Chapter Four

“When I First Laid Eyes On Him”- Portfolio Four

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                Rae Mi glanced at the digital clock on her bedside then glared at the endless bounded pages of pictures scattered on her floor. She sighed grabbing the closest issue and planted herself on her bed, flipping casually through the pages. She sat up a little straighter when she came to the first page. It was that boy from the billboard earlier. Her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration as she studied him from head to toe. She couldn’t feel anything but iness radiating from the page she stared at. That was what the shoot called for but she was slightly confused, why was he ignoring that woman posing with him?

                A few pictorials of the same man later she came across another model. He posed cutely, cozying up to the camera in a few pictures. His aura changed completely after a few pages emulating the same feeling the first model gave off. But one thing didn’t change; that arrogance in his eyes each and every time he took a picture. Arrogant prick, Rae Mi thought grumpily, flipping to the next pictorial without him on it. She finally came across another model interesting enough to take a look at. He was tall, lean, and his smile was gentle. Rae Mi grinned and searched for his name, when she finally found it her smile turned to a scowl. Jung Yunho, read the fine print.

                “Jung ing Yunho,” she muttered in contempt. She laughed maniacally before deciding on a whim to grab the permanent marker on her bedside. She stuck out her tongue in concentration while she vandalized his whole photo-shoot, not forgetting to add a few devil horns for good measure. She smiled in satisfaction as she re-flipped through the new and improved photo-shoot. “That’s what you get for leaving me by myself.”

                 She threw the magazine carelessly to an empty corner and huffed in annoyance. At least studying the photo-shoots weren’t that bad; all she had to do was concentrate on how they made their expressions. That Junsu guy from the first pictorial was really good at it. He had a variety of facial expressions to match a different setting. If Rae Mi hadn’t known any better she’d believe he was like that in real life. His photos looked genuine. She came across Yoochun again—smiling nonchalantly with a wedding ring in hand.

                “He really is a good actor.”

                After a good hour of looking through endless issues she let out a scream of annoyance. The same four faces greeted her every time she decided to open a new magazine. When would they stop? Rae Mi jumped off her bed and mussed around with a few issues, skimming them for any traces of the four. Her hand pulled an older issue from the pile, maybe a year older than the rest of the magazines. She flipped to the first page and smiled at the new faces. She scanned the index, skipping past beauty tips, and jumped straight into the first pictorial. Rae Mi settled into her pillow and read the small introduction.

                Kim Jaejoong made his debut as a model last year and quickly rose to become one of South Korea’s biggest culture exporters with his highly demanded endorsement power. He is the current spokesperson for a variety of top class designers and jewelers.

                Rae Mi just stared . . . and stared . . . and stared. She nuzzled her head into the magazine, mouth agape at the sheer emotion she could feel from his stare. Woah. A dozen green monsters must’ve landed on her shoulder as she eyed the man. In other words, she was seething with jealousy. She wasn’t going to deny it either. His gaze was simply unnerving to the bone. Rae Mi excitedly flipped through the rest of his pictorial, eyes glittering as she set it aside for later, and then picked up another magazine, seeing his face plastered on the cover. Nothing had changed a month later just his hair color—from platinum blond to ash black.

                Unable to resist, Rae Mi took a pair of scissors and began snipping at his pictures, hanging them accordingly on the wall behind her desk in a small arrangement. She even put up a photo of Junsu for good measure. There was something about the two that felt similar . . . Rae Mi scrambled over a pile of magazines before finding one dedicated solely to Kim Jaejoong and his modeling career as well as his life at home. She spent the next hour reading. So they were similar— they were brothers after all. A sense of accomplishment flooded Rae Mi, proud she’d had the decency to actually research something.

                After a dozen more Jaejoong photo-shoots she began to notice they were slowly dwindling in number, all completely disappearing sometime in April. It was like someone pushed him off the edge of the earth. She anxiously dug through the pile of magazines sitting on the floor, hoping for another glimpse of him. But a large headline caught her eyes some moments later.

Kim Jaejoong Exposed: The Life Behind His Career

Thanks to an anonymous source, the month-long mystery that has consumed the fashion industry can now be set straight. A few months prior to Kim Jaejoong’s said disappearance, there were reports of him seeing a woman. For the first time during his career, he’s perceived in a negative spotlight, but it seems his fans were happy for him, supporting the couple behind closed doors. Many believe his disappearance from the fashion scene had something to do with this ‘girlfriend’. Concerned fans have alerted us that it had been two weeks since they last spotted her with him. Although a few potential candidates for this position have been revealed, none seem to match the description of eye-witnesses.

                Somewhere in Seoul, another person was looking through fashion magazines. He observed each model like a test subject, mapping out their flaws. His gaze lingered a second longer on Kim Junsu than any other model on the photo spread, an amused grin playing on his lips.

                “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? If you can’t pay, get out of my shop!”

                The man flipping through the magazine lazily looked up at the shop owner, sighing as the magazine was yanked from his grasp. An angry shop owner ushered the homeless man out of his shop, shouting profanities for scaring away his customers.

               “Get out of here. The world would be better without people like you mucking everything up,” the owner yelled down the street.

                Kim Junsu swiveled around on his leather sofa to prop his legs off the side. He sighed into the white cushions and closed his eyes, thinking. He’d been doing a lot of that lately—unintentionally of course. Small snippets of memories with his brother from when they were younger up until his untimely disappearance were a regular occurrence now, but they still never failed to make him feel lonely. They were close, especially since they only had each other to lean on. Everyone said it was a girl that ruined the bright future he had ahead of him but he didn't really know that for a fact. He was frustrated by himself and his brother; what was so difficult that he couldn't tell him? The distinct noise of a doorbell ringing ran through the empty apartment, ushering Junsu to his feet. A stack of manila folders was immediately shoved into his hands by his faithful manager.

                “These are for you, just like you wanted,” he grunted. “But why did you need all of Prince Agency’s files of past clients? Someone catch your eye?”

                “No, I just need to figure out some things. Did you happen to know someone by the name of Kim Jaejoong?” Junsu asked, spreading the stack of folders on the dining room table. He was growing troubled by the amount of time it had taken to dig up these files. What if he couldn’t find what he was looking for?

                “Kim Jaejoong? I haven’t heard that name in months. But yes, I did know someone by that name. Actually, I don’t know a person in this industry who doesn’t know who he is. He was under Prince Agency is that why you asked for the files?”

                “Well, yes and no. Jaejoong’s my brother and I need to know where he is. He just disappeared without a trace. And for what reason? He couldn’t even tell me,” Junsu sighed. He opened the first few folders, scanning the names of each client carefully and setting folders to the side when he didn’t find what he was looking for.

                “Why’d you skip that one? It’s not defective is it?”

                “That’s not it. The file says terminated. Something really bad must’ve gone down for something like that to happen. Besides, the agency said he put himself on hiatus. Jaejoong wasn’t the type of person to take such risks that would endanger his career,” he thoughtfully answered, brushing off the file again.

                “I don’t know Junsu, I just have a feeling.”

                “Alright, if it’ll make you feel better,” Junsu said. He opened the folder with a bright red TERMINATED stamp gracing the front cover. To his surprise, his brother’s profile picture smiled back at him. He scrambled to his feet, anxiously flipping through the papers. But there was nothing out of the ordinary. Had his file just been placed in the wrong folder? No. A post it note was stuck to the inside cover, reading, FIRED- for mixing up personal affairs with business.

                Both were too transfixed and astonished by the note to see another post-it note falling to the ground and slipping, unnoticed, underneath the table; one tiny slip of paper, with a few little words on it:

Kim Jaejoong

5458 Sunrise Terrace