Chaerin tidies her desk, making sure her files and binders are in the correct places so that she doesn’t have any more clumsy days. Her least favorite thing in the world is disorganization. In the world of Public Relations, disorganization leads to mistakes. She hums to herself as she leans over her desk to grab something, not noticing the man in the doorway watching her. Taeyang enjoys the view as her conservative black pencil skirt rides up and becomes decidedly less conservative. He knocks lightly at the door frame to announce his arrival, startling the young woman and causing her to knock over a jar of pens on her desk. The chaebol hides his laughter as he picks up her pens for her and puts them back in their place. Chaerin bows when she sees that her visitor is the new big boss.

“About this morning, I’m so sorry,” She begins to apologize again but he interrupts her.

“I was just thinking about that, Chaerin-ssi.” Taeyang walks closer to her, leaning against the wooden desk with his hands in his pockets. “If you still feel guilty about what happened this morning then I guess you’ll have to buy me dinner to make up for it. I’m still new to Seoul and need to be shown where the best restaurants are near the office.”

“Sajangnim,” Chaerin begins, hesitating to give him an answer. Jiyong told her to be home early so they could eat together and she knows better than to think this complete stranger has only pure intentions. But he was still the president of her company and she had spilled her coffee on him without paying for his laundry. If she just says yes and quickly eats then she will no longer be indebted to him. “Alright, I will treat you to dinner.”

Taeyang smiles as he walks with Chaerin out of the YG Corporation headquarters. When they leave through the front doors Chaerin expects to see a company car waiting for them. However, Taeyang continues to stroll comfortably down the streets of Seoul and she soon follows after him. It’s a change of pace from Jiyong, who has never gone anywhere without a chauffeur driving him.

“Here we are,” Taeyang says holding open the door to a building she wouldn’t have guessed was a restaurant.

“I thought you said you didn’t know your way around the city.” Chaerin raises a brow as she walks into the cosy family owned restaurant.

“Did I say that?” He asks cheekily, turning to speak to the ahjumma comfortably. From the way the two interact Chaerin guesses that he must come here fairly often. It isn’t where she expected a chaebol would want to eat, not even Jiyong would feel at ease in a place like this with its old furniture and cracks on the wall.

“How long have you been coming here?”

“Ah, since I moved to Seoul? I found the place while I was wandering around. It’s nice to be away from all of the stuffy old men in suits that just want my job.” The young chaebol looks up as the ahjumma returns with bowls of naengymeon and a bottle of soju. He offers to pour her a glass and she accepts with her left hand under her right hand, causing Taeyang to shake his head. “You don’t need to do that, we’re friends out for a drink.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” She wonders out loud, removing her hand and letting him pour her drink. After she gulps down the soju she hands him the glass and pours his drink.

“It’s always good to have a friend in the company. I think that you should be my friend.” He takes the shot of soju and picks up his chopsticks, taking the boiled egg out of his bowl and dropping it into hers. She looks at her bowl and then up at him in confusion. “I don’t really like eggs.” He shrugs casually and smiles, he’s always smiling.

Not for the first time she can’t help but think that his smiling face is similar to the way Youngbae used to smile. There are a lot of things about Park Taeyang that remind Chaerin of her friend, even the egg. When they were children Youngbae used to always give his boiled egg to her because he knew she loved it. She could still clearly remember the first time she met him while playing at the Kwon house.

“Oh, Youngbae-ah!” Jiyong stands up excitedly and Chaerin looks up from her coloring to see a boy in the doorway. He looks at her nervously and she studies the way he’s dressed in a t-shirt and shorts with a bandaid on his cheek. Even though he’s probably Jiyong’s age he doesn’t look much like the young Kwon heir in his pressed button up shirt tucked into his slacks. “This is Dong Youngbae, he’s who I played with before I met you so that I wouldn’t be lonely. Because my mother says I can’t play with you all of the time I play with Youngbae.” The boy’s face contorts and Chaerin knows that look all too well. She can see that Jiyong’s words hurt him, though she doubted that he really meant it to come out that way.

“That’s not nice, oppa.” She says sternly, looking at Jiyong as she takes Youngbae’s hands into her own smaller ones. “Youngbae oppa, let’s be friends. You, me, and Jiyong oppa. Let’s all be friends forever and we’ll never be lonely.”

“Chaerin-ah,” Jiyong whines and she takes his hand, too.

“Everybody needs at least one friend, Youngbae oppa. Now you have two!”

Chaerin looks at Taeyang for a long while, not able to understand how he could be so much like Youngbae. If he really is Youngbae then why wouldn’t he say anything to her? Why wouldn’t he have come back sooner? She spent so many years wondering about him, hoping he was safe, desperately praying he was alive and happy.

“I hope you don’t think I’m rude for asking but how are you related to the CEO? You’re too old to be a son and I haven’t heard about any other brothers.” Chaerin finally asks before eating some noodles.

“Don’t worry, it’s not rude at all. I’m Park Hongjun’s brother.” She looks at him in awe. “Teddy oppa had a brother?” She asks without thinking, wishing she hadn’t used his nickname. Taeyang gives her a questioning look for a moment but lets it go.

“While hyung and I were both raised in Los Angeles, I mostly spent my time in New York City and went to school there.” Chaerin nods as he speaks, it all makes sense.

“I thought you looked familiar when I first saw you, as if I had seen you somewhere before.” She says quietly as she eats. He looks at her with a startled expression but it fades when she looks back up to him. “Park Hongjun’s brother, It must just be the family resemblance. I see.” She knows it was silly to think that Park Taeyang and Dong Youngbae are somehow the same person. Though the two have many similarities there are too many differences. Taeyang is a chaebol and might one day have control over one of the largest companies in Korea. Youngbae was poor and from a bad neighborhood with only a single mother to take care of him.

“What do you think about when you look at me?” He asks after catching her staring at him for a long time with a thoughtful, almost sad expression on her face. Her cheeks redden in embarrassment and she immediately looks away.

“It’s nothing, sajangnim. I think we will be good friends.” She smiles and offers to pour him another drink. He knows she’s lying but smiles as he drinks the soju. The sound of a ringing phone comes from her purse and she digs it out to look at the caller ID. She answers it quickly after seeing the time, knowing it’s Jiyong calling. “Oppa, I’m sorry. I had a meeting run a little late but I’ll be home soon.” She hangs up and stands to bow to her boss. “Please excuse me, I need to get home.”

“I’ll take you home,” He offers after paying and following after her. She’s walking along the sidewalk with the summer wind whipping her long hair around. He can’t help but think she looks beautiful in the dusk, as the streetlights begin to illuminate around them in the city.

“No, that’s alright, I’ll just take a cab.” She regrets having gone to dinner with him when she had plans with Jiyong. Chaerin knows she only agreed to spend time with him because he reminded her of Youngbae and she could fool herself into thinking he was back in her life.

“At least let me pay for your fare.” He’s standing next to her with his hands in his pockets, waiting with her when a cab drives up.

“Thank you for dinner, I enjoyed it. Goodbye, sajangnim!” She waves to him as she steps into the backseat, knowing that it was time to return to her reality.

When the cab stops in front of the upscale apartment complex she gives the driver money and steps out, looking at the building she has called home for the past few years. As she steps into her apartment, taking off her heels at the door, she knows that this is where she belongs. With her parents always moving around, Jiyong had become her home. He had become the one constant in her life that she could always rely on to never change. The entire place is filled with incredible aromas and she walks to the kitchen but Jiyong isn’t there. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion as she looks through the different rooms to find him until seeing the lights on out on the balcony. Sliding back the glass door, she sees Jiyong standing next to a table set up with candles and beautiful white roses, her favorite. There are two plates of amazingly delicious looking pasta and an expensive bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. She kicks herself for having had naengmyeon and soju, knowing that whatever Jiyong prepared for her would make it pale in comparison but that she would feel so full. However wonderful everything looks she can’t for the life of her understand what the occasion is.

"Today is the day, seventeen years ago, my mother brought me over to your house for a playdate. Happy anniversary, hunchae." He gives her a small grin as he pours a glass of wine for each of them, clinking glasses. She’s amazed that he could remember such a small detail and that he had never brought it up before now. Chaerin barely remembers the day they first met, she was only five years old back then. It was really incredible thinking just how much time they had spent together, in just a few years they would even be celebrating their twentieth anniversary.

Their mothers went to the same exclusive university together but while Jiyong’s mother had married an eccentric chaebol, Chaerin’s mother married a brilliant professor from a respectable family like her own. Inseparable due to their mothers’ strong friendship, they grew up comfortably attending the same schools and going to the same parties and events.  If it weren’t for Jiyong she wouldn’t have met Youngbae, the son of his mother’s maid. And she knew if it weren’t for Jiyong she wouldn’t have been able to survive all of these years dealing with her grief and confusion after Youngbae’s disappearance. When Chaerin had to move, Jiyong would travel to see her. When her father left to teach in Paris Chaerin decided to continue her studies in Korea with Jiyong. She gives him a small, bittersweet smile. While she wishes that Youngbae could be here celebrating with them she’s thankful that she’s had Jiyong with her for all of these years. Seeing the look on her face he wraps his long arms around her, pulling her close into a warm and tight hug. Chaerin nestles her face into his chest, smelling his designer cologne and a hint of the cigarettes he doesn’t think she knows about.

“I can’t imagine my life without you. I feel like I’m seventeen because my life didn’t really start until we met.” She whispers into the dark fabric of his suit, barely audible. “Oppa, promise you’ll never leave me alone.”

“I promise, Hunchae. I’m not going anywhere.” His large hand smoothes down her light brown hair and he kisses her gently on the forehead.

- - -

I meant to finish the chapter on New Years but I thought I should write more so here it is! Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, I hope you all continue to enjoy the story. Please comment or leave suggestions, I love to read them and they keep me motivated to write!