Shin gives the each staff a 90 degree bow as soon as the photographer OKed the last pictures he took.  “Thank you all for your hard work.” he smiles, brightly.  After he was done thanking everyone, he quickly went into the dressing room to change out of the clothes he wore for the shoot.

                Although he was trying to avoid any big magazine spread offers, he accepted them in the end.  Most of it was because of Sooyun…  He was avoiding those offers because he wanted to protect her, but she wanted him to take them because she knew that it will help with his modeling career.  He decided to do what was best and that was to say yes to all of the Korean modeling jobs he was offered: a 3 page fashion spread for Nylon Korea, a commercial for a new organic orange juice brand called OranguHappy, and a photo shoot for a skin care line for teenage girls.  And, all of that was last month…

                Shin has been offered double the modeling jobs this month.  He has finished 2 of the 6 jobs so far: another commercial for OranguHappy, a photo shoot for an online mall.  He had just finished the photo shoot for the online mall and that was pretty easy, but took most of the time today.  Although he wasn’t surprised that it took 3 extra hours to finish the shooting, he still feel bad about having to call home to cancel tonight’s plans.

                He and Sooyun were planning on heading to the Han River to see the sunset and have some dinner together.  But, he was stuck at a studio with the photo shoot…  Shin wants to spend some time with Sooyun, now that she’s off from school and because she started to work at the beauty salon a month ago, he barely got to see her until after her final exams.  He wants to eat dinner, wash the dishes, watch TV, or do anything else with her like how a boyfriend should be…

                How could he possibly be Sung Sooyun’s boyfriend when he’s never there anymore to be with her?

                Manager Kyunsoon smiles brightly at Shin as he approaches her with his bag.  He was ready to go home to be with Sooyun.  He returns the smile with the same vigor, to mask his desire to see his girlfriend.  Shin’s manager and the company don’t know that he’s with Sooyun…  He’s not supposed to have a girlfriend anyways, according to the contract.  At the time when Shin signed it, he was nonchalant about that clause because he was expecting himself to be an underground model…  One that no one knows, which is impossible, because he has Lu Han’s face. 

                “Let’s go!” says Manager Kyungsoo, with a laugh as she pats Shin’s arm.  She leads him out the studio after bidding everyone one last good-bye and to the elevator.  “Why don’t we go get something to eat before I drop you off at home?”

                Shin opened his mouth to say no, when he stopped himself.  He quickly thought for a moment.  He could go home now, but it would seem rude of him since Manager Kyungsoo has been so nice and looking out for his best interest lately.  And, it would seem like he’s too eager to get home when he’s supposed to be living alone…  He didn’t plan on dragging this modeling job this long.  He was just going to try it out for a month or two, to be honest, and then head to an engineering company.

            “Well?” laughs Manager Kyungsoon, bringing Shin out of his thoughts.

            “S-Sure.” he stutters, feeling like he wants to back out of the midnight dinner. 

            But, Sooyun is probably at home and waiting for me with dinner, he thought.  Feeling guilty, Shin quickly turns to Manager Kyungsoon.

            She blinks, surprised.  “What?” she asks, as he stares down at her.  She starts to laugh and that was when he knew that he has been staring for too long, mindlessly.  He tears his gaze away, as he prepares on what to say to her.  “What’s up with the long face, Shin?”

            He could feel her hand gently grip his elbow, to his dislike.  “I’m pretty tired…” he lies, as the elevator door opens and the garage was ahead of the pair.

            Shin quickly pulls his elbow out of Manager Kyungsoon’s hands as he steps out of the elevator.  “I just really want to sleep, to be honest.” he continues.

            “O-Oh.” says Manager Kyungsoon, dumbstruck.  She steps out of the elevator.  “If that’s the case, then why don’t we just grab something to eat on the road?  Like some ddukbokki and fish cakes?”

            Shin knows that she’s not going to let it go… 

            But, he knows that he can’t really complain…  There’s not much to complain about because Kyungsoon has always looked out for the best for him.  In addition, she was the one that suggested him to start modeling and about the agency.  Shin is thankful that she had done such a thing since modeling is fairly easy for him. 

            He has the perfect face, pefect body type, perfect height, and perfect angles.  It doesn’t take up a lot of energy and, yet, is lucrative.  He brings in more than enough money to make his girlfriend quit her dead end job and feel financially secured.  That was all he wanted with whatever job he was going to get.  And, modeling has done it for him.

                “That’s fine.” smiles Shin, softly, as they head over to the car.

                “Ajjuma!” calls out Manager Kyungsoo.

                “Yes?” the vendor replies.

                “Can I get a bottle of your best soju?” asks Manager Kyungsoo.

                “Of course!” replies the Ajjuma.

                “Noona,” says Shin, as he took a hold of her elbow.  “Why are you getting soju?”

                She turns to look at him.  “To celebrate, of course!” she smiles.  “You’re going to be big, Shin!”  And, then, she laughs.  She quickly opens the bottle of alcohol as soon as it arrived and poured it into the shot glass in front of Shin.  Then, she looks up at him.  “What’s wrong?  You don’t drink?”  She scoots closer to him and he could feel her body heat radiating from her. 

                He his lips, as he scoots away.  It’s not that he can’t drink; it’s just that he didn’t feel like it because he wanted to go home.  The thought of Sooyun waiting for him at home crosses his mind and he wants to get up and walk away.  He shook his head.

                “No, it’s not that.” replies Shin, as he pours some soju into her cup.

                Manager Kyungsoon starts to laugh and motioned them to down their drink.  Shin let out a gasp as the burning drink went down his esophagus and quickly put down the cup with a cling.  He could hear his manager laugh and he turns to look at her.

                “You don’t drink often, do you?” she asks, taking another shot.

                Shin smiles softly.  “No, I don’t.” he replies.

                “Oh, Shin~” laughs Manager Kyungsoon.  “I can’t believe that I thought that you were a 16 year old when I first saw you.”

                “Really?” he asked, surprised.  Manager Kyungsoon downed another shot.

                “Well, you have such an adorable baby face!  I still can’t believe you’re 20!!  It’s that baby face~!” she said, as she pinched his right cheek like she was cooing a baby.  “So cute, handsome, and perfect…  Like a fallen angel.”

                “I don’t look that good.” scoffs Shin, not taking the compliments.

                Manager Kyungsoon laughs as she takes another shot.  After she was done, she nuzzles into his shoulder.  “But, you are.  That’s why everyone likes you.” she says.

                “I’m pretty sure I have antis out there somewhere.” nods Shin, frowning at the skinship between his manager and him.  He tries to pull her hands off of his arm when a sudden outburst startled him.

                “Aish!!” said the vendor, before Manager Kyungsoon could say anything.  The lady’s tone is angry for an unknown reason.  “Your girlfriend is giving all these compliments and you’re just brushing it off like nothing!  What kind of ungrateful boyfriend are you, huh?!!”

                Shin’s face scrunches up.  Without even registering his actions, he quickly peeled Manager Kyungsoon’s fingers off of him.  He stood up so quickly that the plastic bar stool he was sitting in fell backwards.  The sound of the chair hitting the concrete ground brought him back to reality and he looks around him.  Manager Kyungsoon is wearing an angry face; meanwhile the vendor just stares at him in disbelief.  Shin could hear himself swallow hard as he looks up at the vendor.

                “I already have a girlfriend.” he admits and glances down at his manager.  “And, she’s at home waiting for me.”

                Without saying anything else, he just left after placing a 5,000 won bill on the table.

                He closes the door softly behind him and quickly locked it.  The small apartment is submerged mostly in darkness, but there is a dim ray of light from the lamp from living room.  He quickly slips off his sneakers and put on the slippers set out for him by the door.  He walks into the living room, hastily, but quietly. 

                Guilt washes over him as he stares at the food laid out for him on the coffee table.  Sooyun had covered the items to keep them warm, but he knows that by now, it has been long cold.  Not wanting to touch the food, he slips quietly into the bedroom.

                Even in the darkness, Shin could easily make out Sooyun.  She is sleeping on her futon and has laid out his for him when he came home.  He quickly went and lay down on the futon, next to her.  His hands touch her waist and she starts to stir.

                “Sooyun.” he whispers.  It feels good to finally be able to call out her name after a long day.

                She didn’t respond verbally...  Instead, she smiles brightly.  The dimple on her left cheek and cute eye smile appears, making Shin smile.  Even with the smile, his heart is still heavy with what had happened with Manager Kyungsoon.  He knows that it’s too late to keep his girlfriend up with something so little like this and he plans to tell her about how sorry he is about not coming home right away and Manager Kyungsoon…

                “I miss you.” he says.

                Her laughter gets muffled as he kisses her.  “It was only a day of work, Shin.” she states.  “What’s going to happen if you have jobs overseas?”

                “I don’t ever want to leave you.” replies Shin, as he pulls her close to his body.  “I want to be with you forever…”

                I just want to be with you, thought Shin.  Maybe it’s best to quit while I can…

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

                I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!!  ^^

                Yes, there’s a lot of drama up ahead….  :P

                But, I probably won’t be able to update for the upcoming week….  Sorry, you guys!  I’ll be spending time with family.  :)

LOVE,

loveFORyunho