O N E

A gust of agonizing pain suddenly strikes through his head just as he gets up from his bed. Another hangover. He thinks out loud and scoffs. Brushing aside his throbbing head, he goes straight to the bathroom and washes up, getting ready for a new melancholy day at his tedious office as a CEO of his father's company.

This is what he does everyday. Waking up with a hangover, driving to his office alone, working until late at night while sipping a half bottle of liquor. Sometimes he wonders what kind of horrible sin he did in his past life to deserve this banausic and bland life.

Turning his off his shower, he covers himself with a towel around his neck and his waist. He goes straight to his walk-in closet and chooses a gray suit without thinking to look great because he knows he looks hot in everything. After he finishes, he looks at himself in the mirror and smiles forcefully before wiping off the smile with his usual poker-face.

Then, he grabs his car key and leaves his big but grungy apartment, going to work. 

"Good morning, Mr. Oh." His personal assistant cheerfully greets with a 90 degree bow and a megawatt smile when her boss walks inside the elevator stands beside her. He only gives her a curt nod of acknowledgement. 

"You look good as always," she adds as she hands another cup of hot coffee to him which he gladly takes, unintentionally brushing his thumb on her fingers. 

That simple gesture actually makes his PA blush, her heart thumping so loud that it would really burst out with joy. As they wait for the elevator to arrive at the last floor, where his office is, his PA starts a conversation with him.

"The files are all typed and highlighted. They just need to be signed." She implies and at the same time, the elevator pings, indicating that they are there. She lets her boss step outside first before following him behind his back. 

He places the coffee on his luxurious glass table and sits on the fluffy chair, sighing before taking the files from his PA and scheming them. 

"You have a meeting with the CEO of Wu Enterprises at 11 AM sharp," she reminds and stands there, waiting for his response. He gives a nod, eyes not leaving every word printed on the paper. "You may go, Ms. Lee," he monotonously said before clicking his pen, ready to sign the paper. 

Ms. Lee nods and bows before going out of his room, exhaling very deeply and heading toward her own office. 

The Wus, he overtly respects and looks up to them. They are great people who never look down on anyone. But their daughter  indubitably irks him to death. Their daughter made him like this; gloomy and stereotyped. He could change himself back, but he is too afraid. Too afraid of meeting new people who will eventually hurt you in the end. 

Thinking about her just makes his headache even worse, he better finishes signing these stacks of paper than recalling those icky times 7 years ago.

"Byul-ah, any progression?" Her workmate teases when she switches on her laptop. Eunbyul pouts and shakes her head, expressing her disappointment on her face. "He's still being cold as always," she implies and sips her Americano. 

"You should really just give up," Her other friend bluntly remarks and rolls her eyes. "He's not into women like you." 

That remark totally blows her off but she doesn't show it. Her friend just told her that she isn't good enough for him. Why isn't she? She has a perfect body, a pretty face, a good family background and makes really good money.

Byul fakes a smile and looks challengingly at her friend whose name is Reina. "Well yeah. He's not into women like us so that includes you." She retorts and gets on with her work. Reina scoffs at her shotback and decides to let her be. Someone clears and ushers the rest to continue what they're doing.

○●○●○

Fixing her gorgeous own-designed navy blue coat and putting on a sunglasses, she hops off the plane and breathes, inhaling the sweet air that she's missed dearly. Her lips twich into a small smile when she sees her little sister sleeping in her brother's arms. 

"Aleyna, we're here." Her brother calls softly, not wanting to make the little girl cry. She pouts cutely and slowly opens her eyes, looking tired from the painfully long flight. "Walk by your own, hmm?" The girl shakes her head and snuggles closer to his neck, causing both of her siblings chuckle in amusement. 

"Ying, take care of her." He playfully orders and puts the little girl down. Jiaying nods and laughs, bending down to her knee and combing Aleyna's hair which looks pretty messy. People who watch them literally envy their relationship. They look like a very happy married couple which is not true at all. They are not married.

"You want to see your new room, right, Semi?" Jiaying coos as she gently grabs the little girl's hand. Aleyna's eyes snap wide open and clap her hand happily upon hearing that. "Is everything in Olaf, Jie?" (姐; jie; an older sister)

"Hmm, if you want to know then you have to walk by yourself, okay?" Yifan, the sisters' older brother, jokingly affirms and pretends to tap his chin seriously. Semi kicks his awfully long legs and crosses her arms, pouting and taking Jiaying's hand, walking ahead first. "Fan fan ge ge is being mean!" (哥; ge; an older brother) She complains and Yifan laughs. Jiaying can only chuckle and mouth 'suit yourself' to him. 

After disappearing without any words for 7 years, now Jiaying is back. She left to New York due to something serious coming up. There, she found herself in love with designing so she stayed and graduated from majoring in fashion designing. She now has her own fashion line which fortunately is really popular and successful called 'JY Wu'.

When the three arrive at Jiaying's old house, their mom greets them with kisses and hugs. Yifan groans out loud at his mother's way of greeting them but hugs her back nonetheless. Semi awards her with kisses in return and giggles when she tickles the girl's neck. Their mother really misses them all even when she just got to New York 3 months ago. Jiaying hugs her mother and kisses her cheek.  

"So why did you decide to come back?" Her mother asks in Korean so Semi won't understand their conversation. Semi speaks only Chinese and English and knows none of Korean's alphabets. It is going to be hard for her to get accustomed to the new environment. 

Jiaying shrugs and sits on the white leather cushion, her mother joining. Yifan understands the situation and leads Semi to her new room. "You'll see him again, Ying. You know that." 

Taking off her coat, she smiles at her mother and holds her hand. "That's why, Ma. Don't worry too much. I can take care of myself." She alleges.

Her mother seems unconvinced and utters, "He won't be pleased to see you. I don't want you to get hurt from the truth."

Again, Jiaying flashes her usual smile. "Then I will make him pleased and happy to see me." She declares and stands up, heading towards her own room. Her mother shakes her head in defeat and exhales deeply. There's no use of talking her out of changing her mind. She knows her daughter too well. 

○●○●○

"Sir, it's time for your meeting with Wu Enterprises," Eunbyul confides through the phone. Sehun checks his time and indeed, it's time. He replies with a soft hum and places the phone back down to its place. Grabbing his car key, he storms out of his office and goes straight to where his PA is. 

"Ms. Lee, you're coming with me." He voices out all of sudden and leaves shortly after, startling the hell out of everyone, especially Eunbyul whose name is called. Eunbyul just stands there like an idiot, blinking and processing what her boss has just told until one of her workmate snaps her fingers to wake her up. "Hey, Mr. Oh is waiting for you!" 

"A-Ah yes." Byul grabs her things and hastily follows her boss. Her heart beats really uncontrolbably and she mentally curses it to stop.

"I see you've worked hard for these 6 months so I decide to bring you out for lunch after the meeting," He says in a monotonous tone as he unlocks his car. "Sit at the front. I'm not your driver." He says again when he senses Eunbyul contemplating to open which door. Byul pinks and nods, nervously opening the passenger door. I never thought he would do this far! She mentally squeals as she fastens the seatbelt and pretends to look outside the window to hide her red face. 

Sehun steals a glance at his PA and feels his lips tug upward. He knows she is blushing and decides to shrug it off. It is not that he doesn't like her. He feels happy that a woman actually still cares and stays by himself after all the cold treatment he's been giving to her. 

"Uhm," Byul starts and casts a look at his serious face when driving. "What should I do in the meeting?"

"Stand there until it's finished," he shortly replies, eyes not leaving the road. Byul only nods in understanding and secretly rolls her eyes. What am I? A freaking statue? She comments in her head.

Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted with her phone ringing. Byul clears and answers the call. "Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Nam. How can I help you?" Sehun's ears perk up at her mentioning the Wu's secretary.

"Chairman Wu cancelled the meeting. I know it's so sudden, but something more important came up."

"Ah, so it's cancelled then?" She repeats while nodding. "Alright, I understand. But, I think Mr. Oh wouldn't be happy about this." She tells the caller and sneaks a glance at her boss. Sehun's concentrating on the road but he is actually listening to the conversation.

Mr. Nam laughs on the other line. "Chairman Wu will call him later. Don't worry."

"Chairman Wu cancelled the meeting," she informs just as the call ends. The car halts abruptly, making the other cars stop as well. The drivers throw tantrums at him, but he doesn't care. Byul stares at him in horror and is about to yell at him, but then she realizes that she still loves her job so she just keeps quiet. 

Sehun doesn't like it when something that is fixed gets cancelled, regardless of the excuses. He doesn't care whether the person is of higher or lower position than him.

Once you make a decision, go for it and don't ever change it. That's what he tells himself everyday. He has ever disobeyed that once back when he was 17 and he regretted that he changed his mind because the result is what makes him today. Heartless and lonely.

"Does he tell you why?" He asks with his usual icy tone. He asks because Chairman Wu never cancels any meetings unless something really serious comes up. Call him biased or selfish, but he truly concerns about the Wus even there is a certain someone whom he doesn't give a damn about. He cared for her. Yes, cared as in past tense.

"N-No," Byul stammers, still recovering from the shock. "Mr. Nam only told me that something important came up and Chairman Wu would call you." She mumbles and looks down on her lap, not daring to look at his eyes. Sehun has never showed this side of him to Byul and it terrifies her. Sure, he always gives cold replies and commands, but this time, it is different and scarier than usual.

It is half past 11 PM, Eunbyul is packing her things, getting ready to go home. She really had so much work to do today and she's so happy that it is finally done. She glances at the telephone in front of her, contemplating whether to check on her boss or not. On the way ride home this morning, he hasn't spoken a word since the cancelation of the meeting. 

Sighing, she decides to ignore it and just go home. When she is about to leave, her boss' door suddenly bursts open, startling the out of her. Sehun raises her brow at her, as if asking her what is wrong. Byul just smiles sheepishly and bows at him. "I'll get going, Mr. Oh. Goodnight."

"Wait."

Byul stops abruptly, heart beating so fast that it is about to burst anytime soon. She is afraid, afraid that he will show that 'you're dead' look again. 

"I'll send you home. It's dangerous for a woman to walk by herself in this hour," Sehun offered, and by the look on his face, he's not taking no for an answer. Byul ignores that face and politely turned down his help. 

"Do you want to lose your job?" Sehun says with his bossy tone. He mentally chuckles at her shocked face. Byul shakes her head and smiles awkwardly. 

On the way ride home, it is so silent that you could even hear a pin drops. But Sehun is the first one to break the ice. "Sorry."

There he said it. 

He'd been thinking about it for 12 hours whether to apologize for snapping at his PA or not. 

Byul turns to her left, slightly taken aback his sudden apology. Sehun never apologizes. Well, apologized. 

"Sorry for what happened this morning," he continues, eyes on the road. He may look calm, but he is actually nervous inside. Byul just keeps quiet, secretly squealing. 

"Say something."

Byul looks elsewhere and clears . "It's totally fine, Mr. Oh." She mumbles and covers her face with her hands. She couldn't hide her squeals so she does that. Sehun raises his brow once again and shakes his head, a small smile forming on his lips. 

○●○●○●

2006, 14th February

"Hi," a girl greeted while offering her hand, trying to help him get up. Sehun had just been thrown into a pool by a bunch of dickheads. The girl was still smiling at him and offering her hand. Instead of accepting her hand, he scoffed and tried to get up on his own, but failed miserably. She was a mere stranger, who knew what she could do to him. The girl still smiled despite his rejection and said, "I don't bite. I just want to help." She offered her hand to him again and this time, Sehun finally gave up and took her hand.

"Thanks," he muttered and and left the swimming pool, but the girl stopped him by calling his name. Curious to why the heck she could know his name when he had never seen her around the school before, he halted his steps and turned around to look at her. 

"Sehun, right?" She asked from afar. Sehun sent her a suspicious look but slowly nodded. The girl beamed and waved her hand. 

"I'm Jiaying!"