▲▼ CHAPTER 18 // KEY TO HAPPINESS

       "Breakfast is ready!" A hoarse voice called out as you scrambled with your outfit, trying to get ready as fast as possible. As usual, Anthea was kind enough to serve a gourmet breakfast for you. You couldn't push away the offer as you settled down, gobbling down the scrumptious meal. "Hey Anthea, I'll be back later. I'm going to an interview." You informed, slunging a small purse on your shoulder and getting ready to walk out of the door. "Good luck, dear!" Anthea engulfed you in one of her warm hugs, embracing you & patting your back before you left the house. Putting your foot in front of the other, you set off to the café. You had your small clutch onto your palm as beads of perspiration started forming, your anxiety kicked in while your heart started thumping loudly. You tried to take steady breaths as you felt yourself getting more and more nervous for the interview. It was a long journey to the interview due to the nervousness that you had.

             "Hey it's you! Hyemi, right... ?" A dashing young man - you recognised as Jaebum - who had a black vest over his freshly ironed white blouse gave you a warm welcome as he flashed his pearly whites at you, his cheekbones rising. You nodded suit, giving a small smile at him before taking a seat. "So you came for the interview?" Jaebum questioned, raising his eyebrows at you as he wiped his hands onto a wet cloth right beside the counter. "Well, obviously." You pointed out, fiddling with your clutch. You heard Jaebum's dry laugh as he then got to work, serving the usual customers with his skillful morning coffee. Just a few minutes after you had settle yourself down, Jaebum called you over as he signalled his hand towards you. "The line's getting short so I bet it might be your turn soon." Jaebum pointed his forefinger to the row of plastic chairs right beside the grey door. "Good luck, you'll need it." He continued as you pressed your lips together, biting your lower lip as a sign of anxiety. You gracefully walked over to the row of chairs and settled yourself there. Your heart palpitated so wildly that you thought it might come out of your chest. You heard small conversation happening in the room which had a dark grey door that seemed pretty forceful about it.

            "Come in." You heard the slightly husky and deep voice on the other side of the door. From the hearing of his voice, you had the impression that he was someone who is well-built and large in size. As you turned the doorknob slowly, you greeted him in a confident voice and took a seat onto the four-wheeled chair right before him. "Ms Hyemai, is it?" He questioned, looking over to the paper before him as he pronounced your name in a slightly different way. "It's Hyemi." You corrected him. He then looked closely onto the sheet of paper as his eyes scrutinized it before he was able to let out a deep chuckle that echoed throughout the whole room. "Oh pardon me, I'm bad with names." He showed his small smile that made the ends of his eyelids wrinkled together. "The name's Dongwon." He handed out his enormous palm as you took it in between yours, giving a firm yet confident handshake. "So I believe that you don't really have a lot of working experiences?" Dongwon continued on while you nodded. The interview went for hours as you talked about why you were desperate to find a job to commit for yourself. It was slightly nerve-wrecking than you thought it would be because of the aura that Dongwon had, surrounding him.

              He seemed to be someone who was sophisticated and there was this certain force he had that made you feel rather small. His confidence overshadowed his friendliness that made him give the impression that he was someone furious and stern. The wide smile that he had on his grim looking face looked slightly creepy and not even friendly at all. It was a bit of a disappointed to know that you had such bad first impression of your own future boss. "Well then since we agreed on the contract, you can start tomorrow. Is that fine with you?" You heaved a sigh of immense relief. Oh how blessed were you to get this job after going around the whole town to find a suitable one. You didn't have any experience working but thank goodness was Dongwon grateful enough to let you in and assist you. You nodded, showing a small smile.

             "So, did you get it?" The familiar chirpy voice was heard from a distance as you tilted your head to the back to see Jaebum standing behind his counter and hollering behind you. Showing a thumbs up and bobbing your head up and down, Jaebum beamed and congratulated you, showing you yet another thumbs up. Taking a seat onto one of the plastic covered bar stools, a full cup of coffee was placed onto the counter. "On the house." Jaebum pursed his lips together as he forced his chubby cheeks to rise up. You shook your head vigorously, holding the hot cup and attempting to push it away from you. "I'm not that poor y'know," You hissed at him, raising your thick eyebrows as Jaebum's eyes flashed with curiosity. He then let out a chuckle and leaned towards you, using the counter as an arm rest. "You're a really fiesty person aye?" There he goes as his infamous brown eyebrows rose up, pulling his cheekbones upwards too as it creates a small yet devilish smirk. Breaking the eye contact, you took the cup into your grip while you slid your lips in between the opening of the cover - the burning sensation of the creamy coffee filled your whole body as it gave a great relief of satisfaction. "I thought you meant that you're rich enough to be buying your own coffee instead of taking a free one?" Jaebum interrupted your heavenly moment again as his smirk was still plasted onto the ends of his mouth. You shot him a deadly gaze as you then rolled your eyes in annoyance, shooing him away. The warmthness of the fresh brewed coffee encircled you into a balmy embrace as you enjoyed the richness of the beverage.

             Your eyes wandered around when a small tap on your shoulder jolted you awake. Your eyes widened slightly unlike before as you saw Daehyun taking a seat right beside your bar stool as he showed a small wave. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Your voice turned out to be slightly more high pitched than usual, possibly because you were much more curious than ever. Daehyun's eyebrows rose as he tilted his head to the side. "What are you doing here?" He repeated your sentence but emphasized more onto the 'you' and laughed. You rolled your eyes in annoyance again. "I just had an interview. I got a job." You informed him and his eyes turned bigger, almost like those round buttons that he had on his dark brown business coat. With his mouth slightly agape and his ears perching upwards, you realised that he was somehow happy and excited upon the news. "Wow, that's good! Aren't you happy? Like finally, you've been trying to find a job yet this one fell into place." You nodded, the end of your lips perched upwards to manage a small smile. "Yeah, I'm happy."

             Daehyun rolled his eyeballs as his ridiculously long lashes flicked upwards too while he huffed. "Yeah, I'm happy," He imitated you again, probably even mocking your actions earlier on but with his face on straight and his shoulders slouching together with his eyelids that were drooping downwards - looking as unamused as ever. "Damn, you look happy alright." There he goes again, being all chatty and finding time to actually make fun of whatever you just talked about.

             The two of you were just enjoying your own drinks, accompanying yourself by watching Jaebum work yet it didn't really felt awkward having Daehyun beside you. "You know, it's a good thing I bumped into you. I've been thinking alot after you told me about your whole family." Your eyebrows furrowed followed by your forehead creasing, showing the vivid straight lines that you had. Your heart exploded into curiosity after realising what he meant. "You were thinking..?" You tried to assist him to continue on his sentence. Looking at the way he was clasping onto his own fingers and his lips pursing tightly together, you had the impression that whatever he was thinking about was something rather serious. "I have a friend who is working with the Police. They have all the records of the ones who are alive and dead in this country. He can help you find out if anybody else in your family is still alive." Daehyun lowered his voice to a much huskier and serious tone. His gaze lowered too and it seemed like he was so into this topic.

             Upon hearing to what he said, you were slightly taken aback and shocked about his decision. Daehyun seemed so sure that he was able to find a way to help you which had convinced you enough that you would be a part of his team. But most of all, why would he want to help you? The both of you were merely acquintances and nothing more than that but yet he didn't hesitated to ask you if you would care to tag along. Deep inside you knew that you wanted to find out who else are in your family eventhough you kept denying that you didn't want to. Your eyes were glued to him as he explained the details, informing you one by one about the small plan that he had.

             "I'm up for it." You interrupted him when you realised a small genuine smile was plasted onto Daehyun's mouth. With your anxiety filling your emotions and little butterflies forming in your stomach, your legs reacted faster than your mind as they instantly stood up and got ready to leave.

             A certain energy suddenly filled your whole body, turning yourself from somehow lifeless to enthusiastic which was definitely odd for you to feel that way. You had never felt enthusiasm jumping off of your chest in a really long time and you wasn't sure if that was either a good or bad thing. You had insisted on meeting Daehyun's friend right that instant and he couldn't possibly take down the offer. Instead, he was delighted to see you burning your inner excitement. Your heart pulsated as a mixture of anxiousness and fear engulfed your upper chest area, not knowing what would actually happen in the time ahead. As usual, you tried to contain your excitement that stirred through your whole body by clenching your fingers together into a fist and trying not to break a vivid smile.

             Conclusively, the both of you arrived at this humongous four storey building that had an exterior of a fake red-bricked, industrial feel to it. It seemed almost similar to Daehyun's apartment block, the only difference was that the building had two huge wooden doors that gave you the vibe of those old mansions. At a first glance, nobody would even recognise the place as a Police Neighbourhood Centre but all thanks to the huge billboard placed right a few feet before the driveway and the bold, gold lining plasted on top of the door. You glanced to Daehyun as he urged you to go in first, displaying his good manners as he held open the door to let you in.

             "Dae!" A slighty high-toned voice was heard far away as Daehyun raised his arms, his charming smile appeared before your eyes. There then came a young guy who had a really milky white skin and a slightly dark red bowl-cut hair that stood out. His smile was different from the others. His cheeks were so round and his face was practically shining from a distance. He had a really long neck and his smile was really adorable - his mouth was half opened, showing his upper pearly white teeth and his potruding chubby cheeks rose up so gracefully.

             "Hey, it's been ages!" Daehyun pulled him into a friendly hug as the both of them patted each other's back. The guy which you caught his name laughed a hearty laugh, "We just met two weeks ago, how can you miss me that much?" He joked as the end of Daehyun's eyes wrinkled and his deep laugh was heard.

can you guys guess who is it?