Chapter Four

HYOYEON

The blistering Korea heat was starting to make Hyoyeon sweat. Even in the back of the taxi he wished for the air conditioner to be cooler. He was twenty minutes from Taeyeon’s and he was starting to rehearse what he would say to her. After the flight and now the taxi ride he just wanted to rest his feet. He was not in the mood to tell the kid her brother wasn’t coming. Another reason for her to hate him, he would be the bearer of bad news.

Not that Hyoyeon actually cared whether  Choi Taeyeon liked him or not. Taeyeon was just his best friend’s little sister. Her personal feelings towards him had no reflection on his conscience. He didn’t care. He never cared. But a promise was a promise especially a promise made to Sooyoung. A promise or not, Hyoyeon was not in the mood to play nice with Choi Taeyeon.

“You visiting Korea or staying?” the pudgy taxi driver asked as they drove through the streets of Seoul

“Staying,” he replied. Hyoyeon wasn’t one for talking but the taxi driver seemed like the type to want to. The taxi driver looked like he was in his early fifties, his accent was strong and his moustache reminded Hyoyeon of Giorgio’s pizza boxes back home in Boston.

“Oh, I see that look in your eye, you off to see your girlfriend,” Marco teased.

Hyoyeon saw his name on the I.D card on his dashboard.

My girlfriend? … What a joke!

“Ha! Don’t make me laugh,” Hyoyeon snorted.

“You can’t hide that look son,” Marco let out a laugh.

Shaking his head, “yeah it’s the look of disgust. I’m babysitting some helpless eighteen year old brat against my will,” Hyoyeon said sternly. He made eye contact with the taxi driver through the rear view mirror.

“I’m sure she isn’t,” Marco said quietly after a moment of silence.

Hyoyeon knew he shouldn’t have said that about Taeyeon but he couldn’t help it. Right now he hated her and Sooyoung for being in this situation. Things at G&MC turned worse before any hint of good news surfaced for Sooyoung. Hyoyeon couldn’t blame him for the way things had turned out, the Owen’s case had evolved into a nationwide scam and now Sooyoung was in the middle of it.

Still, Hyoyeon  knew Taeyeon didn’t deserve the kind of hate he was letting out to complete strangers. He was painting a terrible picture of her to others and Hyoyeon knew Sooyoung wouldn’t be happy if he heard what he was saying. He was just thankful that Marco didn’t believe his hate.

“Yeah, I guess,” Hyoyeon said to him after a moment with his thoughts “Well, at least she lives in a safe neighbourhood,” Hyoyeon watched as Marco smiled, all he could do was nod in agreement.

“Here we are,” Marco said after minutes of silence between them. Hyoyeon kept quiet as he stared out of the window and took in the view of Seoul.

He missed it. He missed the smell, the architecture and everything about Seoul . Boston was beautiful in its own right but this was home for Hyoyeon. He couldn’t make Boston his home. He had been alone since his move from New York. He was away from his best friend and even further away from his parents and brother. Boston just held his career.  But Hyoyeon stayed in the States, his best friend needed him and he had a reason to stay. He just wished he had a reason to make him stay in one place and settle.

Family.

Hyoyeon knew the only thing that would make him leave the US would be his own family, a wife and children. He would make anywhere home if he had them. But Boston didn’t deliver, he had countless women in his bed but none held his interest enough for him to ask for more.

The closest thing to his vision of his potential future was his high school girlfriend, Nicole. But Hyoyeon left Nicole behind. He had left her for Stanford and for her to fall in love with other men. They were best defined as high school sweethearts. His train of thought shifted from Nicole to Taeyeon and he groaned out in annoyance.

She is going to make my life hell. 


Hyoyeon’s mind wondered, his memories told him that she was a spoilt and clingy little brat. He thought maybe she was still like that, and maybe that’s why her boyfriend had cheated on her. Hyoyeon understood why a guy would cheat on the likes of Choi Taeyeon. She wasn’t even worth remembering let alone dating As soon as he thought about how Taeyeon deserved to be cheated on,  Sooyoung flickered through his mind.

Hyoyeon  shouldn’t be thinking about his best friend’s sister like that.  Sooyoung was protective over Taeyeon  and he admired that, but he would beat the out of Hyoyeon if he ever found out he sided with the ‘little .’

Hyoyeon handed his fare over to Marco and retrieved his bag from the boot. He thanked Marco and watch a bright smile develop on his face at the tip Hyoyeon had given him.  Hyoyeon watched the yellow taxi do a U-turn at the end of the street .

He looked at the street and realised that this wasn’t the right address. The street was filled with Big Houses and not a single apartment in sight.

Great!

He was exhausted and he had travelled halfway across the world to see Taeyeon, only to be standing on the wrong street. Hyoyeon let out an exasperated sigh. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. Hyoyeon  looked at Sooyoung’s message to find that he had told his taxi driver the wrong address. Hyoyeon stood underneath the sign of Dogokdong –gil  Street..

Hyoyeon looked at the maps on his phone to see that Taeyeon’s apartment was only a few blocks away. For late in the afternoon, the sun continued to shine brightly and Hyoyeon knew this wouldn’t be an easy ten-minute walk. It was October, summer was closing in and he knew this was decent weather before the heat waves and unpredictable Seoul weather came crashing in

⌘

When Hyoyeon arrived at Hi-Rise’s Apartments he was sweating and out of breath. He hadn’t prepared himself for lugging his suitcase around in the heat. He wiped away the beads of sweat from his forehead on his arm and walked through the gates. Looking at the apartment building he noticed how right his taxi driver was. Taeyeon’s apartment was in a secure and impressive neighbourhood. Hyoyeon suspected that Sooyoung had a say in where she lived.

“Hey mate, need a hand?” he heard. Hyoyeon looked to see a a taller man just younger than him start to approach him with a bag of rubbish in one hand.

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, man,” Hyoyeon waved.

“No worries,” the man replied as he took the bag of rubbish to a small green bin to the side of the building.

“Moving in?” the man asked as he dusted his hands together and approached Hyoyeon

“You could say that. Staying at a mate’s. You live here?” Hyoyeon asked inspecting the building. 

“Yeah, I’m on the seventh floor,” the stranger replied to Hyoyeon.

“You’ll like it here. I do, trust me. Here’s a bit of advice about the building. Careful of the family on the third floor, their kids can yell at the top of their lungs but their all funny c