2

It's been a week since I'd met Sinb and I found myself thinking over her. Eunha told me that I've not been paying attention to our Home Economics class given that we're baking at that time. And she knows how much I love to eat, but instead I managed to burn the sweet roll I've been wanting to make ever since I got to take the class. Joy also noticed that I'm not my whole self when we're practicing and took me ten service errors that she sent me out of the field. 

"What's wrong with you Jung?" Joy asked me when practice time was over. She went inside the locker room the last and went up to me when everyone dispersed.

I remembered I took out a sigh as a reply since I somehow couldn't explain everything to her. She let out an exasperated one in return and went to her own locker just beside mine. 

"Let me guess," She said. "It's that Sinb you're thinking about right?"

"How'd you know?"

Joy smirked to me and suddenly got me entangled between her arms while ruffling my hair. "It doesn't take a day to not notice how you looked desperate in searching where the hell could she be."

"I'm not!" I retaliated as I managed to get out of her death grip. I know I'm stronger than her but she can be too when she wanted. And of all times she used that when she wants to bully me. 

"Not what?" Joy asked, obviously still aiming at my head. "Not looking for her or not desperate looking for her?"

"I'm not that desperate!" I said as I took hold of her hand and kept it locked between mine. I could already feel that my cheeks are betraying me. 

"Then you really are looking for her. Why deny in the first place Yerin-ah? Not unless you like her."

"There we go again," I said in exasperation. "I just want her to be my friend and nothing else."

She got her hands away from me and started to arrange her stuff in her locker. Joy closed her locker and looked at me straight. "You've been spacing out these past few days and it's no doubt that Hwang Sinb caused this. And you're telling me that you wanted her to be your friend? If you wanted her to be your friend, should you not be thinking almost everyday about her and looking for her like she's some lost child?"

I stood there, quiet. 

"If you're still going at that 'want her to be your friend' part, I'm telling you that your actions speaks otherwise," Joy said. "What you're doing is something out of normalcy just so you know."

I'll admit, what Joy told me that day, kept my boat shaking.

I don't now what she's trying to imply there but there's one thing on my mind.

I wanted to see her. 

There's just something in her. Maybe there's something in her highlights, in her face, or in that image of her that day wearing leather pants. I don't know what and how but she got me thinking and thinking about her. How could she do that? 

Just like now, while I'm tucked underneath my covers and in the comfort of my room, I've been thinking about her. Just her image that day kept me awake. My thoughts ruminated on the talk we've had inside the detention room, how my eyes lingered on her face and took mental notes about her. I could say that there are some parts where I didn't listen to her but be focused on solely staring at her. 

I can't help it. No, I just couldn't help it. 

Not when she started to laugh while still continuing her story with tears forming in the sides of her eyes. I didn't know back then that there could be someone looking so adorable while laughing her heart out. And the sound of her laugh? Oh, I could drown in that just by listening to it.

Not when she couldn't control her reactions and she accidentally slapped my shoulders. It didn't hurt, just a gentle slap, but boy did it gave me shivers everytime. That gesture she made wake something inside of me I can't put out yet, something that sent fireworks going haywire begging to be released and asking for more fireworks. It just coursed through me, waking every nerve and cell in my body, saying like it needs more contact. Not that I'm sort of a masochist, but I thought at that time, she'll be the one I'll allow myself to get slapped with.

Not when it's my turn to share and she just stared at me back like the only thing worth her attention was me. When she looked at me, it felt like everything around me took a slow motion. Everything behind her became a blur and she's the only one I see. It was enough to drive my insides circling in motion like butterflies wanting to get out. Her stare was drowning me and I wouldn't mind be drowned in those, wishing she'll be the one to resuscitate me. Oh how I wish that time that she's also taking notes of me as I am of her. 

I found myself thinking about those things again when suddenly a knock was heard from my door. I turned to my side table to see that it's been quite late in the evening for people  to be even thinking that I'm still awake. Well, who am I kidding? They know I'm not a morning person and these thoughts of mine was enough to keep my evening counterpart awake. 

I stood up and opened the door to see the my father, the famous Jung Hye Jun, in front of me. I silently felt annoyed by my father's presence but I made sure my feelings didn't show in my face. You could say that I'm not fond of my father. Well, to say the truth, he's the kind of man that's pretty goal oriented that he seldom look at me, her only daughter and child at that. He was so keen on getting his work done that my mother taught me to understand this side of him of which I tried. I do understand him that work is important, but sometimes I wish, he would spend time with me. Not that I'm an attention seeker but I felt that I've been deprived of his care ever since my memories can tell. 

So having him standing in front of my room, clearly looking for me, surprsied me. 

"Do you have a moment?"

"I always have a moment," I said but the way the words got out from my mouth seemed to be laced with bitterness. "What can I do for you?"

"You can speak informally to me," my father said. "It's not like we're in my office. Come, let's talk at the living room."

---

If Yerin had been spacing out the past week, Sinb on the other hand, had trouble sleeping. She was ordered by her agency's CEO to meet a certain businessman and heed his request in which she obliged. The CEO gave her a piece of paper where an address was written and she immediately set off that day.

When she met the businessman, he told her that his son was the one who wanted a job to be done. Though confused, since the son could've just met with her, she obliged and followed the man in his car where an attendant was waiting for them. She got inside and the man ignored her as he was busy talking to someone on the phone. Not that she cares for attention anyway, she liked her journeys to be quiet. 

When they arrived at the man's house, she couldn't help but be awed at the sight. She was used to her client's extravagance and luxurious living, but never did that made her feel anything less inferior. After all, they want her service, so that makes her still one step ahead of them. But somehow the architectural display in front made her silently thought to herself that these people surely got a lot of bucks in them. 

They went inside a room and there in front of her, was a boy, maybe a few years older than her,  seated on the side of his bed looking at her. Then the father signalled that he should go and that his son will explain the details further about her job and went out of the room. this made her uneasy though she's confident that her poker face won't betray her. 

She cleared as she find the boy's gaze at her. "You done checking me out there?" She managed to say. Though she felt uneasy and disgusted at the way the boy was looking at her, she just couldn't lunge at him and gorge his eyeballs out. He's still her client and so she curled her fists beside her to calm the lionness within. 

The boy smiled to which Sinb found another reason to disgust him. "If you could spare me another minute, I think I'll be done."

The boy was nowhere in the ugly list but Sinb would like to put him into it. He had looks  and a smile that would definitely make girls swoon. He's like a character straight out from a manhwa, with features that could be out of this world. But to Sinb, he's just a regular guy, and a disgusting one at that. If she could categorize the boy in front of her, he would be on that list of the good-looking guys that eats aphrodisiacs way more than one could take and use this to get someone in bed. 

"I don't even have minute to spare." Sinb said determined not ot be swayed by the boy's aura. "What do you want me to do?"

"Fierce," the boy commented. He chuckled at Sinb after hearing her. He won't deny that Sinb made him gawk at her for a moment but stopped when he sensed that the girl meant business. "I'll like to use that fierceness you have, though not now."

He stood up and the sunset rays that shone through the windows beside his bedroom illuminated his silhoutte. "I just want you to look for someone. She's not a missing person, but I want you to take note of everything she do and report to me."

Sinb smirked upon hearing the  request. She never thought that her task would be so easy. "I would need a picture and a few details about that,"

 The boy smiled. "I don't have a picture with me since I haven't seen her yet, but my father could give it to you."

"Wait," Sinb stopped from thinking the steps she would need to finish her job after hearing the boy's statement. "You haven't met this girl?"

The boy nodded innocently. "Why would I hire you in the first place if I have seen her? I could take notes about her if I just had."

Sinb rolled her eyes at that. "Okay, I'll get it from your father once I'm done here. But before I go, what do you want with her? Not that I'm curious about your motive but I think that's essential for my job."

"I thought you wouldn't ask," the boy said. "My father wanted me to meet this girl. He told me that it's a work related thing. I couldn't divulge any more information other than this as I'm also kept in the dark, but actually, I'm not even against whatever he has in mind for me. If he says it's work related then it must be about work."

Sinb kept quiet for a moment. 'Okay, so this boy is of no help at all. First, he's disgusting. Second, he doesn't even know who the hell of a girl he wanted me to look for. And third, that information doesn't get me a clear view of what my job is.' She heaved  a sigh before continuing, "That's it."

"Pretty much, yeah." the boy replied.

"Okay, I'll be going then." Sinb said and went out of the room. 

After the thoughts played through Sinb's mind, all the more that she couldn't sleep. There's no doubt that the job is easy for her but the motive is still vague. Also, she added, how could she finish the job if her job was to look for someone she's been unsure whether to see again or not. 

---

"I don't see any reason for me to go to the rest house," Yerin reasoned to her father. "I still have my classes and I don't want to be absent."

"I know dear," her father commented as he looked straight in Yerin's eyes. He admitted to himself that he was not used to talking with her daughter but he knows that he needs to do it. Not when his plans are on the line. "That's why I've arranged with the school that you're going to rest for three days. Only three days dear."

Yerin was confused altogether. First, her father wants to see and talk to her. Second, he wants her to take a break for three days, but for what? She couldn't think of any other reason why her father wanted her to rest. She's not sick, more so she's not going through some depression, so she really couln't think of one. "But why?"

Her father knew that Yerin would insist on knowing the reason but he can't let her know at this time. And with it, he readied himself want he knew Yerin wanted to hear. "I've come to some realization that I've been neglecting my responsibilities as a father. I'm sorry if all I could focus on was work dear. That's why, I asked the school to spare you three days so we could bond and maybe rest altogether."

Yerin was never more surprised that evening at what she heard from her father. She never thought that her father could change and in such a state. She long accepted and learnt to understand that her father would always be the hardworking man and so she knew that the attention she's been dying to feel from him will always be a wish. But right now, boy was she so escalated at what she heard. 

Finally, her wishes were answered. Her father finally gave some attention to her and wanted to spend time with her. Who would want to ditch the idea of having to spend time with the person you want his attention on you? Certainly not Jung Yerin. She looked at her father's eyes and gave her her most genuine smile that turned her lips and eyes into crescents as she said yes. 

Her father knew it and he hugged his daughter. He even told her his plans when they get to go to their rest house, how he wanted to have some bbq party with her or just go straight to glamping at the place. To Yerin, his father's plan may seem childish as she was not a child anymore but she couldn't complain. To her, it's like she's seeing her father in a new light, and his plans of spending time with her made her happy. 

That night, Yerin couldn't bring herself to sleep with two thoughts on her mind: her renewed bond with her father and Sinb. 

---

I don't  know if I got to express the feelings right. I'm not really a writer so forgive me if I lack on some areas :(

Niweis, thank you for your time reading this. I appreciate it a lot!