Chapter 9: TRUCE

-Present-

Bora was sitting anxiously in a private room of the said Spa from the article in Spotted. She was waiting restlessly for Sunggyu who was taking his sweet time in an appointment. Apparently, according to Sunggyu it’s a person he needed to discuss important matters with. Checking the time on her Iphone7, she could see that Sunggyu had been gone for more than half an hour. Noticing a notification from Spotted she opened it. Reading an article that clearly specified the whereabouts of Sunggyu and what he was up to.

“DAMN! That boy will be doing what he wants all the time without my permission.” Bora muttered to herself. Biting her nails, Bora was ready to bolt out of the place when the door finally opened revealing Sunggyu followed by L and then Suzy.

Suzy spying Bora sitting on the chair froze behind L. L in the meantime felt the discomfort of Suzy. Grabbing her hand before she fled, L took hold of her by her waist keeping her locked by his side.  That just added to Suzy’s discomfort, since her heart started hammering in her chest faster than regular speed.

Four words kept repeating in Suzy’s head “Why am I here? Why am I here……..”

- 24 hours before the article was released-

“Why am I here?!” Suzy exclaimed as she was going up the elevator in L Empire Enterprise. As she reached the 22nd floor she stepped out of the elevator. Still saying that mantra in her head “Why am I here” followed by the answer “Because you needed to get away and you need a friend.”

Biting her lower lip nervously she walked towards the receptionist who was smiling at her amicably. “Hi.” Suzy said, awkwardly lifting her right arm and shifting her eyes from left to right.

“Hi, Ms. Bae! How may I help you?” The receptionist responded too eagerly.

“I’m here to see Mr. Kim….I…err….meant the younger Mr. Kim. Where can I find him?” Suzy finally uttering her purpose of barging in L Enterprise in the middle of the afternoon on a school day told the all smiles blonde behind the desk.

“Mr. Kim should be in Studio 5 or in his office connecting to it.”  Ms. Park So Eun according to her nametag supplied to Suzy.

Bowing her head she thanked Ms. Park So Eun and started walking towards studio 5.

Slowly opening the door to studio 5, Suzy could see that there were 10 people in the room who were busily attending to a photo shoot. She caught sight of L in the center of the room his back to hers. He was giving orders to the model who was posing in front of him.  The whole scene excited Suzy since this is the first time for her to witness a photo shoot behind the scenes as an observer. She especially liked observing the back of L as he stretched his shoulder muscles changing the expanse of it according to the positioning of his body. In which he was sometimes on the floor or up a stool to get the right angle of the whole scene before him.

Suzy only noticed who the model was when L set aside his camera and announced “Lunch break! Be back in 30 minutes.” The model was Choi Sulli, a woman of L’s past. That had Suzy’s excitement for the shoot come down the drain. Especially when Sulli came towards L, touching his shoulders as she whispered something in his ear.

Jang Dongwoo the loud creative director at that moment spotted Suzy, waving at her. “Ms. Suzy! What brings you here?”

L realizing Suzy was there took a step back from Sulli, glancing behind him he could see Jang Dongwoo approaching Suzy and giving her a tight hug. Jang Dongwoo apparently dropped all business etiquette and was exuberantly happy to express his “close” friendship with Suzy. L distinctly remembers the two only met from the last photo shoot. That notion from Dongwoo towards Suzy got him gripping his hand in a tight ball and gritting his teeth.

After greeting Suzy, Dongwoo walked towards L announcing Suzy to him. “Look who came to visit L?”  (As L said earlier Dongwoo drops etiquette including honorifics besides L was younger. He had dropped honorifics with L after spending a day together only.)

Turning to look at Suzy and completely ignoring Sulli who was lurking beside him. He stared at Suzy from her feet covered, Prada oxford shoes, to her beautiful styled braided hair, especially noticing her short checkered romper with a tailored long blazer that hardly reached her mid-thigh. L’s breathing and heart beating stopped for a few seconds. Ending his inspection on her face, L saw the nervous smile that formed her lips and the slight tinting of her cheeks.

Grinning and cocking his head, L rested his hand on his hip. “So what brings you here?”

“I ….uhm….dropped by to kill time, my next class…” checking her Swiss watch on her wrist “..is in 3 hours.” Suzy hesitated before saying, “I was avoiding Sungyeol and I ended up being here.” trying to justify her actions to avoid being charged guiltily as wanting to see L. “I also wanted to pick up my copies of the photos from the last photo shoot for the Crossing’s ad campaign.”

“I see” Tapping his index finger on his chin, L looked apologetically towards Sulli. “I can’t accompany you for lunch then. Sorry.”

Faking a smile, Sulli waved her hands in front of her. “Do not worry. I could order take out and come back here to eat together?” Looking at Suzy before saying, “I’m sure you’re hungry.”

“You don’t need to do that. I already bought myself a sandwich.” L brushing off the suggestion

Disappointed, Sulli looked at Suzy irritatingly. “If you say so…” Smiling at L she finally left the room with Jang Dongwoo following behind offering his assistance to her in regards to lunch.
 

Guiding Suzy to his connecting office, L had her seat on the couch while he leaned on his desk that was in front of her. Grabbing the folder on his desk he handed it to Suzy. “Your copies of the photos of your shoot with Crossings, it’s yours to keep.”

Accepting the folder Suzy nodded her thanks.

Crossing his arms on his chest, L stared at Suzy inquisitively. “So why were you avoiding Sungyeol?”

“I did not want another confrontation in public. He wanted to have lunch together but I’m still not ready to be with him alone.” Suzy informed L, as she kept rubbing her thighs nervously. “Anyway enough of that, I’m surprised to see you booking another shoot even though you’re a newbie in this field.”

“I was highly recommended by my new friend, Jang Dongwoo, to all the creative directors he knew across Seoul. I did not know that clumsy in manners Dongwoo would have a lot of connections.” Shrugging his shoulders, L continued. “Besides aren’t you impressed with my skills after seeing the finish results of the photo shoot last time?” Grinning at Suzy, L decided to join Suzy on the couch stretching his legs in front of him as he comfortable rested his head on the back rest.

“For a person who is just getting professionally trained you have skills.” Suzy admitted before moving slightly away from L since having him beside her that close got her in weird knots. Then out of curiosity, she added. “I believe the model is also a former flame of yours or should I put Sulli in the category of one of your flocking women who did not prevail?”

Chuckling, L looked at Suzy. “When did you become so nosy, especially towards my love life?”

“I was just wondering. Ever since I remember you never showed interest to a girl since I’ve known you in middle school.”

Covering his eyes with his left arm, L breath in deeply before responding, “I’ve already showed interest to a girl,” Catching himself he stopped. “They just didn’t notice or did not know.”

“Ahhhh..Your style of courtship is not bold or apparent.”

Uncovering his eyes and sitting up looking at Suzy. “Look who’s talking. You were not bold also towards your feelings for Sungyeol look where that got you. But then Sungyeol was a patient type beau who liked slow courting you and yet he was supposed to be the man in the relationship. He should have grabbed you and kept you all to himself.” Abruptly standing on both foot, L grabbed Suzy’s hand making her stand up suddenly, her whole body only an inch away from his.

“What are you doing?” Her eyes wide open.

Cocking his head and smugly smiling. “Grabbing you…… to bring you out for lunch of course, I heard your stomach grumbling just now so it’s safe to say that you’re hungry.” L explained.

A loud knock sounded from the door, slightly opening Dongwoo barged in his head. “L. Mr. Kim wants to see you in his office right now.”

“Bad timing.” L mumbled before looking at Suzy with disappointment. “I can’t accompany you for lunch. See you at school later.” With that said, L stepped out of the office leaving Suzy to manage her emotions which were in turmoil and her stomach that was starving. “Looks like I was supposed to eat lunch alone.” Suzy mumbled to herself.

)-------------(

IU was literally sandwiched in between two men who were considered flower boys in the nation of Korea. IU was trying to enjoy the movie that was playing in front of her while she tried to eat her popcorn peacefully but then the mere task of eating popcorn was becoming difficult. Because, every time she dipped her right hand to grab a handful of popcorn, both Sungjong and Woohyun will dip their hands as well in the bucket entangling all of their fingers together.

Throwing her head back on the chair IU sighed and squirmed in her seat. “This was a mess!” IU shouted in her head, in frustration.

IU was not the only one unhappy about the situation; Woohyun was in the brink of literally dragging Sungjong out of the cinema and tying him up on a nearby tree because this “innocent” flower boy had moves.  Woohyun was surprised to find out that they have the same strategy or tactics in pursuing a girl and attaining skinship. Sungjong got the popcorn move down, check.  Next move was extend-your-arms-behind-the-girl and drop it on her shoulders. Sungjong got that down also and it ended up with both of their hands and arms touching each other, which they immediately retracted, since the idea of cuddling behind IU was repulsive for both of them. As Woohyun was about to do the I-am-sleepy-head-fall-to-her-shoulders move, that’s when Sungjong boldly got IU’s han