“D-D-DIRECTOR! Please forgive me!”

It was Monday morning and the executive meeting just ended and Joohyun despises Monday morning meetings with a passion. What’s stressing her even more was the appearance of a certain assistant manager in her office. Kneeling at the floor with her arms raised high, Seulgi begged for her director’s forgiveness. 

“Get up the damned floor, Kang-daeri.” Joohyun sighed. She couldn’t see her properly because of her desk. She could only see her hands but she didn’t dare to look at her despite being curious on how the other girl looked while kneeling before her.

“I-I-I’m really s-s-s-sorry! I-I didn’t know w-w-what I was d-d-doing!” It’s back. The dreaded stuttering is back! Joohyun could only roll her eyes. 

“Get up, Kang-daeri. I am not going to punish you or anything.” Joohyun sighed as she leaned back on her chair. “I was drunk and so were you. Even Ahn-jooin was wasted. We didn’t cause a scene in the dorms so it’s fine. Everything that happened will just remain between us three.”

After witnessing Yujin’s heartbreak last Friday, Seulgi decided that she would be drinking more with the said girl and even dragged Joohyun to their place. Yujin was surprised to see Joohyun at their doorstep but she couldn’t send her away when she saw how much the two were giggling as if they were merry teenagers. 

Yujin knew that Seulgi gets some weird confidence when she’s drunk but it was the first time that she actually brought someone in their room. It wasn’t just anybody, it’s their new department head! It was also the first time in a long while that she saw Seulgi smiling like that. Well, Seulgi also shows signs of happiness when she buys action figures of her favourite characters or if something good happened to the webtoon that she’s reading or when she got the five star character in the gacha game that she’s addicted to but that was the first time to see her smile because of a new person.

Actually thankful for the company, Yujin welcomed Joohyun inside. She was surprised to see Seulgi unpacked the alcohol that they brought from the convenience store. She sincerely thought that Seulgi was planning to kill her by dissolving her insides.

The two even brought some snacks in the form of cup noodles in various flavours and brands. It was a feast of burying Yujin’s dead heart. 

Of course, the two confessed about eavesdropping. Hm, it was more like they got caught since Seulgi scolded the younger girl about mentioning her and Seungwan. After that, Yujin just opened up automatically and cried a river in front of the two. Joohyun suddenly heard some background music and she couldn’t help but to cackle when she turned to her side and saw Seulgi playing air bass and making the sound with . 

Seulgi fell to the ground and almost couldn’t get up after Joohyun smacked her again. The two were laughing while Yujin was drowning in tears. It was such a mess to think that their main objective was to empathise with the younger girl. 

Yujin didn’t care anyway. She kept pouring them alcohol until one of them ran to the restroom to throw up. No one remembers who threw up. Well, no one actually remembers everything that happened that night. The next morning, Joohyun just woke up in an unknown bed with an extreme pulsating headache. She was still in her office clothes and her hair was all over the place. Her makeup wasn’t even properly wiped off and she smelt alcohol all over. It was around 11:20 in the morning when she consulted the time. 

When she tried to sit up and looked at the other bed which was just on the other side, she saw Yujin curled up in her blanket. Knowing that there were three of them, she searched for Seulgi only to find the girl sitting in front of her desk where her gaming PC was set up. She was already playing games after a night of heavy drinking! It seemed like she already showered as well.

Not really knowing what to do, Joohyun stared at Seulgi’s side profile. Her eyes were focused on the monitor and was fully immersed in the game, thanks to those huge gaming earphones. 

“Man… I wasn’t able to do the daily quests yesterday…” The girl suddenly whined as her shoulders dropped. “Couldn’t even login… My gems…”

‘Is this person even human?’ Joohyun thought, her jaw hanging. Joohyun tried to stand up, ignoring the pain in her head. Seulgi was still unaware that she had already woken up so the way she shrieked was very much a normal reaction when Joohyun suddenly poked her by the side. 

“Director Bae!?” Seulgi shouted, which made Yujin groan under her blanket. 

“Do you have anything I can change into?” The young director asked, rubbing her arm. “I reeked of alcohol. Let me take a shower before I get out. If I go out in this state people would think I am a homeless person.”

“Sure, I’ll lend you some clothes but don’t be picky, okay?”

Joohyun’s right brow rose. ‘Oh, she isn’t stammering even if she’s already sober. She could even look straight in my eyes. What happened to this girl—’

“Seulgi-unnie… Remove your earphones when you talk…” 

Joohyun’s wondering was interrupted when Yujin spoke. Seulgi was indeed almost shouting while she talked. Joohyun pushed the earphone off of Yujin’s head before she stood with arms akimbo. “Your dongsaeng is still sleeping, don’t be too loud.”

Seulgi just snickered before completely taking off the earphone. She then stood up and opened her cabinet, handing Joohyun whatever she laid her hands on. She also handed her a towel that she could use to shower. She even gave Joohyun an unused, new pair of undies while giving the smaller girl a wink.

Joohyun felt weird. She had to draw the line.

“Hey, aren’t you being so comfortable with me?” She asked but Seulgi didn’t look back at her. The said girl just went back to her games as if nothing happened. 

“She’s still drunk, Director Bae…”

“H-Huh?” Joohyun turned to Yujin’s bed. The girl was taking a peek from her blanket, she couldn’t even open her swollen eyes properly. 

“Don’t mind her. Just go and shower. She’s still drunk…” Yujin covered her face again. “My goodness… My head feels like it's breaking…”

Joohyun was baffled. Seulgi was still drunk? But she could play games already? She already showered and didn’t seem to be suffering from a breaking head like her and Yujin.

Taking Yujin’s advice, Joohyun took a quick shower. When she came out, Seulgi was already in the bed, laying in her stomach. She was knocked out cold. 

Yujin was already sitting by the bed, still wrapped in her blanket and only her head was visible. She opened one eye to look at Joohyun. 

“Sorry, Director Bae… I can’t prepare food for you.” Yujin said, her voice really hoarse after all the crying that she did last night. 

“It’s fine. I’ll leave right away anyway.” Joohyun then pointed at Seulgi. “Is that girl really fine?”

Yujin’s head hung low. “Yes, Director. She’s always like that when she drinks. It’s okay not to wake her up, she hasn’t slept yet anyway. I’ll just tell her that you left.”

“Okay, thank you, Ahn-jooim.” The young director took a deep breath. “I’ll be going now. Thank you for accommodating me.”

“Nah…” Yujin forcefully shook her head. “I am really thankful for the company. Last night would’ve been a nightmare without the two of you. I am really thankful…”

Joohyun stayed motionless for quite some time. She wanted to cheer the younger girl up but she didn’t know which word to say. She didn’t know which words would cheer Yujin up and she knew that Seulgi didn’t know either. That’s the very reason she just accompanied the younger girl. Just her being there was enough. Just being there was more than words. 

“I’ll… go ahead then…”

Yujin just gave a tired nod and Joohyun left the room. Yujin then looked at her Seulgi-unnie who would most likely wake up with a stiff neck. “I guess Seulgi-unnie carrying her to her bed should remain a secret, right? She’s still an executive anyway…”

The sad puppy then reached for her phone only to see messages and missed calls from Minjoo. Yujin turned her phone off and tossed it away. She then dropped herself back to lying. Her eyes started tearing once more. “It ended… Five years… ended just like that.”

Just like that, the weekend passed and Seulgi was back to her usual self. Yujin swore she’d tie Seulgi and taped her lips because of how the older girl was malfunctioning after everything that happened. She couldn’t remember a lot of important things. Her memory was already blurry after she went to the restroom during the company dinner. There were bits of memories but the missing blocks were huge.

It was Yujin who reminded her of what she did. First, she eavesdropped on her confrontation with Chaewon and Minjoo. Second, she dragged her own department head to their room to have a drinking/killing session. Third, while drinking they goofed around so much from playing pointless rock, paper and scissors game, playing air bass and even took selca here and there. 

And just like what Yujin said, all the evidence was on her phone.

“And poof! They are gone now~” Joohyun returned Seulgi’s phone after erasing all the traces of that wild night. The latter was still kneeling on the ground, confused about her feelings for the deleted pictures with her director. “Get up, Kang-daeri. I already said that I am not angry with you a hundred times. If you don’t stand up at this very moment then I will be really mad at you if that’s what you really want.”

In no time, Seulgi was back on her feet but couldn’t even straighten up because of the pain in her knees. “I-I-I’m really sorry, Director. I’m sorry if I acted weird and caused you d-d-discomfort. I-I-It won’t h-happen again.”

“Of course, it must not happen again.” Joohyun sat at the guest receiving area. “Sit down. I need to discuss something with you.”

“Y-Y-Yes, Director!”

Seulgi did what she was told. Now that she’s finally got a better look of her superior, she noticed how stressed Joohyun was. She looked like someone who hasn’t had a sip of their morning coffee.

“Kang-daeri… I believe we are in a pinch right now.” Joohyun started, she wasn’t even looking at Seulgi. Her eyes were lost in thought.

“W-What do you m-mean, Director?” 

A vexed sigh came out of Joohyun. She started massaging her temple. Oh Monday, what have you done?

“I don’t know how but the rumour that I have already found members for the band has already reached the Chairman. And to tell you the truth, the Chairman is crazy about this competition. He really wants us to win.”

Seulgi suddenly felt nervous. She had the urge to escape but she couldn’t move her legs. Heck, she knew what would happen to her if she suddenly walked away while her superior was talking. She won’t just get a smack and that’s for sure. 

“I’m still not done with cleaning in this department but the Chairman…” Joohyun sighed once more. She gave herself a slap to bring her back to focus, surprising Seulgi. “We don’t have any choice now, Kang-daeri. We have to go with the current members that we have and you have to play the bass for us.”

There it goes. Just as she expected, she’d be forced to do this band thing again.

“B-But, Director…” Seulgi bit her lower lip as she lowered her head as if it wasn't low enough. 

“I know, I know… I know you have reasons… But you really have to save me this time, Kang-daeri.” Joohyun looked really distressed and this is Seulgi’s weakness. She just couldn’t stand around without doing anything. 

“W-W-What happened?” Seulgi asked. 

“Well…” Joohyun crossed her arms and legs. “After hearing about the rumour that the band members are complete, the Chairman wasted no time at all. He already had the studio setup yesterday. It’s on the very floor under the Chairman’s floor. It’s already complete with equipment and the room was made sound-proofed as well. The instruments have arrived earlier as well and the Chairman wants us to check them by today.”

Seulgi’s eyes widened. She already knew about their Chairman’s immediate actions to everything but this is j