Chapter 17. Dream

The night stretched for so long as Joohyun busied herself with the guests and art enthusiasts. She was happy that despite Changmin’s absence they were able to pull everything off quite perfectly. Yoona seemed to be the happiest since all of her works were well-praised and they were almost sold out, “Hey girl, happy?”

“Yeah, Hyunnie…” Yoona put her arms around her friend’s waist and rested her head on her shoulder, “Thank you for this…”

“No, thank you…” Joohyun said, “You’re such a talent. So… ready for the next one?”

“Omo!!!” Her eyes widened in excitement then she shook her head laughing softly, “Not yet!”

Taeyeon came up to them with a glass of wine for Yoona, “Little of something is good for you, my dear.”

With that, they discussed the next exhibit and the other upcoming activities for the gallery. The night went on successfully as expected.

“You look restless,” Taeyeon commented moments later after Yoona left to talk to the other guests, “Are you tired? Why don’t you rest for a while?”

“It’s been a long day,” she smiled weakly and took a sip from her glass, “I’m thinking about Euna.”

That made Taeyeon smile, “I’m so happy you found a little something to keep your mind busy with…”

“Are you hinting that I have been idling around?” She rolled her eyes at her unnie knowing exactly what she meant by that comment.

“No, I’m just kidding…” the older woman laughed.

Joohyun sighed her eyes drifting yet unfocused among the throng of people around them. Despite the chic tones for the exhibit, the ambiance was lively yet she was feeling a bit melancholic, “I promised her that I will come today but…”

“The night is not yet over,” Taeyeon took the glass from her, “Go run along…”

“In this?” She motioned on her black body-hugging tube cocktail dress.

“Uh-huh?” Taeyeon’s brow raised but she winked afterwards, “What’s wrong? I’m sure she will be very happy seeing you in that dress… and so will be her dad…”

“Unnie!!!” Joohyun whined.

Taeyeon laughed again waving a hand, “Fine… I’m just kidding. So go scoot!”

“Will you be okay here?” She was still worried leaving her alone with all those people.

“Yeah, Sooyoung is with me and the rest of the team… I’ll just tell Yoong later that you needed to go…” then she leaned on her to whisper, “She’s kind of busy with that god of a Parisian over there…”

“Unnie!!! You’re eyes!!!” Joohyun laughed.

“No, I swear I’m not looking! I just noticed!!!”

~~~

Yonghwa was surprised to see her outside the door in her party dress with a tired look written all over her face, “Joohyun-ssi?”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s late but I have to keep my promise…” she smiled faintly at him.

“Come on in…” he gave her way and walked behind her then noticed how short her dress was, something like a piece of cloth for him. But he could not deny that it looked good on her, everything looks good on her. After reprimanding himself, he decided to speak just to distract his thoughts, “She kept on fighting sleep because she knew you were coming.”

“I’m so sorry,” she took her place on the bed again and stared at the sleeping child, “I couldn’t come earlier.”

“It’s okay… I’ll just tell her you came,” with her husky tone, he could tell how tired she was. Yonghwa did not really expect her to keep her promise the moment the clock struck eight. He didn’t blame her or anything; she had a job to do, “Why don’t you go home? I mean, rest here for a while. You shouldn’t have come. You look so tired.”

She just smiled and continued gazing at his daughter, “She took off the braid…”

“She battled for me not to do it…” Yonghwa sat on the opposite corner of the bed and touched Euna’s hair, “I had to take it off because some strands started sticking out on top of her head. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” she whispered when the little girl steered, “So she has my half curls now…”

“Yeah, she doesn’t want me to touch it because she said you will be upset if you won’t be the one to take it off,” he smiled recalling the amount of logical deductions he made just to reason out to his opinionated daughter.

“She’s one tough little girl,” she shook her head with a chuckle.

“I know… she knows what she wants, when she wants it and how she wants it…” ‘So much like the one I know’, he hid a smile with his thoughts.

She bended and kissed her forehead very softly making sure it would not wake her up then she looked at the man across her, “I’ll go now… I won’t report in the gallery tomorrow morning so I can be here…”

“You had a busy day today… she will understand if you can’t come. Just have a long rest.”

He sounded as if he didn’