"Next, please"

Seoha didn't understand what was wrong with her today. She had only gone through four applicants, but she was exhausted. Dryly smiling to herself, she realized why - she had been working at the office all by herself for the past three days, scheduling appointments and submitting executive summaries to the head of the board on top of her responsibilities of watching over the wing, especially the interns, and responding to calls when others couldn't figure out how to use the new printer that they had installed. Why? Well, the answer was fairly obvious, but Seoha could only laugh when she thought of the absurdity of it all. The three couldn't have chosen a more perfect time to go on vacation. The week of choosing two new interns to add into her batch, and all of her assisstants were gone. Honestly, Seoha had really been hoping that this was their idea of a practical joke, but to no avail. 

She didn't realize that the last appicant was walking in, calmly talking a seat at the chair in the center of the white room, directly in front of her desk on the far wall from the door. If she had looked up as he walked in, perhaps she would've seen the furrowing of the brows, detecting his hesitance to walk in, shoulders tensing, but dropping just as quickly as he braced himself for the interview. 

He was lucky she wasn't looking, he thought, because that would've been bad as a first impression. His father had always told him to act confident, regardless to how he really felt on the inside. It made people think you were a great leader. Even if you weren't. And Taehyung was definately not a great leader. 

Taehyung could hardly hold in his nervousness as Seoha took the time to glance over his application. Thank goodness that Jimin, who had gone in just before him to do the interview, had given him a heads up before hand. Otherwise, Taehyung wasn't sure if he would've been able to collect himself. She was just as pretty as he remembered, and it wasn't helping his heart beat that she was so beauti-

"Mr. Kim Taehyung?" Seoha abruptly cut off his train of thought.

"Y-yes, hello, nice to meet you." He smiled, trying to establish a less awkward atmosphere and break the tension heavy in the room. 

"I apologize for any discomfort this scenario may bring - its not ideal to have me be the only person carrying out interviews, but due to - ah - unprecented circumstances, lets calll it, I ended up with the whole responsibility. Now we'll just get started right away. You wrote on your application that you were previously a lawyer. I'm sure that job pays better than being an intern here - do you mind if I ask why you quit?"

If Seoha had caught on to the fact that Taehyung seemed uncomfortable, she didn't let it show. Taehyung had momentarily started to shift in his seat until he caught himself going against what he had just moments ago been determined to do - be confident. Answering half-heartedly it was due to some personal problem - which Seoha accepted as the best answer she was going to get - Taehyung was able to get over the rest of the interview in a flash. 

"Thank you Mr. Kim - I will be contacting you by tonight whether or not you have been accepted."

Taehyung bowed slightly before leaving the room, and only then was he able to let out the deep breathe he didn't realize he was keeping inside. 

---

Seoha let out a deep breath as soon as the last applicant had left. 

She was finally done with all of the interviews, and glad to know that it was pretty obvious who the two best applicants were. Seoha had been at a lost for words at how unprepared the first two applicants were, and was only slightly impressed by the third one. She didn't understand how their applications were so strong when they all appeared to be horrible at holding impressive conversations with people. 

---

That night, as Jimin and Taehyung were eating dinner together in their appartment per usual, they got emails saying they were to start work tomorrow. 

Taehyung wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

"Mr. Kim, visiting hours are over now." The nurse popped her head in through the door.

Taehyung glanced at the clock - how was it already 11? Whether it was a one sided conversation or a two sided one, time always managed to fly when he was with her. He couldn't believe it. 

Promising to come back tomorrow to finish the story, Taehyung left, but with a heavy heart.

It had been hard to live through it - how was he supposed to withstand the memories?

This is my punishment. It's my fault - it's all my fault. 

Taehyung was willing to bear all the pain if only some miracle would occur. 

A/N 

Hello!

It's been a while - a very, very long while. 

I'm so sorry, but I have a new found respect for authors now, as updating is a lot harder than I thought...

Anyways, I'll try my best, but I'm not sure how often I can update! I have the whole story planned out - it's just a matter of physically writing it out. 

Thank you! 

-caramelmushrooms