If I Were You (Stray Kids Lee Know X Female OC)

Ch. 23: How To Be Understanding

The door slams as Miyeon closes it shut behind her. Her eyes are wide and sweat is dripping down her forehead as she walks further into her office, muttering under her breath frantically.

"Never again, never again, never again..."

She rushes to her desk, looking through her drawers with her palms sweating, making her hands constantly slip from the handles and making her even more frustrated as she rushes.

"Where is it, where is it, where is it, agh..." Miyeon mutters under her breath in a panicked tone as she turns away from her desk and starts looking through the cabinets. "It's gotta be somewhere around here!"

And then she pulls out the bottom drawer of one of the cabinets, the last one, before a peculiar hourglass, encased in a rectangular glass slips on top of the papers inside, presenting itself to Miyeon with its golden case and shining sand. Miyeon's eyes widen at the sight of it, before she quickly picks it up and raises it to her eye level, looking at the sand remaining at the top and those that had accumulated at the bottom. And then she lets out a sigh of relief, hanging her head for a moment before she looks at the hourglass again.

"There's still time," she breathes out in relief as she watches the sand continuously falling to the bottom. "There's still time," she repeats to herself as she slowly lowers the hourglass back into the shelf, and she pushes it closed and locks it. "He shouldn't be able to know so easily while it's still this early... I just have to be more careful..."

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"Alright, where do you think you're going?" Miyeon asks as she stands in front of Doyoung, blocking her way out of the studio after noticing that the young woman seemed to be acting suspiciously again.

Doyoung smiles nervously as she stands back in response, before she lifts her hand and then points in the direction she was meaning to go. "Oh, don't worry too much, Miyeon... I was just planning to go to the cafeteria."

"You know I can see when you leave the building, right? And like I said, if you're going out anywhere, you should bring me along-"

"I know, I know," Doyoung interjects, still smiling while Miyeon raises a brow at her.

"... You know you're still not allowed to see Nayeon, right?" Miyeon asks her next, still suspicious of Doyoung. And the latter sighs and rolls her eyes.

"I know. Like I said, I'm just going to the cafeteria."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Miyeon, relax. I know what I'm doing." Doyoung almost begs as she says those words, and Miyeon frowns for a moment, before she groans with narrowed eyes.

"Doyoung... You know my job is always on the line everytime you do something, right?"

And Doyoung chuckles as she holds Miyeon's hand. "... Yes. Which is why I'm asking you to trust me."

"Or I can just follow you."

"Didn't you say you were tired?"

"... Ugh, fine! Go! But if you're gonna do something, make sure no one else sees you!"

Doyoung's face immediately lights up, and she nods before Miyeon steps aside with a sigh. Doyoung then leaves the studio, and Miyeon watches her with a shake of her head.