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Soo sat at her desk, the office too humid, the drone of the weak air conditioning drilling into her mind and making the words on the screen bleed together. Her focus dwindled and her head bobbed up and down, up and down, in an effort to keep awake.“I could write you up for sleeping on the job, you know?”She jerked, her eyes now wide and her surroundings clear. So leaned over her shoulder, his name tag swaying in the air, almost hitting her nose as she turned to look at him. She flushed, telling herself it had everything to do with being caught and nothing to do with his closeness, the heat he emanated. “I-I wasn't sleeping. Sometimes closing my eyes just helps me concentrate.”His chuckle vibrated. “Sure, okay. Think of this as a warning, then, and try to concentrate with your eyes open.”He patted her shoulder and she gazed at his retreating figure, hands behind him and back straight. Another came up to him, Yeon Hwa, a trill on her red lips, her hand falling so easily on his bicep. She glanced over her shoulder, catching Soo's gaze. Her nose wrinkled at her while So wasn't looking, like Soo was something disgusting she had stepped in, and, as he looked back, her features resumed their playfulness, their flirtations. Soo pouted and looked back at her screen, her fingers pounding into the keyboard. Two hours later, her eyes drooped again, falling into the click-clack of surrounding keyboards, and ruffling of papers, and the hum of the printer shooting out copy after copy. She felt something on her neck, light and tickling, and she brushed it away, but it returned and she, again, batted at it clumsily.The tickling stayed, unmoving, like a stone on the crook of her neck, and then fell into her lap. She looked down and found a giant cockroach wiggling on her legs and a scream burst from her lips, echoing through the office. She jumped out of her chair, the roach falling to the ground without fanfare and she swatted at herself, feeling a hundred invisible bugs on her body and blanching.But the cockroach laid on the floor upside down, still, and plastic. Everyone in the office had stood, peaking over the cubicles, staring at her and then going back to their work with laughter on their lips and shaking in their shoulders as she reddened before them. A snicker caught her attention and there was Wang So, face as red as hers, hand covering his mouth, eyes clenched closed in silent laughter, his body shaking with the effort to keep it inside.“Did... did you just put a fake bug on me?” Her embarrassment evaporated as the heat of anger boiled in her gut.He doubled over, clutching his stomach, a burst of guffaws leaving him before he stood up and tried to cover his amusement with a straight face, his voice lower with the effort. “Don't sleep on the job, Hae Soo-ssi.”He walked off and, as she stomped her foot on the fake cockroach and tried to grind it into the floor, she decided that she would pay him back. “Good morning, Hae Soo,” So said, walking up to her desk. He blew on his coffee, taking a sip as he leaned against the cubicle wall.She smiled at him, sugary sweet but not quite reaching her eyes. “Good morning, Wang So.”“You're not still mad at me, are you? It was just a small prank.”“Oh, no, no, no,” she said, brows furrowed and each syllable exaggerated. “You know, I could never stay mad at you for too long.”“Alright, then.” He bowed his head slightly and walked to his office, glancing back and scratching his head. Her words hadn't that genuineness he came to associate with her.As he neared his desk, Soo peaked over the cubicle wall. That's right, she thought, just a little bit further. He set his mug on the desk, stretched his arms out in front him, rolled his neck, the usual morning routine. He was going to sit down in three... two... one...BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!Wang So yelped at the siren, falling forward, knocking his mug off his desk, and then bringing his chair with him. He clattered to the floor, rolled in the spilled coffee, and garnered the attention of his staff. He stood and kicked at the chair and, on the underside, was an airhorn duct taped to the base support of it. He growled, already knowing the culprit. “HAE SOO, IN MY OFFICE, NOW!”She strolled from her cubicle, to his office, that sugary sweet smile smeared on her face, the picture of innocence. “You called for me, Wang So-ssi?”“You!” He pointed at her. “You did this! Is this payback?”She placed her hand on her heart, her mouth dropping open and scoffing. “Me? Are you saying I came in to work hours before anyone else would be here, picked the lock on your office door, duct taped an air horn to the bottom of your chair just for the satisfaction of seeing you fall out of your chair? All because you threw a fake bug on me?”“Yes!”She pouted. “I am appalled that you would think so poorly of me, Wang So-ssi.”So laughed, bitter and stunted. “Okay, okay, if that's how you want to play, then let's play.”She leaned forward, the innocent act dropped, replaced with narrowed eyes and a snarl. “Bring it.” And that's how it began, with pettiness and a competitive edge neither knew they had. Pulling out chairs right as they were going to sit down, offering toothpaste filled oreos or apple juice that was really cider vinegar, controlling each others' mouses with a wireless one from their desks. Each prank getting bigger than the last until Hae Soo came in to find her cubicle plastered with Wang So's face. His attractive and smiling face glued on every square inch of her desk, her walls, her floor. Her supplies were buried underneath his face, her chair crinkled with Wang So stickers, and, when she opened up her. computer, his face was there, too, with the message, I'm always watching you. There wasn't even a millimeter of space in her cubicle that wasn't brandishing his face. Yeon Hwa stopped at her desk with a smirk. “Clean this up, immediately. Personal effects cannot be distracting to the work atmosphere, Hae Soo-ssi.” And Hae Soo could do nothing but scowl as she peeled and ripped face after face off her cubicle with a triumphant Wang So passing by to check on her progress every fifteen minutes. Wang So paid little attention to the way Hae Soo jittered every time he reached for something in the drawers of his desk, and then deflated. Every time she came in asking for a pen, he would open his drawer and give her one, and she would leave the office slumped and pouting. He thought nothing of it when he caught her in his office, underneath his desk after he had stepped out to get a snack. “Sorry, I thought I dropped something in here earlier,” and she scurried away empty handed. He figured she hadn't found it.It wasn't until the work day was almost over, when he was finishing up a report, that he opened his drawer to get a post-it and glitter blasted into his face with a loud crack. Rainbow glitter, star shaped glitter, fake rhinestones had exploded and fluttered around him, sprinkling in his hair, creeping into the folds of his clothes, sticking to skin. He puffed air out of his nose and sneezed out the glittered that settled in his nostrils.He clenched his teeth. “Hae Soo,” he said, which was a mistake because glitter coated his tongue and lodged in his teeth. He glanced at her desk and she stood, gleeful eyes, an ear-splitting grin, and two thumbs up. He would find glitter in his office for years later. “Copy, twenty-five,” Soo said to the copier, as the paper had instructed her to do. But the copier remained still. No light sweeping under the scanner, no clicking of paper lining up and pushing through, and no swsh-swsh-swsh of completed copies falling into the tray. There was no hum of a working copier at all. She tried again, this time slightly louder, more pronounced. “Co-py, twent-ty fiiiv-vuh.”She went around to the back, making sure the copier was plugged in. She checked the toner, still full. She checked the paper tray, low but enough. She lifted the scanner, repositioned her paper. “Copy! Twenty-five!”Five minutes passed. Then ten. Then fifteen as she yelled at the copier to do her bidding. Growling and frustrated, Soo shook the copier, strands of hair falling from her usually neat bun and her shirt untucked from her skirt. This was the sight Yeon Hwa was greeted with when she entered the supply room. “Should I report you for destruction of property, Hae Soo-ssi?”Soo halted, biting her lip as she saw how it looked, and slid away. “It wouldn't make copies.”“So, you're answer is to break something worth thousands of dollars?”Soo sputtered. “No-no-no. I wasn't going t-”Yeon Hwa wasn't paying attention, her fingers peeling a paper, the new instructions Soo had read, from the wall. “This copier is now voice activated,” she read, amusement flashing off those pearly white teeth when she smiled. “You didn't believe this, did you?”“It's not... the copier's no-”“You're as stupid as you look, Hae Soo-ssi.” She shoved the paper in Soo's chest, knocking the breath out of her. “If that copier breaks, it's coming out of your paycheck.”Tears welled and the lines on the paper blurred as Yeon Hwa left. Only one line at the bottom stirred the storm inside her. Thank you for your patience and we hope this makes your lives easier. She ripped the paper until it was confetti. “You're dead, Wang So.” She found it by accident, was looking for an adventurous tea to get for her mom's birthday. The phrases “maniacally spicy” and “infused with habanero” guiding her movements, from her mouse clicking “add to cart” to her fingers punching in her credit card information. She cackled at the image of So sputtering for water to cool his tongue. Her opportunity arose after a meeting. He hadn't had any water, kept coughing and smacking his gums as he tried to find moisture as he spoke. “Wang So-ssi, let me make you a cup of tea. ”He nodded. “Sure, that sounds great.”She tested the tea, taking the tiniest of sips, balking as the intense spice tingled over her tongue, gripped the back of her throat. “Perfect.”So took the tea from her with gratitude. A look of such relief and such warmth flittered across his face that she found herself reaching for his cup, ready to take it back, but he already drank it, long sips passing over his tongue. She bit her lip, waiting. His eyes widened, sputtering, a giggle bubbling in her stomach as the tea dribbled back into the mug. He grabbed at his throat. “What was in this?” he wheezed. But she couldn't answered, his skin burst red and pimply, starting at his neck and blossoming over his now-swelling lips and tongue. The giggle churned into nausea. “Wang So-ssi?”The mug dropped to the floor at the same speed he did. A clunk and a thud. Yeon Hwa was over in seconds, Hae Soo still standing over him paralyzed. “What happened?” she screamed, dragging his head into her lap. “Never mind, call an ambulance. NOW!”Soo hurried to the phone, her fingers shaking as she pressed the numbers. “What's your emergency?”She lost her voice, it opened and closed, the sounds trying to come out in uh's and um's and stilted syllables. Yeon Hwa yanked it from her, eyes ablaze. “Our manager is having a severe allergic reaction. He has hives, swollen lips and tongue, and he's wheezing. I think his throat closing up.”She nodded a few times, set the phone back in it's cradle, and slapped Hae Soo across the face.The sting of her hand rang in her ears, red welts formed on her cheek. “I didn't mean it,” she whispered. “It was supposed to be a joke. I didn't kno-”“You did this on purpose? You gave him this tea knowing what would happen? As a joke? You thought this would be funny? You're sick.” Soo could only shake her head, her words being twisted and thrown back in her face. “You're fired, Hae Soo. And I'm calling the police. You'll be punished for this.” As the paramedics put Wang So in the back of the ambulance, as Yeon Hwa climbed in after them, as the doors closed and they hurried to the hospital, Hae Soo was being read her rights, handcuffs were tightening around her wrists, an officer was gently pushing on her head as she slid into the backseat, and she was being driven to the station. A criminal. So woke up to fingers brushing through his hair, another holding his hand, the sounds of rushed and hushed tones around him. He blinked his eyes open, moving his arm and then hissed as a soreness struck through it.“You're awake. How are you feeling?'He rubbed his forehead. “About as good as you can feel after having a severe allergic reaction to tea.”He looked over, his eyes already searching for Hae Soo, for her bright smile and sparkling eyes, squeezing the hand he held like she was a lifeline. But it wasn't Hae Soo. It was Yeon Hwa. He dropped her hand, sat up and away from her closeness. “What are you doing here?”Her face fell. “I'm your guardian. I made sure you actually got treated after what Hae Soo did to you.”“What do mean what Hae Soo did to me?”“She poisoned you. Gave you tea she knew you would be allergic to. I fired her and had her arrested for assault and malicious wounding.” Yeon Hwa crossed her arms over her chest, smiling with pride, wanting a pat on the back for a job well done.“You had her arrested?!” So started to pry the IV off his arm and Yeon Hwa rose, trying to keep his hands away. “Nurse! Nurse, someone please get me out of here!”“Oppa, what are you doing? You're going to hurt yourself if you do this.” She struggled with him, failing to pry him away from. “Stop this!”He shoved her away and she fell back into the chair. “Yeon Hwa, thank you for bringing me to the hospital but you went too far. Charging Hae Soo with assault? Malicious wounding? What is wrong with you? And now she's in there all alone and it's all my fault. You may have signed forms claiming to be my guardian but I didn't ask for that. So get me discharged and take to the police station. Now!” Soo curled herself into a ball in the corner of the holding cell, trying hard to hide her tears from those she shared it with and from the police officers roaming outside it. She couldn't forget the sickening thud of So's body hitting the floor, it echoed in her mind. Couldn't forget the way he clutched at his throat and how his beautiful face was marred with red splotches and swollen, expanding skin. Couldn't forget that it was by her hand that he had become that way, that, it was like Yeon Hwa said, it was all her fault.“Would you stop crying already? I'm trying to sleep,” one of the others growled at her.She only curled further into herself, trying to find quiet in her pestering guilt. The station was quieter as night approached. Wang So trudged through it, feeling drowsy from medications, but it was the sight of Hae Soo's small body crumpled in a corner that dragged him to the floor. He heard her sniff and he whispered her name, with tenderness.She looked up, old tears stained into her cheeks. The tightness in her chest and her muscles loosened and she sagged as she took in the sight of him. Red spots still kissed some parts of his skin, lips still slightly bigger than normal, his skin paler under the florescent lights, but it was him looking conscious and healthier than when she last saw him. She scrambled over to the bars, reached her hands through and cupped his cheeks. “You're okay.”He held onto her wrists, his thumb caressing the soft and delicate skin. “Look what kind of trouble you got yourself into.”Her lips trembled and tears threatened to spill again. “I'm sorry. This is all my fault.”He shushed her. “Don't you dare. It isn't. I'm the one who started this stupid prank war.”“But the tea. I told them it was an accident, but they wouldn't listen. Yeon Hwa told them I wanted revenge and knew what I was doing. I swear I didn't know.”He pulled out a small baggie from his pocket, inside Soo recognized the packaging the tea bag had been in. “Yeon Hwa had it pulled from the trash for evidence. 'Bitter Winter,'” he read, “'Orange Pekoe black tea paired with clementine, clove, and generously infused with habenero.' And, right here in the corner, it tells me that this has maniac levels of spiciness.”“I just wanted to burn your tongue a little,” she said, pouting. “I didn't want to send you to the hospital.”He stroked her hair, and she leaned into the warmth of his hand. “I know, Soo. For the record, I think your prank would've worked perfectly if it wasn't for the minor detail that I'm highly allergic to cloves.”“Cloves. I'll remember that.”“What do you say, Hae Soo? Should we call a truce? We'll never be able to top a hospital visit and a trip to jail.”She chuckled, sticked her hand out for him to shake. “Truce.”He took her hand and, on a whim, pulled her closer to the bars. He placed a kiss right on her forehead, inhaling the scent of roses and vanilla that clung to her hair. “Let's get you out of here.” So and Soo rode back to the hospital together on the bus, which she insisted upon when he stumbled while walking out of the station. She stared out the window, watching the scenery change and So leaned his head on her shoulder, resting his body. He gripped her hand in his, keeping it close too his heart. She could feel the steady thump of his heart against her hand and the rhythm helped to calm her mind. “So.”“Hmm.”“Yeon Hwa fired me.”“I know, but none of the paperwork has been filed yet and I can convince her to forget about it.”She bit the inside of her cheek. “I don't think I want to go back.”He lifted his head and smiled. “Good. I don't want you to come back.”She furrowed her brows. “What?”He leaned forward, eyebrows waggling at her. “Company policy states I can't date my subordinates.”“I don't understa-” So interrupted her by giving her a swift kiss on the lips. She covered them with a gasp, leaning back into the window, and staring at him with questioning eyes.He only smiled at her and leaned back on her shoulder. As he settled back into her, eyes closing, ignoring the way her heart pounded outside her chest, he said, “Don't worry, I won't do that again without your permission.”