Hyejeong says: Maybe money can’t buy love—but it can get you practically everything else.

On the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, which she’d spent with Mina and her family, Seolhyun headed for the mall near Incheon. The was the place for her first task and she was eager to prove herself to Hyejeong, even if she was no fun. Spending four hours soliciting money for charity couldn’t possibly be that difficult.

Since she’d be standing outside, Seolhyun dressed in wool pants and a hand-knit sweater over her long-sleeved blouse. Between the shirt and sweater, she could barely get her arms inside the sleeves of her coat. She added a hat, gloves and a scarf, dressing for the cold.

When she met her one true love, she wanted to make sure she didn’t have a runny nose and a sore throat. Seolhyun showed up at the mall at the required time and met the other charity bell ringers. Standing with her colleagues, she glanced around. Some were being paid and frankly she thought they looked kind of shifty. Others, like her, were volunteers.

“Smile and greet everyone,” the leader instructed. “Be friendly even if someone walks past you.” Filled with enthusiasm, Seolhyun could hardly wait to be assigned her post.

“Make eye contact” was the second bit of advice. “And ring that bell. Remind shoppers of those less fortunate.”

“Got it,” Seolhyun said aloud.

“The is one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, so you shouldn’t have any problem making your quota.” In the back of her mind, she recalled Hyejeong’s casually mentioning something about collecting a certain dollar amount and the way she’d made light of it.

The recommended donation amount turned out to be $60 an hour. That was a dollar a minute! How was she supposed to know how much money she’d collected when the pot was securely locked? It wasn’t as if she could pry the lid off and count the cash.

“Are we ready?” their helpful leader called out. Seolhyun’s shout blended in with the others’.

“Ready!” One by one, they received their assignments. Seolhyun was told to stand in front of the outside entrance of the mall. With bell in hand, she headed toward her designated post. The wasn’t so bad. Not only was she helping the underprivileged but she was moving toward the man of her dreams.

She waited eagerly as a couple walked up. Smiling sweetly, she jerked her hand several times in succession, making the bell jangle. “Merry Christmas,” she greeted them. The couple avoided eye contact and entered the store via the door farthest from Seolhyun. Their lack of generosity, and appreciation for her efforts, didn’t faze her.

Not much later, a grandmotherly type approached her. “Do you have change for a five?” the woman asked.

“Sorry, we can’t make change.”

“Oh, dear,” she said regretfully, “then perhaps I can give you something on my way out.”

“Don’t worry,” Seolhyun said cheerfully, “I’ll be here.”

In her first thirty minutes, Seolhyun estimated that she’d collected less than five dollars, which wasn’t even close to her hourly goal. She stomped her feet to ward off the cold. In an effort to liven things up a bit, she attempted to ring the tunes of popular Christmas songs. She gave that up during “Frosty the Snowman” when a teenage boy walked past and tried to ask her for her number. After refusing, she gasped when the youth shot her the finger while walking away.

“Well, Merry Christmas to you, too.”

After an hour Mina came by and mercifully handed her a cup of steaming hot coffee. “I love you,” she said, gratefully accepting it.

"How’s it going?”

If it’d been Hyejeong rather than Mina, she would have declared that this was the most wonderful, rewarding experience of her life. With Mina she felt compelled to tell the truth. “I can’t feel my nose.”

“Can I get you anything else?” her friend asked, a concerned expression crossing the cute girl's face.

“Please put some money in the pot. I’m nowhere near my quota.”

“Oh, sure.” Mina put in a hefty donation.

“You're the best." Seolhyun sniffled gratefully at her friend.

“Do you want me to stand in for you? You look like you could use a break.”

“No way.” Hyejeong was sure to find out about it and consider her unworthy of Joong Ki. Seolhyun wasn’t willing to risk that.

“You have a donation quota?”

Seolhyun nodded. “I bet that guy at the other entrance isn’t having the problem,” she muttered. Her breath made small whiffs of fog. Her nose wasn’t the only body part in danger of frostbite. Even the knit cap wasn’t enough to completely protect her ears.

“I’ll come and see you again later,” Mina promised.

“Great, and thanks for the coffee.” Seolhyun wondered whether anyone would notice if she stuck her nose in the hot liquid.

Mina disappeared inside the mall and Seolhyun rang her bell with renewed enthusiasm. It helped to remember that in less than three hours she would have completed one of the tasks that would bring her closer to meeting Joong Ki. In retrospect she wished she’d pushed Hyejeong to show her Joong Ki's photograph. Then again, she didn’t want any predetermined impressions of him. He was already larger than life in her mind. She pictured him at the head of a boardroom table or the helm of a sailboat.

Or… Suddenly, she noticed the scruffily dressed middle-aged man standing in front of her. He looked like he belonged to a motorcycle gang. He had on a worn leather jacket that barely zipped up over his protruding belly and a bandanna around his head. His hair, long and greasy and tied in a ponytail, reached to the middle of his back. He made a beeline for Seolhyun as if destiny had called him to her side. Her bell ringing became a whole lot less enthusiastic. He looked her slowly up and down.

Then he smiled as if to say her waiting days were over; he had arrived. “Hello, there, pretty lady.” Seolhyun managed