February 14, 2015.

9:16AM.

I lazily opened my planner and grabbed a pen from my bag as I sat on a chair at the long table inside the conference room to prepare for our monthly staff meeting. Nikki sat beside me a few seconds later and bugged me with her plans for ‘US’ later. It will be another Valentine’s day spent with the best friend.

“Hey, I bought the movie tickets. We’re having a date with Christian Grey at 2:00PM.” She excitedly said and showed me the tickets. “After that, we’ll buy some groceries. Let’s just cook at home for our dinner.”

“You mean, ‘I’ will cook at home for our dinner.” I reiterated.

“Well, as usual.” Nikki beamed.

“Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!” Mr. Jo, our president, greeted us as he positioned himself on the head of the table. All of us stood and bowed down to him, a bit surprised by his presence since he doesn’t usually join us in our staff meetings. We waited for him to sit down before we could sit back on our respective chairs.

“We only have one agendum for our meeting today. And it is quite a really big project.” The president stated as he sat down on his chair. He then motioned for Ms. Yoon to give him the black folder filled with documents.

“The Board of Directors has come up with this special project to promote Korean tourism here in this country.” The president started. “We will be partnering with MBC and the Korean Tourism Organization to shoot a series of short documentary films featuring different places in Korea and we will be broadcasting it in national television.” He took a short pause and scanned some pages from his files.

“This project will run for two years. We’ll spend the first year for the conceptualization, filming, and editing. And then we’ll start broadcasting the short documentary films during the second year.”

“We will be sending two Korean staff from our Media Arts department, and another two event coordinators to help in conceptualizing this project. Miss Yoon has already given me the recommendations.”

“Wow. So lucky!” Nikki muttered from beside me.

“Miss Yoon will be leading the team so Miss Baek will have to be in-charge of the operations here for the time being. Sooyeon-shi and Jonghyun-shi…” The president looked at his right and continued, “Is it okay if you’ll stay in Korea for a year for this project? Both of you have the best skills from the Media Arts department so Miss Yoon has recommended the two of you.” Without any hestistation, Sooyeon and Jonghyun replied to the president in Korean saying that it will be an honor to be part of this special project.

“Great! And then from the Events group, Miss Yoon has chosen two who are well-versed with the Korean culture and are relatively good with the Korean language.”

“Oh my god. No doubt, you’re part of the team, Nik.” I whispered.

“Nicole Sy and Mianne Kathrine Lim.” Mr. Jo announced and everyone was suddenly clapping their hands. Kim, our teammate, immediately patted my back and congratulated me for being chosen.

“Whoaaaa! Really?!” I jumped from my seat after I heard my name, shock and delight both plastered on my face. Nikki was suddenly speechless.

“Will it be okay for the two of you? I think you fit this project pretty well.” Miss Yoon stated ever so calmly.

“OFCOURSE!!!” I responded quickly. Nikki was still speechless but she managed to grab onto my hand as soon as I sat back on the chair.

“So, you mean, we will be staying in Korea for one year?” Nikki asked, slowly emphasizing each word while trying to sink in the news which took us by storm. We never saw this one coming!

“Yes, if it would be okay with you. We’ll just assign another event head for the Korean festival this October.” Miss Yoon said.

“Wow. Of course. Yes! Wow!” Nikki couldn’t stop blurting words highlighting her surprise.

“You need to start processing your requirements for Korean visa next week. You’re scheduled to leave by May 1st.”

“What?! For real?!”  I literally shouted.

5:25PM.

We placed our groceries on the dining table and neatly arranged them one by one on the refrigerator and food storage cabinets on top of the kitchen sink. We’re still not sure if we have bought all the supplies we need at home since we were literally in cloud nine the entire time we went grocery shopping. But at least, Christian Grey kept us pre-occupied during the movie date.

“Shoot! I still can’t believe we’ll be working in Korea for a year!” I plopped on a chair on our dining table.

“Life’s indeed full of surprises!” Nikki remarked as she leaned her figure on the kitchen sink. “Hey, let’s change into comfy clothes first and start preparing for dinner.”

We went to our respective rooms and I wore the black TUAN 93 jersey shirt I bought online paired with white shorts. I swiftly tied my hair into a bun and grabbed my recipe book before proceeding to the kitchen.

“So chef, what’s your special Valentine’s day recipe for us?” Nikki arrived at the kitchen wearing her oversized white 852 shirt and black leggings, her long hair tied in a ponytail. “I will gladly assist you tonight since it’s Valentine’s!”

“Thai