VIRAL LOVE Chapter 3 : (THE SHIP'S) ORIGIN Mo-yeon is more thankful than ever that she's had the renovation done in this studio she had purchased a few months before. The royalties from the eight number 1 songs plus other songs she had anonymously written for the past 4 years are lucrative enough that she could afford to buy the place and put a down payment on her beloved apartment 10 minutes away from her studio. Previously a ballet studio, now it is fully equipped with soundproof walls, an isolation room where she practices her instruments and records her songs and a control room, where her bestfriend Ji-soo works as her sound engineer. Her baby grand piano however sits by the large window at the end of the reception area where she can play and watch people walking by on the street underneath, and she has a feeling she'll be writing many of her songs there in the future. But more than that, at this moment, she is absolutely grateful for the fully renovated bathroom with a complete shower system she had installed in the studio. She stomps inside the shower stall, leaving her clothes trailing behind her on the floor and proceeds to spend the next half an hour under the warm water, washing off all the stickiness from the coffee and trying (and failing) to erase this morning's embarrassing incident from her memory. She wears the spare clothes she had thankfully brought with her (since she's planning to be all sweaty today anyway) and bends down to put her soggy, coffee smelling clothes in a plastic bag for laundry later. She sees the soft gray jacket lying there and hesitates, the attractive face of the jacket's owner suddenly flashing through her mind. She shakes her head to chase the image away and grabs the jacket, shoving it inside the bag together with the rest of her clothes. I'll put it in the washer tonight and return it tomorrow to his sister. Then I don't have to think about today ever again. She looks around the studio, a place she has sacrifice a lot of tears and sweat to finally own and a small smile appears on her pink lips. Surrounded by her musical equipment and music notes, this is home to her. Her eyes catch a glimpse of the boxes at the corner of the room filled with things to be unpacked and she sighs. Time to get to work. --- All the way across town, Si-jin is almost giving up on looking for Lee. They don't have training on Sunday, their only free day in the week since it is almost the end of the off season. He keeps calling Lee on his cellphone and his home phone but he’s not getting any answer. Lee’s blasted manager is also too cowardly to answer his phone. He's been to Lee's house and knocked on the door but no one was there either. He sighs, thinking that he should probably just give up for now and find someplace to have lunch when the phone rings. It's his manager Seo Dae-young. He groans and answers the phone, walking back towards his car. This time he is being extra careful to avoid bumping into another person. Although I wouldn't mind if it's her.... haish can you stop going there Si-jin. "Yeoboseoyo. I've looked for that punk everywhere but seems like he's hiding, that coward." Silence on the line. Si-jin looks down on the screen to see if the phone is disconnected. "Hello?" "You probably want to come