started: dec 2019

tags: omegaverse, alpha!irene, omega!seulgi

pairings: seulgi/irene, seulgi/krystal

Joohyun was a particularly detached person.

She didn’t involve herself with drama, affairs, issues.

She vowed to live her life as simple and carefree as possible.

After all, they did say that one would be much happier if they cared a lot less.

And she did. She took that advice to heart and learned to stray away from getting involved with other people’s personal problems. It felt like she was watching a movie when friends and co-workers talked about their problems to or around her.

It was not to say that Joohyun was completely not empathetic. Her feelings were sorted into the right place and were expressed only when necessary—she just learned to filter.

So, when her alpha best friend was talking about issues she had with her girlfriend, she was this close to filtering it out. Because it was petty. Because she could totally solve the issue on her own, at least that was what Irene thought, and she only needed someone to complain to. Joohyun was mainly an ear, someone who would just go “mhmm” and “oh, interesting” while typing away at her laptop or just scrolling through social media feeds.

Joohyun supposed the reason why her ears had perked up to selectively listen in on one of her best friend’s many rants was because she had casually mentioned, in her sparse words (because Joohyun didn’t catch everything), “…Yeah, and I…didn’t mean to. I….I love her…….I…..didn’t mean to…..accidentally……another mate.”

Joohyun halted everything.

They were at her favorite café shop—she was working on logging some extra data information into a database since a co-worker had just submitted it via e-mail, and good-hearted, alpha, female, best friend Soojung was dishing out the latest “news” of her life.

“Wait, wait, wait, what did you just say?” 

Joohyun, perfect eyebrow raised and all, peered up from her bright laptop screen in disbelief. She thought she was able to connect what she had selectively heard, so if it was right, then…

“Uh…” Soojung suddenly seemed flustered by asking to repeat the statement, if her wavering eyes and slightly flushed cheeks were of any indication. “…I said that I didn’t mean to do what I did. I love her a lot, like I want to spend the rest of my life with her and was planning to propose, but I didn’t mean to accidentally get another mate.”

See, this was why Joohyun refused to listen to other people’s problems. This was why she opted to care less because right now she wouldn’t have a splitting headache both from tediously inputting data and listening to her god damn stupid best friend’s accident.

“Are you ing kidding me?” Joohyun stared at Soojung with a pair of stern eyes; her harsh yet quiet tone of voice sounded so belittling to her. “You’re telling me you have two in’ mates because you can’t keep it in your pants?”

“L-Listen! She was in heat.” Such a terrible attempt at a defense. Some alphas didn’t have self-control when it came to being around omegas on their heat whereas some alphas had impeccable control. Soojung should have been on the latter side alongside Joohyun. “I-I was spending a lot of time with her…and she didn’t have her suppressants on her, and I really wanted to help her because she’s a good friend to me…I-I really didn’t think it’d get this far!”

Joohyun observed her in growing silence. Soojung seemed really apologetic. This was an honest mistake from her. But good God, this was a huge mistake. If her girlfriend had enough sense, then she would leave her in a heartbeat and Soojung could go and gallop off into the plains with her new mate while Joohyun would forever judge her. Though, that is only if she knows.

“Does she…know?”

Soojung lowered her head and cast her eyes onto the polished wooden floor. She gradually shook her head.

Joohyun closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to let her innate self reach the threshold of frustration and take over her actions for the next few moments. Historically, this situation would have been socially acceptable. Alphas were known to be at the top of the hierarchy, to roar loudly, to assert their dominance in any field they chose to dominate in. They would have multiple omega mates to vastly increase their gene pool with a series of pups. But that was history, and this was modern society. There had been many social protests and works to diminish the control the alphas would have over the world. It had worked in certain areas, one of them being polygamy while expecting their mates to stay monogamous to only them.

So, Soojung, pray tell me why did you up so bad with your girlfriend? Was what Joohyun wanted to ask, but she didn’t because she knew. 

Unfortunately, no matter how much self-control an alpha believed they had, if they were in a situation that Soojung was in where she was practically trapped around a close omega who was in heat and pleaded for her assistance, the charm and aromatic smell would have been too strong to resist. Especially if these individuals had an intimate enough relationship.

Joohyun suddenly felt pity for Soojung’s girlfriend. They had been together for five years, and it was about time for them to get engaged and throw a beautiful wedding. Now, all of that was probably going to go down the drain once she figured it out.

However, despite Soojung being her best friend, Joohyun still wasn’t as close as she was to her to her girlfriend. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to, but her job providing a whopping six figures was highly demanding and barely allowed her to see anyone outside of it, Soojung included. The only time she would be able to catch up with her was at a time like this when she would be at a café to finish up the administrative work she wasn’t able to do during the hours she was on shift.

Thus, Joohyun decided she wasn’t going to care too much. This was Soojung’s issue. She had to solve it on her own whether it was to continue being with her girlfriend by making it up to her for a very long time, break it off with her girlfriend and stay with her new mate, or have no mates. Or have two…but Joohyun believed that wasn’t the norm nowadays.

She went back to cross-referencing the two Excel sheets on her screen when she decided her place in this situation. 

Only a listener.

Just selectively.

“So, what are you going to do,” Joohyun asked in a tone void of emotion.

Soojung didn’t mind—after all, this troubled woman was befuddled with many emotions of her own to even consider Joohyun’s. She slumped back against her cushioned seat and tightly hugged the frilly pillow the café provided. 

With a heavy sigh, she mumbled, “I don’t know… I… I have to talk to her for sure.”

Joohyun absentmindedly nodded. “Yes, that’s step one.”

And if that wasn’t enough, Soojung resumed her rambles leaving Joohyun no choice but to tune in every now and then while working and sipping on her (now cool) tea.

There was an announcement lingering in Joohyun’s department that there would be a new employee joining them today. They would be under Joohyun’s wing as her assistant in the human resources department, which was perfect because she had been needing one for two months now since her last one quit due to “overworking” hours, as they claimed (Joohyun rolled her eyes so hard when she heard that because, wow, you think you were being overworked? Imagine being the one leading this whole ). She was the human resources lead specialist at Café Velvet original headquarters, and although she wasn’t able to take part in the interviews to search for a new assistant, she was confident enough that the hiring recruiter bestowed a great candidate to her.

“Miss Bae!”

Joohyun turned from her computer screen to Boa Kwon, one of the co-owners of the well-established Café Velvet, strolling in alongside a very familiar face. Boa had a bright grin etching across her face as she led the young woman, whom Joohyun guessed was her new assistant, to her. But it was odd to see Boa personally accompanying a new employee at this corporation when the co-owner herself had plenty of things to do. Shouldn’t she be testing out new drinks with the other co-owner, Yunho Jung? Or even scouting out more areas across the country to erect a brand new Café Velvet? Regardless, Joohyun stood up from her desk and smoothed down her office attire of a crisp, white blouse tucked into a pink pencil skirt.

“Good morning, Miss Bae,” greeted Boa. She gestured to the woman next to her. “This is your new assistant, Seulgi Kang. She has an ample amount of experience from the classes she took at the university she graduated from, so I have no qualms she will do an exceptional job for you. She is also a personal recommendation from Yunho’s younger sister, Soojung. And Seulgi, this is obviously the HR lead specialist, Joohyun Bae.”

Joohyun and Seulgi shared the curt, customary greetings. When Boa was satisfied with acquainting the two, she bid her farewell, leaving them alone in their department office.

“Quite fancy meeting you here,” said Joohyun.

“Yes, I haven’t seen you in a long while,” Seulgi replied with a gentle smile. She followed Joohyun around the office, expecting to receive a tour or some guidance on her first day. “I presume you have been doing well?”

Joohyun shrugged. “Mm, just same old, same old. It’s been a little tough lately because we have been hiring a lot more team members at various locations as well as dealing with a few ual assault cases, so we have to do some hiring paperwork, inputting data into our system, and filing cases. But, you know, it’s what we do.”

Seulgi lightly laughed at how carefree Joohyun seemed to be towards the end. “Right. A job’s a job. As long as you still like it.”

Joohyun whisked around on the heels of her feet to assess Seulgi before her. 

“Alright. Shall we give you a tour?”

After graduating with a Bachelor’s, Joohyun landed a human resources assistant position at her alma mater.

That was also the same year she first met Seulgi.

Joohyun wasn’t as hands-off as she had been later on in the future, but she was still reserved and detached in some way that it was slightly difficult to approach her. Seulgi had no problems about that, even after she was introduced to her by Soojung.

Seulgi and Soojung met at a college-level dance team they were both auditioning for. They noticed each other’s expertise in the area and quickly became friends. It also wasn’t hard to, considering how they both got into the team and went to compete at dance competitions across the state together (even across the country if time allowed). 

Since Soojung was the type of person to mesh her friend groups together, she wanted to introduce Joohyun and Seulgi to each other at the very least. Her best friend from elementary and her new best friend from her dance team. It only sounded right!

And it was…at first.

Until Joohyun noticed the many kinds of tensions lingering in the air.

Seulgi and Soojung obviously had some kind of thing going on. What, with them going to classes together since the AM to practicing together until it was literally the next day? Soojung was somewhat vocal about people she found attractive. First, it was Amber from high school – they fooled around a lot, but they weren’t anything official. Turned out that Amber didn’t have it in her to stay committed, so they broke it off by the time they went their separate ways for college. Second, it was Jongin from her introductory business class during her first year – they seriously dated for two years until Jongin went abroad to study for the remainder of his undergrad. Sadly, an attempt at a long-distance relationship led them to naturally break it off. And now it was Seulgi.

There were patterns from Soojung. The distant, longing look. The subtle movements to stay nearby. The glances every now and then to see when she could chime in for a conversation. While all of this happened, she would hang out with Joohyun after class, furiously gushing about her latest attraction.

And it seemed as though Seulgi and Soojung hit it off pretty well. Rumors spread around the dance team and even a good portion on campus about the two – how they always seemed to hang out together now sporting mysterious-looking blotches on their necks.

But it was just that, nothing official, nothing serious.

Then, Seulgi frequented their hangouts and clicked with Joohyun. Maybe even better than how Seulgi clicked with Soojung. But because Seulgi was unofficially committed to Soojung in some way, thinking that it would be wrong to try and do something with her friend’s best friend, nothing progressed than just being casual friends.