EGOIST (Sang Woo x Fem!OC) [COMPLETED]

23

Hae Young was hardly the type to feel jealous. All through her life she dealt a lot with the fears of becoming a failure to the point that she's numb to it. But being replaced; it felt a lot weirder.

In a sense, it stung. Not for her, but she has this sudden urge to sting someone with venom, though she couldn't exactly decide on who she wants to hurt first.

It started during this one day off she had out of the blue, deciding that she'd spend her day visiting Mrs. Cho and perhaps taking the train to Yeouido to bring Sang-Woo some lunch. It's been a while since they've hung out after all, and she's curious to see what disaster his apartment had turned out to be. Mrs. Cho was also ecstatic about the idea of sending her son food, graciously preparing a lunch box not just for her son, but for Hae Young as well. Then by nine in the morning, she hopped on the train that would take her to the heart of Seoul. She knew the building by heart, having been there only a few times to sip some coffee with Sang-woo in their dreadful cafe. She stands by the gray, brooding building timidly before hyping herself up to get in. She waits at the lobby, checking her wrist watch for the time. In just a few seconds now, Sang-woo would be out of those elevators with his colleague for some lunch. She counts.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Ding.

Perhaps she was two seconds late. Nonetheless, with giddiness, she rises from the wicker chair to watch the people fleeing from the crowded elevator. Among the crowd, his tall figure stands out the most. She grins.

"Sang-woo--" but then she pauses, stopping exactly at her heels. He walks out of the elevator with a woman following him. She stares at the both of them in confusion.

They seem to be close, she observed that, walking out laughing. Perhaps he had told her a joke or something. Nevertheless, it was a little rare to see Sang-woo smile at other people, hands tucked in his pants and all. She only realized her smile dropped when she had to pick it back up again when he finally realized that she was there waiting.

"Hae Young..." He looks at her in surprise. "What are you..."

"Surprise?" She says hesitantly, handing him the wrapped lunch box his mom had prepared.

"I, well... your mom prepared that." She stammers. "She made you lunch."

She mentally curses at herself for her sudden loss of words and composure, and even more so as she feels her spirit falter as the mysterious woman approaches the two.

"You came all the way to Yeouido just for this?" He smiles, though she just nods bashfully, looking at the ground as the aforementioned woman walks up to them.

"Sang-woo. Are you ready?" She asks him, casual and direct, in a way Hae Young was not used to at all.

Hae Young probably was staring through her at this point, only realizing her burning gaze at his coworker when she had broken the awkward tension between them with a pensive 'hello'. She greeted her meekly, looking back and forth between her and Sang-woo. "Are you two friends?"

"Yes." Sang-Woo clears his throat, regaining his composure. "This is Moon Hae Young. My best friend."

Best friend. That word suddenly stung, like picking up a rose only to be stabbed by its thorns. Hae Young forces out a smile, though it was closed and tight-lipped. The woman offers her hand and she shakes it softly.

"Nice to meet you, Hae Young." She grins. "I'm Su-bin."

***********

Lunch had been anything but refreshing, though thankfully Sang-Woo insisted that he'd rather spend it with Hae Young instead. Some things did not leave her mind however, like how close the two had been, and how she was the only friend of Sang-Woo's to ever approach her or to ever really be mentioned. But she reminds herself oftentimes that she can't be the only friend Sang-woo has. But this one just rubbed her off the wrong way. And Sang-woo isn't daft. He could feel the intensity radiating off of her as she barely ate the fried mackerel his mother had prepared.

"Are you not going to eat?" He asks her.

"Huh?" She just stares at him dumbfounded. He suppresses a smirk.

"So are you going to tell what has got you lost in your head or what?"

Hae Young just shakes her head and stuffs her mouth with rice, but that didn't take it away. Sang-woo just smiles at her.

"You know, Su-Bin is nice." He starts, finishing his own lunchbox. "She's actually new to the team."

"Yeah?" Hae Young comments dryly. "You two seem to click pretty well."

"You think so?"

She shrugs.

"Seems like it."

Sang-woo just looks at her for a while, he watches as she plays with the rest of her food with disinterest.

He sighs. Moments like these, Hae Young gets pretty tough to take out of her own shell, and Sang-woo knows that very well out of all people. He should know out of all people. It is things like these that he understood by heart, memorizing her language naturally. Her grip on the chopsticks said she was tense, but lost, and the way she looked at the ground... His face falters a bit in concern. Why is she acting this way?

"Well, I'm done with my lunch." He announces. Hae Young hums nonchalantly in response.

"So what time do you leave by train?"

"I haven't gotten a ticket yet." She tells him.

"Alright," Sang-Woo nods, straightening himself as he places both hands on the table before him, not before checking his watch.

"You're actually lucky you decided to come here today, because I get to go off quite early today." He tells her. "Because I was supposed to have a meeting, but the client backed out."

"Really?" There was a sliver of hope in Hae Young's voice. "What time do you get off?"

That was the click he was looking for, the rise in her voice as she waits for him to clear his schedule just for her.

Sang-Woo checks his watch a little more, counting in his head until five seconds go by. "Now." He smiles. "So, Hae Young. I've got free time, we've had our lunch. Do you want to go around Yeouido with me?"