As an apology for failing to update frequently, we made this chapter longer than usual.  :)

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            “So what’s the next part going to be about?” Hana asked with interest.

            She was playing with her long hair as she waited for her father’s reply.  Vick, who had inherited his mother and father’s habit of eating in the middle of night, was snacking on a freshly baked cookie with a glass of cold milk by his side.  He reminded Seunghyun so much of himself when he was younger.  Vick had called on a maid to fetch his orders, and Seunghyun remembered doing that in the middle of the night during his bachelor days.

            “As you two know, I was your mother’s boss for a while.  I think she hated every single minute of that,” Seunghyun chuckled, “Well, in this part of the story, I got closer to your mother, but at the same time, I realized that there was a possibility that I could never make her happy.  I thought I was not the man that she would ever fall for.”

            “How is that possible?” Vick asked.

            “Just let me tell the story,” Seunghyun requested with a gentle smile.

___________________

            “Wooyoung, can you send this to Yoona?” Seunghyun asked.

            Wooyoung stared at his boss and dear friend with a blank expression.  For the past few days, Seunghyun had been acting exceptionally odd.  Wooyoung had caught him spacing out, and he was pretty sure that he was thinking about Yoona.  

            Wooyoung loosened up his tie and rolled his eyes at Seunghyun.  Seunghyun had pushed a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates towards him.  Just by looking at the flowers, Wooyoung knew that it was from his garden.  He must have told the servants to make a bouquet for Yoona.  The chocolates were in a gold colored box, and Wooyoung suspected that they were imported from Switzerland.

            “Seunghyun ah,” Wooyoung glared, “I am the director of marketing—not your personal assistant!  Why can’t you ask one of the secretaries?”           

            Seunghyun was sitting on his office chair as he leaned back on it.  With his feet on top of the table, he intertwined his fingers together and stared at Wooyoung.  They had been friends for years, and as soon as Wooyoung got hired as the director of marketing, Seunghyun had been abusing his power to make him do errands that were never described in his job description.

            “The secretaries are all females.  They’re going to gossip about Yoona if I tell them to do it,” Seunghyun reasoned.

            “Who cares?” Wooyoung scoffed, “Let them gossip.  It’s not like there’s anything they can do to win your heart.”

            Seunghyun rolled his eyes, “They do not want to win my heart.”

            “Oh please!” Wooyoung defended, “All I hear all morning is, ‘Oh my.  The boss is so cute!’ and ‘Seunghyun sshi is so dreamy.  I want to be his wife!’  It’s just sickening, Seunghyun!”

            “Do it, and I’ll buy that car that you wanted for you,” Seunghyun sealed the deal.

            A smile automatically appeared on Wooyoung’s face as he began to laugh nonchalantly. Seunghyun knew that he was going to agree to his request.

            “You know what car I want, right?” Wooyoung asked in a quiet voice.

            Seunghyun nodded as he breathed in, “Yes, you want the BMW Z4 Roadster.  It doesn’t help that you keep on posting about it on your Twitter account.”

            “And you are aware of how much it costs?” Wooyoung raised an eyebrow.

            “It starts at $50,000,” Seunghyun answered.

            “And you’re fine with spending that much money on me?” Wooyoung tested.

            Seunghyun scoffed as he adjusted his tie. 

            “Please,” Seunghyun said with mockery, “I make more money than that in my sleep.”

            “Well, my bad, Mr. Money Bags!” Wooyoung said sarcastically, “I want the car in my garage by tomorrow morning!  And I want the color to be red!”

            Seunghyun nodded in agreement as he watched Wooyoung pick up the chocolates and flowers from the desk.  With a bright smile on his face, he saluted Seunghyun and made his way out the office with the flowers and chocolates in his hands. 

________________________

            Yoona was sitting down uncomfortably in a sofa in her family’s home.  Her family mostly consisted of her brother, father, and stepmother.  Yoona had purchased every single thing in this home—including the actual house—for her family.  After she rose to fame, she became the main provider for her family even though she was still a teenager at the time.

            Her father was highly intelligent, but his whole life was dedicated to his inventions.  So far, all of his inventions had failed, but he was persistent in making it big.  Taemin, who was more than happy to see his sister again, was sitting beside her with a wide smile on his face.

            “Noona, I’ve missed you so much,” Taemin admitted, “There’s nothing to do at home.  Appa is always in his workshop, and stepmother is always shopping.”

            Yoona rolled her eyes after hearing that her stepmother had been using their monthly allowance on shopping.  She actually felt bad for her younger brother.  Now that she didn’t live with them, there was no one to pay attention to him. 

            At that moment, their stepmother had appeared in front of them.  She looked completely absurd in her attire.  Even though it wasn’t that cold, she was wearing a Fendi fur coat, a short brown dress, and a pair of leather Chanel boots that went up to her knees.

            “Well, speak of the devil,” Yoona mumbled.

            “What was that, dear?” she asked.

            Their stepmother’s name was Im Hyesu.  She was very pretty, and the main reason why Yoona’s father married her was because she looked similar to his deceased wife.  Im Taejoon only married Hyesu because he thought that she could mirror his past wife, but she was the complete opposite.  She was very materialistic and greedy.

            “Nothing,” Yoona shook her head.

            Hyesu smiled, “Well, you’re going to need to transfer some money into my account soon.”

            “I’ll transfer it separately,” Yoona decided, “I want to separate them into three accounts:  yours, Taemin’s, and appa’s.”

            “Why would you do that?  I’m the one that goes grocery shopping and everything,” Hyesu defended.

            Yoona crossed her arms, “Then why do I always have to give Taemin extra money for his school activities?”

            Hyesu’s jaw dropped because Yoona was giving attitude.  She was usually obedient at home.  Taemin took a deep sigh and then looked at the floor.  He hated it when people in the family argued. 

            “Noona, please,” Taemin begged.

            Yoona glared at her stepmother with anger.  She was irritated that she had been spending all the money that she had been working for.  Whenever Yoona grew tired from working late, she always pushed through because she wanted a better life for her family. 

            “Tell me, Taemin,” Yoona spoke, “Did stepmother give you the money for your exams?”

            Taemin kept silent as he continued to stare at the floor.  Minzy, who was the next-door neighbor, was a big fan of Yoona and a dear friend to Taemin.  She informed Yoona that Taemin was waking up at 4:30 every morning so that he could deliver papers as a part-time job.  He didn’t want to burden his sister, and he didn’t want to cause conflict between the two ladies of the family.  Minzy also stated that Hyesu treated Taemin like a servant. 

            “I’m going to transfer the amount of money that stepmother owes you into your account,” Yoona stated.

            She then walked up to Hyesu as she kept absolutely silent.  Yoona looked at her in the eye as her knuckles turned white from squeezing her hands together.

            “If you ever treat my brother like that again, I’m going to take away everything, and I’m going to take him from you and my father,” Yoona threatened, “Taemin ah, call me if she ever bothers you again.”

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            Wooyoung glanced at his watch as he hurriedly made his way into the building.  He had to sneak through the back because some of SNSD’s fans were waiting out the building in the front.  With the flowers and chocolates in his hands, he exited the elevator and rung the doorbell.  He wanted to get this over with so that it would be assured that he would get that car that he hopelessly wanted.  After a few seconds, he heard someone on the other side of the door unlocking the locks to the door. 

            As soon as the door was opened, he knew that he was going to experience some trouble with delivering the flowers and chocolates to Yoona.  Taeyeon had answered the door, and a grin full of vengeance appeared onto her beautiful face.  She was still dressed in her pajamas, but she didn’t really care if she looked presentable or not. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail as she stared at Wooyoung.

            Like all businessmen, he was dressed cleanly in a black suit, white dress shirt, black slacks, a dark tie, and shiny leather shoes.  Taeyeon leaned onto the doorway as she crossed her arms against her chest.

            “What do you want?” Taeyeon asked.

            “Is Yoona sshi here?” he asked trying to be polite.

            Taeyeon looked at him up and down and frowned at him.  The last time she had come across him was a very unpleasant experience.  He had chased her down and trapped her in the security room for two hours.  She was an hour late to her practice for SNSD’s concert because of him.  Most of all, she didn’t get to talk to Seunghyun about Yoona.

            “Sorry, your access is denied,” Taeyeon smirked.

            Wooyoung stomped his foot down as he glared at her.  He knew that she was getting him back for refusing to let her into the building that day she wanted to speak to Seunghyun.  He shot her a dirty look as she reflected it back to him.

            “Taeyeon sshi, please,” he finally begged with reluctance, “I need to deliver these to Yoona sshi personally or else I will not get the car of my dreams.”

            Taeyeon hummed, “Hmm, now that you put it that way…NO!  You cannot go in.  It’s against protocol.”

            She was mocking his exact words.  His lip twitched as he tried to remain calm.  He just wanted to push her to the side so that he could deliver the damn flowers and chocolates, but she was making it so difficult.

            “Unnie?  Wooyoung sshi?” Yoona asked in bewilderment.

            She had just returned from her family’s home to see that dispute between the two individuals.  Wooyoung was a bit angered that Taeyeon had made it seem as if Yoona was at home when it was clear that she had been gone for quite some time.  Wooyoung had clutched onto the flowers’ stems in anger as he handed the box of chocolates to Yoona.  Yoona then took the flowers as a gentle smile appeared on her face.  She knew who it was from right away.  She genuinely thought it was a sincere gesture.

            “I’m going to go to my room now,” Yoona bowed, “Thanks for the delivery, Wooyoung sshi.”

            Yoona entered the dorm and disappeared into her room.  Taeyeon was about to scoff at Wooyoung and close the door until she saw a distracting sight.  Blood was oozing from his hand—the hand that was holding the flowers.  There must have been a thorn that had been missed by the maids who were removing them.  The thorn had stabbed through his skin, and the blood was slowly seeping its way out the wound.  Taeyeon frowned and pressed her lips together.

            “Wooyoung ah, come in,” Taeyeon stated, “I’ll fix that for you.”

_____________________

            Yoona began to brush her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror.  She was going to have another meeting with Seunghyun and his workers about where the shooting for the first commercial was going to be.  She had read in the contract that there was going to be various billboards with her face on it, several commercials, and plenty of magazine ads from the top magazines in Korea.

            It was a bit overwhelming for Yoona, but she tried to act cool.  She knew that this was one of the biggest opportunities that she had been given.  SNSD’s name would rise to even more fame because Seunghyun had said that he was thinking of releasing the ads and commercials in other countries like Japan, America, France, and other nations.  The Choi Industries was a known name to the whole world, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to have her face known to the entire world.

            “Taeyeon is fixing this random man’s wound!” Yuri reported, “I think he’s Seunghyun sshi’s assistant or something.”

            Yoona corrected her, “Wooyoung sshi is Seunghyun sshi’s director of marketing.”

            “Yah, you trying to look pretty for Seunghyun sshi?” Yuri teased after noticing that Yoona was actually fixing her appearance.

            Yoona didn’t dare to respond and continued to fix her hair with a small smile on her face.

            Because they were roommates, Yuri had just barged into the room earlier and lied on her bed.  She then kicked her shoes off and began to hum a gentle tune to herself as Yoona smiled.  She had read the card that was attached with the flowers. 

            “What are you smiling about?” Yuri giggled.

            Yoona shook her head, “It’s nothing.  Seunghyun sshi just wrote on a card that he couldn’t wait to see me again.”

            Yuri nodded with understanding as she teasingly gave her mocking looks.  Everyone knew that Seunghyun was interested in Yoona.  She just failed to acknowledge it herself.

            “He likes you,” Yuri sang.

            “No, he doesn’t.  He’s just being considerate,” Yoona reasoned.

_____________________________

            “I’m sorry, Ms. Im, but Mr. Choi suddenly left the office,” the receptionist stated.

            Yoona raised her eyebrow.  Why wasn’t he at work right now?  He texted her and even sent her flowers claiming that he was excited to see her again in his office.  Yoona felt a pang of anger wash over her body as she thought of him playing jokes on her.  She hated it men played with her. 

            Yoona bowed to the receptionist and made her way out the building.  As she made her way towards her car, she took out her phone and dialed his number.  After hearing it ring twice, he finally picked up.

            “Hello?” he asked.

            Yoona was ready to yell at him for missing his appointment with her, but his voice changed it all.  She was expecting his deep, sensual voice that was so exhilarating to hear, but instead, she heard a weak, quiet, and shaky voice. 

            She whispered, “Yah, where are you?”

            “I’m at home,” he sniffled, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I feel kind of dizzy, and my skin is irritating me.”

            She sighed deeply as she heard him coughing and sneezing on the other side of the phone. 

            “Is there anyone there to take care of you?” Yoona asked.

            “Well, I don’t really want anyone to see me like this so—”

            Yoona cut in, “Okay, I’m coming now.”

_______________________

            Yoona was knocking on his bedroom door.  The maids had willingly let her in because Seunghyun had refused any help from any of them.  He was yelling about getting them infected with his own disease.  Everyone knew that he was overreacting, but they couldn’t go against his wishes because he was their boss.

            “Seunghyun ah, open the door!” Yoona yelled.

            “No!” he weakly bellowed from the other side of the bed.

            Yoona threatened, “If you don’t open this door, I’m going to quit working for you, and we will never see each other again!”

            There was complete silence, and for that moment, Yoona had thought that she had lost the battle to the stubborn 5-year-old child on the other side of the door.  It was until she heard him unlocking it.  He opened it a crack and peeked out to see Yoona with an impatient look on her face. 

            After opening it about three inches, he closed it and then locked it again.

            “I opened it,” Seunghyun said, “You may leave now.  I’ll see you at work when I get better.”

            Yoona pounded on the door, “But you closed it!”

            “You never said that I couldn’t!” Seunghyun defended, “You merely said to open it.  You never said I had to let you in.”