Chapter Text
Yujin woke up to the heavy, comforting weight wrapped around her. An arm locked around her waist. A leg thrown over her hips. Soft, rhythmic puffs of air against her neck. The warmth under her own hands.
She slowly opened her eyes, still unfocused. That’s when she registered her.
Jang Wonyoung.
Both of them were completely bare under the sheets, skin warm against each other’s.
Last night was still hazy. Yujin didn’t remember much. She remembered arguing with Gaeul’s team over their proposal. She remembered going to the party. She remembered drinking way too much.
But she also remembered Wonyoung. The feeling of her mouth against hers. The feeling of her under Yujin’s hands. The sounds from last night still echoed faintly in her ears.
A relentless flush crept up her neck.
Yujin’s fingers flexed once on Wonyoung’s back. The movement made the younger girl stir. Yujin closed her eyes again, as if that could somehow delay whatever came next.
She felt Wonyoung nuzzle closer, still half-asleep. Then she felt the exact moment Wonyoung realized where she was.
In An Yujin’s arms. In her bed.
Her entire body went rigid. Yujin’s arm unconsciously tightened around her, keeping her in place.
“Oh no, no, no…” Wonyoung whispered against Yujin’s skin, fingers curling against the older girl’s chest. “What do I do?”
She slowly tried extracting herself, but Yujin frowned in her half-sleep and held her tighter.
Wonyoung’s head fell back against the pillow with a quiet, defeated groan. “Oh, I am so eternally fucked. I slept with my fucking boss.”
The corners of Yujin’s mouth twitched. She pretended to stir and opened her eyes, Wonyoung’s face coming into view.
In the morning light she could see everything. The faint marks on Wonyoung’s arms from where she’d gripped too hard. The hickeys scattered along her neck. Her swollen lips. She looked thoroughly wrecked.
The sight sent something warm and dangerously satisfied spreading through Yujin’s chest.
She pushed the feeling down and kept her voice rough with sleep. “Morning.”
“Morning?” Wonyoung huffed, still clutching the sheets to her chest like they might protect her.
“Is it not?”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Is it afternoon? Are we late for work?”
“An Yujin-ssi.” Wonyoung’s voice went flat. “Have you, perhaps, considered looking around?”
Yujin blinked. Then her eyes drifted lower. Wonyoung’s grip on the sheets tightened until her knuckles turned pale.
Yujin’s gaze returned to hers. “Oh.”
“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”
“What else am I supposed to say? Congratulations?”
Wonyoung stared at her in pure disbelief. “How did you end up with this billion-dollar company?”
Yujin frowned. “Excuse me?”
Wonyoung pushed at her shoulder. “Space.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“I don’t want to.” Yujin tightened her arms and pulled her back against her chest without hesitation. The second their bodies pressed together again, something in her chest loosened.
Wonyoung’s breath hitched. “Yujin-ssi.”
“Mm?”
“Are you in your fucking senses?”
Yujin pulled back just enough to look at her properly.
Her voice stayed low, but something in it had gone careful. “Do you regret it?”
Wonyoung’s breath caught. “Huh?”
“Do you regret sleeping with me?”
“I—”
“Honestly.” Yujin’s eyes didn’t leave hers. “Me, as Yujin. Not as your boss.”
Wonyoung stared at her.
The words sat heavy between them. Her pulse was loud in her ears. She could still feel the ghost of Yujin’s mouth on her neck, the way her hands had held her like she was something worth keeping. And now the same woman was looking at her like the answer actually mattered.
She opened her mouth once, then closed it again.
“…I don’t know.”
“I thought you hated uncertainty.”
“Well I can’t exactly be sure about how I feel after getting drunk and fucking my boss.”
The corner of Yujin’s mouth lifted, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes this time. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Wonyoung’s brows drew together.
“We have the whole day. Relax.”
“I am relaxed—”
“Deep breaths, Wony.”
Wonyoung paused.
Yujin leaned in and pressed a featherlight kiss to her forehead, then the corner of her eye, then the tip of her nose, then the center of her swollen lips. Each one was careful. Almost reverent. Wonyoung’s shoulders loosened just a fraction, even as her heart kept hammering.
Her lashes fluttered. She looked up at Yujin with half-lidded eyes, the earlier irritation slowly melting into something more complicated. “Why are you like this?”
“Like what?” Yujin asked, voice still low.
“This.” Wonyoung gestured vaguely between them.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Wonyoung groaned and closed her eyes, making the older girl laugh under her breath. She cracked one eye open again, expression absurdly offended. “My suffering is funny to you?”
“Nobody told you to suffer.” Yujin shrugged one shoulder, the movement shifting both of them under the sheets.
“I have to face you every day at work. What do you mean there’s no suffering?”
Yujin considered it for a moment, eyes tracing the marks on Wonyoung’s collarbone. Something possessive and quiet settled in her chest before she hummed. “Valid.”
“How did we even get here?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Me neither.”
“Oh well.”
Wonyoung narrowed her eyes. “You’re way too unbothered about this.”
Yujin raised an eyebrow, still looking completely calm. “Should I panic?”
“Yes?”
“Why?”
“Yujin-ssi.”
“Stop calling me that.” Yujin’s voice was calm, almost matter-of-fact. “You were literally screaming Yujin last night—”
Wonyoung’s hand shot up and clapped over her mouth, eyes wide with pure horror. “Do. Not. Finish. That. Sentence.”
Yujin blinked. She tried to speak, the words muffled against Wonyoung’s palm.
Wonyoung pressed harder, face burning.
Yujin gently peeled her hand away… and then she saw it. The bright red ears, the panicked eyes, the way Wonyoung looked like she wanted to disappear.
A slow, unmistakable smirk tugged at the corner of Yujin’s mouth.
“Don’t look so smug,” Wonyoung hissed.
“I’m not smug,” Yujin said, clearly smug.
“Boss.”
“No.”
“Yujin-ssi.”
“No.”
“Ms. An?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Yujin groaned, though the amusement was obvious now as she tugged lightly on Wonyoung’s wrist.
Wonyoung bit her lip hard, trying to stop the smile from escaping. “What happened?”
“Just call me Yujin.”
“And what if I don’t, director?” she asked, batting her lashes innocently, even as her ears turned pink.
Yujin sighed and let go of her wrist, rolling onto her back. The sheets slipped lower on her chest.
Wonyoung stayed on her side, still watching her, chin propped on one hand. She looked like she was trying very hard not to stare.
“Figure this out and tell me. We have work too.” Yujin sat up slowly, running a hand through her messy hair, the sheets tucked under one arm. She didn’t look back, but she could still feel Wonyoung’s eyes on her.
(Two Hours Later)
Yujin stood in front of the vanity, fixing her bangs. Wonyoung emerged from the bathroom in her work outfit, damp hair still clinging to her back.
Their eyes met in the mirror. For a few seconds neither of them moved. The silence felt heavier than it should have.
Then Yujin’s phone buzzed. She cleared her throat and answered, grateful for the distraction.
“Yes?”
Wonyoung bit her lip and stepped closer, watching her in the glass.
Yujin sighed into the phone. “Ms. Jang? Yeah, I’ll ask her. Don’t bother her. I heard she was sick.”
Wonyoung frowned. “When did I get sick?” she whispered.
“Yes, I’ll be there soon. The meeting is scheduled for the evening, right? Okay. Thank you.” Yujin hung up and shoved her phone back into her pocket with a tired exhale.
“Why did you say I was sick? I’m perfectly fine.”
“You’re literally wincing every time you move,” Yujin said, unimpressed.
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself—” Wonyoung took a step too quickly and immediately regretted it, hissing through her teeth as a sharp ache bloomed through her body.
Yujin was already there, guiding her to the couch by the elbow. She knelt in front of her, hands resting lightly on Wonyoung’s knees. Her voice softened.
“Relax. You don’t need to work today.”
“I’m not skipping work because of one inconvenience.”
Yujin tilted her head, studying her face. “You consider this an inconvenience?”
“Obviously.” Wonyoung pursed her lips and looked down at her own hands, fingers twisting together in her lap.
She couldn’t look at her. Not when Yujin was kneeling like this.
“Aside from the fact that I’m your boss and we have to see each other every day… why else do you think this is an inconvenience?”
“Is that not enough reason?”
“No.”
Wonyoung exhaled through her nose. “Okay. Maybe the fact that we don’t even remember how we got here?”
“But it already happened.”
“What if one of us didn’t want it?”
“We wouldn’t have woken up like that.” Yujin’s voice was quiet but steady. Certain.
Wonyoung sighed, shoulders dropping. She stared at her own hands for a second before speaking.
“Listen, Yujin.”
“I’m listening.” Yujin rested her elbows on Wonyoung’s thighs and looked up at her, waiting like she had all the time in the world.
“Maybe it’s also the fact that we don’t even know each other outside of work. And while working, we’re mostly disagreeing.”
“I’d call it fighting.”
"Disagreeing."
“Okay.” A tiny, almost reluctant smile pulled at Yujin’s mouth.
Wonyoung’s throat felt tight. “Then?”
Yujin was quiet for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was slower.
“Then… what do you want? Do you want to forget about this? Pretend it never happened?”
Wonyoung's chest went tight. For one second she actually considered saying yes — it would be safer, cleaner, less complicated. She could walk out of this apartment and go back to arguing with her boss like nothing had shifted.
But the thought of never having this version of Yujin again made something in her ache.
“I didn’t say that…” she whispered.
Yujin’s eyes searched her face. “So do you want to get to know each other outside of work, then?”
Wonyoung chewed the inside of her cheek.
This could be the best or the worst idea of her life. Agreeing to this meant handing someone who already held power over her career even more power — over her feelings this time. If it went wrong, she wasn’t sure which loss would hurt more.
“I still have one concern.”
“Mhm?”
“What if this doesn’t work out and you get mad and fire me?” Her voice came out smaller than she wanted.
Yujin didn’t look offended. She just held her gaze steadily. “Do you think I bring my personal life into my profession?”
Wonyoung let out a shaky breath. “No…”
“Then?”
Wonyoung didn’t answer right away. She looked down at Yujin’s head resting against her thigh, at the way the older girl stayed completely still, like she was willing to wait as long as it took.
Eventually, almost without thinking, Wonyoung’s hand lifted and settled in Yujin’s hair. Her fingers moved once, carefully.
When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“…Fine.”
Yujin looked up. “To what?”
“Dating.”
“Wait. We’re dating?” Yujin’s brows drew together, genuine surprise flickering across her face.
“Then what else?” Wonyoung raised an eyebrow, though her ears were burning.
“I was saying we get to know each other first. Then move onto actual dating.”
“Oh.” Wonyoung blinked, thrown off.
She looked away for a second before glancing back, heart still racing. “Okay. Let’s do that.”
(A Week Later)
|Yujin|
Hi.
|Wony|
.Hey
What were you doing?
.Just got in bed
Oh then we can talk tomorrow.
.No, no. It’s fine right now
Are you sure?
.Yes
Okay.
?So
Since I don’t have any important meetings tomorrow, I was thinking maybe we could get lunch together?
?Why lunch
That’s the only meal I eat at its time.
?Why
I don’t usually have breakfast and dinner is whenever I’m hungry.
.Great. Awesome diet
Shut up.
.Okay, we can get lunch tomorrow
Straight from work or would you want to come home first?
.Let’s just go straight from work
Okay.
.Goodnight, Yujin
Goodnight, Wonyoung. Sweet dreams.
Wonyoung stared at the conversation for a long moment after the last message.
She locked her phone and set it on the nightstand, then rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
It’s just lunch, she told herself.
Her heart didn’t believe her for a second.