“Jihoo and Jandi?” Paul repeated, he liked how their names sounded together  “Havent seen them before…are they new?” he asked curiously

“Well Jihoo is my AD” Dong Sun joined the conversation along with Jessica

“Oh Dong Sun-ah…Jessica!” Old Paul greeted them hurriedly because he was more curious to get back to knowing his new discovery

“and Jandi is a SS501 fan” Jessica completed Dong Sun’s incomplete introduction

Old Paul looked confused with just that piece of information because it wasn’t natural for a fan to end up in a private party of the KPOP industry specially one of such high rank

Hwangbo sensed Paul’s confusion and narrated the entire story of how they met Jandi and she helped out in Somin’s rescue

“Oh my….” Paul gasped “But..”he said thoughtfully “she played such a crucial role in Somin’s rescue…I shudder at the thought of what would have happened to Somin if Jandi hadn’t saw Woobin take her away…but inspite of all that, I didn’t catch her in the news?” Paul asked in confusion

“Well Paul…we are all well versed with the influence of media. “Hyunjoong rolled his eyes “She is so young and timid…we thought it would be best if she is kept out of all this”

“Moreover if Lee or his men in any way found out about her before the arrest..”Hwangbo said

“It would have posed a great threat to her life” Paul completed

“Mmm…she was our prime witness” Hwangbo nodded.

“Well long story short…”Hyunjoong said in a cheery tone “she saved my angel and I am indebted to her for as long as I live” Hyunjoong said patting Somin’s head

“You should be! ” Old Paul said playfully tugging Hyunjoong’s nose. “Wont you introduce me to her?”

“Oh how stupid of us”  Somin said hitting her head “Come along please” she said and led Paul to where Jihoo and Jandi were standing

Both Jihoo and Jandi stiffened as they saw the gang approach them.

“Jihoo , Jandi..meet Paul” Hwangbo introduced taking Paul forward. Jihoo felt an uncontrollable urge to comment on the old man’s dressing sense as his eyes scanned his bedazzled clothing from head to toe

“This man can beat Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus put together” Jihoo thought. He glanced at Jandi hoping she would agree but her reaction not only took him but everyone aback

“Ommo Paul Cho!” Jandi shrieked. She gulped to control herself and then asked “Sir can I hug you?”

Her question shocked Jihoo further. He watched in awe and somewhat disgust as the old man hugged Jandi “Why would she do that? Why would she want to hug this weirdo?” Jihoo thought

“You know me?” Paul asked happily

“You know him?” Somin and Jihoo called out together

It was a brief moment but as soon as Somin and Jihoo said the same thing together the atmosphere  tensed up. Somin looked at him timidly and then glanced at Hyunjoong. Hyunjoong gave her a look of assurance. Somin was relieved he wasn’t bothered by it and so were the others who got abit awkward.

Jihoo however wasn’t unaffected. Jandi stealthily looked back at him to find him stiffen up

“Darling..”Paul reverted back her attention

“Oh um…”Jandi took a moment to gather her thoughts”Ofcourse I do” she said “You are the conceptual head of MBC. You’re the brain behind shows like WGM,Running Man and Iris…I am a fan”

Seeing Jandi gushing about Paul, Jihoo was annoyed“Looks like she is fan of all the weird people!” he thought

“You and Meron Taylor came to our college last year…Chung-Ang University..” Jandi paused for Paul to recollect

“Oh yes…I remember” Paul remarked thoughtfully “Do you go there?” he asked to which Jandi nodded readily

“Wow Jandi! You’re from Chung-Ang!” Somin said in admiration. This piece of information hit everyone with bang of guilt. Everyone had been yapping about how lucky they were to meet Jandi but in reality they had been extremely selfish. None had bothered asking about her. It wasn’t until now that everyone suddenly realized they didn’t know anything about Jandi… what she did for a living or whether she was she still a student,if so what did she study…they knew nothing

“What are you studying at Chung-Ang?” Dong Sun asked.

“I am doing my masters in Film Studies. Final Year. “ Jandi replied politely

Dong Sun and Hyunjoong looked at each other. They were actually keeping a student away from her education, they felt ashamed and then Dong Sun remembered something.

“Hold on…isnt this the time where you go out applying for internships?” Dong Sun realized

“Umm..yes.. but since I came here I couldn’t” Jandi shrugged her shoulders

Both Hyunjoong and Dong Sun felt the load of guilt in their heart get heavier. They had taken Jandi to be one of the herd of psycho fangirls who was more than happy to stay back and extend her stay

“Jandi I’m really sorry. I didn’t realize we were keeping you from your studies. How could I be this careless!” Hyunjoong pressed his temples in desperation. “Don’t worry…just give me tonight I’ll arrange for your tickets. You need to be in Busan. Siwon—“

“Wait! Hold Up!” Dong Sun suddenly said. Everyone looked at him curiously. Dong Sun didn’t speak momentarily and stared at the ground. He then raised his eyes and met Jandi’s with a very strange sparkle. “Jandi what do you say about an international internship under me?”

Jandi was too surprised to speak— moved but no words came out of it. Everyone else was equally surprised. Dong Sun spoke to clarify, “My new project. The one in Australia”

“Oh yes!” Jessica cried

Jandi still looked confused so Dong Sun explained,”I am gearing up for a new project which would be shot in Australia. Jihoo had been working on it. Though he is working more than efficiently but it is too much for him to handle alone and I have been looking for someone who could help him out there. You would be perfect for it!”

Everyone’s eyes sparkled in glee.

“Dong Sun-nim…I-I really don’t know what to say…” Jandi choked on her words “I-I…Thank you thank you so much for giving me this opportunity”

“Jihoo you’re fine with it right?” Dong Sun said looking at Jihoo. Jandi looked at him nervously

Jihoo looked around and finally settled upon Jandi who stared back at him with anticipation evident in her eyes. Her eyes had always drawn him-partly because they were similar to Somin’s but apart from that they had this strange kindness and integrity oozing out of them from which Jihoo found very difficult to resist

“Jihoo?” Dong Sun called out to him again which broke Jihoo’s trance, he found himself leaning onto the terrace railing in a little too informal way. He quickly stood up straight and tugged the edges of his blazer

“Yes definitely..I have no issues” he said clearing his thoughts

“That’s great! Well then it’s settled! Jandi welcome aboard!” Dong Sun announced happily and shook her hand. Jandi bowed humbly

It was 3am.The party had wrapped up and the entire city was dozing off in slumber. The roads were almost empty and a peaceful serenity prevailed.

In the still darkness of the night, only one conference room in the MBC office lit up to make room for a discussion among its 2 senior conceptual heads

“Paul I don’t know why we are arguing about this in the middle of the night” Meron sighed pressing his temples. “WGM is all about made up celebrity couples! These two are not celebrities“ he pressed hardly on the photograph of Jandi and Jihoo infront of him

“Ani Ani Meron! Jihoo despite being an off camera person,actually has managed to attract quite a few eyeballs. Look here..” Old Paul hurriedly turned his laptop screen towards Meron. The screen displayed the search results for Yoon Jihoo. “Jihoo might not be an idol or an actor but you cant deny that this guy is drop dead handsome!” Paul said waving at the various pictures of Jihoo displayed on the screen “Infact his fashion sense has been recognized as well. Look..” Paul clicked on a picture of Jihoo wearing white pants and black blazer to reveal an article titled ‘KPOP’s Top Ten Fashionable Crew members’

“Okay so the guy is…let’s say… mildly famous” Meron shrugged “But what about the girl? She is plain, ordinary and I have never heard of her”

Paul had nothing to counter attack this point-he knew Meron was right.

“Paul this is a show where Yonghwa and Seohyun had been on! We have to maintain our standards. I understand you have seen something in them and that’s why you wanna bring them on the show but dude..this is celebrity variety show not a matchmaking one” Meron said and rose up “I am going back home to sleep..you coming?”

“No you go ahead. I’ll come by later” Paul said rubbing his beard. Meron looked at him worriedly but then sighed and left

“What about the girl? She is plain, ordinary” Meron’s word ringed in his ear but Paul knew how false they were. Jandi was not ordinary; she was exceptional. If only Meron knew what she has done …he wouldn’t even dare to call her plain and ordinary.

Paul looked at the portfolio of the other celebrities finalized for the show. As he hopped from one picture to another he realized how fake each of them were. Some of them were secretly dating someone else and signed up for the show only because of fame and cash. Paul shut his laptop in exhaustion. It was going to be the same thing all over again—fake love fake feeling everything fake.

Paul pulled up the picture of Jandi and Jihoo he secretly took at the party. He was so sure about these two; he knew if he could explore them he would finally witness his dream materialize.He dropped the picture and clenched his fists remembering why Hyunjoong had kept Jandi away from the limelight.

Finally Paul rose up and took out his phone

“Hi Rita…I have some hot news for your paper” Paul said