“Oh, thank God,” Squinting my eyes to adjust the intensity of sunlight coming from my side, I hear a breath of relief. “Agasshi, are you okay?”

Glancing at the ceiling for another second, I eventually turn my head to the right, only to find one of my housemaids looking at me with worries in her eyes. “I’m fine.” I force a smile at her.

It’s just too hard for me to smile when he just had to appear again in my dream.

“Are you sure?” she asks again, and I give her a weak nod. She lets out a sigh and bows her body down politely. “I’m sorry to wake you up this early, but young master ordered me to wake you up now.”

“Is there something up?” I ask sitting up straight on the bed and shamelessly wiping away the stained tears on my cheeks. She has been seeing me crying for too many times, anyway.

“Yes, young master said there is a problem has to be fixed in his project in Paris. So he took a red eye flight last night. But he told you not to worry, and he will call you when he arrives there.”

Right after the housemaid finishes explaining, my phone goes off on the nightstand.

“Guess it’s him.” I reach for the phone and the housemaid takes her leave.

“Wow, sleepyhead, you’re up!” my older brother’s voice at the other line exclaims even before I said ‘hello’.

“Uhh, yes.” I laugh, attempting to cover up my croaked voice from crying. Which turns out to be a total failure.

“Wait,” his tone quickly drops into a serious one. “You’re crying?”

“What? I’m not.” I literally facepalm when my own voice betrays me.

“No, you’re not. You were.” He says matter-of-factly, followed by a heavy sigh. “What happened?” 

“Nothing did.” I shrug my shoulders, despite the imaginary bricks I feel on them, and quickly change the subject he’s pulled out. “Anyway, is there anything going wrong with your project in Paris?”

“Was it about the dream again?” he asks soothingly, trying not to sound too demanding.

I swallow down the hard lump sticking in my throat. He knows me too well.

“Oppa, I don’t want to talk about it.” I sigh and give him a sign to stop pulling out the topic. I realize telling him about my own problem would only invite the tears to pool in my eyes. With voice slightly trembling, I decide it’s best for me to just ask him straightly to the point. “So I’ll just have to replace you in work here, right?”

For some unknown reasons, my question silences him instead.

“Daeyoung Oppa?”

“Nayoung-ah, you don’t have to go.” He tells me slowly, almost guiltily.

For the umpteenth time in the morning, I let an exasperated sigh out of my lips. “I’m okay, Oppa. Really. I will go to the office.”

“But I don’t think you-” he stops himself.  

“I what?”

“Nothing.” He mumbles shortly. “It’s up to you whether you want to go or not.”

“I’ll go.” I say firmly. Obviously I’d prefer going to work than dulling on some stupid dream at home.

“Alright,” he sighs. “Today there’s going to be a meeting; a very important one. I hope you can handle everything.”

I frown at the words he emphasizes, but I just nod my head anyway. “Okay.”

“Butler Jeon will tell you about the rest, I’ve got to go now.” He says, and before hanging up, he adds, “Call me whenever you want, I’ll always have my phone activated. And... take care, princess.”

And then he hangs up without waiting for my reply. I stare at the phone for a little while. Why does Daeyoung sound so weird? He rarely calls me ‘princess’ and never activates his phone when he’s at work – he hates distractions at work. As if he is hiding something from me.

I wonder what’s happening there in Paris. Or, in here.

After I did my morning routine, I change my pajamas into a pair of blouse and skirt, wearing a light make-up, slipping on my heels and grab the papers for today’s meeting from Daeyoung’s study room. For I don’t have the appetite to eat breakfast, I skip the strawberry pancake prepared on the dining table. I hop on the car with butler Jeon and he starts explaining the CV of the corporation we’ll have to meet later on.

“Agasshi, on today’s meeting, the agenda is to make several rough plans of working together with LJS group. The contract has been settled down by young master, so we’ll be discussing about how the collaboration of our team and their team works.” He explains, before telling me the details about the project we’ll be working on with them.

I nod my head as I flip through the CV papers. LJS group. They’re working in construction industry and have started widening their wings to the apartment and hotel business. Their progress is really good; they keep enlarging their international branches. And apparently LJS is named under Lee Jinseok, the founder and the current CEO of the company.

Strangely, the name sounds familiar to me.

“We’re here, Agasshi.” Butler Jeon tells me, before hopping off the car and running to open my door.

We step in the building and the workers who walk pass by me smile and greet me politely. Although some of them don’t.

“Oh my God he’s the cutest thing ever!” a group of girls are giggling excitedly when I step in the elevator. They don’t even notice me there, probably too absorbed with whatever it is they are talking. 

“Did you see his smile? God, I was melted there!” a girl exclaims, staring dreamily at the elevator door when it closes down.

“Of course! That was such a nice view in the morning!” the other one replies with the same expression. “And he is, what, a CEO? At that very young age? I’ve always thought handsome and young CEOs only can be found in dramas.”

“He’s perfect.” Her friend nods her head in approval, and the girls continue giggling.

Since I’m so used to hearing girls gossiping about my brother, I’m sure the girls are currently talking about him again. Daeyoung has attracted most of the girls’ attention ever since he started working here that it’s not weird anymore to hear girls being all giggly when they are talking about him. But then one of them asks, “What’s his name, anyway?”

I unconsciously raise an eyebrow. That means they are not talking about Daeyoung – it’s not possible for employees not to know their own CEO’s name, right?

“Oh? I don’t know. But he left his name card to secretary Kim, I guess.”

“Good.” Her friend grins. “Do you think he has a girlfriend already?”

“Are you kidding me? That’s a magic if he doesn’t.”

“Well we have a magic here. Look at President Kang Daeyoung. He’s a CEO, absoloutely perfect, and hasn’t had himself a girlfriend.” One of the girls retorts as the elevator door opens up for our floor.

“Oh, you have a point there.” The troupe laughs, stepping out of the elevator and walking to the opposite direction from us.

I look at butler Jeon who merely shakes his head at the girls’ attitude. “Who do you think they are talking?” I ask, internally questioning where this curiosity comes from. I don’t usually get interested with gossips, to be honest.

“Probably it’s about LJS’s CEO.” He answers as we walk along the hallway and make a left turn to the meeting room.

“Lee Jinseok?” my eyes slightly widen. “I thought he is 68-year-old?”

“Lee Jinseok is the CEO of the whole LJS group. But our project is only with their hospitality division, so the CEO will be different. I heard Mr. Lee has inherited the division to one of his grandsons.” Butler Jeon explains, and I absent-mindedly nod my head.

When we finally reach the meeting room, two workers who stand by the door greet me. “Good morning Miss Nayoung. LJS group is waiting for you inside.”

Smiling, I nod my head as they slowly open the door for me, revealing a long, large table with many black seats surrounding it. My eyes scan the whole room and I notice a few people have already seated inside, taking in their conversations.

But I abruptly stop at the moment my gaze lands on a certain someone. A guy, that is. And he immediately catches my attention. His back is facing me, but he looks... frighteningly familiar.

There is something in his figure that makes me afraid to step any further.

When a black-suited guy whispers something to the said guy, probably informing him about my arrival, he gets on his feet and turns his body to me – only to get me shocked.

There he is. Lee Hyukjae. Standing by the large table and looking at me with jaws tightened, he presses a smile on his lips.

For a few seconds of exchanging glances, everything and everyone in the room seem to be blurred out in my sight. There’s only me and him. But as his brown orbs penetrate straight into my eyes, my heart starts beating unbelievably fast and my knees start giving up on me.

And that, is the cue for me to run out.

“Wait, Miss Kang Nayoung!” I hear a few shouts behind me as I run away as fast as I can. But I can’t stop. My feet can’t stop. I just want to run away from this.

This is crazy.

It’s not that I’m not aware when I feel my lungs need a proper amount of oxygen, when people look at me in confusion, when my feet are hurting because of how fast I’m running on these heels. No, I’m aware of all of them. But I couldn’t careless. I just need to get away from him. If it’s a dream, then I need to wake up soon. It just... hurts too much.

Eventually, I storm into a restroom two floors away from the meeting room. Looking at the mirror, hands planted on the edge of the sink for support, I gasp for air, trying to absorb everything happened.

But I still can’t.

What is he doing there? I run my fingers through my hair exasperatedly and feel my heart beating like crazy. Is this still a dream? As in, part of my dream earlier?

But it doesn’t seem like it. He was not wearing a suit in my dream. He was still looking like a university student in my dream. He was still – the 20-year-old Hyukjae. Who bid his goodbye to me for his dreams.

The Hyukjae that I saw just now is completely different. He’s more mature. He’s taller, his body is more built, and he has different hairstyle now. But he still has that beautiful, innocent face. His eyes are still as sparkly as they used to be...

God, what am I thinking? I should be thinking why he is showing up here, in my office, when a very important meeting is about to-

“Oh my God,” I gasp, reflexively cupping my mouth when something hits me.

The CEO Lee Jinseok.

And Lee Hyukjae.

Their surnames are same. Can I be anymore stupid? The exact reason why Lee Jinseok sounds really familiar to me is because he is Hyukjae’s grandfather. And it’s not like I don’t personally know him. How could I forget it!

I bite on my lower lip hard, starting to get a headache. So I’ll have to work with Hyukjae.

Just thinking about it makes my throat hurt.

I squeeze my eyes shut as my hands subconsciously tighten their grips on the sink. “What have I gotten myself into?” 

Hellooo, the second chapter's up! :D

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She meets our Hyukjae agaaiiin, woohooo, I'm gonna start the drama >_<

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