Chapter 3.

Coffee talk.

Sung-hye brushed her hair back as she rushed to complete admin task that was assigned to her that day. She waited patiently as the photocopier scanned the final copies of the book that her colleagues assigned her to. She check the copies after it was done and rushed back to submit it to her colleague. 

 

"Thank you, Sung-Hye sshi!" 

 

"Sung-hye sshi, can you help to proof read this chapter for me?" Another colleague asked her as she walked back to her seat. 

 

Her heels were hurting her soles. She finally got back to her seat and settle down, putting down in front of her the chapter that needed proof-reading. She looked around the office to see that everyone was busy trying to finish up their final copies of their client's books and novels as there was a mass publication that was going to happen in a few days time. The Director's room door was open, him walking in and out and seeing his employees working under the clock, trying to meet ends meet. 

 

She rubbed her forehead gently and gave a soft sigh before undoing her heels under the table and started proof-reading. She felt the tense atmosphere bulid up as most of them started running in and out of the office doors, meeting clients and having their phones ringing every 5 mins or so. She took a deep breath and pulled her focus together, proof-reading the chapter. 

 

After 2 hours, her hand felt cramped holding the pencil. She put it down as she finally finished proof-reading and made some amendments to it. With shaky hands, she handed it back to her colleague who thanked her without looking up. Sung-hye felt choked in this atmosphere and wondered if she would ever become a publisher. Even so, her dreams of becoming a writer was still far away. 

 

She headed back to her seat at the end of the day after the chaos toned down a little. Last minute calls were made to the other phones as they all started stepping out of the office. Sung-hye felt it was time to leave as well, packing up her stuff. She arranged the papers well and put them in her bag and turned off her laptop as well. 

 

"Sung-hye sshi?" 

 

She looked up and saw her Director  The man smiled at her and gave her a list of things needed to do. She looked at the list and blinked when she saw there were quite a lot of things needed to be done. She blinked, a little confuse as some of the things that she had helped her colleagues and done was also listed. She bit her lip and looked at her Director who stood at her desk. 

 

"This....?" She asked softly. 

 

"Its a list of what we need to do when publishing a book," He clasped his hand together in front of him, "I used this during my internship period as well before I founded this company." 

 

"I see," She whispered and scanned through the documents. 

 

"Thank you," She bowed respectfully and the Director nodded and left her alone. 

 

She suddenly felt slightly encouraged. She took the list and read through, making notes on it when her phone rang. She tried to find her phone blindly before answering the call. 

 

"Hello?"

 

"Sung-hye sshi?" 

 

"Yes?" 

 

"Its Jonghyun," 

 

Her hand froze and her eyes left the paper. She bit her lip and place her hand on her chest. She tried to breathe in and out calmly, trying to answer the other person on the other line. Her lips quivered a little and her eyes finally landed on the clock by her laptop. It was already 6pm. The rest of her colleagues had left and there was no one else in the office except her. 

 

"Ah..." She didn't want to say his name yet, her lips trembled slightly. 

 

"Can we meet up?" Jonghyun breathed through the phone, tickling her ear. 

 

"Oh....I can set a place and time to meet," 

 

"Actually..." She heard Jonghyun's awkward chuckle in her ear, "I'm downstairs.." 

 

"Oh!" This caught her off guard, her mind trying to think of what she can say. 

 

"Yeah, I'm coming up to the office now," 

 

Her mind went blank and all she could see in her head was a vast of darkness. She found herself dropping her bag and she rushed to pick her stuff. She frowned and tried to talk on the phone when the line went dead. She bit her lip nervously as she tried to pick up her fallen items and tried to arrange herself until she heard a soft bell echoing the empty office. The bell was to inform the office that there was someone out at their main reception and waiting to either deliver or meet someone. 

 

Her whole body froze and she combed her hair slightly. Her hand reached for the lip gloss that was on the floor after it fell out of her bag and she grabbed it. With shaky hands, she applied the lip gloss on her lips and smack her lips together to make sure it was even out. She stood up and tried to glance from her seat to see who was at the main reception area. She noticed a figure and she straightened her outfit. She tugged on her blouse and brush her hands on her dress pants. 

 

Her heels clicked as she walked to the glass door. Her heart beat fast and her breathing was heard in her ears. Her mind was fuzzy as she watched the figure waiting at the main reception area. Her sweaty palms touched the metal bar of the door as she pull the glass door open. When her eyes registered someone wearing a motorcycle helmet and windbreaker jacket of a food company, her heart stopped. 

 

"Hello, I'm delivering some food." 

 

Sung-hye breathed out and nodded as she walked to the deliveryman who started emptying his delivery bag. Her body was restless. She wondered if she was being tricked. She took the bowls of food for two slowly. The deliveryman took out a receipt and her mind quickly remembered that she didn't have her wallet with her. 

 

"I'm sorry, Uncle but-" 

 

Just then someone entered the main door and both of them looked up to the sudden visitor. Sung-hye saw money was given to the deliveryman and her eyes stared hard at the man who just came in. Her lips went dry despite the lip gloss and her legs started to shake. Her hands were full of dishes and she need to constantly remind her to not drop it. 

 

Jonghyun flashed a smile at the deliveryman who didn't even recognise him. Sung-hye, on the other hand, felt the need of a hole to swallow her whole. Jonghyun looked at her and saw her outer dilemma before helping her carry the stuff. Her lungs felt like it could finally breathe with the lighter load of things. However, her heart was speeding like a bullet train. 

 

"I'm sorry," Jonghyun began, "I didn't thought the food would be delivered that early." 

 

"I see," Sung-hye breathed and stepped to the office door. She opened the glass door and stepped in, allowing Jonghyun to come in as well. He entered and she proceeded to head to the small pantry that was at the other end of the office to put the food down. 

 

After settling the food down and Jonghyun began to mix the contents of the food, she went up to the cabinets and took two mugs out. She proceeded to make coffee for herself and stopped. She turned to Jonghyun and asked. 

 

"Would like coffee or tea?" 

 

Jonghyun looked up at her, "Oh... Coffee please," 

 

She made coffee and stirred the contents. She brought the mugs over and set it down. She sat on the other end of the sofa and picked up the dish that was set in front of both parties. She took a sip of her coffee and open the flim sheet over her dish when Jonghyun stopped her. 

 

"Here," He passed her the one that he stirred first, taking the other one and started stirring with his chopsticks. 

 

She thanked him quietly and began eating slowly. Soon after, Jonghyun proceeded to eat as well and the pantry atmosphere grew still and quiet. Sung-hye didn't dare to glance up or look up, afraid she would catch him staring at her. Then again, she wondered who would ever do that to her and with that sudden self-confidence, she looked up and almost choked on her noodles. 

 

Jonghyun watched her and blinked when she coughed suddenly. He reached over to pat her back but pull back and took one of the unopened bottles of water in front of him and gave it to her. Her hands reached for it as she managed to spill some of her noodles back into the bowl and started drinking up. She cleared and wiped her lips slightly. 

 

"Are you okay?" Jonghyun asked, concerned. 

 

"Y-Yes," Sung-hye replied, still trying to calm herself down from the whole staring incident. 

 

Sung-hye felt embarassed and her cheeks turned red. She wiped her lips more to make sure there was no food left on her lips. She blushed and drank her coffee, wanting to hide her face. Jonghyun watched her and bit his lip, hiding a shy smile. He couldn't help but admire how the young lady beside him was acting. He quickly took a sip of the coffee that was prepared for him. 

 

"This is good," He said, glancing at her direction. 

 

He watched as she began to eat again and she gave a rigid nod. He looked away and took another sip of his coffee before he remembered why he was here. He set the mug down and slid his hand in his pocket, taking out a flashdrive. He looked at her and slid the flashdrive to her on the table. 

 

Sung-hye looked at the flashdrive and took it. She remembered that he was here for work and finished her left over food. She wiped her lips and put the bowl down. She looked at Jonghyun after wiping her lips. 

 

After a while, she put the flashdrive in her laptop. She clicked on the folder in the newly opened window and glance through the documents that were present in there. She found a few audio files and clicked on it. Soon after, soft music played in the office. Sung-hye found herself smiling at the soft tunes playing before she clicked open a few other files that were rough writings of his work. 

 

Without knowing, Sung-hye was being admired from far. Jonghyun leaned his body against the wall after he came out of the washroom. He heard his tunes being played and he quietly made his way to the office tables. He watched as Sung-hye had her back to him, sitting at her table right at the back of the office. He caught her reflection on the glass window as the sky outside got darker. It was already 7.30pm. He watched her more, his soft voice singing in the background from her laptop. Suddenly he felt something in his chest and place his hand over his left chest. 

 

He felt it. His heart. His heart beating. The beat was in fast pulses and he took a breath to calm himself down. 

 

Then he realise what was going on in him and he tried to pry his thoughts away. He wanted to turn away and head to the washroom to splash some cold water on when he heard a sound. 

 

He turned and watched her as her shoulders slowly move up and down. Her head fell forward slightly as her hands tried to wipe something off her face. Jonghyun felt a pang of worry washed over him as he slowly made his way to her. He heard her sniffle again before he pull the nearby office chair and setlled down. He watched her as she covered her face from him, overwhelmed with emotions. 

 

"Su-Sung-hye sshi.." 

 

Sung-hye tried to breathe and reach for the tissue box at the side. Her hands were searching blindly as she tried to cover her tear-stricken face from him. She felt deeply emotional over the rough storyline he had came up with. She wondered whether there was anyone like this in the world and her heart say there was. Her tears came straight after and she began to mourn for the broken hearts in the world. Only when she heard the footsteps and the slight squeaked of the office chair beside her that she realise Jonghyun was still around. 

 

Her hand felt the soft material of the tissue paper and tried to pull a few tissues out. She began to wipe her face gently and tried to pull her emotions together. She quickly reminded herself that she ought to display professionalism in her work and went meeting clients. She took a quick breath in and turned to Jonghyun. 

 

She blinked when she suddenly saw him grabbing the tissues and reached for her face. She blinked more and tried to look away when she felt his fingers on her cheek. The heat emitting from his hand was welcoming, she wished he wouldn't have to pull away. She froze when he began wiping her tears gently. Though there was none streaking down, he still wiped her cheeks gently. 

 

Jonghyun didn't realise what he was doing until he looked at her and met her eyes. He pulled away and rolled his hand into tight fist on his lap. He took the tissues and dispose it gently into the nearby bin. He coughed and looked away, the only light in the office was from her laptop and her desk lamp. He straightened his posture and said, 

 

"Th-this are just rough storylines..." 

 

Sung-hye felt a sharp pain in her chest when she watched Jonghyun displayed a series of emotions on his face while looking away. She told herself to get a grip cause they were just meeting up for a book to publish. She felt more embarass for having shown such emotions in front of him and just gave a stiff nod. She grabbed her mouse and started reading the rest and tried to come up with questions to ask him. 

 

"H-How do you want this to be published?" She cleared her choked throat as she scanned through the rough storylines. 

 

"Simple. With perhaps small artworks as well?" He said, a little disappointed at how she was moving forward so quick. 

 

"I'll see how I can get this arrange...You are not finished yet?" 

 

"Yeah.." 

 

"Can you try to give me a deadline then?" She mumbled and began taking out her weekly diary. 

 

Jonghyun watched as she flipped through the pages, catching some details of her private and working life all together. He watched as she finally flipped to a page and began writing something. 

 

"Is this date okay?" She asked, pointing at the desk calendar at Jonghyun. 

 

Jonghyun nodded and watched her write in her weekly diary. The date was not that far and he was not that busy apart from the schedules planned. He could work it out in between the schedules and try to complete by then. Without her knowing, he noticed something on that week in her calender too. He squinted and saw a glimpse before pulling away when she finished writing and put it aside. 

 

Sung-hye checked the time and realise it was late. She really wanted to head home and have some rest. She rubbed her palms on her dress pants before standing up. She watched as the other stood up too and she flashed a small smile. She wanted to cringe and hide away after the embarassing moment but she know she couldn't do that especially when it comes to working with clients. 

 

Her Director's words were ringing in her mind as she put a hand out to end their meeting. 

 

Jonghyun, on the other hand, noticed that time had gone by and watched her. He realise when her hand was out in front of him to shake his, he knew that the meeting is ending. Deep in his heart, he didn't want it to end. Something in him keep pestering him to try to spend more time with her. He gulped and tried to think of ways as his hand reached up and curled around hers perfectly. 

 

There was something different about the whole situation now and he realises it too soon. He felt her pull back and watched her quietly as she packed up. His heart was beating fast in his ear and he couldn't help but keep seeing her glow in the dark in his eyes. Her calloused hands were cleaning the table and keeping everything at its place. 

 

Sung-hye cleaned up and was ready to head back. She turned off her desk lamp and looked up at the man standing beside her. She gave a slight smile to him and lead them both out of the office. She began to lock up when Jonghyun asked nicely if there was anything she would like his help in. 

 

"No, there isn't," She replied as she locked the main doors of the office and walked to the lift lobby with him. 

 

"How do you head home?" Jonghyun asked, all sorts of questions were bugging his mind. 

 

"There is a bus stop downstairs." Sung-hye replied and gave a small smile while they waited for the lift. 

 

"I can send you home." Jonghyun offered suddenly. He bit his lip hard and mentally cursed in his mind. 

 

"Ah.." She gulped and wondered if it would be consider rude not accepting the offer. 

 

Jonghyun watched as she was contemplating and felt his heart fell slightly. He bit his lip and gave another offer. 

 

"Its okay if you can't, really-" 

 

"I'll take the offer," Sung-hye answered then just as the lift bell rang in the lobby. 

 

The lift doors opened and both of them stepped into the lift. Jonghyun pressed the button to the first floor. Sung-hye fumbled with the handle of her bag, looking around as the numbers went down slowly. Jonghyun fumbled with his pockets, biting his lip. Both of them felt awkward and anxious in the lift together. 

 

Just as the lift reached the ground floor, both of them let out a loud sigh. They looked at each other immediately and looked away. The lift doors open wide and Jonghyun gave way for Sung-hye to head out. Sung-hye blushed and thanked him as she head out of the lift and walked to the main entrance. 

 

She greeted the security guard and flashed a smile as she made her way out. Jonghyun followed her and lowered his cap. He didn't want to any attention from the public, keeping his profile low. He quickly overtook Sung-hye and showed her the way quietly. 

 

Sung-hye followed him and wrapped the jacket around her. She watched as Jonghyun walked to the carpark beside the buliding and head to one of the cars parked there. Jonghyun quickly got in and started the car. Sung-hye walked in front of the car and stopped when the lights blinked at her once. 

 

She took the signal and slid into the passenger seat. She coughed and reach for her seatbelt. 

 

"Let me," Jonghyun whispered and reached for her seatbelt suddenly. 

 

Sung-hye was caught off guard and let him. She gulped and suddenly breathed in, taking a whiff of Jonghyun's perfume on his neck. She felt like she couldn't breathe and his perfume was all that she could think of. Her mind was fuzzy and she couldn't even think straight. 

 

Jonghyun on the other hand, realised that he was too close to her. He could smell a whiff of coffee on her jacket and cinammon as well. He was intoxicated, his mind fuzzy. He could even hear her breath and felt her breath on his skin. Jonghyun fought the need to turn to look at her. The temptation was too much till he reach deep within his will to snap out of it and pull back, pulling on the seatbelt and secure it well. 

 

They looked straight ahead and tried to clear their minds. Jonghyun started the engine and started to leave the parking spot. They breathed slowly as time passes, the awkwardness slowly went away. Sung-hye still felt a bit awkward as she looked out the window. There was a faint cry of thunder in the distance as the car drive through the roads. 

 

Jonghyun roughly remembered where she stayed. He stopped at one of the traffic light and glanced at her for direction. 

 

"O-oh..." Sung-hye glanced at Jonghyun just then, "Straight ahead... The second traffic light, turn to the right."

 

Jonghyun nodded and drove to where she had indicated. Sung-hye took a deep breath and looked out as they drove past the familiar buildings and roads. She bit her lip as they came right at the end of the road of where her house was at. 

 

"You can stop here," 

 

 Jonghyun looked at her and slowed the car down. He glanced around at the dark alleys and contemplated on dropping her off here. He was about to say something when his phone rang. He picked up the call and heard his manager over the phone. Sung-hye unbuckled the seatbelt and open the door. Jong Hyun watched as she did so, still on the phone with his manager. He watched as she walked up the slope road to her home. 

 

"Hyung, can I call you back later?" 

 

"Jonghyun ah-" 

 

The car started moving forward slightly, the headlights shining on the dark road. Jonghyun press the pedal a little and watch as the headlights lit up the way for Sung-hye. Sung-hye walked forward, glancing at the car following her behind. She walked, biting her lip as the lights lit her path home. She stopped in front of her gate md unlock it slightly. 

 

Just as she did, she heard the car drove away down the road into the night.