Like Sunshine On Snow | p.jm ✔

오: the business card

Ever since Sera had graced her workspace with her arrival, the variety of works that she was mercilessly being burdened with, did not seem like ceasing at all. The fact that she had excused herself for a couple of minutes in the middle of rendering her job, for her own sake, continued to torment her even after the event was concluded successfully. The one condition that Sera had never preferred picturing herself in was slacking off during work hours, and one way or another, that was exactly what she had done some hours ago. Even personal reasons did not count as inevitable for her.

Sweeping her hand across the desk, she aligned the handful of objects that she could get hold of, systematically in their respective positions before heaving wearily as she threw her head backwards. As she momentarily lost her focus to the dazzling street lights that lightened the whole view before her, she wondered how much of a stress-buster a night stroll would have worked for her as, had she not taken her responsibility for granted and given in to the absurdly torturous situation. However, her worries tended to abandon her mind once her eyes had absorbed the radiating beauty of the scenery, which even the glass panel in between of the two could not resist from accommodating.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Sera's lips. Though that could not take its whole form when blunt thumps began to echo in the hallway. As much as Sera could surmise what must have been happening, the pounds sounded to her like someone's tread. It was late at night and probably no one except her had filled the overtime working register— having the memory of a fish had never helped the poor girl in any sense anyway. But as the clip-clop intensified, so did Sera's heartbeat.

Just in the matter of time Sera was this close to losing her cool once again, a ray of hope began to glisten right in front of her, leading her to gape merrily at the thing. A baseball bat was what she had reached out for, ready to whack the alleged intruder out of the campus itself in a single blow. Tightening her grip around the bat, she lifted it up and rested it on her shoulder, awaiting the unfortunate person who would apparently get to have a taste of Sera's amazing striking capabilities.

Sera had determined the person's proximity after spending some seconds concentrating on it. Thinking of her plan as foolproof and survivor's spirit as unattainable, she swung the bat over her shoulder as forcefully as she could, earning a screeching yelp from the assaulted.

Sneering victoriously as she revealed herself from behind the door, her reaction did a complete somersault when she finally got to see the face of her prey.

"Y—you... What are you doing here?" Sera's breath hitched in between, staring at the person whom she had intended to hit so murderously— like an idiot.

"So this is how you greet your guests, I see... by trying to hit them with a bat first and then asking them what made them come to you. A novel one, I must say." Jimin hissed when he accidentally pressed the weal too hard while having a look over it. Rubbing the very spot as he glared at Sera in dismay, the latter could swear there was less than twenty percent chance of her being able to see the Sun next morning.

After locking herself in that dingy bathroom stall for she had nowhere else to escape to, Sera had ardently promised not to let herself get swayed by such kind of situations anymore. That was something that she had resolved to be doing with Jimin out of the scenario. How was she supposed to get past the emotional ruckus that the man had caused to her? Even though Jimin had not actually played a part in giving such traumatising memories to Sera, letting go of the thought of her being all over the place because of him— and that too not very long ago— was better said than done for her.

"Hey, I was just kidding. I'm sorry if I offended you." Jimin mumbled apologetically upon observing Sera's expression— which was neither on the joyous side nor on the glum. Placing his elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands in a way that hid half of his face, he passed another chair besides the one that he was sitting on, to Sera— beckoning her to get herself seated too.

"Uhm, no, it's fine. I was lost in thought, you could say. How can I help you though, sir?" Sera put forward her formal tone, with the most formal question that someone could ask their customer. She tossed the chair that Jimin had pushed towards her, to its original place, whilst adjusting herself against the same-old desk that she was expected to be working on otherwise, if the latter had not disturbed her with his God-knows-what query.

"I want your card," Jimin spluttered, but paused when he realized that he must have sounded rather random like that, "your business card, I mean." He said, adopting his usual charming smile.

"M—my card? For what purpose might you require my card?" Sera blurted out too, though hers was more due to the disbelief that Jimin had unintentionally caused her. Raising one of her brows at him as Sera became the blend of utter suspicion and confusion, Jimin was prompted to clear the misunderstanding at once.

"Ah, don't get the wrong idea please! It's just that I want to stay aware of the university's upcoming sponsor's fests too. You see... I want to support more deserving underprivileged children." Jimin's voice had suddenly gained somewhat of a confident texture, though under the hood of the table, only he knew how badly he was fidgeting with his fingers out of nervousness.

"Oh, that's a very noble deed you're thinking of doing. And sure, I'll give you the university's office's number so that you could easily clear your future inquiries as well. As for me, I literally just started my job here yesterday so I've yet to learn many things. I'm afraid I won't be of help to you, so," Sera halted her speech abruptly as she pressed her lips into a thin line, fishing out a fresh card from one of the drawers simultaneously.

"It's your card that I asked for in the first place, Miss...Won?" Jimin muttered Sera's last name with visible uncertainty as he squinted his eyes at the name tag that was attached to her clothing.

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a/n

this chapter and the ones after haven't been touched in ages hahaha i almost threw up while rewriting cuz ewww the 2017 me was such a babie who didn't even know how to write🤮