Doubler || NCT || Completed

39

"How are you doing, unnie? Are you getting better?" Jiyoung's worried voice asked from the phone. Yujin sat on the floor, looking through supply orders for the cafés as she always did at the end of week, her phone on top of her knee.

"Yeah, I'm getting better", she answered, feeling guilty for having to pretend to be sick. "I think that I'll be able to come back to work soon."

Jiyoung wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? Did you go to a hospital already?"

"A doctor has checked that everything will be okay", Yujin said. "I just need to rest."

That wasn't even a lie. Xiaojun was a doctor and he had told her to take it easy.

Jiyoung huffed. "And you're eating and sleeping enough, right? Taeil told me that you're still doing paperwork even though you're on a sick leave." It was obvious that she didn't approve.

Yujin cursed Taeil's big mouth in her mind. "Jiyoung-ah, I'm not overdoing it, trust me. I'm just doing some basic things to stay sane."

"You're a workaholic, unnie", Jiyoung grumbled.

Yujin rolled her eyes. "I'm not."

"Whatever. Should I bring you some food? I could pick up some porridge and bring it to you before my shift today. It would give you energy", Jiyoung changed topics.

"Ah, no, you don't need to do that!" Yujin hurried to decline the offer. Her eyes darted around the living room she was sitting in. She didn't want Jiyoung to go to her and Taeil's home only to find it deserted but telling her that she was staying at someone else's place wasn't ideal either. "I have enough food here!"

The line fell silent. Yujin cringed, scared that her instantaneous response had revealed too much.

"Okay", Jiyoung said slowly after a while. "I could just leave it by your door, though, if you're too tired to see anyone."

"No, no, you really don't need to do that", Yujin tried to convince her. "I have everything I need, seriously."

Loud clattering sound coming from the kitchen startled Yujin, making her drop her phone from her knee and almost the laptop from her lap as well.

"What was that? Unnie, did you fall down?" Jiyoung's worried words were muffled against the floor. Yujin reached her hand to get the phone back, wanting to turn off the speakerphone immediately. She hadn't expected Jeno to be so quick with his shower, and had assumed that she could chat with Jiyoung before he was done.

"Did you say something?" Jeno asked from the kitchen. Yujin's hand froze over her phone. Why couldn't he be quiet? Had Jiyoung heard his voice? "I'm sorry, I just dropped a frying pan", Jeno continued to explain loudly enough for Yujin to hear every word clearly.

"Who are you talking with?" Jiyoung asked, confused by the new voice. "Is someone there with you?"

Yujin regained her senses, snatched her phone from the floor and turned off the speakerphone, slamming the phone against her ear.

"It's nothing like that!" she exclaimed loudly.

Jiyoung gasped. "You have a guy there?" she pieced the information together easily. "Unnie!" she shrieked, completely scandalized.

"It's nothing like that", Yujin repeated herself, burying her face in her hand. "Don't misunderstand anything, okay?"

"Is it..." Jiyoung started loudly before lowering her voice a little bit, "Is it Byongho?"

Yujin's brain blanked out. "Byongho?" she echoed, confused, before realization hit her and she remembered that one of her employees was indeed called Byongho. "Ah, Kim Byongho? Why the hell would he be here? He's supposed to be working today, I think."