The flowerbed - Aespa's Giselle x M!Reader

The lingering light

Seoul felt different after Tokyo. The same streets, the same routines, but everything carried new weight - like the city itself knew something had changed.

Morning practice started early as usual, but I found myself at the company building before dawn, reviewing schedules that didn't really need reviewing. The real reason sat on my desk in two coffee cups, still warm from our usual café.

The practice room door creaked softly. Giselle stood there, earlier than she needed to be, a small smile playing at her lips.

"You're here early," she said, though we both knew she'd expected to find me here.

"Just checking schedules." The excuse sounded weak even to me.

"Of course." She accepted her coffee, our fingers brushing in a way that felt deliberate. "The schedules that you already memorized yesterday."

The quiet settled around us comfortably as she settled into her usual stretching routine. I pretended to focus on my tablet, but kept finding my gaze drawn to her reflection in the practice room mirrors. Sometimes I caught her watching me too, quickly looking away with a soft blush.

"The others will be here soon," she said finally, though neither of us moved. These stolen moments had become precious somehow - the quiet between responsibilities where we could just exist in each other's space.

"I know." But I made no move to create professional distance.

She stood, crossing the room to peek at my tablet screen. "What are you actually reading?"

"Would you believe technical reports?"

"Not even slightly." She leaned against the desk beside me, close enough that I could smell her vanilla shampoo. "You get this little crease between your eyebrows when you're actually reading reports."

"I do not-"

"You absolutely do," Winter interrupted from the doorway, making us both jump. She smiled knowingly before heading to her usual spot, leaving us to our moment.

The day settled into familiar rhythms - practice, recordings, meetings that probably could have been emails. But something felt shifted, like Tokyo had changed some fundamental frequency between us all.

During vocal training, I found myself watching Giselle through the studio window. She caught my eye between takes, her smile soft and private. The quiet moments felt weighted now, carrying everything we hadn't quite said yet.

Lunch brought its own gentle shift in routine. The others had conveniently remembered various errands, leaving Giselle and me alone in the corner of the company café.

"They're not subtle," she laughed softly, watching them leave with barely concealed excitement about their sudden plans.

"They never are." I smiled, sliding her favorite sandwich across the table. We ate in comfortable silence, occasionally catching each other's eyes and looking away with small smiles. Her foot found mine under the table, a point of contact that felt both innocent and thrilling.

"About Tokyo," she started quietly.

"Incoming!" Ningning's voice interrupted as she rushed back in. "Manager-nim, there's a situation with the sound equipment and also I maybe lost my phone but definitely found it again except now I can't find my keycard but that's not important because the sound equipment-"

"Left pocket," I said automatically. "Both phone and keycard."

A pause, then her delighted: "Found them! But the sound equipment-"

"I'll check it," I stood reluctantly. Giselle's expression held a mix of amusement and resignation we'd both grown familiar with.

"Later?" she asked softly.

"Later," I agreed.

But 'later' kept getting interrupted. A schedule change here, a meeting there, always something just urgent enough to delay whatever we were building toward.

Evening found us in our usual coffee shop, Minjoo-noona's knowing smile following us to our corner table.

"Extra shot," she said, placing our usual orders down. "You both look like you need it."

"Long day," Giselle explained.

"Mhm." Minjoo-noona's tone carried volumes of understanding. "Take your time. We're open late tonight."

The café's warm lighting painted everything in soft focus, making the moment feel somehow separate from reality. Giselle's hand found mine on the table, a gesture that had become natural somewhere along the way.

"We keep getting interrupted," she said softly.

"We do."

"Think the universe is trying to tell us something?"

I squeezed her hand gently. "I think the universe has met its match in how much we've grown."

She smiled, the warmth of it making my heart skip. The walk back to the company building felt charged somehow, like the air itself held possibilities. Our hands brushed with each step, neither quite brave enough to close the distance completely.

The practice room was quiet this late, most staff having gone home. Giselle paused in the doorway, backlit by the hallway lights.

"One more run-through?" she asked, but we both knew this wasn't really about practice.

I nodded, unable to trust my voice. She moved to the center of the room, the familiar opening notes of "Whiplash" filling the space. I watched her mark through the choreography, each movement precise despite her exhaustion.

"You're dropping your shoulder slightly," I said softly, moving to stand behind her. My hands found her shoulders, adjusting her position gently. She leaned back slightly, fitting against me like she belonged there.

For a moment we just stood there, her back pressed to my chest, my hands still on her shoulders. The music played on but neither of us moved.

"We should probably-" she started.

"EMERGENCY!" Ningning's voice shattered the moment. "I lost my- oh. OH. Um. Never mind! Found it! In my pocket! Left pocket! Everything's fine! Leaving now!"

The door slammed behind her, leaving us alone again. Giselle dropped her forehead to my chest with a quiet laugh. "Every time."

"At least she's learning about the left pocket," I offered, making her laugh harder.

"Always looking for the bright side."

"Someone has to."

She pulled back slightly to look up at me, and for a moment I thought about closing the distance, about finally turning these almost-moments into something real.

"Manager-nim!" Karina's voice carried from the hallway. "CEO Lee needs to discuss tomorrow's schedule!"

"Every time," Giselle whispered again, but her smile held promises for later.

Winter passed me in the hallway, camera in hand. "Got it," she said softly, her usual teasing replaced with genuine warmth. "The whole day."

Walking to Lee's office, I thought about those moments - every small touch, every shared smile, every almost-something building toward something real. The day might not have brought the moment we were building toward, but it had brought us closer.

And sometimes, the moments between moments were just as important.