Chapter 7

“Oh my gosh, I made it! They accepted me!” Sooyeon squealed. It was the afternoon and she was in the living room with her family checking her emails on her laptop.

“Seriously? That’s amazing!” said Krystal. She jumped up and down with her sister in joy. “But isn’t the orientation in a week?”

 “Yeah, the e-mail says that they misplaced my portfolio and just found it a week ago. They said they liked it and said I could be one of the candidates for an internship."

A few months earlier Krystal had convinced Sooyeon to send a portfolio to Kwon & Co, a fashion company. Sooyeon had dreamed of being a fashion designer ever since she was little but gave up on her dreams as she grew up. She didn’t feel right spending money on something that might not be accomplished. Krystal, however, thought otherwise since she saw that her sister still had the passion for fashion and made Sooyeon send in a portfolio. There was, also, no prior education required so Sooyeon had a greater chance of getting in.

Now that she got accepted she would have to go through a five week elimination process where only ten of the fifty people accepted would get an internship. The internship meant a lot because it was also hinted that if they were to do good there they could potentially get a job there.

Kwon & Co was a few hours away and Sooyeon would have to leave tomorrow if she wanted to get settled in. Sooyeon couldn’t help but think that’s where Jiyong lived. Now that she thought about it the company and Jiyong’s name were the same. She shook her at the thought; the company couldn’t be related to him.

Sooyeon hadn’t seen Jiyong for the past four months and he hadn’t called her for over three months. Not that his other phone calls were all that special; they only lasted a few minutes. Sooyeon had wanted to see him again because after all he was her husband. She hoped that they could at least come to an understanding of each other although she wasn’t really sure of what to make of him. She didn’t want to make any judgments but at this point her hopes of a lovely marriage were thrown out the window.

“Isn’t leaving tomorrow a bit early?” her dad asked.

“I think that it would be best if I leave tomorrow because then I can get settled in and get comfortable with the area.”

“But where are you going to stay?” he asked her. She just got her acceptance letter, she couldn’t have found a place to live that fast.

“I’m gonna stay with Yoona. She said that she has an extra room and that if I get accepted that I could go.”

Yoona had been living in the city for a month now as she found a job there. She was renting an apartment there and had an extra room to pay for. Before she got a new roommate Yoona waited to see if he friend would get the internship and could move in with her.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” He wasn’t ready to let her go away for such a long time but deep in his heart he knew that letting her go was the best option.

“She’ll be fine.” Sooyeon’s mom came into the living room now after oveYoonaring the conversation. She was extremely happy for Sooyeon; she wanted Sooyeon to do what her heart told her to do.

So, after finally getting her dad to agree letting Sooyeon go, Sooyeon called Yoona to inform her that she was coming and then started packing all her stuff. She’d have to take the bus so she didn’t want to over pack. After she finished packing and ate dinner she went back into her room with her laptop to get comfortable with the schedule the company had sent her. Her orientation would be the week after her arriving then there was a break for a week after. Then after that there were ‘classes’, as the email put it, periodically.

The next day it was time for Sooyeon to leave. She had everything arranged the night before but her dad couldn’t help but make sure of everything.

“Are you sure you have all your cards? What about the bus ticket? You did write the address of Yoona’s apartment, right?” He was rambling on and on so fast that Sooyeon didn’t even have time to answer his question before he started another one.

“Honey, Honey.” Sooyeon’s Mom could not stand his rambling and went over to him, “She’ll be fine. She has everything ready.”

“Yeah dad, I’m gonna be fine. I’m an adult now, I can do it. I’m even married.” She picked up her stuff and looked at the clock. She would be late if she didn’t hurry.

They all bid their good byes; Krystal started tearing up seeing her sister leave and that made their Dad also cry. Sooyeon promised herself last night that she would not cry in front of her family, so she didn’t.

The minute she entered the bus, however, and bid goodbye to her mother who drove her there, she started to cry. She didn’t want to but she couldn’t help herself. The tears just wouldn’t stop. She normally didn’t cry but she also didn’t normally move out. This would be the first time for her being apart from her family and she was really close with her parents and Krystal so leaving them was very hard for her.

Eventually, her tears stopped and she reminded herself of all the opportunities she has to be working for a fashion company; it was a dream come true for Sooyeon. Many of her dreams had to be packed up and stored away because she didn’t believe they would ever come true. This was one of those dreams that she put away, but, now that this was accomplished she had the hope that maybe some of her other ones would maybe get fulfilled as well; especially one that concerned a male and a marriage.  However, she put that thought in the back of her head since the bus had stopped. She still wasn't at the apartment yet so she took a cab since Yoona wasn't able to pick Sooyeon up because she had to go to work.

Sooyeon finally arrived at the apartment and took the elevator to floor nine. When she finally got the apartment door open she pushed in her luggage and entered.

It wasn't what Sooyeon expected; it was much, much better. It wasn't enormously large or anything. It was an average size and it wasn't that which caught Sooyeon's eyes; it was the designing which was beautiful. The decor was amazing and it felt sophisticated yet homey at the same time.

"Wow." Sooyeon walked around the apartment and looked for her room. She found it and it was just as beautiful as the other rooms. She nodded, she could get used to this. Setting her stuff into her room she felt and urge of laziness and didn’t feel like doing anything anymore. So she decided to lie on the bed for a second before she started unpacking. She didn't know when but her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off into sleep. The next thing she knew she was smelling food being cooked.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Momentarily forgetting she wasn't at home anymore. She got up and went to the kitchen. There stood her friend, Yoona who was cooking dinner diligently. Hearing footsteps, Yoona turned around smiled at Sooyeon.

"You're finally awake," Yoona set down the food in front of both of them while Sooyeon sat down.

"How long was I asleep for?" Sooyeon asked, still a bit dozy from just waking up. She picked up a spoon and started digging in to her food.

"About five hours, I think," Yoona said, also taking a few bites of food. "Oh yeah, your parents called."

"Really? What did they say?" Sooyeon looked up at Yoona. She was meant to call them when she reached the apartment but it totally slipped her mind. 

"Nothing much, just checking up on how you were doing. I told them you were sleeping so they said they’d call tomorrow."

"Okay," Sooyeon nodded and they both went back to eating.

The rest of the day was spent on both of them catching up and talking. The next day wasn’t much different because Yoona had to go work and Sooyeon was left alone again. She didn’t know what to do she went out to explore.

That was how it was for the next week. Sooyeon usually stayed at the apartment and lingered here and there. Then, when, Yoona didn’t have work and wasn’t tired she would take Sooyeon out to explore.

Then came the day of her orientation, she woke up and hurriedly got ready because she overslept a bit. The orientation started at ten am and it was nine when she woke up. She ate the breakfast that luckily Yoona made, since she knew of Sooyeon’s habit of being late and didn’t want that on her orientation day.

“You’re the best,” Sooyeon said through bites of the toast Yoona made. She gulped down the juice while grabbing the last piece of toast and ran towards the door.

“Good luck!” Yoona yelled as Sooyeon ran to the elevator. She turned and blew a kiss to Yoona.

“Thanks!”

Yoona chuckled, while closing the apartment door and started getting ready for another day of work.

Sooyeon reached the building ten minutes early but it seemed everyone else was already there. The room was full of chatter and instantly Sooyeon felt out of place. Everyone else was dressed in designer clothing and the ladies all had makeup on. Sooyeon looked down at her choice of clothing; she was wearing the best clothes she could find; a pair of black skinny jeans and an off-white blouse. At the time she thought she looked good but now it seemed to her like she didn’t fit, the lack of makeup also didn’t help. She was in a rush this morning and didn’t want to risk getting late so she just applied mascara and lipstick, which seemed lackluster compared to the extremes some of the girls went to.

Sooyeon was put out of her worry of her appearance when a representative from Kwon & Co walked in. She was wearing a full sleeved sandy brown sheath dress with semi-transparent black tights and a pair of dark heels. Her eyes glazed over everyone and instantly all the chatter died.

It was obvious that she was an employee so everyone gathered around her and she started talking about the plans for the next few weeks. It was stuff that Sooyeon and everyone else already knew about. She even noticed some people zoning out and when she turned back to the representative, Amanda, Sooyeon heard something she was not expecting.

“We want to assess you on your skills on fashion designing.”

Murmurs could be heard around the room, this was meant to be the orientation day so no one expected to do anything today; they just thought they would get shown around. Amanda raised her hand, hushing everyone.

“Yes, we know this was meant to be the orientation day but if you aren’t ready now to design something, then you will never be. Also, I’m not saying that this project will be due today, so there isn’t much to worry about.”

A guy in the front raised his hand; Amanda nodded her head at him, “What exactly is this project?”

Amanda nodded again, “It’s to create an outfit. You will work in partners—and no, you will not choose who. You will get paired up based on your last names since there are fifty of you it should all work out.”

“What kind of outfit are you talking about?” the girl beside Sooyeon asked.

“Anything,” Amada said as she was handed a clipboard from someone and she started calling names. “Ahn Jimin and Choi Minsoo.”

The two found each other and were directed to go ahead and get started. It seemed that the company people were not going to help with anything as the two just awkwardly stood there.

Before Amanda could read off the next two names someone asked, “When is this project due?”

Amanda looked up from the clipboard, “In a week.”

Sooyeon’s eyes widened; that was such short time period for a project with no rules. At that moment Sooyeon knew that this journey to becoming a fashion designer would not be an easy one.

“Jung Sooyeon.” Sooyeon looked at Amanda, hoping that the person she got paired up with was a nice one.

“Hwang Tiffany.”

Sooyeon looked around for the girl that was her partner and soon as she walked up to the front, she noticed her. The girl looked a few inches shorter than Sooyeon who stood at five six. Tiffany had medium auburn hair and was sporting the biggest smile Sooyeon had ever seen. Instinctively Sooyeon took a step back; she had no clue why this girl was so happy to be working with her.

“Hi! It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Tiffany waved at Sooyeon and somehow her smile grew bigger than before. Sooyeon returned a small smile in return.

“Hi, mine as well,” Sooyeon nodded. Already, she knew that the two’s personality were on the opposites sides of the spectrum; Tiffany was the loud, overpowering girl and she was the quiet, submissive girl. Sooyeon could just hope that the term ‘opposites attract’ could work in their situation also.

~~~

Feb. 14 2015: Happy valentines day! I hope you liked the chapter =)

Saturday, March 8, 2014

mycatWalter: hiya! Teehee :3 I liked this chapter a lot (probably because we got to introduce more of the plot line :D) Rest assure I will make sure that we update very quickly! Until then, have a great March break Readers!!

Mar5122: HELLO READERS! New Chapter!!!! It might not have been the most entertaining chapters but i needed it. XD Finally this story is finally going somewhere, haha. I hopefully will update a bit quicker next time since right now its March break ^_^

I'd also like to wish the best kid leader in the world Kim Taeyeon a very very Happy Birthday!! (Though it might still be March 8 where I live, in Korea it's March 9 xD)