"No."

"No?"

"No." She affirms once more as she squints her eyes at the paper, boredly flipping over the pages. I expected this to happen, but still somehow I managed to get disappointment, a little hurt at how she scrunches her nose in distaste. It's almost like they are the most ugly, common designs she has ever seen.

"Sorry, this can't make the runway this summer. Try harder next time." She dismisses me with nothing further like always. There isn't a word of advice, or a sense of direction to take to ultimately improve like she tells one to. Your simply sent away, with nothing helpful. Well, if you don't count the lowered self esteem and the depreciating motivation to work.

I don't have the courage to question her about it, not a lot of people here do. Otherwise you would be ungrateful, disrespectful, and troublesome when it comes to taking orders or respecting authority. My boss glares at me as I stare dumbly at her, secretly I was hoping she would take another look at it, or say something else a bit pleasing. I should have known better. "What are you waiting for, take your stuff and get back to work." She says loudly.

I have a feeling she might still be mad at me from last evening when Namjoon turned down her bold dinner offer. Although I can't find it in me to be sorry about that. It wasn't my fault Namjoon lied or rejected her, I was simply caught in the middle. And just to be clear I hate both of them. Her more than Namjoon though.

I sigh as I take the book and walk away from her office. Hoseok and Solar are conversing by the open office when I walk in. I see them studying my face before they make sad faces and open their arms to envelope me in a hug. I rush to them accepting a hug. I need it.

"We are sorry Jinnie, we both know you deserved a spot. She is just mean." Solar mummers on my chest. Hoseok agrees in a hum petting my hair. Our other colleagues don't pay much attention to us, used to this kind of affection from the three of us.

I work in a fashion house. A rundown branch to a fashion house in the middle of lower Seoul, with very little to go by and Cruella as my boss. I have no other choice but to work here for now, to earn a living. It happens, when all your capabilities, talents, and skills, are narrowed down to your academic excellence, which doesn't exist in my case.

Nobody wants to hire a college drop out, with nothing but a set of skills to offer, it's simply not right. Not when there is a graduate from the prestigious Seoul university or the top notch Daegu school of arts with a degree in Fashion and design looking for the same opportunity. In other words the market is competitive, and it gets even tougher with the heavy arm of Miss. Soojin, Or rather my mother who has prohibited my employment from any known fashion house lest they want to end on her bad side.

She knows well I wouldn't be able to hold another job for long before I am drawn to the fashion world. I seek it like a moth to fire, and sooner or later I am bound to crawl back to this beautiful world of art, where I belong. That is where she gets me, leaving me out with no options than these rundown places, expecting me to crawl back home to her, and do as she wants for me.

But I made a decision eight months ago, when she cut me off my education and any other allowances because I changed my course from financial engineering - that she wanted for me - to fashion and design that I intended to do from the begin.

I had no business being around her anymore after the things she said and did to me. So to her surprise, I packed up and left her mansion. I didn't expect it to be easy out here, especially with her influential, manipulating self having me on watch, but I used all my savings and mere survival skills to rent an apartment and get a job. I just need enough to live for now. School and other secondary, and luxurious needs can wait.

I am surprisingly disciplined with money for a spoiled brat that she says I am. I have come this far without her help, and not gone back crawling to her feet like she expected I would in a few weeks. I have managed with help of these two friends, they have taught me everything I need to know and survive, helped me in the worst times, and stood by me when I needed them the most. I owe them a lot for this, and one day when we make it like we dream, I'll look back and attribute that success to them. That's how much they have helped me.

In a span of eight months they have become my support, they have showed unconditional love like I have never had before. They don't push to know about my life, or my recent past which I still hide. They are simply there for me without a lot of questions. In a way they are a lot like me, or had far worse lives than mine.

It makes me feel like I don't have a right to speak about why I don't have a good life. I was provided a home, clothes, and a good higher education, but I ran away from it, just so I could get to design. To do something my heart wanted. More than half the people here never got that opportunity, so it only makes sense that I hide what and where I come from. Still, it makes me similar to them, I still thirst for good earned success like they do. I still yearn to be somebody in the future.

"We should go out to lunch." Solar says packing at her desk, her sketching pencil behind her ear. "We still got fifteen minutes to the top of the hour." I remind her impatient ass to which she only grumbles, pouts and plops down on her seat. She gets cranky when she is hungry, and most of the time ends up getting into a scuffle with the boss. It's a miracle how she still holds her job under that mean woman.

Needless to say, she spends the next minutes idling and distracting me with her humming. "You need to stop singing that song." I say as I stand, too tired to put away my belongings. "First of all, I hummed, and second, it's stuck in my head and I can't get rid of it."

"Its been three days, you can't keep humming fuck me deeper around people."

"I know. I played baby shark on louder speakers the whole night just so I could get rid of it. But it won't go away." I laugh as I spot Hoseok walking away. Unlike Solar, Hoseok is a bit busy on daily occasion. He is actually kind of our boss as he overseas the operations that go around in the store.

I made sure to remind him today to hire someone to help with the bulky work like delivering and storing the heavy fabric rolls to which he said the boss declined it's approval. Which means I still have to rely on help, or somehow build muscles that can help in the process.

I know the latter is impossible, but I also don't want to entertain the thought of asking for help, especially from the dimpled pervert. Speaking about Namjoon, I haven't told my friends about last night. Not that it was something of importance, or that needed to be told. I just don't want them speculating things, you know. Solar wouldn't relent with the shipping, and and Hoseok would not stop with the sexual tension talk.

Neither of those things are true. Namjoon is a perverted bully, and I have absolute no attraction to that. That proves to be true when we enter the lunch room and I don't spare their noisy booth a glance. Not that if I looked it would mean anything.

"Is it just me, or is that hot, handsome not exactly perverted dimpled guy looking at Jin?" Did I forget to say Solar is shameless. She wouldn't give a fuck if someone caught her staring, if anything she would stare even harder just to make you uncomfortable. So I am not surprised when she glues her eyes to the booth full of construction workers opposite us. I don't answer and I don't look up either at the statement.

I know she is talking about Namjoon. That's her known description of him. I don't know why my cheeks are heated, and why I fight to keep down a smile. Namjoon looking at me shouldn't be good, it should mean bad things.

"Are we missing something, Why are you blushing?" Hoseok asks, gently holding my chin up to look at my face. "Huh?" I pretend to not know what is going on, biting on my lip to sell off my lie. "Why are you all red?... Wait. Are you blushing? Is it because of Namjoon? Oh my god tell us." Solar shouts earning a few stares as I clamp a hand around her mouth. My eyes meet Namjoon, and that familiar smirk adorns his face. His dark orbs stare back at mine knowingly, and he licks his lips before going back to his sandwich.

A thousand things course through my veins in a moment. I gulp loudly as I let go of Solar, before picking up the menu to distract myself from anything. What the fuck was that, why would him looking at me like that do weird things to me. "What just happened?" Hoseok whisper yells to Solar who is still dumb struck, both having witnessed how Namjoon looked at me.

"Ok girl, you gotta spill." Solar says with conviction, pulling the menu from my face. Of course my face is still blushed, and admittedly it's more of excitement than it is embarrassment. "There is nothing to spill guys. Nothing happened."

"Ok, so something did happen. I know you came back late from buying supplies. And I also know you ain't never tell us how the fuck it went after." Solar says with smile, the wheels in her head already moving. Hoseok joins after giving out our order. I try come up with lies all while I avoid eye contact with the other booth.

"Nothing happened after I got back. I stored the supplies and went home." I try, but they both give a 'really bitch.' look. So I roll my eyes knowing I was going to regret telling them. "Namjoon helped with the supplies because they were heavy. But it was only because he was the only person around and I couldn't do it myself." I add hoping the wouldn't think anything of this. Should have known better.

"Oh my god, then what happened. Did you realize how strong he is, and y'all had amazing wall sex in the store room. Or he took you back to the construction site and y'all fucked. Wait, wait, did you guys do it in the office." I am not surprised these are her theories, and I am not surprised Hoseok is a laughing mess over it either.

"Why do they all end in us having sex?"

"Because that's how it be bitch. People be fucking at the end of the day." I face palm with sigh, she is a hoe and she is not afraid to show it. "We didn't have sex - "

"You can say fuck out loud you know." Hoseok interjects, giving me look as he eats his fries, before an up top to Solar. "You want the details or not?"

"Fine." They say in unison, before looking at me. "We went to dinner after, to thank him." It would have been nice to say I bought him dinner and went home, but he did pay for the food, after nagging me all night. I still wonder why.

"So you went on a date? That's romantic Jinnie."

"It was not a date. Just two people having food then went their separate ways." I try clarify. "So just to be clear y'all didn't sex after the date, did you?"

It's my turn to give her a really bitch look, which she sighs at disappointedly before going back to her food. I try changing the topic during lunch, to stray away attention from last night, but they both wanted to know why he walked me home. All through it I try to avoid Namjoon's stare that I feel on me, and Jackson's flirting who is sitting right beside Namjoon.

Although I think he is flirting with Solar, or Hoseok. Or maybe the three of us. More perverts I tell you.
The booth opposite us eventually clears, and I get to breath properly for a few minutes before the end of our break. Hoseok and Solar go outside while I move to the bathroom quickly.

For a moment I wonder what that was that happened when I saw Namjoon earlier. I won't lie, it felt like last night, which was a bit relieving for me. For the first time in a while I slept peacefully, without worries of what tomorrow may hold for me raking my mind. I just focused on the few minutes Namjoon and I spent together then played it over in my mind until I fell asleep. It was a stupid idea, but it helped. So weirdly I kind of wanted to entertain him today. To keep up with his insults, and remarks just so I could have something to go home to this evening. Something to think about other than my complicated life.

Like I said, he is my sworn enemy, and that doesn't change just because he can put a smile on my face.

I walk out of the bathroom and into the small hallway, only to be met with the smug looking face of Namjoon. I yelp stepping back a bit, a hand clutching to my chest. "Jesus. And you say your not perverted." I say walking past him to go out to my friends. "You just like to think everything is sexual, don't you?" He muses as he walks behind me, but, I am too preoccupied with the scene outside to even reply to him.

"What happened now?" I ask as I watch Hoseok trying to hold back a fierce Solar from scratching off Jackson's face. "I think he called her shortie again." Namjoon says he follows my line of vision. "She doesn't like that."

"No she doesn't. Do you like that?" Namjoon asks excitedly.

"Am not short." I retort almost immediately,  "and no, it's not a cute pet name to me, and neither is it sexually appealing." I add knowing he would sneak in a comment if given the chance. "Buzz kill." He mummers under his breath.

I sigh moving outside, only for Namjoon to grab my shoulder turning me around.

"Dinner is on you today. Same place, I'll pick you up."

"Now who is making it seem like a date?" I say, but it only brings a smirk to his face. "Well I like the idea of you and me out on a date. And if you want, we could arrange something more...date like." He says with a smirk. I sigh looking at him "I am not going out on a date with you. And you can't force me either."

"Are you sure?" It's all jokes to him as I see, and he smiles that dimpled smile as he looks at me. I just know I'll be regretting this too. "If we go out to dinner today, and I pay what I owe you. Will you stop?" Something crosses his expression at my sentence, he stares at me for a second, like he can see through me.

I fight the urge to hold my breath, because I feel like he is about to spill every one of my thoughts. Only him has ever looked at me like that. "Fine. Dinner it is." He says at last, his gaze never leaving mine.