Song: DDU-DU DDU-DU -BLACKPINK
'My face is kind but not my attitude. Think twice, cause' I can't act nice like everyone else. Don't misunderstand, I only smile easily for myself.'
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"Very neatly done, Rosie. Thanks a lot." Jason praised as he briefly flipped through the files. I submitted them to him first thing in the morning when I reached the office. With Jongdae's help, I wrapped up the paper shredding task before morning came. But honestly, doing work with Jongdae didn't exactly speed up the process because we kept starting conversations in between. We stayed at the office until 2 am before calling it a night.
"Oh, by the way, keep yourself free tonight as well," Jason told me after closing the files and putting them aside.
"Is there something going on?"
"Yeps. We're going to have a welcome party for you... and Jun."
A little smile cracked into the corner of my lips when Jason mentioned a welcome party for me, and I was going to look forward to it until he mentioned that Jun was coming too.
Of course he'd come. He's the full-time employee here while I'm just an intern. Boohoo.
My little smile vanished instantly at the thought of that. "G-Great. I can't wait," I faked excitement.
"We're having bbq! Meet us downstairs at 5.30, the place is nearby so we'll walk there," he informed, pointing a finger at me as he walked away.
...
I raised my watch to eye level and took a proper look at the time - 5.30pm. Never been more punctual. "Rosie!" A female colleague I know by the name of Sooyeon called out to me. Seems like we were the earliest two to assemble at our meeting point.
Sooyeon is an admin staff in our department, and she's a nice and friendly person in my impression. I haven't got a proper chance to interact with her since work started because I've been busy and she looked too shy to approach me first. Now is a good time to talk.
"Hi Sooyeon," I smiled and greeted.
"Hey," she returned a friendly smile. "We can never trust them when they say we should meet at 5.30. I have to tell you that Jason is always late!" She whined. I thought back to my first day at work and slowly nodded to agree. On my first day of work, I waited 15 minutes for Jason to turn up too, but who am I to complain when he's my boss, right?
"And he always says he's busy but he ends up throwing the work to us," Sooyeon continued whining.
"So... I wasn't the only victim?" I chuckled.
"Of course not! I suffer the same as you!" She laughed with me.
"Hey girls," a man came walking towards us. It's the other star for tonight's welcome party, Jun.
"H-Hi, oppa!" Sooyeon shyly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, shining a radiant smile to Jun. Funny how her smile turned more girly than when she met me. Oh my god. That can't be.
Is she...?!
Is it what I think it is?!
"Sooyeon ah..." I murmured with my eyes wide. At this point, I didn't bother greeting Jun or acknowledging his presence. All I did was whip my head towards the dude and give him an ugly scan from head to toe.
Just what does she see in him...?
"That can't be..." I mumbled in denial. Seriously, what's so great about this guy? He's not even half as handsome as Jongd-
No wait, what are you thinking Rosie?
NO NO NO NO
"What did you say?" Jun asked, looking at me.
"Oh?"
"Did you say something, Rosie?" Sooyeon nudged me from the side. I quickly shook my head and flushed out my weird thoughts.
"So... how is your day today?" Sooyeon faced Jun, putting on the same shy smile as before. I think I turned invisible to her from that moment onwards and I knew what I needed to do.
Retreat!
Presenting a courteous smile, I took a huge step back and out of their way. Got the feeling that I was turning into a lamppost and I'm pretty sure Sooyeon didn't want me there either. I would be rooting for Sooyeon, but really, she could've picked a better guy out there. Jun is just... bleh. Average. And impolite to me.
I pivoted around and moved away from them as my eyes continued to search for the other souls that were joining us for the dinner. Jason...Hazel... and two other fellas whom I never really talked to. I think their names were Sung Jae and Woo Sung, or Jae Sung and Sung Woo... I'm sorry but it was too confusing. I remember their faces though, it was only because of the name confusion that I never dared to greet them by their names. Anyway, I hope I can get their names right by the end of tonight's party.
"So? How do you feel? The fact that they chose your song over mine." I turned to his voice and watched Jun walking over to my side. I quickly glanced at Sooyeon and saw her standing alone, and understood that Jun might've abandoned her to talk to me.
"Feeling okay," I replied with disinterest. Then I slowly walked back to where Sooyeon was standing. How can he abandon her like that? Ugh. Not a gentleman.
"Just because your song was chosen doesn't make you any better than me."
I stopped and frowned at him. "What?"
"Let me remind you why we're gathering for tonight. We're celebrating the fact that I'm the full-time employee in SM, and you're just a crappy intern who's here for 3 months."
My frown went deeper. "Just because you've got a full-time job doesn't give you the right to call me a crappy intern. Not with that filthy mouth of yours," I cussed back.
"You can curse me all you want now and while you can, cause' after 3 months, you're going to be kicked out. That's what they do to most of the interns here. What makes you think you're an exception?"
"W-What? How dare you-"
"How dare me what? Hey, I'm trying to be the bigger person here and give you a piece of advice," Jun stepped up with a smug smile.
"If you want to put in the effort, do it somewhere else and not here. This is not your playground. This is SM's playground and you? You're just a small toy."
I took one step forward too. "It's up to me to decide what this job means to me. You can't threaten me."
"I'm not threatening you! I'm just giving you a friendly reminder... to make you realise what a toy means. A toy is a mere object that is played with and disposed after it's been used. You can always thank me later for this friendly reminder."
I really wanted to tear the boastful smile away from his face. "I'm not scared at all. Not any less confident than you either. You're just one egotistical son of a bitch giving me this 'advice' because you're trying to scare me away, but face it, you're just intimidated because my song was chosen over yours." I drilled my eyes into his with hatred.
"Me? Intimidated by a pathetic fry like you? Ha!" He laughed out loud. "Look, I don't care about what you feel or think but I'm just telling you the truth. And I'm telling you really nicely. Your efforts and passion for the job won't be appreciated, so save it."
"Why am I even listening to your nonsense..." I groaned to myself, rolling my eyes brazenly at him.
"Rosie? Oppa? What are you guys talking about?" Sooyeon finally decided to pop in between the two of us.
Poor Sooyeon.
I tugged her sleeves for a moment to get her attention before her eyes got glued to that asshole. "Sooyeon ah, do you want me to introduce you to a nicer guy?"
Her innocent eyes widen with confusion, and she began stuttering. "W-Why s-s-suddenly..."
"Aniya, never mind..." I let out a breath of disappointment and turned my head away. Just as I did, I spotted the remaining team strolling into the lobby, which is our meeting point.
"Awesome, you guys are all here! Alright, LET'S GO!" Jason announced, flagging his hand for the team to follow.
Like Jason mentioned, the BBQ place was a 5-minute walk from the office. As soon as we settled down inside the restaurant, Jason got a call. "Hello, it's Jason speaking." He spoke in front of us all. "Oh, yeah, what's up?" We watched him talk on the phone. "Me? I'm at the BBQ place near the office." It sounds like a colleague from SM too.
"Oh really?! Come! Join us then!" Though we could only hear a one-sided conversation, it was pretty obvious that someone was going to join us. I didn't really wonder who it would be, but boom, they arrived sooner than I thought. Everyone cheered and got up from their seats as if a VIP had arrived, but really, it was just Minseok and Jongdae strolling in.
I was sitting near the end of the rectangular table with Jun sitting directly across me, Jason on my right and one more empty corner seat on my left. I wasn't particularly expecting Jongdae to take a seat beside me, but I wasn't surprised that he invited himself to do so either.
Actually... I'm a teenie weenie bit happy he did. I can admit that much.
"Hi, I didn't think you'd come." I smiled at Jongdae as soon as he sat down.
"I didn't think I'd come too," he replied in the same pleasant tone.
Both Jongdae and Minseok exchanged proper hellos to the rest of the team, and I did the same with Minseok too. "Hi Rosie, it's nice to see you around again." Minseok greeted me. I bowed back to him shyly and tugged a lock of hair behind my ears.
Omo. What did I just do?
I suddenly recalled Sooyeon doing the same action towards Jun. Sheesh, is this normal or am I transforming into a girly me in front of Minseok too?
But Minseok is cute and a gentleman too, of course I would like him.
When I turned my head to Jongdae, he was watching me with a strange frown I couldn't decipher. "What?" I frowned back.
"Wipe that smile away. It's weird! And ugly!"
My hand swooped up to my mouth immediately, making me extremely insecure of showing my teeth now. Why is he complaining about my smile now? He's the weird one!
I turned away so that I would stop facing him and he wouldn't need to see my ugly face. It's a welcome party with the team and I'm not devoting my time to Jongdae. I'm here to spend a fun night with my team members, humph.
"Okay okay, before we start anything. This is really important." Jason rose from his seat suddenly, breaking the little talks we were having in between and raised a glass of beer high in the air. "Everyone...let's do a CHEERS! COME ON~"
We gladly followed after him and raised our glasses high, clinking them together in the middle of the table.
"FOR OUR DEPARTMENT!" Jason rallied.
"YEAH!"
"WOO!"
"ALRIGHT!"
"One shot everybody!" Jason cheered heartily.
"CHEEEEEERS!" Said everyone, and there goes my first glass of beer.
...
"Rosee, Rosiee, Rosie..." Jun slurred my name thrice, getting my attention for sure. It didn't take him much alcohol to get high, but it certainly made him friendlier than usual.
"Yes, Jun?" I faked a smile at him. Everyone was watching.
"Ahjummaaa! Another bottle of soju, pleaseeee," He raised his hand behind and ordered. As soon as the soju got to his hands, he poured it into two small glasses until it filled the brim, spilling over a little as it overflowed.
"Hereeee you gooo!" Jun pushed a glass over to my side. Ugh, I haven't eaten much of my BBQ meat and he wants to down more alcohol in me. "This glaaass...is to the days we workkk together! Drink up! One shottttt!" He raised his glass and I raised mine reluctantly. Again, I couldn't reject him because there were many eyes on us.
"Heh, one shot..." I faked another smile and downed that easy glass of soju.
You see, that glass of soju wasn't a problem. The real problem came right after when he kept pouring and asking for more soju to drink it with only me. He happily pushed one glass after another and I couldn't deny. Slowly, the dizziness was kicking in.
"Hey, that's enough Jun. You're getting drunk." I recognised Jongdae's voice and briefly saw him stopping Jun from pouring more soju.
"No, I'm not drunk yet. Noot before Rosiee...come on Rosee..."
I was going to reject it but he pushed me another glass past Jongdae's hands. And the alcohol suddenly became so tempting...
"You don't have to keep drinking it," Jongdae whispered to me.
"Cheers to you being a 3-month intern only, Rosie. Cheeeers to me being a full-time employee." Jun said, and I saw the smirk under his breath. Nobody got the hint, but I clearly did. He was intentionally challenging me and he knew he was getting on my nerves.
"Are you not going to cheers with me? Hmm? IntErn?" He sniggered, the soju in his hands half-raised in the air. I could feel the heat from my cheeks because of the alcohol, but my face was burning hot from irritation. He knew he was stepping on my nerves and he succeeded in provoking me.
Bloody hell, Jun. You're getting wasted by my hands tonight.
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A/N: So Rosie and Jun are like enemies in the company... oooh I like competition! 😆 If you like my story so far, please do me a huge favor by voting! It means a whole lot to me :) Also I can't wait to bring you more Jongdae adventures~ 😌💖
Love,
-A