Chapter 3

            I took a deep breath and stared down at the mug pressed between my shaking hands. The blurry chocolate outline of a rose was still faintly visible, and foam had latched itself to the edges of the cup. A quick glance at the clock above the counter told me I still had awhile to wait. I put the mug down and began subconsciously tapping my fingers on the table, eyes wandering but not seeing as my mind worried about what was to come.

            Suddenly, a hand waved in front of my face, and I jumped back in surprise. “Kevin! Hello~! Earth to Mr. Author!” Shin DongHo plopped down in the chair beside me, wide eyes searching my face. “Dude, don’t space out like that, you’re scaring people!”

            “Ah, sorry, I was just…” I mumbled, unable to meet my friend’s eyes.

            “Yeah, yeah, I know. That tragically handsome Director Lee – I mean Kiseop,” DongHo giggled in a perfect imitation of me, “is meeting you here, today, in this very coffee shop.” The younger boy rolled his eyes.

            “Hey, stop teasing! I’m nervous enough as is!” I cried in embarrassment.

            “Ah, okay, whatever.” DongHo stood and began walking away, then immediately turned around and bent down to whisper in my ear, “Don’t worry, I’ll take lots of pictures!” He left with a devilish smirk and a teasing wink, taking his place behind the counter once more.

            Before I could yell at him for teasing again, the bell on the shop’s front door rang, and in walked Lee Kiseop. My breath flew from my body and my eyes grew wide as he smiled at me and almost imperceptibly winked.

            “Welcome to Coffee Garden!” DongHo greeted him brightly. “What would you like to drink?”

            “Just a London Fog is fine,” Kiseop smiled warmly at my friend.

            “Coming right up!” I looked at DongHo and he gave me an encouraging thumbs up.

            “Don’t be so nervous,” the man across from me chuckled.

            “I’m not,” I managed to croak. I couldn’t meet his eyes, and so instead I played with the rim of my no-longer-steaming latte and waited for him to say something.

            “Okay, okay. Did you bring the manuscript?” I heard the legs of his chair slightly scrape the wooden floor as he leaned across the table and plucked the envelope containing my novel from where it sat beside me. “Okay if I read a little bit here?”

            “Uhm, sure…” The sounds of rustling paper reached my ears as he pulled the thick stack of papers from the envelope and began flipping through them.

            “Uh-oh,” he sighed. Uh-oh? Uh-oh!

            “W-what’s wrong?” My head shot up and I looked at him worriedly, wondering how he had somehow managed to find an error in all of three seconds.

            “Look. Title to Be Determined.” He pointed accusingly at the title page. “You haven’t figured out a title yet?”

            “No, I can’t find the right one,” I muttered, eyes falling back down to my mug in embarrassment. The blurry rose had disappeared into globs of chocolate-and-foam mush.

            “Care to explain?” the man said gently.

            With a sigh, I began my standard explanation. “With any novel, there are dozens of kinds of titles. There are titles that state the main point of the book, or a motif of the book that the author wishes to get across. There are titles that are one or two words, and there are titles that are whole sentences. There are titles that give things away and titles that keep things secret. But sometimes there are those stories which don’t point out one simple thing or give away one basic idea. There are titles which truly encompass what the story is about, what it means to the author, the characters, what it should mean to the reader. That’s the kind of title I want, and I have yet to find it.”

            “Well. Don’t worry then!” Kiseop grinned, eyes crinkling gently at the corners. “I’ll help you.”

            “T-thanks…” I could feel the heat rising unwittingly in my cheeks, so I quickly gulped down some chilly coffee in an attempt to regain control of myself.

            “Here’s your London Fog,” DongHo smirked, placing Kiseop’s drink on the table. “Kev, nice moustache.” He winked and gave me a thumbs up. Moustache? What? I reached up to feel my face but was stopped by a warm hand grabbing my wrist.

            “I got it,” a silky, familiar voice said. His thumb brushed across my upper lip, quickly wiping off the foamy milk-stache.

            “Hoon, why’d you do that? It was just getting funny!” DongHo whined.

            “Dude, Kevin is in the middle of a meeting! Stop making jokes!” Hoon grabbed DongHo by the ear and dragged him off to the opposite side of the coffee shop, throwing me a wide grin.

            “I’m so sorry about that, those two are… Crazy, to say the least.”

            “Is the taller one your boyfriend?” Kiseop asked nonchalantly.

            “W-what? N-no, we’ve just been friends for awhile so we’re really close,” I chuckled nervously. Did it really seem like Hoon and I…? Really?!

            “Okay! And the little one, he’s your friend too?” Kiseop beamed.

            “Yeah, DongHo. He’s a little troublemaker, but he’s adorable.”

            “Yes, he does seem like a bit of a pain.” Kiseop made a face and then turned his gaze back to my manuscript. His eyes slowly travelled up the wall, landing on the large clock. “I’m so sorry, I have to go now!” He picked up the stack of papers and stood, reaching out his hand to shake mine. “It was great meeting you today, and I look forward to reading this. We should meet up once I’ve finished it. Does a week from today sound good? Same time, same place.”

            “Yeah, no problem, that’s great.” I shook his hand and watched him leave. At the door, he turned and winked.

            “I’ll call you.”

            He had just stepped out of the door when DongHo came running up, dragging a laughing Hoon behind him. “What’d he say? What’d he say?!”

            I inhaled deeply, exhaled quickly, tried not to show too much excitement. “Nothing much. I’m meeting him here next week is all.”

            “It’s written all over your face, Kev,” Hoon chuckled.

            “Kevin and Kiseop sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-”

            “Shut up! It’s not like that!” I slapped a hand over DongHo’s mouth.

            “Okay, okay, I understand!” The younger boy cried, slapping my hand away.

            “You have to admit, though, you’re not this excited  just because he’s reading your book,” Hoon stated.

            “… Okay, I get to see him again. I’m excited about that. But don’t go getting any ideas!” I pointed at both of them, trying to appear threatening. It must not have worked, because Hoon just shrugged and ambled off to the piano.

            “You start work tomorrow, right?” DongHo changed the subject.

            “Yeah. 8:00 to 5:00. Whoopee.”

            “Remind me again why you’re working for no salary?”

            I sighed, rolled my eyes, and began my retelling of the Great Slushee Incident.

            The next day I was in the building at 7:30 AM. The lady at the desk gave me a nasty look, probably remembering that I was the one who spilled bright red slush all over President Kim. She silently handed me a temporary badge and a faded map of the building. “You’re looking for office 604,” she said bluntly, returning to her work.

            “Thanks,” I mumbled, squinting at the map in an attempt to decipher it. Giving up hope, I went floor by floor, hoping I would get lucky before I was late. As it turned out, by the time I reached the office, I was half an hour late and standing in front of the last room on the last hallway on the top floor of the building, having just walked past every other office door.

            I heaved a sigh and knocked lightly on the door. “Come in,” a voice called loudly. I stepped in, afraid to look up and meet the eyes of my employer.

            “I’m sorry I’m late. I couldn’t read the map and I got a little lost…”

            “Yeah, because I believe that.” The president rolled his eyes. “Look, we can always break the contract and you can just give me the money now.”

            “No!” I cried. “I mean… I promise I won’t be late again. It’s better if we do the compromise. I apologize.” Aside from the fact that it would take forever to save up all that money, I had been looking forward to being around, or at least in the same building as, Kiseop. There was no way I’d break the contract when sticking with it meant potentially seeing him every day.

            I wasn’t stalking him, I promise! I was curious. Never before had I been so anxious and so intrigued about a random stranger before. It was oddly fascinating, like an unanswered question, and I was determined to solve it.

            “Whatever,” President Kim scoffed. “Here,” A stack of papers was handed to me. “I need fifteen copies of each paper collated and stapled before lunchtime. The first official meeting for the event we’re hosting is at 2:00, and I need all this information ready to be presented.”

            I nodded and stood there for a moment, waiting to see if he had anything else to say.

            “Are you gone yet?”

            “Leaving right now, Sir, but…”

            “But what?!”

            “Where exactly is the copier? And the stapler?”

            “Go out that door, take a right, and that’s your office. Everything you need should be there.”

            I nodded quickly, gathered up my things, and rushed off to my office. From the outside it looked rather nice. But once I had squeezed inside, standing sandwiched between a desk you would see in a high school classroom and a copier that was probably older than my great-grandfather, I realized that it was not as grand as I had hoped. Instead of an office, or even a desk outside of his office like a normal secretary, I was working in a broom closet.

            This was going to be interesting.

A/N: Annyeong~~! ^_^ I eventually got fed up with planning and not writing stuff, so I now present to you, Chapter 3! Dunh da-da DUUU! :) Also, I'd like to point out a lovely new addition to our story, the lovely poster you see above by the amazing Shemorix!!! I almost cried when I saw it. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?! :D

@Sheepishly: I'm very glad you like it and have found Kevin relatable and the plot intriguing!! ^_^ Hope you like the update :P

@Yuukey: *Wiggles eyebrows suggestively* "Assistant business." That's a lovely way to describe it XD

@inspirit_kissme: Not much drama yet, but did you like my poor attempts at comic relief with DongHo and Hoon? <(*u*)>

@kagaki: Oblivious Kevin or I-notice-everything-Kevin; Which do you prefer?

@CuriosityShapeMaker: 'Kay, your comment made my day. I'm so glad you like it! I'll do my best with the office scenarios, I promise!! ;P

Also, I wrote a short blog post concerning a little issue of titles that a few readers had pointed out to my oblivious self. You can read it here!