“Good morning Mr. Park,” came the deep voice of my subordinate when he entered my office “are you busy at the moment?”

“No not at all,” I said “come in, come in!”

“Thank you sir,” he gave a bow “I’m just giving you these reminders—“

“Kibum,” I started “how many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Jungsoo. No need for the awkward formalities!”

“Oh, sorry sir,” Kibum said “er, I mean, Mr. Jungsoo sir… I just feel like it’s disrespectful if I call you Jungsoo, sir.”

“You’ve been my assistant for two years now, right?” I chuckled “just ease up. It’s not disrespectful at all. You can also call me hyung for all I care.”

“Okay, Jungsoo hyung,” he unnaturally said “uhm, well I have here a note about the conference later at 1300H.”

“Ah yes, that boring conference again,” I yawned and stood up from my seat “do we have something there that’s a little more interesting?”

“You’re scheduled for a golf play later at 1700H with the board, sir…”

“Can you scratch that one out?” I walked around my huge table “I don’t even know how to play golf,” just then I noticed that Kibum was staring at a picture frame on my desk “anything else?”

“Who’s that?” he asked, pointing towards the picture.

I smiled.

I picked up the picture frame. A guy smiled back from the photograph, his raccoon eyes filled with joy as he wore a huge crown on his head. Draped over his black tuxedo was the sash saying “King Kangin”.

Kibum stared as I smiled at the college newspaper cut-out that I framed. After a while he bowed and exited my office. I stayed on my spot. I looked around my surroundings. This was definitely different from the places I stayed at during my college life.

The huge and neat office that belonged to me… I never thought about this back then… even all the money that I have right now, the authority, and all the achievements. After all those years, I still felt like there’s something missing. Rather, someone. If I could just see those raccoon eyes again… maybe it would all feel okay.

“Sir, excuse me,” Kibum slightly opened the door again “there’s someone here, wanting to see you…”

“Sorry Kibum, I’m not quite in the appointment mood today,” I said as I placed the frame back on my desk. It stood beside the pictures of my cousin, my other friends, my close colleagues, and my girlfriend.

“But sir,” came Kibum’s voice again from the door “he’s quite persistent…”

“Kibum just take care of it for a while,” I was feeling a little bit irritated already “I told you I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.”

“Not even me?” came a very familiar voice that sent shivers on my body.

My head quickly shot towards the door.

And there he was, still big and manly, looking all tough and heartless…

but his smile erased all those notions…

his charming smile that made his eyes seem like two narrow lines under his eyebrows…

those raccoon eyes I haven’t seen for years.