You Wonderful You [[Hiatus]]

Lost

"BTS?! YOU'RE GONNA BE THEIR PERSONAL ASSISTANT?!"

The finality of the phrase sent a fresh wave of dread through Juna's body. Which called for another big spoon of ice cream. The sulking woman seemed to sink into the sofa, her body nestled in her comfy pajamas. Meanwhile, Min Joo paced the living room of their apartment with ferocious energy. A beauty mask clinging to her face, but her look of shock was clear.

"Why didn't you tell me Myung Hee was their personal assistant all this time? What if we could've gotten concert tickets?" She passed Juna for the sixth time.

"Be realistic, why would we get tickets just for knowing her? Besides I didn't know she was-"

"Wow, we have connections to worldwide famous idols! We practically know them now!"

"Is she even going to listen to me?" Juna said to herself. Min Joo continued her merry monologue, barely taking a breath in between sentences. She checked her phone in the meantime.

No word from Myung Hee yet. She sighed. There were so many questions she needed answers to. Why would she pick her? If the job was temporary why not just assign someone with a similar role? And most of all, what family affairs was the department head talking about?

Then she noticed her friend had gone silent. Juna looked up at her, who had a different kind of smile this time. Min Joo looked especially pleased with herself. Though normally her first instinct was to share her 'brilliant' thoughts.

"What is it?" Juna braced herself.

Her best friend hesitated, "don't punch me okay?"

"Ah, never mind I don't wanna hear anymore."

"Just hear me out, eonni!" She rushed to sit next to her. Juna instinctively shielded her pint of ice cream. "What if..." Her friend paused abruptly. She was trying to find the right words. The gears in her head looked over worked. "You're going to be spending a lot of time with them, right?" She asked, satisfied that she'd communicated enough to get her point across.

Juna only stared blankly at her. Min Joo suddenly looked surprised that she hadn't caught her point.

"Seven beautiful good looking men. You'll be spending time with them a lot..." She hinted again with dancing eyebrows.

A glob of vanilla ice cream dropped from the clueless woman's spoon as she tried hard to put these ridiculous pieces together. Her mouth hung open as she thought. Then her eyebrows dropped, her eyes gained ten glorious pounds of suspicion. Min Joo gave a hopeful look that her friend must have finally understood her. That look of hope didn't last as Juna aggressively dropped her spoon in her pint.

"Ya. Cheong Min Joo. You're not saying what I think you're saying are you? Do I really come across as such a creature?" Juna defended. Her voice low.

Confusion distorted Min Joo's face. And then she understood. "NO! I don't mean that! Honestly! Since when were you suited for promiscuity!" She tugged at her friend's baggy pajamas. "Dating, dummy! Dating!"

Juna exclaimed a sigh of frustration. "Not this again." She stuffed her mouth yet again. Hoping she wouldn't have to speak anymore on the matter.

"You don't know. Connections often happen with people you don't expect. And you'll be spending time with men again. That's a step towards normal!" Min Joo defended. Juna kept her eyes straight ahead. The massive blob of melting ice cream fighting to soothe her. But in an instant the pint disappeared from her lap. She looked furiously at the masked woman who stood her ground. "Which means you'll have to cut down your sugar intake starting now."

A muffled sound of protest managed to escape the grumpy roommate. But Min Joo had already jumped out of reach. Juna then looked at her spoon with traces left. She sighed as she brought it to her mouth.

"Nope!" Min Joo snatched the silver spoon from her hand. She headed for the kitchen, feeding herself a mouthful on the way.

"Aren't you taking this too seriously? I'm sure this position will only be my responsibility for two weeks at the most." Juna laid herself along the length of the sofa. All the excitement (mostly that of her best friend's) had her feeling exhausted. She draped her arm over her eyes, prepared to sleep there if it came fast enough.

"Two weeks is more than enough time to make an impression." Min Joo perched herself on the arm of the sofa at Juna's feet. When her sleepy friend didn't respond, she gently kicked her feet off the sofa, "Juna..." Juna groaned back. "I'm just saying this could've happened to someone else. But it's you. Maybe it's that way for a reason. Remember what your dad always said? Are you really learning anything new in that office? Does the thought of staying there make you happy?"

Silence.

Juna dug the nail of her thumb into her index finger. It was the best she could do to brush away the flashbacks without her discomfort being detected by her friend.

"I don't mean to push you about dating. You just changed a lot in certain ways since high school. I just thought maybe dating could bring you back to normal. I don't know what happened in Gwangju when I moved away. You told me a little but I have a feeling it wasn't everything. And that's fine..." She paused. The silence echoed even louder. Juna continued to steel herself against her friends' words. "It just...it just seems like you locked away half of yourself and chose to forget where you put the box. I guess I'm hoping this job, however temporary, might convince you to find it and let out what's inside."

Juna was glad her arm blocked her face which had to have been red. Beads of sweat would have dripped on the sides of her face had they not been immediately absorbed by her sleeve. Her chest felt as though it would burst. She was torn between telling her friend everything she'd gone through at home and remaining in her silence. Of course, she chose silence. Pride wouldn't allow her to unload her emotions about those years. The restraint made her entire body feel like stone.

It seemed Min Joo waited a bit. Maybe she thought that by waiting, Juna would open up. But there was only more silence.

"Okay. I'm going to bed early." Min Joo slapped her leg before walking away. "Goodnight."

Just then a vibration buzzed under her back. Her phone. Juna shot up right as she recovered her phone and opened her messages. Finally!

Please meet me for your orientation at the location and time provided:

The message proceeded with a date, time, and mysterious address that didn't match with Victory Leap's. The message also mentioned preferred attire which was listed as: casual. Juna's eyebrows strewn together. That doesn't sound right. This was a job orientation. Shouldn't attire be business formal? Maybe they were just meeting at a comfortable location to discuss her responsibilities rather than walking her through them at the building itself. This is Myung Hee after all. But why was her text so formal sounding?

Juna began typing. Her mind raced, wanting answers. Before sending, she thought she ought to respond simply and likewise. This could be a test. Her godmother often did things with unexpected motives in mind. The woman deleted her barrage of questions and informal words and rewrote:

Understood. I won't be late.