Chapter Two

It was a little over a year ago when it dawned upon Choi Seunghyun that his whole life had been a complete lie.

He had always felt that something did not feel right about the stories his family would tell; the supposed recollections of the events that had occurred in his estranged life three years prior, as neat as they had been tucked in, his handicapped mind could somehow sense ill-fitting flaws. Maybe it was how he just seemed disconnected to them, when he should be somewhat familiar with them, regardless.

Choi Seunghyun woke up to the blurry sight of the hospital ceiling and it took him a full minute before he noticed people calling out a familiar name.

“Seunghyun-ah!”

He remembered feeling a state of confusion that struck him a minor headache. That name sounded all too familiar.

The then 26-year-old Choi Seunghyun shifted his vision to a beautiful middle-aged couple who were seated on the chairs next to his bed. They were staring back at him with so much love and longing, that much was very apparent.

“Boss!” A loud voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

He looked up from staring at nothing in particular and his eyes met Heejin, his secretary of the past eight months. Standing at 5’7”, with a beautiful shade of brown locks that seemed to flow so naturally on her stunning figure, Han Heejin was precisely Seunghyun’s type. However, before he could even woo her into his spell, she had already warned him that she would not be interested – even if her life depended on it. That, of course, didn’t stop the Choi Seunghyun from doing what he excelled at, but she had consistently dismissed his advances for the months to follow, until one day, Seunghyun just gave up and moved on to the new girl in his office. Bottom line is, it would never happen with Heejin and now he realized that it was a good thing, despite his bruised ego (but Heejin wasn’t the kiss and tell type, so he didn’t feel much of a threat), because they made an efficient team.

“Sorry for my tone, but you’ve been spaced out for quite a while now,” Heejin apologized, but looking amused, nonetheless.

Slightly running his fingers across his neat black hair in mild frustration, Seunghyun set aside his personal issues and the resurfacing nagging curiosity building up in his mind, and waited for her to continue the agenda.

“Miss Gillian Cho and Miss Ahn Sohee from Chic are here to meet you.”

He tried to ignore it, but his ultra confident demeanor shook a little, if he was to be honest with himself.

“Let them in.”

Sohee almost staggered on her way inside his office. She honestly had no idea Choi Seunghyun was the managing director, because if she did, she would have tried everything to avoid this partnership. Sohee had taken a whole week off during her visit to Hong Kong to meet her nephew, so she practically left everything to her business partner and best friend, Gillian Cho.

Gillian and Sohee had been friends for almost a decade, tracing back to their freshmen year of university in the United Kingdom. The former was majoring in business and marketing whilst Sohee had been pursuing fashion – quite opposite ends of the spectrum, until one day, they came up with the idea of starting their own business, which was now the very successful Chic, a very trendy boutique and coffee shop venture.

Whilst Ahn Sohee was away, Gillian Cho, unaware of the ensuing conflict that would take place when Sohee and Seunghyun were around each other’s vicinity, had agreed to work with his very renowned event planning company, The Seoulights, for an upcoming exhibition. After all, who would want to pass up the opportunity to work with marketing giants like The Seoulights?

“Hi, I’m Choi Seunghyun. It’s very nice to meet you,” he introduced himself, as he calmly shook hands with the girls.

Gillian and Sohee replied his greetings and took the seats as per requested by the handsome young man.

As the trio talked business, Ahn Sohee couldn’t help but get lost as she took in his physiques. It was not like she was not keeping up with his news, because she would be downright lying if she never got curious about him. To help her case, he was one of the most sought-after bachelors in the whole of South Korea and his very flamboyant lifestyle always made it in gossip columns.

But really seeing him in person and observing him without the need to run away was a completely different feeling. She took in his features slowly and noticed how they had matured through time. Choi Seunghyun used to have a longer hair, that he had insisted to keep because it apparently matched his ‘rockstar’ character, but now he had a clean cut short hair, which was seven hundred times ier. He had also grown muscles, and she could see them pressing the ends of his Ralph Lauren. Choi Seunghyun from 10 years ago had boyish charms, but this Choi Seunghyun was a beautiful grown man who could kill with his confidence and charisma.

Every time she would plunge into their memories, she would feel an ache resonating through her heart. She knew what had happened, she should understand, but she couldn’t help feeling her heart torn into pieces. Was it really nothing? Was she insignificant that he couldn’t remember at all? She hated being the only one bearing all the memories.

 “You have been a little quiet, miss designer,” he commented, catching her staring at him so intensely.

Flushed, evident by the strong hue of her cheeks, she stammered, “Sor-sorry”. She wanted the ground to swallow her in that instant. 10 years later, and she still made a disastrous first impression in front of Choi Seunghyun. Way to go.

“I actually really like all the ideas that have been put forth in this discussion.”

Lie.

She barely listened.

Gillian looked at her best friend and was perplexed to see her so distracted – by a man. She was so used to see Sohee not showing any romantic interests to anyone; Ahn Sohee was like a robot without emotions; and she almost wanted to drop her jaw at the change in behaviour her friend was exhibiting. She couldn’t even maintain eye contact with the handsome Choi Seunghyun.