Ok it turned out that I was the only one who knew nothing about the changes in my program. Ironic? I knew it. It was until then that Seulgi informed me about the management's request to feature a male voice in the program - "for diversity and inclusion", Seulgi quoted. An internal announcement was sent last Friday to call for first come first serve volunteer. And among the young employees who registered, Kim Taehyung was selected.

"You two get to know each other and start working on this week's show, OK?" - Seulgi stood up and quickly told us as if she had just got a huge, invisible mountain of pressure unloaded. - "I have a meeting with new boss coming up."

Then Seulgi disappeared, leaving me with tons of questions unanswered. From the revelation of her being on the verge of resignation to the involvement of Kim Taehyung in my program and of course, that if this was the last day she was my program coordinator. Feeling my head spinning, I grabbed the mug on the table and took in big gulps of water.

Oh ! What kind of water was this?

"Gosh!"

I exclaimed, trying hard not to spit out that damn bitter stuff turning out to be Americano - my least favorite coffee of all time - to the meeting room. But wait... why did I bring Americano to the meeting room instead of my favorite mocha? I frowned at the mug I'm holding. It was just the same white ceramic mug with the company logo printed in purple. But out of the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of another identical mug. And only a few centimeters above was the confusing expression on Taehyung's face. Only then did I realize...

That I had just drunk Taehyung's coffee, directly from his mug.

"Oops!" - I startled and put the mug down with maximum care. - "Sor..ry...I mistook it with my mug. Let me buy you a new one."

"Well..." - A corner of his lips finally lifted after a few seconds. He must have been terrified. - "No problem."

"Why no?" - I insisted. I must do like that for manner although what happened was just an accident. Not everyone was ok with someone else's drinking from their own mug, especially without asking. - "Wait a bit."

"No no" -Taehyung waved both hands in denial - "You don't need to, honestly."

But I had already dashed out of the meeting room. We were at the ground floor so it only took me a few steps to reach the company's cafe and order a takeaway Americano. Brushing off questions from the cashier about why I ordered something I had never liked, I pulled out my phone to scan the payment QR code. Right then, a hand pushes my phone away from the scanner but it was too late, a beep sound alerted that the transaction had been made successfully. Next to me and looking out of breath, Kim Taehyung scowled. 

"Why so hasty? I didn't tell you that..."

"Tell what?" - I frowned at his strange reaction.

Kim Taehyung did not answer me. To be exact, he could not answer as the cafe cashier jumped in between us.

"Hey Taehyung oppa. Sorry for making the wrong order for you this morning."

"Don't worry Hong Sol ah" - replied Taehyung. It seemed like he knew the cashier named Hong Sol at the cafe. - "Someone else drank it for me."

He was intentionally and implicitly mocking at me! Cool!

But of course, Hong Sol knew nothing about the little incident between me and Taehyung. She casually looked at both of us.

"Do you two know each other? I bet you should because you both are the rare people in the whole Purple Line that hate Americano to your bone."

I rolled my eyes at her sharing.

" You mean" - I pointed at Taehyung - "Me and..."

"Yes" - Hong Sol nodded in confirmation - "It's you Jung Wheein MC and that good-looking Kim Taehyung oppa."

I glanced at Kim Taehyung. He just shrugged, as if he was telling me "See, you were too hasty. Now take full responsibility for that Americano you've ordered." I sighed, receiving the Americano from Hong Sol and put on a crooked smile as the girl continuously spoke:

"That's why I find it so uncommon of you to order Americano, unnie ah."

How could she imagine that I, as an anti-Americano, ordered this for another anti-Americano?

***

We returned to the meeting room after that Americano incident. I sat down and take in a big inhale. Turning to him, I tried to put on my brightest smile. A bright smile was the catalyst for a positive first impression – Yongsun had always reminded me and Hyejin so since we started joining the labour market. Right now, I was betting all my ego in this smile, hoping that the Americano incident would not ruin his first impression about me.

"Sorry about the incident. I was too careless. But… Shall we greet each other?" – I held out my hand – "I am Jung Wheein."

"Kim Taehyung" – He grinned as he leaned over to shake my hand – "95 liner. Seulgi noona said that we were the same age so let’s talk comfortably. We’ll work together in long term anyway!"

"Uh...yeah" - I hesitated at the long-term thing. - "Nice to meet you, Taehyung-ssi."

"Ok" - Taehyung raised his eyebrows mischievously - "So...shall we get to work now?"

Only then did I realize that it had been already nearly an hour since the meeting started. And I had yet got anything for the upcoming show.

I sat down to the laptop, opened the mailbox to check new requests. Taehyung also opened his laptop, even though he had not been granted the access to the mailbox. He just asked casually, perhaps for confirmation.

"So... we will have one hour on Monday for brainstorming and then do the recording on Wednesday, correct?"

I nodded.

"Yes. And every two weeks we will conduct the show live. So, I'm not sure if Seulgi unnie has told you about this but..." - I paused for a while to do some calculations mentally - "It might take you around 3 to 4 hours per week, not including the scriptwriting thing."

"Got it" - Taehyung then pointed to my screen - "And there are around 10 new request every week, right? Have you ever had to...let's say...cook up something?"

"Well" - I put on a serious expression - "That's a secret."

"So it's a yes" - Taehyung laughed as if he had expected this answer from me - "I think so, too. We can't have things ready all the time. Either you are such a brilliant storyteller to connect all the scattering dots or you have to invent something."

I rolled my eyes. Taehyung must be thinking he was witty. I didn't think so. As if he was making fun of my program's lack of requests, to the extent that I had to cook up requests to fill in a 60 minute show. That attitude was quite unacceptable for the new guy, who had just joined me for less than an hour and not even officially started his job yet.

Instead of replying Taehyung, I scrolled through the list of new requests and felt my heart sink.

There were only 5 new requests.

No matter how hard I tried, I would only be able to produce maximum 30 minutes of show with such number of requests. But that's not the only problem. Three out of five requests went along with generic messages, such as “Wish you a happy weekend” or “Enjoy music!”. I didn't want to be mean but those kinds of message really turned me off. There had been nearly 40 shows and I couldn’t just talk about the engagement among colleagues – I myself even found it boring, much less the audiences.

I must look so blank that even Kim Taehyung found it worrisome. He waved his hand in front of my face just to make sure that I was still conscious.

"Hey Wheein" – His husky voice broke the silence between us. – "Are you ok?"

I startled and realized that I had been stupefied for a few seconds. Trying to breathe slowly, I turned to Taehyung and made effort to speak with my most positive voice:

"You know what? Your first homework will be a big challenge!"

"Huh? Let me see?"

Taehyung shot me a doubtful look and leaned over to see my laptop screen. I slightly pushed it to his side but he had already had his fingers on the touchpad to scroll up and down the screen – exactly the same as what I did moments ago. At first, he mumbled to each word in the message but when it came to the third and the fourth one, his voice trailed off and then he turned silent. I knew he had just finished the five messages. I stayed quiet, waiting for his response, which took him a few moments. But beyond my expectation, Taehyung just sat up straight and smirked as if he couldn’t believe that his joke had just become true that quickly.

"So we have to cook up something now, right?"

I shrugged and closed my laptop. Even though I wanted to extend the meeting to have more thinking time, it’s about time we left to focus on other work.

"I’ll think more about this and let you know later."

Taehyung nodded in agreement. But as soon as he rose up from his seat, Taehyung suddenly let out a laugh – that sarcastic laugh he’d showed at least twice since we first met.

"Listen, I just have this crazy idea. Wanna hear?"

"Huh?"

I brightened at the word “idea” while Taehyung still kept his smile darting his eyes to the office area outside.

"Wheein-ssi, do you happen to know Juyeon-ssi?"

"You mean…Lee Juyeon?"

I craned my neck and followed his direction to easily recognize Lee Juyeon, who was discussing with some other colleagues nearby. That fresh graduate had just joined Purple Line for a short time but had become a hot topic as well as an eye-candy to many female colleagues for being incredibly good-looking and good-mannered. Not to mention he was an excellent dancer, being the center of attention after last year’s company outing. Yet as far as I know, Juyeon and Taehyung were from two different departments, without much cross-functional interaction, how could Taehyung, unanticipatedly, mention Juyeon?

"Yes, Lee Juyeon" – Taehyung intentionally emphasized each word, sounding contempt – "Our company’s new hotboy."

"I do know him" – I confirmed with a nod. – "Juyeon did help us with the program a few times. But what does he have to do with your idea?"

"So do you know who his crush is?"

Ok he must be hiding an “evil scheme” then. But right then, I couldn't help but showing my curiosity, mostly because I was still looking forward to an excellent idea from Taehyung instead of picking up a piece of gossip about Lee Juyeon.

"It’s not that I want to gossip" – I warned him – "I just want to know your idea. Then, who is Juyeonie’s crush?"

"You sound close to Juyeon, huh?" – Taehyun snickered– "So you’ve got to be prepared mentally."

"Just be quick."

I thought Taehyung was joking when he told me to be prepared mentally. But he was truly serious with that warning. Because his revelation was totally stunning.

"Juyeon has a crush on" – Taehyun tilted his head to whisper to my ears as we were standing shoulders to shoulders at the meeting room’s door – "Hong Sol, that little cashier girl at the café."

My jaw dropped at his revelation. I didn’t know how much real this news was but if it was true, it would be absolutely shocking. Juyeon might have met Hong Sol at the café – just like any of us in Purple Line as the café was also the company’s property – but I had never expected that he would have a crush on her. Well, it might not be abnormal that I didn’t know because I had nothing to do with them both, except for a few times asking Juyeon for help and being Hong Sol’s hard-to-satisfy customer. But I had no time to wonder more as I had vaguely found out what Taehyung’s crazy idea was.

Yes, it was totally crazy.

"Taehyung-ssi, seriously is that what you want to do?" – I frowned again at Taehyung, who looked full of self-pride with his idea – "First, I don’t even know if it’s real. And second, even if it’s real, they do not ask us to expose to everyone."

"But don’t you want something to draw people’s attention?" – Taehyung explained. Oddly, we spoke to each other at the doorstep even more than when we were at the working table. – "Also, I didn’t say that we will directly mention Juyeon and Hong Sol. We just delicately tell the story and it’s up to the boy to decide what’s next."

I still couldn't relax my face. This kind of lovey-dovey story was apparently such wonderful materials for the show. People always loved sweet stories. But on the other hand, I wasn't not confident about its validity and if Juyeon was comfortable with his story’s being exposed, even though indirectly, without his acknowledgement.

Should I ask Seulgi for advice? OR should I make up my mind?

Or should I defer it? I couldn't just reject Taehyung’s idea on his first day as my partner. Even Yongsun had to find ways to comfort me when she wanted to ignore my ideas for Solarsido – because I was rejected more often than either Byul Yi or Hyejin!

"But how can I know that’s a true story instead of something you cook up yourself?"

I gently brushed my index finger across the FM The 9th Hour sticker on my laptop as our eyes met. Generally, Taehyung looked quite fine with a well-built body hidden under the formal grey suit he was wearing. And he also got quick-witted facial expression; I wondered why his name was never mentioned in the gossip talks about attractive guys in the company that I had come across.

"I won’t do that cook up stuff like you do." – He smirked – "But it’s up to you, Wheein-ssi."

Once again, he hurt my pride with that misplaced sarcasm. Lucky for him, I had already had my own decision – well, finally a decision by myself without taking in any advice from others – which I hoped to brighten me up a bit before any storm would come.

"Did I say no to you?" – I smiled. I bet my dimples must be extremely visible – "I will take care of the script for the other request but for Juyeonie’s headline story, kindly extend your help, Taehyung-ssi."