SHEILA had her hand on her chest when she got out of the room that "Joon" occupied. I get that he doesn't want to tell people that he was here. But what if I told him that I knew him, would he flip out? She shrugged off the feeling that she had to tell someone because her mother briefed her already.

 "Ma! Why didn't you tell me that it was Jiyong-oppa who would be here?" she was miffed that he saw her in her travel clothes. She would have worn something more fabulous if she knew she was going to meet the love of her life, the father of her future offspring and her inspiration in baking all those chocolate treats she makes for her bakery.

 "If I told you then it wouldn't have been a surprise." she could imagine her mom smiling knowingly on the other end. "His mom told me she would cancel her trip with her friends and just come back another time. She said her son was going through something and she wanted him to have a place where he could rest without the media bugging him. So make sure that the security is tight. I know that the only other group who would be there would be the ladies group that booked a couple of months ago. I am sure they have no idea who Jiyong is let alone who Big Bang is."

 "Hey! Big Bang is big all over the world. Who know maybe those cougars knows them or him." she wanted to defend her favorite idol group after all she was a VIP to the core.

 "They are more like grannies not cougars. But I am sure they'll be interested in his life so warn him not to go around telling people who he is. I am sure he has a plan. His mom said he would probably hole up in his room and write lyrics or something. Make sure he eats on time though. His mom said he sometimes forgets to eat when he's busy. Maybe you can show him around the beach or whatever idols are into."

 She didn't think there was a decent bar or club anywhere for Jiyong to go to without someone catching wind of who he was. The retreat was reclusive for that very reason. "People when there to escape all the noise and light pollution of the city. So I'll just suggest that he hang out at the beach. It would help him think and relax. It could help him get a tan if he was into that." Imaginining that he was shirtless at the beach made her blush.

 She heard her mom laugh on the other end. "You are imagining him shirtless, aren't you?" She pouted and didn't answer which made her mom laugh harder. "You're pouting right now, aren't you?"

 'Don't you just hate it when your mom knows you way to well?' she sighed. "I have to go feed your guests now, is there anything else Jiyong's mom wanted me to do? Do I have to regulate his bowels for him too?"

 "Don't sass me, She. Just make sure he's taken care of. If he likes it there imagine just how many other celebrities you want to meet would want to stay at our retreat so they could catch a breath?" the idea that Big Bang or 2ne1 would come over to enjoy the seclusion in their horror mansion like retreat made her smile.

 "I'll do my best, mom. Aja, fighting! Bye-bye!" she heard her mom laugh before she hung up.

Sammie was sending her notes about Jiyong's IG and the former was spazzing out on his IG of the chocolate porridge she made for him. I swear he is in the Philippines! Where else would they serve champorado for breakfast, come on! She was feeling guilty not telling Sammie where Jiyong was exactly. Her friend had been loyal to their goal to meet Big Bang and they had suffered through a lot putting Happy7Days together. She felt like she was betraying her friend by not telling her that she was the one who made that champorado for Jiyong.

 If he didn't want people to speculate as to where he was, why was he IG'ing things that would make people wonder where he was? I am sure PhVIPs are collectively spazzing out over that last picture. She hated that she didn't have time to check the internet because of all the details she had to attend to. Apparently manning the retreat with a skeletal staff since it was not the peak season was really not as easy as she thought it would be. It's only been a couple of days and she's already tired. But the thought that she can see Jiyong everyday for the next few days was keeping her adrenaline pumping.

 She went down to fix the grannie group's breakfast and she was greeted by the kitchen staff with smiles. They were the stay-in staff who lived in the retreat throughout the year. The head chef was Manong Luis and his wife Manang Maring (her real name was Maria) was the head of the chambermaids. Their daughter Lilly was not here because she had to go to school in the city and only stayed in the retreat during her vacation time. Lilly was like a little sister to her. If she was here, they'd both be gushing up because of our proximity to Kpop greatness. She reminded herself to tell Lilly all about Jiyong when she already could. For now she had to remember all the details to make sure she doesn't leave anything out for Sammie and Lilly.

 She met the grannie group of five when they came to the dinning area after they put on the full spread of pandesal, champorado, aroz caldo and the assortment of jams and bread spreads for them. There was fresh mountain coffee served for them and pineapple juice at their request. They knew her mom well since they visit there often.

 "So how are your parents?" Lola Tanya asked her. "Still off getting richer?" she was demure but hinted of mischief in her eyes told her that there was more to Lola Tanya then meets the eyes.

"Yes, they are. My brother's wife just had a baby so they're busy with Jyong now." they urged her to show them pictures. I spent almost half an hour showing pictures of my nephew that were saved up on my phone. They consequently showed me their own grankids. I lost track of whose grankid was which but it was fun to talk to them about their grandkids and kids experiences.

"So when are you going to give your parents grandchildren?" the inevitable question of every elder to every younger woman they meet who is single and childless.

"I haven't had the chance to pounce on the man I want to father my kids." they all laughed at my joke. They didn't know that the man I was referring to was too close for my sanity's comfort.

"Oh my, these days women need to get things rolling. In our time we had to pretend to be demure to keep up with appearances even if we wanted someone already. We had to wait them out. It was dreadful." Lola Helen laughed scandalously. "I had to compromise my husband so that he would marry me. And we stayed married til the day he passed. God bless his soul. I knew he was the one I wanted so I forgo my image and I made sure he didn't have a choice. He didn't like the ribbing that came whenever we told people how we got together. But he would always tell me that if I had not found a way he would have pinned away alone. Some men are too shy to express themselves. You have to make a move."

If only it was the easy. She smiled and decided that maybe there something to Lola Helen's scheme. She tried to shrug off the evil smirk in her mind. Maybe if I pounce on Jiyong I could give my mom a half-kimchi eater half-pastry eater grandchild.

"I think maybe I should take my breakfast with you next time." she almost blew her coffee out of when she heard someone speak behind her. She turned around and saw Jiyong led by Gaho. It was supposed to be the other way around but it didn't look that way. "The food looks delightful especially when it's eaten with such beautiful company." a patented innocent naughty boy smile was on his lips. The grannies collectively stared at him. He faced her chuckling and scratched the back of his head. "Gaho couldn't wait any longer. It was take him down or have him chew some stuff in my room. My mom not to ruin anything there since it was her favorite room here."

She knew her checks were red as strawberries again. Damn blushing."I'll get him something at once!" she all but ran out of the dinning area leaving Jiyong with the ladies. At least they were not as predatory as normal girls...I hope.

JIYONG bowed to greet the ajummas sitting having breakfast. "I'm Joon. I'm from South Korea." was as much as he would say. He knew old ladies loved to talk. He needed to make sure he was not cornered into an inquisition.

"Are you Sheila's boyfriend?" one of them asked.

"I am not..."He didn't know their names and was thinking of what to call her.

"I'm Tanya. This is Helen. That is Aurora. Imelda or Meling is the one drinking her tea ignoring you. And the one busy buttering her bread is Yanne, (read as Uh-yan)." He proceeded to doing the pagmamano which he learned from Dara. She mentioned it was the way they showed respect to elders in the Philippines.

"Oh my!" the lady named Imelda was surprised that he did it. She almost spilled the tea on him.

"I'm sorry if I startled you." he smiled shyly, always worked with his mom when he did something that she didn't quite like.

"It's okay dear, she's startled we are around her half of the time. It comes from having one's mind constantly in the past." Aurora smiled at him reassuringly.

"Does she have Alzheimer's?" he asked. Aurora shook her head.

"It's more like Kotaru Syndrome." the others giggled at the private joke.

"I don't understand..." he sat down near Tanya and asked. "Surely you will tell me, right?" the trick was to keep making them tell stories about their lives. There were five of them. There was enough stories to last for a month. And if it was not enough, they could always repeat them just as long as they wouldn't have the time to ask him what he was doing at the retreat.

"Kotaru was her lover, father of her only son and the one who got away." Aurora started the story. Imelda looked away again going back perhaps to the days when the memories were fresher and wishing that she was there again. "They met when she was a stage performer in Japan. During that time it was not those cheap who sold themselves for a quick yen. There were some really great ones then. And she was a cruise ship singer and a hotel mainstay. Kotaru never went to those places unescorted. He was always with a group of associates or with a woman who he was trying to seduce that night. He could not do it without hearing her sing first. Or at least that was what he said. He had asked her numerous times and had refused all his advances. She gave him her songs but never even the tip of her finger." Imelda sighed and Aurora continued. "He weathered her down with flowers, gift but never with money. He brought people who spent money at her every gig but never gave her money directly to buy her or her services. Then he came to her one night, when her make-up was wiped off and she was in her street clothes." it was Helen's gasp that made Jiyong realize everyone was listening to Aurora's tale.

"She asked him what he wanted." Imelda looked at Jiyong when Aurora began this part of the story. "Do you want to tell the story from here?" she asked her friend.

Imelda nodded. "He told me he was there to say goodbye." her voice was sad and unbelievably sultry. It sounded like she was singing the words out slowly but she wasn't singing. Jiyong wondered how a man could fall in love with a song and what was left of her voice made him realize she could have knocked a man's wits off if she sand with it. "He was going to get married in a week." She let a tear fall and she wanted to continue but seemed like she couldn't then she began again. "I asked him to come with me. We walked under the moonlight and we walked to my apartment and I let him stay." Jiyong knew what happened but couldn't bear what could have happened next.

"He made me so happy and I was ready to give it all up to be with him. The fame, my music and my life." she smiled at Jiyong and continued, "His family would not have it. He was threatened that he would be disowned, left with nothing but his name which would be shammed if he didn't marry his betroth." she wiped the already drying tears. "My Kotaru was so brave. He fought for me and we went back to the Philippines. We were going to get married and we would have a life together." her expression changed as if remembering something horrible. "They found us and threatened to kill me if he didn't come back. He promised that he would come back for me. And a Japanese promise is never broken."

"Did he come back?" Jiyong was at the edge of his seat.

"She had her son, named Kitaro. Kotaru never came back. We heard he got married to the woman that his family chose for him and we never heard from him ever again." Helen was a bit more cynical than the others and had to burst Imelda's bubble. She burst Jiyong's as well.

"I thought he made a promise." He was not the kind to break a promise himself but there had been those times when he couldn't deliver what he initially promised, like in Dara and his case.

"Sometimes promises are broken. Especially when they were made in haste." Helen muttered. Imelda looked at Jiyong and shook her head as if to say Helen was a cynic.

"Joon is not the kind who breaks promises. That is why he is here. Because he's waiting for a chance to keep a promise too." He wondered what Imelda meant. "You promised to come back home whole, didn't you?" Jiyong had to gasp. He didn't realize he promised that to anyone. "Don't worry, this retreat will heal you. It healed me. It took us years but we all healed here. It would help you too. You're young, keep your promises otherwise you'll carry around the guilt for far too long."

"I am not guilty of anything. I was the one who was done wrong to. I have nothing to feel guilty about." there it was, the corner and the inquisition. He didn't realize how good it would feel to tell that to someone, anyone. The words flooded out of him. "She was my muse. She was my inspiration. I wanted to be the best so I would be too big to fail and that when we announced our relationship it would not only be accepted, I would not be worried about loosing some fair-weathered fans. But she couldn't bear the secrecy and she found herself more and more in the company of the man I would never think would betray me. He's been my partner in crime since we started training for our dream. We worked hard together, we were brothers more than our real siblings were. We were a family and he up and do that to me and with my girlfriend too." He was sobbing. Someone placed a glass of water in front of him, on a yellow dolly.

He looked up when someone started to wipe his tears with a pale yellow handkerchief. It was Sheila. She looked at him knowingly and placed the handkerchief on his hand. She walked out of the room and once again wondered why the vision of her walking away seemed to hurt more than the door closing behind Dara.