Hae-kyung was at her desk working, when the image of Hwan-gun patting her head in the hospital popped into her mind. It had been three days since the hotel party and she hadn’t spoken to Hwan-gun after that. Her mind was all a mess from the feelings she seemed to get whenever she remembered the softness of his hand on her hair. She hadn’t spoken to him since that day and she didn’t even know what to say if she did call him. She ran her hand through her hair in frustration and sighed when her phone rang.

“Yeobseyo?” She said, it was her friend Hye-soo.

“Hae-kyungah, how’s the groomsman hunt coming, did you ask Ki-joon yet?” Hye-soo asked.

“Oh, he said he couldn’t close his café on the weekend unless I find someone to run it for him. You know he just opened it up a few months ago, he really can’t afford to close it down for one day.”

“Ah ottokhae? What are we going to do about this? I don’t have any brothers either and you know how I feel about my uncle; I would rather die than ask him for anything.” Hye-soo sighed.

“Can’t you just not have a groomsman at the wedding? It’s not like your wedding is going to crash and burn otherwise.” She said, holding the phone between her neck and shoulders while she sent an email to her client.

“Are you crazy? If we were having a small ceremony, that would make sense but we’re not. Besides, it’ll be so awkward for my husband to just stand there without a groomsman.” Hye-soo replied.

“Does it really make sense for me to bring a man your fiancé doesn’t know to your wedding?”

Hye-soo sighed a deep, long-suffering sigh. “I was worried about you stupid.”

“What are you talking about?” Hae-kyung asked.

“I didn’t want people to talk about you showing up to my wedding dateless. I told you, Jin-young is the best of the lot in his family and I was afraid someone would try to set you up with one of the crazies in his family. If you showed up with a date, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

Hae-kyung pulled her phone away from her ear and made a face of disbelief. “Can you not worry about me? I don’t care what anyone says and I have plenty of ways to turn down any kind of unwanted attention, trust me.”

“Are you sure?” Hye-soo asked.

“Hey, I didn’t get nicknamed ‘the ice queen’ for nothing.” Hae-kyung replied.

“I thought you hated being called that.” Hye-soo said.

“I do, but I can use it to my advantage when it’s required. Anyway, I have to go now, I have a lot of work to do.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you some other time.” Hye-soo said and hung up.

Hae-kyung thought about what Hye-soo had said and while she had told Hye-soo about not caring about what the people said, she still felt a little unsettled about being talked about. She glanced at her watch and noticed it was lunchtime so she decided to go to Ki-joon’s café. She always felt a little better whenever she saw him.

Ki-joon was walking back to the kitchen when he heard the bell above the door tinkle. “Welcome.” He said before seeing who it was.

Ah-reum nodded and smiled a small smile before she went to join Hae-kyung whom she had seen sitting in her usual spot across the room. “Annyeong.” She said to Hae-kyung, taking the seat opposite her.

“Oh hi.”

“Are you feeling better?” Ah-reum asked,

“Oh, I wasn’t sick. I think all the stress just got to me that day and I was out of it.” Hae-kyung replied.

“What would you like to have?” Ki-joon came to the table and asked Ah-reum.

“Just the regular sandwich and some coffee please.” Ah-reum replied with a smile.

Ki-joon felt his heart rate quicken and he gripped the tray tighter before nodding slightly and leaving to get her sandwich.

“I’m happy I ran into you here I was going to call you. Are you free this Saturday?” Ah-reum asked.

“Unfortunately I’m not, I’m attending my friend’s wedding down in Ulsan. Why?” Hae-kyung asked, popping the last of her sandwich into .

“Oh really? I wanted us to go to the amusement park together. The weather has been great for a while and I’ve been wanting to go for a while but I have no one to go with.” Ah-reum replied, a little disappointed.

“You can always ask your fiancé to go with you. Isn’t that what people in relationships do anyway?’

“Me and Gunah at an amusement park? You know, I haven’t thought about that. I guess I could ask him if he wasn’t too busy.” She replied.

“I need to return to work now since I have been here for a while, enjoy your food and I would like to go with you some other time.” Hae-kyung replied before waving at Ah-reum and Ki-joon who was headed back towards their table with Ah-reum’s sandwich.

“About the other day, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to comfort you since you seemed to be really hurting. I’m sorry.” Ah-reum said as Ki-joon placed the food in front of her.

“I should be the one apologizing I shouldn’t have held on to you that long. I should have respected you as a woman with a fiancé.” He replied. He didn’t really want to apologize though; he had felt so at peace in her arms at the moment that he had lost all inhibitions.

“Ah well…er…”

“Enjoy your meal.” He said and walked away.

Ah-reum watched him walk away and sighed, stopping her attraction was going to be harder than she thought.

Hwan-gun reached for his phone for the fifth time that day and caught himself as he started to dial Hae-kyung’s number. He wondered how she was doing but he didn’t know how to explain what came over him that day in the hospital. He sighed and was about to put his phone away again when it rang.

“Yeobseyo?”

“Hwan-gunah, are you in your office?” Min-jae said.

“Yes. Why?”

“I am on my way over. Remember I wanted to discuss our business.”

“Oh, that’s right. You wanted to hold your convention at my hotel, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I’m almost there. I should arrive in less than five minutes.”

Five minutes later, there was a knock on the office door.

“Come in.” Hwan-gun called and Min-jae came in.

“You really should get yourself a secretary man, you can’t just have people walking into your office without screening.” He joked as he walked in.

Hwan-gun rose and shook hands with him. “How have you been? Would you like something to drink?”

“Another reason you should have a secretary. How can a CEO prepare his own refreshments?” He said, taking a seat on the sofa across from Hwan-gun’s table. “Tea is fine.”

Hwan-gun placed a cup of tea in front of him and sat in the chair opposite him. “So, what is this convention about?”

“As you know, my events planning business has been suffering for a while but I just got this contract to organize a convention for the National Association of Pediatricians. If all goes well, I will be responsible for all their conventions going forward and it will really help me network with more clients.”

“How soon do you want to do this? My hotel just barely opened.”

“It’s not for a few more months but I wanted to get with you now to discuss it. I want to be able to put my clients’ minds at ease about the venue so we could focus on making other preparations. If I’m able to hold it at the hotel, I won’t need to worry about making a separate budget for feeding and entertainment.”

Hwan-gun leaned back and crossed his legs. “It’s not going to be cheap, my hotel is a 5-star hotel after all.” He said with a smile.

“Eyy, considering our relationship? Don’t you think I should get some kind of discount?”

“Alright, we have a deal. Just let me know when the event is and we can work something out.”

They both rose and shook hands. “I will get with my lawyer closer to the time of the event and we can draw up a contract detailing the cost and everything else. How much of a discount do I get?” Min-jae asked.

“10 percent.” Hwan-gun replied.

“You can’t go higher?”

“I’m afraid not, I am a businessman after all.” Hwan-gun replied with a smile.

“That’s a shame, anyway thanks. You’re really doing me a great favour man, you just don’t know.”

“We’re friends, it’s cool.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” Min-jae said and left.

“Yes, Secretary Jung?” Hae-kyung said.

“The CEO would like to see you.”

“Alright, I’ll be right there.” She replied and tidied her desk before heading to the CEO’s office. Once she stepped inside, she saw Hwan-gun sitting on the sofa across from the desk.

“Oh, Seo Hwan-gun daepyonim.” She said and inclined her head in a form of greeting.

“How have you been?” He replied.

“Gun was just telling me about how smoothly the grand opening was. I also got a chance to have a look at the ad, it was lovely.” The CEO said.

“I was only doing my job.” She replied, taking the seat opposite Hwan-gun.

“She’s too humble I tell you.” The CEO tsked.

“I know.” Hwan-gun smiled at her.

Hae-kyung felt her palms get sweaty, she wished he would not smile at her like that.

“Oh, I remembered,” She said, changing the topic, “I need to leave the office on Thursday, my friend is getting married on Saturday and I have to be down in Ulsan on Friday.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Just make sure to get what you need to get done done before you leave.”

“I have to leave now, please look into the secretary thing for me.” Hwan-gun said, rising from his seat.

“Ya, shouldn’t you be asking your father this kind of favour?”

“My father is retired.” He laughed. He bowed before turning and walking out of the room.

“I’ll leave now if there’s nothing else you need me to do.” Hae-kyung said and bowed before leaving the room.

“How are you doing?” Hwan-gun said when she came into the hallway, he had been waiting for her.

“I’m better, thank you for asking.” She replied. The air got very awkward between them and they stood for a few seconds, trying to think of what to say.

“I hope that this isn’t the end of us seeing each other. I hope that we can remain friends just as you and Ah-reum are friends.” He said suddenly. He knew what he was doing was stupid, he knew he had to distance himself from her but he didn’t want to in this moment. He didn’t want to not see her again.

“Friends?” She asked.

“If you don’t mind. Is it weird?” He asked.

“No, I guess not. There’s no reason we can’t be friends. We might have to see each other a lot anyway since Ah-reum is my friend.” She replied even as a voice in her head screamed no.

“Did you ever find someone to be a groomsman at your friend’s wedding?” He asked.

“Oh, erm no. She’s just going to have to get married without one. No one ever died from not having a groomsman at their wedding.” She replied and he laughed. Hae-kyung’s heart skipped a beat and she silently cursed herself for being attracted to him.

“One more thing,” he said as they arrived at the door of her office, “I hope that we won’t be awkward because of what happened at the hospital. I was really, genuinely worried about you that day and I was really, genuinely glad you were okay.” He said.

“It’s fine really, it was kind of you to worry about me.” She replied. He smiled at her one last time and started to leave when suddenly she called out to him. “Seo Hwan-gunssi, would you go to my friend’s wedding with me?”