“Good morning, Nayeon-unnie.”

The bright and chirpy tone that greets Nayeon the moment she steps out of the elevator has her blinking and staring dumbly at the other person in disbelief.

“I got you grapefruitade,” Mina continues, unaware—or maybe uncaring—of Nayeon’s lack of verbal response as she offers the said drink to Nayeon. “I think you’ll need it before we discuss the complaint.”

Oh.

Right. Of course.

Of course, Mina greeted her and made sure her mood is good because it’ll be immediately ruined by a ridiculous complaint.

Of course.

Why did Nayeon even think that Mina greeted her because she wanted to? Because she knew her ‘good morningsʼ always used to make Nayeon cheery and ready to take on the world?

Stupid.

“Oh,” Nayeon says, still reeling from Mina’s greeting even as she takes the proffered drink, “thank you.”

Mina nods in acknowledgment. “I hope you don’t mind me being here on your floor first thing in the morning,” she says, “but I was hoping to run our response by you before sending it to Park Jinsoul.”

As Nayeon and Mina walk side by side to Nayeon’s office, Nayeon tries to not pay attention to the way Mina so elegantly carries herself even when she’s doing something as simple as walking.

Nayeon knows Mina has always been graceful—she exudes it even during their university days when everyone else was too sleep-deprived to care much about elegance—but right now, it feels as though Nayeon’s seeing Mina for the first time all over again.

That—or Nayeon just really has a thing with powerful, sophisticated women. Which Mina obviously is.

God.

“Here’s what I have,” says Mina once they’ve reached Nayeon’s office and Nayeon has placed her things on her desk.

Nayeon retrieves the iPad from Mina’s hands, careful not to brush her fingers against hers, and quickly looks over the draft. “Did you work on this yesterday, too?” Nayeon inquires when she notices a paragraph and some additional reference materials attached to the email.

Mina looks a little guilty when Nayeon finally glances at her and Nayeon resists the urge to tell Mina that she shouldn’t overexert herself because of work—a thing she’s prone to do back when they were together.

That’s not Nayeon’s role anymore.

Even if that thought alone stabs at her heart.

“I just added a few more materials to solidify our stance,” Mina says in lieu of an answer. “Oh, and don’t worry, I already had Joohyun-sunbaenim and Jennie-sajangnim look over that draft, too. I just wanted to know what you think.”

The implication that Mina wanted Nayeon’s approval, despite obviously not needing it anymore, makes Nayeon’s heart swell and ache at the same time.

When will you explain, Mina? So we can just both go back to the way things were?

Nayeon shakes her head at her silly thoughts and focuses on the draft instead. Stupid Nayeon and her wishful thinking.

“I think this is good to go,” she finally says after a few more minutes of silence. In all honesty, Nayeon hasn’t even read the rest of the draft. Her mind is already too preoccupied with thoughts of Mina and it’s only 9:15 on a Monday.

What a way to start the week.

Mina smiles at her as Nayeon returns her iPad. “Great. I’ll send this to Park Jinsoul and his attorney, and let you know the next steps.”

Before Mina manages to leave, Nayeon remembers her manners. “Thank you, Mina-yah.”

And when Mina looks over her shoulder to give her a soft smile and a quiet, “Anything for you, unnie,” Nayeon thinks maybe she should’ve just forgotten her manners altogether.

“I don’t get it! One moment she’s stoic and docile, and the next she calls me by my nickname and says things like ‘anything for you, unnie.’ What’s up with that?”

Jennie just lets Nayeon vent out her frustrations, knowing that her friend has to let off everything she’s been bottling up inside before anyone else can get a word in.

Nayeon huffs as she continues pacing back and forth in front of Jennie’s desk, probably leaving behind tracks of her heels on the carpet. “It’s like, she’s trying to get back in my good graces but she’s not trying to explain either? How does that even make sense?”

“What doesn’t make sense,” Jennie begins when Nayeon finally stops rambling enough for her to speak up, “is you talking to me instead of to her. Why are you here, anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I’m supposed to be working with her. You know, check the progress of the complaint,” argues Nayeon as she settles and slumps on the seat across from Jennie, resting one arm on the edge of Jennie’s desk. “But with how she’s been acting lately, I feel like I might do something stupid.”

“What? Like, kiss her?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“What?”

“Oh my God,” Jennie exclaims, “you are still in love with her. Is she that good?”

Nayeon can feel her face heat up at the implications behind Jennie’s words. She wasn’t even thinking of anything about that. “Yah, Jennie Ruby Jane!”

Jennie looks at her like she wants to smack Nayeon on the back of her head. And with how Jennie closes her eyes and exhales a deep breath, she’s probably a second away from doing just that.

“What now?” Jennie’s voice sounds exasperated. “You barge in here in the middle of a work day, ranting about your complicated situation with your ex, and how you want to push her against the nearest surface, and expect me to not assume that you’re still in love with her because of how good she was in bed?”

Nayeon shrieks and covers her ears with her hands, already cringing at the trap she fell into. She just wanted to rant! “Stop talking, oh my God!”

Because put that way, it makes Nayeon seem like a hormone-bridled teenager. A horndog. Which. She is not.

She’s a mother of a four-year-old child. She has some decency!

Her feelings for Mina—whatever the they are—aren’t purely physical. A portion of it, yes—Mina’s one fine specimen of a woman, God’s prettiest creation if Nayeon’s being honest with herself and that says a lot considering Nayeon’s view of her own beauty—but it’s more than that.

Nayeon knows how tender and unadulterated Mina loves. She’s felt it for years. She basked in it.

And Nayeon felt the same way.

It’s a love that can’t be easily erased and forgotten. No matter how painful the past years have been to Nayeon.

And with Mina acting the way she used to back when they were just in the first stages of dating, it’s hard for Nayeon to completely bury her used-to-be-dormant feelings.

“You damn well know it’s more than that,” Nayeon finally says after an uncomfortable amount of silence between her and Jennie. “It’s complicated.”

Jennie throws her head back against her chair with a groan. “I’m erasing that ing word from your vocabulary.” Then as if having a sudden realization, she straightens up and squints her eyes at Nayeon. “Why are you even ranting to me when you have six other friends who’d listen to you whine?”

The answer comes quickly. “Because they’d judge me.”

And oh boy, would they judge Nayeon. Hard. Especially Momo. God. Momo will probably strangle her if she finds out.

All the more reason that Nayeon’s decision to talk to Jennie instead is justified.

Jennie raises a perfectly sculpted brow at her, expression calculating. “And you think I’m not judging you right now?”

Nayeon shrugs. “You judge me on the daily. I’m used to it.”

“That’s true.”

“And besides,” Nayeon adds, “you’re not close to Mina. Her disappearance barely affected you so you’re not that biased compared to them.”

Meanwhile, her six other friends would probably riot if Nayeon were to talk to them about her confusing feelings for Mina. Nayeon doesn’t want things to be messier than they already are. Including her friends’ output in the equation will only stir up more chaos and complications.

“You do remember that I threatened to fire her if you said the word, right?”

“Yes. But you only said that because you actually love and care about me. Not because you hate Mina.” Nayeon can’t help the teasing in her tone, but Jennie doesn’t latch onto it.

“Well…” Jennie starts and she seems hesitant to be saying her next words out loud, “she is good at her job. I read and saw the materials she came up with to counter the complaint and she only worked on them for a week.”

“I know, right?” Nayeon says and if she and Mina were still together, she might’ve added a ‘she’s so hot when she’s in her zone.’ Because then, such a comment would be acceptable. But with what Jennie assumed of the nature of Nayeon’s feelings for Mina earlier, saying that right now will only incriminate Nayeon further.

“Jesus Christ, please stop thinking about how hot she is.”

Nayeon stomps her feet on the floor, practically whining. “I didn’t even say anything!”

“Nayeon-ah.” This time, Jennie’s voice is borderline threatening and Nayeon has half a mind to bolt out of her friend’s office. “We spent enough drunken nights together for me to know how much you like it when Mina went all out during courtroom sessions or lawsuits. Do not pretend. Your stupid rambles about how hot Mina was are still—unfortunately—stuck in my brain.”

Huh. Joohyun already said the same thing about Nayeon, although with a different context. Was her love for Mina back then so obvious? “Was I that whipped?”

“Oh, you were down bad.” Jennie’s expression turns suggestive. “And it seems that you still are.”

“Fine,” Nayeon sighs, already tired of pretending that she’s not attracted to Mina. She can at least confess as much to Jennie and be confident that she won’t try and strangle her the way Momo would most likely do if she were in Jennie’s place. “Mina is hot, okay? Sue me for thinking that my ex-fiancée is attractive.”

“Why don’t you just ask her to explain everything?”

“I already did.”

“You did?” Jennie frowns. “When?”

Nayeon purses her lips. While she’s willing to admit that Mina’s alluring to her still, Nayeon doesn’t want to confess about how she once dragged Mina into a janitor’s closet and practically begged her to explain. Jennie will forever hold it above her head. She’s already merciless as it is.

“One time when we were alone,” Nayeon says instead, hoping that Jennie won’t ask for more details. “She just stared at the ground and didn’t say anything. That’s enough hint for me to know she doesn’t want to explain anything.”

“Maybe she’s with someone else now.”

“What?”

That thought never occurred to Nayeon.

But come to think of it… Mina should be the one asking for her forgiveness, begging for Nayeon’s time, pleading for Nayeon to hear her out, and yet it’s Nayeon who’s burning with curiosity as to why Mina won’t even try to talk to her about what happened five years ago.

Mina isn’t even trying to grovel, as if she doesn’t care about Nayeon anymore.

The intrusive thought caused by Jennie’s offhanded comment plants itself into Nayeon’s mind.

Mina was gone for five years. She was in Japan. And during those years, she could’ve found someone else. Someone who isn’t Nayeon.

Jennie could be right. And the possibility hits Nayeon like a ton of bricks.

Mina may have already moved on. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t care. Doesn’t want to make it up to Nayeon. Because she’s not in love with her anymore.

Mina only cares about Minji. Nayeon thought of that. She knew that’s what she should only expect.

Mina, after all, is very sweet and caring and anyone who interacts with her long enough will know that. It won’t be hard for her to find someone else.

But, , if that doesn’t hurt Nayeon.

Mina left and moved on. And Nayeon is still in the past, in the process of moving on from her supposed wife. In a ing stage where she’s still trying to untangle the messy feelings she still has for her ex.

Mina’s probably happy with someone else and Nayeon still hasn’t had closure.

What a ing joke.

Jennie’s hurried words snap Nayeon out of her spiraling thoughts. “, Nayeon-ah. I was just thinking out loud.”

“N-No.” Nayeon shakes her head and musters up all her strength to say her next words even with a taut grip on her heart that makes her chest ache and tighten. “You’re… you’re right. Maybe she’s with someone else now.”

Jennie murmurs a string of curses that Nayeon would normally chastise her for. But as it is, Nayeon can’t even come up with anything.

Has Mina moved on? Is Jennie right?

Why did I even think there was a possibility of us getting back together? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“Nay. Nayeon-ah, stop that.” Nayeon blinks to see Jennie’s hand on her forearm. The warmth of Jennie’s hold on her somehow tethers Nayeon back to the present, preventing her from being swept away by her unpleasant thoughts. “Mina wouldn’t be doing nice things for you if she didn’t feel the same way still.”

Nayeon shakes her head. That’s the problem. Mina’s actions are contradicting each other and Nayeon doesn’t know what to make of them. Mina could be nice to her ex and be in love with someone else that isn’t Nayeon.

“But you do have a point,” insists Nayeon. “She’s not explaining anything. Why else won’t she explain unless she’s happy with someone else?”

“Is there any proof of that?”

The certainty in Jennie’s tone makes Nayeon blink at her a few times before whispering, “What?”

“Proof that she’s with someone else.”

Nayeon combs through all the times she’s spent with Mina. All the times Mina spent with Minji.

Not once did Mina ever look at her phone or appear to be itching to leave to meet up with someone while she was with Minji. Her phone’s lock screen—which Nayeon only saw because it was lit up one time while they were working in her apartment—was simply a picture of a smiling Minji that Mina most likely took when they first officially met. Nayeon never even heard or noticed Mina’s phone buzz with messages or calls.

And Mina doesn’t even wear any accessories that would look like a gift from a girlfriend—no ring, no necklace.

Those don’t mean, however, that she’s still single. Mina’s a private person, Nayeon knows her enough to know that Mina won’t shout her love for someone from the rooftops.

Even if she did do that one time. For Nayeon.

“Only for you, Nayeonnie.”

Yep, that one hurts. A lot.

“No,” Nayeon answers eventually.

“Then we’re both just stupidly assuming here.”

“She’s a private person.”

“Nayeon-ah, I think you’d know if she’s with someone else.” There’s visible conflict in Jennie’s expression and Nayeon distantly wonders what her friend is thinking of saying next.

“Remember when we were all here in my office talking about that ridiculous complaint?” Jennie asks instead and Nayeon thinks she just got whiplash with how abruptly the topic of their conversation shifts.

“W-What?”

Jennie pointedly ignores the confusion in Nayeon’s question. “While you were busy pretending that the complaint didn’t get to you, I saw how obviously worried Mina was about you. She cares. She wouldn’t be that concerned if she was in love with someone else. And Christ,” Jennie adds with a shake of her head, “the way she looked at you when you walked in with Joohyun-unnie said a lot.”

“What do you mean?” Nayeon asks because she can’t quite comprehend what Jennie is trying to say. Is she just trying to placate Nayeon? Is she telling the truth? Nayeon doesn’t know what’s up and down anymore.

Nayeon is fully expecting Jennie to roll her eyes and proclaim that Nayeon should know what she’s talking about.

So imagine Nayeon’s surprise when Jennie actually answers her with no teasing tone or a judgmental look. A rare thing for Jennie to do with her.

“You said she looks at you sometimes like she wants to drop to her knees and beg for your forgiveness. Like she wants you to take her back but something is stopping her. That’s not the behavior of someone who’s already hap