So we meet again.

Both you and Joon stood in front of each other, keeping a distance.

He breaks the silence with a small grin and said: “How have you been?”

You answer with a smile and added: “Everything’s good, you?”

*******

I could say we didn’t meet each other in the most romantic movie scene way. I was only a secretary in a big music company, and he was an idol. The way we clicked… not so glamorous either. It started with me taking a bunch of papers to the supervisor’s office, and taking a slip. I bent to pick them up quickly but a hand appeared in front of me. He didn’t face me at the moment, but as soon as he picked up as much as he could hold in his hands, he turned his face to me, and that’s how our eyes met. I thanked him with the bottom of my heart, and he welcomed me with a smile, such a wonderful smile.

That was only the beginning… Next meeting wasn’t that much different. Once again I had spent the whole morning finishing a report, I didn’t have a paper clip or anything to hold them together, so I picked the hundred papers that were due in a couple of hours and headed out of my office to at least hand in the work. As I turned from my door to the hallway, I lost control of my papers with a huge crash against something, or someone. I closed my eyes afraid to see the hundreds of papers snowing in front of me. I regretted not having something to hold them in.

“I’m so sorry! I’ll help you!” –His voice sounded desperate and indeed very sorry.

I manage to open my eyes to face once again, him. I very well knew his name, Lee Joon. He was an idol in this company, so anyone who wouldn’t know him would have to be either blind or just dead without even knowing so.

“Is okay Joon-shi. I’ll take care of it; it was my fault either way.” –He was already bent picking up the papers, and he looked up at me as if he was surprised.

“You know me?” –I don’t know whether he was just confused or just plain clueless of the fact of how popular he was. But something about it just amused me. I smiled at him, and bent to pick up more papers.

“Of course I do, I have been working here a while. Besides let’s not forget you’re an idol.” –I said in a calm tone. Any other girl would just die to be in my position. But to me he’s a person just like everyone else. He smiled as he kept picking up papers, and we stayed in silence until we were all done.

“Thanks Joon-shi. Now I have to go quick, I need to organized this and it’s due for one and a half hour.” –I said as I looked at my watch and held the stack of papers in the other. He looked at me apologetically, and said in a lower tone.

“I can help you organize; it was part my fault they fell.” –I looked at him as I shook my head in denial,

“No! I can’t possibly make you do that! You must be very busy and this is going to take a while.” –He smiled at me, and taking the papers in his hands said:

“I actually have the rest of the afternoon off, and besides, two can organize faster than one.” –He smiled again and signaled me with his head for me to open the door of my office.

I smiled thankful and opened the door. He entered and placed the stack of papers in the desk. I gave him a spare chair I had, and we began to organize. We spent an hour until we finished. We talked about so many things. And truth was that the more he kept speaking, the more I noticed how different idols in front of cameras are than face to face. He was definitely different.

After that not so fancy meeting, we came across each other every now and then. And we even began to have lunch time together in the company, every time he had the chance. From one moment to another, the friendship we had became something more. I guess you didn’t need a very romantic confession to know when two people like each other.

We were a couple now, no doubt of that. We tried to keep it on the down low, as we didn’t want any scandals to rise. Of course his manager and band members knew, and even my closest work mates. It wasn’t hard for us to keep it, since he was never too fond for PDA, or any kind of DA, even when we were alone. But I didn’t mind that, since we had such a healthy relationship. I just enjoyed spending time with him, whether it was with his band mates, or alone.

From one moment to another, he began to get tons of contracts. It was his job to entertain; mine was just to organize papers behind 4 walls. I was aware of what it meant to have a famous boyfriend. I didn’t want to be the one who would stop him from growing as an artist, and I made sure I didn’t. But apart from what I knew, there were also these rumors going on around the company. So apparently he was doing a show where he had to pretend to “Marry” another famous idol or artist. I didn’t pay much attention, until he told me himself. I did feel a little bothered, but I comprehended very well what our relationship was. I couldn’t say anything against about it. After all, it was just a show, wasn’t it? But one thing that kind of hurt me was the fact that he might have not mentioned about us to the TV Company the show was. Okay, okay, so he couldn’t tell anyone. But did he even think if it would hurt me if he did the program? He never even asked me before signing for it. I would’ve said yes either way, but it would’ve been nice to know that he values my opinion.

I never even asked about it as he began to film. Not that we even had a time to meet up now. He was so busy now; I barely even had time to call him or text him just to ask if he was doing okay. I decided that I would try to be busier as well. That way I wouldn’t even have time to think about the situation, and just ignore it. I was sure that if I gave it time, I gave him a little space, when he was finally free, he would come back to me as it was at the beginning.

And so I did, I took more tasks on my hands, even if it meant for me to work over time. And it worked! I even stopped missing him, and I’m sure he stopped missing me as well by then. I didn’t even know if he had a project or not, I didn’t even know how the show was doing, heck! I wasn’t even sure of how much he changed. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of how much I changed myself. It had already passed 3 or 4 months since we last spoke, I’m not even sure that’s how much time passed. Perhaps the little scar I felt when we began to drift apart was already gone. We hadn’t seen each other for so long, even though we work at the same place. Something more than just floors of concrete separated us, and we were both unaware of this.

Whatever happened to the love we felt at the beginning…? Was it really? We were walking together on the same path, until one wrong step set us free from each other. We were no longer together, even though we never even broke up. We got so caught on in our own lives, we forgot each other.

Is it possible for two people who knew each other, become strangers again?

*********

You decided to take a little breather on your lunch break and just walk outside of the building. You were too stressed and cold, so you just stood in the middle of the concrete floor stretching and looking up, wanting to feel the warmth. You take a deep breath and look straight forward to keep walking, when a voice you hadn’t heard for the longest time made your heart skip a beat.

“______? Is that you?”

You turned around almost instantly and you saw his face. You had seen the changes in TV and in pictures, but looking at him again right in front of you in the flesh, made you realize that it’s been longer than you thought.

So we meet again Joon-shi.

Both you and Joon stood in front of each other, keeping a distance. You hadn’t seen each other for the longest time, so starred at each other with an empty expression.

He breaks the silence with a small grin and said: “How have you been?”

It’s been so long since I last saw her; I almost didn’t recognize her… How did this happen? –These questions filled his head as he had realized the same things you did.

You answer with a smile and added: “Everything’s good, you?”

Tell me what are you supposed to be for me now? For one thing I’m sure, I can’t love a stranger.