Work Text:
"How about this guy?" Suzy pushed her iPad towards Jieun, "Do you know him?"
Jieun rolled her eyes, "Just because I'm in an orchestra does not mean I know every single person in the city who plays violin," she grumbled. Suzy took her iPad and continued to type and tap on the screen, "Well… recommend someone for me, then." She, as well as a few others on their floor, was tasked to plan her boss's proposal to his boyfriend of ten years, and Suzy was stuck on finding the perfect musician to serenade the whole event. So she sought Jieun's expert opinion because music is not to be trifled with - especially on such a special and important occasion. "I'll have someone call you tomorrow if we can stop talking about this and talk about something more important," Jieun narrowed her eyes.
"What's going on with you and Jinyoung?"
Suzy knew this question was coming; she's been asking her this every other week for the past two months since she and Jinyoung reconnected again. "Nothing," she answered, taking a sip of her mimosa. Jieun rolled her eyes, "What are you two waiting for?" Suzy shrugged lightly, "We're just taking our time." Jieun eyed her for a moment before asking, "And you're okay with it?"
"Yes," she answered firmly and she meant it.
Even though they never talked about it, there was an undercurrent of a promise between her and Jinyoung. After they met at the coffee shop, it was back to normal in the best way possible. They were fully embracing the flirtiness with each text message they exchange every day. They try to meet as often as they could, which was not easy given how busy things were (being the newest hire at a law firm meant ridiculous hours, which made it almost impossible for Jinyoung to even eat a proper lunch on most days), but they're happy to just be there for one another.
Like last month when Suzy needed to figure out how to set up the new smart light bulbs that her brother had gotten her for her birthday. She messaged him a picture of the boxes followed by a simple, "Help?" and he told her that he'd be there in a few hours - he had a brief to finish and submit before 7 PM. She replied with a smiley emoji and immediately contemplated what she should Postmates for him. She already had dinner but she knew that he probably hadn't eaten since lunch. So when he arrived, he was greeted by the smell of pad thai and a can of cold beer.
Or on her birthday dinner when he completely charmed the pants off of every single one of her co-workers who were there. She was initially worried that Jinyoung would be too tired or be uncomfortable by the crowd since he was in the middle of a particularly tricky case. She recalled that Jinyoung was not the biggest fan of crowds during exam time when they were in high school. So she told him that he didn't need to come or that he could just leave early and that she’d completely understand (and she really, genuinely would). But to her surprise, he was a complete charmer. It was only when they had a moment to themselves, just when they were about to say goodbye and everyone else had left, that she saw the tiredness on his face. So she hugged him a little tighter.
Things aren't necessarily easy but she doesn't mind because she knows that this time, time is on their side.
***
Jinyoung's eyes were starting to glaze over at the documents before him. He had been working on this opening statement all day and he was far from done. He glanced briefly at the clock on the corner of his computer screen and fought the urge to sigh. His eyes surveyed the conference room that they are currently occupying.
They’re in the middle of one of the firm’s biggest cases and this room has been turned into the command center. The lead attorney is one of the firm’s senior partners, the one who took Jinyoung under his wing ever since he was an intern at the firm, and Jinyoung as well as a few other junior associates were put on this case with him. Around him were the senior partner and the other associates who were animatedly discussing the case. John, one of the associates who had started at the same time as Jinyoung, turned to him and asked, “What do you think?” Jinyoung shook his head, “I need to finish this,” knowing that he’ll never get this done if he started chiming in the conversation. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the glass door, “There’s someone here to see Jinyoung.”
“Who is it?” John asked and Jinyoung shrugged before walking out of the conference room, wondering if he had missed an appointment in his calendar, but quickly dismissing that possibility since his schedule’s been blocked for this case and nothing else. He was about to grab his phone out of his pocket to check if there was a message for him when he found his answer.
Or rather, he heard his answer.
His eyes found the source of that very familiar laughter and he couldn’t help but smile. Suzy was standing by the front desk, her head thrown back and mouth wide, laughing at something that Huiryung was saying. He’s always loved that about Suzy; she never holds back and would laugh with her whole body. He placed his hand on the small of her back and politely greeted Huiryung. “I know I probably shouldn’t be too happy but you two make a very cute couple,” Huiryung added before she left.
Jinyoung waited for a beat before he moved to stand in front of her, “What brings you all the way to Manhattan?” he asked.
“I had a meeting around here and thought I’d stop by to say hello. I was hoping I could take you out for a short walk since you probably haven’t seen the sun in days,” she answered and he couldn’t help but marvel at how pretty she looked today (she looks pretty every day if Jinyoung’s being honest but especially today since he hasn’t seen her in a week) in her black pencil skirt, pale pink floral top, and nude heels.
“I can’t,” he answered sadly, “I need to finish a draft of the opening statement by 3 PM today.”
“I figured as much,” she smiled and handed him a big, white paper bag that was sitting on the counter, “Lawyers need fuel too, right? I don’t know what your colleagues like so I just got a bit of everything.” He peeked inside the bag and recognized the word ‘Milk’ written in pink as one of Suzy’s favorite dessert shops in town.
“You’re the best, do you know that?” the words came out before he could stop himself, and the grin that appeared made him want to reach over and kiss her. But he settled on squeezing her hand, hoping that the overwhelming warmth and gratefulness that he’s feeling reaches her.
Fifteen minutes later, he must’ve still been smiling when he returned to the conference room because John’s tone is teasing when he asked, “Why didn’t Suzy come in and say hi?” The two had met a few weeks ago over drinks and had hit it off. He knew he shouldn’t have been worried in the first place since making friends is never a weakness of hers. But it was nice to see her get along with his friends.
So now, with his mouth full of the birthday cake truffle, Jinyoung just rolled his eyes at John and continued to work, making a mental note to give her a call tonight.
***
I had an awful day at work.
I’ll call you in thirty minutes?
Can I just stop by your office? I’m in Manhattan.
Sure.
Jinyoung was staring at the corner of his laptop, waiting for an email notification from the building’s security system to pop up, informing him of his guest’s arrival. When the notification didn’t arrive after thirty minutes, he decided to just pack up his stuff and headed downstairs. He contemplated pulling out his phone to ask for her whereabouts when he spotted her outside.
“Hey. Why didn’t you come up?” he asked. She looked startled and glanced at her watch. “I was planning to come up but lost track of time,” her voice sounded hoarse.
Jinyoung wanted to run his hand over her tired eyes and pull her into his embrace. She lacked that cheeriness and liveliness that was so distinctly her, so things must’ve been pretty bad at work. “What happened?” he asked, settling his hand on her shoulder. Immediately, she let out a heavy sigh and told him about a new account that has been giving her a hard time.
“I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing, you know? Listening to them, tweaking our pitch, get yelled at by them, and repeat,” she leaned her head on the glass wall. “The people from that company came to our office today and was just berating us, saying that we charge them too much for the quality that we offer bla bla bla. It took so much in me not to yell back at them and cry. We can’t lose that account so I said absolutely nothing. If they know so much about corporate comms, then why don’t they do it themselves?” her voice began to rise.
Jinyoung ran his hand up and down her arm, hoping that it would provide some sort of comfort for her. He knew that her job was demanding. She manages the big accounts for her company because of her experience in LA and dealing with a New York-based company that had a different style than the ones she was used to have been a struggle for her. She had shared her frustrations with him in the past but this time, it seemed like things had gotten too much. “I want to quit and just live in a forest somewhere where I don’t have to deal with people,” she closed her eyes in defeat.
“Where are you gonna find a forest with Levain Bakery and wifi for your Netflix?” he teased. “I’m sure that exists somewhere in Northern Europe. One of those welfare countries,” she replied, a small smile forming on her lips. “I don’t think I can survive in a forest, so I can’t come with you,” he pulled her away from the glass wall, “Buuuut I can buy a slice of pizza right now.”
She opened her eyes and squinted at him playfully, “Just one slice?”
“As many as you want,” he suppressed a laugh at this adorably pouty Suzy.
She pondered for a few seconds, “The kind with the pepperoni cups?”
“Of course. What am I… a monster?” he answered as they began to walk in the direction of the subway.
Later that night as they hugged goodbye, he squeezed her a bit tighter than usual, hoping it could communicate everything he was feeling towards her.
***
They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder and Jinyoung had no idea that he would be feeling the effects of that with someone he’s not even technically dating (“Technically…” John had teased him about that a few weeks ago, which made Jinyoung chug his pint of beer to hide his embarrassment). It’s not like he and Suzy see each other every day. Over the last four months, they’ve probably met once or twice a week. They text every day, of course, to the point that his boss had jokingly asked if they should initiate a no-cellphone policy since Jinyoung is very much glued to his device. They talk on the phone as well every couple of days or so when they had time.
Things were going well - great, in fact. It felt like they were in this budding relationship where they knew the outcome but was just enjoying this process of courtship - of sending each other flirtatious texts and phone calls here and there. He was introducing her to his colleagues and his friends (Jackson had insisted that he be FaceTimed when Jinyoung introduced Suzy to Jaebum and Jackson, predictably, was squealing like a little girl… much to Jinyoung’s utter embarrassment), and she was introducing him to her circle of friends in New York, which consisted mostly of her co-workers at the moment but he could tell that she enjoyed spending time with them outside of work too.
They were learning new sides to one another as well. While Suzy still hates exercise in general, she’d force herself to go on a run twice a week and Jinyoung was more than happy to accompany her when he could. Jinyoung was still the same hyper-focused man that he’s always been, but now enjoys IPAs and other drinks. He even pays for one of those beer subscription boxes. He learned that Suzy is an absolute fiend for desserts and would go to the ends of the Earth to find good ones. She was never big on cooking in high school but she has now ventured into the kitchen, cooking one or two meals at home every week and Jinyoung has been more than happy to enjoy the leftovers that she Postmates to him at lunch. Jinyoung, ever the staunch reader of hard copy books who was quite smug about his hatred for eReaders back then, has now ventured to podcasts and eBooks, which earned him a lot of teasing from Suzy. It was all exciting… learning these things about one another and discovering them together has been fun.
So when he heard that he was being sent to Chicago for a two-week business trip, he expected it to not be so hard since they’re not yet officially dating. But after a few days in Chicago, he realized that not being in the same city as her was proving to be more difficult than he expected. They still texted each other and she had called him when he was having dinner with Jackson a few nights ago to say hi to the guy. But it wasn’t quite the same. He missed her more than usual and as much as he loves being able to spend time with Jackson, he couldn’t wait to come back to New York
It was why Jinyoung had this very un-Jinyoung-like idea of coming straight to her office from the airport. His flight landed at noon and instead of going straight to his apartment, he asked his company driver to drop him off in Brooklyn instead. He came armed with his suitcase, briefcase, and a box of cookies that Jackson had helped him bought the day before. She had told him that she had a busy day of meetings outside of the office today so he left the box on her desk.
Later that night, he was in the middle of catching up on all the podcasts that he missed while cleaning his apartment when he heard a series of impatient knocks on the door.
“You’re back!” she squealed before he could even say hi, pulling him into a hug. He laughed as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the familiar scent of her perfume (it was Daisy by Marc Jacobs). “The cookies were amazing!” she beamed after they separated and he couldn’t help but smile at the genuine happiness on her face. “It was incredibly hard but I managed to save three cookies for you. Everyone in the office went crazy for them,” she placed the bag of cookies on his counter with a flourish.
“You didn’t have to,” he opened his cabinet and pulled out two wine glasses, “But thank you. Jackson told me that they were the best cookies in Chicago.” He handed her a glass of wine and walked over to the couch where Suzy was seated with her legs folded underneath her.
“So how was Chicago?” she asked and he began to tell her about the case, the places that he went to see, the food he ate, and about Jackson’s ridiculously gigantic TV at home (“It’s 75 inches. And his living room is not even that much bigger than mine,” he told her). He realized that he wasn’t telling her anything incredibly interesting and yet he was excited to share all these details with her. He had been exhausted after his two-week trip and cleaning his apartment all afternoon was not the best way to unwind, but he could feel himself finally relax as he sat across from her, hearing her talk about something that her coworker did today that made her laugh.
A few hours later when he stood outside of the curb, watching as the Uber left his street he thought about how much he would love to be able to do this every night.
***
She knew that tonight’s dinner with Jinyoung was going to be something special - something more than usual. Ever since he came back from Chicago, there’s an added intensity in their relationship that she welcomed. So she was predictably excited and nervous about tonight’s dinner. After Jieun proved herself to be unhelpful when asked about which dress she should wear tonight (“What does it matter? He probably prefers you without anything on,” her best friend had retorted), she sent half a dozen pictures to the group text that she has with her co-workers that she had grown extremely close with on and off work. Based on the many many back and forths, she finally settled on a simple black dress that hit just above the knees and hugged her in all the right places. She was just applying her red lipstick when she saw Jinyoung’s text.
Gonna have to cancel tonight.
Coming down with a fever.
I’m so sorry.
She stopped what she was doing and quickly changed out of her dress before ordering an Uber, shooting a quick text to let him know that she was coming.
She’s seen Jinyoung sick before. Back when he was in high school, she recalled him missing school for exactly two days because of a bad case of food poisoning but that was it. He was always careful about staying healthy and it helped that his mom was an incredible cook who’d make sure that he was eating all the right food (Suzy felt guilty at times for being the one to feed him dessert and junk food during their dates). So she didn’t quite know what to expect when she knocked on his door. But she knew she was a goner when she still found herself smiling at the sight of him looking utterly disheveled in his Columbia sweatpants and a hoodie, his face pale as a ghost.
He slowly moved aside to let her in and she quickly assessed the situation in his studio: half a dozen used glasses and cups strewn all over the house, tissues everywhere, especially on the couch where she could spot the mountain of blankets he was undoubtedly burying himself in before she came. “You didn’t have to come,” his voice was barely audible as he closed the door. She ignored that comment and immediately placed the brown paper bag on his countertop, “Go back to the couch. I’ll bring the soup.”
A minute later, she walked over and sat next to Jinyoung who had wrapped himself in a blanket cocoon, eyes closed. He looked like he was barely holding himself up and it broke her heart. “Hey… finish the soup, take the medicine and then go to bed, okay?” she explained. He nodded weakly and accepted the bowl. As he ate, she made quick work of clearing all the dirty tissues and cups, filling up a water bottle and placing it on the coffee table next to the medicine she found on the counter. She took his temperature and gasped when it read 102 degrees.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” she asked, knowing that he must’ve been feeling unwell since yesterday. He swallowed before answering, “I was hoping that I was just overly tired from work.” She rolled her eyes and sighed, “You’re an idiot.”
He placed the half-eaten bowl of soup on the table and reached for the water bottle as she handed him the medicine. Even the simple act of swallowing the medicine seemed to zap whatever remaining energy that he had in him because he leaned back on the couch and pulled his blanket cocoon tighter.
“Come on. Let’s get you to bed,” she nudged him. “Are you gonna tuck me in?” he asked, his tone was teasing. She laughed and stood up from the couch, “Sure. I’ll even wait until your fever breaks before I go home.”
“Just stay here,” he whispered as she tucked the blanket around him, “It’ll be too late to Uber home. I’m too sick to do anything to you anyway, so…”
She chuckled, “Too bad because that’s the only reason I would want to stay.” She ran her hand through his hair, smoothing it out when he grabbed it and placed it on his cheek, snuggling into it.
“Sorry about tonight,” he said, eyes closed. She sat on the side of the bed and shook her head even though she knew that he couldn’t see it, “Don’t be. It’s just dinner.”
She spent the next two hours seated next to a sleeping Jinyoung, checking his temperature while re-watching episodes of Queer Eye on mute on his TV. When the fever finally broke and he began to sweat, she breathed a sigh of relief and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep and when she woke up the next morning, it was to the sunlight that filtered through his window and Jinyoung’s arm around her.
***
When he opened his eyes at 4 AM, the first thing he noticed was that Suzy was asleep while seated next to him. His head was still spinning but he sat up and maneuvered her body so that she was lying down on the empty space next to him. Up close, he could see traces of makeup on her face and he felt a pang of guilt - she must’ve been getting ready when he texted her last night. Without a doubt, he would’ve been blown away by how she looked had their plan not been interrupted by his fever. But looking at her now in a t-shirt and linen pants, fast asleep on his bed, he couldn’t imagine looking at anyone more beautiful.
She moved to curl into a fetal position and he placed a blanket over her before standing up to change into fresh clothes since his sweatshirt and sweatpants were soaked in sweat. He quietly slipped back into bed and fell back asleep. Hours later when he opened his eyes again, he marveled at how natural it all felt.
“This is nice,” he whispered moments later when her eyes fluttered open and surveyed the room before returning back to him. When she didn’t move to disentangle herself, he moved so that he’s lying on his side, his eyes level with hers. “Thank you…” he began and was rewarded with a smile that was so simple yet so blinding that he couldn’t suppress the urge to smile back. This is just what she does to him, back when they were fifteen and now too. She makes him smile more than anyone he’s ever known by just being herself.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked, reaching out to feel his forehead.
“So much better,” he answered, “Exponentially better ever since you came back.” ...into my life was the unspoken end to that sentence that he didn’t utter out loud.
She chuckled, “Wow you’re using hyperbolic adverbs now. You must really be sick.”
“Really, though. It’s much better,” his tone serious, “Everything is.”
She smiled, “For me too.”
He couldn’t remember who initiated it, but before he knew it, his lips were on hers. Her fingers were tangled on his hair and his hand was running up and down her back, pulling her closer and closer. Eventually, they slowed and he planted one last kiss on her nose before pulling away slightly, admiring the view of a smiling Suzy before him.
“ Now everything is dramatically better,” she teased.
He laughed and kissed her again, “How about now?”
“ Exceedingly better,” she giggled.
He leaned forward to plant another kiss, “Now?”
“ Aggressively better?”
He laughed and kissed her again, letting it linger for a bit longer before pulling away, smiles on their faces. She reached her hand to trace his jaw when he noticed her eyes wavering.
“Are we… is this… is this it? Are we it?” her voice was shaky. She closed her eyes momentarily and swallowed before continuing, “Because I don’t want to spend the next ten years of my life trying to get over you again. It barely worked the first time around,” she mustered a smile that was meant to be lighthearted but Jinyoung could see through it.
“I don’t either. Spending a decade trying to move on from us was punishment enough,” he placed his hand over hers, holding it to his cheek. “I think we’re ready for this. I’m ready for this. For us,” and even though he didn’t ask, she answered with a smile, “Me too.”
Hours later, as he sat in bed with her asleep in his arms, he realized that everything felt lighter and just… in place. Everything finally felt right.