited preview.”

“Yep.”

“In three weeks.”

“Congratulations, you are officially a parrot.”

Hyo Won rolled her eyes at her and started to pace Jung Woo’s office before swiveling back to look at the older woman, “You do realize that ‘impossible we do – a miracle we try’ only exists in a book, right?”

“I never said we need to do a miracle, I just want us to give this 110% of our usual effort and I will be happy enough.”

"110%."

"Still a parrot."

“So you want us to build a castle in the air.”

"At least I didn’t ask you to build it out of thin air."

"Woah…" Hyo Won looked at Jung Woo in stark disbelief and glared, "Don’t go there.” Out of habit, she linked her hands on the back of her head and once again looked at Jung Woo just to check whether the older woman was joking, which was never, “In 3 weeks???"

Rolling her eyes to the high heaven and tamped down the urge to yell at Hyo Won for her obtuse reaction, Jung Woo started to draw a line on the A3 cartoon paper that she laid out in front of her, "In 3 weeks the winter collection will start rolling and…"

"...and they will usually make comments about the up-and-coming Spring collection." Hyo Won tapped her forehead as she finished Jung Woo's sentence.

"That's the earliest time frame with maximum impact."

"I hate how your brain works." Hyo Won groaned out loud before nodding her head, resolution gleaming in her almond eyes.

"Fine," rolling the sleeves of her emerald green silk shirt, she approached the table, "tell me your game plan.”

***

Jung Woo blinked awake, her soul was still trying to re-orient herself into her body. She frowned, it was dark but she was snug inside something soft and warm, while the smell of pine forest in a summer rain from the aromatherapy diffuser alerted her brain that she was in her own room.

She tried to sit up and instantly had to tap down the urge to throw up as the world spun. She in a couple of deep breaths and tried again; wincing slightly when her toes touched the freezing wooden floor and nearly wobbled when she tried to get up. Cursing lightly under her breath, she stood there for a moment, making sure that she was stable enough before she took her first step. Her feet felt like it was not touching the floor, even though she was moving forward, walking as if half of her soul was tethered elsewhere.

The designer squinted her eyes as the bright light of her hallway attacked her eyesight. Cursing again, she walked toward the living room, following the smell of food wafting from the kitchen area, wondering whether Hanee was there with her.

She couldn’t remember much. One moment she was ordering Rosy to do something, which for the life of her, she could not remember what. The next thing she knew, she was already in her light grey hoodie and sweatpants and cocooned inside her bed.

Jung Woo paused when she saw the familiar figure and couldn’t stop the smile that grace her tired face when she saw Ji Hye's serious face, laboring silently in the kitchen, busily stirring the pot in front of her.

She was quite a sight for Jung Woo's chaotic brain and a small part of her guiltily admit that she was glad it was Ji Hye. It means that Hyo Won stayed in the office and took over control and was relieved that it was not Hanee. That woman's wrath was scary.

Walking silently so as not to scare the younger woman, she hesitated when she was just two steps away to reach Ji Hye.

It was weird. Ji Hye's back was slender, her torso slim, yet her presence seems filled the room with a warmth that emitted in ripple out from her body and that warmth was currently pulling her in.

She closed the gap between them, hands circling Ji Hye's waist, resting it low on her abdomen in a tight hug, her forehead resting on Ji Hye's nape, "What are you making?" She murmured when she felt Ji Hye's body freeze, her voice husky and scratchy from sleep.

"Ba…" Ji Hye cleared , "Baeksuk…" She heard the hum coming from the older woman as she burrowed herself closer, their body nearly fusing together without any gap. Jihye wanted to lean back, to melt against the warmth that enveloped her when she remembered that she was there to take care of Jung Woo.

Turning down the fire, she closed the lid. Turning around in Jung Woo’s arms, she gave the older woman a stern look, “You said that you’ve been taking care of yourself.”

“I might forget to eat from time to time,” Jung Woo sheepishly admitted. “I took naps,” she tried to defend herself when she saw that Ji Hye still looking at her like she just murdered a kitten. Sighing, she leaned forward, resting her forehead on Ji Hye’s shoulder, “I promise I’ll take better care of myself next time.”

“I’ll make sure that you do.” Ji Hye murmured against the top of Jung Woo’s head, she pressed her lips there, barely a kiss, too fleeting for Jung Woo to feel anything, and extracted herself from Jung Woo’s arms.

“Do you want to eat here or in the dining room? Or the sofa?”

“Here will be fine.” She took a seat on the barstool near the kitchen island, resting her face in her hand she waited patiently as Ji Hye prepare her meal for her, “Why are you here?”

“Hanne Unnie called.” Ji Hye ladled the chicken into the large bowl and top it up with the broth, “Hyo Won-nim called her in panic. Apparently, you were talking and then suddenly you passed out, luckily she was fast enough to catch you. They said something along the line of not wanting to get the press involved and caused another uproar, so taking you to the hospital was not an option, but they were already short on people, so she asked Hanee to look after you.”

She put the food in front of Jung Woo, warning her to finish it off before getting the side dishes for the meal, “Hanne Unnie was pissed off and worried sick, but since she cannot leave her restaurant right away, she called me instead. I was here when someone called KayDay dropped you off. A doctor and a nurse came over, they put IV on you.”

Jung Woo stopped eating and pulled up her sleeves, finally saw the patch on the inner crook of her right elbow, and winced when she realized that it still sting a little.

“You were quite dehydrated, malnourished, and judging from the REM in your eyes, you haven’t been sleeping as well, so your body decided to shut down.” Ji Hye put several types of kimchi in front of her, a faint blush adorning her face as she looked at Jung Woo straight in the eyes, “After they left, I changed your clothes for you, I hope you don’t mind.”

Jung Woo wasn’t sure whether the warmth on her face was from the hot broth or the fact that Ji Hye saw her in her underwear, so she settle with the former. After all, the broth really did wonders in warming her up.

“Finish your food, I’m going to do your laundry.”

“You don’t…” Jung Woo bit her lips when Ji Hye just gave her a straight frozen look before walking away, giving her a cold shoulder, and Jung Woo couldn’t help but think that this kind of treatment was actually worse than hearing Hanee rap-scolding her.

Sighing, she ate slowly, savoring the food that surprisingly tasted even better than Hanee’s. The