Jinsol had always prided herself on having an adequate work-life balance. So, for her, something like sleeping at the office was a first. She squinted at the oncoming light in her giant office, cursing her past self for leaving the windows uncovered and again for purchasing the most uncomfortable couch ever made. Her back was killing from repeated nights on it. She made a mental note to ask Jiwoo to order a new one.
Han Jinsol couldn't remember the last time she'd enjoyed the comfort of her bed, nor when she'd had more than a few hours of sleep. At that point, she was running solemnly on coffee, salads, and the occasional snack Jiwoo snuck her in.
Speaking of it, a steaming cup of coffee was already waiting for her when she approached her desk. She still wondered how the redhead managed to sneak in without ever waking her, but it'd become a bit like a routine. By the time Jinsol woke up from yet an uncomfortable night spent on her couch, a coffee and muffin would be waiting for her.
After the poisoning incident -Jinsol still called it that despite Haneul's insistent that it'd been an honest mistake by her secretary- Jiwoo had become suspiciously competent at her job. By the end of that first week, even Jinsol had to admit that the woman was scarily good at it. She somehow managed to anticipate anything Jinsol might need. When the night at the office started, Jiwoo set up a cupboard to hold a change of clothes for the ready. The longer the month went on, the harder Jinsol thought it'd be to have any valid reason not to give her the job.
Sighing, Jinsol siped on the warm beverage before moving to the small powder room. By eight, she was behind her desk, going through graphs and charts. As popular as Atypical was, it had been experiencing a slight decline in the months preceding its acquisition. A first glance at the data would have told anyone that it'd had to do with a decrease in sales. Predictably so, but when digging further, Jinsol realized that all indicators were in the green. The company noted records sales and engagement in those months. The problem resided in a drop in quantity. Somehow, the magazine was churning out half the quota of previous years.
Even with her at the helm, they were nowhere near its release schedule at its peak. The upcoming Seoul Fashion Week would not only be her first big event with the magazine, but it was also a way to soft launch its new directives. Everything had to be perfect.
Her train of thought was interrupted by sudden knocks at the door, followed by Jiwoo's entrance. Jinsol turned her attention to the redhead as she stalked closer, holding a bag from the dry cleaner. "I got your clothes from your dry cleaner. Where should I put them?"
Jinsol motioned to a chair in one of the further corners of the room. Once she'd laid the bag on it, Jiwoo returned by her side. She brought up her notepad and started listing Jinsol's schedule for the day. "You're meeting with the editorial team is in an hour, after that, you have another one with the publishing department in block b. The SFW called to know how many press passes you required. They've set their maximum attendees from each publication at seven."
Jinsol thought about it before giving her answer. "Five should be enough." Jiwoo jutted down her answer before moving to the next point. It went like that for a good five minutes before they finally reached the last one.
Jinsol was ready to return to her files when Jiwoo seemingly remembered something. The redhead, who by then was already half out the door, turned around. "Your mother-" She started.
"Stepmother," Jinsol corrected her
"I already told you to call her my Stepmother."
"Right, sorry. Your stepmother asked if you could answer her calls and meet her."
Jinsol sighed. She'd forwarded Sora's call the second Jiwoo became more adapted to the job and had done a great job at avoiding the woman. "Tell her that I'm busy and stop calling my number. If she wants to reach me, she can make an appointment like everyone else."
Her secretary looked like she wanted to say something but seemed to decide against it, choosing instead to leave her office. For some reason, every time the subject of her stepmother would be brought up, Jiwoo would have that weird expression on her face. Jinsol couldn't quite tell what it was.
Realizing that she probably wouldn't do much work before the meeting with the editorial team, Jinsol abandoned her graphs and charts to observe the bag her assistant had just left her with. She had an inkling there would be something bedside pressed shirts and pants in that bag. Sure enough, nestled between the perfectly ironed clothes, she found a lollipop.
That was also something that had developed in the past few weeks. Jiwoo would hide sweets in her office for her to find. Sometimes, it was a chocolate bar amongst files she handed in or desserts along with her lunch, and whenever Jinsol left the office for meetings outside, she would always come back to a sweet surprise waiting for her.
At first, she thought the redhead misplaced her snack among her documents. To then start suspecting her of trying to bribe her with them. In the end, it started being something she looked forward to. It'd turned into a game. Jiwoo would place sweets and snacks in increasingly sneaky places, and Jinsol would do her best to locate them all. How she'd known Jinsol's guilty pleasure still escaped the young editor-in-chief.
Glancing at the coffee table by the sofa, she saw the untouched Gundam. She hadn't even opened it, let alone started building it. It's been a sore sight after so many years. Jinsol didn't quite know what to make of it. So she'd avoided even touching the thing.
Despite the shock and hint of memory that threatened to break the dam and drown her once again, the sight of it made her feel strangely warm inside. Eleven years. She hadn't touched one in over eleven long years.
She'd suspected Haneul at first, but the apology note that accompanied it was an even bigger surprise than the figurine. That was the first time she might have judged the redhead too quickly. Perhaps to Jiwoo, it had been a way to make amend, pricy one at that- the model she'd chosen was one even Jinsol would have raised eyebrows at-, but she probably wasn't aware what it meant to her.
"What's got you smiling like that?" Jinsol jumped at the sudden intrusion.
"Shit, Haneul. I told you to stop doing that. You're really gonna give someone a heart attack one day."
"Yeah, yeah. You still didn't answer my question." Jinsol knew well enough that expression on her friend's face. It was of pure mischief.
"Nothing. I wasn't smiling." Deny, deny, deny.
"I literally saw you." Haneul insisted.
"Well, you must have hallucinated."
"Bulshit. What's that in your hand?" Haneul made an attempt to grab at the lollipop still in Jinsol's hands. Jinsol was quicker than her, having already extended the sweet out of Haneul's range. Being taller than her friend definitely had its perks. She mocked her friends further by taking off the wrap and putting the sweet in her mouth.
Bested, Haneul could only pout. "You use dirty tricks, Miss Han."
"Perhaps if you were taller, Miss Im." She got a finger in response.
"So, what have you been up to? I don't see you for two weeks and return to a smiling mess."
"I wasn't- you know what? Whatever. I'm glad to see you too. And for information, I'm drowning in paperwork." Jinsol moved to sit on the couch. "I don't think I've ever felt this sore." She made a show of stretching to stress her point and was sure she heard a few things crack.
"Look at you sounding like an old woman." Haneul joked. "Soon, you'll get grey hairs too." She went to sit next to Jinsol before stopping in her stride. Jinsol followed her line of sight, only to fall on the Gundam box.
The look in Haneul was unreadable as she picked the box up before turning her attention back to Jinsol. "I didn't you- I never thought I would ever see you again with one." Her voice was full of emotion, and it was starting to make Jinsol uncomfortable. "Did you buy it yourself?"
Jinsol rubbed the back of her neck. "No, it was a gift."
Something like understanding seemed to dawn on Haneul. "I didn't think she would-" She muttered under her breath. Unfortunately for her, Jinsol caught that.
"Huh, what are you talking? Who did you think wouldn't do what?" She'd had an inkling Haneul had something to do with the redhead's sudden knowledge of her quirks, but still.
The sheepish look on Haneul's face was all she needed to know. "I might have made an offhand mention to Jiwoo, but I didn't think she'd go buy you one."
Jinsol sighed. Of course, that's what happened. "Why would you even tell her that to begin with?"
Haneul shrugged. "I don't know. I thought things would get better between you guys if she didn't see you as some big bad wolf straight out of a Grims story. And by the look of that little smile of yours, I did good."
"I don't know what you're referring to."
"Oh, com'mon. You haven't called me even once in the last two weeks threatening to fire her. You called me at least ten times her first two days." Haneul had taken place on the sofa next to Jinsol.
"Well, I haven't had much to complain about." Jinsol relented
"I knew it," Haneul exclaimed triumphantly. "Admit it, I've never been wrong even once about that kind of thing. My radar stays undefeated."
Jinsol rolled her eyes. "Are you here just to gloat, or is there a particular reason that brings on this side of the company?"
"What? Can't a woman visit an old friend of hers without reason?"
"Not when-" Knocks at the door interrupted whatever rebuttal Jinsol had on the ready. Jiwoo peeked inside to remind her that her meeting with the editorial department was in five minutes. Sighing, Jinsol got up from the couch. "I guess we'll have to catch up later."
"Of course," Haneul followed suit soon after. "Let me escort to the conference room." She was already walking past Jinsol towards the door.
"I don't need an escort." Jinsol countered.
"Oh, please. Maybe I should've told Jiwoo just how much of a klutz you are."
"It was one time."
"What about that time you ran into a poll?"
"That doesn't count."
They were already outside the office, banter still alive, when their path crossed that of two people heading in the same direction. The four of them came to a standstill. In front of Jinsol and Haneul stood Wang Lifen and Park Sooyoung. The easy-going atmosphere that had been hanging in the air seemed to have been suddenly sucked out of the whole building.
Jinsol didn't like Miss Park. The woman had never hidden that she wasn't Jinsol's biggest fan, and since taking over, the two of them had been constantly butting heads. Whenever the two of them were in the same room, there would just be a tense aura hanging. It didn't help that every interaction was handled in such a passive-aggressive manner that the other employees would simply stay out of it.
"After you, Miss Han." Park Sooyoung was the one to break the silence, making space for Jinsol to move ahead.
"Thank you, Miss Park." Jinsol knew that the next hour would be a tough one. She probably should text Jiwoo to bring her something for her inevitable head ache.