SIXTEEN

“So how are you and Kyungsoo doing?” Seungsoo asked casually.

“Huh?” Seorin asked surprisedly, caught completely offguard. “Us? … We’re fine… Thank you for asking…”
She was helping out in his office again, still supposedly paying back her “debt” for using the studio without permission.

“Good, good,” he murmured thoughtfully.

Seorin was honestly a little relieved to be working with Seungsoo for at least part of the day. She felt like a mess around Kyungsoo after the other day. He was being genuinely sincere and kind for the first time since the internship started and yet she couldn’t be around him to experience much of it – her head couldn’t handle it.

She had to get cracking on her own presentation speech along with Kyungsoo’s Jackal one. The end of the internship was next week so she didn’t have much time.
One more week, she thought with a rueful sigh. Would that be the last she saw of Kyungsoo? He went to M University, so she wouldn’t see him once school started again. Well, it wasn’t far from S University, but there would be no reason to meet.
But it was only a crush, she figured. Crushes went away. It would be okay.

Why do you get yourself into these situations? She thought, annoyed with herself. Why couldn’t you just like one of the guys at S University? There’s like hundreds of them to choose from…
And as if he was giving her an answer, Kyungsoo barged into the office out of nowhere and grabbed her arm. “I told you not to come here,” he snapped, giving her a hard stare before dragging her out. He planted her in her spot as he rushed back inside to yell at his brother. “And for the last ing time, I told you to leave her alone!”

He didn’t know why he was this pissed – it was more anger than he usually felt. He stormed out of the office and noticed Seorin was still standing there in the hallway, waiting for him. Her face looked concerned – her eyebrows furrowed, her lip bitten. His fury subsided immediately. “Sorry for snapping at you,” he mumbled, feeling unusually apologetic. He hadn’t been annoyed with her lately – in fact, it was the total opposite. She made him feel accomplished. He couldn’t get the way she had looked at him with such pride out of his head. He had never seen anyone look at him like that before, considering it had been always Seungsoo who had been looked upon that way.

Seorin shook her head to let him know that it wasn’t a big deal. It was strangely peaceful, and she realized it was weird that they weren’t bickering like usual.

They returned back to the office in silence. Sehun looked up in interest, eyebrow raised. There was something definitely off between the two of them. Soojung and Jongin didn’t seem to notice though, more preoccupied with each other than what was going on around them.

Seorin’s eyes met with Sehun’s suspicious ones as she sat down.
“Did you two fight?” He asked, barely audible.

She shook her head no, and that was the truth. But she didn’t know how to explain their sudden silence. It hadn’t been an awkward silence, really – it had been just plain, comfortable silence. She was busy with her own thoughts anyway, and the silence didn’t bother her.

Before Sehun could ask any more questions, Kyungsoo suddenly stood up and cleared his throat. “I have an announcement for all of you,” he began. “As you know, there’s only one week left until the presentation, which also means the end of the internship… And just like we do every year, there is a farewell party for all the interns and any other workers who are getting transferred or leaving.” He paused, avoiding any eye contact. “The party’s on Saturday night, at the conference room. Dress formally – there’ll be important people there. Don’t talk about your presentations – leave that as a surprise for Monday… And of course, make sure you’re ready by Monday.”

Jongin grinned. “Are we supposed to bring a date?” He asked, looking right at Soojung. She was beaming back.

Kyungsoo’s eyes unintentionally landed upon Seorin. “Uh… You do… You do whatever you wa