Ryujin thinks Jisu is being an absolute to her on purpose.

 

“Well you look free today, no es?” Jisu asks in a mocking tone, and Ryujin pretends she doesn’t hear Yuna and Yeji wheezing at their boss’ remark, gritting her teeth as she shakes her head.

 

“I just keep my personal life out of my worklife, Miss Choi,” Ryujin says with a faux smile as Jisu pouts, seeming to be dissatisfied with her answer.

 

“Well Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Let’s not try to each other’s faces in the office now- and keep the lounge door locked if you do,” Jisu says with a smirk, and it earns a few chuckles from her staff, before turning back to look at Ryujin.

 

“This is for you- better than a box of chocolates,” Jisu chuckles as she hands Ryujin a stack of documents, offloading work that was clearly hers to her favourite employee, Ryujin practically steaming at the head with how frustrated she was at her boss’ deep (and very much uncalled for) hatred towards her.

 

“I need this by tonight so if you could please be a dear,” Jisu does the thing where she smiles with her eyes innocently after saying something to drive Ryujin up the great wall of China, the Shin grumbling and mumbling curses as she watched her boss leave, sauntering off with her hands free of any kind of paperwork, causing Ryujin to wonder if she ever did any work anyways.

 

“I’ll be a deer and ing ram my antlers into that stupid designer coat!” Ryujin spits, Yeji who was sitting opposite her laughing at her colleague’s demise.

 

“I can never tell if she loves you or if she absolutely hates you,” 

 

“Yeji- if she loved me she would be giving me chocolates, flowers, maybe even a diamond ring! Not 50 years worth of paperwork,” Ryujin sighs frustratedly as she reluctantly grabs some papers to begin working, groaning as she sees all the reports she had to edit and digitalize, perks of working with lame companies who can’t seem to move on from the 90s.

 

Ryujin worked as an advertisement editor for J, a popular general magazine that often booked the hottest models and celebrities for their covers, but alas, she was incharge of editing the ads- ranging from FarmFresh to Chanel, her line of work sometimes ridiculous with the odd ways of advertising some of these companies had. But it was an easy job with decent pay, so Ryujin wasn’t one to complain. 

 

Having an easy job wasn’t all fun and games though, the easiness of her job was what encouraged their sleazy boss (owner of J, inherited from her mommy, and the CFO of Hyundai, inherited from her daddy) to pile her table with whatever work she deemed wasn’t important enough for her to oversee personally. She got her bonuses, some out of Jisu’s own pocket, and sometimes Ryujin thinks the money she gets is too much for what little she does- but the way Jisu treats her whenever she steps into the office- she guesses it’s fair enough if they were talking money.

 

“Are you gonna give me some of that chocolate? Why do you even have so much- why didn’t I get any?” After a while of filing through papers, it dawns upon Ryujin that she was the only one who didn’t get anything for Valentine’s, seeing the piles of flower’s on Yeji’s table compared to the empty space on hers— which was highly unrealistic- she didn’t spend all that time in the gym trying to look like a greek god just to get absolutely nothing on Valentine’s day.

 

“I guess boss was right- you just get no es,” Yuna comments, and Ryujin’s jaw falls slack, clicking her tongue before she snatches a bar of chocolate away from the youngest in their team, glaring at her as she ignored Yuna’s whines of protest. Saying it was what she deserved for acting like their annoying boss. 

 

“Get to work you three- especially you Ryujin- what are you going to do when Miss Choi comes here and hands you another stack of odd jobs?” Chaeryeong questions, and they all murmur a ‘yes ma’am’ in unison, Chaeryeong smiling to herself at her success of a scolding.

————

Chaeryeong’s prophecy comes true at about 2.30 in the afternoon.

 

“Ryujin! In my office now,” Jisu’s voice pierces through the air the office like a gunshot, everyone turning to Ryujin to tell her to see Jisu, as if she could possibly not hear the awfully loud calling of her name.

 

Ryujin dreads the less than a minute walk to Jisu’s office, knocking twice before being let into the office where she found Jisu hyper focused on the work in front of her, only gesturing for Ryujin to come closer to her table.

 

“You called ma’am?” Ryujin pursues her lips as she waits for Jisu to reply, the woman going silent for almost a full minute before relaying what she wanted.

 

“I want coffee,” Jisu says, and Ryujin blinks- mirroring her boss’ earlier silence before replying.

 

“From the pantry? You want me to make it for you?” Ryujin asks, but Jisu shakes her head, pulling out her wallet.

 

“From that coffee shop you like- Felix’s?” Jisu an eyebrow, Ryujin nodding slowly in understanding.

 

“Fèlíx’s, yes, but ma’am— don’t you have a secretary to do it for you?” Ryujin asks, trying to keep her tone as respectful as possible, though her eye was twitching in disbelief.

 

“I do, but I want you,” Jisu says in a tone that makes Ryujin blush involuntarily, the older correcting herself once she registered the look on Ryujin’s face.

 

“I want you- to do it, I mean— you know what I like, right?” Jisu scrambles to reconfirm, and Ryujin nods, taking the purse from Jisu’s hand.

 

“Yes ma’am- and the uh— car? It’s quite the distance—”

 

“Just walk, I googled, it’s just 15 minutes,” Jisu brushes her concerns off, and Ryujin has to tell herself to not act so surprised, that Choi Jisu telling her to run errands was just another normal thing on The Ryujin Show.

 

Then walk there yourself?!

 

“Get something for yourself too, if you want,” Jisu says gently, and Ryujin returns a soft smile before leaving to be on her way, groaning as soon as she was out of earshot.

 

“What now?” Chaeryeong asks, but Ryujin waves her off, shoving some essentials into her bag as she readied herself to leave, dreading the 15 minute walk ahead of her.

 

“She wants me to get her coffee- from the store- be back in 30 minutes,” Ryujin informs as she jogs off, thanking God it was winter and she wouldn’t have to walk in the searing heat of Seoul.

 

She puts on her coat, one that looks eerily similar to the one Jisu was wearing today and trudges off, sighing as she makes her way to the coffee shop. The day is cold, but not bone shivering, with couples young and old prancing about the streets of Seoul, most of these people taking days off for the people they loved. Oh how Ryujin wished the person she loved would take a day off for her, but they were both career oriented people at the end of the day- and until the day it became an absolute necessity to take the day off, neither of them would do it for each other.

 

Though perhaps they both secretly wished they would.

 

“Miss Shin!” Someone calls, and Ryujin snaps her head to the voice, seeing a young boy with flowers in his hand run up to Ryujin, handing her the bouquet of white gardenias and lilac’s, Ryujin cautiously peeling it away from the little boy’s hands.

 

“Is this for me? Who gave it?” Ryujin asks, and before she can even completely register the situation, the boy runs off, and an older woman approaches her instead.

 

“These are for you as well Miss Shin,” the woman says as she hands Ryujin a clear box of what seems to be paper cranes, in all sorts of colours and patterns, and with just two gifts- Ryujin’s hands become full- which does not go unnoticed by the old lady.

 

“You’ll be needing this dear,” she says as she hands her a basket, Ryujin taking it with a word of thanks before turning to not one, not two, but a chorus of people who seemed to be calling her name. 

 

She stands there stunned, a part of her worried she might’ve accidentally become a celebrity overnight.

 

“Miss Shin! Over here!” 

 

“Miss Shin, chocolates for you!”

 

“Miss Shin! Happy Valentine’s Day!” 

——

Ryujin struggles to carry all the gifts she received in one hand while the other clutches to the two cups of coffee she’d bought, gently placing the basket on her table while her teammates looked at her with curious eyes, partially due to all the presents she was bearing, another partially due to the fact that she’d come back 20 minutes later than she said she would.

 

Before Yuna can even open , Ryujin hurries herself into Jisu’s room, barely waiting for the ‘come in’ before barging in.

 

“Your coffee ma’am,” Ryujin says, breathless as she places it on the table, searching Jisu’s expression for anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps anger or restlessness, but Jisu remains stoic, looking away from her computer to grab the cup of coffee, smiling at Ryujin.

 

“Thank you Ryujin,” is all she says before she waves Ryujin in dismissal, the younger dragging her feet back to her place, the look of slight disappointment on her face turning back into a smile as she caught sight of the presents on her table, rushing up to them to take a look at them one by one.

 

“Jeez, it's like a forest in here- who gave you all these?” Yeji asks, and Ryujin smirks as she grabs one of the bouquets to get a whiff of the flower’s scent, smiling as she inhaled the freshness of the freesia.

 

“Obviously, my es on the street- you should’ve heard them calling after me,” Ryujin grins as she shifts around the gifts and flowers, finding the box of paper cranes and plucking a dark blue one out of the bunch.

 

“So this is why you were late?” Chaeryeong asks, Ryujin nodding her head in response, seeing a tint of white marker on one of the wings, deciding to unfold it despite feeling the guilt of ruining something so beautiful, something handcrafted just for her.

 

#0001

 

To my lifeline, 

 

I know you must be surprised. My girlfriend did this? For me? Of course silly. I would do anything for you. I actually have no clue which paper crane you’re going to open first, but I hope it’s this one because the colour is pretty and it reminds of the sky that night when we had our first kiss by the river.

 

It’s been nearly seven years since that day, I don’t think we’ve ever had the time to go back haven’t we? Which is mostly my fault, so I’d like to apologize, so much has changed since our senior year of highschool. Yet you still look as lovely as ever, you still get up earlier to make me coffee and do a silly little dance every time you bring it to me.

 

I love you for it. I love you even on the rare days where I get up earlier than you. Those mornings I am left awestruck at how beautiful you are, when you are at complete peace, and how terribly, manically lucky I am to have you next to me. Perhaps I should’ve made you breakfast in those minutes upon hours I spent staring at you in bed, but sometimes I feel like I might lose you- even if I’m a second away.

 

Out of the many things I can do, forseeing the future is not one of them. But I am more than certain, that I miss you right now. I could tell you how much, but I would have to describe mountains and skyscrapers and atmospheres and planets and beyond. To tell you how much I want you every waking microsecond- even a 1000 paper cranes wouldn't suffice.

 

I can only say I love you. More than the sea loves the shore, more than the mountains love the clouds. You are my rainbow in the sky and my flowers on the ground, Shin Ryujin. My love, always.

 

More than life loves death,

 

I love you.

 

p.s happy valentine’s day my lifeline, actually forgot about that part. hehe. see you soon.

“Ryu? Are you okay?” Yeji asks, eyebrows creased in concern as Ryujin wipes a stray tear off her cheek, shaking her head.

 

“No, nothing just- I love— her,” Ryujin tries not to sob as she chokes out the words, Yeji shifting through the flowers and gifts, trying to find the culprit that made her friend cry.

 

“All these are from your girlfriend?” Yeji asks and Ryujin nods, everything in the pile screamed her name, the choices of flowers and flavours something only she would know how to pick, all the things Ryujin likes only she knows the Shin would love.

 

“When do we get to meet her? You’re always yapping about her but we never even get a picture,” Yuna complains, to which Ryujin lets out a nervous laugh, nodding slightly.

 

“She’s a little shy, I’m sure I’d get her to go to lunch with us some day,” Ryujin says as she picks another crane from the box, pulling out a white one as she gently unfolds it.

 

#0137

 

One Free Coupon : I take a week off. You pick what we do.

 

Ryujin’s eyes practically lit up at the sentence, looking up at her friends with a beaming smile on her face.

 

“You will meet her- very soon,” 

——

“You’re not going back yet Ryu?” Namjoon asks right before he leaves for the day, only him, Ryujin and their boss left on the floor of the office.

 

“Not yet, Miss Choi really dropped the bomb on me this Valentine’s,” Ryujin complains with a slight sigh, Namjoon nodding in understanding as he slips on his coat, bidding Ryujin a quick goodbye and ‘go back safe’ as soon as he did.

 

“I dropped the bomb on you huh?” Jisu is leaning against the frame of her office’s door, smiling as she walks up to Ryujin’s table, her footsteps echoing in the emptiness of the room.

 

“Hey you,” is all Ryujin can say as she takes glances at the various letters and notes she’d unfolded from the paper cranes, barely sifting through the thousand origami cranes.

 

“I’ve been dying to kiss you all day,” Jisu says as she drags Chaeryeong’s chair closer to Ryujin, taking the younger’s hand in hers, squeezing it as a giddy smile appears on her lips, Ryujin rolling her eyes playfully as she returns the squeeze.

 

“How did my sleazy boss’ day go?” Ryujin asks, leaning against the side of her chair so she would be closer to Jisu, smiling fondly at the woman she was cursing not even 3 hours ago.

 

“Terrible, I didn’t even get one kiss— on Valentine’s day too!” Jisu complains, and Ryujin can’t help but roll her eyes again as she uses her free hand to pull Jisu’s face closer to hers, their lips meeting as the setting sun kissed their faces, the both of them smiling into the kiss as they breathed each other in, pulling away out breath, but full of love.

 

Even when they pull away, Jisu can’t help but peck all over Ryujin’s face, the younger having to physically push her away to stop Jisu’s lipstick from leaving all sorts of little marks on her face. They both giggle like teenagers as they attack each other with kisses on any part they could get a hold of, and if you saw Jisu like this, you would never think she was the fearsome director of not one, but two companies— with her smile up to her eyes and her love up to the sky.

 

“I didn’t ask you yet,” Jisu says, the two barely a nose away from each other, Ryujin only lifting an eyebrow in response to her statement.

 

“Be my valentine?” Jisu asks with a grin, and nothing in the world could suppress the smile on Ryujin’s face as she nods reverently in absolute accord, kissing her love on the lips once more. 

 

“Now, should we get going?” Ryujin says, about to bunch up the various flowers when Jisu stops her, pulling her wrist away from the flowers and standing up, Ryujin blinking at the older in confusion as she followed suit.

 

“Well actually, I have one more thing for you,” Jisu says with a knowing smile before she drags Ryujin towards the lounge, twisting the doorknob open to reveal a candlelight dinner for two— though the meals were from Taco Bell and the candle’s were the battery operated, the view of Seoul’s city skyline was enough to turn the entire diner into a celebration of romance, all sorts of colours dancing through the city of lights on the night of love.

 

“Not very fancy, unfortunately all the best restaurants in Seoul are full- but I can bring you there any day,” Jisu says with a smirk, Ryujin mumbling ‘show-off’ as Jisu ushered her to her seat, sitting in hers only when she knew Ryujin was comfortable.

 

“Thank you, my love,” Ryujin says right before Jisu takes the first bite of her taco, causing the financial officer to look up from her paper plate to find Ryujin sending the fondest of smiles her way, lights and love dancing in her eyes like fireworks in the night sky.

 

“It’ll never not be a pleasure my lifeline— but you should also thank Secretary Kim- she set this up,” Jisu jokes before returning to her taco, the obnoxious crunch almost blowing out the romantic atmosphere of the night. 

 

“I should do something for you tomorrow, what do you want to eat for breakfast?” Ryujin asks, and Jisu seems to think for a bit, considering her offer as if Ryujin wasn’t the one who made them breakfast every day.

 

Just having you here is everything to me.

 

“Chicken, really juicy chicken,” 

——

“God, for someone so serious all the time you can be so cheesy,” Ryujin says as they review the last of the letters and anecdotes within the paper cranes, some of them making Ryujin sob, while others had her doubling over with laughter. 

 

“Only for you my love,” Jisu says in the cheesiest tone she could muster, Ryujin sticking out her tongue in faux disgust. 

 

Jisu had been planning this Valentine’s day since last year’s day of romance, after realising she never did anything special for her love on the day of love. Sure, she always went out of her way for anniversaries and birthdays, but Ryujin was someone who deserved a celebration every day of the year 26 hours a day- so Jisu decided to make Valentine’s yet another day to spend her money on her million dollar baby, to make to night that barely meant anything to them- mean the world from now on.

 

“Only nine hundred and ninety nine? Don’t wanna make that 1000th paper crane wish?” Ryujin asks with genuine curiosity laced in her tone, sifting through the unfolded cranes to see if she missed any of the silly notes, some even doodles of their times together. One of them even included a check for a thousand dollars, but that was standard Jisu procedure at this point.

 

“It’s because I-  well, I didn’t know what to say- to be honest with you,” Jisu seems nervous as she rubs her hand against the back of her nape, face full with thought and consideration on how she was about to word her last letter, her 1000th crane.

 

“I wanted the crane to be conclusive, I wanted the letter to have an amazing super sweet conclusion— but conclusions mean closing, and I don’t want to close anything with you,” 

 

“I just want new beginnings, new things, new experiences, with the same old love,” 

 

Jisu says with a soft smile, and she feels like her heart is about to burst, her poor arteries about to explode under the pressure that was Shin Ryujin.

 

Yet Ryujin is clueless, she knows Jisu is nervous, she’s known her too long not to know. 

 

But being nervous whenever she plans something disgustingly romantic for the both of them is standard Jisu procedure, romance always had the older fumbling more than big presentations and day long meetings, a trait Ryujin loves more than life. There was nothing more endearing then Jisu trying to navigate a romantic evening in Paris with only the French she’d learned 3 days prior.

 

“That’s what I wish for,” Jisu says as she pulls out a piece of paper, an almost finished paper crane, fidgeting with it as she folded it into its final form, proceeding to rest the crane on the table in between them, pursuing her lips as she tried to come up with the perfect conclusion to her little speech.

 

“I wish for you, my lifeline,” Jisu says as Ryujin picks up the crane, asking with her eyes if it was okay for her to unfold, and Jisu nods, gesturing encouragement for her to open up the 1000th crane.

#1000

 

To my lifeline,

 

Would you be my forever valentine? 

Ryujin looks up from the wish to see the only thing she’d ever wished for, a simple ring in hand as she wore a sheepish smile on her lips, trying to read in between the look of disbelief n her lover’s face.

 

“Marry me?” Jisu spells out words Ryujin already knows, and the gears in her head cause the tears to spill, the size her heart doubling into too much for her small frame to contain.

 

“Of course,” 

 

Ryujin smiles brighter than the city of Seoul, and she’s never been more grateful for the fake candles and plastic cutlery as jumps forward and grips onto the collar of Jisu’s shirt, pressing a searing kiss that screamed nothing but yes yes yes into the silence of the lounge, the zoo in Jisu’s heart starting a rucus as she returned the kiss with a smile on her lips, glad that even after all the overtime and errands she’s told Ryujin to do;

 

“I’m glad you still love your sleazy boss enough to marry her,” Jisu jokes in between the breaths they pull away, Ryujin chuckling at the reminder that Jisu was still her boss, though it both surprised them when Ryujin walked into work on that first day.

 

“You’re wrong— I love my sleazy Choi Jisu enough to marry her,” Ryujin corrects, and there are three moons in the universe that day, with how much Jisu smiled amd laughed and loved.

#1001

 

To my lifeline, my sleazy boss, my jisu.

 

I love you.

 

I will always say yes to you.

 

Whether it’s that stupid report you don’t want to see anymore, or spending every lifetime of ours together—

 

You’re my forever yes.

 

My always love.

terribly written cookie :

Yeji : YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS OUR BOSS?!?!

 

Ryujin : fiancé.

 

Yuna : SO YOU’RE LOADED?!

 

Ryujin : Jisu is, not me.

 

Chaeryeong : I think you should get a divorce just for the money.