☰ lobby

@go hyori ⁹⁶ he counted exactly 17 hours.. since he's been to the police station and that very moment. the dashboard of his mercedes read 23:30, the lights of his headgears blinking constantly. haon was parked right at the entrance of the building, the valet waiting patiently for when he would step out of the car; it was one of the things he would never get used to, to have someone waiting on him like this much less than the grandeur of the life he'd made for himself. as a young lad, this same life had always been his goal but at that very moment, between each breath he took, it looked less and less appealing.

had the recent incident shook him that much? perhaps so. or maybe he had always been the outsider, the alien amidst such luxury and he had just begun to realize it?

haon heaved a sigh, the nth one that particular day. heavy set gaze cast another glance at the dashboard; how had only two minutes pass? shaking himself out of his reverie, he grabbed his stuff from the passenger seat and got out of the car, handing the valet a soft 'thank you'.

the snow had begun melting outside, january's temperature rising and dropping like the whims of a petulant child. and in the small trip that he walked from his car to the entrance, snowflakes had already settled in his hair, nipping at his cheeks and skin in heated bites. the moment he stepped into the lobby, he shivered, hand raising to ruffle his hair, the wet locks sticking to his forehead in cold rivulets. distracted by his self, he had almost missed the elevator-

"oh ," he exclaimed in a soft note, lurching forward to place his hand between the closing doors. and the sight in front of him almost caused the bottle of wine he held in his free hand to slip to the ground. but he was agile, the grip instantly tightening.

go hyori looked the same as she did almost a decade ago but he could note how she'd aged, the plumpness of her cheeks definitely that of a graceful lady more than a teenage girl. clearing his throat, he stepped into the elevator, placing himself right next to her, close enough that his arm brushed against her shoulder. the touch itself was enough to make those memories -of spoilt strawberry milk, audacious sneers and belittling laughter- to rush into his mind. who knew that all this years of building himself would crumble in front of his biggest perpetrator?

taking a deep breath, he reached out to press the '90' number on the keypad, straightening his shoulders back in an attempt to stand tall. if there was anything he was good at, it was faking his demeanor- it came in handy at press interviews and so on. "hello."

@go minhyuk ¹⁰⁰ [ feb 13 ; 20:00 ]

nari's mind is reeling, overwhelmed with newly found facts. her conversation with her parents is on repeat in her memories, making it even harder to breathe as she tries not to pace around the lobby. it's taking her everything not to just run away from the perseus, knowing too well that her parents will come looking for her here if she stays — and she definitely doesn't want to meet them right now, not soon. but she has to get the truth from both sides; she has to confirm it for herself, or she'll be haunted by it for the rest of her life.

and so she approaches the staff by the counter, putting on her friendliest face — the one known by the public, the sweet smile and the kind visage. "hello, may i please talk to go minhyuk? this is... kind of urgent, and i really have to talk to him."

there are moments of hesitations from the staff, and as soon as the staff parts his lips — most likely to reject her request — nari is quicker to speak. "please. tell him... i know about him and kim nayeon. he'll know what i mean. please?" despite still having a look of hesitation in his face, he finally opts to call the owner of the top floors.

@yoo haon ⁹⁰ // 15.02.21 1135

first she woke up with the worst headache she had ever experienced in her life, then she bumped into kurosawa mio. bad things always happened in threes, hyori wasn’t convinced that her spell of bad luck was going to end any time soon. it had been a wonder the taxi that brought her home didn’t get a puncture on the way to the perseus. it was five to noon, her husband was at work and her daughter at daycare which meant she had the whole house to herself until the late afternoon. perfect for nursing her jet lag and intense hangover.

walking into the lobby of the perseus, she glanced around. there was something different about the place she called home now that a fatal accident had happened right here within the four walls of what was meant to be the safest apartment in all of the country. as much as she didn’t want to feel this way, it scared her to think what might become of their property value but she quickly shook that thought away. jihyun was once her beloved niece, and now things would never be the same again. but why was it in her death, all hyori could think of was that she was just one step closer to her goal. her family, daesan corp, followed a strict traditional flow of power. now that her brother, minhyuk, had no offspring to succeed him, she was naturally in line for his throne.

“hyori what the .” she chides herself under her breath, as she stands waiting for the lift to reach the ground level. what kind of person harboured such inhumane thoughts when their own family member passed? a human one, she tries to reason with herself. all that thinking did not help with her headache. when the lift doors finally open, she steps in and enters 96 into the keypad.

no more thinking, not for the next two hours.