Jade,

Are you working at a public relations company or something? You get to visit such cool places – the stadium, TV stations and such. Have you seen any daebak celebrities? ㅋㅋI like Girl’s Generation!! Get me their signature if you can ^^

Anyways, I am just going to end the letter here. I apologize for its ridiculously short length – my work schedule is so full nowadays. Our department is preparing for a huge conference in Tokyo. It’s so stressful, but I enjoy it so much!! ㅋㅋ

Yours only,
Dan

 

 

I yawned pathetically as I stepped into the SBS building. The clock in the lobby, situated right above the reception desk, read 8:45am, which was too early for my personal taste. I am to report here every Wednesday and Thursday at this time, because Leeteuk has to regularly appear on the variety show, Strong Heart. This was my second time here since I started my job as Jack’s assistant and I am just starting to get used to the routine.

 

The first few days I spent working with Super Junior went quite successfully. Jack-oppa had been nice enough to teach me everything and all the other female assistants were nice to me. They didn’t appear to be jealous or threatened by my prettiness, but Minyeon said it was just an act – I guess I should still be a bit careful around them. However, to my huge disappointment, the members had been way too busy with their schedule to even notice me properly. Leeteuk was the only one who did a proper introduction and even that was a little brisk, because he had to go on stage soon after.

 

“Oh! Jia-eun, you’re on time!” Jack said when he saw me walk out of the elevator. He had been chatting and receiving some files from the producer.

 

“Here’s your coffee!” I grabbed the cup of steaming Starbucks latte from the bag of breakfast I bought for Leeteuk and Jack and gave it to him. As an assistant, I was in charge of providing suitable meals for both the artist and manager.

 

“Aish, so rude,” muttered Jack, “not even a hello.”

 

I mentally rolled my eyes.

 

“Sorry, oppa!” I pouted, trying some aegyo on him. “I’m from America, so I’m not used to the culture yet. I promise to bow next time, okay oppa? I promise!” I tried my best to perform an acceptable eye smile.

 

And it worked. Jack chuckled and waved me away.

 

I walked into the room that Leeteuk occupied and set down my things on the table. He was getting ready – the stylist was busying herself with fixing his hair while he is playing around with his phone.

 

“Hi, Leeteuk-shii” I bowed to him respectfully, remembering my manners this time.

 

He glanced upwards at me and smiled in acknowledgement.

 

I quickly placed his hot tea and cinnamon roll on the table in front of him. He stared at his breakfast with interest and pointed at the cinnamon roll.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“Uh,” I stuttered, still uncomfortable speaking directly at him. “This is a cinnamon roll.”

 

He took a bite, tasting it. “Oh, it’s good.”

 

“It’s my favorite,” I replied. I didn’t know what Leeteuk would want to eat for breakfast, so I just picked my personal favorite, hoping he’d like it too – and apparently, he does.

 

“Thanks,” he smiled.

 

I plopped down on the sofa, realizing I have nothing to do for a while. Not wanting to look lazy and unprofessional, I flipped the sapphire blue folder open and read the weekly schedule for the nth time. I looked over every word meticulously and even took a highlighter to highlight some important events.

 

I checked my phone – only 10 minutes had passed and I was so bored.

 

“You can relax, you know”

 

I looked up in surprise and saw that Leeteuk was looking and smiling at me. I couldn’t respond and heat started to rise to my face. Was I that obvious?

 

“What?”

 

“When the other assistants have no duties, they play on their phones or read or do whatever they want. Jack is not going to force you to ‘work’ when you actually have no work to do.”

 

“Oh,” I said, slowly putting the folder down sheepishly. “I can play on my phone then?”

 

“Yeah,” he nodded.

 

I picked up my phone from the table, as if in slow motion, eyeing him the entire time. To this, he chuckled amusedly. I decided that he wasn’t joking and so began to check my email happily.

 

“You look young, how old are you?” he asked suddenly, apparently still interested in me.

 

“Eighteen, almost nineteen,” I replied, not even staring at him. I was too engrossed with my phone, after being deprived of it for what seemed like forever.

 

“So young!?!” he commented with a tone of surprise. “Why are you working?”

 

… That question caught me off guard – I didn’t know how to answer him. It was instinctual for me to lie to Minyeon about the real reason, as she was a stranger then, but somehow, with Leeteuk, I couldn’t blatantly lie without feeling guilty. Yet, at the same time, I couldn’t tell him the truth – I had no reason to. I looked at his honest, curious face and couldn’t decide what words should come out of my mouth.

 

He felt the uneasiness and immediately smiled, “Arrasso, I get it”

 

I nodded unnecessarily.

 

“Young people like to experience,” he added uselessly. We looked at each other for another almost-unbearable second, before he turned to the phone in his hands.

 

--

 

After recording at Strong Heart, Leeteuk had to attend pre-recording practice sessions with the other Super Junior members, so we quickly drove back to the SME building. On Monday, Jack was there with us, because he had to show me around, but today, he had other engagements, so he left me alone with Leeteuk.

 

“Here,” Leeteuk handed me his credit card, as we walked towards the practice room, “buy water and some snacks for all members and their assistants.”

 

My eyes widened in surprise while I took his card. Wow, I thought. He’s generous.

 

He looked at me and said, “Buy something to eat and drink for yourself too.”

 

“Thanks, Leeteuk-shii” I replied, smiling.

 

Suddenly, a strong pair of arms enveloped themselves around Leeteuk, causing him to stumble backwards, almost crashing into me.

 

“Hyung!”

 

“What in the world…” I muttered.

 

It was Siwon. I heard he had been long-staying in Mainland China and Taiwan for his new drama, which was probably why he is causing such a scene at the present moment. He must miss the other members so much.

 

“I haven’t seen you in so long!! I miss you!!!” his manly voice cried dramatically, while Leeteuk could do nothing but utter something pathetically due to being hugged so tightly.

 

I giggled, which caused him to turn his attention towards me. He broke the hug and pointed at me curiously, “Hyung, whose this?”

 

“She’s Jack’s assistant, Jia-eun”

 

“Hi, Jia-eun”

 

Siwon immediately flashed me a brilliant smile and extended his hands towards mine. His gentlemanly gesture almost caught me off guard, but I quickly shook his warm hand while admiring his near-perfect features. Man, I thought. He is almost too handsome to be true.

 

“Okay, let’s go. We should quickly catch up for a bit before the recording starts,” Leeteuk said, leading him away with a hand on Siwon’s back.

 

I wanted to follow, but a hand stopped me.

 

“So I see you’ve met Siwon,” It was Sungmin’s assistant, Yang Seun. She was the nicest of the assistants yet and was the first to approach me when we were backstage at the stadium. She even made the effort to introduce me to all the other unnies, so I wouldn’t feel awkward.

 

“Hi, unnie. Yeah, he seems nice.”

 

“Of course! It’s Siwon, after all,” she smiled, using a finger to prop up her glasses, a gesture that had become a habit to her.

 

“Well, I have to go run some errands” I pointed towards the elevator with my thumb and before leaving, I asked curiously, “Does Leeteuk always buy water and food for you all?”

 

“Sometimes” she answered casually. She paused and thought for a bit before breaking into a huge, giddy grin. “Is Leeteuk buying food for all of us today?”

 

I nodded, laughing.

 

Yang Seun clapped her hands excitedly and said, “Let me tell the others!” before rushing off and almost bumping into a manager. I shook my head helplessly.

 

With a mission in hand, I went to the nearest convenience store to buy water and food for everyone. It was only after I carefully selected a cartful of food and drinks according to people’s tastes and paid that I realized there was no way for me to carry them all back to the SME building. The young man who was standing in line behind me was extremely generous and offered to help me carry all the stuff back.

 

“Thank you,” I said gratefully, flashing the guy a smile when we crossed the street. Under the bright sunlight, with sweat trickling down his face, he looked healthy and cute.

 

“It’s no problem! I get to help a pretty girl,” he smiled. “It was worth it.”

 

I laughed at his absurdity and sent him off. I lugged everything into the elevator with arms threatening to break and struggled to move to the practice room. These bags might as well as contain concrete, I thought with annoyance. When I approached the hallway, Leeteuk was waiting for me and he rushed over to help me when he saw that I was almost dead with exhaustion.

 

“Why didn’t you ask someone to go with you?” he asked, concerned. “Did you carry all of these things from the convenient store yourself?”

 

I was a bit moved by his concern. “No, some nice stranger helped me.”

 

“Pabo,” he muttered and handed me a random bento box and water from the bag.

 

I attempted to grab the bags to help, but he shook his head at me dismissively. He put the bags on a table and grabbed enough for the other members and left. As if the sequence had been practiced many times over, the managers and assistants immediately went to the bag next to get their share of food and drinks without any communication.

 

“Are you coming with us to the cafeteria?” Yang Seun waved her bento box at me.

 

I shook my head and headed towards the practice room, “You guys go first. I have to give Leeteuk back his credit card.”

 

When I approached the room, I saw that they had already started practicing. The bento boxes, half-finished, were scattered all over the table; it appears that they had rushed their lunch in order not to waste time. I stood outside to watch them sing – they were practicing a ballad and were trying to harmonize.

 

“Yah! Someone is off key,” Kyuhyun criticized, with an annoyed look on his face.

 

“Who?” Eunhyuk asked, which caused everyone to look at each other suspiciously.

 

“Not me,” Yesung said.

 

Shindong rolled his eyes, “Hyung, we know.”

 

“Why don’t we sing that part again and hear more carefully,” Sungmin suggested.

 

They sang it again and this time, I heard that something was off too. A member was just a tad bit flat, which caused the whole chorus to sound odd rather than soothing. At the corner of my eye, I saw Kyuhyun grimace while everyone else concentrated on staying on key.

 

“Stop,” Leeteuk said, “I hear it.”

 

Siwon nodded and said, “But I can’t tell who is off key.”

 

“It’s Eunhyuk,” I said.

 

My hands flew to my mouth. , I thought. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

 

Surprised, they all glanced at my direction.

 

“What did you say?” Siwon asked.

 

“It… it’s Eunhyuk,”

 

They all looked at him and glanced back at me.

 

“Eunhyuk what?” Leeteuk asked this time.

 

“Eunhyuk’s off key,” I said and added, “When you guys were harmonizing, he was flat and that’s why it sounded weird.”

 

“So it’s you!” Kyuhyun pointed at his hyung and dragged him to a corner to help him improve. He flashed a smile at me.

 

“What me?! I was on key!” Eunhyuk cried helplessly.

 

“Now that the girl mentioned it, I’m sure it was you!”

 

“How did you know?” Sungmin looked at me curiously.

 

“Um…” I didn’t know how to reply. “I heard it.”

 

Yesung pointed at me and said, “you – thanks for your help. Okay guys, let’s just keep going while Kyu helps Hyukjae.”

 

“Thanks,” Sungmin directed a smile at me before taking his seat again.

 

I walked slowly towards Leeteuk, still having a little difficulty in registering what just happened. I handed him his credit card and he accepted without a word. I looked at him curiously and he gazed at me coldly in return.

 

I was taken aback.

 

“Leeteuk-shii?” I asked softly.

 

“Thanks,” he said, drinking from the bottle of water in his hands. “Enjoy your lunch.”

 

With that, I was dismissed. I walked out of the room with my heart sinking. Had I done anything wrong to piss Leeteuk off? The coldness in his eyes – he never looked at anyone else like that. Wasn’t he all caring just a while ago – handing me the bento box and water and all? What the hell happened?