Archive of Our Own

A steady blade slides swiftly between the apple on Mina's hands. The sunlight peers through a nearby window, bathing her pitch black hair in a dazzling brightness. Her expression is calm and impassive, a slight frown dawning as the knife slices her finger instead of the fruit.

From outside the pantry, Karina approaches in quick steps.

"Are you okay?" she asks, worried. Mina looks up in surprise. She hadn't realized someone else was around.

"Yeah, it's just a cut." Mina holds the finger up to her mouth, sucking the bit of blood. Karina rummages through one of the cabinets to find a bandaid. "No need to worry."

Karina comes closer, holding out a hand to reach for Mina's wrist. Mina allows it and watches as Karina cleans her finger before putting a bandaid on top of it.

"You should be more careful, unnie."

"I will."

The knife gets back to Mina's hand as she looks down onto the half-sliced apple. Karina gazes at the brightness of her side profile, the few strands falling at her face and brushing her many beauty marks. The blade sounds through the pantry once more, yet more cautiously.

"Do you want one?" Mina asks, lifting a piece of apple. Karina jolts slightly, not having realized that she was staring yet again.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks." She helps herself a small bite. Feels sweet and crunchy. Karina leans on the counter, turning her body away from Mina in hope of not find herself gawking anymore.

Outside the pantry, everything is still very quiet. They're both early today. Well, Mina is always early while Karina is usually on the verge of being late, but today started differently for Karina.

"Is it good?" Mina's voice gets her attention again. She nods.

"Very. Did you pick them yourself?" Karina risks a glance towards Mina. She just finished cutting the apple and is looking out the window while she eats it.

"Yes. I've never been good at picking fruits, but I'm trying to get better."

"You nailed this one. It's perfect." The sunlight baths Mina's dark eyes when she smiles. Karina's heart speeds up, but she tries to pretend she didn't notice. Maybe it'll calm itself if she ignores it.

"Thank you."

Karina never realized how quiet the office is in the morning. Maybe because she has never been there so early. But alone with Mina and the fast beats crushing her ribcage, the silence feels suffocating. What if Mina hears it?

"Okay, I have a good one," Karina says suddenly. She clears her throat, while Mina glances at her in confusion. "Do you know why you can't hear a pterodactyl going to the restroom?"

Mina's frown deepens. Karina almost regrets opening her mouth, but then Mina says: "No. Why?"

"Because the p is silent."

There's an embarrassing moment of silence where nothing happens. Mina is just looking at her with knitted eyebrows, big bright eyes getting Karina giddy without any effort. Then, right as she's about to say sorry for the terrible joke, Mina snorts softly.

"I thought you were going to say it's because they're extinct."

"That's actually a good idea too. I'll keep in mind for my next one." She nods sternly. Mina's smile grows a bit, just as Karina's heart.

"Good morning!" A loud and excited voice booms through the office. Both Mina and Karina turn to look out the pantry. "Why, there's no one here…? Ah, there you are!" Dahyun shows up at the entrance, grinning to them. "Good morning, you two. Did a bad dream wake you up, Jimin? Weird seeing you so early."

"Morning, Dahyun unnie. Something like that," she answers, not keen on elaborating. Dahyun doesn't ask more about it, instead strolling to the coffee machine.

"Do you guys want a cup?" she asks, the usual wide smile on her face.

"I had one already, thanks. I should get to work," Mina says. She steps out of the pantry right after, with Karina's gaze following her all the way.

"What about you, kid?" Dahyun says, eye-smiling at Karina. Her quick wits understand where Karina was looking, and her smile deepens. "Sorry, was I interrupting something?"

"Uhm? No, no. There's, uh, nothing to interrupt," Karina is quick to answer, lowering her eyes to stare at the floor. Mina must be by her desk now, just a turn left after getting out of the pantry. Karina can picture her serious gaze at her desktop, the way her eyes strain slightly whenever she's reading.

"If you say so," Dahyun mutters, unconviced. "You could just ask her out, you know."

"S-Sorry?" Karina stutters, astonished. As far as she knows, Dahyun is a nice and keen person, but they haven't exchanged more than a few words since Karina started at the company. How could she have clocked Karina's business so fast?

"You heard me." Dahyun snickers. The machine pours her a cup of coffee, which she takes to meet her satisfied grin. "Although I'm not sure how you'd fare against her. She isn't as delicate as she looks, but she isn't as tough as you think either."

With a wink, Dahyun walks out of the pantry. Karina is left there, shocked and confused. Dahyun had no business outing her like that. And what the hell did she mean with that phrase?

"Jimin, my office, please."

Now there's something Karina doesn't enjoy hearing.

Not that Jihyo, her chief, is a horrible person, but she'd rather not be called so sternly to Jihyo's office. It makes her stomach twist and her hands sweat with an uncomfortable anticipation.

"Woah, what did you do this time?" Minjeong teases by the neighbouring desk, smirking at Karina's grunt.

"I didn't do anything." I think. "Getting called to the boss' office doesn't always means a bad thing, okay?"

"Sure, if you think so. Go on, you better not make Jihyo unnie wait."

As far as Minjeong's advices go, this is one Karina is glad to follow. Jihyo's office is right ahead, not very far from her desk. When she gets there, the anxiety mixes with surprise, since Mina is also inside.

"Close the door behind you," Jihyo says, sat on her chair and staring at some documents. Mina is sitting tightly on the opposite side of the desk, which has another seat beside. Karina settles there after doing what Jihyo asked. "Just to be clear, you two are familiar with each other, right?"

"Uh…" Karina hums, cautiously side glancing Mina. She seems very quiet and composed, as usual. "I guess…? We had lunch together a few times. I mean, with the others at the office too. Not just us two, together. We're not that close. Not that we're distant either! We jut have a, uh, fairly normal relationship. Work! Work relationship, I mean. Yeah." Karina clears her throat loudly, embarrassed. Jihyo looks up from the papers with a frown, but doesn't say anything for a while. Karina doesn't even dare to check Mina's reaction to her stupid mumbling.

"…Sure. I suppose I'm glad you're not total strangers…" Jihyo mutters suspiciously, eying both of them. "Anyway, I need you two on a job. Standard stuff. Just a bastard that groped some girls and made a ruckus at one of our bars. Make sure he doesn't do it again. Here are the details."

Jihyo slides two papers, each for one of them. Karina goes over it quickly.

"Anything else, boss?" she asks, not bothering to understand much of it. Even if they never did a job together, Karina knows Mina will read the details diligently for both of them.

"No, you're good to go."

Karina gets up from the chair, bows and leaves. She feels Mina walking behind her, but tries not to look back. As they pass by the desks to grab the outerwear of their suits, some of the others look with a raised eyebrow at them, but don't ask where they're heading.

Usually, Karina is more than okay to leave the daily business life and get on with some real leg work. It's why she joined the company, for starters. But doing it alone with Mina is… new. It gets her on edge, as if the nervousness that began when she got called to Jihyo's office refused to fade.

"You drive," Mina says when they get to the garage. She throws Karina a pair of keys as they approach a pitch black sedan. Mina is her senior, so Karina couldn't refuse an order, but she wouldn't even if she could. Driving is a good way to distract herself from whatever is going on right now.

When she starts the car, Mina is the first to turn on the radio. Karina thanks her silently for it. Without something to fill the silence, this ride would've been more awkward than the time when she spent a three-hour travel with her uncle, aunt and cousin after they found out about her uncle's affair. Not a pleasant family trip, that one.

Still, as an eletronic k-pop song rumbles through the speaker, Karina doesn't feel her sweating hands get any drier. By the passenger seat, Mina is simply staring ahead, as if she's the one driving the car. Karina feels restless. This is getting awkward anyway. Should she just say something?

"Okay, let me try again," she finally speaks, breathing in heavily. Then, she exhales. "Why should you never trust an atom?"

Karina keeps looking forward, but she feels Mina turning her head to stare. There's a second of silence. Maybe two or three. She's too busy freaking out to count properly.

"I don't know. Why?"

"Because they make up everything."

The silence is crushing this time. Thank goodness there isn't a red light in their way, because Karina would've jumped out of the car if her hands weren't busy.

"Actually, I knew this one already. Sorry, I should've just said so," Mina says, and Karina's stomach twists with self disappointment. She should've went with something less telegraphed and known.

"Shame," Karina mutters, almost pouting. "It's a good joke."

Karina hears a clicking sound. Although she didn't see it, she knows Mina clicked her tongue. She could picture that habit of Mina in her mind if she wanted to.

"I guess. Pull over. That's the place." Mina points to a small house by the road. From what Karina gathered by the quick read on the file, their targer has a tiny business. According to the sign, he's a mechanic.

They both get out of the car once it's parked. The street is pretty calm around here, which makes their job easy. It makes even easier when they approach the place and Karina sees that his business is so small that doesn't even appear to have a single employee. The place is just an open large garage and, along with a lot of mechanical paraphernalia and one wrecked car, it only has a barely bald man in his forties.

Karina recognizes his features from the file as soon as he lifts his head from the car's hood to check who came into his business.

"Hello, how can I-"

A punch in the face is sufficient to throw him to the ground. He groans when his body hits the floor, mumbling something that Karina doesn't pick up, but sounds unflattering. Behind her, Mina pulls down the garage's door and turns on the lights. Karina squats beside the man, who's still moaning.

"Sorry, what are you saying?" she asks, putting on a mocking tone. "You're saying you enjoy groping women at bars? Damn, sir, that's a serious confession! Someone might punch you because of that stuff!"

The man turns towards her, a glimpse of realization going through his eyes. Karina senses his fear. He attempts to get up, but Karina grabs his head from behind and pushes to the ground again.

"Why, sir, you seem bothered. I thought you were cool with touching people without permission." He groans and pants as he tries to get rid of her grasp. One of his hands reach for Karina's wrist, but he isn't strong enough to free himself.

"I… I'm…" he attempts to mumble something again, but it gets muffled by the floor. Karina tilts her head and looks pitifully at the man.

"Don't tell me you're going to say you're sorry. We haven't even started yet. Are you not gonna throw me any insult at all?"

"Hey," Mina's voice comes from behind her. Karina turns to find the same collected demeanor as always. "This is work, not fun."

"Can't it be both?" Karina pouts. The man tries to say something again, but she pushes his head harder into the floor. He's quite pathetic.

Mina sighs. "Let go of him."

Karina complies. The old guy is breathing heavily as he turns around to get his face away from the floor. There's a bit of blood on his nose and he looks disgusting, but, other than that, a very common piece of shit.

"You are Hong Seokjun, aren't you?" Mina asks calmly. The man nods, looking from one to the other with his fearful eyes. "Do you understand why we are here?" He nods again. "Good. This was your first transgression. Let it be the last, alright? Otherwise, I will let her have fun with you. And you'd be lucky to get out any less wrecked than this piece of junk. Are we clear?"

The man nods efusively. Karina almost groans in displease. Leg work is supposed to be fun. This isn't any better than writing reports.

"Very well." Mina nods too, approaching the man in short steps. She glances at his tools and gets a handkerchief out of her pocket. Karina doesn't catch what, but she sees Mina grabbing something with the hand wrapped in the tissue as she crouches beside him. "Now, this is just to make sure you're not going to forget our agreement so soon."

Without warning, Mina pierces the back of the man's hand with a screwdriver, hard enough to draw quite a splurt of blood. He screams in pain and Karina watches in awe as Mina twists the screwdriver inside the wound. After being satisfied, she draws it out, leaving him with a painful bleeding.

"I hope you're left-handed, sir, because you won't be using that hand so soon," Karina snorts, seeing a shadow of a smile at Mina's face.

"C'mon, let's go. Behave from now on, mister Hong. I don't want to see you ever again."

Mina walks ahead to open the garage again, not sparing another glance at the whimpering man. Karina goes right behind, still smiling because of how cool Mina looked. Even as they get inside the car again, the sight of Mina piercing the guy's hand with a screwdriver keeps replaying in her head. How can someone look so good while being so violent? Mina is such a contradiction.

"Are we getting out of here or…?" Mina asks with a raised eyebrow since Karina doesn't start the car even after a few seconds. Karina blinks, surprised, because she hadn't realizes she was staring. Again.

"Uh, yeah, s-sorry…" she mutters, clearing her throat. As she's ready to turn forward and never look at Mina again out of embarrassment, something gets her eye. She looks over once more, leaning to check Mina's other cheek.

"Rina…?"

"Oh, right, sorry. It's just, you have, uh…"

Karina trails off of her own explanation as the very bad self-sabotaging part of her turns up with a terrible idea. Unable to stop herself, she grabs a handkerchief from her pocket and leans to clean a spot of blood that's on Mina's cheek.

The sudden approach gets them both startled. Mina recoils slightly and Karina fears she might get punched, but nothing else happens. With wide eyes roaming over Karina's face, Mina allows her to clean the red drop for seconds that Karina couldn't focus enough to count even if she tried very hard.

"There was, uh, blood on you," Karina says with a sheepish smile as she draws back, showing the blotched handkerchief.

"…Right. Thank you."

Mina settles into her seat and looks forward. Karina does the same and finally starts the car. The silence fills the space between them, because Mina doesn't turn on the radio this time and Karina is too embarrassed to move her hands away from the wheel. They don't utter a single sound for the whole ride back to the company.

Oh, yeah, this just beat the divorce family trip with Karina's uncle and aunt as the most awkward car ride of all time.

A company's pantry is a very important place.

For starters, it's where bored and tired employees can run away quickly to get a breather from their shifts. It has food. It has coffee. It's basically a sanctuary for those who need to escape capitalism for a minute or two.

In the mornings, the pantry is Mina's sanctuary.

She's always the first one to get to the company. Everyone knows that. Besides Jihyo, she's the only one who has the keys exactly because of her routine of being first. So, while she's by herself inside the company, that pantry is the place where she goes to prepare a simple breakfast for herself. It's the symbol of her solitude, of the quietness she likes to have before starting a day. It's when she can slow down and appreciate the rays of sunlight coming through the window and bathing her in warmth.

Today is no different.

Mina is alone. The outerwear of her suit was left in the chair and she went as far as opening a button of her dress shirt just to enjoy the sunlight breaching into the pantry. The only sound buzzing the whole office is the comfortable rumble of the machine as it pours a cup of coffee for Mina. It feels peaceful. Healing.

The machine lets out a soft bip to let her know the coffee is ready. Mina opens her eyes sluggishly, stretching her strained muscles with the same slow pace.

"Rough night?" Karina asks from the entrance of the pantry. There's an awkward grin on her face, courtesy of her own big mouth who couldn't bear to keep itself from spraying a morning joke.

Contrary to Karina's expectations, Mina smiles. She blinks heavily twice, as if still waking up.

"Something like it," she whispers with a soft husky voice that makes a shiver run down Karina's spine. She just realized that Mina has a button open. Dear Lord.

Mina doesn't seem to care about it. She grabs the cup from the machine and lifts it up to her pink lips, eyes glowing bright because of the sunlight. Karina walks into the pantry with hypnotized steps, refraining herself from staring by focusing on turning on the coffee machine again.

The silence between them feels heavy somehow. Karina wonders if Mina is looking at her, but she isn't brave enough to check. Still, she has to do something about that tension. Preferably without having to look Mina in the eye.

"Okay, I'll try a different approach," she says suddenly. "It's going to be a pickup line. Don't punch me if you don't like it." As usual, she clears her throat. "Do you know what I'd do if I could rearrange the letters of the alphabet?"

Mina is quick to answer. "No. What?"

"I'd put the the U after the H. Just so that U and I could be together."

This moment of silence passes by surprisingly fast. But what's more surprising it's that Mina actually giggles.

Karina gets so dumbfounded by the reaction that she forgets that her intention was to not look at Mina. She can't help it, her neck just snaps right towards the angelical sound of her laugh cutting through the morning silence. Could Mina ever look more beautiful than with the sunlight illuminating her wide smile?

"I wasn't expecting this one," she admits between short cute giggles. "Well done."

"Thanks." Karina is smiling dumbly. She knows it, but it's hard not to. Mina gazes back at her with that pretty smile and she couldn't change the happy grin on her face even if she wanted to.

"Do you want some chicken sandwich? I just made them." Mina nods to two sandwiches sitting at a plate beside Mina's coffee. Karina was so focused on Mina herself that she didn't notice anything else at the pantry when she came in.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna get in the way of your breakfast."

"Don't worry. Two it's too much for me anyway," Mina claims, handling one of the sandwiches to Karina. She accepts, as they start to eat together shoulder by shoulder.

It doesn't feel tense or uncomfortable anymore, which is a win for Karina as far as she's concerned. Besides, having breakfast with Mina is way too nice, so that's a double win.

"Hmm, this is so delicious, Mina!" Karina praises, because it's true. It's so good that she can't help but frown and glare at the sandwich while she eats it. "I had no idea you were a good cook."

Mina snorts. "It's just a simple sandwich. I bet you could do it if you tried."

"Oh, no, I couldn't. Believe me, I did try. Ask Yizhuo. She had me forbidden from getting anywhere near the kitchen for a month after I blew up our toaster."

"You did what? How could you even…?"

"Don't ask me. I still have no idea of how that happened. I'm probably the avatar of an ancient destructive god. That would explain why I'm good at breaking stuff."

"Sure. An ancient god who has a beef with toasters. Sounds likely."

Karina laughs amidst a last mouthful of sandwich, and Mina smirks at her with a side glance. After Karina is done munching the sandwich, Mina calmly gets a tissue to clean the corner of Karina's mouth. Karina's eyes go wide immediately as she remembers The Car Incident™, but Mina seems completely unbothered by the contact this time. She cleans it, smiles just a tiny bit wider, and gets back to eating her last bites of sandwich in peace as if she didn't just cause a malfunction in Karina's entire brain.

It got bad to the point where she couldn't even think of a little joke to aliviate her own tension. And Mina, perhaps obnoxious to it or perhaps finding it fun, didn't say anything else as she finished her breakfast.

"Mornin'," a slow sleepy voice greets as Yizhuo shows up at the entrance of the pantry.

"Good morning," Mina answers, and Karina also nods as if in a trance.

"Early today too, unnie?" Yizhuo asks to Karina, frowning as she turns the coffee machine on yet again. The poor thing sure works a lot. "One time is a miracle already, but two? Something doesn't smell right."

Karina forces herself to shrug nonchalantly. "Something must've woken me up."

Yizhuo strains her eyes suspiciously. She glances from Karina to Mina as if just realizing that the two of them were by themselves before she arrived. Karina knows Yizhuo long enough to notice when the gears of her brain are working and this is sufficient to get her old friend anxiety to do its job again.

"I'm gonna get to work," Mina announces calmly after eating her sandwich. Without sparing a glance to them, she walks out of the pantry.

Even knowing she's in danger because Yizhuo is right there, Karina can't overcome her instincs. She gazes at Mina's back until she disappears in a corner, yet the fuzzy sensation of seeing her giggle while bathed in sunlight still lingers in Karina's head and heart.

Suddenly, a sound takes her out of her thoughts. The sound of Yizhuo laughing mischievously.

Karina's head snaps to her in surprise. Yizhuo has a very teasing smirk on her face, along with a knowing glint in her eyes.

"I'm noticing~"

"What?" Karina replies immediately, face heating up. "You're noticing what?"

Yizhuo giggles. "I'm noticing a lot of stuff~"

With another mischievous laugh, Yizhuo gets her cup of coffee and strolls out of the pantry. Karina is left there, dumbfounded, yet again.

Is it too late to have some acting classes?

If the pantry is sacred, especially in the mornings, then the same could be said for the break room. Although its purposes are mostly used for some of them to grab a cigarette, so maybe it should be called the smoke break room. This afternoon, Karina gets there for a breather after spending two hours maneuvering a sheet full of numbers with Dahyun and Sana. Even if their company's mostly a facade for their high number of ilicit doings, their common office workload can get really heavy sometimes. After all, even ilegal business needs a proper management. Jihyo made sure Karina understood that before she joined this specific division, but it still gets her on edge a few times a week. She's more of a brawler than anything, really.

Fortunately, she's never alone on the "need to get the hell out of my desk for just a second" team. Aeri is a common face there, sprawled on her favourite chair while she scrolls through her phone. So is Tzuyu, with her habit of standing in front of the window with a cigarette in hand. Other than them, Nayeon and Minjeong are also present this time when Karina arrives. They're both sitting on the couch, Minjeong holding a lighter that she's offering to light the cigarette hanging on Nayeon's lips.

"How's it going with that contract?" Nayeon asks as Minjeong lights up her cigarette. None of them bats an eye as Karina leans on the wall near Tzuyu and draws her own pack and lighter out of her pocket.

"Smoothly since last week. Tzuyu unnie paid the guy a visit and he agreed to our terms the following day."

"Woah, really? How efficient from out little Tzu!" Even if it sounds like a compliment, Nayeon's teasing grin doesn't feel like one. Tzuyu must think the same, judging by how she glares at Nayeon.

"Thanks. You should try being efficient one of these days."

"Ouch!"

Aeri, Karina and Minjeong snort because of Nayeon's grimace. Tzuyu smirks, satisfied with herself for causing that reaction.

"How did you convince the guy to agree, anyway?" Aeri questions, dropping her phone to glance at Tzuyu. "I heard some of the others saying he was impossible to intimidate."

"They just didn't try enough." Tzuyu shrugs, blowing some smoke out the window. "Like most things in this business, persuasion is a matter of finding what makes someone tick, either positively or negatively, and using it for your own gain. Fortunately, finding out people's ticks is my specialty."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself talking like that," Nayeon says with another teasing grin. "So, if you're so good, you must know what makes every individual in the office tick."

"Maybe I do. Why do you care?"

Nayeon taps her own chin, thoughtful. Minjeong raises an eyebrow to her.

"It's never a good thing when she starts thinking too hard about something," she warns, as if everyone in the building didn't know that already.

"So what makes me tick?" Nayeon asks, ultimately. Not as bad as usual, coming from her.

"Everything," Tzuyu deadpans. Aeri snorts again, which makes Nayeon rolls her eyes.

"Boring answer. I knew you were a fraud."

"You know nothing, Nayeon."

"Fine. If you're so good, then tell me..." she leans out of the couch to glance at the office. Her eyes sparkle mischievously when she sees something that makes her grin. "What makes Mina tick."

"Mina?" Karina echoes, surprised by the sudden mention.

"Yeah. She's one of the most mysterious around here. I bet you have no idea about her, Tzu."

Tzuyu leans her head curiously, as if thinking about it. She puffs out some smoke again, building up some tension as the other wait for an answer. Especially Karina, even if she tries to play nonchalant by looking down to her own toes.

"Her thing is…" Tzuyu stops herself halfway for a very good reason.

Mina steps into the break room with a sharp eye going over everyone inside them.

"Hey, Myoui! What's up?" Nayeon greets with her unashamed grin. "We were just talking about you!"

"Thought so. You glare at me was stupidly unsubtle," Mina says, impassive. "What were you saying?"

Her eyes go to Tzuyu, who just shrugs. She doesn't seem bothered by being caught in the act, but it's clear she won't say anything else about Mina. Shame, because Karina was really curious to know what she'd say.

"Tzuyu was about to tell us what makes you tick. But since you're here, why don't you tell us yourself?" Nayeon suggests, wiggling her eyebrows. Mina smirks.

"And why would I ever tell you that, Nayeon?"

"Because I'm asking politely." Nayeon blinks her eyes in the weakest attempt of flirting ever. Minjeong chuckles, covering her mouth with her hand. Mina simply glares at her.

"I'd be so ashamed of myself if I were you."

"Woah, Myoui! That's mean!" Nayeon complains with a falsely offended voice. Mina snickers, her eyes quickly crossing with Karina's when she waves her head in displease.

"Do you want one?" Karina asks out of reflex, extending the pack of cigarettes towards Mina. She denies with a wave.

"No, thanks. I just came here to make sure Nayeon wasn't sprouting nonsense."

"A pointless effort," Tzuyu chimes in. "She's always sprouting nonsense."

"Good point." Both Nayeon and Mina nod in agreement at the same time. Of course, this gets another giggle out of Minjeong and Aeri. Karina doesn't laugh, because she's too caught up on looking at Mina.

"Anyway, I'll get back to work. You should try doing that too, Nayeon."

"I'll think about it, honey. Thanks for your concern." Nayeon winks to her. Mina glares for a second before walking out.

Karina, as usual, gawks at her as she turns around and leaves, the subtle rock of Mina's hips almost making her droll. Suits never looked hot in Karina's conception, at least not until she saw Mina wearing one. Now she's a total suit Mina believer.

"Dude, no offense," Aeri interrupts her staring as Mina vanishes into the office. "But you can't handle all that."

"Huh? E-Excuse me?!" Karina's eyes wide in shock, divided between being disgruntled because Aeri caught her red-handed or because of her implication. Ultimately, she goes for the latter. "I can perfectly handle all that! I-I mean, not that I want to! Not that I don't want to either, I just, uh, am perfectly able to do it if I would! I mean, if I wanted! I mean, i-if I could…?" Karina stutters and gulps, panicked eyes frozen at Aeri's amused expression. Nayeon is laughing ridiculously loud by the couch and, beside her, Minjeong is covering her own face as if ashamed for Karina.

"Easiest tick to find out of my life," Tzuyu says, which just makes Nayeon cackle more. Karina's face feels boiling hot.

"I just think she's pretty, okay?!" Karina tries defending herself. "And what do you mean, Aeri?! Why couldn't I handle her?!"

"Karina, you are not helping yourself!" Minjeong groans.

"Like I said, no offense." Aeri holds her hands up as if trying to calm the beast. "But you're silly. And she is… Mina, you know? What exactly would be your strategy? Shoot her your weird wordplays until she cracks a smile?"

Karina silences completely because, well, yeah. That's precisely what she's been doing. But when Aeri puts it like that, it sounds incredibly more embarrassing.

"Aw, you're being too hard on her, Aeri," Nayeon defends after controlling her giggles. "Who cares if she's kinda silly? Karina's gorgeous and hot. The real question is wether Mina can handle all that." She waves off to Karina's body, who feels her cheeks reddening even more.

"I think she can," Karina mutters absentmindedly. Four pairs of shocked eyes turn to her, and Karina gasps as she realizes she said that out loud. "I mean, if she wanted to…?"

Tzuyu chuckles. "Easiest tick ever, Karina."

"Bro, you're the least subtle person I've ever seen," Aeri says, sporting a side grin.

"And the most embarrassing," Minjeong adds.

"I think you're cute, Karina. Go for it!" Nayeon gives her an excited thumbs up.

Karina is just too disconcerted by her own big mouth to say anything else. Why does it seem like every time someone sees her around Mina, they instantly get it?

Oh, right, it's the staring. She really needs to stop with that. Spoiler alert: she won't.

The top button of Mina's shirt is unbutonned yet again and that's the first thing Karina notices. Not the half-light coming from the window (it's cloudy today) nor the distracted eyes staring away at the landscape. It's the button that cacthes her eye first, the open neckline and everything it brings with it, including a gulp from Karina. She doesn't even have a witty line to open their conversation today, not with Mina's neck looking so inviting.

So she gathers herself before anything.

Karina is making it too obvious. She knows this already. It's up to her to control herself and stop showing so much before things escalate out of control. That's the realization she came to this morning, after yet again waking up earlier than usual. That's what drives her to take a breath, open her eyes and smile normally as if Mina isn't the most attractive person on the whole damn planet.

"Good morning, Mina," she says, only noticing two seconds later that she said Mina's name plainly without any honorifics.

"Morning," Mina replies, seemingly undisturbed by Karina's slip. "Early today, too? It's becoming quite a daily occurrence." Mina shows a weak smile when she says it, like she knows why Karina is waking up early in the first place.

"Yeah. Are you surprised?" Karina raises an eyebrow playfully.

"Baffled." Mina grins wider. Her coffee is already by the table, so Karina doesn't bother asking if she wants a cup before starting the machine for herself.

As they don't say anything else, Mina turns towards the counter. She grabs a clean knife and begins to slice a pear for breakfast. Adamant on her task of not looking so obvious, Karina tries hard not to stare. She steals one, two glances to Mina's focused expression and the opened button she didn't bother to close, but it's just quick glances. Nothing so incriminating.

Between one of those (maybe the third or fourth), Karina sees as Mina's knife slices through the pear straight into her finger again.

"Mina!" Karina exclaims, widening her eyes. A line of red blood is falling down Mina's middle finger and even she looks surprised by her own clumsiness. "I told you to be more careful! That's two times in a week! How can you hurt yourself while cutting fruits?!" Karina nags at the same time she rushes to grab Mina's hand and take a closer look. Like earlier in the week, it's just a small cut, thankfully.

"Sorry," Mina says sheepishly. "I get distracted using blades."

Karina frowns at the weird claim, but her attention is on the cut. Instinctively, she pulls Mina's hand closer to lick the blood coming out of her finger. She doesn't realize what she's doing until Mina chokes a gasp at the feeling of her mouth. Karina stills, suddenly too aware that she's licking Mina's finger in the pantry of the company.

As if that's not enough, her head snaps towards Mina, eyes almost bulging out of her face. Mina is gazing at her with pursed lips and a frown, but she keeps her hand exactly where it is. There's an awkward moment of stillness where Karina can't do anything except feel her stomach twisting and her heart rocking the hell out of her ribcage. Mina's finger feels too nice in her mouth.

Karina draws back in a sudden splurt of self-control. She doesn't let go of the grasp on Mina's wrist, but she keeps her mouth away from where it shouldn't be right now. Their eyes meet and Mina turns her head sideways immediately, glancing at the floor with the same pursed lips. Karina clears her throat two times as she lets go of Mina's hand to get a bandaid from the nearby cabinet.

Instead of sparing herself some dignity and just handing Mina the bandaid, Karina still has the guts to grab her hand again and place the bandaid at the tip of her finger. Mina doesn't stop her or complain, but keeps quiet nonetheless. In a second, it's like she put on that collected demeanor all over again, not sparing different glances towards Karina anymore.

When their hands are finally free from each other and Karina clears her throat yet again, Mina runs down a hand through her strands, then scratches her neck quickly and finally buttons up her shirt properly. Karina is torn between sighing in relief or complaining about it. Since it's better to not do any of those options, she just looks as Mina gets back to the half-sliced fruit in the counter.

"Want a bite?" she asks in the same soft low voice as always. For a insane moment, Karina thinks about biting that neck, but she controls herself and nods.

Mina gives her a slice of pear. Karina bites it. Everything is perfectly fine and there is no tension between them. No tension in this whole pantry. No heat surging through Karina's core and spreading to her neck, ears and whole face. None at all.

"Let's do a fruit themed one," she says before the heat makes her explode. It's a somewhat impossible mission to get her brain to think of something that is not Mina and her beautiful mouth and gergeous neck and sexy hips and intense stare and-

Karina clears her throat loudly.

"What did the grape do after being stepped on?" she forces herself to ask. Mina blinks and gazes at her with unreadable eyes.

"What?"

"She let out a little wine."

Mina smiles. Karina feels her shoulders relaxing a bit.

"I liked this one."

"Really?" Karina smiles wide, almost puffing her chest out with pride. "It's a good joke."

"It's funny," Mina agrees with a nod, eyes slowly getting back to the pear.

Relieved to have yet again saved them from a crushing awkwardness, Karina relax as she sips her coffee and enjoys a last bite of her pear slice.

This is cool. She's cool around Mina. All she has to do is act normal and not lick Mina's finger when she gets a cut. Easy-peasy.

"Good morning, guys." It's a yawning Jeongyeon that strides into the pantry that day. "Wow, you really are coming early these days. I thought Dahyun was joking."

"She wasn't." Karina shrugs.

"Why's that? You've been here for months and you're usually late instead of early." Jeongyeon turns on the coffee machine, but also gets busy by heating water to cook a ramyeon on the pantry's microwave.

"Something is waking me up these days. No biggie."

"Something?"

Karina nods, hoping Jeongyeon lets the subject go. There's one last odd look at her direction, but nothing else is said.

Without a word, Mina leaves the pantry. Karina hears and feels her going away, but uses every bit of determination she has to stare at the cup of coffee instead of Mina's walk.

It works. Once Mina's steps are out of hearing reach, Karina almost sighs in satisfaction with herself. It's absolutely impossible for Jeongyeon to notice that she has any kind of feelings towards Mina.

"Okay, she's gone," Jeongyeon's voice sounds low, barely getting to Karina's ears. "You can speak the truth now."

"What?" Karina asks with a frown, raising her head to find Jeongyeon's inquisitive stare.

"Be honest. You're only coming here early to talk to Mina, aren't you?"

Karina almost chokes on air. There's no fucking way…!

"Wh-What?!?! Why would you even think that?!" She's so baffled that she doesn't even think about controlling the sound of her voice, which makes Jeongyeon snort. She glances out of the pantry to make sure Mina isn't around, then gets back to Karina.

"C'mon, the rumour in the office is that you're completely whipped for Mina. Sounds like a very solid rumour, me thinks."

"What?!" Karina exclaims again, unable to believe her own ears. "There's a rumour in the office about me and… about that?!"

"Of course there is. For a bunch of people who should know to keep quiet, there's a lot of loose tongues in this office." Jeongyeon grins, as if she enjoys their gossips. "Why, you're gonna deny it?"

"There's nothing to deny!" Karina huffs, finally getting a grasp on herself again. She needs to calm down. "I mean, there's a whole rule forbidding relationships in the office!"

"Oh, please, that rule is just for show. No one cares about it."

"Wait, what? No one?"

"No one."

"Not even the boss?"

Jeongyeon cackles amusedly. "You mean Jihyo? The Jihyo who is basically married to Momo?"

"They're what?!"

"You didn't know?" Jeongyeon sounds genuinely shocked. "You've been here for months and you didn't know? Girl, you need to pay more attention to your coworkers. That's like, basic knowledge in this office."

Karina goes mute. That's a lot of information in too short of a span. She feels about to have another malfunction and not one of the good ones usually caused by Mina.

"I thought…" she mutters, then frowns and pinches her own cheek. Jeongyeon looks at her curiously.

"You thought…?"

"Hm? No, nothing." Karina nods negatively. "Thanks for the tip, unnie. I'll pay more attention." Karina bows slightly before walking out of the pantry. Jeongyeon's eyes follows her with a confused look, but Karina's head is in too much of a spiral to care.

Where does this new information leave her, after all? What will she do to it?

Her eyes find Mina sitting at her desk, eyes focused on the screen. Besides Jeongyeon, a few of the others have already came in, but are also in their desks and only greet Karina quickly, without paying any real attention to her. Which is good, because Karina feels confused and is hard to take her eyes off Mina as she finds her own desk and sits tight.

It's official. Karina needs to punch someone.

Manifestation isn't something Karina actually believes in.

The idea that, just with her own thoughts, she might attract the stuff she wants and needs sounds a bit absurd to her. Like, she's from a catholic family. The greatest power she usually believes is an actual being that listen to prayers, not to random thoughts of violence coming from a stressed office worker slash criminal.

But as her fist finds a solid hit on the chin of some guy she doesn't even know the name, Karina thinks that manifestation did wonders for her this time.

It wasn't even supposed to have come to this. She, Sana, Momo and Yizhuo were on a simple errand to collect some stuff when Sana spotted a few guys from a rival "company". They were rounding around in their turf and came into one of the favourite diners of the people at the office. Both Momo and Sana agreed those men didn't look to be up to no good, so they alerted Jihyo about it and then the four of them got into the diner together.

Karina didn't pay much attention on what followed. Momo and Sana did more of the talking part, making it very clear that they weren't supposed to be there. As for Karina, she was busy rounding them up; they were six and seemed to be low-ranking thugs from the westside gang. Only one of them seemed to be smart enough to know the trouble he was stirring, but he was also cocky enough to think he'd deal with them easily. Big mistake. When things didn't look like they were going to be solved with words, then a quick glance from Sana was more than enough. Karina was glad to finally get into real action.

The first punch makes her knuckles hurt right away. She put too much energy into it and maybe a tooth flies along with some blood from the guy's mouth. Her target falls down disoriented and another quickly comes closer to have one at her. Karina doesn't dodge his blow in time, but she barely feels any pain as her left cross strikes the guy, who stumbles towards Momo. It's kinda funny seeing her just kick the man like it's nothing, but Karina has no time to chuckle when another problem comes running.

One of the others is already on her, a swiss knife twisting in his fingers. Karina gets more cautious immediately, focusing on dodging two of his attempts. By the third, the guy is impatient and tries a risky cut, but she sidesteps and cracks his elbow with an open-handed strike, getting him to drop the knife. Karina pushes his face hard into the counter. Twice, just to be sure. The guy crumbles down to the floor, looking completely out of it. Unfortunately for him, Karina is really mad, so she kicks his gut for a bit more of good measure, only stopping because the guy already seems knocked out.

Then, she looks up to the rest of the fistcuff. The guy who got kicked by Momo is still down, likely because of some other blow. The first one who got punched by Karina is embroiled in a struggle with Sana near the kitchen's entrance, but Sana seems to be in control. Both Yizhuo and one of the others are behind Karina, and, as she looks, Yizhuo throws him out of the window unceremoniously. The last two are trying to flank Momo, so Karina runs down to lay a satisfying flying kick on the back of one of them. He gets pushed into a table and Momo sees the opportunity to hit his head with a glass bottle that was sitting on another table.

Karina dashes for the guy at Momo's back, the one who was leading the talking earlier. She is, perhaps, too clouded in adrenaline, because even as he punches her in the same spot of her face that she got hit earlier, she still doesn't flinch. Instead, Karina kicks him in the ribs, grabs a chair to bash into his skull, then throws it away just so she can beat the hell out of him with her own bare hands. It's a bloodbath, really. The guy's face is all purple and red by the time Momo pulls her by the shoulder to make her stop.

"Hey, hey! That's enough!" Momo has to put some strenght on her grip to force Karina into stumbling backwards. She breaths heavily and, as she looks around to find the diner wrecked and no rival thugs up for a fight, Karina sighs. It's over.

Yizhuo is in the other side of the place, taking out some shards of glass that pierced her hands. Most clients ran away even before the fight started, but one of them is crouched beneath a desk near Yizhuo, looking at her as if he's seeing a real-life goddess. Sana is at the other side of the counter, helping a terrified waitress who got hurt somehow.

The door to the kitchen opens when it's clear that the fight is done. An old lady steps out, hands trembling, but gaze steady towards the mess in the diner and to Momo.

"I'd really like if you took your fighting elsewhere next time, kid," she says, and Momo sighs.

"Sorry, auntie Hong. We'll make up for it, I promise." The old lady waves her off.

"I know. You and Jihyo are women of your word." Even so, she clicks her tongue in displease. "Now get the hell out of here before the cops show up."

Momo nods. Sana slides through the counter towards the exit and Yizhuo seems to have gotten rid of all the glass shards. Karina is ready to walk out, but she sees Momo getting closer to the guy Karina punched repeatedly.

"Are you conscious?" she asks, tapping the blob of blood that is now his face. He groans in pain and Karina even sees some tears on his swollen eyes. Weakling. "Good. I'll say this just once, so listen well: don't you ever try pulling your dirty tricks at our territory again. And be sure to tell that to all of your friends at the westside. Got it?"

He mumbles something, or tries. Either way, he nods and Momo thinks that is enough of a confirmation. She turns around and Karina follows as all of them leave the diner. Outside, a few curious eyes are turned towards the ruckus, but most of them have the decency to look scared and fuck off when the women appear. The guy that Yizhuo tossed out the window is lying in pain at the sidewalk and Sana chuckles when Yizhuo kicks his ribs as she passes by.

Very soon, they're all inside the black car used by the company. Momo drives them off fast, and the other three slouch on their seats when the adrenaline wears off.

"Dude, your eye looks disgusting," Yizhuo tells Karina after a few minutes of silence. From the passenger's seat, Sana turns around to check.

"You're getting a black eye, that's for sure." It's her quick assessment. "Mina will take care of it when we get back."

"What? Why her?" Karina asks in surprise. Now that she blew off some steam, just hearing Mina's name is enough to throw her off balance again.

"Because she went through two years of med school," Sana answers as it's obvious, but her eyes have an evil glint in them.

"I don't think you need med school to treat a black eye."

"No, but it's always best to be safe." Sana winks, and Karina has the impression that Sana isn't that worried about "safe".

"Okay… but I thought Chaeyoung unnie went to med school too."

"What's that, are you complaining about being treated by Mina?" Sana tilts her head curiously. "I thought you'd be more excited."

"Eh?! W-Why would I be excited?!" Karina's eyes widen, surprised. Even Sana?!

"Awn, you're still thinking nobody knows! That's cute!"

Karina doesn't know how to answer that. Yizhuo is giggling by her side and Karina is pretty sure Momo is also smiling.

"…What exactly do you mean?"

"That you're into Mina, dummy. It's common knowledge by now."

Oh, okay. So the whole office is really into her business. That's nice. Terrific, even.

"I'm not into Mina, though," she tries defending herself. Yizhuo wheezes, and Momo also snorts, covering her face quickly as she drives. Sana stares at her like that's the most amused she has been in years.

"Right. So are we to believe that Dahyun, Yizhuo, Aeri, Nayeon, Minjeong, Tzuyu and Jeongyeon made up their stories about you being fully whipped?"

The car would've been quite silent after Sana's words, if not for Yizhuo laughing without any restraint. How is Karina supposed to lie now?

"Wow, this office is full of loose tongues," it's all she can say. Momo snickers.

"You haven't seen half of it yet. They're all over everyone's business."

Karina almost asks if Momo has been a target of their gossiping since she's "married" to Jihyo, but thinks it might be best not to dwelve into that yet. Besides, they're already at the company's back entrance anyway. As Momo turns off the car, they all quickly get inside. Yizhuo cracks her joints while walking up the stairs to the third floor.

"Ugh, I'm spent. Do we still need to work? I think we've already done our share for the day."

"Oh, you don't know Jihyo, do you?" Sana giggles, patting Yizhuo's head. "I bet she'll tell us to head back to assess how much the damage will cost."

"What? But won't the place be swarming with cops?"

"Nah, they don't stick long for that sort of thing. They'll just haul the westside boys, get an official statement from auntie and that's it," Momo says, shrugging. "Two hours, at best. Then someone has to get back."

Yizhuo groans. "We're too hardworking for our own good."

Sana chuckles, and they finally reach the office. A lot of curious eyes watch them, but Momo only stops walking when she sees Jihyo leaning on Jeongyeon's desk and talking about something. The boss lifts up her serious eyes to meet the four of them. Since they're in the middle of the office, obviously others are close and watching, likely curious to know details of what happened.

"Should we talk about this in your office?" Momo suggests, but Jihyo waves off.

"Why? Everyone knows what you four been up to. So, what happened? Jeongyeon was halfway there when you sent the message saying it was already solved." Jihyo doesn't seem entirely mad, but her expression has a soft of edge. Karina is more than happy to let Momo take care of the talking with her spouse.

"Sorry for barging in without backup. But we had already warned those guys to not come into out turf, so I didn't want to let them get away without giving them a lesson."

Jihyo frowns slightly. Her serious gaze is quite scary, but both Momo and Sana must be used to it, because they don't bulge. Yizhuo seems tense, though, and Karina isn't exactly relaxed either.

"Well, you've made up quite a mess, I heard from auntie Hong. Something about a pool of blood on her counter and a broken window?" She raises an eyebrow, and Sana immediately chuckles.

"Those were courtesy of your rookies, actually," she says, spraying another giggle as she points to Yizhuo and Karina. "This one threw a guy out the window. And this one caused two of the most brutal concussions I've ever seen."

"One of them with her bare hands," Momo adds, smirking. "What was it that Minjeong said they called her in school? Rocket Puncher? The name holds water."

Karina groans loudly upon hearing that. "Kim Minjeong!! Why would you tell them that!"

Sadly for her, Minjeong is laughing too hard with Aeri too care. Karina would've went for a tackle either way, if her attention didn't got swayed by Mina showing up from behind Jihyo. She looks over every single one of them before stopping at Karina.

"I'll get ice for your eye," she says before stepping away as quickly as she came. Karina watches her go, heart beating fast suddenly.

"Maybe you should sit down, Rina," Aeri says with a teasing grin. "You're looking kinda dizzy."

"Fuck off." Karina pushes her arm away. Jihyo seems busy talking to Momo and Jeongyeon, so Karina thinks she isn't needed at their meeting.

"How was it? Did you really beat two guys?" Nayeon approaches to ask.

"No, she beat one guy," Yizhuo butts in to answer. "With the other, she just bashed his head until he was more blood than person."

"It was nasty," Sana agrees, grinning. "She's lucky he didn't die. Jihyo would've got her ass for killing someone in broad daylight."

"Was that bad?" Minjeong frowns. "Strange, you usually control yourself pretty well. What was it this time? Did he piss you off?"

Karina avoids Minjeong's stare. She thinks about why she was so mad to the point of punching the man like that. This is clearly something she won't say out loud.

"Guess I was just in the mood." She shrugs. Since her desk is near where they talking, Karina sprawls on her chair, ignoring whatever look Minjeong is giving at her now.

The busy bees at the office keep talking instead of working. But now that the adrenaline has fully left her body and she gave herself a moment to rest, Karina feels the pain surging through her body, specially in her eye and knuckles. She should've thought better before putting so much strength in her punches.

"Are you sleeping?" A soft voice rings near her, barely audible above the sound of everyone talking. Like clockwork, Karina feels her heart rate increase. "You'll get an earful if Jihyo sees this."

"Don't I get to use my black eye as excuse?" Karina mumbles, opening her eyes slowly. Seeing Mina's face right as her eyes open is always so stunning.

"Oh, you don't know Jihyo, do you?" Mina grins, holding a package of frozen peas. Karina frowns.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Don't ask." Mina leans closer, putting the frozen peas around the area of Karina's eye. It's cold and it stings, yet Karina holds her breath for a very different reason than pain.

"I…" She clears her throat, unsettled by how close their faces are. It's isn't enough for Karina to almost touch her, but it's enough to see her details so clearly, to smell the faint scent woody scent coming from her perfume. "I can do that myself, you know…"

Mina has a smirk on her face when she nods. "Hold it around your eye to reduce the swelling. You have to do that for a few minutes per hour until tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes." Mina steps back after Karina holds the frozen peas. "Thank you."

"It's my job." She grabs a chair from the next desk, currently empty because Minjeong is still gossiping. "Your hands now."

"Sorry?" Karina frowns.

"You heard me. Your fists are bloody." Mina holds out her hand. There isn't a single timeline in this universe where Karina would refuse to give her hands for Mina to hold, even if it means having a light heart attack in the meantime. "This habit of yours is cute."

"Huh?"

"Exactly." Mina smiles, eyes focused on Karina's knuckles. "You always say something like that when you're surprised. It's pretty cute."

Karina feels her cheeks burning again. She glances quickly at the side. Nayeon is whispering something to Minjeong while watching them, and Karina quickly averts her eye to avoid being caught. She forces a hard cough, leaning a bit towards Mina.

"You do remember we're still at the office, don't you?" she whispers mid-cough, watching Mina come back to the usual emotionless expression of her face.

"Don't worry, I know." Her voice is low again, and Karina only understands her words because she's also looking at Mina's lips as they move. "I'm just teasing you."

It gets silent after that. Mina concentrates completely on cleaning Karina's knuckles, who leans back on her chair to look to the ceiling. Better than staring at Mina while everyone is so close an watching them. However, as usual, being in silence around Mina only gets her nervous. The constant talk beside them subside because Jihyo tells them to get back to work and calls Minjeong and Aeri for something, which means the desks beside Karina remain empty. In other words, it gets quieter than it already was after a minute or two. And that's too much for Karina to bear.

"Okay, here's a thematic one," she says, clearing her throat right after. She looks to Mina again, who is already staring at her. "Do you know what's the best sight for sore eyes?"

Mina tilts her head in though. She glances furtively at the sides, then goes back to Karina and smiles wide.

"Me?"

Karina chokes on air. Mina giggles lightly, while Karina is very busy trying to remember how to breathe.

"Are you okay there?" Dahyun asks, three desks away. Karina gives her a thumbs up, although she's still coughing.

"I think she got a cold or something," Mina answers with the usual emotionless tone. "And she's a bit dizzy because of the eye."

"Oof, that sucks."

"Yeah. I'll take her to the break room to get some rest. Tell the others not to bother her for a while, okay?" Mina says, using her hold on Karina's hand to tug her up. Karina is confused by the sudden idea, but she lets herself be guided by Mina to the break room.

"Sure, I will." Dahyun looks troubled as they pass by her.

"Don't worry, unnie, I'll get better soon," Karina says, showing a half-baked smile. Dahyun nods, then gets back to work.

Soon, they get to the break room, which is empty. Usually, the doors stay open, but Mina closes them swiftly before guiding Karina to a chair near the window. She sits her down, ignoring Karina's confused glance about why they're in the break room to begin with.

"Did I get the joke right?" Mina asks, going back to clean Karina's hands with a smile like their change in rooms was combined. She sits in front of Karina, although a bit closer than before. Their knees are touching. It's good.

"No, but I wish I thought of that," Karina answers, trying to control the twist in her chest every time their eyes meet. "It's way better than what I was going to say."

"What were you going to say?"

"No, you ruined it. I'm embarrassed now."

"C'mon, I'm curious. Tell me." Mina flashes one of her beautiful smiles, and that's a low blow.

"Fine. Conjunctivitis.com. That's it, that's the joke."

Mina stares at Karina. It takes a second, but then she giggles.

"It's kinda bad," she admits, but there's a smile on her face. Karina can't help but mirror it.

"I do my best."

"I know, babe."

The pet name makes Karina lose her breath again. Mina grins like it's nothing, cleaning the last bits of blood on her knuckles carefully. Once it's done, their eyes meet again. Mina has a glint in her eyes that is no stranger to Karina, who watches as her face comes closer and closer…

Ever since their first kiss, Mina's lips fit way too well into Karina's. Like that's where they were made to be. It's a perfect fit, just like how Mina's fingers find a way to caress Karina's neck, rounding around to her nape so that they could pull even closer. Maybe kissing with a bag of frozen peas under her left eye isn't the most optimal way of doing it, yet Karina is so stunned by what's happening that she completely forgets to take it out. Instead, the only way she bothers to move is reaching carefully for Mina's waist with her free hand.

"You're maddening," Mina whispers as she runs her lips through Karina's jaw. "How can you look so hot with these bloody hands and a black eye?"

Karina sighs, pleased. Mina lunges at her right ear, kissing and biting the lobe yet so softly.

"…I thought we were keeping it secret," she replies, caught off-guard by Mina's sudden boldness. She's always so calm and distant when they're in the office, acting perfectly their coworkers relationship.

"We are. There's no one here." Mina's voice is low and full of desire in her ears. Sure, the break room is empty, but they're still at the company. She never acts like that when they're alone in the pantry, for instance.

However, Karina is a bit too taken to complain seriously. She feels a pair of hands unknotting her tie, at the same time Mina's mouth trails a path down her neck, caressing, nibbling, licking. Karina finally reasons enough to get the bag of frozen peas out of her face, throwing it at the nearby table. With the newly free hand, she grasps for Mina's leg, tugging it to get her to sit on top of Karina's lap.

"I never imagined you'd be the one to lose control like this," she teases half-heartedly, sliding both hands through Mina's sides.

"Me neither, but what else could I do?" Mina pants over Karina's skin, raising her head so that their eyes could be on the same level. Her irises are sparkling, and so is her plump reddish lips. "Do you have any idea of how hot you look in this suit? Working with you it's a fucking torture."

Karina giggles, feeling light-headed. She always melts so easily when Mina compliments her while staring at her with those gorgeous eyes.

"I can say the same about you."

They kiss again. Mina grips harder, ravishing Karina's mouth as if she had been famished for weeks. She rocks her hips slowly above Karina's lap, roaming hands finding a way through Karina's collarbone, neck and cleavage. Despite being summer, the weather outside isn't hot, but it feels like a hundred degrees with Mina tightly wrapped around her. Karina is losing her awareness on anything unrelated to Mina and her refreshing wet kiss and their bodies clashing.

"I wanna fuck you so bad," Mina whispers over her lips again, ragged hot breathing cutting through her words. Karina grins.

"We slept together this whole week and you're still this hungry?"

"Starving," Mina hums with a smirk, going down again to bite Karina's neck softly. "We should've fucked in the car two days ago. The way you subdued that guy so effortlessly was such a turn-on."

"Sorry for blowing it with the tissue thing later," Karina replies, grimacing while remembering the tense feeling of their ride back. Mina snaps upwards, glancing at Karina with wide eyes.

"Are you insane? I almost stripped you off right there because of that. Couldn't think of anything else the whole day." Mina's confession gets Karina even more surprised. She was sure that her behavior was cringe or something. "If Jihyo hadn't told me to get back soon, I would've been all over you."

"Really?" Mina nods. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What good would it be if I told you?" She raises an eyebrow, leaning closer to Karina's face. "Would it make your job any easier if I told you that I wanna kiss you every time you come to the pantry in the mornings? That I wanna get on top of you whenever we're working together? That your nervous wordplays make me wanna eat you out? Would it make your life any easier?"

"Definitely no," Karina answers without a second thought. Then, she grins. "But it'd make my life a lot more fun."

Mina chuckles, cutting her own laugh halfway just to kiss and bit Karina's lip.

"You're so damn maddening," she mutters once more, leaning away from Karina with a lot of difficulty. Mina doesn't get off, but it's clear from her steady hands that she knows they're pushing their luck. It's only a matter of time 'til someone opens the break room door.

Karina can't think of something to say. Mina kissed all of her thoughts away, leaving behind only a numb smile and eyes which are more than happy to simply stare at every detail of the woman in front of her. She's perfect in every curve, every spot of her face, of the swollen lips to the beauty mark on her nose and the beautiful color of her eyes. Those eyes, which are not looking at Karina's face right now. Instead, they're staring somewhere very much below. Karina follows her stare, finding out that Mina's quick horny fingers managed to not only untie her, but also get rid of a few buttons, which means that Karina's cleavage is fully exposed and showing part of her bra.

"You're such a sucker for tits," Karina snickers, smirking when Mina looks back at her in surprise. Her cheeks get redder after getting caught and she just gulps.

"Well, you're usually wearing a top instead of a bra. I was just… curious." She shrugs, but it's not like Karina isn't aware of Mina's tastes. "…And they're big. Draws attention."

"Yeah?" Karina tilts her head, getting a hand on her own chest to pull the shirt and bra out of one of her boobs. "Why don't you play with them a bit, then?"

"Jimin!" Mina squeaks. She hurriedly puts a hand over Karina's own, trying to cover her again. Althought she isn't putting a lot of energy into it. "We have to stop or we're gonna get caught!"

"C'mon, just a little bit more. No one's coming in…" Is she sure of it? No. But she's too horny to care, she wants Mina just a bit more for now.

"Jimin…" Mina whimpers, wetting her lips with her tongue as both eyes are glued to Karina's chest. "Fuck it."

Mina dives head on, taking in Karina's tit with one big mouthful. Karina moans, legs twitching because of the sudden attack, even if she was already expecting it. Mina's lip is soft and her tongue is steady, skilled, going around Karina's nipple and sliding through every single spot of skin. In all fairness, Karina was never very sensitive around her breasts, but Mina has some kind of ability to wake up every dormant nerve of her body. Everything feels so intense, so sensitive. Karina finds herself panting and dropping her head after just a few seconds of being sucked by those soft wet lips.

Her core feels scorching hot and she really wants Mina to get on with it, take off her clothes and eat her up. Unfortunately, both of them have a reasoning head over their shoulders. So even after long amazing seconds of Mina devouring her tit, Karina tries not to complain with more than a few whines when Mina steps away. They're both out of breath and Mina's face is wet from all the saliva and sweat now mixed on Karina's chest.

Mina is the first to get control of her actions again. Without a word, she breathes in heavily and exhales. Then she goes on to fix Karina's attire, spending some minutes to get her shirt how it should be. Karina has a hard time letting go of her waist and legs once she's done, but she eventually allows Mina to leave, though leaning to kiss her before doing it.

By some miracle, no one even knocks at the break room's door. And, in time, they're perfectly dressed and well-behaved as if nothing ever happened.

"We really shouldn't be doing this again. Not here," Mina says, sitting at a chair instead of Karina's lap.

"You're the one who started."

"I know. I'm telling this to myself."

Karina giggles, staring at Mina with the fondest look ever. Her eye is still hurting and some muscles of her body feel sore, but she's just too glad with how the past hour went. Even if she had been angry all day…

"Mina," she calls. Mina looks back at her, nodding for her to continue. "Why are we keeping it secret?"

There it goes. The question that has been in Karina's head all day. The question that got her mad enough to actually beat someone almost to their death. Why were they keeping it secret, if relationships at the office aren't forbidden at all?

"I thought we agreed on that." Mina tilts her head curiously.

"I know, but… that was because I thought I couldn't date one of my coworkers. But Jeongyeon told me that no one cares about it and even Jihyo is basically married to Momo or something." Karina tries not to sound angry or hurt, but she doesn't understand why Mina told them her to keep them a secret if there's no reason to.

"Jimin, that's not why we've been keeping it secret at all."

"I know, but-- wait, what?" Karina stops herself. Mina is looking at her confused, yet she smiles.

"You did it again, see? This habit is really cute."

"Yah!" Karina complains, even though her face is getting hot again. "I'm serious!"

"I'm sorry." Mina giggles, not looking very sorry. "But I'm serious too. We've been keeping a secret for your own good, not because it's forbidden."

"My own good? But you mentioned the rule when we talked about it!"

"That was a joke! I thought you knew about Jihyo and Momo already." She scratches her head, looking almost embarrassed. "Sorry, babe. I should've been clearer." This time, it feels honest. Too honest.

"I…" Karina clears her throat, but she still doesn't know what to say. The pain on her eye it's spreading to her head. "What do you mean with this being for my own good?"

"You're new here," Mina answers quickly. "I'm one of Jihyo's most trusted advisors. Everyone knows that. I don't want anyone thinking that you're having it easy because of me. Or that you're only with me to get some kind of advantage. Or…" Mina sighs. "I just don't want anyone talking bad about you. And I don't want to make your life here harder."

"Mina…" Karina mumbles, but her heart melts halfway through speaking the name. She had no idea that was the real reason. "Do you really think I'd care about something like that?"

"Well, I do care about it. About you." Mina shrugs, avoiding Karina's stare. "I'm your senior. It's up to me to protect you."

Karina smiles fondly, leaning closer to Mina so she can hold her hands. They feel soft, even if there's some roughness over her knuckles and a scar or two around them. Mina glances at Karina in silence, ignoring the fact that this would still be a very incriminating scene if someone were to see them.

"Look, if you think that's better, then I'm okay with it," Karina says, lifting one of Mina's hand to kiss her fingers. "But pretending that I don't like you… it's just not my thing. I'm very bad at it."

"I know," Mina whispers back with a weak smile. "You stare at me too much."

Karina snorts. She has no defense for that. "Yes. And I'm a bad liar. Everyone knows I'm into you already."

Mina nods. "Thought so. Nayeon and Sana asked me what I think of you today. They aren't subtle at all." They both chuckle, softening the mood just a little bit. Karina brushes her mouth against Mina's palm, smiling at her.

"Well, what I mean is… pretending is hard for me. I can still try if you want me too, but you don't have to be so worried, Mina. If anyone talks bad about me, I know it's because they're jealous that I'm dating the prettiest and coolest woman ever."

Mina giggles, leaning closer to also place her lips above Karina's knuckles. Her eyes are dazzling bright, just like when the sunlight reflects on them at morning.

"Alright," she says at last, spraying a sigh. "Let's not get out of here holding hands and screaming that we're dating, but… I'm fine with not pretending. As long as, you know, we behave like professionals at work and not like crazy lovers who can't keep their hands off each other."

"Hey, you started it," Karina remembers again with a teasing tone, and Mina huffs.

"I know. I'm warning myself."

Karina chuckles, getting closer to have one more kiss out of Mina before they need to break apart.

"I love you," Mina says over her lips, holding Karina's hands tighter.

"I love you too." Karina kisses her sweetly, yet fast. "Just to be sure, we're continuing from where we left off when we get home, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Mina draws back just to stare at Karina with a raised eyebrow. "Of course we are. I'm not done with you, babe."

Karina grins, more than happy to hear it. "Nor me with you."

Instead of seeing Mina in the pantry at mornings, Karina goes with her to the company. Since they're done pretending, there's no reason to act like they don't live together. And Karina is already waking up early anyway.

"It's your fault," Karina says when Mina asks her about it. "You wake me up when you start to get ready for work."

Mina is driving, but she still spares a glance at Karina.

"I barely make any noise. You boasted so much about having a deep sleep just to be defeated by, and I quote, 'the quietest person ever'?" She snickers, making Karina roll her eyes.

"It isn't about the noise. Guess my body just misses it when you're not in bed with me." Her words are earnest and natural. Mina gazes dumbly at her, eyes brighter than ever. "Hey, look ahead, driver."

Mina snorts, getting back to focusing on the road. Even inside that car with no one but them inside and no pressure to act professional, Karina still feels butterflies roaming around her stomach every time their eyes meet. It's a nice feeling, though she'd liked it better if she could control it.

"You're buttoned up today," Karina notices, glancing at Mina's shirt. "No tempting me with your neck today?"

"Why, you're missing it?" She grins, quickly glancing at Karina again. "Take it off, then. My hands are a bit full right now."

Karina lifts her hand almost automatically, but stops at Mina's shoulder, thoughtful.

"Nah, I don't wanna risk anyone else seeing it," she concludes, retreating her hand. Mina chuckles.

"You're so possessive."

"I am." Karina's gaze keeps at Mina's focused side profile. "You're mine, Myoui."

Mina returns her stare as they reach the company's parking lot. There's a big smile on her face, the one Karina always loves to see.

"Okay." The engine stops. Mina leans in to give her the sweetest kiss ever. "C'mon. Let's get to work, babe."

"On it, unnie."

Mina giggles and Karina is happy to hear it as they leave the car. As expected, the company's building is closed. Mina opens each door with an enormous sequence of keys and codes that Karina couldn't even bother to learn or understand. She's not that high on hierarchy yet, anyway. As they reach their usual floor, Mina beelines through the empty desks all the way to the pantry. Karina follows like a cat following its owner, since there isn't anything for her to do so early at the company except spend some time with the boss' right hand woman. Usual stuff.

Today, it's two apples. Mina starts slicing them, while Karina turns on the coffeee machine. They're alone and in silence, if not for the comfortable hum of the machine beside them. This is the moment where Karina starts to get nervous. Silence always makes her nervous, so being alone with Mina, and even more being alone with Mina at the company, even when no one's there to see. Except, well, she doesn't have to hide it so hard now. Maybe it's time to finally relax around her girlfriend…?

"No jokes today?" Mina asks, after some minutes of nothing. She already sliced both apples without getting a cut and gave one of them to Karina. "You're quieter than usual today."

"Well…" Karina tilts her head, glancing at Mina's ever beautiful face. The sun coming from the window feels like a paid actor because of how perfectly it fits between her angelical features and gorgeous eyes. "I suppose I'mt trying to get used to being silent around you. It feels nice when I'm not nervous." Mina smiles and nods. She bites a piece of the apple as Karina stares fondly at her. "Besides, I've ran out of jokes."

Mina snorts. Once more, Karina is satisfied with the reaction.

"I'll get you one of those weird wordplays books," she concludes, to which Karina's eyes glint.

"Really?! That sounds cool!"

"You actually liked the idea?" Mina sounds surprised for a moment, then she frowns. "Oh God, you're gonna fill me up with lame jokes, aren't you? I think I just dug my own grave."

Karina giggles, leaning forward with a mischievous eye. "I could fill you up with something else if you're interested."

Mina rolls her eyes, but one of her hands reaches for Karina's tie to pull her closer slowly.

"Dirty jokes this early, Yu?" she teases, smirking when Karina gets close enough that their faces are almost touching.

"It's your fault for looking so pretty in the mornings, love."

Their kiss is soft, even if the way Mina tugs at Karina's tie isn't. Their bodies touch just so slightly, with a satisfied sigh coming out of Mina's mouth when Karina caresses her waist. It could even get to something more, if Mina wasn't so good at keeping her own promises.

"Okay, that's enough," she whispers over Karina's lips, pushing her away with no energy or strength at all. Still, Karina obliges. "You're gonna ruin my lipstick. And we might not be pretending, but I do not wanna get caught kissing in the company."

Karina agrees with a hum, pushing forward to kiss her cheeks one last time before completely pulling away. She reaches for her coffee and puts a good measure of distance between her and Mina, though their eyes look completely glued to each other.

"Morning, you two!" A loud and steady voice breaks off their bubble a few seconds afterwards. Jihyo strolls into the pantry, followed by Jeongyeon and a sleepy Minjeong.

"Mornin', boss," Karina replies and Mina also nods accordingly. "You all came together today?" Besides them, Karina hears other voices coming from the desks, maybe from Sana and Momo. Or was it Nayeon?

"Nah, it was a coincidence. I just parked at the same time she got here with Momo and the sleepy kid over there." Jeongyeon points at Minjeong, who just blatantly yawns.

"So you got a ride today, Min?"

"Just halfway," Jihyo answers, sliding a cup of coffee to her drowsy underling. "We saw her walking like a zombie while we were coming, so I thought it was best to giver her a ride."

"Why she's so sleepy, though?" Mina asks, smiling at Minjeong's slow movements.

"Slept late, sorry," Minjeong draws out some words. "Thank you for the ride, chief."

"You've already thanked me twice, Minjeong. Just drink your coffee and wake yourself up, okay?" Jihyo sounds firm, but she's also grinning. After Minjeong agrees, her sharp eyes slowly turn towards Karina and Mina, glinting curiously. "What about you two? You're always coming early these days."

Karina shuts, disguising her lack of answer by taking a sip of her coffee. She thinks about to check Mina's reaction to see how exactly she should answer, simply because "not pretending" doesn't mean "give it away". However, before she can do something like that, a answer comes.

"I gave her a ride today," Mina says, with the same neutral tone of her morning greetings. "But I guess she just woke up early those other days."

"Yeah," Karina agrees quickly with a sheepish smile. "I must be getting old. My deep sleep isn't nowhere near as deep as it was."

"Ha, if you're getting old, then we might as well put Nayeon in an asylum," Jeongyeon snickers, even if Nayeon isn't even there to listen. "If my memory serves right, you said something has been waking you up. Is that still the case?"

"Hmm… kinda, yes." Karina shrugs, trying to play nonchalant. "It's not a bad thing, though."

Jeongyeon strains her eyes above her cup of coffee. She has the kind of glint that Karina has seen on her whenever she's on the verge something.

"I'm gonna get to work," Mina says, as usual. "See you later." Instead of speaking that last phrase to everyone, Mina quite obviously looks at Karina as she passes. Not only that, but a hand measly slides through Karina's arm, who feels every fiber of her body shiver upon the fast touch.

Quite unable to do anything else, Karina gazes at Mina blatantly from the moment she starts walking to when she vanishes into the usual corner. She knows very well that this the most obvious she has been in weeks, but hell. Why would she care? Mina is too gorgeous for her to look away.

Once Mina is finally out of her field of vision, Karina gathers herself enough to remember there's a world around her. And that there's three pairs of surprised and curious eyes staring at her.

"Jimin?" Minjeong asks, the shock very clear from her voice.

"Soooo, I'm gonna get to work too, haha!" Karina says loudly, grinning like a madwoman to the three before dashing out of the pantry.

Minjeong, Jihyo and Jeongyeon just look without speaking a word for a few seconds.

"Are they…?"

"Yeah, definitely," Jeongyeon answers.

"One-hundred percent," Jihyo agrees.

"Oh, well." Minjeong nods with a smile. "Thought so."

Meanwhile, Karina gets to her work station, trying not to spare any glance at Mina's desk while she walks. Of course, by lunch time, the whole office is gonna know about her relationship with Mina.

The thought just makes her smile grow.