Untitled, 2018

Chapter 14: Square One

I melted a little and leaned on the nearest object to steady myself, overwhelmed by my adoration. The sad thing was that "nearest object" was Jimin, which made me jump five feet away with lightning speed once again. He looked at me like I was going to rob him or something, before ignoring me. Riti stOP. Okay I could just avoid him from now on. I scolded myself for being scared of... Well I don't even know what.

The catering was delivered to a big lounge-like area, and was some top-notch East Asian fusion food. When we got there, Hoseok and Jimin ran off to greet their buddies, and we were left to fend for ourselves. The CEO dropped by and said hi for a bit too.

"We don't have these company-wide lunches or dinners often or anything but I hope you know you're welcome to them." Followed by immediately leaving. Kang, Mateo, and I glanced at each other with awkward smiles and decided to just sit it out at a corner alone after getting some food. I controlled myself and only took a little bit of everything, even though I wanted to just hog out of nervousness. Only four of the boys were present, and they were pretty much the center of attention. The CEO had disappeared back into some cave of his, I assumed.

"Wait so the one on the elevator, he's your favorite?" Mateo asked through a mouthful of some bread salad crap he'd found in the mix of food. I sighed at his choice of food. "Which one?"
"The one you keep freezing around."
Kang laughed and I protested the accusation. "I don't freeze. And no."
"Oh, the other one then?"
"Um..." I thought about it for a second. "So no?" He filled in for me.
"Hey, why does it matter who my favorite is?"
Mateo narrowed his eyes and glanced at the room behind me, before putting on a small smile. "It doesn't."
Kang chipped in, "Which one's your favorite, Mateo?" We burst into laughter while Mateo scrunched his eyebrows and chewed awkwardly. "You joke, but I've never found a man attractive before she and Hanna made me watch a BTS music video the other day."
"Really? What did you in was Blood Sweat and Tears? That's the most relatable thing you've ever said, Mateo, I want you to know that," I joked.

Kang cleared his throat and brought his voice to a whisper, "By the way, I hope you guys can build good relationships with the marketing agents this company has. They offered us the names of the agencies that help them out and they all tend to show up for promotions. This is the only way we can release our research faster than those crooks."
"Of course, Kang sir, yes sir!" I saluted to him. "But also I was looking through some of the information we have from the interviews so far- and we're kind of done with the marketing director. We need to start talking to and gathering info from the sub teams and agencies as soon as we can."
"I already drafted something for the marketing director to help us plan those meetings." Mateo said.
"No no. You can't ask her for those schedules. Ask her assistant. And if not, then someone else who reports directly to her." Kang responded.

I turned around to look for the idols and spotted the marketing director's assistant who was quite young, getting some food from the tables alone for the moment. "Okay," I told my party, promptly standing up and walking to the guy. "Hello, I'm one of Dr. Kang's assistants. I just wanted to introduce myself! Thank you so much for helping us out for the last few days."

"Oh! It's nice to formally meet you. It's not a problem at all. It's just my job!"
"Well you're really good at it, so we've had such a smooth time here. I really wish there was a way to thank you better. If you need anything I could help with please don't hesitate to reach out."
"Really- it's fine. I hope we can become friends through this whole thing so I could help you guys out for the rest of the time you're here."
"You read my mind!" I laughed. "And I'd just like to say, the shirt you were wearing last time was really nice. Stripes are a good look on you."
He looked a little shy as he thanked me, and I assured him I would come straight to him for help if I needed it. When I got back to where I was sitting, Kang and Mateo just stared at me the way they often do these days. A mix of disbelief and shade.

I just shrugged and smiled.
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Mateo's POV

It never failed to surprise me how crazy of a person this girl could be. Sometimes it felt like she came right out of a movie, either as a character or a star. The fact that an eighteen year old had the guts to charm not one, not two, but three people in a day, was just beyond comprehension.

Number One was this poor assistant guy who just seemed flattered by her compliments and was definitely going to help us out next week. Number Two genuinely surprised me. I wasn't even sure if charm was the right word to use. But the boy she had mentioned as her favorite- Jimin- he seemed, at the very least, engrossed.

Several times, he had looked over at her, as if trying to figure her out, read her lips, or something. Every time she laughed, his head turned to catch her movement, and his eyes narrowed with curiosity. When she first spoke to the assistant, he watched her every move, and when she got more flirty he even rolled his eyes. Even Jimin was entranced. What was that all about? Wasn't there something they weren't telling us? Is that even possible? He's a ridiculously busy celebrity, so I doubted anything fishy was going on. Yet I couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was some unspoken communication the two were sharings. Anyways, useless to think about- they were not even going to interact. I laughed at myself. Why did I even care so much about all this regarding her?

Well, the answer to that was the question- Who was Number Three?