May 11th, 2018

(๑꒪▿꒪)*

Slowly and reluctantly, Mino's hand draped to the side and blinked, eyes open and close, open and close. He sits up, legs sprawled while his knuckles rub into his eyes. After a few moments of processing, his hand blindly pads the comforter, looking for his phone. His sleeping schedule is officially abolished, he can't quite have a clear sense of time anymore. He could go to sleep at six in the morning and woke up by eight or sleep for fifteen hours straight. There's no such thing as casual eight-hour sleep anymore.

Mino decided to ignore all the notifications on his phone and go straight to social media. 15 minutes deep into scrolling on how much everyone else is having a great Friday night, his stomach cry out in protest. He rub his eyes once again before forcing himself out of bed.

"Sehun-ah," he called, finding the living room eerily quiet. He padded down to the other side of the room, scratching his ribs. He opens the door to Sehun's without knocking, despite knowing how much his roommate hates it. "You cook anything?" 

Only silence meets him.

Confused, his hand travels upward to scratch his head, making way to the kitchen. Mino tapped his fingertips at the counter as if playing the piano, then stopped, noticing the tidy kitchen, which can only mean one thing, Sehun didn't cook anything. Where the hell is he?

He stared at the box of cereal on the corner, trying to gather his thoughts. What day is it again? He consulted the calendar hung on the wall, May 11th.

Oh, right.

Today is the engagement party of Seulgi's friends, and Sehun is invited too.

He let out a sigh as he slides the cereal box, a bowl of it is better than nothing. But when he peered inside, instead of fruity cereal Sehun always preferred (Mino don't) it's filled with plastic bags folded in triangles. He didn't know if he should be thankful or hate Sehun for being unecessarily organized. Since it was hopeless for Mino to cook, he put on his slippers and get out of the room. Seulgi must have better food by a landslide.

With ease and familiarity, Mino opens the door to Seulgi's and walk towards where the fridge was. Knowing her habit of ordering too many takeouts, if it's a lucky day, he might find untouched tteokbokki.

He inspects the side compartment first, mayonnaise bottle that's put upside down alongside a couple of Kraft Singles she likes to munch for a snack. His eyes travel down to the center compartment where she put most of her food but only saw fruits. Hmm. Continuing down, he lit up when he spotted a takeout container. With glee, Mino opens it to find japchae. Bringing his face a little closer, he tries to take a sniff—

"You stealing food again?"

Holy . Mino jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice. He swiveled to the side, knocking his knee with the fridge's door in the process, almost spilling the food all over the floor. He squats down in pain and put down the food. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my place," she snorted.

He crawled to the side to get a better look at her. She's fully wrapped in a blanket, with ¾ of her face shown through the opening. "Don't you have a party to attend to?"

She made a face at him.

He made a face back at her. He doesn't do dissecting silent answers for daily life.

Instead of answering, she collapsed on her cream carpet with a loud thud. Perplexed, Mino come closer and look down at her still body. "What's wrong?" His foot prods her shoulders.

She lifts her face from the carpet and peers at Mino with annoyance. "It's the engagement party," she rolled to the side and buried her face again, like answering his burning question, took all the energy in her.

Mino lay down and angled his head towards her, propping his arm beneath his head. He poked her on the side, but she didn't make an effort even to flinch. "I know, so why are you still here looking like ?"

She huff. "Because I got dumped," then she positioned her body to lie flat on her back, arms spread, staring at the ceiling.

Out of reflexes, Mino checks what's on the ceiling too. Nothing, of course, just her rusty lamp.

"I try to hold myself from using any emojis, so I don't look annoying."

"You can come across a little bit annoying," he muttered, lying on his back too.

Seulgi's feet kick Mino's shin, earning a strangled grunt. "You're not helping."

"What is this about again?" he asked because Seulgi's way of telling the story in cryptic order didn't help at all. She usually so calm-headed; why is she acting like a kid who didn't get her toy?

"I asked Kyungsoo to be my date, but he's gone." 

Unless what she meant by gone is literal death, Mino didn't see the problem. Much to his knowledge, people ditch dates all the time and Seulgi shouldn't be a hypocrite. She stood up a bunch of men too in the past. "Then just go without one." 

She bounced to a sitting position. "But he's a blue marlin!"

"A what?"

Seulgi looks frustrated. "A blue marlin. You know what I mean."

He doesn't.

She looks around with hands fumbling around like she's searching the air for the words she needs, "you know, rare, a delicacy, valuable," but Mino only gave her a blank expression. "He's a big catch!"

"I'm sure he is," he says calmly, actually being genuine about his comment. Kyungsoo was nothing but helpful during the short time they work together. But, the fact that she categorized men as fish? It's official, Seulgi is going crazy.

"I've been sending multiple texts lately, God, I should have known he would hate that," she stares at her carpet in shame.

Some men really will hate that, but that's beside the point. Mino thinks Kyungsoo isn't necessarily like that, he's just reserved. "Sometimes, guys just doesn't text back." 

She wasn't listening, though. "Maybe he thinks it's getting a little too serious?" She swiftly grabs her phone from the coffee table, trying to mend it by sending another text, but Mino wasn't up to seeing her being pathetic. He snatched it away before she could unlock it. Mino finds it ridiculous if anybody didn't want to take Seulgi anywhere she wants to go.

"Seulgi, do yourself a favor by taking mixed signals as a no."

"But, he's nice," she whined.

"Nice? What a ringing endorsement."

Seulgi didn't appreciate Mino's sarcasm.

She knew she's acting irrational, which is so unlike her, and let's assume Kyungsoo had his reason. What's important is not what he did or why, what's important is how she handled it. Mixed signals, according to experts ranging from Dalai Lama to girl's magazine astrology column, had offered enough knowledge to proceed with grace and self-respect. Because of course, it's fine. She's an adult, after all. She couldn't possibly be bothered by the idea of showing up alone, could she?

"Just go by yourself." He tries again, although its apparent that Mino's skill on giving advice is nonexistent.

Seulgi groaned at the thought of it. At twenty-one, she never find a problem at showing up alone to a party, but for this particular party and nearing thirties? Joy will be there, and it's bad news. She likes to play matchmaking, and inevitably Seulgi will get pushed with other single guests who are ready to mingle. Seulgi however, is not. On top of that, Joy had a lot of rules in terms of how to behave with men in public. We have to engage in a conversation, try not to eat, allowed to laugh but not too much. Her list is endless. So, yes, showing up alone at the party is not an option for her.

She cast a hopeful look at Mino but only found his blank expression. Seulgi sighed. Having a friend that share one brain cell with yourself might not be that advantageous at all. He wouldn't be able to come up with a solution if she hadn't found one. 

Mino seeming to understand Seulgi's inner struggle, say, "I'll be your blue marlin." It was out of the blue kind of moment that make Seulgi eyes widen, for what, he doesn't know. Mino might not have the slightest idea of who's hosting the party, but surely a party means free food and, most of all, an open bar. After four days of staying in, he needs to get social after all.

That's a new approach to the problem. Seulgi pressed her lips and rubbed it together, thinking. "Out of pity?" she asked, eyes quickly focus on Mino, narrowing slightly. 

"No."

She's aware that Mino isn't exactly classified as the worst looking guy ever, but there's something about him that screams attention seeker, not like the subdued, calm, and collected she always preferred in a man. Mino raises his eyebrow at the long pause but only get a dubious once over from top to bottom. When her eyes settle at his current state of hair, the doubt starts to rush in.

It will definitely help if his appearances are like any other men out there, or at the minimum like Sehun. Black natural hair and dress monochromatically. 

"What?" He questioned accusingly. 

Seulgi wasn't sure what to make of his hair, hating that she play a part behind it. Around early March, Mino said he needed a change of pace as if he's going through a major breakup and had come to her for help. He asked for platinum blonde, just because he wanted to stand out in the crowd. Considering it was two months ago and that the dye product came from a discount rack, black hair starts showing at the roots, reddish-brown color replace all traces of blonde, and his hair is in a constant state of dry and brittle. 

Breaking off her trance, Mino says, "I just need to change."

"You need more than that," he needs a shower and meticulously shaves too. Everything about the current Mino just screams a big you to Seulgi, almost as if saying that he's not a corporate slave; therefore, he dyed his hair and wore ratty clothes just for the fun of it. "And please, don't wear anything that will attract people's attention. You have a habit of doing that." There was one time where Seulgi went to dinner with him in his artist apron, and people were looking at him like he's the new Picasso.

Mino waves her worry off, making his way to the front door. "Please, I have an impeccable style."

Sometimes, Seulgi just forgot that Mino is a delusional prick. He always sees himself good at things like managing money, having above-average driving skills when he didn't even have a car, and consistently overestimating himself regarding general knowledge. He didn't even know dim sum is called dim sum a month ago.

"I'll meet you in an hour," she called out.

He makes a cheesy salute complete with a 'yes ma'am' before closing the door.

When she enters Mino's unit, right on the side, there's tons of oil paint in plastic containers stack on top of each other next to canvases. Small vases filled with brushes instead of flowers, multiple rolls of masking tape, and cans of turpentine be scattered about around it. In the center, there's a Shaun the Sheep ottoman, which she knows damn well he hardly uses because he always paints standing up, another solid evidence that he's so good at prioritizing his spending.

"Mino!" She shouts while putting down her bag and blazer on the kitchen counter, settling down at one of the chairs. Or the only chair. She can't comprehend how Sehun could come to a decision to live alongside this guy? They don't even have a dining table, and beside the too-big sofa in the middle of the room, there's nothing else that screams comfort. She wasn't sure if they're being lazy or flat out frugal.

Mino's head peeked out from the opened bathroom, hands tangled in his hair.

She had taken another extra 10 minutes to check on her makeup, and he still halfway ready? "Just out of curiosity, do you always admire yourself in the mirror for an hour or two?"

"Two," he replied cheerfully.

Of course. Mino had a not so delightful habit of declaring that everything can be done in 'five minutes' but alas, he always does it at least for an hour. She wanders around towards the canvases, checking the pile. All of them are fully painted, and yet she didn't recognize any of the work. "Is this what you've been doing?" She thought back to the last couple of days Mino claimed he's busy trying a new technique.

The guy being questioned walks out of the bathroom, fixing the fit of his jeans. "Um, kinda. It's just random work I wouldn't bother to sell."

"Why not?" She absentmindedly traces the edge of the canvas one by one, inspecting it. She's no expert, but she can see the spontaneous emotions he had put into the painting much more than any work he'd done at someone's request. Her fingers smoothly skim the unpublished works but halt at the intricate textures and the green globules that stood out in contrast against the brown backdrop with a slight yellow tint, drawing her attention.

She slides the piece to the side, "what are you trying to tell here?"

Mino paused for a second, debating whether or not to tell her. There's a reason why frequent visit among them is Mino going to Seulgi's instead of the other way around. She always has ways to crack open his most private thoughts, and he wasn't so keen about it. "I'm trying to capture the social rift between classes," he finally answers a little meekly, not feeling the usual confidence.

"Oh," Seulgi was taken aback. Judging by the colors and the outline shape of what supposed to be a man figure bent down towards another figure she assumes is a woman had made the impression of something romantic. "It reminded me of that painting I like, the one you showed me before, The Kiss?"

He picks up the jacket draped on the sofa, fumbling with its buttons. "Yeah, by Klimt." It was embedded at the back of his mind how mesmerized Seulgi was upon seeing it. It's the famous work depicting a couple embracing each other in a field of gold and mixed patterns. It's one of his favorites too, but he ain't Gustav Klimt, and the work Seulgi currently looking at is loosely based on a much darker theme rather than the notion of people in love.

About a week ago, during his usual trip to the convenience store, he came across a commotion on the small building he always thought was empty. There's a police line, and since Mino is basically just like any other nosy neighbors, he spared time to find out. A nice middle-aged man next to him fill him in. It turns out, a woman with a three-year-old son had died, from what appeared to be starvation, in a country where diet had become a fad. He can't quite wrap his head around it. He's so used to seeing the tall and sleek, brightly lit buildings that knowing someone had actually lived not too far from him and in a constant battle with extreme hunger seems like a mirage. Why won't the mother take out the apartment deposit for food? Why won't she seek out help? Does her neighbors even know about her condition? It may be harsh, Mino thought, but there exist way out of the problem, perhaps they are too poor to learn and survive or maybe desperation for food is enough to give up their life. He's not the person with the best emotional intelligence and not knowing the right way to process it, he painted it. Over the course of three days, he's been trying a famous technique from Bearden back in 1961 by mixing oil paint with casein, which don't mix but give way to compelling textures. He'd used green circular pattern and rivulets of yellow surrounding the upper human figure to convey greed eating the soil. 

Thankfully for Mino, Seulgi refrained from asking further questions and quietly slide the canvas back to where it belongs. 

With a smile, she watched Mino put on his jeans jacket. Underneath is a simple white t-shirt with straight-cut blue jeans to complete the look. Denim on denim could never go wrong. "You look good," because he did. Also, Seulgi appreciates him for not wearing an apron just to annoy her, because he would. He definitely would.

"Looking good yourself," he replied with a relaxed smile. Mino always thought Seulgi look the best in jeans, but he was wrong. Here, in front of him, she's wearing a light blue dress that ends midthigh. Although it's flowy and has a lot of ruffles, she still looks comfortable and retain her casual-tomboy look.

Seulgi picks up her belonging and head to the door. "We should go, we want to be fashionably late, not rude late."

Mino managed to grab sunglasses from the walk-in table and put it atop of his head, pushing his long hair backward.

She's halfway out the door when she turns around, "Mino let—what's with the glasses?"

"You said it's going to be a rooftop party."

"At night." Seulgi deadpans.

Mino shrugs. "A little accessories wouldn't hurt anybody."

They were threading their way through the crowd when Mino can't stop gawking at his surroundings. While keeping up with Seulgi’s fast steps, he noted that there's nothing small and intimate about the party. It's held at the top of a new, swanky midtown hotel, complete with an open bar, strings of lights that seem to stretch for miles above him, servers walking around with tray filled with drinks and finger food, and a freaking champagne fountain.

“You didn’t tell me your friend was this rich,” he swiftly picks up two tiny hamburgers from the passing server and shoved it all down into his mouth.

She looks back to glance at him, “I still haven’t grasped the fact that I’m friends with someone this rich.”

He widens his step and grabs Seulgi’s arm, matching his pace with hers. “Okay, so, her name is Krystal, who's an architect, and she’s marrying a bartender name Kai?”

“Yep,” she popped the p. “That’s about it.”

“I assume the one who’s rich is Kai?”

“It’s Krystal.”

At this point, it would be borderline rude to ask questions about them, whom Mino didn’t even know they existed three hours ago, but he just can’t help it. “How do they work?"

She gave him a strange look.

He quickly holds up both of his hands, enunciating that he's not trying to be an . Besides, he's not cynical about love. All right, he could, but growing up, he witnessed his mom coming home with dad's favorite yukgaejang for a surprise, only to discover dad had already bought the exact same thing from the same place. He doesn't know if it makes him believe in love, but it makes him believe in something. Then again, Seulgi has always been a romantic at heart. She might refute the claim and won't ever admit it, and despite her never-ending complaint of what good is there about marriage in our age, she's hopeful about the idea of it.

Mino thinks that not having a financial fit will only cause trouble, if not now definitely later; Seulgi on the other hand, believed that marriage supposed to be unconditional where profit or loss didn't matter. He didn't give her for it though, she was always a little bit foolishly naive, having some kind of unrequited love towards people and the world, but he liked it. It's what makes Seulgi Seulgi.

“They just do," her tone was light. Before Mino could push any further, Seulgi starts sprinting, leaving him behind. “Krystal!!! You’re getting married!” she shrieked while giving her friend a big hug.

Mino diligently following behind when Krystal notices him. She smiles at him and reach forward, “you must be the baseball guy.”

Before he could correct her, Seulgi step in. “No, this is Mino,” a pause, like she doesn’t know what to introduce him as, and Mino can’t lie that he’s dying to hear it. “From the same building.”

Okay.

A big smile plastered on Krystal's small face. “Well, hello Mino from the same building.” To which Mino only replied with a smile. He might exuberates confidence most time, but at a social event he can still be a little timid, which Seulgi didn't mind at all, sometimes when Mino say nothing at all, he's tolerable.

“Sorry I was late,” Seulgi grab both of Krystal’s arm and swings it around, demanding full attention.

She screams in glee. “It’s alright, I don’t care,” a laugh. “You’re here!”

“I’m here!” Seulgi parrotted.

Mino’s eyes dart back and forth between the exchange.

“I won't lie, there's a fleeting moment when I thought you won't come because of work...” Krystal didn’t finish her sentence, but it's enough for Seulgi to winced.

With a laugh and a carefree wave, she dismissed the though saying it was impossible. Her hand tugs the fabric of Krystal’s dress. “Love the dress, a little ty but not too much,” she quickly bring up a new topic.

Mino take a long look at the new version of Seulgi he just found out. Clearly, she’s lively and highly enthusiastic about practically everything, maybe this is her version when she's with her friends. Mino's interaction with Seulgi from December is limited to the two of them, with Jihoon and Sehun thrown in a couple of times and in all that occasion, she's definitely not jumping out of bed and decided to be bubbly for the whole day. Though Mino might find it odd, it's nice seeing her all smiley.

Seulgi and Krystal talk a bit more, like the current whereabouts of Kai as Krystal points to the general direction of the bar where there’s crowd huddling together. Seeing it, Mino understood, at this kind of party, the free drinks are the key. He also thought that he was doing an admirable job of being a bystander. He shows a little smile here and there, making sure he’s listening and assuring Seulgi that she need to stop casting a worry glance if he feels left out. If things really escalate to uncomfortable even for his carefree self, he could always flee and search for Sehun. No biggie.

After another round of small talk between them, Seulgi and Mino walk towards the bar. Settling his forearm on the edge of the bar, he looked at her who's eyes glued to the phone. “What Sooyoung want this time?” he asked, absolutely sure that it's her boss.

She looked up from her phone and offers Mino a glum look. “The usual, and the usual is reviewing an article.” She sighed. Seulgi didn’t have much hope when the Children’s Day article made it to the press, if anything, she’s just happy that it managed to get published. The day after it hit the press though, it was on one of the morning talk shows and people are leaving comments online, Seulgi herself had heard people talking about it on the bus. At the office, Sooyoung who hardly compliments her team had acknowledged her for what she did. It's not much, but she felt like a champion at the office anyway. That's why when Sooyoung sent her an email, she thought she'd be given another chance to write, not another monotonous task that doesn't show her true talent. Then again, she's also damn talented at doing five hours worth of work in thirty minutes, she is, in the end, Sooyoung's best frontman, conceited or not, it's the truth.

She’s obviously pissed so Mino squeezes her arm and says, “what do you want for a drink?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said with a nonchalant nod but not taking her eyes off of the phone.

Noticeably, she didn't answer the damn question. Despite it, he ordered two negronis, figured that he deserved a much-needed break from the usual cheap somaek. Seulgi better not disagree with his choice. When Mino handed her the drink, she gulped it down without questioning it first. The blind trust Seulgi puts in Mino makes the joy in his heart damn near overflows. He’s being an arrogant bastard for it, but he just like how she trusted him enough.

Looking over Seulgi’s head while gulping down his own drink, he spotted a blond-haired woman running towards them at full speed.

“Seulgi!” She yells.

She turned around and quickly her half-full glass at Mino and welcome the woman with open arms. "Wendy!"

Wendy held her at arm's length. "Congratulations on your article! I keep telling my coworkers to read it."

Seulgi squealed but she tries to be as discreet as possible to put her phone inside her bag, not in the mood to be lectured by her friend on her 'no-phone for work' policy during a party. "Oh! I saw the new ad, spare me some samples, please?" she looked at Wendy with puppy eyes, indulging in her nice personality. Wendy is working in advertisements for some cosmetics conglomerate and would drop off a few samples now and then. Seulgi is not a beggar per say, like a certain someone who happens to live one room below her, but there's no way she would refuse a bunch of free skincare. Have you seen how companies do pricing these days?

"I did send you. You're just too lazy to check your mail," Wendy scowled. Like she would forget to send freebies to her friends.

Wendy might be busy with her daily jobs of running here and there to market products, but she still carries out her role as a friend, definitely the better one among them. One time, Yeri calls in the middle of a freaking meltdown, and all Wendy say is, 'Look, you're going to be okay and I'm sorry that this is happening to you, but it's ten minutes until I can leave work, I'll call you then'. Because of Wendy, Seulgi wanted to learn how to be there for a friend when you're not essentially available. Not that anyone could beat her for being the master at it, because Wendy is the ultimate mom friend while Seulgi is the dad friend; tries to take care of other people but too clumsy to be any good at it.

Seulgi reaches for Mino's arm and drag him a little forward. “Oh, this is Mino!"

“Of course!” Mino was caught off guard by Wendy's enthusiasm. Had he met her before? “The nosebleed guy!” She pointed at him with excitement shown in her eyes, probably reminiscing the memories.

Right. The night where he felt like he got a broken nose just because someone elbowed him a little too hard. He eyed Seulgi but she's all smile. Life is so funny sometimes, he had hated her that night but didn't feel anything the next morning. Even without the 15-minute apology Seulgi made, Mino would've forgiven her anyway. Ever since that Christmas Eve spent together, Mino believe that it's not possible for people to stay mad at her.

Wendy leans a little closer to Seulgi. “Where’s Kyungsoo? I thought you're going to introduce him to us?”

“He ditched me,” Seulgi pressed.

“So, you brought him to avoid my further matchmaking?” a new voice appeared. Seulgi welcomes the arrival of the true troublemaker. Ironic how people nicknamed her 'Joy' but her career skyrocketed after her post-breakup tweets went viral. In weeks, she become a regular speaker that gets invited to seminar and talkshow to give a piece of advice on relationship, mostly giving cynical view that men are basically dogs who need Kang Hyunwook guidance. Most of the time, her career sounds like a fraud but hey, she makes lots of money off of it along with her almost 2 million followers on Instagram, Seulgi isn't really in a position to judge.

There is a bad habit of her though since she's risen to stardom, the first thing she always do upon meeting men, is scrutinize the hell out them. On cue, Joy cast a long glance at Mino enough to make most men squirm. Most. Meanwhile, Mino is blissfully ignorant.

“Guilty as charged.” Seulgi brushes the back of her head sheepishly, no point in lying to her.

“Well, he’s not ugly,” Joy shrugged as if Mino isn't there.

He immediately taken it as a sign to leave, quickly emptying both glasses. At his touch, Seulgi slightly turns as he leans down to match her height