You've reached Nicole!  Please leave a message after the beep.  *BEEP*

Key ended the call and redialed the number.  The same thing.  After the birthday incident, Nicole haven't been returning his calls or text.  He hung up again and sent her a text.

I miss you, Nicole.  Please call me. - Key

He set his phone on his desk and rubbed his face.  His phone started to vibrate.  He grabbed it, hoping it was Nicole finally calling back.

"Nicole?"  He answered.

"Umma."  said Mrs. Kim.

Key let out a disappointed sigh and politely answered his mother.

"I'll ignored what you just said."  she said.  "Anyways, Mrs. Lui and I are finally going to meet the wedding planner.  Please come to this one."

Key scoffed.  He haven't been to any of his mother and Mrs. Lui's engagement talk.  He didn't care and so did Amber.  Amber would purposely go out late, so she'll sleep in and her mother won't bother her about the meetings.  He was very thankful that Amber's feelings were mutual.  She had her own love and so did Key.

"Like I've said a million and one times ago, mom.  I'm not marrying Amber."  Key said, hanging up his phone.

He gripped onto his phone tightly.  He dialed up MinHo and grabbed his jacket.

"MinHo-ah, you busy?  Meet me at E.P.I.K."  he said.  (E.P.I.K = make up club name)

He grabbed his car keys and jacket, and walked out the door.  He's been to clubs and bars trying to get rid of the pain that Nicole had put on him.  He would dranke when he thought back to those painful words that was carved into his heart and won't heal.  He tried calling, sending flowers and cards, showing up to her workplace, but Nicole always found a way to hide from him.  

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Nicole was busy sketching her new collection for the spring magazine, but she doesn't have any ideas of what to draw.  Everytime she took a glimpse at the blank sheet of paper in front of her, she saw the sweet, loving face of Key, which made her heart ache and eyes water up.

~♫♪ Juliette, I’ll give you my soul~♫♪ Juliette, please accept me~♫♪

Nicole snapped out of her imagination and realized that her phone was ringing, but she knew who it was.  Hara looked up at the familiar ringtone.  She looked at the phone by Nicole's computer, then at Nicole, who had her back turned to it, trying to look busy.  She shook her head and went back to her own drawings.  A few seconds later, Nicole's phone went off again.  Nicole continued to ignore it.  After the ringing stop, a text message was sent to her phone.  Hara placed her pencil down and reached over Nicole's desk.  She walked in front of her, who still had her head down, "concentrating" on her work.  Hara placed the phone in front of her.

"Yah, what are you doing?"  Nicole asked, irritated.

"Call him."  Hara suggested.  "I know you want to."

Nicole dropped her pencil and shook her head.

"Hara, I can't."  Nicole said, trying to hold in the pain.

"Yeah, you "can't"."  She quoted.  "If you're not going to answer it, then turn it off.  It's annoying."

With that, Hara walked back to her desk and continued with her work.  Nicole glimpsed at the text message that Hara opened up.

I miss you, Nicole.  Please call me. - Key

Nicole deleted the message and turned off her phone.  As she crouched back down to her work, the words "I miss you" repeated over and over in her head.  She missed hearing those words coming out of Key's mouth.  She wanted so bad to text him back immediately, but the painful words of his mother stopped her.  A few teardrops dropped onto her sketchbook.  She fluttered her eyelids and wiped away the tears.  As she started to draw a few lines, her office phone rang.  She put the phone on speaker.

"Yoboseyo?"  Nicole said, returning to her work.

"Nicole, there's a client wanting to meet you."  said JiYeon, the front secretary.

"Um, do you know who it is?"  Nicole asked, hoping it's not Key.

"It's two ladies wanting to talk about weddings.  They saw your collection in the Bridal Couture Magazine."  JiYeon said.

Nicole thought for a moment, then agreed to meet with them.  She walked down to the lounge.  There were two ladies sitting in the cafe.  She only saw the back of their heads.  Nicole walked up to them.

"Annyeonghaseyo.  I'm Jung Nicole."  she introduced.

The ladies turned around and Nicole's face expression turned blank.  They turned around and one familiar face smirked.

"Annyeo, Nicole-sshi."  Mrs. Kim said.

Nicole was surprised to see that Mrs. Kim came to see her, but why?  Mrs. Kim asked her to sit and Nicole hesitately walked over to the chair across from them.

"This is Mrs. Lui, the mother of my future daughter-in-law."  she introduced.  "Chen, this is Jung Nicole, Key's friend."

"Oh, yes, the girl from the party."  Mrs. Lui said.

Nicole thought back to the horrible night of embarrassment and humiliation.

"Anyways, Nicole-sshi,  I saw-actually my daughter saw your wedding designs in the Bridal Couture the other day."  Mrs. Lui said.  "I was wondering if you can help set up my son and future daughter-in-law's engagement and wedding ceremony?"

Nicole looked up at them, surprised.

"Um...I'm sorry, but I don't think I can accept this offer."  Nicole said.

"If it's about money, we will pay the price you name."  Mrs. Kim said.  "Don't worry about a thing."

"Look, we know that you and KiBum had some relationship in the past, but I really hope you can let that go for just the next following months."  Mrs. Lui said.

"Oh, no, it's not because of that,"  Nicole said.  "It's just...why me?"

Mrs. Lui let out a small chuckle.

"You're a very talented, young lady."  Mrs. Lui complimented.  "And if you do this wedding, this company, better yet, your name will be known throughout Korea."

Nicole tried to imagine it happening, but was blocked with Key and Amber getting married.

"So, what do you say?"  Mrs. Lui asked.

Nicole looked down to her shaky hands, then looked up at the smiling ladies.

"Yes, I'll do it."  she agreed.

After that, Nicole walked them to the front door and bid goodbye to each other.  

"Okay, then.  We'll see each other Friday at Mandi and Brides at 11:00 a.m."  Mrs. Lui said.

Nicole nodded and said goodbye to them.  Mrs. Kim pulled Nicole aside.

"Thanks for taking up on this offer, Nicole-sshi."  she thanked her.  "I hope you can keep it just business when it comes to having to talk to my KiBum, okay?"

Nicole stared into her cold, yet sensitive eyes and nodded.  She walked back to Mrs. Lui and they left the building.  Nicole walked to the elevator and went back to her office, where Hara was waiting for her.

"So, what happened?"  Hara asked.  "Did you take their offer?"

Nicole sadly nodded and sat in her chair, staring at her unfinished work.

"Yah, why did you?"  Hara asked.  "Of course, Key's gonna be there and it's going to be so hard on you, Nicori."

Nicole wiped the naughty teardrop that slowly slid down her cheek and forced a smile on her face.

"It's just business."  Nicole said to Hara.  "Nothing else."

Hara scratched her head in confusion and shrugged her shoulder.

After work, Hara got read to leave.

"Nicole-ah, do you want me to wait for you?"  Hara asked, slipping on her cardigan.

She shook her head.

"You go ahead.  MinHo may be angry if his date was late."  she teased.

Hara scoffed.

"It's just ice cream." Hara said.  "And he offered to pay!"

Nicole sarcastically nodded and told Hara to go.  Hara finally said yes to MinHo's hundredth mini-date offers.

Nicole turned off her lamp and walked out to the warm, summer night.  As she waited for the late night bus, she flipped through her phone's photo album.  She came across the picture of her and Key at the amusement park.  She ran her thumb over Key's smiling face.

"What should I do, Key?"  Nicole whispered, tears dropping onto that angelic face that smiled back at her.

"I hope you can keep it just business..." Mrs. Kim asked.

The tears fell heavier as those hurtful words pounded in her heart.  She wiped away the tears and pressed the options screen.  Nicole hesitated, moving back and forth from the "Cancel" button and the "Delete" button.  Should I? or shouldn't I? repeatedly ran through her head.  The bus was slowing down infront of Nicole.  She glanced at the open door.  She grabbed her purse and placed her phone in it, not knowing that that accidently made her sensitive touch screen pressed an option for her.

She climbed on the bus and sat in her usual seat in the back.  She took her phone out and a screen popped up.

Photo has been moved to memory card.

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 A U T H O R ' S  N O T E 

Chapter9!! Sorry it took so long! hopefully, i can finish this story before school starts!  I'm becoming such a slacker for writing!  Hopefully, you guys haven't left me yet!  

Please comment and I'll update as soon as possible!!!