Jisoo felt terrible the whole day.

At lunch, she stayed away from her friends at work and ate at a convenience store instead. After that, she buried herself on the bean bags at the playroom.

As soon as the office hours ended, she dashed with her laptop back home. She just couldn’t handle more human interaction at the moment.

The only person she wanted to talk to was Mino, but it seemed that he was distracted too. She wanted to ask about the dinner with Lisa, Bobby and Jennie. She tried to get a glimpse of him after lunch, but he was holed up inside Boss Ji’s office.

She ordered in her usual pity dinner- chicken, fried dumplings, rice balls and spicy stir-fried pork. Jisoo was about to get a few bottles of soju from her fridge when someone buzzed in.

Her eyebrows frowned as she opened her door and saw Lisa in front of her.

“Hi Chi.” Her voice sounded cheerful, but Jisoo noticed the dark circles in her eyes that looked puffy as well. She had been crying, and it was all her fault.

“Lis…” Jisoo’s voice trailed off, unsure of what to expect from her visit.

“Can I come in?” Lisa asked. She showed her hands holding a big bag of fried chicken.

“Sure.” She let her in and Lisa saw the spread of food on her table.

She placed the chicken she brought next to another box Jisoo ordered in. “Are you expecting some company?”

Jisoo quickly glanced back. Guilt filled her, thinking that Lisa may have thought of her waiting for Bobby. “No. I was actually trying to eat and drink all night.”

“I could do a drink too.” She smiled up to her, and it’s killing Jisoo.

“Lisa, there’s something I want to tell you.” She started talking, but her friend shook her head.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, Chi.” Lisa looked down on her feet.

She knows.

“Look, I really did not know what got me to do it. I’m so sorry, Lisa.” Jisoo stood there, waiting for her to look up and when she did, she has tears in her eyes.

“I should have known Bobby won’t be loyal to me. That’s how we became a couple anyway. We cheated behind your back too, Chichi.”

Jisoo stepped back and considered what she said, and truthfully, it hurt.

And then it stopped hurting in a snap.

“Bobby is a trash, Lisa. You don’t deserve him.”

Her friend reached out to her hand and stared at her, “I’ll break up with him but I want you to promise me you’ll stay away from him too. You also deserve better than him. We both do.”

Jisoo squeezed her hand. “I’ve already done that, Lisa. Heck, I should have done it a long time ago.”

They smiled at each other and wiped their tears away.

“I should probably talk to Jennie.” Jisoo told her.

Lisa handed her phone to Jisoo. “Invite her over. Chaeyoung too.”

Jisoo did just that and they spent the night crying, laughing and getting drunk.

-------

In the next week, Mino was able to maintain a civil relationship with Jisoo.

He realized that staying away from complications is the best way to deal with it. He doesn’t need new problems. He just wanted to start living again.

The weekly drinking splurge continued with the boys, and the girls seem to relax about their initial crush on him. Everything works out just fine.

That morning, Dara called Mino, Jisoo and Seunghoon and met Hayi at the conference room.

They’re about to prepare an online digital campaign for a new beer company, ONE Brewery.

After Hayi’s brief presentation about the product, Dara laid out the expectations from the client. Seunghoon has already drawn strategies and Jisoo was spewing out ideas. Mino felt refreshed working with a group of brilliant minds and he then started handing out ideas.

The meeting went out fine, and they found themselves leaving the conference room an hour after lunch break.

Dara took the opportunity to treat them for lunch at AKMU’s. Mino and Jisoo exchanged looks and smiled at the memory of their first date.

“Are you up for another batch of 200%?” Jisoo asked him.

“Hell no! It’s too early for that.” He smiled back at her.

Seunghoon caught up with them. “I’m gonna go for the Dinosaur Wings.”

Mino got interested in it, and ordered the same. Jisoo stuck to her usual order as Dara ordered a round of ONE beer for all of them.

“Shouldn’t we be drinking during office hours?” Hayi asked.

“Consider this research for our new client. Besides, it’s just a bottle. You won’t rat me out to Boss Ji, right?” She winked at them.

“You’re the best boss ever, and Boss Ji is my brother.” Mino told her.

They were enjoying their meal, and Mino found himself chatting with Jisoo. It’s been a long time since they’ve talked like this. Casual, funny and relaxed.

So it turns out that Lisa and Bobby broke up, and Jisoo finally let him go too. He felt relieved when he heard it, and that may be the reason why he’s talking to her freely again.

“Do you have any plans tonight?” He suddenly asked her.

“No. But I plan to sleep early. I’ve got an art gallery to catch tomorrow morning and a train to Daejeon.” She casually told him.

“Is that the Seoul Street Gallery you’re referring to?” Mino asked. He’s been meaning to visit it too, and Jisoo may be the best person to tag along with.

“That’s the one.” Jisoo answered as she downed her beer. “Damn, that’s a good beer.”

Mino finished his drink too. “Can I join you?”

“I’m going to be there really early. Are you up for it?” She asked him, as they start to leave the table. Dara and Hayi has already started walking outside and Seunghoon was trailing behind them.

“How early are we talking about?”

Jisoo’s face scrunched up. “Around 8?”

Mino laughed. “That’s not too early.”

“Well, it is for me so swipe up that smirk off your face.” She sneered at him.

He continued to laugh at her adorable irritation. “See you tomorrow at 8?”

“Fine.” Jisoo said as she ran up to Dara and Hayi.

Mino looked back and saw Seunghoon walking slowly.

“Speed up, sir.” He .

Seunghoon stopped walking and clutched his chest. “We need to go to the hospital.”

“Are you serious?” He looked at him and saw that he was actually looking pale.

“I can’t breathe, man. I thought I have my antihistamine with me.” He told him.

Mino called Dara and the girls back as he tried to held Seunghoon up. “You’re having an allergy attack?”

“Yes, Einstein. I’m allergic to beer.” He started wheezing.

“You’re allergic to beer?! But you’ve been drinking weekly with us!” Mino argued with him as Dara called a taxi cab.

“Fun guys drink beer.” He breathed out.

“How the hell are you ok when you’re with us?” Mino asked, while Jisoo and Hayi helped him get inside the cab.

“I’ve got my antihistamine fix with me all the time. I just forgot to bring one now.”

Dara looked back at them. Hayi went back to the office to let Mr. Yang know about their trip to the hospital. Jisoo stayed with Mino to assist Seunghoon who’s starting to break out in hives.

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