Chapter 6

Yoonsic’s staff room

“I really don’t understand why Siwon just had to force you two to work together? I mean she has to rely on you don’t actually need her assistance, right?” Sica asked as they were taking a break from their job.

“Well, I do. That’s what he said after everyone left the room.” Yoona answered while looking at the daily activities’ chart.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Sica asked, confused.

“He told me to stay after everyone had left the meeting.” Yoona started as she recalled the meeting that day.

Flashback

“I hope I can get an answer when we came back to Korea. Let’s end this meeting here.” Siwon announced loudly

Everyone stood up from their position and began to leave the room. Yoona was still at her seat, she wanted to wait until Yuri was completely out of her reach so that they didn’t have to face each other outside. When she saw Yuri was already left, she was about to get up from her seat only to be stopped by Siwon’s voice.

“Yoona-sshi, can you stay here for a while? I need to talk to you about something.” Siwon asked

Taken back by his sudden request, Yoona remained silent for a while then she spoke “Yeah, sure. Why not?”

“Okay, I will get right to the point. Right now, you probably think you’re at advantage to this promotion since Yuri has to rely on you in order to get one, right?”

“Huh?” Another question caught Yoona off guard; the truth was she didn’t really think about the promotion let alone her advantages. Her mind was already occupied with something else but now that Siwon mentioned it, she really was at advantage. “Uhm…yeah, a little.” Yoona said, unsure

“Well, you see, Yuri-sshi had been working non-stop for STS. She had saved up her day-offs for the last two and a half years and if she used her day-offs all at once she would be able to take a two-month vacation now. Such a dedication to STS, she was supposed to be the Call Centre Manager by now but still she can’t get a promotion because she’s too kind and softhearted. Two-third of her co-worker’s work was done by her for the past year and she didn’t have one bit complaint about that. My father thought that she’s not really capable of being a leader who’s supposed to tell the others to do their work instead of doing their work for them while my sister keeps insisting on promoting Yuri.”

“Uhm…I don’t really get what you mean. How Yuri did her job has nothing to do with me, right?” Yoona asked, confused

“What I’m trying to say is I really enjoy your performance, Yoona. But as the new CEO of Korea’s STS, I can’t give you a promotion right away if Yuri doesn’t get what she deserved. Her co-workers will make a big fuss about this since Yuri really means something to them. Besides, as a Cruise Director, you’re definitely not familiar with the way they work in the office that’s why you need Yuri who knows the company like the back of her hand to help you.” Siwon explained carefully.

Yoona nodded her head slowly to show that she understood what he was saying, and then another question popped into her head, “Why don’t you just say so in the meeting?”

“As my observing for the past week, I feel that if I didn’t put Yuri at disadvantage she’d rather back down from this offer. I believed that she’s the type of person who’s rather stand up to take up a challenge than sit back and receive an offer.”

Yoona was amazed at the fact that Siwon who just came back from America a few days ago could knew the company so well. This young man was no doubt the next heir to the Choi Corporation.

Siwon noticed that Yoona didn’t say anything, put his hand on Yoona’s shoulder, he had to make sure at least one person would willingly accept the offer, “I hope that you’ll accept this offer for the sake of me and my family. My little sister’s giving my dad a headache with her whining over this situation.”

Yoona lowered her head; she didn’t want Siwon to read the expressions on her face. Working with Yuri was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. But when she heard the sincerity in his voice, she couldn’t help but thinking over the offer.

“I know you and Yuri aren’t friends.” Siwon exclaimed out of nowhere caused Yoona raise her head to look at him.

“Huh? Why…I…How do you know?” Yoona asked, totally surprised.

Siwon let out a soft chuckle “Do you really think that I’m really that oblivious not to notice all the nasty glares she sent you? Talk about ‘if looks could kill’.”

“Yeah right… it’s quite obvious, isn’t it? But… if you know we aren’t friends then why do you say that we are in front of everyone?” 

Another chuckle escaped Siwon’s mouth “So that I can shut my sister’s mouth.”

‘So…that was all part of his plan, he used the excuse of us being old friends so that I could be the number one candidate to help Yuri. This man was really no joke.’ Yoona thought to herself, she saw Siwon in a different light now.

“That being said. I know that you don’t want to work with Yuri but can you please accept this job and lend me your hand to get Yuri to accept this offer. When Yuri can finally gain my father’s trust for her being the leader then you can go back to your job as a Cruise Director or you can continue your job in STS depends on your liking.” When Siwon saw that Yoona hadn’t said anything, he decided that he needed to say one last sentence, “I really think highly of you, I know that you’ll approach this offer as a professional employee. Like I said before, I will hear an answer when we’re back in Korea.”

End of Flashback

“Now, I’m hesitant whether I should help Siwon or not.” Yoona said after telling her friends the whole story.

“I think that the promotion isn’t so bad itself. Much higher salary, stable working hours.” Taeyeon said

“You’re missing something: ‘working with that girl’” Jessica said while emphasizing on the word ‘that girl’.

“Yah, what’s with all the hatred toward her, you don’t even talk to her that much.”

“She hurt our Yoona so there, I hate her. I’m being a good friend here, unlike someone…”

“Jeez, I just try to look on the bright side here. Besides, it’s already been three years, I’m sure Yoona is way over her now and she can handle being around her. Right Yoona?” Taeyeon asked as she nudged Yoona.

“Yeah…I guess so.” Yoona said slowly, staring at the empty cup in her hand.

“See?” Taeyeon turned to Jessica with a proud expression on her face.

Jessica rolled her eyes at her friend “So…are you gonna accept this offer?”

“I don’t know…should I?”

“One thing for sure, if you accept this promotion you’ll have more time for your father. It’s not good for your relationship if you keep going on 6-day trip like this. Remember the last time you came to visit him? He didn’t even look at your face.” Taeyeon said as she thought of Yoona’s father.

Yoona nodded her head, “It’s true, you do have a point. I guess if I accept this offer then this will be a win-win situation, right?”

“You’ll never know till you try. Besides, you can go back to being a Cruise Director whenever you feel like it.” Taeyeon smiled at her.

“So…you’re gonna accept this offer?” Sica asked the same question for the second time. She had a really bad feeling about this. She didn’t want Yoona to accept this offer at all, if she did then she would work in the office while Jessica would work on the cruise ship by herself, their time being together wouldn’t be the same. The fact that Yoona would be working with Yuri wasn’t helping either.

“Why do I have a feeling that you don’t want me to accept this offer?”

“I’m just worried about you, Yoona-yah. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt again.”

“No worries, I’ll be fine. I have everything under control now.”

“What about that girl? We’re not sure if she will accept this offer.” Sica said, trying to change the situation.

“Like I said before. No worries. I have a plan in mind. If Im Yoona wants something she will get it.”

“Alright, it’s settled then. Let’s cheer for our new Sales Manager.” Taeyeon said as she raised her cup.

Jessica reluctantly raised her cup to cheer for Yoona. She held back the question which had been on her mind since the beginning of the conversation ‘What about me?’

&&&&&&

Room A206

“This’s so unfair.” Fany whined for the hundred times, counted from the last 15 minutes.

“Yes… I know Fany-ah, I get it, you don’t have to repeat so many times.” Yuri said while eating her lunch.

“I can’t believe you. Don’t you think that this’s unfair? There’s must be something wrong with your brain. How can you remain calm in this kind of situation? You…”

Fany continued to rant on about the promotion, her voice was getting smaller in Yuri’s ear, in other words Yuri didn’t even pay one bit attention to what her friend was saying. It wasn’t like something she didn’t know. Of course, she understood perfectly which kind of situation this was. Truthfully, she felt annoyed when she first heard the news. But the more she thought about it, she realized that Siwon did have a point. She wasn’t sure if she could capable of being responsible for the whole team. She would be gladly to take the job if she could work with someone else rather than Yoona. Of all people, why did it have to be her?

“Yah!!! Kwon Yuri, do you listen to what I’m saying?”

“Of course I do. But I don’t know why you have to say all of this? I’m not going to accept that offer anyway.” Yuri said casually as she finished her lunch

“What!!! Why???”

“Do you really have to ask me that?”

“Because of Yoona? Come on, Yuri. This kind of opportunity comes once in a lifetime, please tell me you’re not gonna miss it.”

“I can’t tell you that because I’m gonna pass this time.” Yuri stood up from her chair and went the bedroom with Fany followed her.

“Are you sure about this?” Tiffany insisted on making Yuri change her mind.

“Yes.” Another firm answers.

Tiffany let out a sigh as she sat on their bed while Yuri had closed her eyes since she decided to take a nap. A comfortable silence filled the room. Tiffany looked at her friend’s back and decided to ask the question which she had held back since the beginning of this trip “Yuri-yah… do you… do you still have feelings for her?”

Her question never got an answer from Yuri, whether Yuri’d fallen sleep or didn’t want to answer she’s not sure but even when she didn’t respond Fany understood what was going on in Yuri’s mind perfectly. If there was any reply, it would be some kind of an indirect ‘Yes’. 

&&&&&&

Fuse Bar on cruise ship

“They ditched me again.” Taeyeon let out a sigh as she had her eyes on the dance floor. The trio was supposed to have a celebration for Yoona’s promotion but the captain asked Yoona to handle an emergency situation, Jessica as her personal assistant had no choice but to tag along with her. As usual, she was all alone again.

She averted her eyes from the dance floor and turned to the empty bar stool next to her. She let out a soft chuckle as the memories of the first day came back, she mumbled to herself “The last time I was here, she was also here.”

Flashback

8:30pm

“Aish, these rascals. They said they will be here in 15 minutes and I’ve been waiting more than half an hour.” Taeyeon mumbled to herself, annoyed.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud on the bar caught Taeyeon’s attention. Followed by the bartender’s voice “Miss, miss, are you okay?” The annoyance was visible in his voice

Turned out there was a girl who was obviously drunk and accidentally hit her head on the bar. The bartender began to shake the drunken girl and gave Taeyeon a good view of her face and she was a bit surprised to find out that it was Tiffany, Yuri’s friend. “Ti-Tiffany?” she said the first thing came to her head.

The bartender looked up when he heard Taeyeon’s voice and then let out a relieved breath “Excuse me miss, are you her friend?” he asked.

Taeyeon didn’t say anything; she wasn’t sure if she was Fany’s friend or if Fany wanted to be her friend after she knew that Taeyeon was friend with her best friend’s arch enemy.

“Can you please help me to bring this lady here back to her room?” The bartender asked when he noticed that Taeyeon didn’t reply; he took his chance and asked for her favor. It didn’t matter to him whether they were friends or not, he just wanted the girl to take this drunken person with her.

Once again, Taeyeon kept silent. She remembered that Jessica once mentioned Yuri’s room number but somehow she didn’t want to carry Fany back to her room. She had a feeling that if she did she would got herself in a big mess.

“Uh…I…”

“Please…” The bartender pleaded.

“I…Okay.” Taeyeon let out a sigh and gave in.

“Thank you so much.” His face lit up when he heard her approval “Here, let me help you so that you can carry her comfortably.”

Even though Fany was drunk, she didn’t completely lost her conscious at least she could stand up when she had someone supported her. The bartender lifted Fany from the bar stool and wrapped her arm around Taeyeon’s shoulder for support. When he completely let go of Fany’s arm, Taeyeon thought she was about to fall because of the sudden weight on her. ‘Aish, I didn’t know she was this heavy.’ Fany had her head hang limply against Taeyeon’s shoulder.

“I guess that you can carry her back to her room now. Thanks so much for your help. I really am appreciate”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Taeyeon said and began to dragged away the drunken Tiffany on her shoulder.

With many difficulties, Taeyeon could finally manage to carry Fany back to her room. She had called the cruise staff earlier in order to get the room’s keys. She entered the bedroom and gently laid Tiffany down on her bed.

She looked at Fany, a relieved smile spread across her face. ‘I guess tomorrow she won’t remember a thing.’ As she was about to leave the room, she looked back at the sleeping Fany on the bed ‘Aish, what’s wrong with me? Yuri will be back soon and take care of her. I’m supposed to leave right now if I don’t want to get myself involved with her.’ She turned away from Fany and then looked back ‘Maybe I’ll just get her a hot towel and then leave. Yeah, just this one. It’ll be quick.’

Taeyeon ran to the bathroom to wet a towel with hot water. Suddenly she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist, startled she nearly hit the person behind her back but stopped right away when she realized it was Tiffany. She turned around while her body was still trapping in Fany’s embrace.

“Yah!! You scared me, I thought you were sleeping.” Taeyeon said as she started to fidget within her embrace trying to break free. But it seemed impossible since the harder she tried to break free the tighter Fany’s embrace around her waist.

“Yah!! What are you doing? Let me go!” She tried to push Fany away but Fany seemed to be stronger. She pulled Taeyeon in and buried her face in the crook of the girl’s neck. While tightening her embrace, she began to mumble against the girl’s neck.

“There was something I want to tell you, Taeyeon-ah. Something I’ve been keeping to myself for so many years until now. Something that I haven’t shared to anyone, not even Yuri.” She paused for a while and then continued “I love you, Taeyeon-ah, so much, I’ve fallen in love with you since the first time I met you 3 years ago.”

Even though, her mumbling was barely audible but more than heard, Taeyeon could felt it against her neck. Truthfully she didn’t believe in her ears anymore. She never knew what it felt like to have a heart-attack but she believed what she was experiencing right then is somewhat similar to it. Her heart was beating so fast, so loud in her chest that she found that it hard to breathe.

As if the confession wasn’t enough to make Taeyeon’s heart explode, Fany lifted her head from Taeyeon’s neck and claimed Taeyeon’s lips with her own. She kissed her with all the feelings she had been holding back for the last 4 years. The kiss was filled with pure passion and hunger. She ravished Taeyeon’s lips from every angle possible.

Taeyeon, on her part, didn’t really have time to think. All she can do at that exact moment was feel. She felt Fany’s soft lips on her own, she felt Fany biting gently on her bottom lip to ask for an entrance, she felt Fany’s hand make her way to wrap themselves around her neck and soon she found herself wrapped her arms around Fany’s waist and returned the kiss with as much as passion.

As the kiss turned from ardent and hungry to sweet and slow, they soon found themselves fell on the bed with Fany on top Taeyeon. Fany started to ed Taeyeon’s shirt one by one while kissing the skin which was visible to her eyes when the shirt slowly part opened.

Suddenly, Fany stopped what she was doing. Noticed the sudden stop Taeyeon opened her eyes which she had been closing tightly since the moment Fany kissed her, she popped her head up from her lying position and realized that Fany had fallen sleep.

She let out a chuckle, whether it meant that she felt relieved since they didn’t do anything serious or it meant that she felt amused when Fany could sleep in a situation like this. Either way, she had to get out of this room before Yuri came back. She start to squeezed herself out of Fany’s sleeping figure, tried hard not to wake her.

When she could successfully get out of bed, she started to button her shirt then looked back at Fany one last time and hurried out of the room. As soon as she closed the door, she heard Jessica’s voice in the hallway

“Yah! Where have you been? I’ve looking for you everywhere.”

“Uh…I…uhm…I was at the bar, where else would I be?” Taeyeon asked as she speed-walked away from Fany’s room.

“Yah, didn’t you just walk out of that girl’s room? Why are you looking all flusterd? Yah!! Kim Taeyeon, what did you just do?”

“Not something you have to know.” Taeyeon said as she began to run away from her friend

“Yah, Kim Taeyeon, tell me!!!!” Jessica yelled after the running girl

End of Flashback

Taeyeon shook her head at the thought of Fany, since that day she had never been able to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she could feel Fany’s warm lips on her, Fany’s arm around her neck. Fany had been on her mind everywhere she went. She pulled her hair out of frustration ‘Aish, Tiffany Hwang, what did you do to my heart?’

TBC