“Really? Shaky pictures? Where is photography going nowadays?” Ji Eun says in a mock exaggerated manner. “And is that—is that my shirt there in the background? For God's sake Ji Yong be careful. I was almost ruined by what happened with Eun Hyuk oppa. We can hardly talk now without the whole world combusting.”

Ji Yong chuckles barely sparing a glance at the picture Ji Eun is holding up in her hand. “Alright, sorry. I’ll delete it right now.”

“No, don’t do that. That’ll make your fans even more suspicious. Just make sure to be careful from next time,” Ji Eun scowls scrolling through her feed aggressively.

“Okay, ma’am.”

Ji Yong goes to prepare dinner and sees Ji Eun busy on her phone. He decides to wait till she’s done texting whoever before asking her to put her phone away. When she takes longer than expected, Ji Yong clears his throat. “Are you done?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. “Did you just come here to be on your phone the entire time?”

Ji Eun gives no indication that she’s heard him except for a smirk. “You sound like my mom,” she says, not taking her eyes off the phone.

“Yaan, ghyejibia, you punk,” Ji Yong says in a high-pitched voice, “get off your phone this instant! I didn’t work so hard and send you to school for this!”

Ji Eun bursts out laughing at Ji Yong’s imitation. “That’s terrible, my mother doesn’t talk like that,” she says but relents, putting her phone away. She follows Ji Yong into the dining room. “But she did work hard to educate me,” she says softly. Ji Yong looks at her.

“We were very poor,” Ji Eun offers as a way of explanation. “But all’s well now so it’s good, yeah?” Ji Eun doesn’t wait for a response and seats herself at the table. “What’s for dinner?”

“Pasta.” Ji Yong places a plate full of pasta in front of her. It’s piping hot.

“Hmm, yum.”

“Who were you texting so much earlier?” Ji Yong asks, once they begin eating.

“Ah, right. I was meaning to tell you,” Ji Eun says putting a forkful of pasta in . Ji Yong rolls his eyes at the action. He would now have to wait till she was done chewing. He glances at her impatiently, causing her to grin.

“Finish fast,” he says, annoyed.

“It’s a big bite I took,” her words come up all choked and unclear. Ji Eun opens to show him the mashed up contents of the food. Ji Yong looks away disgusted.

“Disgusting,” he mutters only to have Ji Eun laugh at his reaction. When she's done, she says.

“Know what my favourite fairy tale is?”

Ji Yong shakes his head, taking a bite of the pasta. “It’s Arabian Nights.”

“Arabian Nights?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never read them.”

“They’re really good. Anyway, there’s an opera in town next month—we should go watch. It’s going to be beautiful.”

“But how?”

“Leave that up to me,” Ji Eun smiles. “I’ve got a plan.”

Ji Yong gives her a sidelong suspicious glance but Ji Eun doesn’t mind him. She only hums to herself contently. After dinner they content themselves by playing scrabble and karaoke.

“That’s not how you’re supposed to sing that song, for God’s sake!” Ji Eun says pulling the mic from his hand. They're singing So Yoo’s I Miss You but Ji Yong is intent on messing up the entire feel of the song. He’s almost screaming into the mic.

“You won’t get high marks if you don’t scream!” Ji Yong protests not relenting the mic to Ji Eun.

“It’s not about the high points!” Ji Eun says.

“Then let’s make it about points,” Ji Yong says letting go of the mic suddenly, causing Ji Eun to fall to the ground because of the sudden absence of force.

“Ouch, ,” Ji Eun says, rubbing her arm at the place where it had bumped into the sofa. Ji Yong only smirked. “Well, what about points?” Ji Eun asks again, impatiently.

Ji Yong stretches out a hand to help her up. Ji Eun makes a pretence of accepting his help and uses his vulnerable position to push him on ground. Hearing a groan of pain from Ji Yong, Ji Eun—satisfied with herself immensely—settles herself on the sofa. “Well?” she prods.

Ji Yong glares at her. “Let’s make a bet.”

“What bet?”

“The other will do as the winner says.”

Ji Eun smiles. “Sounds perfect.”        

“In-Na, Onnie,” Ji Eun calls out, as she crosses the road towards the YG building.

They had decided to have lunch at YG because they hadn't been able to meet because of In Na Onnie’s schedule. Yoo In Na was currently standing outside YG waiting for Ji Eun. No matter how many times Ji Eun would ask her to not wait for her at the door, she wouldn’t listen. “I like it,” she would say, smiling. Ji Eun watches In-Na Onnie’s face change into a smile as she spots Ji Eun.

“Oh, Ji Eun-a, wuasso?” you’ve come? She says holding her arms out to hug Ji Eun. It had been way too long since they both last saw each other.

“Onnie, you were waiting outside again?” Ji Eun asks, shaking her head. Onnie would never change, she thinks to herself.

“Yes, come on let’s go inside. I’m way too hungry,” In Na takes Ji Eun by the hand and leads her in. “How have you been? Did you lose more weight since the last time I saw you?”

“No, Onnie I’m the same. And Goblin is getting great reviews—are you excited for the Paeksang awards? I think you’re going to win one this year,” Ji Eun says nudging the older woman who only smiles, embarrassed.

“Let’s see,” she murmurs. They’re unable to talk more for they keep running into people and greeting them. When they finally reach the cafeteria they both have salads and a bowl of cold noodles to share. When they sit down at their table, Yoo In-Na says, “We haven't done this in a long time.”

“Hmm,” Ji Eun agrees, already digging into her food. “How’s your work going?” Ji Eun asks.

“It’s going good… for now. I’m signing some new projects,” but she doesn’t say more for there are too many people around them. “It’s terrible that we had to meet here. I’m sorry for making you come here. We can’t even talk properly.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Ji Eun shrugs her shoulders. “We wouldn’t have been able to meet for another week, otherwise.”

“We’re both too busy for our own goods,” In Na mutters.

“I think we both prefer it that way too,” Ji Eun chimes in. She exchanges a look of understanding with In Na Onnie. They had both come from poor families and new work was always welcome. Work meant money and money meant security. In Na smiles gently.

“We’re both workaholics,” she takes a bite of her salad. “I love your new song. And so does Min-Ah, she turned five yesterday. She was asking for you.” Min-Ah was In Na’s niece who would often come over to visit In Na at her home. Ji Eun had met Min-Ah quite a number of times for she would always be hanging around In-Na Onnie’s house.

“Ah, it’s been so long since I saw her,” Ji Eun remarks, disappointed. “I’m sorry I missed her birthday.”

In Na shakes her head. “Your signed CD made up for it,” she smirks softly. Ji Eun smiles in response.

“I’ll send more of them,” Ji Eun happily digs into her food.

“No, she wants one from SISTAR now.” In Na replies snidely making Ji Eun scowl before they both burst into laughter. Ji Eun feels the person sitting on the next table greet someone and she too looks up to do the same. It is TOP from Big Bang. She exchanges a glance with In Na Onnie quickly—they both thought he was extremely bizarre—before getting up to greet him.

“Annyeonghaseyo Oppa,” Ji Eun bows her head lightly and smiles. She watches enviously as In Na Onnie—by virtue of being older—needed to only nod her head in greeting towards TOP while the latter greeted her.

“Annyeongaseyo nuna, I watched your drama closely. It was really good,” TOP says politely. In-Na smiles graciously.

“Thank you, I look forward to watching your film too. When is it to release?”

TOP is about to reply but In-Na manager comes in telling her it’s time for her to leave. She looks at TOP and Ji Eun apologetically. “I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly,” she says more to Ji Eun than TOP. “We’ll see each other soon,” she says before leaving—leaving TOP and Ji Eun in awkward silence.

“Oppa, when did you say your film is releasing?”

“Call me sunbaenim,” he says, smiling.  

“You want me to call you sunbaenim? And not oppa?” Ji Eun repeats to make sure she got that right. Was he crazy? She cast a glance around to see if anyone was listening—thankfully everyone was busy minding their own business. She also has a bizarre déjà vu feeling—but an opposite contradictory one. She had had the same conversation with Ji Yong but it had been about not calling him oppa or sunbaenim, but by his name. And here was TOP demanding the opposite. Ji Eun