level 23 / btsvelvet

episode eighteen

"seungwan," joy hiccups, resting her head on the older girl's shoulder, "i won't let him break up with me. i won't."

"i know, i know." seungwan sighs, reaching over and patting joy's hair. it was the second time that month joy had broken down in front of seungwan-the first time, joy had refused to tell seungwan anything, and the two ended up making sharp jabs at one another until seungwan, too, had broken down and apologized.

that night had progressed along the lines of, "you pretend like you're high and mighty when you're actually a shitload of insecurities, as if!" to "well, you're a bitch who thinks she can get anything she wants!" then finally, "i'm sorry, i shouldn't have picked at your scars-you're the one who's stronger than me, even though i looked down at you." and "it's my fault, i was just jealous of you, that you could always do what you wanted to do, without looking back or regretting a single thing."

it made sense-joy and seungwan had been level twenty-three's greatest rivals from the start, joy with her prickly thorns and spoiled heiress flair, seungwan with her stubborn reluctance to let down her veil of pride. but now, the two were perhaps the closest of friends.

the latter had just returned from a day at her newly established employment at irene's company. seungwan had needed a more consistent flow of income since her brother's imprisonment, because although her brother was nothing but scum through and through, seungwan still sought to maintain her responsibility as an aunt to her young nephew's tuition, as well as the living expenses of her comatose father's that didn't tide over from his retirement funds. she'd originally planned on asking irene for a small loan when irene had straight up offered her a stable job in the finance department underneath her instead.

of course, seungwan had protested, but irene had simply argued that taking up the job offer would essentially allow seungwan to work for the money herself. seungwan had accepted on this term, although she knew that such an opportunity wouldn't exist if not for irene's generosity.

"we were so cute together." joy sniffles wistfully once more, "i don't understand."

seungwan lets out another sigh.

"joy, everyone has moments where they just can't see through to things. seokjin's probably overthought one thing or another." she attempts to comfort the younger, pressing her lips into a thin line as, unconsciously, her mind wanders to min yoongi.

perhaps son seungwan was not too far away from kim seokjin in the way that they refused to believe their love for the other could mend the gap in lifestyle that so adamantly presented themselves in their respective relationships. seokjin was afraid that he could never make joy happy, that he would be left for someone better, more interesting, more capable of pampering park sooyoung like she was meant to be. seungwan was afraid that she wouldn't be able to control herself from using yoongi for her own needs, that by letting him take care of her, she'd be blurring the fine line between love and necessity.

that night, as she steps back into her apartment after consoling joy with a dinner of takeout and a disney movie marathon, seungwan can't help but feel a pressing weight on her lungs. staring at her phone in her hands, she takes a deep breath, eyes trained on the contact name displayed on her phone screen.

min yoongi.

but the line goes dead as soon as she presses call. seungwan frowns, biting her lower lip nervously. garnering he had likely changed his number, she scrolls down her contact list for the next best option.

nam woohyun.

three punctual rings, and the line connects.

"hello?" comes woohyun's familiar, guarded voice.