Noon came around. Nayeon showed up in Seulgi’s office with both of their lunchboxes.

Neither of them noticed Yeji quietly closing the door behind her.

Yeji did not wave people off, she didn’t have to. The closed door did it for her. Most people knew when the door was closed, it had better be important. After all, Seulgi was not one to be too stern with others, but those overprotective people around her were known to be brutal to those who were less than respectful. That respect included closed doors.

They both plopped down on the couches. They sighed in unison and laughed.

They set their lunches out in silence and began eating. It was a companionable silence, one built out of deep friendship. The only sound was the occasional ‘Mmm!’ as lunch progressed.

About mid-way through lunch, Seulgi asked, “So, how are you doing?”

Nayeon flashed an impudent grin, but said, “I don’t really know, to be honest. I’ve been off kilter the last few weeks.”

“Oh? How so? I mean, I have my own observations, but I want your words.”

Rather than answering with a flippant or off-the-cuff response, she sat back and thought for a moment.

“It’s not just here, not just at work or with work people. Other things are going on that I have not talked to you about that are affecting me. Yes, I reacted poorly to Soo-Young. I should have just blown her off or joined in the laughter and given back as good as I got. I suppose that I was having a bad day, but trying to hide it.

“Then the recent mess, Jackson missing, all the mystery surrounding you and your current adventures. Did you know that the day you went missing after lunch, there were some very scary people wearing suits in the garage? I saw this tiny woman walking out of the exit ramp that looked like the Angel of Death! I know it sounds silly, but it’s true.”

More so than you know, Seulgi thought.

“I am not quite sure why I have been so off recently. But, I am trying to get my even keel back. I am not making excuses, but I am asking for understanding.”

The loudest noise Seulgi made during the soliloquy was blinking. Seulgi made sure that she was done rather than just re-gathering her thoughts.

“That is more than reasonable. And with all of the things that you put up with me, it would be seriously hypocritical for me to give you a hard time, right? In the next few days, I’ll be inviting you over for dinner and we can talk a lot more in-depth. I cannot do it now as I don’t have the time to give you a proper run down this afternoon. I want to make sure that I give you a proper, thorough answer, but I have an appointment soon that I cannot miss. So, count on a full explanation, just not today. Be patient. OK?”

Nayeon gave a full-force grin that has broken many hearts, in reply, “Ok.”

They finished their lunches, chatting like usual. Lately has been difficult for both of them, but different reasons. But, this was akin to re-bonding, even if they didn’t really need it. The gesture, however, was enough.

Seulgi wrapped it up early as the drive to the doctor’s office was about to be nearly an hour. She wanted to be early, so she needed to leave soon.

She stood up, brushing the crumbs off her clothes. She started gathering her lunch items. Nayeon grinned and took the things out of her hands. “Go ahead. I’ll take care of this. You go get whatever it is you are about to do done. You’ll be back later to pick all this up, right? Then it’ll be washed and dried by the time you get back.”

Seulgi started to protest. Seulgi got shot down before she could get the first syllable out.

Nayeon said, “Get.” Followed by a shooing motion.

Yeji opened the door, looking surprised, and asked, “What are you still doing here? Get out. We have this.”

Nayeon and Seulgi were surprised further by this, however, Nayeon was oddly pleased with this "We". It was not something that Yeji expressed very often. The ever-sneaky Nayeon took this opportunity to very literally kick Seulgi in the butt and propel her out the door.

With a very unladylike squawk, Seulgi was forcefully propelled out of her own office. When she turned to protest this rough treatment by her nominal minions, her face was covered by her thrown jacked and she issued an ‘Oof!’ as she was hit in the midriff by her purse, keys, and everything else she needed to make it to her appointment. To add insult to injury, she heard her own office’s door slam in her face before she could even get her jacket off her face.

She removed her jacket with as much dignity, which was not very much at this point, as she could scrape up. Her pride was hovering just about the same area as her purse, which was on the floor because she was not expecting either thing to be thrown at her as it was.

To make it worse, she could hear the engineers of her currently precarious position laughing like a pair of loons from inside her office.

Seulgi gathered her jacket, put it on, and straightened her lines before picking up her purse. Checking for her keys, phone, wallet, and other odds and ends, she turned towards the elevators with as much grace as she could muster. She drew some imaginary arrogance from somewhere and ignored the snickers that followed her.

The horrible people in her office knew that they were safe from retribution because that was not how Seulgi operated. They knew that they were not going to get away with the Lèse-majesté, but that was part of the fun. While the frenemies didn’t know what the meeting that she was about to go to was about, (Though, Yeji could make a very well-informed guess) they knew it was weighing heavy on her mind. They have successfully derailed her worried mind, so she was much better prepared to deal with it.

Using the elevator, she made it to the car park without further incidents. She got into her car, turning it on. Once the car and the onboard computers booted up, she entered the address that she was heading to into the satellite navigation. She thought again how JooHyun had a perfect voice for this sort of thing. She was wondering how she could con…she meant to convince, of course…JooHyun to voice her satnav.

With this thought, she reversed out of the parking space and headed to her appointment with the shrink.