SOMEBODY.

“thank you,” seona tells the cafeteria worker as she grabs the tray of food off the counter. despite preferring her own homemade food, there are times when bringing lunch isn’t practical, especially if she doesn’t have time to pack it because of her busy schedule. legacy’s cafeteria food provided food isn’t the worst, at least it’s healthy. maybe a little on the bland side, but she can deal with that from time to time.

the weather’s been warming up, each day feeling nicer and nicer. seona wants to enjoy it before summer comes, making it impossible to stay outside for more than half an hour before sweating to death.

she walks over to the patio doors, pushing it open with her side and looking for a table to sit at. unfortunately, it seems like everyone at the company had the same idea as her, the tables full of staff or artists. seona looks around, trying to spot a familiar face that she could sit with. one of the other actors would be preferable, but some of her idol contacts surely wouldn’t mind letting her sit with them for lunch?

instead of spotting aeri, jino, or cherry, she spots someone else. jisoo. she stops in her tracks before passing by his table, debating whether or not she should approach. seona makes the decision that she’s been looking for a seat for too long, and she also doesn’t want him to think that she’s snubbed him if he sees her staring but instead of even greeting him, she just walks past.

“hi,” she says approaching him. there’s always an awkward air between the two of them when they’re in the same place at the same time. it’s a rare occasion, their schedules don’t really overlap and it’s not like the two hang out outside of work. seona still doesn’t know what exactly they are; friends, acquaintances, enemies? no, definitely not that last one. but still, jisoo confuses her and she doesn’t like that.

it feels like dejavu. they've been here before, facing off. is that the right term? not really. there's less sass in the introductory bit but he's sure there's a 50/50 chance that'll fade once they actually sit down. so he bites. they've been cordial with each other anyway... "i have enough alone time on a normal day, we're fine to eat together. take a seat, please," jisoo smiles. he'd only taken a seat moments earlier, having skated in to one of the few remaining available spots, so he understood that pressure. like, no, he's not taking this to go. it's not as if they had studios like some of the idols here.

“you? baking?” hyunhee raises an eyebrow at her cousin. “well, if that happens and it tastes good, you’ve got to bring me some, alright? it’s the least you can do.” she laughs.

hyunhee’s never really been self-conscious, she’s always felt confident about herself. these feelings are new and she doesn’t know how to deal with them.

“i feel like maybe i’m not meant to do runway, it was really intense even though the shows i walked for were pretty lowkey. maybe i should stick to pictorials?” she laughs, shaking her head. “i know there were a lot of different girls there and my height shouldn’t hold me back, but i just felt kind of . . . small. i’m not used to not feeling confident i guess. i don’t know why it felt like that. maybe because it was my first time?”

"i think runway gets easier the more you do it. don't be overly conscious about your height or anything like that. when you think about it, you could choose to dominate the asian market for modeling, and less about the haute couture and big international names- lots of japanese labels and korean labels will favour 'shorter' models," he recalls some of the japanese local brands using models that were even under 5'0. "although i think you would have to ensure that you can walk in super high heels. how are you on that end?"

her eyes scan the fridge, deciding what she should serve her guest. she had lots of cans, soda, energy drinks, even single serve coffees. none of those felt right for this occasion, though. hyunhee ponders for only a minute more, knowing that if she held the door open for too long the fridge would start beeping at her. she grabs the bottle of sparkling water from the fridge, setting it down on the counter before turning back towards the fridge and filling their cups up with ice. the model rifles through her cabinet once more, grabbing a bottle of cherry syrup and adding it to the drinks. she finishes each cup off with a straw before joining jisoo on the couch.

“my newest hyper-fixation,” she tells him handing the glass over. “i saw one recipe on tiktok and now i’m obsessed! i have other flavors of syrup too, if you want to change it up a bit.” hyunhee smiles, bouncing in her seat a bit.

"hyperfixations are hard to knock. don't let these products go to waste. although i'm sure its only the syrup that could eventually expire and you could use it for other things, like..baking. maybe? do you bake? i kind of started cooking more for the channel but i'm not that great at it, ha. maybe i should try baking something next..."

it is day ten of missing minseo and 424823 day of his break and he has moved from moping in his home to now moping on jisoo’s couch. “is this how it feels to be in a long distance relationship?” jino wonders aloud, he’s never been in one before and now he feels like there’s this depth in his chest that continued to grow deeper and deeper the longer he hasn’t seen minseo in person. 

he reaches for a pillow by his feet and hugs it to his chest, turning his body this way and that as if trying to find a comfortable space on the cushions provided to him. this won’t do — he missed her too much, should he call her? would that be rude to @lgcjisoo? jino turns his head to look over at the male, eyebrow arched as he gauges the other’s reaction to him whipping his phone out and calling his girlfriend …. maybe this wasn’t the time or place for it.

"you are the living embodiment of mope." he only found it amusing because jisoo recalled the pain of relationships and the distance, especially in this industry. sneaking around. all that stuff that came along with it. the burdensome life of being in a relationship, and not being in one. but he'd rather return to the long distance bit than the whole... not knowing situation. "yes. it wasn't fun at all. it worked until it didn't, i guess. not that i'm trying to cause you the whole doom and gloom thing, because each relationship is unique. but i prefer being face-to-face - which can be difficult for people in the entertainment industry after all."

it’d been a while since the two of them had hung out together that wasn’t inclusive of their schedules. they were both able to travel together because of fashion week, film together for valentine’s day. being a part of the same career field as your family has its perks.

only if you can tolerate them, of course.

when hyunhee had asked jisoo to come over, she hadn’t expected it to be so soon. they lived in the same apartment complex, though. she was deluding herself thinking it would take him a while to get back to her with times when he was available.

the doorbell rings and she goes to get it. letting jisoo in, hyunhee kicks aside some of her shoes to make room for his. “you should have texted me more than like, ten minutes before you were coming over,” she huffs shutting the door behind him. “i would have cleaned up.” her apartment’s a mess as usual, but she’s not embarrassed by it, not in front of jisoo. but honestly, though, she wouldn’t have cleaned up regardless. that’s just how he is.

"as long as you have umm clean cups, i'm down. but do you actually have anything other than water, because otherwise i will give you ten minutes because i'll go down to the convenience store and grab us some options." following her path directly, he peers over her shoulder to get an eyeful of the fridge. "you know what, surprise me." jisoo takes a straight 180 turn and goes and plops himself down in the chair, as if he hadn't been sofa-rotting in his own place.