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( song of the day :
always be with you
- baek a yeon )

mark decided to have a talk about work with yuta. but before entering the cfo's territory itself, he had to stop by the secretarial desk right in front of yuta's office.

nixie attentively stood up, exhibiting a dimpled smile. she wore a beige pencil skirt that was only a little above her knees. a straigtened baby pink chiffon blouse completed her overall outfit, along with white stilettos.

"oh, about my friend who wants to apply, here's her profile," she cheerfully said, handing him a neat white folder consisting of binded sheets of paper. "she's available this thursday. maybe you can set an appointment by then?"

because of his occupied mind travelling all over the place, the folder accidentally dropped after its surface brushed his fingertips.

mark bent down to pick it up.

nixie did the same thing.

the two ended up in a cliché moment comparable to a scene of a high school themed kdrama, hands gently on top of each other while their eyes innocently interlocked. none of them seemed to have the desire to stand up.

he then started hiccuping.

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yuta's smirk radiated exhaustion. nevertheless, he didn't pass on an opportunity to have a small conversation with his friend. "i know you only came here to see nixie kang. stop lying and saying it's about work."

"okay, okay you got me there." he posed as if he was a criminal in a state of surrender. "but i really have something to ask you . . about her."

this captivated his friend's interest, despite knowing that there's a high chance he'd be unable to answer correctly. "spill."

"why do i keep hiccuping when i come in contact with her?" mark lowered his tone of speaking to be sure that the girl doesn't hear them from outside. "like, whether in calls or in person, i just go hiccup hiccup when she or her voice is close. am i like, allergic to human touch or something?"

without warning, yuta intertwined his fingers to mark's, which were on top of his desk, shooting him a flirtatious stare directly to his two eyes. this made mark panic a little.

"dude, what the fuck are you doing?"

the cfo immediately let go of his hand after sensing the confusion. he then let a hearty chuckle slip from his lips afterwards.

"you're not allergic to human touch, mark," he said. "you're in love with her."

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"what if i quit?"

those four words uttered by kiki was enough to divert jungwoo's attention from his hamburger. the both of them were currently out for lunch at a subway near the office.

"this job, i mean," she continued, a cloudy expression taking over her innocent features. her chin was rested on her palm as she spoke. "it's just . . i don't know if i'm doing anything right at this point. i'm letting personal things interfere with my current work, and it's tainting my productivity. sir taeyong always coached me about leadership, but i can't apply anything. what do i do, jungwoo? what do i do?"

jungwoo heard how her voice slightly faded once her statement ended, a dark ray of hopelessness present. he hesitantly rubbed circles on her back for comfort, carefully thinking of what he's supposed to say.

"well if you quit, what would we, the pr team, do without you?" jungwoo began to say. "think of us as fragments, then you as glue. how would we function without you? how would we operate well? we need you. i need you.

"so don't go so quickly."

part of himself knew that he only did this convincing because he definitely couldn't stand a day at work without her prescence. he knew could never last a day at work, grasping the fact that she wouldn't attend. he could never accept another person plopping themselves on her office chair.

and by those particular moments of sympathizing with her pain while his hand rested on her back, he already knew that he could never live without her.

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