The Escape
Chapter Four
*
We meet again
*

One week.

That’s how long it had taken Taeyang to track down Yuri and where she worked. Yeah, he knew this was getting stalkerish, but he needed to talk to her. He had called her a number of times making sure to leave a voicemail for her to call him back. The first time he dialled, he was surprised that Yuri still used the same number which she had 5 years ago. He was expecting her to have changed numbers judging by her dislike of him that night one week ago.

Now, here he stood at the lobby of the Park&Associates building, asking for the whereabouts of Kwon Yuri, the advertising director of the international corporation, was located. So she had gone in to work in the corporate world, he thought to himself when he first received the news from the private investigator whom he had hired. She had given up on her love for music. What a pity, she was so good at it too.

"Miss Kwon is located on the 36th floor, sir," the young woman at the help desk answered.

*

"Oppa!"

At the sound of her voice, he stopped staring at the computer screen in his office at Kim Enterprises, and jerked his head towards the direction in which the voice came from. It was funny, really, how Tiffany affected him so much. Yeah, they may be engaged, but he'd never get used to the sweet sound of 'oppa' singing out of her lips.

"How on earth did you fall into my arms Tiffany Hwang?" he smiled at her. It was a question that he had asked himself many times. Of all the girls in Korea that he could have fallen in love with, it was Tiffany Hwang. She was perfect. An angel.

"I'd like to say that I fell from the heaven's above, but then again, I don’t think you'd believe me," she joked. "Come on, we have an appointment with Nichkhun and Victoria soon. I don’t want to be late," she whined.

*

"Victoria unnie, Mr Kim and Miss Hwang are here to see you," Jei phoned her boss through the phone from the front desk.

"Awesome, thanks Jei. Bring 'em in!"

Jei led the pair through the boutique store, 'Happy Days' which was a wedding and event planning one-stop-shop. Owned by Victoria and Nichkhun Horvejkul, close friends of Jay Park and his brothers. A well respected one-stop-shop, Victoria and Nichkhun had done well for themselves considering how Happy days had only been established for a few years, after  Nichkhun had decided to leave Park&Associates and the corporate world to work hand in hand with his wife. Futhermore, Park&Associates was more of a family company. Although he was considered as one of the unofficially adopted sons of Kim Wonhee, he always felt like he didn’t deserve one of the high paid jobs at the company. His heart was never really in it either, as photography was his real passion.

"Victoria unnie!" Tiffany's voice carried through the small store that belonged to the couple.

"Tiffany!" Victoria greeted her friend with a bright smile. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"That's because ever since you got married to this guy, Tiffany pointed at Nichkhun, you guys never seem to come around to visit anymore!" she pouted.

"I heard from Taec that you guys have finally decided to get hitched. Congratulations man!" Nichkhun said.

"And that’s why we're here!" Hyun Joong smiled. "She wants you guys to organise the big day," he pointed at Tiffany who had insisted that the day's organising went to Victoria and Nichkhun.

"Sit down you two!" Victoria urged the couple. "I'd imagine that you both want Yoona to be your photographer," Victoria said. She had found out of Yoona's relationship to Kim Hyun Joong the first time he had come into the store for lunch with the freelance photographer. It wasn’t surprising, really. She had come to admire Yoona's sense of style and guessed that she had come from a wealthy background from the clothing labels which she had worn to work. Although she never wore clothes that screamed she was wealthy, the eyes of a fashionista could always tell apart the difference between common labels sold everywhere and high-end labels which were sold in selected stores. "But she's out on a job at the moment. Nonetheless, I can always catch her up on what we discuss today," Victoria smiled at her friends.

"Um, actually, if it's okay with Hyun Joong," Tiffany began to protest as she gave Hyun Joong a side glance. "I'd actually rather have Chansung be our photographer on the day. It's not that I don’t admire Yoona's talent at photography, I mean I love her to bits, but I'd rather have her as a guest enjoying the event than have to run around taking pictures for us. I want her to enjoy the day as the sister of the groom than as a photographer. But I definitely want Yoona to be the one taking our engagement photos!" she explained. "I won't take no for an answer!" Tiffany hastily added.

Hyun Joong grinned and took his love's hand in hers. "It seems like I really am marrying the right person! I didn’t even think of that. It's perfect!"

"That's no problem at all!" Victoria smiled at the two. "Okay, now let's get down to business on organising your big day…"

It was almost lunch by the time the meeting with Victoria and Nichkhun had finished. Dates, colour schemes, time, etc etc had all been picked. All that was left to do now was to take engagement photos, confirm the venue and pick out a wedding dress.

"We finished just in time for lunch. Care to join me and Victoria for lunch you two?" Nichkhun asked.

Hyun Joong smiled. "Would love too! You and I both have catching up to do," he laughed.

*

There was a knock on her door that almost interrupted her concentration on analysing this month's increases in revenue from advertisements. As the advertising director of Park&Associates, she had to keep a close eye on any fluctuation in the company's revenue, and from there, come up with advertising strategies along with the team that she lead, to increase money coming into the company. It was a demanding job, but she loved the constant challenges that it brought.

It was much like the challenges that she had encountered with music. Emphasis on 'had encountered'. Music was her past now.

"Come in!" she yelled to whoever was at her door, not looking up from her computer screen. Yuri heard the door creak open and when she tore her eyes from her computer screen thinking it was her secretary, she was shocked.

Taeyang. And he was smirking.

That can't be good.

Flustered, she picked up the phone in her office to get hold of her secretary. "Uh, Ji-Eun, what is Mr Dong doing in my office?"

He saw the look of shock on her face. It amused him really. He had missed those looks when he was in the States.

"Oh, he rang yesterday and booked an appointment with you for lunch today. He said he had some business to discuss with you, but he wouldn’t tell me what. I thought I told you this morning?"

"Oh, sorry I must've not been paying any attention," she thought for a moment. "Do I have any appointments after lunch?"

"There was originally going to be a meeting with the directors at 2PM, but it's been postponed to until after Mr Park gets back from overseas hotel inspections."

"I see," she replied and sighed before continuing. "I probably won't be back in the office after lunch. You can take the rest of the day off if you want. Don’t worry, you'll still be paid."

*

'Ah, finally!' Yoona thought to herself. Her job as a photographer at a corporate event was finally over. Her stomach grumbled to life. 'And just in time for lunch too' she laughed to herself. Surveying her surroundings as she left the corporate event, she realised she was close to the place where Yuri worked. Though she had never visited her unnie at work before, she thought she might give her sister a surprise and take her out to lunch.

Whistling, she caught a taxi. "Where to Miss?"

"Park&Associates building, thanks ajushii," she directed.

-

"Which level is Kwon Yuri located on?" Yoona asked the helpdesk. She remembered that Yuri had told her before, but for some reason, Yoona couldn’t recall what it was.

"Miss Kwon is located on our 36th floor, Miss. You can take the elevator to get there,"

-

As she made her way out of the elevator, getting off at the 36th floor, she noticed that some of the office workers were out on their lunch break. 'Just my luck,' Yoona smiled to herself, sure that Yuri would be in her office. Yuri was known for being someone that left for lunch only after everyone else had left.

"Ji-Eun!" Yoona greeted as she saw the familiar face of Lee Ji-Eun. She had been around to their apartment a number of times before, and was considered a friend of both Yoona and Yuri, even though Yuri was the one who she worked for.

"Oh!" A surprised Ji-Eun called out. "Yoona! Are you here for Yuri?" Yoona nodded. "I'm sorry, but you just missed her. She just went out for lunch with someone for a meeting,"

"Nevermind then," Yoona smiled. "What about you? Are you free for lunch?"

"I'd love to come," Ji-Eun smiled. "But unfortunately, I need to take my pet turtle to the vet. Maybe next time?"

"Fine then, you all go and ditch me," she pouted.

"Awww, don’t be like that Yoong," the other chuckled.

"Go and take your precious turtle to the vet! I've just thought of someone else to have lunch with,"

Yoona's childish side of her amused Ji-Eun. "Okay, well if you don’t have any more questions, I'll get going now,"

"Wait! What floor is Ok Taecyeon on?"

-

"Mr Ok, someone called Im Yoona is looking for you. She doesn’t have an appointment with you though," Taecyeon heard through the speaker of his phone in his office. The sudden call had interrupted his conversation with his brother, Wooyoung.

"Isn't that Hyun Joong hyung's sister?" Wooyoung asked his brother, who nodded.

"Send her in," Taecyeon called.

-

As she stepped into Taecyeon's office, she noticed that Wooyoung was also in there as well as just how big his office was. The floor to ceiling windows behind Taecyeon's desk showed a breathtaking view of the city of Seoul, and she imagined just how beautiful it would look at night when the lights of various skyscrapers twinkled like stars in the night sky. "Oh. Wooyoung oppa is here too? Am I interrupting?" she quickly asked the two men.

"Of course not!" Taecyeon quickly responded from behind his desk. "Although, I wasn’t expecting to see you here Yoona,"

"I came to find unnie for lunch, but it seems like I'm a step behind because she's already gone out for lunch," Yoona explained.

Noticing she was still standing, Wooyoung pointed at the empty seat beside him. "Yoona, what are you doing still standing? Sit down!" He motioned at the chair, and she sat down.

"So what about you two?" she cocked her head at them both. "Free for lunch?"

"It's lunchtime already?" Wooyoung hurriedly checked his watch. "Aish! Hyung, Yoona, I'm sorry. I gotta go. I need to take my turtle to the vet,"

Before Taecyeon and Yoona could answer, Wooyoung got out of his seat and ran out of Taecyeon's office.

"That's funny," Taecyeon said. "He doesn’t have a turtle…" and pointed at the direction of Wooyoung.

"I don’t care if he has a turtle or not oppa!" Yoona pouted, breaking Taecyeon's mind which was still going back and forth, seeing if he remembered a turtle. "You won't ditch a lunch date with me like Yuri, Ji-Eun and Wooyoung oppa did, right oppa? Right?" she started to get hysterical and Taecyeon could not help but laugh.

"What will it be for lunch Miss Im? Italian? Japanese?"

She huffed. "Yeah, I might come from a wealthy background, but don't stereotype me as one of those fancy food eating people," A mischievous grin formed as she thought of the meal they had together after the ball last week. He had offered to take her home after the ball had ended after spending almost the entire night in each other's company. It was funny how they got along so well. Their stomachs grumbling, Taecyeon decided to call into a fast food joint as a pit stop on the way. Yoona recalled how he had non-stop for eating so much, for such a small person. The childish side of her had kicked in. "Spicy rice cakes!"

'Let's see if you can keep that shirt of yours clean,' she thought with a playful smile, revenge on her mind.

He noticed that her eyes twinkled mischief. 'She's up to something,' he thought.

*

Silence screamed between the two ex-lovers over the lunch table. After Taeyang had unexpectedly turned up for a lunch date with Yuri, he had taken her to a grand restaurant which was famous for its grilled octopus balls. However, things did not seem to be getting any better than their last meeting as Yuri had not said a word to him at all after they left her office at Park&Associates. Even so at that time, the only thing which Yuri had said to him with a cold look was, "If it's lunch you're after, then lunch we shall have. But please understand that there is nothing left between us. So if you don’t mind, I’d prefer you to leave me alone after today."  She had avoided his gaze throughout the ride there, and now she did the same as they sat opposite to each other after the waiter had left with their orders. He could only sigh and loosen his tie in frustration.

"So you gave up on music," he couldn’t take the silence any longer, it was doing his head in.

She didn’t say anything, and just gave him the silent treatment. He sighed again before rubbing his temples in frustration. "Do you hate me that much that we can't even have a decent conversation?"

"Taeyang-ssi," Yuri finally broke her silence. "It's not hate, it's just that there's nothing left for us to talk about. Let's be realistic. We both come from different worlds. You're stuck in the past. You need to move on. Leave us in the past. Don't open up old wounds, it's not worth it,"

Finally. They were making progress.

"You think I haven't tried to forget you?" Taeyang let out a laugh. "I've tried Yuri, believe me. I have tried. I've spent five years abroad, studying and working in the States. But there hasn’t been one day where I haven't thought of you. I know, it's my fault for leaving without a trace, otherwise we would not be here today. But I'm back, and I'm back for good. I'm not going anywhere without you, and we're not leaving here until you and I resolve this issue between us,"

"There is no 'us' anymore Taeyang-ssi. There hasn’t been an us for a very long time,"

"No, that's where you're wrong Yuri. There's still an us, and you know that too. You need to come out of your shell and break down that barrier you've built between us, because I'll say it again honey, we're not leaving until this issue is resolved,"

She sighed. 'You may as well talk to him,' she started to convince herself. 'Get some answers out of him. You've been looking at that picture of you two every night since he left. You obviously still feel something for him. You've got the afternoon off, just talk it out with him, Yuri.' Slowly, Yuri brought herself to look him in the eye and forget about the pain that he caused. "How are Aunty and Uncle?"

He smiled. She was coming out of her shell. "They're fine thanks. Mum and Dad's names have just been cleared, hence why I decided to come back to Korea and find you,"

She nodded her head as she took in the information. "So what are you doing now? Did you finish your studies in the States?"

He waited for the wait staff to place their food down before he replied. "Yeah, I'm good. I finished my studies at NYU actually. I'm working at YG Entertainment now, as a music producer and composer with Teddy's help,"

"So you continued with music," she said more for herself.

*

"Taecyeon oppa, drop me off here and you go find a spot to park your car," Yoona pointed to a loading station just a few blocks from where Yoona had wanted to go to get spicy rice cakes for lunch. They can been circling the area for a car park for a few minutes.

"Okay, I'll drop you off here," Taecyeon pulled his car up to the curb. "And I'll come find you as soon as I find a spot,"

-

As Yoona wandered down the streets of Seoul, she found the nice cosy little snack shop and ordered for three servings of spicy rice cake as well as kimchi for side dishes. 'Fingers crossed it's enough to feed the both of us,' she thought to herself. As Yoona sat herself down at a free table in the small snack shop, something out of the corner of her eye stopped her from reading the little menu book which sat at the centre of the table. 'Crap,' she muttered to herself, quickly reaching for her phone. 'Pick up pick up,' she spoke to herself desperately.

"Yoona, I'm on my-" Before Taecyeon could finish his sentence to tell her he was on his way over, Yoona quickly interrupted him with a shaky voice.

"Oppa, do you… do you think you could run here?"

Sensing her shakiness in her voice, Taecyeon was concerned. "Is everything okay Yoona?"

Yoona attempted to calm herself down with breathing exercises, but they did not work as she started to feel dizzy. "Please oppa, just get here quickly," she whispered into her cellphone. "I can see Lee Seunggi-ssi,"

"Yoona, stay on the line with me, okay? Has he seen you yet?"

"I don't think so,"

"Turn your back so that you're not facing him and he can't see you okay? I'm almost there. Don't turn back around until I find you, got it?"

"O..Okay," She did as she was told.

Taecyeon heard the fear that was in her usually bright and cheerful voice. "Now close your eyes and count to ten. I'll tap your right shoulder when I'm there," Taecyeon saw the same man that had been bothering Yoona last week just a few metres in front of him. From last week's encounter with Yoona on the street, he had learnt that the guy, Lee Seung-gi had been claiming that Yoona was his girlfriend, but in reality, it was just a case of mistaken identity. Yoona had explained that they had never met before, and that she had found him following her on several occasions. 'What sort of man is mental enough to freak a girl out?' he thought to himself. From his estimates, it would be hard for Yoona to get away without Lee Seung-gi following as he was standing right outside the door of the snack shop.

She felt a tap on her right shoulder just as she made it to ten. "It's okay, it's just me," she heard Taecyeon's voice as a whisper in her ear as her eyes were still closed. It was surprising just how soothing his voice was to her beating heart.

"Oppa," she began to say, but her voice shook.

He recognised the look of fear, and somehow felt that Yoona was on the verge of tears. "It's okay Yoona," he started to comfort her. "He can't see you because I'm standing here. Do you have a hair tie on you?" He heard her breathing even up again as she reached for the hair tie that was on her wrist, and gave it to him. He proceeded to tie her hair in a low bun with the elastic, wrapping his scarf around her and sunglasses after wards. Taecyeon noticed how Yoona's fragile figure still shook, and took off his blazer, helping Yoona into it, before kneeling down in front of her. "He can’t recognise you now," Taecyeon smiled. "Let's go get lunch somewhere else, shall we?" Without waiting for a reply, he apologised to the ahjumma which owned the snack shop and led Yoona out of the small shop with his hand on the small of her back, his figure close to hers, to shield Lee Seung-gi from recognising and following the two to his car.

Needless to say, Yoona was thankful for his presence.

*

He could smell the scent of home as he walked through the doors of the Kim household, only to be greeted by the scolding voice of his adoptive mother, Kim Wonhee.

"Ok Taecyeon! It's about time you came home! Once every two weeks is not good enough! I also just got off the phone with your mother in Boston. She said the last time you called her and your father was last week! You need to call them more often, kid! I didn’t bring you up to be someone to neglect their parents!"

"Woah, woah Mother Won, calm down." Taecywon approached her. "I've been busy with work lately, I haven't had time to come visit you, and make calls to Mum and Dad in Boston. Tell you what, I'll give them a call right after we all have dinner, okay?"

"I knew I shouldn’t have let you move out!" Wonhee continued her motherly drabble. "Look how skinny you've got!"

"Mother Won!" The two heard Junho yell from the dinner table. "Quit your drabble and let Taec hyung come over to eat!" It was Wednesday night, 2 days after the second encounter with Lee Seung-gi. Taecyeon had decided to return to the Kim house for their fortnightly family dinner. Out of all the boys that Wonhee had taken under his wing, Taecyeon was the only one to have moved out so far, hence the need for the family tradition of a fortnightly family dinner.

"There's a reason he hasn’t been visiting lately, Mother Won," Minjun smirked whilst helping Wooyoung to set the table.

"He's been getting friendly with a gi~rl," Wooyoung sang while prancing around with chopsticks.

Flabbergasted, Taecyeon stood in shock. "Yah! What are you two talking about? What girl? I don’t know what you two are talking about!"

"Girl?" Wonhee asked her boys. "Who is she?"

"Hyun Joong oppa's younger sister, Yoona, Aunt Wonny," Tiffany added to the teasing, coming into the dining room from the kitchen with dishes of food in her hands.

"Yah! Ok Taecyeon! You better be treating her well if she's Hyun Joong's little sister!" Wonhee warned her son.

"Mother Won! Don’t listen to these people! They're just making things up!" Wonhee gave him a look telling him she wasn’t buying it. "We only went out for lunch the other day! As friends!" He gave in.

That night when Taecyeon got back to his own apartment, there was one thing that was constantly on his mind, preventing sleep from reaching him. Im Yoona. To say he was worried about her was an understatement. He was petrified to say the least. The actions of that afternoon had lingered in his mind, as he recalled just how shaken Yoona had become after she had spotted Lee Seung-gi. It worried him, it really did. She mentioned that Lee Seung-gi had been following her these past few months, but how often and to what extent, she wouldn’t say. "Aish! Im Yoona, you are worrisome,"

*

Kim Hyun Joong stood outside the door to Yuri and Yoona's apartment. 'How are they going to react to what I've got to say' he wondered. Mustering up the courage, he heaved a sigh before pushing the doorbell. "Coming!" he heard Yoona yell.

Yoona peeked through the door peephole, and to her surprise, it was her brother who stood outside the door. "Oppa?!" she said with a shock of surprise as she opened the door for him to come in. "What brings you here this late at night? Is something wrong?"

He ignored her questions. "Is Yuri home too? I have something important which I need to discuss with the both of you,"

She eyed her brother. It wasn’t like him to be so serious, it wasn’t like him to not even say hello to her. "Yeah, she's in her room. I'll go get her. Do you want anything to drink? There's wine, juice and water in the fridge. Just go help yourself,"

-

"Yuri unnie," Yoona came through the door. "Hyun Joong oppa is here, and he says he wants to discuss something with us. Though I'm not sure what…"

"Eh? He didn’t call before coming like he usually does, I wonder what it is,"

-

"Oppa!" Yuri came into the living with Yoona towing behind.

"Yuri," he smiled up at the two young girls from his seat on the comfy blue sofa. "Sit down you two,"

"Oppa, what's wrong? This sounds serious," Yoona commented as she sat on the ground. Yuri on the other hand, decided to take the empty seat next to Hyun Joong on the sofa.

"Well," he sighed. "It is kind of serious. I think. I want to talk to you both about selling the mansion,"

Yuri gently took hold of his arm. "Are you sure about this, oppa?" She knew how much he valued the mansion. It was where he spent his whole life with his parents and his grandfather. Unfortunately, due to an airplane crash on the way to Hawaii for their anniversary, he had lost his parents. Yuri knew that the house was of great value as it held so many memories of his family.

"I've thought about it long and hard. It doesn’t look like the two of you will be moving back in, and it's too big to have just me and the housekeepers to live in. I want to sell it, so that another family can enjoy the place."

"But then where will you and Tiffany unnie live when you get married?" Yoona asked.

"We've been looking at a few apartments in the city already. Tiffany and I went to go put a down payment on the penthouse we wanted the day after we were at Happy Days anyway, so we're pretty much sorted."

"But what about the housekeepers? What will they do when we sell? They won't have jobs anymore," Yoona pointed out. During her days at the Kim mansion, she had grown to become close with each of the housekeepers. She found them as interesting people who always had life stories to tell Yoona. Frankly speaking, they were like family to her, especially Nanny Shin, who had taken care of the three children when their Grandfather was busy working at the company. As youngsters, the three children would often make things difficult for the elderly woman, however, she did not once raise her voice when speaking with them.

"I've thought about that too, Yoona," he smiled. What a nice, innocent and pure hearted girl she had grown up to be. He was proud of who both Yoona and Yuri had grown up to be. Young women with kind hearts, who cared about others and had a sense of direction in life. His grandfather would be proud of who they had become. "Don't worry about them Yoona," he scruffed her hair. "I'm going to offer them jobs at as housekeepers and all sorts at our company. Besides, Nanny Shin has mentioned more than a few times that she's been wanting to retire, this will be the perfect opportunity for her to do so and enjoy the perks of life, and I doubt that she's the only one who had been considering to retire,"

"I'm going to be sad to see Nanny Shin go, she's been with us for so long,"  Yuri chimed in. "But I'm in support of selling it too if Yoona is,"

Yoona shrugged. "Hyun Joong oppa, I trust you enough to know what you're doing. Selling it is!"

He smiled at the two. "Sweet then. If we can empty our stuff out this weekend, I can hand it over to the real estate agency soon so that another family can enjoy the scenery which the house has to offer,"

"We will be over after work on Friday!" Yoona and Yuri said happily.

*

Its finally here! Hahaha, reaaaaally long chapter this time, but hey! LuvFFWorld said they preferred longer chapters, SO THIS IS DEDICATED TO YOU! It got to the point where this was 8 pages long on Microsoft Word...lets just say I didn't know where to stop hahaha

Also, thank you to Taecyeon_Taeyang and ginykish for your help on the spelling of Jay Park's name, much appreciated :))