Himchan had been around girls long enough to know that he was getting the dreaded "silent treatment", but he had no idea what he had done to deserve it. He had gone over and over the events leading up to this sudden punishment, but he couldn't think of exactly what would get her so angry. According to Youngjae this had supposedly started when Seulki found out that Himchan was slacking off on his work, but that sort of thing had never gotten her this angry in the past. After all, it was common knowledge that the Senior Editor was an expert at avoiding work, and that the Assistant Editor- though she blustered and complained- didn't care. So why had that suddenly changed?

     "Mr. Kim?" Slowly Himchan raised his head, which had found permanent residence on his desk, to see who was disturbing his deep thinking. "I was wondering if you had a key to Hei-Ryung's apartment," Youngjae sighed, resting against the door frame.

     "Didn't Seulki give you one?" Himchan countered, pulling open the top desk drawer.

     "Yes, but then she took it away. Apparently I'm 'irresponsible and untrustworthy', since I babysat your office while you went out for coffee," Youngjae chuckled humorlessly, striding across Himchan's office and taking a seat in one of the many chairs that were haphazardly strewn across the room. Unlike his uncle, Himchan cared much less about keeping his office space organized and presentable. After all, it wasn't like the Senior Editor would be getting any visits from anyone more important than a co-worker.

     His desk drawer was an even bigger mess, though, because over the years it had turned into a collection of every random thing the man had ever come across, and as he rummaged through all of it he created a chorus of jingling, rustling, crackling, rattling, and crunching. "So she's put you in time-out?" Himchan snickered, momentarily looking up from his search to smirk at Youngjae.

     "I am not in time-out," Youngjae grumbled, trying to protect his pride from Himchan's prodding. Not that he should have to, considering they were in a professional setting. This sort of teasing was completely inappropriate for their circumstances, but Youngjae knew that pointing this out would only result in even more merciless teasing. So he switched the subject: "You, on the other hand, have been suffering at the hands of the "silent treatment", haven't you?" If you can't beat them, join them.

     Now Youngjae was on the offense, and it was Himchan's turn to defend his pride. "Seulki is not ignoring me. We just haven't had any reason to talk to each other," he easily dismissed while reaching deep into the back of his drawer.

     "Right," Youngjae drawled, his voice sounding like a gun being cocked. The boy obviously had some ammunition left. "That's why she completely blew you off in the hallway yesterday." The bullet whistled neatly through the air and tore a hole in its target just a few centimeters from the bullseye. Ammunition now expended, Youngjae sat back and watched Himchan try to digest this lovely bit of information.

     "So what if Seulki breezed right by me, high heels clicking double time and her nose nearly straight up in the air? That doesn't necessarily mean she was giving me the silent treatment! Maybe she just didn't hear me, or was too busy to stop for chit-chat." Even in his head the argument sounded childish and weak. "It was a one time occurrence. I'm sure that Seulki will be back to normal-" Himchan gave up on coming up with excuses. Partly because nothing he came up with was going to be good, and partly because he had just discovered his own weapon. Smiling brightly, he pulled out his copy of Hei-Ryung's apartment key and allowed it to dangle on his finger.

     Enjoying the moment, Himchan waited for Youngjae to try and take the key from him. And waited. And waited. And waited. As the silence between them continued to drag on, Himchan began to impatiently tap his feet. Across from him the corner of Youngjae's mouth twitched into a tiny smirk, a brief break in his otherwise blank expression. "So do you want the key or not?" Himchan finally relented, holding it a bit closer to Youngjae. No reaction. "If it isn't that important to you..." Himchan let his voice trail off as he moved the key within arm's length of Youngjae.

     More silence passed, and just as Himchan thought Youngjae might have fallen asleep with his eyes open the boy's hand suddenly flew out and snagged the key out of Himchan's hand. Groaning, Himchan slouched in his chair and watched Youngjae tuck the key into his pocket. "You weren't supposed to do that," Himchan complained, glaring at Youngjae as he stood up to leave. "The least you can do is thank me," he continued nagging, folding his arms over his chest and pouting.

     "Thank you for the key, Mr. Kim," Youngjae sang as he strolled out the door.

     "Why he can't just be like everyone else and knock on the girl's door is beyond me," Himchan muttered under his breath, burning holes into Youngjae's back right up until the moment he turned a corner and disappeared from sight. With his one and only distraction gone, Himchan supposed he would have to get back to work now. Sighing heavily, the reluctant Senior Editor aimlessly shuffled around a few papers. Then he twirled his pen a few times. Then he settled down for the real work: finding the most comfortable spot on his chair. He had just about found the elusive place when his attention was drawn out his office door, which Youngjae had left wide open, to the woman bustling her way down the hall.

     She didn't seem to notice him watching her because her eyes were downcast and she was mumbling to herself. Seeing his chance to finally break the tension between the two of them, or at least discover its source, Himchan jumped up from his chair and rushed out into the hall. "Ms. Lee!" He called out, waving his hands to try and flag her down. 

     Startled, Seulki abruptly stopped muttering to herself so that she could focus on reaching her office door before Himchan had the chance to run her down. Unfortunately the distance between her office and Himchan's was laughably small, and it only took his long legs three or four strides to reach the door before Seulki. Groaning under her breath, she stopped a foot away from Himchan and waited patiently for him to move.

     "Seulki, why won't you talk to me? It isn't very professional, you kno," Himchan tried reasoning with the unresponsive lump. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and switched tactics. "Assistant Editor Lee, if you don't start shaping up I'm going to have to report you," he hated pulling rank on Seulki, but he also hated having her ignore him like this.

     Seulki was unimpressed.

     "Mr. Kim? Are you about to break for lunch?" The Copy Editor's question got a reaction out of Seulki, though, and turned the woman's expression from one of mild annoyance to something much, much darker. As though the sun had broken through the clouds, Himchan finally understood why Seulki was refusing to speak to him. "There's a little cafe near here that I know about. We could go together, if you'd like," Himchan was surprised to hear the woman actually simper a little. He had known that most of his female co-workers fawned over him, but he had never though the Copy Editor was so deep into their ranks.

     Seizing her opportunity to escape, Seulki slipped past Himchan and into her office, making sure to lock the door behind her. As she passed, he could hear her mimicking the Copy Editor's voice in a way that didn't sound like the Copy Editor at all. Forcing himself not to smile, and thus give away his disgruntled Assistant Editor, Himchan abandoned his post at Seulki's office door and started chatting with the Copy Editor. Although he now knew what was bothering her, Himchan had no idea how to fix it.

     Her phone was turned off, the door was locked, and Hei-Ryung hadn't checked her e-mail all morning. Smiling with content, she sunk down into the more than forgiving sofa and enjoyed the peace that came with having nobody around. She could enjoy the entire day doing whatever she wanted, because there was no chance of being invaded now that Seulki had taken Youngjae's key.

     She wasn't sure why the woman had suddenly revoked Youngjae's privileges- or if she was even allowed to- and Seulki had not been interested in elaborating. All Hei-Ryung did know was that her editor had called her a few days ago to announce that she had repossessed Youngjae's key to Hei-Ryung's apartment, and that he would not be present at the book signing tomorrow. When Hei-Ryung had probed for more details, Seulki had hung up the phone. Not wanting to further agitate the woman who held Hei-Ryung's life in her hands, she had left it at that and decided to enjoy being alone for once.

     It wasn't as though she disliked Youngjae's company. He was actually really pleasant to be around, and she had quite enjoyed listening to him the other day. If he wasn't trying to drag her out into the world then Hei-Ryung imagined they would get along great, but he was, and thus they couldn't. She really did like Youngjae, though, and she worried a little about what he might have done to infuriate Seulki so much. The woman wasn't one to easily lose her temper, especially as explosively as that, so he must have really screwed up to get her so angry with him.

     Shaking her head, Hei-Ryung pondered what she should do next. No fresh ideas had come since the last time she tried writing, so it would be pointless to make another attempt. Today was supposed to be a peaceful day, after all, and staring blankly at a screen was not peaceful. It was the opposite of peaceful; it was stressful. Incredibly stressful. And the fact that writing had become stressful only made her more frustrated, because Hei-Ryung had never before hated writing as much as she did now. She had always loved to write, and found it came to her as easily as breathing, which is why becoming an author was the most natural career choice for her. This latest story was really stumping her, though, and each time she sat down to continue it she felt a nearly tangible mental block and ended up just staring blankly at the screen for hours.

     This was her job, though, and Hei-Ryung couldn't afford to 'just stare blankly'. She wasn't expecting the chapters just yet, but Seulki had been hinting at how eagerly she was waiting to start dissecting Hei-Ryung's writing. Hei-Ryung hadn't produced anything for Seulki to look at, though, and so she always just nervously laughed it off and assured Seulki she would eventually get her hands on the first few chapters. It was just a matter of Hei-Ryung pulling them out of her brain and slapping them onto paper, like she had done with every book before this one.

     There were no chapters in her head, though.

     Breathing in deeply, Hei-Ryung tried to clear her mind of all thoughts that had to do with the deadline that suddenly seemed much closer. It is impossible to empty a brain of absolutely everything, though, so Hei-Ryung's efforts were wasted. As the pressure of having absolutely nothing to present to Seulki, and hope of remedying this situation before the deadline disappeared, Hei-Ryung felt a distinct pressure on her heart that began to quicken her pulse. Groaning, she forced herself not to get stressed out and to go back to enjoying herself, despite the peaceful morning being completely spoiled.

     Mired down in stress and worry, with absolutely nothing to do but continue sitting there mulling over the negativity, most people would be happy to hear their door click open. It meant someone was coming along, someone who they could either tell their problems to or expect to distract them from the dismal atmosphere. For Hei-Ryung, it was the sound of an intruder and an even further ruination of her day.

     "Ms. Cha? Are you here?" How had he gotten in? Hei-Ryung was positive Seulki had taken away Youngjae's key, and yet here he was waltzing into her apartment with a mysterious plastic bag in one hand and a key to her apartment in the other. After frowning suspiciously at the small bronze object Youngjae was placing into his pocket, her eyes trailed up his torso and to his face, which was carefully blank. "Good morning," he greeted with forced cheer, sitting down on the edge of the step to take off his shoes.

     "Good morning," Hei-Ryung echoed, sitting completely still as she watched Youngjae struggle to get the black, slightly scuffed loafers he was wearing off his feet. As she quietly waited for him to finish, Hei-Ryung glanced over the rest of his outfit and tried to guess where he had just come from. He was wearing dark blue straight jeans, held up by a black leather belt that poked out under his shirt as he leaned over to pull of his shoes, and a jet black hooded vest jacket. Underneath the jacket she could barely see a light gray collar poking out, which meant he was wearing a pretty nice shirt underneath.

     She couldn't be sure, but Hei-Ryung would guess that he had just come from the office. It would explain why he was dressed casually sharp, since although he didn't work there he would of course want to impress those who did. He was trying to become the Nalgae company's next CEO, after all.

     Suddenly self-conscious, Hei-Ryung glanced down at her own attire. She hadn't even bothered changing out of her pajamas, and so was still clad in dark brown sweats and a loose-fitting yellow t-shirt. Frowning at the contrast between her appearance and Youngjae's, Hei-Ryung carefully rose from the couch and tip-toed her way to the bedroom. She hadn't even really brushed her hair out properly, just thrown it back in a ponytail and called it good.

     After all, she hadn't been expecting any visitors.

     "Ms. Cha? Where..." Youngjae could have sworn he had seen her when he first walked in, but the moment he stopped struggling with his darned shoes and turned around she had disappeared. Poking his head further in, he hesitated to walk into the apartment without first making sure Hei-Ryung was actually present. After all, last time he had "broken in" Youngjae had nearly been the cause of a serious disaster.

     "I'm changing!" Hei-Ryung called out from the bedroom, throwing the drapes closed before ripping her clothes off. Dashing into the bathroom, connected to her bedroom by a small walk-in closet, she quickly pulled out the first hair brush she found and raked it through her hair. As the unforgiving bristles yanked at the tangles and knots Hei-Ryung felt tears smart at her eyes, but pushed through the pain for the sake of speed. Although he wasn't necessarily welcome, Hei-Ryung didn't want to keep Youngjae waiting any longer than she had to.

     "He can be a little patient, though. He did just suddenly show up," Hei-Ryung thought as she dashed back into the bedroom and started rummaging through her closet. It had been a few days since she had been to the apartment's public laundry room, so... oh who was she kidding. It had been weeks since she even thought about doing laundry, and now her closet was quite literally almost bare. Sighing, Hei-Ryung tried to salvage a decent outfit from what was left over in her closet.

     By the time she was finished, Youngjae had found the courage to cross the living area and was sitting, rather stiffly, on her couch. Frowning at this intrusion into her privacy, Hei-Ryung wrapped her arms around her stomach and tip-toed into the room, shivering as her bare feet touched the cold, wooden floor boards. She had forgotten to turn on the heater that morning, which wouldn't be so terrible if she hadn't also forgotten to wash her socks. Sighing, she resolved to just deal with the lot life had given her, and rested her arms on the back of the couch.

     Sensing that she had come out, Youngjae turned to greet Hei-Ryung and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her leaning over his shoulder. How could someone move so quietly? Was the woman a cat?

     "Are you alright?" Hei-Ryung asked, the smallest hint of an amused smirk on her face as she crawled over the back of the couch to join him. Blushing, Youngjae took note of the fact she was wearing a skirt and politely turned his head to avoid seeing anything, but Hei-Ryung was an experienced furniture scaler and knew exactly how to move without showing off her underwear. Once she was settled, Youngjae coughed nervously into his fist and turned back to face her. "I'm sorry about all the dust. It seems to keep agitating your throat," Hei-Ryung apologized, frowning at the various surfaces in the room.

     "No, it's not that. I just... so about the book signing tomorrow!" He quickly switched subjects, not sure how to broach the delicate topic of Hei-Ryung's undergarments. Wishing he could bury himself in a hole, Youngjae settled for partially hiding his face with the plastic bag and began rummaging around inside. From the corner of his eye he could take a good look at Hei-Ryung's outfit. Besides the embarrassing skirt, which fell neatly around her knees, she was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and a fleecy brown cardigan. Although it was pretty simple, he noted that the outfit suited her well.

     Attracted by a jingling noise, Hei-Ryung squinted at Youngjae's chest and caught sight of a necklace with various charms dangling from his neck. She couldn't decide what any of the charms were, especially because Youngjae quickly tucked the necklace underneath his jacket so that it wouldn't get in the way of his search. Her curiosity unsatisfied, Hei-Ryung began searching for more interesting things on Youngjae. The only other piece he wore was a silver watch with small black stones embedded around the circumference, though. Frowning, Hei-Ryung waited patiently for Youngjae to finish pulling out the stationary supplies he had brought along with him.

     Notebook, pens, pencils, and post-it notes soon dominated her coffee table, forming a semi-circle around the clock Youngjae had fixed during his last visit, and were joined shortly after by a copy of Hei-Ryung's latest book. Surprised to see something like that among Youngjae's purchases, Hei-Ryung hesitantly picked up the hardback book and flipped it open to the first page. Even now, after publishing several books, Hei-Ryung was fascinated when she saw her own name in print.

     Well, sort of. Just because it wasn't her birth name didn't mean that it wasn't her's though.

     "What is all this for?" Hei-Ryung asked, quickly getting over her previous slight annoyance with Youngjae for just suddenly showing up as it gave way to her growing curiosity. Of course it wasn't her first time seeing any of these items- except for the copy of Questionably Perfect- but she didn't see how they all related to tomorrow's book signing event.

     "I'm guessing that you don't want to go to the event tomorrow," Youngjae predicted, glancing up at Hei-Ryung as he started fighting with the box of pens, trying to get it open. He got no verbal response from Hei-Ryung, but it was obvious from the way her whole expression darkened at the mere mention of the event that she wasn't looking forward to it. "Why don't you want to go?" He prompted with a grunt as he continued to struggle with opening the box.

     "I don't want to," Hei-Ryung mumbled after letting the silence drag out for a while, realizing that she was going to have to respond to Youngjae eventually.

     "Why," Youngjae urged her, trying to get Hei-Ryung to give him a specific reason. She shrugged her shoulders rather than give a proper response, though. Seeing that pushing her any further would be just as effective as trying to command a brick wall to move, Youngjae moved on with his point. It wasn't like he didn't know why she hated the idea of a book signing event, after all. "It's scary, right? Being in front of all those people, signing books for them, talking to them, shaking their hands..." Hei-Ryung nodded her head, and Youngjae had to quickly turn his head away so she couldn't see the proud grin on his face. He was finally starting to make progress!

     Finally getting the pen box open, Youngjae let the writing utensils spill out onto the coffee table. "So we're going to practice," he announced, picking up one of the pens and holding it out to Hei-Ryung, who recoiled as though he were brandishing a knife at her. "You can practice signing and chatting with your fans, and when you're done I'll let you sign my copy of your book," he continued pushing, patting the copy of Questionably Perfect he had managed to squeeze out of his uncle.

     "What kind of a reward is that?" Hei-Ryung thought, frowning suspiciously at the pen Youngjae was holding out to her. "I'm not worried about signing my name right. I am a writer, after all," she pointed out guiltily, feeling badly about being so blunt with Youngjae. He was only trying to help, after all.

     Sighing, Youngjae replaced the pen with its brethren. "I know that you can write your name, Ms. Cha," he groaned, wondering how else he could explain his plan. Youngjae had thought he was being pretty straight forward the first time, but apparently Hei-Ryung was determined to be difficult.

     After a few minutes of stubborn silence on Hei-Ryung's part, Youngjae decided to just show her what he meant. Standing up, he grabbed a notebook and walked around to the other side of the table. After kneeling down, he pushed a pen towards Hei-Ryung, who had rested her hands in her lap and showed no sign of moving, and then held out the notebook to Hei-Ryung. "I'm a really big fan of your writing, Ms. Kang, and I can't believe that I get to finally have the privilege of meeting you!" Youngjae exclaimed, quickly finding this to be a lot more embarrassing than it had been in his head.

     Raising her eyebrows, Hei-Ryung looked to be at a complete loss. "T-thank you," she eventually stammered, carefully taking the outstretched notebook from Youngjae's hands and opening it to the first page. Hei-Ryung didn't seem to share any of Youngjae's embarrassment about roleplaying as she slowly started signing her name on the lined paper. When she had finished, Hei-Ryung stared thoughtfully down at her own name and then looked up at Youngjae. "It seems so empty. What else should I put?" She asked, her hand hovering expectantly over the paper.

     "What do you mean?" He asked, breaking character for a minute to address the issue.

     "Well, shouldn't I put a short message or something? Just signing my name seems a little..." she sought for the right word to finish the sentence, but, if it even existed, it was expertly avoiding her memory's grasp. Sighing, she gave up and let the silence do the talking for her.

     Frowning thoughtfully, Youngjae leaned back on his hands and stared up at the ceiling, searching for inspiration. He had never really thought about what Hei-Ryung would write. He had just wanted her to show up and put something on paper. "Maybe you could just..." Youngjae drifted off as he returned his gaze to Hei-Ryung, intending to give her advice, but instead discovered that she had already scrawled something down.

     Smiling, she slid the notebook across the table to him and folded her hands into her lap. "What did you write?" He asked, but, instead of telling him, Hei-Ryung nodded down towards the paper.

     Thank you for supporting me and my writing. It was great being able to meet you, and I hope that you enjoy this book as much as you have my previous works. It's fans like you who keep me inspired, and in business. kekeke~ Warm wishes, Kang Kae Yeon

     When he had finished reading, Youngjae met Hei-Ryung's expectant gaze and smiled. "Perfect," he praised her, bringing a proud and relieved smile to Hei-Ryung's face. "Now we just need to work on your talking skills. You can't just silently sit there, after all," he added, not wanting Hei-Ryung to get ahead of herself and think they were done. Although this addition put a slight damper on Hei-Ryung's expression, she was still smiling as Youngjae turned the page and held it out to her for round two.

     True to what she had said the last time he was here, Hei-Ryung couldn't hold up a ten minute conversation, but in the ten seconds it took to sign a book and send the fan on their way she was pleasant and friendly. If Youngjae hadn't known better, he would think that she was a completely normal person. Though he wasn't sure calling her abnormal was a fair judgment. Certainly Hei-Ryung was rough around the edges, but so far he hadn't seen anything that would suggest she was as crazy as his uncle assumed. Maybe everyone was just exaggerating her behavior to make for a good story? That was how these people made their living, after all. Creating and publishing stories for others to enjoy.

     "Thank you. I hope you enjoy reading," Hei-Ryung said, passing back the notebook. Once it was back in his possession Youngjae began flipping through the paper, catching glimpses of each heartfelt message. None of them were identical, although a phrase or two was occasionally repeated, which surprised Youngjae. He had thought it would be hard for Hei-Ryung to come up with anything to say, considering how tightly limited her speech was, but she seemed to have no problem expressing herself in writing. Looking up from the notebook, he noticed that Hei-Ryung was expectantly waiting for him to pass her the notebook again.

     Mission accomplished: Hei-Ryung was officially excited for the book signing.

     "I think that's enough practice," Youngjae told her, taking notice of the small crestfallen frown on Hei-Ryung's face. He hoped that this excitement lasted through until tomorrow, when she would actually need it. "Now you get to sign your first real book," he said, holding out his copy of Questionably Perfect to Hei-Ryung. He felt a little silly for treating this like the prize, despite having thought of it as a good idea at the time of its conception.

     Nodding, Hei-Ryung gently accepted his book and opened it so that she could write on the inside of the front cover. Unlike with the notebook paper, Hei-Ryung spent a few minutes thoughtfully staring down at the blank white space in front of her. As he watched her tap the bottom of the pen against her bottom lip, Youngjae worried that maybe she wouldn't be as successful with a real book as she had been with the notebook. It wasn't as though he could buy thirty copies of Questionably Perfect, though!

     "Don't worry, I'm not freezing up," Hei-Ryung chuckled light heartedly when she caught sight of Youngjae's panicked face. "I'm just putting a lot of thought into this one because its special," she assured him before getting to work on writing the message. Relieved and flattered, Youngjae waited patiently and quietly for Hei-Ryung to finish her surprisingly lengthy message, which was finished by a flourish of her pen that turned into a signature.

     After blowing on the ink to make sure it dried- Hei-Ryung didn't want her writing to smudge- she closed the front cover and passed the book back to Youngjae, with a warning not to read what she had written until he had left her apartment. Then she helped him clean up the wide array of supplies he had brought, most of which hadn't even been used, and made small talk as he put on his shoes. He had never heard her chatter as much as she did then, and he could tell that she was nervous. He hoped that the nerves were from what she had written in his book and not from anticipating tomorrow, because if Hei-Ryung wasn't completely relaxed Youngjae knew that it would be a fight to get her to the event.

     After wishing him a safe trip, Hei-Ryung closed and locked the door behind Youngjae. Now free to read what she had written, Youngjae quickly flipped open the book so he could read while waiting for the elevator to take him back down to the ground floor.

     Dear Mr. Yoo Youngjae,

Thank you for helping me prepare for tomorrow's event. I sincerely appreciate the effort, and I'll make sure it won't have been in vain. Although I am still nervous, I promise I'll be there tomorrow. I hope that you can come as well, despite being banned by Seulki. I'm sure if you talk with her about it then she'll lighten up, since I can't imagine there's anything you could have done to permanently offend her.

Today I was able to see just how important your dream is to you, and I hope that you will be able reach it. I'll do my best to help you, so make sure you don't start slacking off! After all, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Wishing you all the best, Cha Hei-Ryung

Author's Note

I'm not sure if the written messages are legible enough, so if you can't read them tell me in the comments and I'll change the font! Hopefully that last message wasn't too cheesy...