“I call a toast,” said Hyoyeon as she rose from the table with her glass in her hand. All the girls from my department, who were seated around me, and I raised our glasses. Hyoyeon smiled at me before continuing. “To Jessica, for completing her first day of work.” Everyone cheered and clinked their glasses together. I felt touched by Hyoyeon’s toast; when she sat back down beside me and I squeezed her hand and smiled. All nine of us decided to go out to eat after work. Yuri recommended this restaurant and everyone else agreed so here we are. All eight of them look so beautiful in the dim lights of the restaurant, while I felt so plain. I do not have the skills to make myself look as great as they do. This left a little bitter taste of jealousy within me and a little bit of resentment towards them, but that resentment is defeated with their welcoming smiles. Sooyoung sat on the other side of me and nudged me to get my attention.

            “How do you like South Korea?” she asked. Everyone was talking amongst themselves around the table as we were finishing off our food. The chatter was loud, but so was the whole restaurant, apparently this is a very popular place.

            “It is great,” I said. Then I took the last bite of my meal as everyone else continued talking. “Hyoyeon?”

            “What?” asked Hyoyeon before taking a sip of her drink.

            “Who is Soyou?” I asked. She then choked in surprise with a little bit of her drink ending up on her lap and the rest of the table grew silent. The other women looked at each other nervously as if they were unsure of what to say.

            “Soyou…” started Hyoyeon once she regained her composure. She wiped with her napkin and then placed it neatly on the table. “She is an important acquaintance of Kris’s.” All the other women nodded. “That is the best way of putting it.”

            “They have some special connection,” said Tiffany.

            “More like something they understand about each other,” said Yuri. Then all the women nodded again and stared off as they tried to determine the best way to describe Soyou’s relationship to Kris. After hearing this, I slightly slumped in my seat. Why is Kris so close with so many beautiful women? Then I remembered what Soyou called me and was about to ask Hyoyeon, but she was turned towards Taeyeon in conversation. I sat in silence while everyone else finished their food, and once we all paid we parted ways. I walked along the street as I pondered over Soyou and what she said to me. So many unanswered questions. I walked to my building and rode the elevator to my floor. When the doors opened, I saw Bora standing outside Kris’s door with a puzzled look on her face. Dressed in a simple purple dress and a black jacket, she leaned against the wall looking elegant. Her arms were crossed as she continued standing there like she was lost in thought. Then Kris’s door opened, and he walked out with a woman on his arm. The woman had short black hair and was dressed in a very tight and very short sleeveless red dress. Her face was covered in makeup and she walked in tall black heels with her arms clinging onto Kris. He was dressed in black dress pants and a black dress shirt that was ed so the top of his chest was peeking through. He gave the woman a gorgeous smile and the woman giggled in response. Then he saw Bora and stopped.

            “I thought you would show up,” he said. His tone held no indication of surprise. Bora glared at him with her arms crossed. The woman on Kris’s arm tried to look intimidating, but failed when you compare her with Bora.

            “I heard Soyou saw you today,” she said with her voice as cold as ice. Kris gave her a small smile.

            “Word travels fast,” he replied. Then Bora stepped towards him, which made the woman clinging to his arm tighten her grip and glare at Bora. Bora paid her no attention as she kept her dark eyes on Kris.

            “What did she want?” Bora asked. She took another step closer towards Kris so that she was inches away from him. The woman then stepped in front of Bora.

            “Hey back off,” she said. Then Bora stared hard at her with anger in her eyes.

            “Stay out of this,” she hissed. Then the woman shrunk back and grabbed Kris’s arm again. Bora’s darks eyes turned back to Kris. Feeling uncomfortable, I shuffled quietly down the hall hoping that they wouldn’t notice me.

            “Nothing much,” Kris said with a smile on his lips. I just reached my door and grabbed the knob when he dark eyes towards me for a split-second before returning to Bora. “Nothing more than what I have already told you.” Bora must have understood what he meant because she backed off while slowly nodded her head. “She did ask about you.” Then Bora’s icy glare returned.

            “She could have given me a visit instead of asking you,” she said as I opened my door. Bora reacted to the sound, turned towards me and then smiled. The smile was sweet, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Jessica, how nice to see you.”

            “Well, we are busy so goodbye ladies,” said Kris as he walked towards the elevator with the woman on his arm. A thought came to my mind and it came out before I could stop it.

            “Now? But it is a work night,” I said. Great! I sound like a nagging mother. Kris stopped and chuckled before turning towards me again. I held my breath as he gave me a handsome smile.

            “I don’t think you need to worry about that,” he replied. He then turned towards the elevator and left. Bora stood slumped against the wall with a sad look on her face.

            “Do you want to come in?” I asked. She gave me a small smile before shaking her head.

            “No I should get going,” she said quietly before slowly standing up straight. I do not know what exactly came over me, but I just could not stand seeing her so depressed, so I went up to her and hugged her. She felt cold and rigid, but she soon wrapped her arms around me and returned the hug. I then realized what I was doing so I immediately backed away.

            “I am so sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what came over me.” Bora then gave me a genuine smile and wrapped her arms around me.

            “Don’t be sorry,” she said with her smooth voice that whispered in my ear. “I needed that.” Then she let me go and walked to the elevators. “I’ll see you later.” I waved to her as she left. What a day.

            It has now been a week since my first arrival in Seoul. My apartment is fabulous, my job is great, and my neighbor and boss is still as mysterious as ever. Almost every night he leaves his apartment with a different woman on his arm and yet he shows up at work as if he wasn’t out late the night before. He shows no signs of sleep deprivation or of a hangover. It puzzles me greatly because there would be no way I would be able to stay out late every night and show up to work perfectly well and healthy. Another thing that puzzles me is why he has so many different girls. Is he a player? Does he have commitment issues? So many questions ran through my mind as I sat at my desk at work. Then Hyoyeon flicked a pencil at my face.

            “Hey daydreamer, are you going to help us?” she asked with Yuri, Taeyeon and Sunny beside her. “We need to finish the presentation today for next week and we all have plans tonight so we can’t work overtime.” Apparently this weekend is a big weekend because all the women in my department have plans. Seohyun, Tiffany, and Yoona took the day off due to plans so that left Hyoyeon, Taeyeon, Sunny, Yuri, Sooyoung, and me to finish this big presentation. Then Sooyoung walked up to us with her coat on and her bag on her arm.

            “Sorry guys, I gotta run,” she said with a sympathetic look on her face. Hyoyeon groaned and waved her off.

            “Go, the rest of us got this,” she said. Sooyoung then sped out of the office as fast as she could.

            “She really did wait until the last minute,” said Yuri as we all watched her leave. Hyoyeon took in a big breathe and exhaled.

            “We have to finish this,” said Taeyeon. We all nodded.

            “Aren’t you leaving in a half hour?” Sunny asked Taeyeon. Taeyeon nodded and gave an anxious look to the clock.

            “I can’t miss my train,” she said. Then Hyoyeon pulled her long caramel colored hair into a ponytail and looked at the presentation with a look of great determination.

            “Well then we must finish this before anyone else leave,” said Hyoyeon and then we set out to work.

            An hour later, it was just me and Hyoyeon left. We are not just the only two left in our department, but also the only two left in the office. Hyoyeon glanced anxiously at the clock and gave a frustrated sigh.

            “We are so close,” she said while running her hands on the back of her neck. “But not close enough.”

            “You go,” I said. Hyoyeon gave me a look of surprise that was followed by a look of worry.

            “Are you sure, I do not want to leave you here alone.” Her brown eyes were full of concern.

            “Don’t worry,” I replied. “I do not have any plans, and the rest of the things for the presentation that needs to be done are just minor details so I can handle them.” I gave her an encouraging smile as I literally pushed her out of the office. “Besides, you cannot miss your train.” Hyoyeon hesitated.

            “Are you sure you will be alright?” she asked. I nodded and waved to her as she left. I then returned to work. An hour passed before I completed the presentation. Proud of my handiwork, I stood before with me my hands on my hips and a grin on my face.

            “Great work,” said a deep voice over my shoulder. I yelped from surprise and turned around to see Kris behind me. He chuckled at my reaction, which made me angry. I huffed and crossed my arms.

            “I didn’t realize you were still here,” I said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled at me.

            “Of course,” he replied with his deep velvet voice. “I do not leave until every one of my employees has left.” My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I realized that he was waiting only for me to leave.

            “I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I didn’t realize that you were waiting for me.” He smirked with amusement in his dark eyes.

            “Who says I was waiting for you,” he said. “Are you excited by the idea of me waiting for you?” His question made me angry again.

            “Why would that idea get me excited?” I huffed at him. His dark eyes, still filled with amusement, then focused on the presentation that I just finished.

            “I actually still had some business affairs to finish up,” he said. “So you did not keep me here.” I then relaxed. It did make me feel better that I was not the reason he was working late. “No plans this weekend?” I was surprised by the question.

            “No,” I said. He then smiled as his dark eyes returned to me.

            “So you work overtime for your coworkers instead,” he said. The tone of his voice I didn’t like. He made it sound like I was gullible and that my coworkers were using me, but they definitely were not. They are my friends and they would never have left me alone if they didn’t have plans.

            “I was happy to,” I said. “They are all so nice to me and I knew that they had big plans this weekend.” His dark eyes then filled with curiosity. “I didn’t want those plans to be spoiled.” Their smiling and sincere faces flashed in my mind, which made me smile. “Besides, I know that they would do the same thing for me.” A small smile played at Kris’s lips as he absorbed my words. His arrogance and cockiness seemed to fade.

            “Well, great job Jessica,” his velvet voice caressed my ears. “I look forward to the presentation next week.” His face showed such a sincere and kind expression that I have never seen before. Maybe he really is a nice guy.

            “Kris?” a voiced shouted from the lobby. The voice was feminine and very whiny sounding. Kris’s cocky, yet also gorgeous, smile returned.

            “Excuse me, but I have some plans of my own tonight.” I glared at him as I grabbed my bag and stomped out of the office. My feet sped down the sidewalk as I headed home. Anger simmered within me as his cocky expression wouldn’t leave my mind. And I actually thought he was a nice guy. I continued to walk down the sidewalk when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into an alleyway. Another covered my mouth before I could scream. I struggled against these strong arms that held me. Then I pushed up against a brick wall with the hand still covering my mouth. I became face to face with an older man who smirked at me with a gleam in his eye. I continued to fight against him, but he was much stronger than I was. He was dressed in dark clothing and had dirt covering his face. Then I heard the click of a gun and then I immediately froze. The man smiled a very creepy smile.

            “Now that’s a good girl,” he said in a raspy voice. “Now give me your money or else.” I froze as fear came over me.

What should I do?