“

The next few days flew by so quickly as though they were only a day, both Yeojin and Zico were busy with all the legal and administrative work they had to do to set up a company. They also had to source for interior designers, decide on the floorplan and design of the building. The location of the company was decided by Aunt Yoon long ago and she had already bought over the land too. 

The only time Yeojin regained her sense of time was when she read the news that Yongguk left TS Entertainment and B.A.P. She stared at her phone for a good while, re-reading the article several times as if the words would change. Although she was in the States for the past four years, she constantly kept up with any news that were regarding them.  

She knew that shortly after she left Korea, B.A.P launched a lawsuit against the company and that was when Yeojin lost contact with Daehyun. At that stage, Yeojin’s day was packed with physiotherapy, studying and working a part time job. She barely had the time to reply to her messages. It wasn’t like that in the beginning but as time progressed, Yeojin’s workload started to weigh down heavily on her and the distance between her and Daehyun did nothing to help either.

She recalled staring at her phone the same way she did earlier, contemplating if she should give Daehyun a call as he didn’t mention a single word about the lawsuit. She didn’t call him in the end, she wasn’t sure that she had the courage to. She was afraid that upon hearing his voice, she would just pack up all her belongings and flew right back to Korea.

……

Yeojin went on with the preparation for the company but she seemed as though she was just riding along the currents, all her previous excitement was nowhere to be seen.

Zico caught her spacing out once when they were having a discussion with their interior designer. He knew the reason behind her behavior, he read the news too, but he didn’t bring it up as he knew that she just needed some time alone first.

“What do you think about this color scheme?” Zico asked Yeojin. They were sitting in the dining room, discussing the design for the offices.

Yeojin glanced up at Zico, looking straight into his eyes. “Do you think it’s too late?” 

Zico held back a sigh and set down the pen, that was in his hand, on the table, “What is too late?”

Yeojin gestured to the pieces of paper strewn all over the table, “All of this. I wanted to set up a company so that I can get them out of the CEO’s hold. So that I can protect them with my own ability. But am I too late? Did I take too long?”

“You worked so hard for four years, juggling your studies, physiotherapy and work. You converted to part time studies and completed a double degree in Business and Accountancy in four years, when it usually took six years. Meanwhile, you worked part time at the company that I was signed under and they valued you so much that they wanted you to stay and convert into a full timer. You took too long? I was so proud to see you graduate. So, no, you didn’t take too long and even if it’s too late, at least you’ve tried.”

Zico called it a night afterwards, collecting the pieces of paper and telling Yeojin that he will figure out the interior design of the building on his own. He went into his room, leaving Yeojin in the dining room alone.

¨¨¨¨

“Where are you going?”

Yeojin lifted her head up upon hearing Zico’s voice. “I’m going to meet Mr. Kim. He said he has an update for me.”

The air was still tense between the both of them after their conversation last night and Zico simply nodded in response before walking towards the kitchen.

With that, Yeojin left the house after she was done putting on her shoes. She flagged down a cab as she wasn’t sure how to take the public transport to the meeting place since she hasn’t been back for a while.

She entered the café, getting a table at the corner and waited for Mr. Kim. He arrived 15 minutes later, apologizing for being late. “It’s been a while, Yeojin. How have you been?”

A soft smile spread over Yeojin’s face, “I’ve been doing okay I guess.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. So, about the favor that you asked of me before you left Korea, I’ve been keeping up with it and gathering information, I think you would be happy with what I’ve gotten so far.” Mr. Kim took out a brown envelope from his bag and slipped it to Yeojin across the table.

Nodding, Yeojin said, “Thank you, Mr. Kim. I know it’s not an easy favor to ask from you.”

The both of them chatted for a short while before parting and Yeojin took a cab straight home afterwards. Once she got home, she took out the papers that were in the envelope and read them. She didn’t bother taking off her shoes first, she was just standing at the door and reading them.

Her eyes were scanning through the words that lined the pieces of paper hurriedly. She hastily took off her shoes and rushed into Zico’s room without knocking beforehand. Zico, who had his spectacles on and was working on the floorplan, was taken aback.

“Zic, you have to see this.” Yeojin said, passing him the documents. Zico took them over from Yeojin and read through the documents carefully.

Placing down the documents on his table, Zico looked as though he was deep in thoughts. His hand was fiddling with his bottom lip subconsciously. He turned to face Yeojin, who was sitting on his bed.

“What do you plan to do with this?”

Yeojin met his eyes, which were conveying the seriousness of this matter. Shrugging, she replied, “I think we need more than this. This only shows that there’s a possibility the CEO is involved in money laundering and fraud. It doesn’t show where the money flows to. We need concrete evidence if we want to bring him down.”

Zico nodded slowly, fully understanding what Yeojin meant. “I’ll see if I can get any information regarding it.”

¨¨¨¨

Two weeks later, Zico was finally done with the floorplan and the tender was submitted, with construction scheduled to begin soon.

Zico, Yeojin, U-kwon and P.O were gathered in the living room, feasting on pizza and soju to celebrate, even though the latter two were not involved in the process at all. P.O was halfway through the slice of pizza in his hands when he spoke, “Shall we go on a retreat? To celebrate and relax after all the hard work for the past month or so.”

Yeojin nodded in agreement, “I think we deserve one. Should we?” she asked, directing her gaze at Zico. The latter shrugged, “I guess we can.”

The rest of them cheered loudly, exchanging ideas about where should the retreat be held at. After some heated discussion, it was decided that they will be heading to Jeju the day after for their retreat.

After they were done eating and cleaning up the place, Yeojin headed back into her room to pack her luggage and decide on the clothes that she should bring. She could hear P.O watching the television in the living room. It was faint, but she still could hear it and she was sure that she heard Daehyun’s voice.

She got up from her bed and walked towards the door of her room where she could see the television. Indeed, it was Daehyun. To be exact, it was B.A.P performing at one of the music concerts but this time round, Yongguk wasn’t present and they looked so lost and confused without him.

Yeojin tore her eyes away from the television, repeating the word “soon” to herself over and over again.