Song: UN Village by BAEKHYUN

(March)

Op, op, op, op, oppa gangnam style

E, y lady

Op, op, op, op, oppa gangnam style

E, y lady

Yuna was startled not because of her ring tone, but because Baekhyun tapped her workstation. It was 10 in the morning that Wednesday.

“Your phone is…yup…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I dozed off again, Baek,” she slapped her cheeks gently and picked up the call.

“Should I create sleeping pods here in the office? You’ve been doing that more often now,” he wondered out loud.

Truthfully, Yuna found balancing her jobs challenging already as the Deli role is draining her to bits then Mrs. Won’s is taking up the remaining ounces of her physical strength.

“What? What happened?” Yuna stood up from her desk right away, her sleepiness gone in an instant. It was clear in her tone that she was in distress.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Baekhyun said from where he sat, from Jaehyun’s former desk.

“I’ll be there right away. No, I’ll find a way, eomma…” she whispered, voice trembling. Of course, with the empty hallway, it was so easy for Baekhyun to hear her. “Bring him to the hospital. No, eomma. Please do. It’s fine. It’s totally fine. Don’t mind the bills. Please. I insist. No! He needs to be checked!”

She ended the call and started packing her things.

“Is everything all right?” Baekhyun approached her, face concerned.

“My abeoji was in an accident,” she ran her hand on her face.

“. Is he okay?” Baekhyun watched her turn off her laptop.

“It was a minor accident at home. He fell off the stairs. He’s…old…so…” she sighed to gather her thoughts, as it was obvious that she was panicking.

Yuna did not hesitate, she went to Sehun’s office and knocked on his door. “Sajangnim, I’m sorry but…may I be excused from work for the rest of the day? And probably the next two days. I apologize, sajangnim.”

“Are you okay? What happened?” Sehun looked up to her from his laptop.

“I have a family emergency which I need to attend to immediately. It’s…in…Gangneung, sir. But please reach me via mobile. I can bring my laptop too.”

“No need. By all means, please go ahead. I hope everything’s fine,” Sehun did not ask for details anymore seeing how flustered she was.

Baekhyun followed her towards the glass door of the executive office. “How are you going there?” he asked.

“It’s close to 3 hours via train,” Yuna answered.

“Come. I’ll drive,” he offered.

“No, no, Baek.”

“I’m sure you’d need someone to help you with your abeoji. It’s only you and your mother, right? And I doubt you can get to the train station this fast. It’s rush hour,” he tried talking sense to her.

“But…I’m sorry, I don’t think I can have the owner of my current company come with me to the province, to our humble home, in particular. To be honest, I won’t have time to entertain you anymore.”

“Yuna. Don’t mind me. I don’t need to be entertained, are you kidding me? Okay. I’ll bring my laptop with me. I’ll be working from the province. I can work from anywhere anyways.”

“Baek. Our place is not for people like you.”

He was slightly offended with her words, but he tried to understand where she’s coming from. “What do you mean people like me?”

“I don’t live in a luxury apartment. Our house is embarrassing. My parents aren’t members of the elite. We’re not the types of people you’re used to deal with on a daily basis. Please don’t make things difficult for me,” she did not filter herself anymore.

Baekhyun was persistent. “Why are you still thinking about those things? You clearly need help. Let’s go. I can drop you off and that’s it.”

Yuna sighed and waited for him to pack up. Her mind was in disarray, in a fog.

Baekhyun knocked on Sehun’s door. “Yo, I’ll work remotely. Message me if you need anything.”

“Where you off to?” Sehun asked flatly.

Sehun shook his head when he heard Baekhyun’s response. He knew exactly what it was about.

“Gangneung.”

---------------------------------------------

“Is he fine? What did the doctors say?” Yuna asked over the phone while seated beside Baekhyun in his car.

Her eyebrows gathered in the middle when she heard her mother’s response. “How can he have that much injuries? Did he really fall off the stairs? Be honest with me, eomma.”

Baekhyun was startled, as it was the first time he saw Yuna this way.

“Tell me the truth!” she exclaimed.

Her mother ended the call, not wanting an argument to add to her stress.

Yuna covered her face with her hands.

“Hey…” Baekhyun tapped her arm. He wanted to rub it actually, to provide any comfort he can, but that was the maximum contact he can have with her.

He wanted to stop the car when he saw her crying.

“Yuna…what’s wrong?” he asked gently. It broke his heart seeing her cry.

“Nothing,” she breathed heavily and took it all in. Yuna bit her thumb and looked at the view outside the car. “I need to inform my second job too that I’ll be out. Oh no…”

Baekhyun pursed his lips. He knew that there’s a divide between the two of them given his position at Deli. He doesn’t know how he can break that wall, as he wants to reach out to her so bad.

“I’ve b-been to Gangneung before with my family,” he bit the bullet. “We went to Gyeongpo Beach.”

“I see,” she responded sullenly.

“It was the first time my family went on a holiday, ever. I was 12 then. I remember my parents loving the coffee there. It’s famous for that, right?”

Yuna only stared at the road in front of her, clearly distracted.

“If you come to think of it, it was the only time my family went on a holiday before I founded Deli.”

Yuna looked at him. “Your parents were busy?”

“That’s one. Busy making ends meet. We barely survived back then. I got used to staying at home because we couldn’t afford to go out. It was that bad.”

Yuna sighed as she listened to him.

“My parents worked hard to send me to a decent uni. Between me and my sister, I was the one whom they sent to a good school since they saw that I was book smart. It was a rough time for us then. We lived away from the city, so my older sister worked several jobs to pay for my dorm, while my parents paid for my tuition fees. I needed to work at a convenience store at night while studying so I can pay for my food and books.”

He continued. “So please don’t hesitate to talk to me about these things, because I know exactly what you’re going through, Yuna.”

“You’d be the first person I’d take to Gangneung. And to be honest, I never imagined for it to be this way. I thought I can bring someone once we have settled in already.”

“I’m sure it’s not so bad,” Baekhyun said, wanting her to open up. He knows their relationship is tricky but like what he said to himself, he’ll do what it takes to keep her close.

“It wasn’t this way five years ago,” Yuna murmured.

Baekhyun was silent, wanting her to continue. He wanted to take that rare opportunity to get to know her, as it’s all work in the office anyways.

“I had a comfortable life. The jobs I had were like hobbies only. A way to let time pass. My hands weren’t like…these…” she observed her callouses and her rough skin. “But what’s important is we’re still alive, right? I’m still hoping that things will get better,” she tried her best to smile.

“What happened back then?” Baekhyun asked carefully.

“Our family had a courier business. It was passed on from generation to generation, with members of the family managing it. During my father’s time, he got a bit trusting and included his old friends from middle school to be members of its board, taking up high ranks in the company. This is against what the family used to do, and it caused a rift between him, his siblings and cousins.”

“Well, that’s the direction of different chaebol nowadays--to infuse someone from the outside to the businesses they own. It’s them admitting that they need external help, just like what I did with Deli. I am the owner and yet someone else is the CEO. It’s common practice,” he tried to relate himself to her past so that she would be more comfortable with him.

To be honest, it was the first time that Baekhyun was this considerate of another person. Usually, he’d be overly cr