Mi-Suk shot Min-Jun a dirty look. Waving a hand at him in dismissal, she replied to his previous words.
"No, silly! It means that it's more than just a coincidence."
She then turned towards her friend, a wide grin suddenly appearing on her face.
"If you two meet a third time, that means it's destiny."
"Yes, indeed. They will be destined to work in the same building forever and ever, happily ever after." Min-Jun retorted, rolling his eyes at her. "Really, Mi-Suk, you should just stop thinking altogether. With that logic of yours it's a miracle you got to finish school." He finished with a shrug.
Mi-Suk groaned, feeling the annoyance bubbling in her chest. Without being able to stop herself any longer, she threw a tangerine peel at him.
As if to aggravate her even more, Min-Jun casually stretched a long arm, and breezily plucked the peel from the air. Then, she shot her an arrogant smirk, his eyes glinting with an air of challenge.
"Stop it you two." Su-Jin warned, barely repressing a chuckle.
After all these years, she was already used to their antics. But even so, letting them get too far with the teasing never ended well.
Last time it happened, Mi-Suk almost threw a pot at her brother's face. Instead of being angry, he easily dodged the projectile, while laughing at Mi-Suk for having poor aim.
Sometimes, Su-Jin suspected that her brother did all that on purpose just to irk her friend. The reason why he would do that, though, was quite a mystery to her. Boys and men were like an entirely different race to her. She never knew what they were thinking, always acting in the most baffling manners possible.
As such, Su-Jin decided to reason with her overly-romantic best friend, all in the name of peace.
"Mi-Suk, I think my brother is quite right. It's silly to think that meeting three times is something like destiny. I mean, we work for the same company, so isn't it a given that we might run into each other often?" Su-Jin said reasonably.
"Alright, alright, I can see how you two are related." Mi-Suk snapped. She crossed her arms, glaring at both siblings. "Honestly, you two do not have a single drop of romantic sentiment."
"Hey, I do have that!" Su-Jin cried out indignantly. "I just don't think that this is the case right now." She added defensively.
"Fine. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens then." Mi-Suk said, ending the conversation with a huff.
~~~
Friday finally came, feeling like a blessing.
Su-Jin was so happy that morning when she came to work that she was almost walking on clouds. Nine hours from then, she would be walking out of Kangji Tourism to enjoy the long-awaited weekend. Usually, the company worked Saturdays as well, but Director Kang told them they were not required to come that weekend.
In this way, Su-Jin was left with two days of doing absolutely nothing. Well, maybe she could help Min-Jun with the house chores. His exams were approaching fast, and he looked too exhausted. But other than that, she could laze around, eat, play with Gyojeon and watch dramas.
During the day, nothing too major happened, making it seem like any other ordinary and eventless day. However, five minutes before six, Deputy Director Kim Seo-Jun appeared out of nowhere and dropped a bomb on Su-Jin.
"We are going out to celebrate today!" he declared excitedly, looking at his team members.
They all glanced at each other first. After making sure neither one knew what this was all about, they then turned to look at the Deputy Director.
"Uhm, Deputy Director Kim, what exactly are we celebrating?" Su-Jin asked hesitantly.
"You two of course!" he replied matter-of-factly.
He raised both hands and gestured towards Su-Jin and Yeon-Ah.
"Eh?!" the two girls cried out in astonishment.
"We are going to celebrate your joining the company. This shall be our first team dinner." Seo-Jun shot them both an exuberant grin.
"Sir, I am afraid I cannot…" Jung Seok began, but was cut off immediately.
'You are coming with us tonight." Seo-Jun said firmly, yet still smiling.
Jung Seok trembled. He swallowed what he had wanted to say, and hastily bowed his head.
"Yes, sir." he responded loudly.
Witnessing this scene, Su-Jin's mouth twitched.
'There is really no winning with this guy. He's just too intense.' she contemplated, staring at the Deputy Director with wide eyes.
Right at that moment, Ji-Won came out of his office, looking for some papers. Seo-Jun hastened to help him. But before he did any of that, Seo-Jun made sure to tell Director Kang about the team dinner first.
"I'm not coming." Ji-Won refused flatly.
Su-Jin scoffed. She had expected that kind of answer from him.
That should have been it. Nevertheless, Seo-Jun seemed unabashed, like he was used to his friend's 'playing hard to get' style. They seemed to be in a strange 'push and pull' kind of relationship.
Seeing their weird dynamic, Su-Jin couldn't help but wonder how a cheerful man like the Deputy Director could stay around an icy-cold person like Director Kang. And even become best friends no less.
"Nonsense, of course you're coming." Seo-Jun pressed the matter further.
He picked up the pace, following Ji-Won back into his office. All the while ke kept nagging and trying to convince the Director to join their outing.
"Fine, I will even offer to pay for the drinks, if you are really so stingy that you're afraid to pay." Su-Jin heard Seo-Jun say, just as the door was closing behind him.
"What do you think?" Yeon-Ah asked Su-Jin, as soon as they were alone again.
"About what?" Su-Jin blinked in confusion.
At first, she didn't understand her friend's words. Then, realizing what Yeong-Ah had meant, she began to laugh.
"I think it's a nice idea. Having a team dinner is a given, especially after our first week of working together."
After saying that, Su-Jin craned her neck to look at Jung Seok from above her monitor. She lowered her voice so no one except for the three of them could hear.
"What do you think? I believe you were about to say you couldn't come."
"Yes, my mother is coming from out of town, and I wanted to pick her up from the bus station. But I will give her the address to my place. She has the key to my apartment, so she can go first and wait for me there." Jung Seok replied with a soft sigh.
He didn't seem angry or annoyed, though. In fact, Su-Jin couldn't see any kind of emotion on his face or feel anything resonating from his voice. Either he was masking it really well, for which Su-Jin could only congratulate him, or Jung Seok really was the type who didn't get upset easily.
"Doesn't your mother know your address?" Yeon-Ah asked him in surprise.
"It's a new place. I started renting it this week." He replied in the same steady voice.
"Then it's settled. We are all going." Su-Jin said smiling.
"I don't think Director Kang will come, though." Yeon-Ah glanced towards the Director's office.
"So what? We'll be better off without him." Su-Jin huffed, then she muttered more to herself than for anyone else to hear. "Seeing that scowling face of his will only make the alcohol taste bitter."