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( song of the day :
up from here - wayv )

taeyong stopped by the sales team's station, watching over their current status since seoyeon and johnny were finally returning from their emergency leaves tomorrow.

a male's tall figure that exited the elevator distracted ryot from her workload, replacing her concentration with huge surprise.

"fuck, why is he here?" she whispered in frustration.

all of them could notice him walk towards their station closer. with much courage, ryot stood up from her office chair since she immediately knew she was the target. "who is he?"

". . one of my flings."

"fling ?! i thought you were dating ta━" sicheng stopped jace with a nudge before having the ability to finish that statement. in result, he rubbed his shoulder that has suffered countless times from sicheng's harsh nudges.

once ryot's so-called fling arrived, the two of them stood in front of one another, him plastering a smug smirk. he began to say, "you think i wouldn't find you, huh?"

"why are you here?"

his fingertips found their ways to her wrist forcefully. despite her longing to slide away from his grip, she couldn't. his hand was too heavy.

when ryot thought that all the rays of hope were inconceivable, taeyong came in between them, pushing the man away from her. "respect her decision, man. she doesn't want you here."

"why the fuck do you care ?!"

with one last glare, the violent man unexpectedly threw a punch at the brunette boy's jaw, causing him to stumble. taeyong started to turn woozy because of the intolerable pain, unable to stand up.

this, of course, received a negative reaction from the other workers around them. their stepping back was accompanied by a sea of murmuring.

a terrifying shout that echoed from feet away caused the entire ruckus to halt from the employees' fear. ahn angrily stood there with his hands stuffed in his pockets, a fire set inside his two eyes. he wasn't one to shout usually, but the situation was going out of hand. the guards pulled the violent man away from the building.

"ms. yao, come to my office."

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ryot sat on the guest chair inside ahn's office, being able to see how he flipped through her files.

he rested his left temple on his two fingers, heaving a long-suffering sigh. "your performance is dropping badly. being late for consecutively four days? getting escalated for god knows how many times? going overtime with lunch and being found in the smoking area?

"if you keep on screwing up, i don't think i have a choice but━"

"you can't fire me," she replied without even letting him finish his entire declaration.

"and why is that?"

it was noticeable that this was bound to be long once she inhaled deeply. "look at everything you're gonna lose if you do. if you really want to give me a punishment, at least just lower my position or change my department to pr or something like that. i have multiple connections with multiple people, and isn't that an objective our company has? to widen connections? but if you really insist, then i'll accept my fate."

ahn thought about it for a while and for some reason, she had a point.

"you gotta be thankful that jaehyun and seoyeon weren't here at the office to see that scene in person," he said with a small smile. "if they were, you would've gotten an earful twice while being fired without hesitation.

"now go get your man!"

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once the nurse, son eunseo, completed her treatment for the minor injuries taeyong attained from the brutal punch, she exited the clinic quickly which left only him and ryot inside.

"why'd you do that for me?" with that question, she broke the minute-long obscurity lingering all over the room. "why are you risking your wellbeing for mine?"

his eyes were selectively focused on the marble floor, his mind burning with words that couldn't seem to slide off his tongue. the melancholy was so strong to the point where you can sense it from a room away.

"you know, ryot, i do like you, but i didn't do that because of my romantic feelings," he answered. "i just can't afford seeing you get hurt, and it's been like that ever since. i know that if i just let you get harmed then and there, i'd only suffer larger pain. i'm sorry if what i do makes you feel weak. i didn't mean for it to be that way. i just━"

taeyong suddenly felt a warm pair of hands cup his cheeks, gently tipping his head up. his eyes immediately directed to ryot's smile that reeked genuine comfort.

"i like you too, but please don't harm yourself because of me."

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♤ gabrielle's note

y'all, have you seen how pretty haneul's face claim is in wjsn's recent comeback 🤩😍 she makes me question a lot of things.

#gaybrielle