'There's some bad rumors about me going on in the campus right now. Because of one incident, I've been rumored to be a couple with a guy even though people around me knew that I'm attached.'

"Ms Han... Ms Han.." 

I snapped out of my thoughts as I turned to face my secretary with blinking eyes. She asked if I was okay since I looked a little dazed at the moment. 

"Mianhae. I was distracted for a while." I replied as Ms Jeon nodded her head.

Both of us were currently in my office as I needed her to draft a notice for me to send out to all my workers to inform them about the current situation of the company. I made my decision to address the issue before things started to get out of hand as the number of rumors surrounding the company had increased. It's better for the staff to have direct information from the management itself rather than hearing rumors that might not be true. 

We were halfway discussing the content of the notice when Ms Jeon mentioned about the bad rumors that were spreading around. Hearing that two words, my mind drifted away to the conversation that I had with Krystal yesterday. I was surprised to find out about it and initially, I was a little pissed off with the whole situation. But Krystal was able to calm me down as she promised to be more careful around that classmate of hers after that incident.

"Shall we continue? Or do you need me to give you some time to sort out your thoughts first?" Ms Jeon asked with a concerned look on her face. "I can understand that you've been going through a lot of stress lately especially with the resignations and rumors going around. Do you know that you look really haggard at the moment? Are you sure that you're okay?"

I chuckled at her remarks as I stood up and walked to the long mirror that was inside the office. It had always been a place where I would stand to check my attire before attending any meeting but today, I stood there to check if what Ms Jeon said was true. 

"You look haggard, right?" Ms Jeon's voice was heard as I just stared at myself. "Did you lose weight too? Your jawline looks so much sharper now and that dark circles below your eyes..."

Ms Jeon let out a sigh and shook her head with a disapproving look as I just smiled and made my way back to my desk.

"I'm fine. I'm not skipping meals either. Maybe I'm not eating as much as I used to because my appetite had not been that good. The dark circles.. I guess I've not been able to sleep well lately."

"If Krystal was here and sees you like this, I think she's going to be very upset. She'll be coming back for her sister's wedding, right?"

I nodded my head and pouted. By now, most of the people who were close to Yuri in the office, would have known about her marriage plans. When Ms Jeon mentioned about Yuri's wedding, I let out another sigh as I was reminded of the talk with Harabeoji.

"What's with the sudden sighing?" Ms Jeon asked as she arched her eyebrow and gave me that familiar look. A look whereby she knew I was hiding something from her and I'm supposed to be truthful to her.

"It's about Yuri's wedding. Harabeoji is not happy about it." I replied before Ms Jeon urged me to continue explaining which I did.

"Hhhhmmmmm... Frankly speaking, I'm on your grandma's side. I mean, your workers need to understand that Yuri is part of your private life too. She's your bestfriend and Yuri had been working hard to save up for this wedding. The situation that the company is facing is something that was unexpected. I know how much trouble you had to go through in dealing with that 4 companies. It's better for us not to work with them anyway." Ms Jeon started to blabber on as I giggled at her naggy side. "Talk it out with Yuri. At least she needs to know what you might be facing because of her wedding."

"You're like an older sister that I never had." I said as Ms Jeon broke into a smile.

"I don't mind being an unnie to you though. But is there any benefits to that?"

Both of us ended up laughing before we decided to continue working on the notice and some other administrative matters.

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

Krystal's POV

"Krystal... Krystal!!"

I was taken aback when someone suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking my way. If not because of Kate's quick reflexes to grab my shoulder and put her hand in front of my body, I would have bump into the person.

"What the hell, Jongin. What are you trying to do?" Kate started to nag at the person who was standing in front of us right now.

"Didn't you hear I was calling out to Krystal earlier?" Jongin glared at Kate, which actually surprised me since I've never seen him glaring at anyone before.

"I was busy talking on my phone and she's listening to her earphones. Do you think we could hear you?" Kate rebutted before turning to her side to apologise to the person on the other end of the phone call for the disruption.

Jongin took the opportunity to face me and smile, a total opposite of his attitude towards Kate earlier. "I didn't notice that you were listening to your earphones."

I rolled my eyes at him and I saw that he was about to continue talking when Kate ended her phone call and asked him about his reason for blocking our way.

"Can you give us some space to talk privately?" Jongin asked in a demanding tone as Kate rejected his request. "What are you, her mother?"

"Jongin." I called his name with a stern tone. I didn't like the way he was talking to Kate and I felt that I needed to step in. "What do you want to talk about?"

Jongin was about to point a finger at Kate when I told him that there was of no need for Kate to give us some privacy since we didn't have anything private to talk about. I saw Jongin scowling a little before giving me a small smile.

"I was wondering if you were avoiding me. I didn't see you around at the library or the park anymore. If it's because of the incident..."

"Jongin." I intercepted his sentence as I paused for a while. "If you had understood the situation, I hope that you can also understand why I'm doing all this."

Before he could reply to me, I pulled Kate's hand and continued our way to the bus stop outside the campus. Ever since the rumors had been going around about me and Jongin, I had spent lesser times in school. Instead of going to the library or the park for my revision like I always do, I would head home straight to the rented apartment that I shared with Sulli and Luna. Kate was staying with her parents just one street away from me so it was convenient for her to go back home with me.

"I can't believe that guy. Is he stalking you or what? Library and park?" Kate was mumbling beside me as I could only smile. "Did he ever appear out of nowhere at those places in front of you?"

I nodded my head and told her that there were a few times where I would bump into him at the library or the park and during those times, we would end up revising our school work together.

"He's creepy. No wonder I've heard rumors before about you and him being more than friends. That rumors were way before this current rumors about you and him."

"Really? How come I've never heard about those rumors before?" I pouted and frowned, trying to remember if I had ever heard it before.

"Because you're always in your own world. You don't really mingle much with others and people usually brush off that rumors since they knew that you were attached. But I don't know why people are believing in this current rumor about you and him being a couple. He's so obvious about his feelings for you and I can guarantee you that he's doing all this on purpose."

I let out a sigh and took a seat at the bus stop. The bus should be arriving in 10mins time and I was about to think of what to eat for dinner when a beeping sound was heard from my phone. When I was taking out my phone from the pocket, another beeping sound was heard again. The messages were from Ms Jeon as I stared at the photo that she had sent to me.

Before I left for my studies, I did asked for Ms Jeon's handphone number. I wanted to have more updates about Eunjin and since my girlfriend spent a lot of her time at work, her secretary was the best person to get information from. So once in a while, Ms Jeon and I would send messages to each other. I read the second message that came after the photo was sent.

A secret photo that I took of your girlfriend when she's busy with work. Don't you think she looked a little haggard? Don't worry, I've already reprimanded her about it. I hope you're doing well with your studies. Miss having you around in the office. - Haerim-unnie

"Who's that?" Kate leaned closed and pointed to my phone. "Is she a student here too? She seemed very focus with whatever that is on her laptop."

"It's my girlfriend." I replied as I saw Kate's eyes widened. "She's at her office and this photo was actually taken by her secretary."

"Your girlfriend?" Kate repeated my answer since I had never actually shown anyone Eunjin's photo before. "She looks cute even though she looked a little stressed out. Wait a minute... Did you say her office, her secretary? How old is your girlfriend and what does she work as, for her to actually have her own office and secretary?"

I turned to look at Kate and gave her a smirk before sticking out my tongue at her. Except for Sulli and Luna, nobody in campus had ever seen Eunjin or know anything about her. It's not like I was embarassed of Eunjin or anything. I just didn't want to make it a big deal. Furthermore, it's my private life.

"Oh come on... I'm curious to know more. Why are you so secretive about her? I can see that she's quite good-looking for a girl. No wonder you were attracted." Kate continued to talk as I chuckled at her.

"I'm not the kind who goes after someone's look. Just because she's good-looking, it doesn't mean I would feel attracted to her at once." I rebutted as I saw a sly grin appearing on Kate's face.

"I know. You gave her a slap for a first impression, right?"

She laughed at me as I rolled my eyes at her. The bus came soon and I thought that she would stop with the questioning but I was wrong when she continued asking about my relationship the moment we sat down in the bus. I pretended to be tired and told her that I wanted to get some rest so Kate gave up and left me alone. Temporarily.

No one's POV

Sulli and Luna  were surprised when Krystal walked into the apartment with Kate following behind her. Both of them had returned home much earlier since their classes ended early and were waiting for Krystal to come home to plan for dinner.

"Kate? How come you're here? Are the two of you planning to have study revision together?" Sulli asked as Kate shook her head.

"Someone is curious to know more about Eunjin after seeing her photo on my phone." Krystal replied before placing her back at the corner of the living room. "By the way, what's for dinner?"

"Eunjin-unnie? What is she curious about anyway?" Luna asked as Krystal shrugged her shoulders.

"I just realised that you and Sulli calls Krystal's girlfriend with that unnie word attached to it. Doesn't that word means older sister?" Kate took a seat in front of Luna, who nodded her head to Kate's question. "How old is her girlfriend and how come she has her own secretary?"

Kate broke into a pout when Sulli, Luna and Krystal ended up giggling at her. They decided to ignore her and started discussing about dinner which caused Kate to pout even more. After 10mins, Krystal finally turned to face her friend.

"She's 4 years older than me and the CEO of a shipping company." Krystal explained with a smile as Kate's eyes widened.

"A CEO of a shipping company? Oh my god!! Does that mean she's freaking rich? Plus she's cute too. Oh my god!! How come there's someone as perfect as her?" Kate started to blabber on, causing another round of laughter from the other 3 girls.

"She's not perfect. That's what she would say if she hear someone said that to her. She would say that she has flaws too, just like a normal human being." Krystal answered as Kate looked at her with dreamy eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I think she's starting to fangirl over Eunjin-unnie." Sulli commented which caused Krystal to smack a pillow at Kate's head.

"Hey... what was that for?" Kate asked as Luna repeated what Sulli had said earlier. "I wasn't fangirling. I was just thinking. No wonder you're not interested in anyone else at campus. You've already got someone with the full package. Can I see her photo again?"

Krystal took out her phone to show Kate, with Sulli and Luna joining them. Krystal had a frown on her face when Sulli and Luna agreed with Ms Jeon's message that mentioned Eunjin's haggard looks.

"Did she lose weight? Her jawline looks so much sharper than before." Luna commented before asking Krystal to look for other photos of Eunjin to compare.

As Krystal swiped across the photo gallery to look for Eunjin's old photos, Kate was busy giving out a lot of different sounds of excitement beside them. Krystal stopped at one photo which she had liked so much. A photo of Eunjin in front of a car with the hood up, posing with her arms crossed and a cheeky smirk on her face. There were traces of grease and oil on her clothings and arms, even a little on her face.

"Was this taken when she was still working at the workshop?" Sulli asked as Krystal nodded her head. "She look so cool like always. Did you ask her to pose like that?"

"She had just finished checking that car behind and was sliding out from the bottom of the car when I arrived to meet her. I don't know why but she looked quite charming that day so I told her that I wanted to take a photo of her which she obliged." Krystal explained as Sulli and Luna nodded their heads while Kate had a frown on her face.

The 3 of them soon realised that Kate had been silent as they turned to face her.

"Workshop? Working?" Kate asked as they finally realised that Kate had been confused with the whole scenario.

Krystal took the liberty of explaining about Eunjin while Sulli and Luna volunteered to prepare dinner for them. Once again Kate looked surprised at certain parts of the story, especially about how Eunjin had lost both her parents and how she finally took over the company from her grandfather.

"Oh my god.. She really had a tough life. No wonder she would say that she was not perfect. Behind that good looks and good fortune, lies a lot of sufferings and hardships that she had to go through alone. After hearing her story from you, I feel a sense of admiration towards her." Kate said honestly as Krystal smiled. "Anyway, after seeing this photo, I do agree with Sulli and Luna that she seemed to have lost weight a lot. Come to think of it, when you were looking through the photos earlier, I noticed that she seemed to have lost that sparkle in her eyes."

"Sparkle in her eyes?" Krystal repeated as Kate explained that if she was to compare the photo that Eunjin took in front of the car with her other photos, it seemed like she was way much happier before.

"Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying that she's not happy when she's with you. I could see the love she had for you in the photos that you took together through her eyes. But that sparkle with that smirk she had in that photo, makes me feel like something was lacking in her other photos." Kate tried to explain further as Krystal took some time to digest. "Maybe she enjoyed her time when she was working at the garage but when she had to take over the company, she kind of lose that happiness."

"Dinner's ready." Sulli's voice was heard from the kitchen as Kate stood up to make her way there.

But Krystal remained seated as her hand swiped across her phone to the photo which Ms Jeon had sent her earlier.

"Are you unhappy there, Eunjin?" Krystal mumbled quietly as she let out a heavy sigh before she stood up when she heard her friends voices calling her.

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

"Is Eunjin joining us?" Jessica asked as Yuri shook her head.

Jessica, Yuri, Taeyeon, Tiffany and Sunny were gathered at the Twin Towers to have their dinner while going through some of the wedding preparations. They were left with almost a month to get everything done before the big day.

"It's been so long since I've last seen her. Was it during the announcement of your wedding, that I last saw her? That was like almost three weeks ago. " Tiffany tilted her head a little as if she was trying to remember. "Is she that busy?

"Ever since she sent out a mass email to everyone at work to notify them about the situation of the company two weeks ago, she's been buried with work. A lot of the staffs are sending enquiries to the HR department, who will then consult Eunjin about those issues. Because in that notice, Eunjin mentioned about the withdrawal of the partnership, the slow economy, the declining profit margin and the possibility of pay cut or even retrenchment of the staffs. Everyone at work is being edgy at the moment." Taeyeon explained.

"The worse part is, Harabeoji seem to be angry with Eunjin for sending out that email without consulting him first." Yuri added on as she let out a sigh. "Sometimes, I don't know whether I should admire that old man or hate him like I use to. Previously, he said that he would be supportive of every decision that Eunjin will make for the company but now, he's doing the opposite."

"Do you think he found out about Eunjin's decision with regards to your wedding?" Sunny asked as Jessica and Tiffany looked at her with confused looks. "A few days after sending out the notice, Eunjin asked the 3 of us to meet her up after work at her office."

(Flashback two weeks ago)

"In that case, am I suppose to postpone it? After everyone is aware of it? Don't you think you should have inform me before I spread the news to everyone?"

Eunjin could only stare at Yuri, who had been bombarding her with questions, ever since she told Yuri about what Harabeoji had suggested. Yuri suddenly slammed the table and stood up, getting ready to walk away when Taeyeon and Sunny stopped her.

"Calm down, will you?" Taeyeon said to Yuri before turning to face Eunjin. "Are you planning to follow your Harabeoji's suggestion? Either to postpone or not to attend the wedding at all?"

"Anni." Eunjin replied before folding her arms and leaning back into her chair. "Everything will just proceed as plan."

"Won't that cause anger from your Harabeoji? Does he know about your decision?" Sunny asked with a worried expression as Eunjin shook her head. 

"I'm sure that he won't be happy with my decision but I don't think I could forgive myself if I was to ask Yuri to postpone her wedding when she and Sica had been looking forward to it. Whatever happened to the company is something that was beyond their control so it's unfair to them if I requested for a delay. Furthermore, Sica chose that timing to coincide with Krystal's semester break so that her sister could be there with them for such a joyous occasion." Eunjin explained her decision in detail as Taeyeon and Sunny nodded their heads.

"I'm sorry. For my words and attitude earlier." Yuri suddenly confessed, looking very guilty at the moment. "When you mentioned about postponing the wedding, I couldn't think straight. The first thing that came into my mind was about how I was suppose to tell Sica about it. She will be very pissed off with me since she had suggested intially for us to wait for the company to settle things down."

"I know. But I was the one who told you to just go ahead with your plan. And I'm sticking with my decision."

"How do you plan to deal with your Harabeoji?" Sunny asked as Eunjin replied that she would take care of it when the time comes. "By the way, the notice that you sent out two days ago to all of the staffs, was that your own decision too?"

Eunjin nodded her head as Sunny informed her that she had overheard someone saying that if it was Harabeoji, he would never do such a thing.

"The older workers in my department also commented the same thing about the notice. They said that they had never received such notice from the management ever since they started working for the company years ago." Yuri added on. 

"Is that suppose to be a good thing or a bad thing?" Taeyeon asked as the other 3 girls looked at her with blank expressions.

"Whatever it is, the notice had been sent out. We'll just have to see if it's going to be a good thing or a bad thing to do so." Eunjin let out a sigh and gave them a small smile.

"By the way, did you lose weight?" Sunny asked as she pointed a finger at Eunjin.

(End of flashbacks)

"She really had lost a lot of weight. Her jawline is sharper and her eyes looked gloomy with dark circles around it. At one glance, she looked like a zombie." Sunny ended her speech as Tiffany gasped while Jessica just shook her head.

"It's never easy to handle a company, especially one that is of huge scale as Eunjin's. Partnerships are made to smooth things out in operations and also to assist the company financially to a certain extent. Just one withdrawal can cost a lot of problem, what more 4 withdrawals at one shot. I really pity Eunjin. Harabeoji is not helping much by being fickle-minded and Uncle Park is away since 3 months ago to spend time travelling with his family. Just thinking about the whole situation, is already stressing me out. Imagine Eunjin who is facing it by herself." Jessica let out a deep sigh before shaking her head again.

"I just hope Eunjin doesn't overwork herself. Losing weight and sleep are not good for the body." Tiffany commented with a deep frown on her expression. "Do you think we should let Krystal know about this? About Eunjin's condition."

"I'll let her know when I call her tonight. Meanwhile, maybe the 3 of you can bring her out to de-stress one of these days. Being all cooped up in the office and at home is also not good for her health." Jessica suggested as she looked at Yuri, Sunny and Taeyeon, who nodded their heads in agreement.