"Hei-Ryung, please come out! I'm so sorry, sir. Do you want me to get you some napkins? Hei-Ryung?! Where is a waiter when you need one? You can send me the dry cleaning bill... Hei-Ryung, open the door!" With the constant switching between coaxing Hei-Ryung out of the bathroom and appeasing her boss, Seulki worried that her poor brain was going to end up suffering from whiplash. "Come on, Hei-Ryung! A little coffee never hurt anyone... right, sir?" Hesitantly, Seulki turned to the CEO with a tentative smile. Under the circumstances, it was absolutely nerve-wracking to ask his opinion, but if he agreed that everything was fine than Hei-Ryung might be willing to leave the bathroom.

     Without looking up from the growing brown stain that had been juxtaposed onto his crisp white dress shirt, Ji Suk briefly nodded. When the expectant atmosphere around Seulki failed to dissipate, he glanced up from his stain so that a little bit more attention could be afforded to the situation. "No, of course not," he agreed, running a hand through his hair. The man had gone straight from ground zero to step two! If Seulki didn't get her infuriating author out of that bathroom soon, then Kang Ji Suk would be walking right out that door with one heck of a story to tell the board members.

     "The girl locked herself in the bathroom after spilling a little coffee? She's hardly the personification of professionalism we expect around here, eh?" Seulki could imagine any one of the board members saying something along those lines, and using their words to drive the final nail into Hei-Ryung's coffin. "Hei-Ryung," Seulki moaned, half-heartedly thumping on the door with her palm.

     "Is he gone?" Hei-Ryung's voice was drawn taught, like a rubber band on the verge of snapping.

     "Hei-Ryung, please. I know that right now it seems like the best solution is to run away from the problem, but you're really going to regret letting Mr. Kang walk out of here. So can you please come out and we'll work something-"

     "Ms. Lee?" Squeezing her eyes shut, Seulki took half-a-moment to herself before turning to face Ji Suk, who had just addressed her. "If Ms. Cha is uncomfortable, then we can always schedule another meeting later." His voice sounded like the hammering of a nail into wood and dirt being shoveled onto a coffin all in one, and it made Seulki's heart sink. She knew that the board was going to ask him about Hei-Ryung- they always did, and with promotions for her new book coming up they would actually have an excuse this time- and as CEO of the company, Mr. Kang would be obligated to tell them the truth about her situation. It wasn't as though Seulki could ask him to cover for Hei-Ryung, either. The man would never lie.

     "Thank you for your time, then, Mr. Kang. And I apologize for Hei-Ryung's behavior. She hasn't been feeling herself lately, but I'm sure that-"

     "I'll call you later about scheduling another appointment," Ji Suk interrupted, bowing politely to Seulki and even bobbing a quick bow to the bathroom door. "It was a pleasure being able to finally meet you in person, Ms. Cha." And then he was gone, out the door without another word or glance at Seulki.

     Slowly breathing in and out, Seulki dragged her feet back to the table and slumped into the nearest seat. Through this meeting she had been hoping to show Mr. Kang all the wonderful qualities of Hei-Ryung and thus boost her image, but instead she had let Hei-Ryung slip through her fingers into the depths of writer's hell. It was only a matter of time now before Seulki would once again be toe-to-toe with the board, acting as Hei-Ryung's first and only line of defense against their dogged attempts to kick her out of the company. Seulki wished it was something she wasn't so familiar with.

     Holding her head in her hands, Seulki barely noticed the click of the bathroom door's lock. Unmoving, Seulki listened to Hei-Ryung's shuffling footsteps as she left the bathroom, and the agonizingly slow creaking of the door as Hei-Ryung carefully closed it. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shu- "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the meeting we just had?" Seulki asked, interrupting Hei-Ryung mid-step.

     "Zero," Hei-Ryung replied, her guilt-ridden voice surprisingly steady. "I really am sorry. When I spilled the coffee all over him and ruined his shirt, I had to get away. It felt like I was going to die," from anyone else, this would be the epitome of hyperbole. Hei-Ryung wasn't the type of person who overstated the facts, though. At least not outside of her writing. If she said that she felt as though she were dying, then Seulki had no choice but believe that the girl really was in the middle of a panic-attack.

     Raising her head, Seulki took a good look at Hei-Ryung. Surprised by the sudden scrutinization, Hei-Ryung lowered her eyes to the floor and refused to make eye contact with Seulki. Both Hei-Ryung's face and eyes were red, from embarrassment and crying respectively, and her hair was horribly disheveled. She had removed her cardigan during her time in the bathroom, probably to try and relieve some of the intense heat she would have been feeling, and it was now hung unceremoniously over her arms, which were folded tightly around her mid-section. All-in-all, Hei-Ryung was the perfect picture of a hot mess.

     Only able to sigh, Seulki stood and quickly closed the distance between her and Hei-Ryung. Startled, Hei-Ryung tried to back away, but her balance was off and she could only manage to sway slightly. "Don't worry about it, Hei-Ryung. We can always try again another time," Seulki assured her, gently prying Hei-Ryung's arms apart. Then she focused on unclenching Hei-Ryung's fists, and as her stiff fingers were pulled back they revealed deep, dark red, crescent moon shaped marks in the palms. Shame darkened Hei-Ryung's face when she, too, noticed the marks and she quickly cradled her hands to her chest, hiding the evidence of her distress from Seulki.

     "C-Can you still take me home?" Hei-Ryung mumbled with guilty hope.

     "That's what I promised, isn't it?" Seulki answered with another question as she wrapped one arm around Hei-Ryung's shoulders. She was surprised to feel the girl still shaking. "Come on, we can talk some more in the car," she urged, gently pushing Hei-Ryung in the direction of the door.

     By the time they reached the parking garage, Seulki had already gotten an earful of apologies from Hei-Ryung. And while she appreciated that Hei-Ryung felt badly about her behavior, Seulki would rather she didn't act up in the first place. After all, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. And it always ended with the same conclusion, too. Apologies from Hei-Ryung, and then a few days of not hearing from the girl when she locked herself in her apartment to calm down. Seulki honestly had no idea why she even kept trying to change things, beyond being completely insane.

     "I really am sorry. My mind just blanked out and I couldn't stay there for another second without-"

     "Hei-Ryung," Seulki interrupted, rummaging in her pocket for the keys, "it's fine. I understand." Her voice didn't sound very understanding, though. After unlocking the driver's side door to her Honda Fit, Seulki slid into the driver's seat and waited for Hei-Ryung to get in on the opposite side. It took her a minute, but as Seulki pulled her door shut Hei-Ryung opened the other. "Like I said, we can always set up another meeting with Mr. Kang," Seulki repeated, this time trying not to sound so short with Hei-Ryung. She honestly did understand that it wasn't entirely the girl's fault that she reacted the way she did, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel impatient with Hei-Ryung.

     Seulki had tried being patient with Hei-Ryung since day one, but it always seemed that things spiraled out of control far too easily. Whether it was running away from a situation, like today, or simply ignoring the problem altogether, Hei-Ryung always seemed to give in to her flight response without ever considering the second option. She was self-destructing, and was beginning to drag Seulki down with her. Seulki had hoped that Hei-Ryung would elevate her career, but instead it seemed that she was forcing the image of an uppity assistant editor who insisted on holding onto both her pride and a useless writer.

     From the corner of her eye, she watched as Hei-Ryung carefully clicked her seatbelt and then began wringing her hands nervously. "It's impossible to stay mad at this girl for too long," Seulki thought, turning on the car and twisting around in her seat so she could back out. "We can't exactly avoid the problem, though. I can't keep babying her like this. At least not if I want to keep her- and me- working under Nalgae," she continued reasoning, her eyes focused out the windshield as she pulled out onto the road.

     "Do you think there's something wrong with me?" Hei-Ryung suddenly asked, her nervous ticks disappearing as quickly as they had come. "And I want your honest opinion," she added, turning in her seat so she could directly face Seulki. This swing in moods was something Seulki absolutely hated, because it always made her head spin trying to keep up. One minute Hei-Ryung would be an insecure, emotionally damaged youth who needed protecting, and the next she would be an independant, level-headed young lady who- while slightly awkward- could certainly hold her own. Seulki had never been able to tell which of the two the "real" Hei-Ryung was.

     Glancing over at Hei-Ryung from the corner of her eye, Seulki nodded her head with little reluctance. "Yes. Normal people don't lock themselves in bathrooms after spilling a little coffee," she answered, complying with Hei-Ryung's request for complete honesty, before refocusing her eyes on the road.

     Satisfied with this answer, Hei-Ryung sat back in her seat and laughed bitterly. "True, true. I suppose that my behavior during the meeting was a little excessive," she chuckled, slipping easily into comfortable chatter despite the touchy subject. "I should apologize to Mr. Kang about acting out like I did... and for spilling coffee all over his shirt. Do you think he'll want me to pay the bill for his dry cleaning? It's the least I can do after ruining his shirt."

     "A little coffee stain won't ruin-"

     "He's most likely upset with me, though. I'm certain that when you ask him about another meeting he'll have some excuse as to why he can't go, and then he'll have another one every time you ask after that. He'll be so fed up with me that he'll start looking for every opportunity to get rid of me. And all because I carelessly knocked over that coffee cup onto him. I really can be such an idiot sometimes. Maybe if I had handled it better, he wouldn't have gotten so upset with me about the coffee-"

     "Hei-Ryung!" Seulki snapped, putting a stop to the steadily increasing panic. Jumping at the abrupt interrupting, Hei-Ryung turned to look at Seulki with wide eyes. So much for comfortable chatter. "Mr. Kang is not that kind of a man. He won't get upset over a little spilled coffee, especially when he has better things to worry about," she tried to assure Hei-Ryung, hazarding to take one hand off the steering wheel so she could give Hei-Ryung's arm a quick, supportive squeeze.

     "You're right. I guess it was a little presumptuous of me to assume that he would be that concerned over something silly like a coffee stain. I was thinking of myself and my actions as much too important..." Hei-Ryung's voice trailed off into muttering, and Seulki gave up on combating the waves of negativity. This was also typical of Hei-Ryung's pattern of behavior. She screwed something up, and suddenly it turned into the end of the world. She would fret over it for a few days, mulling over every possible situation that could stem from her mistake and how to deal with it, and then, feeling fully prepared to face whatever came her way, would forget all about it and move on with life. Still, it was frustrating dealing with this part of her cycle, even if Seulki knew that it would turn out alright.

     Fortunately for the sanity of both women, Seulki's phone began ringing and interrupted their trains of thought. As the soft piano notes trailed through the air, Seulki turned to her purse, which sat in the central console of the car, and began rummaging through it to try and find the elusive cell phone. She really needed to start organizing her purse better. After all, who needs coupons for sales that ended months ago, or fossilized gum wrapped neatly inside the little paper wrapper? Certainly not the assistant editor of a prestigious publishing firm like the Nalgae Company, that's for sure! Of course it would be such a pain to organize all this junk, and honestly it wasn't like she used it enough for organization to be all that important. Maybe she put the phone in another pocket-

     "Seulki!" Hei-Ryung screeched, her hands flying to the emergency brake to yank on it. Heart racing, Seulki's eyes flew back to the road just in time to spot a young man who had been crossing in front of them. Her foot slammed onto the brake, though thanks to Hei-Ryung's action that was an unecessarily redundant action. The car jerked to a halt, successfully avoiding turning the young man into a smudge on the road.

     "What on Earth was he doing-"

     "The light was red!" Hei-Ryung snapped at Seulki, startling her assistant editor into silence. It was the first time she had ever heard Hei-Ryung yell at her like that. "Are you alright?" Hei-Ryung called out as she opened the passenger door, planning on getting out of the car to check on the young man but forgetting that she was still wearing her seat belt. The fabric of the safety strap digging into her collar bone, Hei-Ryung let out a tiny yelp and hurriedly tugged it away. Meanwhile, Seulki had decided to ignore the problem by letting Hei-Ryung handle it,, Seulki unearthed her phone from the mess inside her purse and quickly answered, her voice betraying how unnerved she was.

     "Get back in the car, Hei-Ryung. He's fine," Seulki hissed, covering the mouth piece of her phone for a second. "Look, there he goes now," and indeed, the young man was already hurrying on his way, glancing over his shoulder at Seulki and frowning critically at her. Rolling her eyes, Seulki shoved off the guilt she felt for not paying attention and chalked it up to a momentary lapse in judgement on the boy's part. After all, what sane person walks out into traffic without making sure a driver is watching where they're going? Sure, pedestrians have the right of way, but this is Seoul and if you leave your life up to an arbitrary rule like that then you won't have your life for very long.

     Satisfied that she was in the right, Seulki got her heart rate back under control and steadied her voice, while Hei-Ryung slowly closed the door and followed the young man with worried eyes. "The manuscript? Didn't I leave it in the filing cabinent? Alright, alright, I got it. I'll look for it as soon as I get back..."

     "Tch, can't even get off her phone long enough to apologize for nearly killing me," Youngjae muttered, narrowing his eyes at the driver when she glanced his way. It was absolutely ridiculous how crazy the streets of Seoul could get during this time of the day. Maybe it would have been a good idea to listen to his uncle's secretary and call a taxi, rather than trying to survive the supposedly twenty minute walk back to his hotel room- the word "supposedly" being used because, after completely losing his way, Youngjae had spent an hour wandering around the streets and had only recently, thanks to the kindness of a passing stranger, oriented himself and begun heading in the correct direction.

     "Such consideration is apparently not shared by everyone, though," Youngjae thought, watching the car that had nearly ended his life  as it turned a corner. In the passenger's seat he could just make out the face of the girl who was accompanying the would-be murderer pressed against the window's glass as she stared wide-eyed at him, obviously concerned about his safety. Knowing it hadn't been her fault the driver was irresponsible, he smiled at the girl and waved reassuringly. Whether or not she saw this he didn't know, though, because the car had already vanished into the busy Seoul traffic.

     He hoped she had, but if not then he hoped that she didn't worry about him for too long. Beyond his heart hurting a little from suddenly racing, he was completely fine.

     No point in him worrying about it any longer, either. Especially when he had much bigger things to worry about: like his uncle. As he tried to wrap his head around the word "uncle", Youngjae began strolling down the sidewalk, keeping far away from the road. He had been expecting their first meeting to be a lot different. More... something. It was difficult to explain what he had been expecting, but it had been a completely different scenario from what really transpired. Not that he was complaining. In fact, Youngjae was glad that earning his uncle's trust had been so easy. Maybe it was because the man felt guilty about what happened in the past, so now he was trying to make ammends by helping Youngjae the best he could.

     "No, that doesn't seem like him," Youngjae corrected, shaking his head. "Not that I actually know all that much about him. I've only talked with him for, what, twenty minutes? Sure he's biologically my uncle, but in everything else we're a world apart..." Youngjae's thoughts trailed off as he passed a bookstore, one of the many Kyobo Book Centres that seemed to be constantly popping up all around the country. It wasn't surprising, though. After Jongro Seojuk went out of business, Kyobo took over as the most popular bookstore chain and quickly made use of that new title.

     It wasn't the commonplace store itself that had caught his eye, though.. Instead, it was the giant poster that dominated the store's display window.

50 Advance Copies of "Questionably Perfect", Kang Kae Yeon's Latest Romantic Adventure!

Available 2/19/2013!

     Although he had no idea who Kang Kae Yeon was, he easily recognized the small logo in the bottom left corner of the poster, proclaiming proudly that whoever this woman was, she was published under the Nalgae Publishing Company. She also seemed to be pretty popular, considering the amount of attention the poster was meant to draw in. They even had a few of the advance copies spread open on little red cushions, offering little teasing bits of what could be expected from the new story. It was impressive, the Nalgae Company having such a popular author in their roster, and Youngjae felt a little twinge of pride because of it.

     "Beautiful girls, all over the world, I could be chasing but my time would be wasted. They got nothing on you..." It took Youngjae a moment to distinguish his ringtone from the music that was blasting from every shop in the area, so that by the time he finally did take out his phone from his backpocket it had nearly finished ringing. As there wasn't enough time to check the caller ID, he simply swiped his finger across the iPhone's screen and held it up to his ear, hoping that he wasn't about to be caught in a neverending discussion with a telemarketer.

     "Hello?"

     "I just met the girl who's going to push you through that door."

Author's Note:

Not quite sure what to title the chapter... Cliche Meeting, maybe? I'll probably end up changing the whole "Story Needs" thing anyway, it's pretty dumb. *agonizing over chapter titles*

Updated: I... was really concerned about titling my chapters, wasn't I? *le sigh* It feels like an eternity since I wrote this, so I can't help but be embarassed by some of the things I'm finding in it. TT^TT