4/17/2015

Part 7:

Jiyong was checking the previous day’s revenue when he received a call from Kiko’s secretary asking him to come to her office.  ‘Again?’, he thought, feeling more than a little irritated.

This was one of the reasons he was always having to stay late or take work home was because Kiko was always asking him to come to her office. Some of the things she asked him over for were things that didn’t even require his input. Sometimes she called him over because she wanted to introduce him to someone – which was all fine, but surely she had to know that each interruption was taking away precious time from his workload.

As Jiyong walked to her office he thought of Dara and the last time they had talked. He’d been hurt by what she had implied, but since that time he’d begun to notice things that didn’t seem right. One of them being how his boss did call him in to her office a lot more than seemed necessary. The other being how they were going to dinner almost three times a week, ostensibly it was to discuss some of the projects that were in the works, but several of those projects were not items that could be discussed between just the two of them. There had to be input by Sales and their Research team as well. As a result the dinners resulted in no solid conclusion.

He entered the VP’s outer office and her secretary nodded for him to go on in. Jiyong knocked once on the door and entered. He stopped when he saw Kiko sitting at one of the armchairs. The table in front of her had a spread of food on it. She looked up and smiled at him.

“Jiyong, come sit down and let’s eat!”

Jiyong suppressed the sigh he wanted to exhale. He really didn’t have the time for this. “Actually I have a lunch appointment in 30 minutes,” he lied, seeking a way to leave the office and get back to his work.

“Oh, who’s your appointment with?” she asked innocently. Before Jiyong could answer Kiko was pointing to the seat next to her and motioning for him to sit down.

Jiyong reluctantly sat down. “It’s a personal acquaintance actually,” Jiyong said, and he thought of Dara.

Kiko placed food on a plate and slid it to Jiyong. “You have to try some of that – it’s so delicious, I tell you,” she murmured.

“No, really, it’s okay,” Jiyong stated.

Kiko paused and gazed at him. “Is everything okay? You seem a little – tense.”

He smiled tightly and kept his hands interlocked as he leaned back in his chair. “No, everything’s fine.”

“Then just have a bite to eat,” she stated, and pushed the plate towards him again.

*

Dara slowly sorted through the clothes on the rack as she looked for an outfit to wear for the special event that was being held at the museum that weekend. She had already picked out a pinstripe gray pencil skirt and now she was looking for a silk blouse to go with it and then shoes.

Her department had finally finished the two paintings they’d been restoring and they were to be displayed as part of the exhibit that weekend. Normally she would have wanted Jiyong to be in attendance but since the two weren’t really talking she had not called to invite him.

She hadn’t told anyone about the fight that she and Jiyong had had. This was between her and Jiyong and she didn’t want to involve anyone else. Her heart ached from the distance between the two of them but she wasn’t willing to back down on this. She had looked up Kiko Mizuhara online and found out that she was the niece of the owner of the Shilla hotels. She’d been educated at Princeton, graduated on the Dean’s list, and was one of the candidates to become CEO of the hotel in the future.  Dara also found out that Ms. Mizuhara had been linked to several well-known bachelors in the past but was currently not seeing anyone. Except for Jiyong, she thought bitterly.

*

Jiyong straightened his collar and took one final look in the rearview mirror before he got out of his car and headed to the entrance of the Twosome Club. The gang was hanging out there tonight and he’d made a point of attending. Youngbae had told him the girls would be there tonight as well and so he hoped that Dara would be there.

They still hadn’t talked, neither one of them wanted to give in to the other. But god, he missed her.  He’d taken extra care tonight in his dressing so that he would look his best for her. If all went well then maybe they would finally talk tonight.

Entering in he made his way upstairs to the tables where they usually sat. Arriving he saw immediately Youngbae and Jieun, Chaerin and Seungri, Seunghyun and Bom, and Daesung.  Jiyong left the seat next to Daesung open for Minzy while he took one of the other two empty seats. The boys greeted him while the girls stared at him curiously and then looked at each other.

“Where’s Dara noona?” Seungri asked him.

Jiyong shrugged his shoulders. “I thougth she’d be here.” He didn’t let his disappointment show when he saw that she wasn’t. He glanced over at Bom to see if she would say anything, but Dara’s sister only smirked and looked away. Chaerin and Jieun also avoided his gaze.

‘Great… they must all know Dara and I are fighting,’ he thought to himself.

Jiyong ordered a drink and sat back trying to look relaxed. Inside he was tense and wanted to know if Dara was coming or not.

Youngbae noticed Jiyong’s restlessness and correctly guessed at what was troubling his friend. Taking pity on him Youngbae asked Bom where Dara was.

“She’s working late,” Bom answered. “They have an exhibition tomorrow and so they have to set everything up.”

Jiyong kept his gaze down as he tried to cover up his disappointment. So she wasn’t coming tonight. She hadn’t even called to tell him about the exhibit. He wondered if the projects she’d been working on would be on display tomorrow. Normally she wanted him there at these events but this time she hadn’t said a word to him.

“Who’s car was that at the house when we picked you up, unnie?” Chaerin asked. She was aware of the rift that had taken place between Dara and Jiyong, as did the rest of the girls. She was going to take this opportunity to stick it to Jiyong.

“The Porsche?” Bom replied. “That’s one of Dara’s friends. He brought her home to change and then was taking her back.”

“It’s a great car,” Chaerin responded.

Jiyong’s mouth tightened. Lee Minho had a Porsche. Was Dara with him? He sighed and turned to look out at the people on the dance floor. Suddenly he felt like letting off some steam. Pushing his chair back he stood.

“Where are you going?” Youngbae asked.

“To find a partner,” he muttered, and headed off to the dance floor.

*