The hall was silent save the clicking of cameras and the smooth voice floating through the rows, mesmerizing hundreds with his speech and more than likely more effectively with his good looks. I allowed Ryeowook to lead us to the few empty seats left within the auditorium as my orbs remained glued onto the brunet standing on stage; I already bore witness to his stunning image from a distance.

Dr SarangHAE, as his name clearly translates to; was a love doctor. Giving his column a chance over the weekend, I discovered that he certainly lived up to his name and reputation, giving sound advice for the longing, aching and broken hearted. He accepted all sorts of complains and questions from readers, which I hope are legit instead of having them made up by the internal department within his publishing company, and answered them earnestly and according to my interpretation; accurately as well. His answers always made sense; they were logical, sound and practical. This was precisely what had got me intrigued, wanting to find out more about this brown-haired beauty, to find out what lies beneath that glorious image. Was he indeed some psychology major who truly understood matters of the human physiology or was he simply gifted with the eye for picking out details or perhaps he was smoking his way through and we have all fallen victim to his ploy.

Hard-up for answers to the questions which had haunted me for the past few weeks, I jumped at the opportunity Ryeowook had presented to me in the form of an invitation to attend the press conference for Dr SarangHAE’s debut novel; “Finding Love”. As the title suggests, it was a book which centred around finding “the one”, making it suitable for me…or not; since I already found my ideal man in the form of Kim Junsu.

We had walked in on him in the middle of his self-introduction and he was delving into bite-sized previews of his new proud accomplishment. Unfortunately, I found myself not paying as much attention to the words that were flowing out of the mouth as I was to the organ producing those melodious sounds. He had these thin lips which looked like they were glistening due to some form of lip gloss or perhaps just merely his saliva coating since I noticed that he had a habit of alternating between biting on his lower lip and sticking his tongue out cutely rather frequently. I also noticed how he made a conscious effort to keep the opening of his mouth to a bare minimal as he spoke and I had figured out the real reason behind it when he was in the middle of explaining something about homouality; his crooked bottom row of teeth. Cute.

A nudge pulled me out of my daydream as I turned towards the offender; damn that skinny elbow jabbing into my sides really hurt. Shooting him a glare which translated verbally into, “what the do you want?” Ryeowook maintained his straight face as he replied, “go, it’s your chance to ask him out. He’s taking any questions from the floor.”

I rolled my eyes at how ridiculous he had sounded; obviously the brunet had meant to take questions pertaining only to his book…or not…

“Is it true that the book is based off your personal experience?”

The thoughts in my head dissipated as the first loud booming voice filled the hall, making the crowd break out in excited chatters. I kept silent, momentarily ignoring my partner as my eyes remained glued on the person standing on stage, not even realising that I was holding my breath waiting for his reply.

A wave of uneasiness that showed through his darting eyes and stiffening body, followed by an adorable biting of lips and tint of blush decorating his cheeks as a sign of shyness was completed with a series of fake rehearsed giggles and forced clearing of an obviously already fine throat.

“I believe I know the basis of that question. Most of you must be wondering, ‘who does this idiot think he is? Giving me advice on how to handle my love life? He’s not even a woman and he’s teaching me the ropes of seducing a male?’ Come on now, don’t be embarrassed, I know that’s what all of you are thinking.

“Yes I am openly biual so I have dated both males and females. I’ve had my fair share of some good loving and I’ve also had a bitter taste of heartbreak. I may not be an expert in relationships but I am definitely an expert in guiding you on how to deal with yours.

“Like my name suggests, Dr SarangHAE will be here for all of you, feel free to book an appointment for a consultation today!”

He had very quickly covered up his discomfort and exuded confidence as he handled that question professionally. Charming.

Coos and woos rang throughout the enclosed space as everyone expressed their excitement towards his openness talking about his uality or perhaps over the idea of him being ‘available’ to both genders…liken to my overly excited annoying friend.

“Come on Hyuk, you might have a chance! He’s biual!”

An eye-roll was all he got from me as I brushed his hands off my arms.

“Or you could ask him for tips on how to pursue a hot man!”

I hid my face in my palms, suffering second-hand embarrassment being seated next to an idiot who was loud enough to cause a few people in the row in front to turn their heads. But just as I was relishing in the false sense of security with my face buried in my hands, the sole form of protection I had was forcefully yanked away from my face and pulled…upwards.

“Yes?”

Those mesmerizing brown orbs I had been observing for a long time was now peering into my soul, igniting a fire in my heart and causing butterflies in my stomach. However the exciting sensation soon turned into the beating of my heart painfully against my chest as the churning in my stomach was experienced as a side-effect of nausea; hundreds of eyes were now on me, waiting for me to speak; curious to what question was going to pour out of my mouth.

“What is love?”

Stupid, annoying and irrelevant; what’s wrong with me?! I can’t believe I allowed those words to flow out of my mouth; I thought I was more responsible and tactful than that. However, my self-loathing session was quickly put to an end when the columnist writer gave an unexpected reaction.

I was waiting for a frown, a pursing of lips topped with expanded nostrils; tell-tale signs of an angry man for having encountered such stupidity in this session but I was nothing short of being shocked when I noticed fear, distress and…sadness. It was nothing more than a passing glint in his eyes but I had caught it before he started looking all over the hall and started to attempt answering the question and failing miserably.

“Love? Love is…I mean love should be…. when…I mean…”

He was stuttering. The guilt consuming me escalated as I noticed him fumbling with the buttons on his shirt before he started exhibiting signs that he was freaking out; pacing up and down and taking long, deep breaths.

A halt in his steps, stiffening of body and tightening of grip on the microphone ended his seizure as he once again put on a lovely smile on his face as the confident man took over.

“Wow, what a question indeed, I was stumped there at that deep question. I think I speak for all when I say; love is being with the one that truly makes you happy. All our lives we seek for the one person that we want to be with for eternity and when you find that someone, you will understand what love is. So as a first step to discovering the answer to that question, pick up a copy of ‘Finding Love’ today!”

A round of applause greeted him and the usual arrogant smirk decorated his face.

“Alright thank you everyone but unfortunately we have come to the end of this press conference, we would like to thank Dr SarangHAE for his time and I hope all of you enjoyed this exclusive session. Remember to order your copy of his book at the counters located at the exits,” the host concluded the event and everyone was ushered out of the place.

With a heavy heart, I got my off the seat and made my way out of the hall, after catching a glimpse of Lee Donghae disappearing behind the stage curtains in a hurried fashion. It was entirely my fault; I had ruined his day and I did not feel good ab