It’s telling me it might be you

All of my life

    - It Might Be You, Steven Bishop

A figure shifted itself on the bed and buried his face in the pillow, only to turn his head again to open his left eye. While he adjusted to the darkness, his left hand picked up his phone by the night stand and pressed the home button. It was 5.55 in the morning, and Joonmyun had five minutes left to sleep. His left eye fluttered to a close. It opened again. His left hand reached towards his phone. 5.57, the time read – still three minutes before wake up. This time, Joonmyun turned his body completely so he was lying flat on his back. His eyes were closed and his phone was flat on his chest, so that he could feel it every time he took a breath. He used his right hand to pick up his phone. It was now 6 am and Joonmyun sat up and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t waste one moment, and took out the clothes that he had prepared the night before and hung it in front of his mirror, simultaneously taking out a towel, and then heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

He emerged fresh from his shower, then looked at the clock on the wall which was now illuminated from the light that was filtering in through the cracks in the curtains. 6.18 – Joonmyun was off schedule by three minutes, so he didn’t waste any time in styling his hair that morning. He blow dried it with his right hand while pulling up his pants with the other. He tucked his white button down into his pants and put on a pink polka-dot tie, and then swiftly put on his baby blue cardigan and then turned his head back to the clock. 6.25. Joonmyun did a little skip out of his bedroom, happy that he had an extra five minutes of breakfast before he had to leave to catch his train.

He took out his fresh tray of twelve eggs. It was a Monday and he had promptly gone out shopping on the Saturday to buy his groceries. He swirled a teaspoon of oil on the frying pan and cracked two eggs, smiling as they merged into one. When it was cooked and the edges were crisp, just as he liked it, he plated it up and used the ketchup to draw on a smile, and a little nose between the two yolk eyes. Joonmyun rubbed his hand together and began to eat until it was 6.45, when he would clean the utencils and other equipment that he used, and then leave the house by 7, and be at work by 7.30.

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Chorong was dragged by her feet, and landed on the floor on a bed of pillows. She rubbed her bottom while sending a glare towards the person who had disrupted her sleep, even though her eyes had not even opened yet. “Chorong-ah! Do you know what time it is, right now? You gotta get up, or you’ll be late on your first day at work.” Bomi helped Chorong up and pushed her into the bathroom. I’ve picked out some clothes for you and hung them up by the door. When you’re ready, come downstairs for breakfast.” Chorong waved Bomi off while still trying to open her eyes, only to be jolted away when she stubbed her foot on the shower door. “!”

After her shower and getting dressed, Chorong went to the kitchen where Bomi was already finishing up her breakfast. Chorong found a bowl of rice, some kimchi and some sausages at her disposal. “Eat up, you know I hate being late…” Chorong began to aggressively shove spoonfuls into . “The only reason that you want to be there on time is to impress Chanyeol when he does his morning rounds, right?” Bomi threw her a glare, and before Chorong could finish, Bomi took her food away, threw the scraps into the food bin and left all the dishes in the dishwasher. “Let’s go.”

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Joonmyun was taking a leisurely stroll to the train station, picking up the morning newspaper on the way as well as an apple, that the store ahjumma always had ready for him every day.  Joonmyun didn’t believe in coffee. He had tried it once and didn’t enjoy the taste. Instead, he opted for fruits and other healthy snacks like nuts to keep him awake during the day. He waved to the ahjumma as a thank you and before she could come out to greet him, he had pointed to his watch and walked into the entrance of the station. He had stayed one morning to give a proper thank you to the lady, but she kept on insisting that he go on a blind date with her daughter. His politeness could only take him so far in denying her offer and so he started to always rush past her store with the excuse that he was going to miss the train.

By the time that the train had arrived at the platform, Joonmyun had disposed of the stalk in the bin. He always sat in the third carriage from the front, and taken the seat closest to the exit if it was available. On that particular morning, as he was walking to his favorite spot, two girls rushed past him and taken his seat, mumbling a ‘sorry’ as they rushed past, and making Joonmyun drop his paper on the ground. He looked up while he was crouched and holding his paper, unsure of whether to confront them about their rudeness.

They were nearing the next stop, when Joonmyun stood in front of them. “Excuse me, but you’re in my seat…” The two girls looked up at him. The one on the left frowned. “Your seat? This is a public space and your name isn’t written anywhere on here…” He looked to the one on the right. “I’m sorry for bumping into you earlier. And yes, if that hadn’t happened, you probably would be sitting down right now, but can’t you be a gentleman and give it up just this once?”  Joonmyun curtly nodded his head and looked down, his eye catching the lanyard hanging on her neck. “Excuse me, can I help you with anything else?” Joonmyun shook his head. “I couldn’t help but notice you’re employee identification. You work at Galaxy Corporation?” She nodded her head. “I work there too…” The girl extended her hand and nudged her friend to do the same. “I’m Yoon Bomi and this is…” Bomi nudged the girl next to her again. “I’m Chorong…” Chorong fake smiled at Joonmyun and went back to fiddling with her phone. “Ah…Bomi ssi and Chorong ssi. I’m Kim Joonmyun. I work in the EXO Division…”

Joonmyun moved his backpack strap further up his shoulder. “The EXO Division? Do you know Park Chanyeol?” Bomi looked hopeful. “Yes, he’s in the same division as me. Do you two know each other?” Bomi looked down again. “Sort of…he picks up progress files from each of the divisions every morning and he comes over to our office to pick up the newest designs that we’re working on…” Joonmyun nodded but knew that Chanyeol didn’t have that in his job description. He was about to ask her if it was really Chanyeol, but a different question came out of his mouth.  “Ahh…so you guys are in the CUBE division? You design really great things. The last prototypes you did for the new game was really well done. The rendering must have taken a long time…” The train stopped and he turned around, quickly gathering his things upon realising that it was their stop. “I guess we should get off…” Joonmyun bowed and went ahead first, while Bomi grabbed Chorong’s hand and led her off of the train.

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Joonmyun took off his backpack and placed it under his desk. He looked around, and realised he wasn’t the first that morning, and saw one of the desktops already . He turned when he saw the door open. “Hyung, you’re here?” Joonmyun sent a smile to his very tall dongsaeng. “Chanyeol-ah…you’re here early…” Chanyeol scratched his nape. “I wanted to get the rounds done quickly today…” Chanyeol went back to his desk, but swivelled in his seat to face Joonmyun. “Do you know a Yoon Bomi?” Chanyeol’s ears turned bright red. “Ahhh…how did you know about that?” Joonmyun looked up from the papers on his desk. “Know about what?” A swivel chair approached him. “About Bomi…”

“I met her this morning on the train…” Chanyeol clapped his hands and turned to his side, mumbling to himself, but Joonmyun could see that he had a big smile on his face. “She’s pretty, hyung, don’t you think? And she’s really nice too, right?” Joonmyun nodded, but he and Chanyeol whipped their heads around when the door had burst open. Joonmyun checked his watch not expecting anyone else to arrive until almost 9 AM.

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Bomi was stopped by one of the workers on their way to the office. She had told Chorong to go in first and get settled, but a bunch of pink roses tied together with a white ribbon had grabbed her immediate attention. She picked them up and found the card wedged in between two of the flowers, chuckling as she read it. Bomi had come in at that moment and Chorong hid the bouquet behind her back. “Bomi-yah…seems like you’re crush has been noticing you for a while…”

“What?” Chorong presented her friend with the roses, Bomi eagerly taking it away. “There’s a note!” Chorong sat her friend down as she sat herself on the table. “Read it out…” Bomi cleared and opened up the folded note carefully.

Yoon Bomi-ssi,

I missed you this morning…

I think you missed me too…

So, don’t miss our date tonight

• Chanyeol (the guy that does the morning rounds)

Bomi started to fan herself and Chorong gave her a hug. “Congrats! You’ve finally scored a date after what? Three years?” Bomi sent Chorong a glare. “Good things take time…” Chorong waved her off and went to find an empty desk. “What should I do now, Rong?” Chorong went back and put her hands on either side of Bomi’s shoulders. “Accept the invitation…duh…go!” Bomi put the note back down. “Should I? You don’t think it’ll scare him off if I’m too excited?” Chorong had turned Bomi around and pushed her towards the door. “I’ll go with you, but you have to do it by yourself…” As Bomi opened the door, she quickly took a few steps back, bumped into Chorong and accidentally slammed the door.

“What are you doing? Stop being such a chicken!” Bomi helped Chorong get steady on her feet. “It’s just…” The door opened, and Hayoung stuck her head in, and pulled Sehun along with her. “Mianhae, unnie…” Sehun released the arm that was wrapped around Hayoung’s waist and bowed. “Mianhae, noona…I didn’t think that anyone would see us…” Chorong went up to Hayoung and gave her a hug and pat Sehun’s upper arm. “See you guys what?” Hayoung looked towards Sehun for help, but he let out an awkward chuckle. “Ummm…I was just giving Hayoung a goodbye kiss…” Chorong went back to Bomi and grabbed her arm. “Seriously? Bomi! You’re going on a date tonight, yourself! Expect kissing! Besides, Hayoung’s no longer our baby…she and Sehun are dating and they’re both adults…” Bomi sent a smile to Hayoung. “Unnie…who are you going on a date with?”

Chorong was pulling Bomi out the door as Sehun was also pulling Hayoung out. “By chance, is it Chanyeol hyung?” Hayoung didn’t seem surprised. “Oh yeah…he’s been talking about asking you out for ages! Finally!” Sehun pulled Hayoung in and gave her a full kiss on the lips in front of Bomi and Chorong. “He finally manned up and asked you out, noona…anyways…I’ll see you later?” Sehun placed a kiss on Hayoung’s temple as she lightly rubbed his stomach and nodded against his chest.

Chorong, Bomi and Sehun walked towards the EXO division as Hayoung went back into the office. As they were walking, Sehun began to walk in front of them, but backwards. “Chorong noona, you’ve finally joined the fold and worked here…” Chorong was going to point out that he was about to his something but he expertly dodged it. “And Bomi noona, good luck on your date tonight!”

“You knew about the date?” Sehun shook his head. “I knew that he had a crush on someone in your department, I just didn’t know who. He started faking doing morning rounds, I guess, just to meet you…” Bomi blushed, and Chorong kept on teasing her. The three friends soon reached the doors of the EXO Division, when Sehun got called over by Jongin, their division manager. “Noona, if don’t see you later, have fun with hyung. And Chorong noona, glad to have you here…” Sehun jogged over to Jongin who had a stack of papers in his hand.

Chorong began to push Bomi towards the door. “Bomi-yah…fighting!” Chorong opened the door for her and gave Bomi a final push inside. Chorong leaned against the wall and waited for her, thinking that her first day was looking promising.

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Bomi was shoved inside the room, meeting two very surprised faces staring back at her. She bowed slightly and greeted them, looking up and seeing Chanyeol was as red as how hot she was suddenly feeling. “Chanyeol-ssi I…” Joonmyun got up from his seat and began to walk towards her. “I’ll give the two of you some space…nice meeting you again, Yoon Bomi-ssi…” He bowed to her slightly before walking out and taking a glance at the two who seemed to be very awkward with each other, still standing almost ten meters apart. He closed the door and turned to the side to lean against the wall but was surprised to find someone already there. “Chorong-ssi…”

Chorong made a small wave and moved slightly so there was more of the wall that he could lean on. She had seen him struggle about where to put his hands and where to stand. He moved so that he was standing next to her and began to hum out of nervousness. “You work here too?” She nodded. “It’s my first day. All of my friends work here and they’ve been trying to get me to join and I finally agreed after five years…”

“What had you been doing in the past five years?” She shrugged. “Oh, you know…stealing people’s seats on the train…” Joonmyun snorted, and Chorong giggled what he thought was the cutest sound that he had ever heard. “So you remember about the wrongs that you had committed against me this morning…” Chorong looked out to the hallway. “Yeah, I’m sorry for being rude. Bomi had woken me up earlier than what I’m used to and took my breakfast away before I finished so I wasn’t in too much of a good mood…” They heard footsteps coming closer towards the door. “I take it that you’re in a better mood now?” Joonmyun side glanced at her, and for a brief moment, their eyes met, and they looked away in embarrassment.

The door opened and Chorong and Joonmyun backed up further against the wall, his hands briefly meeting hers, before they peeled themselves away from each other. Bomi and Chanyeol had walked out into the hallway holding hands, and blushing profusely. “Bomi-ssi…I’ll see you tonight then…” Bomi nodded and let go of his hand, linking arms with Chorong and then running away. Joonmyun led Chanyeol back into the room. “Is she the reason why you’re early today?” Chanyeol sat down at his desk and raised both arms in the air, waving them about slightly in excitement.

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Once Bomi and Chorong had made it back to their office, the rest of the girls were already there.  “They’re back!” All of the girls turned towards the door when Hayoung had jumped up from her seat, and rushed towards Bomi and Chorong. “Unnie! How was it?” Bomi’s face beamed and she animatedly began to tell Hayoung the story as Chorong went around the room and greeted the rest of her friends.

“You’re here!” They all exclaimed. She hugged all of them before Eunji led her to her desk. “What’s going on with them?” Yookyung present them with the roses. “Unnie, does it have something to do with this?” Naeun picked it up and observed it. “Did Bomi get asked out?” Namjoo took it off of her and looked for the note. “Is it that guy that she’s been crushing on for ages?” Eunji clapped to get their attention. “It was Chanyeol, wasn’t it?” Chorong raised her hands to say that she would answer their questions. “Yes, to everything that you just asked…” They all squealed as Bomi and Hayoung approached them. “Group hug!” Everyone gathered around Bomi and began congratulating her on her date.

“Okay, enough about me…let’s talk about Chorong!” Chorong looked confused. “What about me?” Bomi slung an arm around her while all the other girls brought out their chairs and waited for what Bomi was about to say. “You and Joonmyun…” Chorong tried to get out of the circle, but Eunji pushed her down. “Who’s Joonmyun?” Chorong shook her head, but Bomi continued. “He works in the EXO Division with Chanyeol and Sehun, and I think that Chorong and him are destined…” Naeun made a gesture for her to keep going. “She bumped into him on the train this morning, and when Chanyeol and I were walking out we heard them flirting, and then when we saw them, they both jumped as if they had been caught doing something…”

“It wasn’t like that…” Yookyung slid her chair closer into the circle and raised a finger. “First stage guys…she’s in denial…” All of them laughed and Chorong rolled her eyes and groaned, hitting her palm against her forehead. “Working here was a bad idea…” Namjoo joined in with Yookyung. “You’re right, she’s in denial…” Chorong abruptly stood up and then reached the door, looking at all her friends who had smiles on their faces. “You guys are stupid…” She walked out and the girls began to high-five each other.

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After Chanyeol had calmed down, he diverted his attention towards Joonmyun. “So, you and Chorong…” Joonmyun gave him a weird look and before he could answer, Jongin and Sehun had walked through the door, hearing Chanyeol’s words. “What’s this we hear? Joonmyun’s got a girl?” Joonmyun leapt from his chair and covered Chanyeol’s mouth before he could say anything further. “It’s nothing…” Chanyeol managed to get Joonmyun’s hands away to run over to Sehun and Jongin. “He was flirting with her and they were basically holding hands against the wall…” The boys made a collective ‘ooohhh’ sound and Joonmyun plopped himself down on his chair knowing that he couldn’t do anything about their teasing once they started.

“We weren’t flirting. I was just making conversation to pass the time while we waited for Chanyeol and Bomi to stop being all romantic in here…” Jongin punched his arm slightly. “Don’t change the topic…” Sehun joined in and punched the other side. “It’s good that you’re getting out into the dating scene, hyung…we were starting to get worried…” Joonmyun just shook his head. “Forget it…” The guys all high-fived. “He’s acknowledged that we’re right!”

“No, I’m just not going to argue with you anymore…” When he tried to turn away, the turned his chair so that he was facing them as if he was in the middle of an interrogation. “You know how we can tell that you like her?” Joonmyun smirked, knowing that they would have nothing good to say. They turned his chair around and pointed towards the clock. “It’s 9 AM and you haven’t started your work trying to explain that you’re not into her. The real Joonmyun would have just ignored us from the start.” They all patted him on his back. “Good job, bro, you’ve finally found someone who’s not going to make you all uptight about the time…”

The door burst open and a bunch of guys fell through the door. Luhan, Minseok, Yixing, Jongdae, Kyungsoo, Kris, Baekhyun, and Tao all gathered around and began to congratulate Joonymun. “Finally! Hey, when are you going to introduce her to us?” He pushed past them and walked out the door with a smile on his face.

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Chorong decided to go to the vending machine in the cafeteria to buy a sandwich to eat. She put in her note and pressed the number of the food she wanted, but the food didn’t come out. A hand thumped against the machine and the sandwich fell out. The same hand picked it up and handed it to her. “You need to hit it every time you want something…”

“Thanks…” He hit the machine again and another sandwich fell out. He promptly took it and opened the packaging taking a big bite. “It’s you again…” She smile and opened her sandwich as well. “It’s you again, Joonmyun-ssi…” He smiled back at her.

They didn’t say anything as they began to walk back to their respective offices, knowing that they would be seeing each other again, very soon.