February 8, 2022
"I should get up now," Nabi said, trying to get a heavy Seungcheol off her body.
"No," Scoups mumbled in her skin as he hugged her sideways, his breath making Nabi feel vibrations on her bare skin.
"I have work," Nabi reminded him.
Only if it were that simple to get him to let go of her.
"You don't have to go," Scoups mumbled half asleep.
"I need to," Nabi sighed, tangling her fingers in his growing hair. It was reaching the lower back of his neck, almost turning into a mullet.
"You don't need to go. You just want to go," Scoups sulked, pouting, "Leaving me here all alone. Without you. Whatever will I do?"
Nabi giggled at his words and successfully managed to get him off of her.
"If I don't go then we won't manage to sign the Netflix deal on time. And if we don't do that, then I won't get a promotion. And if I don't get a promotion then I won't get to move out out of this crappy place."
Nabi sat up straight and quickly founder shirt lying at the side of the bed, slipping it on her body quickly. Luckily the top of was large enough to each her mid thighs so that Nabi wouldn't waste time tying to find her track pants. Knowing how Scoups gets, he could have flung them anywhere in the room last night.
He had kept her awake till late last night and even this morning they had woken up early, maybe its because the couldn't sleep from the alderine rush from last night or maybe it was because of Nabi's neighbor downstairs yelling loudly at her husband at six in the morning.
Despite being very much half naked under the sheets, the couple hadn't done much apart from cuddling into each other and lazying around in bed together, trying their best to avoid the reality of Mondays.
Alas, the hand on the clock shifted from six to nearly eight and Nabi now had no other choice than to really get up and get ready for work if she wanted to show up on time.
Scoups is more lucky in this regard. His work requires him to show up at off timings, not necessarily having to work everyday on the traditional weekdays.
Nabi quickly pulled out her black jeans and a pretty baby blue sweater, changing into them all while being aware that Scoups was watching her every move from the bed.
Nabi went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, quickly putting on some concealer at desired spots, a little blush, mascara with a thin layer of eyeliner and finally a some simple lip gloss.
As Nabi walked out, she tied her hair into a high ponytail, preferring to keep it out of her face when she worked.
By now Scoups had sat up on the bed, still appearing to be rather drowsy, and asked when he noticed her packing her bag, "You're not going to eat anything?"
"I alway get a sandwich at the cafe in my office building," Nabi told him, "I like to sleep in so I don't usually have time to cook in the morning."
Scoups nodded, yawning out loud as he related to the not cooking part.
"I'm gonna head out now," Nabi told him, "You'll be gone later right?"
"I'll probably be following you in few minutes. I have to get to a concept meeting right before lunch," Scoups said.
"For your album?" Nabi asked casually, eager to dish out details from him.
Unfortunately for her, Scoups knew what she was doing and he looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, saying, "You'll have to wait and find out."
"Why can't you just tell me one little thing," Nabi asked.
"Nope, nope, nope," Scoups wiggled his finger at her, "No can do."
Nabi sighed in disappointment and said, "Whatever. It's not like I'm going to like it anyways."
"What did you say?" Scoups asked her and quickly hugged her from the back, tackling her to the bed again.
Nabi squealed and laughed as she said, "No, let me go! I'm going to miss my bus."
"I don't think I can let you go after what you just said. I think I should keep you hostage in this bed for a little longer," Scoups said, his hands slipping underneath her sweater, knowing that she is ticklish there.
"Ahh-don't! All right, all right. I'm sorry. You know I was kidding," Nabi said, calming down as she stopped wriggling around in his arms.
"I'm only letting you go on one condition," Scoups asked, his decisive mind calculating quickly.
"What?" Nabi asked, breathless.
"You know what" Scoups said, placing his hand under her chin and turning her face towards him before latching his lips onto hers.
Nabi couldn't help but let out a moan as Scoups's lips moved against her with pressure.
The kiss lasted short but left her breathless and she pulled away soon after, needing to get to work.
"If I don't go now, I'm seriously going to miss my bus now," Nabi told him, pushing herself off the bed and grabbing her bag.
"Alright. Don't work yourself too much," Scoups told her.
"I won't," Nabi promised, giving Scoups a one final peck before finally leaving her apartment.
Despite the quality time she had spent with Scoups in the morning, Nabi is now running late for her bus and had no other option but to run to the bus stop in order to catch it on time. Her lungs were burning from lack of oxygen and she gasped rather heavily as she rode the bus.
It seemed to her that all the citizens of Seoul had decide to take out their car this morning to go on for a drive because the traffic on the roads were even more atrocious than usual.
In fact Nabi had barely made it in time to work, which her usual iced Americano and vegetable sandwich in her hand.
"Nabi, I need you in my office for a quick second," Jang said to her as soon as she walked in.
Nabi nodded, walking over to her desk first to put her bag and the belongings in her hand there before walking into Jang's office, not bothering to knock since she knows that no one else apart from him is in there.
"Hi," Nabi breathed as Jang looked up when he heard the door to his office opened.
Nabi automatically sat onto the chair facing the desk in the room, suddenly curious as to whatever reason it is that Jang brought her in. Usually he just tells her in front of everyone else whenever he wants Nabi to do something specific or talk to her about both Mia or Jay. But the office visits are usually for a bit more serious matter.
"I received message last night from Mr.Kim, the spokesperson from netflix who is working with us, and apparently they got Rowoon to agree to play the lead. He's part of this group called SF9," Jang said to her, "Apparently Cha Eunwoo's schedule is already too busy with upcoming projects so the company sought after Rowoon instead. the dramas he has been have been popular and he's a good actor too. Also, they have also asked Park Jinyoung from Got7 to ask play the second lead."
Nabi nodded her head and asked, "But is it really okay to have an idol as the lead. Shouldn't they perhaps ask a proper actor first for the role?"
"It's a marketing strategy. Using idols will also bring in more international attention so I suppose Netflix is aiming for a larger, international teenage crowd. Besides, the Rowoon guy really does match the visuals of Unexpected Fate really well. I don't think he will really be that bad of a choice," Jang told her, looking through some files on his office desk.
Nabi nodded her head to show she understood and is satisfied.
"Oh-and there is one more thing I wanted to discuss with you," Jang started, "I've already consulted Sehun with this matter yesterday and I've decided to shift Mia under Sehun's wing."
Nabi blinked, suddenly feeling as if the room turned ice cold and as if everything is freezing up.
". . .why?" Nabi asked in a small voice after a couple of moments of silence, feeling as if she were being stripped away of something important.
Jang sighed, clasping his hands together and explained himself, "Mia. . .she, her writing is a bit complex and she spends a lot of time describing tiny matters. Don't get me wrong, she is a good writer and you are also a good editor but I feel that she will do better under Sehun. I've noticed that you do particularly well with sci-fi and dystopian stories and Mia's story is a very realistic coming of age and romance story. Sehun does well with the realistic young adult content so I just feel he might guide her better in that area."
"Don't worry. There is this novice writer that has applied on our website to be enrolled in our editing program and her content is mostly sci-fi. I think you will like it better. So I'm going to shift Mia under Sehun and I want you to read this novice writers work and tell me whether you want to take her by the end of this week. If not, then you still have Unexpected Fate. That would still keep you occupied for a couple of months until it ends."
Nabi knows how to recognize and authoritative command when she hears one. Jang normally keeps things very casual and friendly in the office area, but Nabi also knows to recognize when he is telling her to do something as a boss rather than asking her to do something as a colleague.
There is a very clear difference between the two and right now Jang is speaking to her as her boss.
"I see," Nabi said, "I'll get to you by the end of this week then."
"Good. Be quick with it because if you don't want our novice writer than I'll assign her to someone else," Jang told her, "Also, I want you to tell Mia."
"Me?" Nabi asked, pointing to her self.
"Yes. I know you both are close and she will listen to you better than me. Explain to her however you wish but tell her at your next meeting. In fact, you are schedule to see her in the afternoon today, aren't you?" Jang asked, glancing at the calendar on his desk.
"I am," Nabi nodded, confirming.
"Good. Do it then. The sooner the better," Jang said, leaning back into his chair comfortably and Nabi read the cues in the room to know that she is being dismissed.
Nabi nodded her head and got up from the chair, bowing lightly before leaving the room with mixed feelings.
She should be feeling slight anger or disappointment but in fact Nabi is feeling largely empty. In all honestly, she had been lately feeling even more disconnected with Mia's story and has been having a difficult time understanding her plot and ideas. Nabi guesses that she had remained mostly silent do the two girls' close relationship but a large part of her is relieved that she will not have to take care of the story any longer.
As much as Jay is flirtatious and gets on her nerves, Nabi does very much enjoy working on Unexpected Fate and although she hasn't thought about it before, but perhaps sci-fi is really more of her forte.
The only difficult part of this whole ordeal is breaking the news to Mia. Nabi is clueless as to how well Mia will take it or how badly she'll take it but either way the job needs to be done.
Whether Mia will like it or not, Nabi knows that Sehun would be better in assisting Mia than Nabi does right now.
"Hey," Sehun stopped Nabi on her way to her desk.
Nabi stopped, already being able to guess what he wanted to talk to her about.
"I'm guessing Jang talked to you about the change already and I just want to let you know that I won't go through with the process if you don't want me too. I understand if you feel upset or mad so just tell me if you're not okay with the entire ordeal," Sehun told Nabi.
Nabi gave Sehun a small smile and said, "It's okay sunbae. I'm fine with it, I really am. In fact I also think its for the best. I want Mia to succeed and I think you can really help her each that level. So I really don't mind."
"Are you sure?" Sehun asked to confirm with Nabi, "I'm glad that there are no hard feelings between us."
Nabi nodded her head and spoke, "Everything's all right sunbae. You don't need to feel so guilty. Besides, it's not like you have much control over the decisions anyways."
"Thank you for being so understanding Nabi," Sehun smiled at her.
Maybe some things are really for the best.
.
.
.
.
"So what else did you do today?" Scoups asked Nabi through the phone as she made herself a simple dinner.
"Um. . .nothing much. It was just a very normal day," Nabi answered concentrating more on the cooking, "Scoups? I want to ask you something."
"Hmm?" Scoups hummed in response.
"Have you ever had to deliver bad news to your members?" Nabi asked.
"Of course I have. Multiple times in fact," Scoups answered.
Nabi bit her lip and asked, "How did it feel?"
"Honestly. . .at first, not too great," Scoups admitted, "It felt like I was letting them down. That I was failing them. But as time passed by, it started to get better. Less burdensome."
Nabi heard Scoups move around through the phone and ask, "Where is this coming from?"
"Nothing. . .I just had to tell someone something disappointing today," Nabi said.
"What was it?" Scoups asked, clearly curious.
"There's this another person who I edit for and she's like an older sister to me but her story isn't doing too great so my boss decided to shift her under another editor so she can do better," Nabi told him, "But, I feel that this is more of my fault than hers. If I did a better job with her than maybe I won't be loosing a customer today."
"Don't think like that babe. I'm pretty sure you did your best with her. Don't blame it on yourself if her story isn't charting as well," Scoups said.
"But doesn't that mean that I'm failing at my job. If my customer can't even get what she deserves," Nabi said.
"Nabi, you helped write and create one of the best Webtoon is Korea's history and its now getting turned into a Netflix show. You are anything but a failure. In fact you are so far from failing so don't think like that about yourself. Didn't you tell me that no one else in your company has as much as a high rating as you do?" Scoups told her in a more serious tone.
"I know but I can't help but still feel bad about it," Nabi said.
"Did you ever think that maybe its because her story may not be as good enough or maybe her plot has holes in it," Scoups told her, "If a Webtoon isn't charting as well then it isn't necessary your fault. You're not the one who writes them. You just edit and guide."
"I guess you are correct," Nabi mumbled.
"Did you already tell her>?" Scoups asked.
"I did," Nabi said, "She surprisingly took it really well. I thought she might have a hard time adjusting it but she looked pretty fine with the changes."
"Then what are you worried about?" Scoups asked her.
"Nothing. . .just couldn't get the nagging off of my head," Nabi said.
Nabi heard Scoups sigh and he told her, "Don't overthink it, okay? I'm sure it will all work out for the better."
"I won't," Nabi promised, "Will you have any time off this week?"
"This week? I don't think so," Scoups said, sounding as if he were thinking hard, "I think I have a busy schedule for the rest of the week."
"It's okay. I'll just see you next week," Nabi said, "You should go sleep now. You sound tired."
"I am," Scoups admitted, "I'll hang up then if we don't have anything else to say. Good night. Sleep tight. "
"Good night," Nabi said before hanging up the phone.
I am so sleepy rn, I swear I'm only half asleep. I don't think the last part made too much sense, but that's mainly because I'm so sleepy.
Sleep tight everyone.