sleepless cinderella ☆ q.k | ✔

01

You don't know why you're back at the lounge again. In your fanciest dress and pair of heels. Again. When you'd gotten the random message from some unknown number claiming to be Ten, you were skeptical. And you still were as you took the quiet and quick elevator ride up. 

Why did you even accept the invitation to this party in the first place? You didn't know them, it wasn't your  friend getting a promotion from first officer to captain. Hell, you could barely remember the guy's name. Kun, you were pretty sure. The son of Qian Jian.

Which was probably why you had accepted the invite. Could be something good for your article. The journalist in you could never really keep quiet, not when a lead like this was being dangled in front of you like a piece of meat in front of a wolf.

And if you had nothing else going for you, you were determined. Despite the anxiety that was suffocating you, you maintained a confident posture and remained unflinching as the doors opened with that same ding! as before.

Seven pairs of eyes were on you. You had the overwhelming urge to either throw up or slam the 'close doors' button on the panel. Or both. Both was also an option.

But you didn't. Squaring your shoulders and letting your eyes meet each of theirs, you traipsed into the lounge.

"Hi," you ignored the slight squeak in your voice as you stopped just past the entrance of the lounge.

In your head, you did a mental roll call of who was there. Ten, the 'hero,' whose stunned face turned to a bright smile. Yangyang, the F1 racer, who somehow looked even younger than the last time you saw him now that he was sporting a too-big suit jacket. Hendery, the robot builder, who rolled his eyes as soon as you made eye contact with him. Sicheng, the actor, who coughed and looked away from you. Yukhei, the explorer/model, who would have intimidated you except for the awe-struck grin across his face and his big eyes even wider with wonder. Dejun, the director, whose sharp features were already starting to break into an easy smile at your familiar face. And Kun, the pilot, whose promotion you were all gathered to be celebrating. No longer a first officer, now a captain.

You let your eyes settle on him, "Congrats, Kun."

Seeming nearly startled from a trance, he nodded in acknowledgement, "Thanks, Y/N."

"Let me guess," Hendery focused his annoyed glare to Ten. "You invited her."

"And what about it?" The surgeon shot back cockily. "She seems like fun."

Dejun interrupted him with a short smack to the back of his head, "What kind of fun are you thinking about, Ten?"

The man shook his head, entirely unfazed at the teasing, "Uh, the kind that starts with champagne and ends with all of us telling drunk stories and not being jerks to her."

He emphasized his 'not' by thwacking his friend back with an equal amount of force, "Why? What were you thinking that I was thinking about, Dejun?"

"Uh," Yukhei coughed, bringing your attention back to him. "Champagne, Y/N?"

"Sure," you agreed brightly, fully crossing the room to the sitting area.

Ten scooted away from Dejun to offer up the space between them on the smaller couch to you, but Dejun followed him over, giving up his own spot for you to sit in. Accepting the glass of bubbly and golden liquid, you sat down beside your old childhood friend, looking around innocently as they were all still silent and watching you. You took a small sip, not all that much of a drinker. Honestly, you probably wouldn't even finish half of this glass tonight.

"So you were telling us about the pay raise, Kun?" Yangyang prompted the conversation back to presumably whatever they were talking about before your arrival.