I bowed my head at Appa Jung before taking a seat beside Yuri. The waiter came to hand me a menu as I quickly placed my orders with him.

"I'm sorry for being late. I was held up at work earlier." I bowed my head again as Appa Jung just smiled.

"It's okay, Eunjin. 30mins is not that long to wait. So, is everything settled at work?" Appa Jung asked as I nodded my head.

The 3 of us started chatting away for a moment before the food arrived. Halfway through our dinner, Appa's phone rang as he answered his call.

"Yes, dear. I'm with the both of them. I'm not sure what time we'll finish though. Just keep me updated when you're done with your session and we'll see how things go from there, okay. Take care, dear." Appa Jung ended the call before turning to face both of us. "It's your Omma. She just wants to ask if I can fetch her later."

"I thought Sica's with her. They went for the massage session together, right? Sica brought her car along." Yuri informed as Appa Jung nodded his head.

"But your wife wanted to do a pedicure & manicure treatment after the massage but your Omma is not interested to join her for that treatment. So, she was thinking of asking me to fetch her instead of her waiting for Sooyeon to finish up."

Yuri nodded her head as I just continued eating my dinner while  listening into their conversation.

"I saw the article about you and that airline CEO." Appa's remarks caused me to stop chewing my food as he grabbed his drink and took a sip. "Your Omma was the one who showed me the article. She said that she heard about it from Mrs Kim and had went online to search for the article."

"Mrs Kim? As in Taeyeon's Omma?" I asked with a blurred look.

"No, not her. It's the mother of one of Soojung's friends. She came during your wedding." Appa Jung pointed his finger to Yuri, who looked more confused than me.

Yuri and I looked at each other, both of us trying to figure out who it was until Appa mentioned that it was Krystal's male friend.

"Kim Jongin." Both of us said at the same time.

"Yes. That guy. Omma met his mom at the shopping mall a few days ago and she commented about that article. It seemed that her son had talked to her about it over the phone prior to that accidental meet-up at the mall. Omma added on by saying that Mrs Kim seemed to be hinting to her that her son might be interested in Soojung even though he didn't outrightly said it to her. During the wedding, the son did pointed out that Soojung was in a relationship with you."

Appa looked at me as I bit my lips when I heard about Jongin's possible feelings for Krystal.

"I guess mystery is solved. If that Jongin had talked to his mom about the article, I'm sure he had informed Krystal about it too." Yuri commented as I could only nod my head while Appa looked a little confused. "Eunjin and I met four days ago because something happened between her and Krystal so Eunjin wanted someone to talk to."

I ended up explaining to Appa about what happened during the phone conversation between me and Krystal. I also told him about the meet-up with Yuri and what we had talked about.

"So both of you suspect that Jongin was trying to create a drift between Soojung and Eunjin by telling her about that article when Soojung herself was already aware of that dinner which you had with that lady?" Appa asked as both of us nodded our heads. Appa frowned a little before he turned to look at me. "Ever since that phone conversation, do you still keep in contact with Soojung?"

I nodded my head, informing Appa Jung that I still messaged her as usual about my daily routines. "But she rarely replies to all of them which is out of the norm since she would always reply to all my messages, no matter how late it was. But recently, she would only message me when she had woken up and going to school or when she's about to go to sleep. We've not chatted with each other, even for a few minutes since that day." I let out a sigh when I thought back about what was happening between me and Krystal at the moment. "I tried to call her a few times but she either rejected my call or it'll not be answered. When I messaged her to ask about it, she would just reply with a single word. Busy."

No one said anything as the three of us were lost in our own thoughts. Our silence were broken when the waiter arrived to clear our plates and also to serve our dessert.

"By the way, Appa. What was Omma's reaction when she found out about the article? And Yuri, I presume that Sica also knew about it, right?" I asked as Yuri nodded in agreement.

"Actually, she didn't know about it but when I came back from the meet-up with you, she asked about what happened. She was worried since you had actually reached out to me for help. So I had no choice but to tell her about it. Sica was surprised and confused too with regards to Krystal's behaviour but I told her that you would try to settle the problem yourself and that we should give both of you some time to calm things down. Sica thinks that Krystal might be going through some stress since it's her final year in school." Yuri explained everything as I just listened quietly.

"Frankly, Appa is also surprised when I heard about Soojung's tone of voice and choice of words during the phone conversation. It's been four days since this thing started and it seemed like Soojung is not being helpful in settling this matter. With regards to your suspicion of that boy, we don't have any concrete proof about his intention so we should not involve him in this matter at the moment." Appa paused for a minute before he looked at me for a minute. "If Soojung continues to avoid this issue, what are you planning to do about it, Eunjin? Just leave it like it is?"

I let out a sigh, placed my elbows on the table before resting my chin on my clasped hands. 

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

"Sunny, I need a very big favour from you." A deep frown appeared on her face as she asked me about what kind of favour I was referring to. "I need you to cover my duties as the Director for at least 2 weeks."

"Mwo? Cover you as the Director? For two weeks? Are you going somewhere?" Sunny was totally shocked to hear my request as I nodded my head. "Where?"

"New York." I saw that Sunny was about to say something but I intercepted her. "Next week is my parent's death anniversary and the following week is Krystal's birthday."

"By the way, has everything settled between you and Krystal?" Sunny asked since she knew what happened between me and Krystal last week.

"So far, everything seems to be back to normal. As in, she's replying to my messages and answering my calls but..." I let out out a sigh before swallowing my saliva. "I don't know why I have the urge to see her face to face."

"Something still doesn't feel right, am I correct? Like as if both of you are just sweeping the incident aside without actually talking about it? Like as if nothing happened on that day she snapped at you."

Sunny's questions caused me to nod my head in agreement as I just stared blankly at her.

"Long distance relationship is not easy but I'm glad that you're taking actions when you need to. It's good that you plan to meet her to talk things out face to face. But asking me to cover your duties, do you think I'm capable enough to do that?"

"You're more than capable, Sunny. Did you forget that you used to be my boss?" I smiled as Sunny rolled her eyes at me.

"I was only in charge of you, Taeyeon and Yuri. And also her." Sunny showed her four fingers to me before continuing. "You have hundreds of workers under you. That's like a major difference."

"They are not directly reporting to me, Sunny. You only need to deal with the head of every branches. And Ms Jeon will always be around to assist you. Please Sunny... Just for two weeks." I pouted and gave my most pitiful look to her.

"Aishhh.. What's with that constipated look?" Sunny rolled her eyes before letting out a sigh. "Fine. I'll help out but for the next two days, before the end of this week, you need to brief me about any upcoming meetings and everything important that I need to know of."

"Gomawo, Sunny. I know I can rely on you."

"One more important thing. Please inform the company about your absence and also about me covering your duties so that no one will think that I'm ordering them around for fun." Sunny added on as I agreed to send out a mass email to every staff in the company about this matter. "And also the girls. Don't forget to inform them too."

"I will sent out a message in the group chat for us to have dinner together at Twin Towers tomorrow. Hopefully, everyone can make it."

Just as what I had planned, everyone managed to gather at Twin Towers tonight. Sooyoung had decided to close the cafe two hours earlier just for all of us since she wanted us to have our own space to chat and joke around with each other.

"So what's with the sudden request for the gathering, Eunjin?" Sooyoung asked as she scooped up a spoonful of rice into . "Maassh beosmtgdng imapten."

"Huh?"

All of us had the same reactions as Yoona covered Sooyoung's mouth before nagging at her girlfriend for talking with full.

"She said that it must be something important." Yoona turned to us to explain as Sooyoung nodded her head while all of us continued to look confused.

"How come you can understand what she said?" Taeyeon asked as Yoona explained that she was used to Sooyoung's habit of talking with full. "I guess that's possible since this shikshin will surely have something in every hour."

Everyone laughed as Sooyoung showed a fist at Taeyeon before they turned to look at me for my answer.

"I'll be away from Seoul for two weeks." I started off before explaining about my plans. "Most probably, I will fly off after visiting my parents next week."

"Does Soojung knew about your plans?" Jessica asked as I shook my head before telling her that Appa Jung knew about my plans though. "No wonder he said that for Soojung's birthday this year, we're going to celebrate it one day later. I thought it was because Appa had some work to do."

"Actually, I also knew about the plan." Yuri grinned nervously as Jessica's eyes widened with surprised. "Both me and Eunjin had that meet-up with Appa, remember?"

"But you didn't tell me anything about this." Jessica stared to glare as Yuri swallowed her saliva.

"That's because, it was just a plan at that time. Nothing was confirmed yet since I need time to think it through. It was only two days ago that I had everything confirmed with Appa Jung and Yuri." I tried to save Yuri from the uncomfortable situation. "I'm sorry that they had to hide it from you temporarily."

"Actually, how's things going on between you and Krystal, Eunjin? Taetae told me about what happened and how you've been skipping lunch at work because you became depressed. You do realise that it's bad for your health if you were to do so, right?" Tiffany asked with concern as I just smiled at her.

Tiffany was always the one who would be more caring towards me, compared to the rest. Since the day that she had found out about me losing both my parents, she had really taken care of me like a sister. I felt that she was able to sympathise with me as she had lost her mother too at a young age.

"I was not depressed and I didn't skipped lunch. I just ate lesser and stayed in the office during lunch. About me and Krystal....." I paused and took a deep breathe before sharing my honest feelings with regards to the whole situation. "Which is why I decided to fly there and talked things out with her, face to face. I'm kind of worried about her too, thinking that she might be stressed due to school work."

"If you're going to be away from the office for so long, who's going to cover your duties at work? I mean as the Director of the company, I don't think it's going to be easy for you to be away for so long." Hyomin asked while some of the girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"Your girlfriend will cover my duties in the mean time. Since yesterday, I've been preparing her for the next two weeks of my absence." I replied as Sunny smirked and and wriggled her eyebrow teasingly, while Yuri and Taeyeon rolled their eyes at her as they were already aware of it.

"Eunjin had already sent out an email to inform everyone about her absence and that I will be stepping in to cover her temporarily. Her secretary will be around to assist me too but I'm still not confident about this whole thing though." Sunny let out a sigh as I patted her shoulders.

"No worries. You can always contact me whenever you need my help with anything." I reassured her about the whole thing.

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

Placing the bouquet of flowers and a bottle of soju inside the slot, I closed the glass door before locking it. Bowing my head again at the pictures of my parents, I walked to the seat and sat down. I was at the columbarium, paying my respects to my parents since it was their death anniversary. 

"Appa, Omma. Are you both doing well up there?" I paused and took a deep breathe. "It's been lonely at times especially since now that Krystal is busy with her studies. Actually, we got into an argument a few days ago. I didn't tell anyone, not even the girls. I only told them that things were back to normal after that incident where Krystal had snapped at me. I explained to them that she was not feeling well that day which was the truth. Krystal was on her menses that day so she was a little sensitive. When she saw my message about going out to lunch with Jihyun, she was a little pissed off even though Ms Jeon was going to be with us. She didn't want to think about the whole matter which was why she replied with a simple message before trying to get some rest."

I took a deep breathe before continuing my story.

"I called her at the wrong timing which let to her snapping at me with her harsh tone. All the girls knew about this incident and kept asking me to settle things soon with Krystal, which we did last Monday. Krystal called me up to apologise since she realised that she had been harsh to me, explaining the reason for her words. She also added on by saying that she was stressed with school, especially since she had to do a group assignment with Jongin as part of her team. When I heard Jongin's name, I remembered that article and asked her if Jongin was the one who told her about it. She admitted that  it was him which didn't surprised me. I told her to stay away from him and if possible, to stop doing assignments with him. She said that she couldn't do so because it was a group project. One thing led to another and soon, we didn't even realised that we had started arguing. Both of us with our own opinions, not hearing each other out."

Once again there was a pause as I frown when I thought back about our argument a few days ago.

(Flashbacks a few days ago)

"I'm really sorry for my harsh words to you that night. I was having my menses and had to handle some school assignments which caused me to be a little sensitive."

"It's okay. I'm just glad that you called to explain everything. I was just scared that you were unhappy with me about the whole matter. By the way, is your school assignment getting more difficult to handle?" I asked with concern.

"It's not a matter of difficulty. It's just that we have a group project to do and Jongin is part of my group. He seemed to be getting on my nerves more and more as the day passes by." Krystal let out a sigh as I remembered something when I heard her mentioning Jongin's name.

"By the way, was Jongin the one who told you about the article with regards to me and Jihyun? That article about me and her having a dinner date."

"Yes. I thought I told you before, that he was the one who told me?" Krystal asked me back as I told her that she didn't mentioned it to me. "Sorry. It must have slipped my mind. Anyway, I wasn't bothered about the article when he told me about it. I told him that I was aware about the dinner since you had informed me beforehand."

"Can't you remove him from your group project? I think he's trying to create a drift between us by doing this kind of things. It's not good to hang around him."

"You know I can't do that, right? Our lecturers are the one who assigned us the groupings. Furthermore, it won't look good on either one of us if we were to withdraw from the group due to personal reason." Krystal was trying to explain her point.

"But didn't you say that he's getting on your nerves? That means he must be up to something. He knew that we're together and he even told his mum about the article. Did you know what the mum did when she met your mum at the mall?" I asked before telling her about what happened according to what Appa Jung had told me. "Isn't it obvious that he's trying to break us apart? You should stay away from him."

"Just because he's doing all that, do you think I will allow him to break us apart? You sound like you don't trust me, Eunjin."

"I don't trust you? Are you sure it's me and not you? Since you will usually be affected when Jihyun's in the picture."

"Jihyun? Why are you even mentioning her? You should know by now that I trust you, which is why I have no problem with you going out to dine with her. I can't believe you're bringing her up in this matter, when it's not even necessary."

Before I could say anything further, Krystal ended the phone call and switched off her phone.

(End of flashbacks)

"It's all my fault. I let my anger consumed me, causing me to say stupid things. After that argument, I decided that I need to fly to New York tonight to apologise and to settle any problems between us, as soon as possible. At the same time, I'm planning to celebrate her birthday with her. Just the two of us, before her family will join us a day after. Sunny will help me to look after the company in my absence so please look after her too when I'm away. Take care, Appa and Omma. I love you both."

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

I was looking around the area, trying to read the signages when someone bumped my shoulder hard. I almost tripped because of that but luckily I didn't.

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Please forgive me. I'm in a rush actually."

I turned to my left side and a Korean-looking face stared into me. The guy grinned before asking me if I was Korean like him. I nodded my head as he broke into a smile.

"Are you a new student here? I haven't seen you around." I shook my head and told him that I was looking for a friend. "Which faculty does your friend belongs to?"

"Fashion design." I replied as I started to look around again.

"You're on a right track then. Just walk straight ahead. You'll see their main building soon." He replied before excusing himself and ran off, before I could say my thanks.

I continued my walk and from a distance, I noticed that the same guy was actually going the same way as me. Just when my eyes were about to wonder around the university campus, I heard a familiar name being called out.

"Hey, Krystal!!"

My head spinned around faster than usual as I saw the same guy waving his hands excitedly at someone. There were a number of students walking out from the lobby but I could easily recognised Krystal from where I was standing even it was quite a distance away.

I was about to smile when I saw her but I was left stunned when I saw her side-hugging the guy earlier, who helped to take her bag and carry her stuff. They were laughing and smiling at each other before the guy took her hand and entwined their fingers.

The bouquet of flowers in my hand dropped to the ground as I just stared at the two of them, who was walking towards my direction but still oblivious of my presence. Krystal was busy chatting with that guy so when she turned to face forward, her eyes widened as she finally saw me with just 3 metres apart.

We stared at each other for about 5 seconds before I turned around and started running towards the campus gate.

"Eunjin!!!! No!!!!"

Krystal's POV

"Hey, Krystal. Will you be free this evening? We could discuss about our assignments together. We've got two more weeks before submission."

"Jongin, I've given you my answer since this morning. I'm not free, okay." I replied as I made my way out of the classroom.

Sensing that Jongin was still behind me, I typed a quick message to someone.

"Hey, Krystal!!"

I was relieved when I saw him walking up to the glass door, waving his hands excitedly. I chuckled at his cute behaviour as I went to give him a side hug.

"Pass me your bag and other stuff. I'll look more romantic that way." He grinned as I stole a quick glance behind me to see Jongin with an angry expression while we continued to walk away. "Is he still around? Let's pretend to laugh and smile at each other."

"Thanks for the help, Gong Myung. But don't you think we'll look stupid with our sudden laughter?"

"At least, I won't look stupid alone. Want to hold hands to look more convincing?"

I laughed at his stupid remarks as he took my hand to entwine them together. When I turned to look forward,  I froze in my tracks when I saw Eunjin standing a few metres away from me, with a bonquet of flowers on the ground just beside her feet. We stared at each other for a few seconds and I noticed the broken expression on her face before she turned around and started running away.

My mind went blank when I saw her running away before I realised that she might have misunderstood the whole situation.

"Eunjin!!!! No!!!!"

I tried to run after her but she was gone by the time I reached the place where she had stood earlier. Bending down to pick up the bouquet of flowers, I took the small card that was attached to it.

'Dear Krystal, I'm sorry for being selfish and hurting you with my stupidity. Will you forgive me? - From your one and only Pabo.'