"Congratulations!" Haneul said, wincing at the volume of her own voice. She hadn't drunk a lot last night but she was hung over all the same. She would never venture near vodka ever again. But the smile on Yuri's face was worth it. She looked positively radiant. It was her day off but she had insisted they meet for lunch.

"You knew! Luhan told me he asked you for your opinion earlier in the day" Yuri said, sitting down. "That was before he dragged you off for lunch. What else did he tell you?" she asked. She didn't know if the threatening would sit well with Yuri. She was surprisingly more independent than Haneul in her matters. "Just that. Why? What did you say to him?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "That married people are doomed forever and he was willingly jumping into a well, albeit with a pretty woman" Haneul replied smoothly. "You gave him the look-after-me speech didn't you?" Yuri asked knowingly. Haneul nodded imperceptibly, sighing at her easy defeat.

"Well, just for that I'll let you be my maid of honour" Yuri said cheekily. "Ha ha. Very funny. I know both of you aren't having a Christian wedding" Haneul pointed out. "Well... we probably won't. We haven't decided yet. But you can be a person of significance at whatever the ritual" Yuri told her. "Do I get to make sassy remarks and make children cry?" Haneul asked. "Someone's cranky today" Yuri commented. "I'm hung over" Haneul said, giving away the reason. "Ouch grouchy. No alcohol for you from now on" Yuri said, looking at her menu. "I'll hold you to your word. But first, tell me all the details."

"Miss Kim?" the intern asked, knocking at her door. Haneul looked away from the report she had been typing. "Yeah?" she asked. "Mr Tao is here. He brought an associate along as well" the intern told her. "Oh right. I'm free so send them in. Thanks Michael" she said with a weary smile. Michael nodded and went off to find Tao. Haneul saved her report and took a moment to rearrange the papers lying haphazardly on her desk. Just as she gathered them into a neat stack, Tao walked in with a second person. Haneul froze when she recognized the man.

"Hi" she greeted curtly. The other man seemed relaxed, taking the in the environment. "Hey Han. This is Jongin, he's a close friend and he is working with me for a while" Tao explained. "We know each other" Jongin said. "Yeah. I thought you said you were a writer" she pointed out. "I clearly shouldn't have quit my day job" Jongin said with a sigh. Haneul eased up a little, knowing he was here on business. But the awkwardness of their previous encounters couldn't be shaken off in her head.

"Well that and the fact that Jongin is going to be instrumental in my next project. We're working on a summer collection that I've been invited to display at a small show in Prague. And since Jongin has lived there, he was helping me get a sense of the style there" Tao explained. "That's brilliant. Congrats on the invite. I'm guessing you've started some of the designs if you are here to discuss materials" Haneul told him. "Well yeah. But I was sort of hoping you could take me down to the warehouse so I could look at some more fabrics and designs as well" Tao told her.

"I suppose I could take you there on Friday. We have a new shipment coming in the week after though if you'd still be interested" Haneul agreed. "We can go after the lunch Yuri has planned. I'm guessing Jongin is the friend you are bringing along?" she asked. "Yeah. Luhan took a shine to him once they started discussing football" Tao told her. "Luhan would love you for it. Not everyone here likes football and that drives him up a wall" Haneul said. "Don't break them up though. I have the perfect wedding gown in mind and a guy can't carry it off. Even if it is someone tall dark and handsome like you" Tao scoffed.

Haneul raised an eyebrow at the phrase. Tao didn't use it a lot. So that must mean Jongin was the guy Tao had been trying to set her up with. Fate was cruel. She caught Jongin looking at her but didn't dignify it with a look back. Instead she turned to Tao again, back to her business mode. "I have other news for you. We're revising our quotes. Since you are here we can discuss it in person.We're looking at a reduction of five percent..."

Jongin tuned out the technical discussions. Tao knew what he was doing. Instead he took a moment to figure out Haneul. She had reacted the way he had expected. She had been sober te last he saw her. Of course she would remember him. She was pragmatic too, foregoing animosity for the sake of a business partner. Tao was a friend by the looks of them joking around but clearly not very close if she reverted back so easily. She didn't let anyone in. He remembered her admitting to being lonely the time she was drunk in LA. Alone but successful. Successful because she had left everything else in pursuit of her ambitions? Lonely because the other person couldn't handle her success?

How would he ever find out with that cold exterior blocking any attempts at approach?

"Hello? I'm looking for a reservation under the name of Kim, party of five" Haneul told the maitre d'. The restaurant that Yuri had booked had to be shut down due to a gas leak somewhere. Haneul had booked a reservation under her name at a French restaurant she knew. They still messed up her first name and so she had booked it using her last name. She was five minutes early. The others would be here a little later.

"Ah yes. He's waiting for you ma'am" the maitre d' told her with a smile. He? Jongin? His surname was Kim too. Maybe the staff had been confused. Haneul followed the man, wondering what the chances of finding another Korean or Asian person with the same last name was. Or even a man or woman with the first name Kim. A man apparently. Or maybe it was just Jongin. He was supposed to come with Tao though. The maitre d' led her to a room at the back and she knew there must have been a confusion.

"Sir, may I get you both some water?" the maitre d' asked and the man looked up. Haneul stopped, her mind racing too fast to calculate what the odds of running into him were. "Haneul?" Jongdae asked, just as surprised as she was. "There has been a mistake. There must be another reservation because I'm not with Mr Kim here" Haneul told the man next to her. "No?" he asked her. She shook her head. "It's a common Korean name. Easy mistake. She's welcome to wait here till this gets sorted out. We'll also take some water please. Warm for me" Jongdae told the maitre d'. "Of course Sir. We'll be right with you ma'am" the man said and left.

"Do you want to sit down?" Jongdae asked her. 

A/N - Splitting this into two parts