The meeting with her first sponsor went on smoothly. The gay who was the deemed most famous gown designer, Jean, was so glad to meet an Asian who would do for his new gown collections. He even insisted to send them home as she fondly calls Sooyoung as ‘Baby Beauty.’

“So, looks like you made an impression on that one. So how about a ride around the block? I mean it’s still early to go to sleep right? And your photo shoot will be at the end of the week,” Yeojin offered into which Sooyoung agreed. The older one handed her a large blue hoodie.

“Wear that, I got it from your bag. The wind here can sometimes be chilly. I don’t want you to catch a cold or something.”

Sooyoung smiled and reached for the hoodie. The moment she had worn it, fixing her hair afterwards, Yeojin smiled, “That hoodie looks like his, eh?”

The younger one gave her a questioning look before she checked the hoodie. A letter K was stitched neatly on its left part.

“This is not his, this is mine actually. His has my initial stitched on the same location,” Sooyoung stated, heaving a sigh.

“Well, forget about that. Let’s just enjoy the night shall we?” Yeojin smiled pulling her to hail a cab.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

KOREA

The very next day, Kris woke up earlier to prepare for the board meeting to fully discuss the 4-year plan they had made. The site has been chosen and bought so they just need to do a further discussion regarding the plan for those who are not part of the creating team. The said meeting was schedule by nine so he asked Jongsuk to prepare the meeting room and even the document. He instructed him to pick him up 30 minutes before the said meeting.

The search regarding Sooyoung is still ongoing. They had been contacting various people but looks like they cannot even have a good starting point. Lay had widened his range of duty aside from tracing whoever steals the documents and about the female spy whom he initially suspects Hyoyeon to be her. Kris had asked him to focus on those and leave the thing about Sooyoung to the rest, but he had been quite close to the woman that’s why he can’t help but worry about her too.

Kris was fixing his tie on the living room, going over his presentation for the last time when he hears a car screech outside. In a minute, Jongsuk came rushing inside.

“It’s still early, why are you already here?” Kris asked, looking at his uneasy secretary.

“Sir, we got a problem,” he heaved, together with Woobin who tries to catch his breath too.

“Problem?” Kris suddenly gets alarmed. The boys gathered around them after hearing the screech of the car.

“The 4-year plan is missing and probably stolen, again,” Jongsuk relayed which made Kris’ grow weak in the knees.

It took him awhile to respond. “What do you mean?” he asked his voice suddenly low.

“Earlier when you asked me to prepare the meeting room, I decided to check on the papers again so I can reproduce already. When I got into your office, your vault where you kept it had been unlocked. It’s not been forced open rather the thief left it open probably from hurrying. I tried to access your computer for any back up files but then even your computer have been completely formatted so as mine. I called the part of the creation team but they all said that you are the only one who has the copy since they are not confident enough to keep a copy of it. I immediately went down to the security room to check the feeds of your office but there had been no intrusion or trespassing. There had been no reports even last night,” Jongsuk relayed which all the more made him grow weak in the knees.

“Hyung, what will you present then?” Lay asked after a moment of silence.

He closed his eyes, “Tell the board that the document is stolen again,” he instructed Jongsuk.

“But sir, they might throw a rage. They might immediately pull out their shares,” Woobin decided to interfere.

“Jongsuk can work on his way to persuade them through his words. After all, I did not hire him for nothing. And if they are still persistent, then be it. Let them pull out their shares. It’s not like we can’t stand back without them,” Kris confidently instructed the two.

“Sir that is too much to take a risk. We can’t possibly go back up without the shareholders,” Jongsuk replied, getting worried and uneasy already.

“Jongsuk, you have done this before. This one is no difference. Maybe next time when the same thing happens, I might be the one to completely do the plan and keep it in here. If I have to even encrypt it on my brain then I would do it,” he said, authority laced his voice.

When Jongsuk and Woobin left, the boys are all looking at Kris as he finally falls on the nearest chair, burying his face on his palms. For once, the one they thought cold finally succumbs to tears as his shoulders shook from his sobs.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

PARIS

Sooyoung woke up late after their late night escapade with Yeojin. They visited a few bars and did some late night shopping for her clothes. Her head feels heavy as she tries to pull herself up. When she got out of the room, Yeojin is nowhere in sight. So, she made herself comfortable. She cooked some breakfast while browsing over emails and the internet. She checked some few messages to and the likes. After breakfast, she moved to the living room, dialing Kris’ number, waiting for it to ring as she placed it on her ears. When the first ring resounds, she immediately realizes what she was doing and ended the call.

‘That was close,’ she thought, trembling from what had just happened.

As she was trying to calm herself, the door opens revealing Yeojin holding a large bag of groceries.

“Unnie, where have you been?” she asked as she helps the older one on the groceries.

“I went down for some groceries because that tummy of yours threatens to empty my cupboards,” Yeojin smiled as she follows Sooyoung inside.

“Looks like you had breakfast already huh?” the older one remarked seeing the plates on the sink.

“Would you want me to make some for you?” Sooyoung offered into which the older one declined to.

“For today, we will watch an opera. I know how much you like those so I booked us two seats in the front so wear the best gown you had picked last night, okay?” Yeojin smiled at the shocked Sooyoung.

“An opera? For real? Omo! Thank you Unnie!” she jumped to give her a hug before rushing to get to her room to check the gowns they had bought.

While she is busy on her room, Yeojin dials a local number and moved a bit near the kitchen so it won’t reach Sooyoung’s room.

“Hello?” she called.

A male voice answered on the other line, “Yeojin, what made you call?”

“I just want to ask where you are,” Yeojin replied.

“I am still on an important trip. I will be back after two weeks, wae?”

“Well, I have a visitor in here you might want to meet,” Yeojin smiled.

“Visitor?”

“Yeah, a visitor you had been missing all these years.”

“You better not be trolling in there or I will never buy you that ruby set you had been dying to have.”

“I would never do that, you know very well that I don’t lie, especially to you.”

“Well then, sad to say I can’t come in there immediately since this is a very important trip. You just have to make sure that whoever is that visitor will still be there when I get there.”

“Buy that ruby set and I will make her stay till you get in here.”

“Arasseo. I’ll hang up now.”

The call ended just as Sooyoung emerged from her room, holding two long evening gown.

“Unnie, should I go for this milky white or this black one?”

Yeojin smiled, “Take the milky one. It will look good with pearls.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

KOREA

Kris decided to face the board of shareholders that afternoon, right after that news regarding the lost 4-year plan.

Jongsuk pulled him by the arm before he gets inside, “Sir, I can just face them if you are not yet ready.”

Kris smiled at his secretary, “I have to face them. This concerns me the most so I have to.”

The moment he stepped inside, the murmurs stops as he proceeds to the rostrum upstage. When he’s already behind it, he looked up at the various faces in front of him, all eager to know what he has to tell.

“Gentlemen, you are probably aware as of now about the missing documents and we all know that this is not the first time we had encountered such situation. As of the moment, I had already dispatched a team to work on solving this mystery which had been haunting us, ever since I stepped into power. Involving the police would only reveal that our company had been facing dilemmas since then which would give room for our competitors to took advantage of our meant time loss. I know some are already eager to pull their shares already. I am here, not my secretary whom I always send to face you, to give me the time to fix this mess and catch the culprit,” he stepped back and did a 90-degree bow in front of the flabbergasted shareholders.

One of the shareholders in front tapped his microphone, catching his attention.

“Being the second largest shareholder, the member of the board assigned me to relay what we have talked about while waiting for you. We all know how very valuable this company is to your mother but we also value the same our money we invested. We had faced the same situation, yes, maybe five times already. And within that duration we see how you worked hard to fill in those holes. You are young, the youngest as we may note, prone to mistakes and the likes. It is actually a risk to have our investment being held by a young man. But since you had proved yourself way too much, we all decided to give you a month to fix this mess. If you cannot find the culprit within the given time boundary, then I am afraid that everything your mother worked on, especially your grandparents will be just a mark in history.”

Kris straightened up; finally able to breath as he watch the other members of the board leave the meeting room. The only ones who left were the old man who just spoke and another old man. Both were close family friends. They moved to walk and get near the relieved young man. They gave him a hug. After parting, the same old man spoke, “We believe in you. Please don’t fail us this time.”

Kris shook their hands, nodding, “Yes, I will do everything so as not to fail your expectations.”

“And kindly send our regards to Mrs. Wu,” the other one said.

“Yes, it will reach Mother, thank you,” Kris replied.

“No, not your mother. Your wife,” the old man smiled. Kris raised a brow over the reply.

“Her parents are acquaintances of ours. A family of beauty and success indeed they are,” the same old man smiled.

A sad smile appeared on the younger one’s lips, “Yes, it will reach my wife.”