form follows heart /jungri

xi. so, you like me

a/n: I estimate there to be around 5-6 more chaps!!! Cant wait for y'all to read the finale:)

As always, thanks for reading/commenting😻😻 appreciate very much <3

If Yerim's phone didn't light up with a reminder thirty minutes before noon, she would've completely forgotten about the meeting with Thomas she had set up a week ago.

The moment she saw the line of words, she bolted out of her bed, threw on the first outfit that looked decent, and flew to her car. She drove like a madman to the restaurant they had agreed to meet up at, receiving a bunch of honks along the way. In the end, she managed to anger quite a few people but she did make it to the restaurant just in time for Thomas to also get out of his car.

Wearing black jeans and a baby blue polo shirt, Thomas didn't see her until she called out his name, running up to meet him. They had met up only once since the first meeting when they got caught in the rain, so they hadn't gotten a chance for an in-depth discussion about her portfolio, not that she minded. At this point, she was confident enough in Jungkook to not have to seek anybody else out. Nonetheless, she hadn't bothered to call it off with Thomas yet, because he was an experienced professional in the field, and it was always nice to have connections.

"Yerim, hey!" Thomas greeted when she stopped next to him. "How have you been?"

"Good, but super busy." She opened the restaurant door, letting him step in first before following. "What about you?"

"Same as well." He nodded to a waitress, who led them to an empty table in the corner. "Our company picked up this huge environmental project that's been taking up most of my time. It's fun, but brutal." He paused, sitting down and ordered two iced water for them. "So, I've been looking at your portfolio during my free time. I wanted to ask you a few questions."

She nodded.

"What inspired your portfolio?"

Yerim took a sip of her water, taking time to think about how she should answer it. "When I was small, my mom took me to a lot of national parks, instilling into me from a very young age my love for the environment. My dad taught me to love architecture, taking me to every obscure building to rant about the structure and elements." She swallowed. She had never liked saying anything good about her dad; it left a bad aftertaste. "When I went to college, I knew immediately that I wanted to combine the two passions, so I pursued a degree in both."

"That's impressive. I assume it was busy."

"Yeah," she said, remembering all the sleepless nights and quick, cheap meals.

They paused to order food before Thomas continued, asking, "Have you ever thought about focusing on the environmental aspect more than the architecture aspect?"

She blinked, thrown off by this question. "Not really. Why?"

He shook his head. "Just wondering because you seem passionate about that topic."

Yeirm thought back to freshman and sophomore year of college, when she had been leaders for multiple environment-oriented organizations. That was before her dad had left, before she had spiraled into a hole, before her mom had forced her to figure out her priorities. "I am, but I thought architecture was a nice bridge between passion and practicability."

"That's a bummer." Thomas studied her. "I was going to ask if you wanted to transfer to my company as an environmental consultant."

Huh?

"You have the qualifications, and you also have a diverse background in architecture that will be extremely helpful."

"Oh..." Yerim was speechless. She had been expecting Thomas to pick up her portfolio, not to offer her a job. "I... don't think I will be..."