"Hey..."

I smiled at the girls, who were already seated inside Twin Towers. I stiffled a yawn as I took a seat beside Yuri. Hyoyeon handed me the menu and I thanked her for it.

"You looked tired. Are you okay?" Yuri asked as I nodded my head. "How's Ms Kang's car? Did she update you about it?"

"Ms Kang's car? What happened to her car and what has it got to do with Eunjin?" Taeyeon asked even before I could reply to Yuri's questions.

I gave her a weak smile and pointed towards Yuri before turning to face Hyoyeon to place my order. Understanding my gesture, Yuri started explaining about what happened last night when Jihyun contacted me after her car broke down.

"Eunjin left me a message when she was on her way to meet Ms Kang. Luckily, I was still not asleep at that time so I waited for Eunjin to update me about the condition of the car. Something wrong with the spark plug so I advised her to have the car towed to a garage. Ms Kang didn't have any car service contacts so I told Eunjin to contact Mr Lee's workshop." Yuri explained further.

Taeyeon nodded her head as she was aware that the workshop which Yuri had mentioned, was opened 24/7 although their services were a bit expensive if there's any repairs done in the early hours.

"So you followed Ms Kang to the workshop?" Sooyoung asked as I shook my head.

"When the tow truck arrived, I asked Ms Kang if she wanted to follow them back to find out more about what's wrong with her car. She asked if I was going to follow them also but I said that there was of no need for me to be around since they are professional, so I would head home instead. Initially, she said that if I was going home, most probably she would just go home too. But in the end, she changed her mind and followed the tow truck back to the garage."

"She changed her mind?" Sunny frowned and seemed to be in deep thoughts when she suddenly pointed a finger at me. "Don't tell me you didn't offer a ride home to her?"

The moment I shook my head and added that I did offer to call a cab for her, Yuri and Taeyeon burst out laughing while Sooyoung looked a little lost. Sunny let out a sigh and called me a pabo. Hyoyeon arrived with my food just when I was about to ask them the reason behind their laughter.

"Soo, just for your info. Ms Kang has a thing for Eunjin." Sunny blurted out as Taeyeon and Yuri started to look around. "And this Eunjin is still clueless as to why Ms Kang suddenly wanted to follow the tow truck."

"Yah, Sunny. You should observe the surroundings before giving out these kind of information. What if Sica and Fany are around? Eunjin's going to get it from them and that would include Krystal too." Yuri showed a fist at Sunny who just grinned dorkily.

"Lucky the two of them, along with Yoona, had went off on a shopping spree together. But does Sica knows about this car incident? Since Eunjin contacted you last night, that means Sica should know about it." Taeyeon turned to ask Yuri who surprisingly shook her head.

"I didn't want to disturb Sica by coming over to her place at such a late timing. Furthermore, she's already aware that I was going back to my own place after hanging out with you girls." Yuri replied.

"Wait..." I held out my hand to stop them for talking any further. "Why did the both of you laugh just now? What's so funny about me offering to call a cab for Jihyun?"

"Aigoo.. Sunny was right to call you a pabo. It's obvious that Ms Kang thought that you would offer her a ride home after you said that you're heading home. She didn't expect that you would call a cab on her behalf. I guess to hide her embarassment or disappointment, she decided to just follow the tow truck." Sooyoung laughed at me as the other 3 girls quickly joined in the laughter. 

"I had promised Krystal that I would not give any free rides to anyone that she's not familiar with." My confession seemed to surprise the girls as their mouth formed an 'O' shape. "Furthermore, Krystal is already aware about what happened last night since I had messaged her to inform about it. I'm not hiding anything from her though."

"Krystal didn't know Ms Kang? I thought she had already met that CEO during TaeNy's wedding?" Sooyoung asked as she received a knock on the head from Sunny.

"Just because she had met Ms Kang, doesn't mean she's familiar with her. Read between the lines. Did you remember what happened after the wedding?" Sunny asked as Sooyoung frowned for a while before nodding her head. "Whatever it is, our dear Director of Hanjin aka Han Eunjin is totally whipped."

The four of them broke into another round of laughter as I pouted and ignored them while continuing to eat my lunch.

***********************

"What do you mean termination of contract?"

There was a deep frown on my face as Ms Jeon started to elaborate about the news that I had just received when I came into the office at 10am. I had taken an hour off because I had overslept and was not expecting to be hit by such a major news first thing in the morning so I was still in a confused state at the moment. Ms Jeon continued to explain that the four companies had submitted their request yesterday after working hours, to end their partnership with Hanjin. They had also request to withdraw their shares in the company. 

"What was the reason given for that termination request?" I asked Ms Jeon who flipped through the documents that she was holding before shaking her head. "The reason given was that the partnership is no longer beneficial to them."

"No longer beneficial? What the...?" I slammed my hands on the table while I stood up and almost sweared before I took a deep breathe, turn behind to face the windows and closed my eyes.

"Ms Han..." I heard Ms Jeon's nervous voice, probably a little shaken from my sudden outburst earlier. "I think they've been planning all this for some time. Those old men were already unhappy with you since you took over from your Harabeoji and were just giving you trouble at every shareholder's meeting."

I nodded my head without saying a word as I swiped my hair backwards before turning to face my secretary. "I knew they were trouble but I didn't expect them to go to this extent. Ending the partnership with them will cause a major shift in our financial stability. Furthermore, the economy is not that good at the moment."

I saw Ms Jeon sighing at my words as I told her to try an arrange a meeting between me and the Directors of the 4 companies. After she left the office, I called Harabeoji to inform him about the matter. I was surprised when he told me that he was on his way to the office to meet me. It seemed that Harabeoji was already aware of the situation, thanks to an insider info by Uncle Park.

There was still a lot of things to settle beside this major news so instead of brooding over it, I decided to settle other office matters while I waited for Harabeoji to arrive. But I didn't have to wait that long because 30mins later, Harabeoji and Uncle Park were already seated at the couch in my office. I told Ms Jeon to bring up the necessary documents and also to prepare some drinks for us.

Just when I was about to start talking, my phone rang as I apologised to Harabeoji and Uncle Park to excuse myself and answer the call. I saw Krystal name appearing on the phone screen. For a minute, I was glad to see her name but the current situation didn't allow me to prolong my happiness as I answered the call.

"Hello."

"Hi Stupid. Are you busy?"

I walked away from the discussion table so that I could talk in private with Krystal. It's been a while since she last called me and if given a choice, I didn't want the conversation to end so fast. But...

"Hi sweetheart. I am a little busy at the moment. Maybe I can give you a call back later?"

"What time will that be?"

I turned to look at where the others were and saw that they were looking through the documents that Ms Jeon had brought up. From the looks of it, it might take some time for things to settle and I didn't want Krystal to be waiting up for me since I knew that it's night time in New York.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what time I can call back. Something came up and Harabeoji is here. I'll leave you a message once everything is done and we'll see if it's still possible for me to give you a call. In the meantime, don't wait up for me. Alright?"

"Arraseo. Take care then. I love you."

"Nado, saranghae."

Ending the conversation, I could sense that Krystal was a little disappointed when I caught a soft sigh coming from her just before she hung up. 'I'm sorry, Krystal. I really wished I could talk longer with you but the situation doesn't allow me to do so.'

Krystal's POV

It's been 3 days since the talk that I had with Sulli and Luna at the cafetaria. Ever since they told me to be truthful to Eunjin about why I avoided to have phone calls with her, I had been thinking about it. It was only today that I had decided to call her when I'm done with dinner.

Walking to my room, I took my phone and climbed onto my bed while dialing Eunjin's number. I calculated the time difference and knew that she would be in her office at the moment. Usually, she won't be busy during Tuesday mornings as she won't have meetings so I was sure that we could have a longer phone call conversation. As I heard the phone ringing, my heart started to beat faster as I realised how much I've missed hearing her voice.

"Hello."

A wide grin appeared on my face when I heard her deep low-tone voice over the phone.

"Hi Stupid. Are you busy?"

Expecting her to laugh and to give me a negative answer, I was surprised when she said that she was. She even suggested to call me back which instantly caused me to be disappointed.

"What time will that be?"

I knew that there was a change in my voice as it became a little monotonous. When she replied that she honestly didn't know what time it'll be, my heart sank deeper but my ears perked when I heard she mentioned that something came up and Harabeoji was in the office. Eunjin didn't seem like she wanted to elaborate any further but I could sense a little stress in her voice.

"Arraseo. Take care then. I love you."

"Nado, saranghae."

A smile appeared instantly when I heard her sincere words. Letting out a sigh, I ended the call and laid down on my bed with a deep frown on my expression.

'What had happened in the office, to the extent that Harabeoji had to make his way down to meet her?'

That question appeared in my mind as I wished that Eunjin would have told me more and not make me worried about her.

**********************

I threw the bunch of keys onto my TV console before making my way to lie down on my bed. Stealing a glance at the clock, it was already 10pm. It's been a long and tiring day. I was about to close my eyes when my stomach growled, making me realised that I had not had a proper meal the whole day. The last time I ate was a sandwich at around 3pm.

Harabeoji had stayed with me from morning right up to 1pm before he had to leave to return home to have lunch with Halmeoni. He invited me to join them but I declined since I had work to do. The discussion about the company's withdrawal had taken up a lot of my time so I had to rush through to settle the daily work requirements.

Ms Jeon had managed to secure a meeting with the 4 CEOs in two days time and Harabeoji had confirmed that he would attend the meeting too. Thinking about that upcoming meeting, I let out a heavy sigh.

(Flashbacks a few hours ago)

"Why didn't you tell me that you've been facing resistance from them all this while?" Harabeoji asked with a concerned tone as I just bit my lips and bowed my head low. "We could have done something to settle any misunderstanding before it ballooned up to become like this. And you , Ms Jeon. Why didn't you update me about this too? Didn't I told you to keep a look out for Eunjin?"

Ms Jeon was about to apologise when I stopped her.

"It's not her fault, Harabeoji. I just didn't want you to worry too much with office matters." I defended my secretary as I started to feel guilty since she was scolded because of me.

"You didn't want me to worry but look at what happened now. Do you know how this will affect our company? Those 4 companies are major shareholders and with their withdrawal, our financial support is going to be hit. Our returns are already at the borderline due to the economic crisis. With this problem, we'll be in the red zone soon."

I bit my lips harder as I continued to listen to Harabeoji's lecture. When I heard him letting out a deep sigh, I could feel a tint of disappointment in him.

"Let's see if we can salvage anything from all these during the meeting in two days time."

(End of flashback)

I didn't realise that I had tears in my eyes until I felt something wet trickling down my cheek. Wiping it away with my thumb, I sat up and stared at nothing. 'I wish I had someone to talk to.'

At that thought, Krystal came to mind as I grabbed my phone. Counting back the hours to check on the time difference, I decided to leave her a message.

My love... Are you busy? - Eunjin

I knew that she should be having her classes at the moment since it would be 8am in New York which was why I decided to message her first instead of calling straight away. A reply came in as I stared at my phone.

I'm in the class right now. Why aren't you asleep yet when it's almost 11pm in Seoul? Is everything okay? - Krystal

Reading Krystal's message, I realised that if I was to inform her about what had happened, I would only end up worrying her about the whole situation.

"Should I tell her about it? Or should I just wait until everything is finalised?"

I mumbled to myself and was still thinking when another message came in.

Do you want me to give you a call? I knew something is not right when you mentioned that Harabeoji came to your office. Don't hide things from me, thinking that I would be worried about you because I'm already worried over you since the day I boarded the plane to New York. - Krystal

A smile automatically appeared on my face as I realised that Krystal had grown accustomed to my thinking ways and I felt thankful that she could understand me so well. Sometimes, I think she knew me better than my ownself.

You're right. Something is wrong. Something major happened at the company and I was scolded by Harabeoji because of it. - Eunjin

Oh no... Are you okay, sweetheart? I really feel like calling you right now but my class won't finish until an hour's time. Can you wait up for me? Damn I hate this time difference. p/s: I'm pouting. - Krystal

I had to laugh out loud at her cute comment as I replied to her that I could wait up for her because I had just reached home about 20mins ago.

Krystal's POV

A frown appeared on my face when I read the reply from Eunjin.

I can wait up for you. I had just reached home about 20mins ago. I was planning to shower first and order something to eat. I didn't had time to grab dinner earlier. - Eunjin

'She just reached home and didn't even manage to eat? Was she so busy the whole day or was it because of the major thingy that she had mentioned?' I thought to myself as I became more anxious to find out what happened.

Okay. Order some food for yourself first before taking a long relaxing shower. I'll give you a call as soon as my class ends. - Krystal

Arraseo. Talk to you later. p/s: I miss hearing your voice. - Eunjin

'I miss hearing your voice too, Stupid.' That sentence went through my mind as I decided to focus on my studies, praying that the lecturer would end it earlier today.

40mins later, I quickly grabbed my items and shoved them into my bag the moment my lecturer ended the lesson. I was in such a rush to leave the class that I almost banged into someone.

"Woah... Why are you in such a rush, Krystal?"

I looked up when I heard a familiar voice and a smiling face greeted my view. I smiled back at my classmate who was one of the Koreans that I had made friends with when I had just started schooling here.

"I'm sorry, Jongin. I didn't see you earlier. Are you hurt?"

He laughed at my question and teased me about not seeing such a good-looking guy in front of me. "I'm fine anyway. It's just a slight brush. I won't get hurt even if you fall into my arms."

I laughed at his teasings as he continued asking where I was heading to since I looked like I was late for something.

"Anni. I needed to make a quick call to my girlfriend before she falls asleep since it's already midnight in Seoul right now." I explained as Jongin just nodded his head. "I'll see you around then."

I walked away even before Jongin could say anything. I've heard rumors that he had some feelings for me but I've only treated him like a friend. Most of my friends knew that I'm already attached so they didn't really teased me with him if they saw us together.

The moment I managed to find a quiet spot, I took out my phone and dialed Eunjin's number. It seemed to be ringing quite long and I started to get anxious, thinking that she might have fallen asleep while waiting for me.

"Yes, my dear. You've finally ended your class."

A wide grin appeared on my face when I heard her voice and it became wider when I heard her chuckle at the end of her greeting.

"You took so long to reply that I thought you had fallen asleep and forgotten about me." I pouted over the phone.

"Are you pouting? Don't pout so much. I don't want others to fall for your lips." Eunjin chuckled once again. "I'm sorry. I was washing the dishes earlier when you called."

"What did you had for dinner?"

"Ramen. I was too lazy to browse through the delivery menu so I decided to just cook." Eunjin replied as I nodded my head, even though I knew that she couldn't see it. "I miss you so much."

I was taken slightly aback, not only because of the sudden confession but because of the sincere tone that Eunjin had used when she said it out. It seemed that she's really having a hard time at the moment.

"I miss you too, Stupid. By the way, is everything okay?"

"Anni."

It was a short simple reply from her but I could feel my heart aching when I heard it. There was a silence from Eunjin's side and I wondered if I should wait for her to continue or should I ask her further. I heard her sighing on the other end and I was about to ask when she continued talking.

"I'm sorry if I'm going to be making you worried even more after this. I just didn't know who to talk to." Another short pause. "The company might suffer a lot of losses because of me and Harabeoji is kind of disappointed with me at the moment."

Eunjin paused again before she started to elaborate further about how the 4 major shareholders are withdrawing their companies from their partnership deal with Hanjin. I knew which 4 companies she was referring to since she would sometime talk to me about her work. I also knew that Hanjin was not doing well for the past few months because of the economic crisis.

"Is Hanjin going into the red soon?" I asked as I heard  a low 'hhhmmm' sound from Eunjin. "What are your plans?"

"Ms Jeon had managed to set up a meeting for me and the 4 CEOs in two days time. Harabeoji will be attending too. We'll have to see if there's any possibility for them to retract their requests." Eunjin replied.

"But if there was no way out?" I asked as there was another silence. "I'm not trying to dash your hopes but you have to be prepared for the worst, am I right?"

"I agree. Harabeoji and I had already talked about it." Eunjin answered as she let out a deep sigh. "If they are really adamant about terminating their partnership deal, Harabeoji expect our sales to plummet due to the fact that they are major companies in the shipping industries. Others would start to question their withdrawal and that would affect our image also. 6 months. That's what Harabeoji said."

I frowned a little since I didn't really understood what she meant. "6 months for?"

"Either make it or break it. Harabeoji said that if worse come to worse, we'll have to shut down the company."

"It's that bad?" I asked as Eunjin replied with a yes. "I didn't know that it's going to be this bad. I mean.. I'm aware that Hanjin is not doing well since you've informed me before but I didn't expect it to be like this."

"If they withdraw their shares from Hanjin, Harabeoji plans to seek help from bank loans to cover up on the financial side. But that will result in more bad debts on our end. I'm still trying to figure out a way to settle all this but looking at the whole situation, I don't think any of the final results will be beneficial to Hanjin."

I was trying to find words to cheer her up but nothing came to mind at the moment. I was imagining Eunjin alone, in that apartment, trying to find ways to save the company and it made me feel like running back to Seoul to give her a hug. She must be feeling very bad about the whole situation and I knew she blamed herself even though she didn't say it out loud.

"I wish I could give you a hug right now." I expressed my true thoughts as I heard a short chuckle from Eunjin.

"I wish you were here too but hearing your voice and knowing that you've been listening to me, is already a big help to me." Eunjin said and I could imagine her smiling when saying it. "I think I should get some rest now. Tomorrow is going to be another long day for me."

I took a glance at my watch and just realised that it would be almost 2am in Seoul right now. 

"Oh my god. I didn't realise that time has passed so fast. I need to get to my next class too. Take care, my dear. Keep me updated okay. I love you."

"Love you too."