today was monday, meaning that i had to return back to work. i put on some nike sweatpants and a t-shirt that i stole from coogie. i went down to the parking garage and drove to the aomg building.

when i walked into the lobby of the aomg building, the receptionist told me that jay park needed to see me in his office.

i pushed past the doors of his office and immediately saw that there was someone else there. there was a woman with light milky skin wearing tight leather leggings and a long-sleeve crop top with some high-heeled ankle boots. i felt so small when taking a seat in the chair next to her.

"you called?" i tried to start the conversation.

"yeah. hyorin meet kang seoyeon. seoyeon meet hyorin," jay introduced us. i turned around to see her give me a smile but then i saw her left eye twitch in annoyance, something that jay didn't notice.

"nice to meet you, hyorin," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. why do i feel as if i've heard her voice before? eh, maybe it's just one of those voices.

whilst flipping my hair, i responded, "nice to meet you too" and begrudgingly shook her outstretched hand.

"play nice, girls. seoyeon is joining h1ghr music. i thought it'd be good for hyorin to have a new female friend."

"jay, i'm fine with the amount of friends i have right now but thank you for thinking of me," i replied, giving him a small smile.

"you'll be showing her to her studio. it's on the same floor as yours," he instructed. i nodded and said bye before leaving with her trailing behind me.

the elevator ride up was quiet and tense. we both stood as far apart from each other as possible. i asked for her studio number and walked her to the room. once she walked in, i left to go to junwon's studio.

i knocked on the door before entering. he had his headphones on and didn't seem to see me. i plopped myself on the couch and waited for him to notice my presence. he spun in his chair and stopped when he saw me lying there, eating his snacks.

"why the hell are you here and for how long?" he asked while putting his headphones around his neck.

"your stupid advice sucks," i complained.

"what advice?" he was completely clueless.

"your 'you have to choose' advice." i mocked his voice causing him to roll his eyes at me.

"so you chose? who?"

"i didn't choose! i called minsik to confront him about his feelings but then some girl picked up the phone. i heard him saying 'come back to bed' to her and afterwards she hung up." after hearing my story, he scrunched his face in pain.

"yikes." was all he had to say.

i then continued, "but that's not all. now there's this new girl named kang seoyeon in h1ghr music and she's being a complete bitch to me for no reason. like i've never even seen or spoken to this girl before. her voice also sounds so familiar but i can't put my finger on it."

"so you think minsik has moved on?"

"well now i do."

"she's probably a rebound, something to make him feel better about the fact that you don't return his feelings."

"it's not a fact! i don't know if i have feelings for him or not."

"hyorin, snap out of it! feelings aren't something that you think about. not everything can be analyzed so just go with your guts. pretend it's like freestyling," he elaborates, "you just get into the groove and vibe of it, y'know? there's no actual structure to it."

"so what you're saying is that i should just 'yolo' it?" he nodded. "if you say so. i'm gonna go talk to him."

"uhh, just so we're clear—which one?"

"the one that probably didn't sleep with another girl last night," i answered, "but who cares? it's not like we're dating." i played it off with a shrug. junwon gave me a look that conveyed a message of "you can't push your feelings away".

i sighed and left before he could lecture me. i trudged down the hallway to groovyroom's studio. to my surprise, minsik was in the recording booth and hwimin was sitting at the workstation. meanwhile, gyujeong was sulking on the couch. it was obvious that they still had unresolved issues. what bothered me was the fact that seoyeon was also here and was sitting on the same couch as him when there were other places to sit.

i had an unsettling feeling in my stomach as i watched her give him a coy smile. gyujeong wasn't the slightest bit interested though. knowing him, he was too nice to tell her to leave so i went and sat in between them.

noticing how he was still stiff, i leaned my head on his shoulder, hoping for some type of reaction. he returned the gesture by leaning his head on top of mine.

"hey, hyorin," he greeted me with his head still on top.

"hey, gyu-gyu. how's it hanging?" i asked.

"better now that you're here." he smiled at me.

"aish.. so cheesy." i chuckled and put my hands to my heart, pretending to collapse. he laughed along with me until hwimin finally interrupted us.

"when did you get here, hyorin?" hwimin questioned.

"somewhere around the bridge of the song," i answer, moving my head to look at him. minsik was standing next to him, looking at me with an unreadable expression.

"so have you met seoyeon yet?"

"oh yeah. we've met." i gave hwimin a look, hoping he understood that it meant i didn't trust her. too bad minsik also caught the look and started giving a puzzled one in return. unlike minsik, hwimin gave me the "we'll talk later" look.

suddenly, the studio had a tense air surrounding it. no one of us spoke and just stared at each other. of course, hwimin was the first to break the silence.

"let's all go to lunch, shall we?" he glanced at the other female in the room, "you too, seoyeon." damn you, hwimin.

we all started heading out of the studio and towards the cafeteria floor. hwimin and i lagged behind everyone, forming a little pair.

"so what's the beef between you and seoyeon?" he whispered.

"no beef. she's been giving me some attitude since she's laid eyes on me. i don't even know her."

"by the way, junwon texted me the details about your little call last night." he gave me a look of pity which i hated.

"don't do that. don't feel sorry for me," i groaned. he took that as a sign to stop the conversation for now.

we arrived in the cafeteria and ordered our food. the cafeteria wasn't like a high school cafeteria. it was more like a café with a lounge. we all took a seat at the table together, with me sitting between hwimin and gyujeong. across from us was minsik and seoyeon.

the conversation started off as small talk like the weather and music events. eventually, it progressed and seoyeon started talking about herself. i found out that seoyeon was part of the underground crew named "dayzey" that disbanded a few months back. hwimin and i shared a knowing look. they were known but not very popular due to the many scandals of the members. i wondered why jay would sign someone so controversial to the label. he's smarter than that.

i had finished my food and excused myself. i stood up to throw away my trash. as i was standing up, i looked down and saw her gliding her hand up and down minsik's thigh. i took a glance at minsik to see his reaction. he looked calm, making it difficult to read his emotions. i discreetly tapped hwimin's shoulder as i walked away.

i went over to the lounge area and chose a spot hidden by plants so that the others couldn't see me. hwimin joined me on the sofa shortly after.

"what's the tea?" he inquired.

"seoyeon. hand. minsik. thigh. him. calm." i let out words rather than a complete sentence. hwimin gasped and cover his hand over his mouth.

he uncovered his mouth, "you know what this means?"

"that he and her are gettin' it?" i took an educated guess.

"and?" he urged.

"and what?" i was completely puzzled by what he wanted me to say.

"okay hyorin. let's use our observational skills," he spoke slowly as if i were a small child, "last night, a girl picked up minsik's phone. this morning, you met seoyeon and according to junwon, her voice sounds familiar. just a few minutes ago, you saw her gripping his thigh. now, hyorin, what does this tell you?"

realization struck me. i buried my head in a throw pillow that was on the sofa. after a few seconds, i lifted my head and turned to hwimin.

"i'm such a fucking idiot. it was her!" i exclaimed. hwimin pulled me into an embrace and stroked my back.

"this might not make you feel better, but what are you doing, hyorin?" he pulled away from me and shook me by my shoulders. "you shouldn't be upset about minsik. at least not when you have gyujeong. he's actually there for you and he lets you know what he wants. meanwhile, minsik hasn't been straightforward about his feelings for you. hell, he's probably screwing seoyeon on the side."

"it wouldn't have affected me as much if seoyeon was just a random girl. but no. she has to freaking work here now," i complained.

hwimin consoled me until i felt better. i eventually returned to my studio and thought of the possibilities. i had even made two mental pro and con lists. one list for gyujeong and the other for minsik. before i could make a choice, i needed to talk to the both of them, individually.

— ۵ —