Sung Gyu opened the front door for Eunji one morning, only to find her standing there, watching as two men in coveralls carried massive piles of boxes across the hallway, from one doorstep to the other. Sung Gyu merely watched them curiously instead of actually letting the baby sitter inside and wondered what kind of people in their right mind would carry boxes from one house to the next, and decided to find out himself. He stepped out, walked off while completely ignoring the existence of a certain Jung Eunji and poked his head in to the first house and found another man in coveralls, wrapping a parcel with scotch tape. He was stubby and short with a greying moustache and a bandana on his head. He gave Sung Gyu a rather bland look and continued with his work.

“Um, hello there” Sung Gyu said with a cordial posture. “I’m from the house in the corner. Can I know what is going on?”

“Humph” the man went and ripped the scotch tape with his teeth. Eunji, as for the curious person she was, followed after Sung Gyu and she herself poked her head into the house. The man in coveralls gave the pair an annoyed look. “Whadd’you think?”

“A burglary?” Eunji supplied, and Sung Gyu, who didn’t see her standing there almost hopped out of his shoes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“The same thing as you are” Eunji shrugged and stepped away. The man in coveralls watched her as she waltzed into the house, giving absolutely zero s, and went back to his work.

“What is going on really?” Sung Gyu tried again, getting a bit frustrated. He didn’t care really. It could be a burglary for all he cared. But the house was the next door to his, and he had no idea whether it was occupied or not all this time because it was last of his concern. But he had a vague memory of a lady with about five cats and eleven dogs and a turtle named Jack or something used to occupy the other house. He knew this because the turtle went missing and she hung posters all over the complex with a photo of her holding the turtle in her saggy little arms, promising a reward of five hundred thousand Won and the entire hoo-ha almost sent an innocent man to jail. Otherwise he would have known nothing. And the men moving the boxes did seem quite suspicious, given that the other house was already occupied.

“Why are you moving things to the other house?” He tried again. “What happened to the nice lady and her zoo of pets?”

The man finished his work with the scotch tape and finally looked up. “Dunno” He said. “Someone’s moving in, we got the house wrong, that’s al’ we know”

“Ooh! Tiffany clocks!” Eunji cooed and picked up a huge cuckoo clock, staring at it in awe. The man pointed at her direction and said to Sung gyu; “Get’ye woman o’ the stuff, they’re expensive”

“Geeze” Eunji scowled and made her way towards the door. “Fine! I’m off already”

Sung Gyu sighed and watched as Eunji went off out the door and turned back to the man. “Who’s the new family?”

“Dunno much” The man said, blindly writing something on a parcel with a marker. One of the men from before walked in and took the box with the tiffany clock inside and carried it off to the other house. Sung Gyu looked inside the box as he passed, wondering what was so fascinating about it and almost rolled his eyes at just how ugly the stupid clock was. Eunji didn’t even have a bloody sense in clocks. That explained her terrible sense in fashion. He thought. “But I hears the son is a police officer or something” the man said, garnering his attention.

“Really?” Sung gyu leaned against the door frame, finding interest as a police officer himself. “Might you know what field he works in?”

“No’ sure” said the man. “Some agency I think”

Just at that moment, Eunji gasped loudly from the hallway and rushed towards Sung Gyu as though she had seen a ghost. Sung Gyu turned around, panicking for a reason he couldn’t fathom and accidently put a hand on her waist which he retried just as soon as he put it. “The ?” he asked, and Eunji dodged behind him. “Quick! Hide me! Ex-alert!”

Sung Gyu’s ears perked up at the mention of an Ex.

“What Ex exactly? An x-ray? Or an extra-terrestrial?” he asked conversationally, and Eunji pulled at his shirt from behind him. “No you silly! Ex-boyfriend! Over there!”

Sung Gyu looked at the corridor, his eyes searching, and found a man standing there, admiring a painting, a camera in his hands. He looked quite ordinary, but his features were distinct. He had soft dark hair fallen over his eyes and perfectly formed lips and a pair of doe eyes. His posture was serene, and his hands had a distinctive softness and beauty. By the looks of it, Sung Gyu could say he was an artist, a photographer, to be precise. There was something particularly familiar with him, however. Something about his features which seemed to click. Sung gyu tried to form a similarity with somebody he might know, and just as the thought appeared, a familiar voice called from behind.

“Hyung!”

Sung Gyu turned, and Eunji moved behind him. The man by the painting moved as well, and there stood Myung Soo, the Myung Soo who was probably a gangster as Sung Yeol had speculated, standing in the hallway.

“Myung Soo!”

“Hyung! I totally didn’t know you were living next door!” Myung Soo replied.

*

Sung Jae was late for school. It didn’t come as a surprise for Sung Jae either and he was beginning to get used to the early morning debacle with his father and the baby sitter about some nonsensical problem or the other, that during the intense car ride from home to school, Sung Jae soundly slept and woke up by the time he finally got there and walked into the arts class thirty minutes late. The teachers were probably tired of telling him off every morning as well, that they didn’t care as much anymore. Before, the teacher had contacted Sung gyu to inform him of their concern on Sung Jae’s punctuality, but as it had certainly gone unheard, the teachers didn’t care anymore. And Sung Jae himself couldn’t care less. At least he got his work done.

So after having dropped Sung Jae at school, Sung Gyu set off on his way for work. He had had quite a start that morning, what with the new neighbors and seeing Eunji’s so called ex-boyfriend. Sung Gyu’s been having a nagging feeling the entire morning afterwards. He was having flashbacks of the man’s slender hands and rather handsome features in his mind, and it also occurred to him that Eunji had probably had quite an interesting past. He didn’t entirely trust Eunji to be only doing her part of work on that day. She was probably sneaking out the door and quietly stalking the man by now. She could be hiding behind all those boxes with tiffany clocks at this moment for all he cared. Not that he was particularly concerned either. Rather, he was concerned much about the safety of his household. He sure did hope Eunji didn’t cause unnecessary trouble.

At work stupid Myung Soo was over the phone, on call put on hand set, already boasting about how he had accidentally moved into the house neighboring to that of his colleague Sung Gyu. Sung Yeol was the one who found most entertainment in this tale that he kept asking particularly about the living conditions of Sung Gyu’s house and the like. He merely decided to ignore his stupid younger friends and got on with his work. He was given a guarding task for some American casino king or the other during his visit to Gangnam, the kind of cases the firm tackled once in a while, so he would be rather busy for the next week or so. His younger fellow detectives was the last of his concerns. The tour of this casino king had to do something about this huge winter arts and craft exhibition which featured a number of talented prominent artists all over the country. The theme of art that year was “Casino royale”, hence the guest of honor.

With a yawn, Sung Gyu opened the documentation on his laptop computer and began to read. According to the details he had received, the casino king went by the name ‘Jack’, although his real name was unheard of. It was rather ironic that he thought of Jack the dog only that morning. His thoughts of that morning, somehow went off to the new neighbor, and then to those pretty graceful hands, and then, before he could stop himself, to the baby sitter. Subconsciously his hand moved to his phone. He wasn’t even thinking when he dialed her number, and almost jumped out of his skin when Eunji’s high pitched voice rang in his ear.

“Boss!” She said a little too loudly. “Why calling suddenly?”

He narrowed his eyes at the suspicious tone of her voice. “You’re not at home are you?”

“Obviously not at home” Eunji replied. “I’m at your condo! Um…Working!”

“Don’t lie, are the tiffany clocks in the house?”

“Near the mantel piece” Eunji responded almost too naturally and Sung gyu widened his eyes in response. “Yah!”

“Oops!” Eunji giggled loudly. “Actually, the new neighbors invited me for a cup of tea! They are absolutely fab”

Sung gyu rolled his eyes. “Then why do I feel you invited yourself in?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Eunji reprimanded almost harshly. “They are such lovely people. We were just talking about this fabulous piece of art hung in the corridor”

Sung gyu frowned. “You mean that medieval era guy floating on a cloud?”

“Don’t be silly, that’s a great piece of art”

“Since when are you interested in art?”

“Since-since forever!” Eunji stammered in response. “What do you know?”

“Nothing” Sung Gyu shrugged. “Whatever, just make sure you locked the door and pick up Sung Jae on time okay?”

“Geeze, fine” Eunji said, and then the line went dead. Sung Gyu lowered his phone and stared at the blank screen distractedly and jabbed at it with his finger. He looked at his hand then and stared at it almost longingly. Everyone had told him that he had pretty hands. He remembered how Yoora used to be obsessed with them. She always used to hold them, and sometimes, during school, she drew themselves on his wrist and decorated it with love hearts using felt pens. She called them pretty hands every once so often, and one time she mentioned how she wanted her kids to inherit those hands. He and Yoora had a great time as a couple. They were lovely, inseparable. It was a time Sung gyu would cherish forever. They were so much in love that he was surprised when she suddenly disappeared without a trace. He drew themselves on his wrist afterwards on his own, he added love hearts too. In fact, all he wanted back then was to see her again, hold her again, and tell her how much he earned for her. But now that she was gone, it all seemed like it was a story of somebody else. Yoora was suddenly a stranger now. Not even the inevitable fact that they had a child together seemed to matter. Yoora, for him now was so far away.

With a sigh, Sung Gyu turned back to his work. There was no use mulling over the past right now. It was time to be concerned more of his present, the present now, which was only Sung Jae and him.

Eunji put down her cup of tea on the stool and looked up with a smile. She wasn’t really having the best time of the day at the new neighbor’s place. In fact, she was having a terrible time. First off, she was thinking that stupid Sung Yeol’s story about Myung Soo belonging to a mafia clan was probably right. He was sitting on the sofa beside her like they were best of friends and his hand kept nudging on her arm and ribs and it hurt like . One time he moved he barely missed her chest. Secondly, Moon Soo, Myung Soo’s brother as well as her ex from high-school had just announced that she and he were, in fact, old flames which stirred a ruckus with his parents. Moon Soo was dating someone unappealing apparently, and Moon Soo’s mother won’t stop about that girl’s bad table habits and bad mouthed her. She was in a not-so subtle attempt on trying to push Moon Soo towards Eunji again. She already regretted having met Moon Soo in the hallway that morning. But of course, Eunji hadn’t expected him to be so welcoming. If she had known, she would have dashed back to the house. If she had known, she wouldn’t have followed her stupid boss to the neighboring house at all.

She looked up at the clock on the mantel piece. Now that she thought of it, the clock wasn’t even nice. It was bland, just like Moon Soo’s mother. And ugly.

“So you’re babysitting now, is it?” Moon Soo’s mother asked with a smile. “What a rewarding job. Do you teach as well?”

“Occasional tutoring more likely” Eunji shrugged. “But day care, most of the time”

“Our Moon Soo is interested in teachers” His mother said coarsely. Her intentions were evident. “Particularly in ones good with younger kids”

“Omma” Moon Soo said, tuning red. Eunji realized why she had broken up with him the first place. Moon Soo was such a mammy’s baby. Not that Eunji knew his family back then. But it was her who ended it and it was because he said he had to ask his mother first before they kissed with tongues involved. Who on earth would ask for their mother’s permission to make out?

“That’s great” Eunji said with an unwavering smile. “Well, speaking of kids, I better rush” she assessed her watch and put down her cup of tea. “Have to pick up the kid”

“Sure thing my dear” said Moon Soo’s mother, and both Moon Soo and his mother followed her to the door. It was on the way out that she noticed a pile of rocks in all shapes and colors stacked among Styrofoam flakes in a box. She stared at them for a moment, wondering if they allowed water fountains in the condominiums, and the lady, Moon Soo’s mother who had noticed her gaping piped in and said “Those are Moon Soo’s art pieces”

“Art?” Eunji exclaimed with wide eyes. No matter how long she looked at them, she couldn’t really fathom what was artistic about the rocks.

“Our Moon Soo is an artist” Said the mother in a tone which said that the whole world was ought to know it. “You know it, surely”

“Ah, yes” Eunji added, not showing that she was hearing for the first time. “I remember him…drawing things…and stuff…”

“Maybe…” The lady frowned. “But he took up art and crafts only during college as it is therapeutic for his depression”

“Oh” Eunji was slumped. “But he was pretty good at drawing…cats” Eunji said lamely.

“He is very keen of cats” Said the lady distractedly. Eunji simply shrugged, not wanting to be in her conversation anymore and looked at her watch again. “Ooh! I better hurry. Time is a running!”

“Yeah, you better…” said the lady, and Eunji made a beeline to the door. She could only breathe properly after she had escaped the stern clutches of the Kims. Here she thought Sung Gyu’s mother was terrible enough. It was surely because she was yet to meet the queen of terrible mothers; or she had, what with Yeosob’s Cruella de Ville of a mother, but since she had left it all back in the past and walked on for the stern woman she was, Moon Soo’s mother stood firm as the terrible of them all.

After she dragged two days’ worth of laundry downstairs, she picked up her keys and made her way to the basement. She was thirty minutes early that day to pick Sung Jae off from school, but since she hadn’t much to do in her hands, she decided to wait outside the school and spend the half our left in the car, listening to music or doing something worthy of her time.

The beginning of the year that time was of heavy snow falls and snow storms. She drove through the thick snow fall towards the school, chewing on gum and listening to the news, half her thoughts rerunning the events from that morning while the rest focused on the road. There was something about the entire ordeal which made her question Sung Gyu’s rather blatant actions. First off, when she mentioned about an ex he seemed quite doubtful, as though he was disbelieving his ears, hearing about her past flames. And then when he witnessed just whom her past flame was, who was a rather attractive specimen of human beings with an equally attractive brother, he seemed surprised, as though he never even imagined Eunji to have had anything to do with such gorgeous people. All in all, Sung Gyu’s reaction to Eunji’s predicament was totally off-putting, and she didn’t like it, no less than how much she didn’t like her boss himself. Or so she thought.

While waiting, her mind encased in her thoughts she noticed a rather fabulously dressed woman in a fancy red cashmere jacket climbing down out of an equally fabulous looking glossy white car. She was wearing sunglasses even on a gloomy snowy afternoon, and her mane of bronze hair flew gracefully in the breeze. Her shiny black boots were sleekly sheathing her perfect long legs, and her hands, slender and pale were graceful against the latches of her expensive looking handbag. She was the complete of herself, Eunji thought gloomily as she watched her passing by. She was the kind of a woman that all the perfect, handsome men would go for, the kind of men Eunji preferred like any other, and also wouldn’t get. She threaded her dark mane of hair between her clammy fingers and sighed. Not with this kind of hair, not with the face she had. Getting the guy of her dreams was a nightmare.

With another distracted sigh, Eunji reached for the clamp of the door and climbed out into the windy afternoon. The school was about to end in a few minutes, and Sung Jae was usually the last to trudge out, yawning and informing her that he was hungry, a gesture very much alike his father. She patiently waited, leaning against the car and singing a mantra in her mind to remind herself that she did all this for the salary she got and watched enviously as the lady in red walked about, seeming slightly anxious. She was gorgeous, she couldn’t help noticing that. She was the epitome of perfection. And in the spur of the moment it also occurred to her. She was the kind of a girl that Sung Gyu would go for.

Eunji’s thoughts had gone for Sung Gyu much often lately, which was beginning to get annoying. She admitted to herself that she did find him physically attractive; what with his weirdly appealing small eyes and dark hair and pale skin, even his slightly toned built, but that was that. But she had found herself, not only thinking but also talking about him to her sister Eunmi much often than not. One time Eunji was telling her about the wedding dress incident, and Eunmi, in turn had squinted her eyes and exclaimed “Eunji, are you in love with him?”

Eunji was not in love with him; she was pretty sure of that. In fact, she didn’t even have particularly nice thoughts about him. She was noticing all the bad traits of him than the best. Like, she noticed how he lazily pushed back the sleeve of his shirt without actually folding it like a neat, trendy man, and how he hardly ever washed his hair and wore a dirty beany claiming that he was too tired to fill the bath, and also how he wiped his hands off on his sweats. But something about even these thoughts was irking her. It was annoying that she actually found herself liking them.

She was so much into her thoughts that she didn’t even notice that the kids had started filing out the gate. She came back to her senses as a kid rushed past her, hitting on her hip sharply with his bag that she almost threw herself onto the cold tarmac. Then she noticed something odd about the pool of kids. No. it wasn’t the kids. It was the lady in red. The lady in red was crouching down, searching. She was searching among the kids as though she had lost something, like she had lost her own kid.

How could anyone lose her own child? In such a small set of children at that? It suddenly seemed all too suspicious to her. She patiently waited and watched the lady for a few minutes as she hysterically searched among the crowd of children, holding their faces in her hands even, and finally decided to take the matter to her own hands. She waited until the children slowly began to disperse and went into their parents’ hands and finally approached the lady in red. Sung Jae was yet to come out, and as more children swarmed out of the gate, the lady looked around searching, looking into the faces of the kids.

“Excuse me, are you looking for something?” Eunji asked the lady once she reached her. The lady stood up straight, her hair gracefully sliding off her shoulder and turned to face her. “Ah, yeah” She answered distractedly. “I was looking for my son”

“Son? Is he not here?”

“Uh” The lady looked around subconsciously. “Yeah he is here…he, umm…” She slid a hand through her hair then, and sighed. “Actually, I have never seen my son before”

Eunji stayed quiet, confused, and the lady who took note of this gave a hesitant smile. “I mean, my son and I were…separated when he was really young. And recently I got to know that he was going to school here, that’s why I came searching…”

“Oh” Eunji nodded, suddenly feeling empathetic towards her and slightly guilty that she actually thought she was up to something no good. “Oh…I’m sorry then…”

“No it’s totally fine” The lady laughed, her eyes sparkling in a beautiful glint. “I must have grabbed people’s attention, haven’t I?”

“You quite have” Eunji said, looking around her and taking note of the parents suspiciously watching the strange pair. Then she spotted Sung Jae coming out of the dark hallway and she gave a quick wave. “Ah, my kid is here…”

“Is he?” The lady turned and her smile wavered slightly as he made his way towards them. Sung Jae came to Eunji in about two minutes of a lazy walk and exclaimed that he was hungry. Eunji only shook her head and laughed. “I guess I should be going then” Eunji said to the lady who was smiling fondly at Sung Jae. “I hope you will find your son”

The lady sighed in response. “I sure hope so”

*

Upon arriving at home, the first thing Sung Jae noticed was a neatly folded sheet of paper lying on the floor of the doorway. He picked it up just as the oblivious baby sitter passed by to enter the kitchen. Sung Jae inspected it, looked at the hand writing and read the top bit of the letter. A slow smile spread across his lips as he effortlessly read whom the message was written for, and dashed into the kitchen, a huge grin on his lips.

“Dear Eunji” He began to read aloud, averting Eunji’s attention from the content of the fridge. “It was great meeting you again after so many years. I never expected to see you so out of the blue-,” Sung Jae frowned. “What’s out of the blue?”

“Yah!” Eunji made a beeline towards Sung Jae. “Give me that!”

“Then you’ll have to catch me!” Sung jae mused loudly, held his stubby hand in the air and began to run. Eunji stared after him disbelievingly and soon she ran after him, picking up her pace. “Yah! Yah!!”

Sung Jae hid behind the sofa and giggled, Eunji who noticed him simply climbed over the headrest and caught Sung Jae’s arm. But Sung Jae’s strength was admirable for his age. He merely pried away from her angry clutches and began to run. Eunji hopped off the sofa and ran after him, around the dining table, into Sung Jae’s bedroom, around the hallway, in the kitchen and finally Sung Jae dashed into Sung Gyu’s room. Eunji followed after him, and found Sung Jae hiding next to the night stand. Eunji reached around the bed then, and Sung Jae, being the sneaky one he was, merely opened the door of the night stand and threw the letter into it.

“Yah Kim Sung Jae!”

Sung Jae simply laughed it off and left the room in a run. Eunji sighed, exhausted after the unnecessary load of physical labor. She had always hated kids and their running. In fact, she always thought that kids shouldn’t be allowed to run. They should be taught to sit and wait like well-disciplined kids. Not running around like senseless maniacs. With a groan, she crawled over to the night stand and snapped open the door. The inside was stacked with all sorts of miscellaneous things. Ties and cufflinks, old ornaments, empty perfume bottles and photo frames. There was also a shoebox which seemed to be quite old. She picked up the letter from where it had fallen off too, and reached for this shoe box which caught her attention. She realized that this was actually her folding a page in the old books of Sung Gyu’s life. A shoe box, the kind of a thing that all young hearts cherished their memories in, in hopes that not only their minds but also the physically existing valued objects would preserve them. The box was pastel green with a red tape pasted around the rims and edges. There wasn’t anything written on the top, it looked plain, boring, just like her boss was. Eunji took off the lid nonetheless and placed it on a side. Inside she found, just as expected, a number of things. A charm bracelet. Each charm was a musical instrument. A guitar, a violin, and among them, an odd love heart. There was a stack of letters which were written in pastel colored sheets. Eunji felt they were too private to read so she let them all be. There was a pair of guitar pics. One red, the other blue, written on them were the words ‘Mine, yours’ in gullible hand writing. Then there was a hand-made photo frame, a distinct affair with neat curvy doodles on a gold sheet and a silver rim. Eunji pulled it out and almost held her breath. It was a photograph of Sung Gyu, young, vibrant and extremely gorgeous with soft caramel shaded hair and a brilliant smile. He was turned sideways, looking at a girl with short cropped dark hair and inimitable features. Her eyes were the shape of almonds, lips pale pink and perfect. The two were sitting together in a green garden, blurry sights of tulips and roses surrounding them. It seemed almost too perfect, too surreal, as though it was the past of a person she had never known, never met. Eunji felt tearful for a moment. She wondered just how much she didn’t know about him. Sung Gyu was suddenly a stranger to her. A stranger whom she was willing to learn more of. She suddenly wanted be a part of him, of the beauty of his life.

All of a sudden then, the front door began to beep. Eunji hopped back into reality and clutched the note in her hand. She took one last look at the photograph and stacked it back neatly into the box. She returned everything back to where they were and sat back. She had gone into Sung Gyu’s life too far. It was strange though, but she wanted to learn even more.

“I’m coming!” Eunji called from inside and rushed towards the door. Sung Jae was in the kitchen, giving no concern whatsoever about the ringing doorbell, and turned from his sandwich only to give a bored look. Eunji rolled her eyes and unlocked the door, only to find the corridor empty, except for another folded sheet in the doorway. Something hit her then, as she scanned the corridor for the unknown visitor. There was someone coming for her, asking for her attention.

And it was all good going.

*

Except that, it was only Moon Soo, sliding notes into the house from the parting of the front door.

“Jesus Christ!” Eunji exclaimed, folding the third note she received for the day. “Is he serious? He can’t be serious, could he? Oh god”

An unimpressed Sung Jae was watching her as Eunji muttered to herself, pacing back and forth across the kitchen. He was waiting to ask for good ideas for an art project. His piece of drawing from that morning on how he imagined the future had caught his art teacher’s attention, and he had suggested Sung Jae should participate in this huge arts and crafts contest held by some big people whom he didn’t know much about. It promised big prizes, surely, and Sung Jae was quite confident of his arts and crafts skills. He drew this multi-purpose, bullet proof, electromagnetic vehicle with a hoover booster and whatnot, and he was pretty sure that kind of a vehicle would exist in a matter of few years from now. Perhaps it was why the arts teacher said he should participate in this big arts and crafts event. Perhaps there were big car people there, who would accept his idea for a future plan of a super vehicle. He was all into the arts and crafts competition too, but only he was out of ideas, and the baby sitter wasn’t helping him either.

“I thought he was gone for good, this cannot be happening to me!”

While Sung Jae thought from heaven and back about what he should do for the art project, Eunji had hell set lose in her mind. She and Moon Soo split up years back because Eunji couldn’t take it anymore with his no-goodness schemes. Moon Soo was a mama’s boy, although she hadn’t even met his mama before. He had a habit of confiding in his mother about everything that happened in his life, including his relationship with Eunji. So basically she knew Eunji from head to toe, and what was worse was that she knew whenever they would kiss or hug or do whatever the kind of thing couples did together, and it was beginning to get annoying. Not only did he tell his mother everything, he also told Eunji that he told his mother everything. It was like he had set a candid camera which recorded them making out in bed. So one time, when Eunji initiated intimacy, Moon Soo had ever so effortlessly pulled away and said that he should ask his mother first if they should make love. Eunji lost it at that point, packed up and left, later sending him an email telling him that they should be apart for the time being. She didn’t hear from him since, until today.

And hearing from him once was bad enough. She didn’t even know what she should do when she had heard from him more than once. “Three ing letters. What am I going to do with three ing letters?”

She paced around muttering on her own. “This is not happening to me, no, this cannot be happening to me”

“Baby sitter” Sung Jae called when he grew tired of Eunji’s blabbering.

“What do I do? Should I reply? Should I ignore?”

“Baby sitter” Sung Jae tried again

“Perhaps if I ignore him-,” Eunji went on.

“Baby sitter”

“Perhaps if I send him a message to leave me alone-,”

“Baby sitter”

“What?” Eunji whipped around in a snap. “What the hell do you want from me?”

“Money to the swear jar” Sung Jae blinked. Eunji stared at him for a moment, taking deep breaths and finally let out a huge groan before reaching into her pocket for a cent. She dropped a handful of coins into the jar on the pantry cabinet which was filled with half of her money and pulled out a chair before falling into it with a huge sigh. After a moment of silence then, Sung Jae piped up and said.

“Can you give me an idea for the arts project?”

Eunji stared at him for a moment, blinking and then gave him a huge grin. “You know what kid?” She said, smiling wickedly. “I will give you the best idea ever”

*

When Sung Gyu came home that evening, he found Eunji and Sung Jae sitting on the ground in the hallway, drawing something on a massive sheet of paper with utmost concentration. He watched them for a moment blankly, wondering what on earth they must be doing there, and cleared his throat.

“Ah, you’re home” Eunji said, looking up and giving a non-committal glance.

“What do you mean you’re home?” Sung gyu said, giving Eunji a stern glance. “Shouldn’t you be heading home yourself?”

Eunji sat up straight and gestured at the drawing she and Sung Jae were working on. It was Eunji’s idea initially, which Sung Jae modified into something more, as he would say, versatile like a battleship in those games he played, and they both thought it was a pretty good idea. Even the initial plan of the item was splendid. However, they weren’t quite sure of how they were going by when actually making it.

“We were working on Sung Jae’s art project” Eunji explained rather professionally.

“Art project?” Sung gyu frowned at the drawing on the floor. The drawing was a squared shaped object with all sorts of stuff sticking out. He tried to form out what it could possibly be and failed miserably. “What on earth is it?” he asked.

“It’s a two way mirrored door with a highly electronic locking system with voice recognition. It opens when you say ‘Open sesame!’”

Sung Gyu could hardly contain his laughter. “What kind of a stupid art project is that?” He asked and slapped his hand onto his forehead.

“Why? I think it’s a brilliant work of art!” Eunji reprimanded, taking insult in Sung Gyu’s brazen actions. “We put our heart and soul into it!”

Sung Jae nodded in agreement, pouting his lips. Sung gyu couldn’t believe just how stupid Eunji could be. He sat down on the floor himself and took a patient breath. “Look. This is not an arts project. This is a new inventions project” He said.

Eunji looked at the drawing before her, and her lips took the shape of an ‘O’, which made her look very much like a fish.

“But Appa!” Sung Jae said with a frown. “I have an arts and crafts exhibition and I have to make a piece of art! I don’t have ideas!”

“Well for that” Sung Gyu said and patted fondly on his son’s back. “You need to think, Jae. You need to be creative. That’s what art is all about”

Sung Jae stared at his father for a moment, and nodded in response. “But I don’t know anything”

“Not right now” Sung Gyu patiently explained. “Take your time son. Creativity takes time”

And so Sung Jae picked up arts project which was now acclaimed a new inventions project and folded it into four. Sung Gyu stood up, and Eunji tried to, where she failed and fell on her bum. As Sung Jae made his way towards his room, Sung Gyu reached his hands out at Eunji.

Eunji looked up absent mindedly and noticed Sung Gyu’s hand held at her direction. Sung Gyu had pale, slender hands, Eunji noticed at the first glance. And she also noticed the feature that everyone who knew Sung Gyu well noticed every now so often, he had pretty hands. His hand was so gorgeous, so pristine and slender and long and perfect, his nails were perfectly trimmed; his fingertips were soft and rosy, and the protruding veins were all flawlessly angled, as if it was a work of art. Eunji merely stared, somewhat mesmerized. Sung gyu sighed and dropped his gorgeous hand. “Okay, fine, you stay on the floor”

Sung Gyu turned to leave then, and that very moment Moon Soo chose as the best time to slip in his stupid love letter. The folded paper slid in just as Sung Gyu faced the door. Eunji had no idea why he faced the door even, or what he had to do with the front door at that point of time. She only knew that bloody Moon Soo was a bloody idiot and that she should reach the letter before Sung Gyu could.

But then to her utter dismay, Sung Gyu said; “What’s this?” Bent down and picked up the paper. He unfolded it, looking all curious and began to read aloud. “Dear Eunji-,”

“Boss!”

“Who the hell did this?” Sung Gyu looked up and gave Eunji a look before he reached for the door. He opened it and stuck his head out. But for his astonishment the intruder had already vanished. So he turned back to Eunji. “Do you know who did this? Of course you do” Sung Gyu handed over the letter.

Eunji sighed, and decided to tell him anyway. It wasn’t like her past was any big secret to speak, and in case Moon Soo begin to stalk her, it was for the best to keep her boss informed. “It’s that stupid Moon Soo”

Sung Gyu widened his eyes. “That stupid who?”

“Moon Soo, my ex, Myung Soo’s brother”

“Ah…” Sung Gyu nodded understandingly. “He wants you back now, is it?”

Eunji nodded. “You guessed right”

“Ah well” Sung Gyu said, ruffling his hair. “That’s all for you to deal with”

“Well I’m trying to”

“Good luck with that” Sung Gyu said and gave her a nod. For some reason, nonetheless, there was an edge to his voice when he said that which didn’t go unnoticed, Eunji stared after him as he went off into the kitchen, unable to grasp what his problem was. Sung Gyu had a number of unrecognized moods. At one point he was stupid and annoying, the next he was still annoying but was something else entirely which Eunji couldn’t really grasp. It was like trying to read a book of Haiku poems. The words were all there, but she could hardly understand them. She ignored him and left him with his mood swings and turned to the letter in her hand.

Eunji, with much reluctance had read the first three letters Moon Soo had slipped in through the door. They were all desperate callings, asking for her hand again, asking for her to give him a second chance. He sounded so despairing, sweet even that Eunji almost wanted to comply, but then again she and Moon Soo hadn’t had a beautiful past so to say. She knew how Moon Soo could become when he gets involved in a relationship. He was clingy, always worrying if she would leave him, always worrying about basically everything about her. Eunji was an independent soul. She always strived for her own space. But Moon Soo wasn’t the type to understand this. Reading the latest message from him, Eunji figured she and he needed to have a serious talk.

She returned to the kitchen, the letters in her hand. She knew that she was late to go home, but she needed this settled first before matters grew even worse. Sung Gyu was seated in a chair, speaking on the phone and gave Eunji a brief glance as she reached for the note pad hung on the refrigerator. She ripped off a sheet and sat down on the dining table herself. She began to write a note herself, but then it suddenly hit her. She couldn’t quite possibly slip the letter in through the parting of the door. What if Moon Soo’s brother picked it up? Or worse, his mother? Eunji needed a change of plans. She shouldn’t slip in a lousy letter down the door, no. She should up and go speak to him in person for the stern, formidable woman she was.

Just as Eunji climbed up on her feet, Sung Gyu ended his phone call and turned to her. “Are you heading home?” He asked.

“Nope” Eunji shrugged. “I was going to speak to Moon Soo”

“Right” Sung Gyu nodded and turned away. He felt intimidated every time he heard the man’s name. It wasn’t like the man himself was particularly daunting. It was the entire idea that a girl like Eunji was once part of a man like Moon Soo which made him feel unsettled. Eunji was a nice girl, if one would look at her in the whole context of a girl, but she wasn’t significantly appealing, not as much as Moon Soo was. Sung Gyu couldn’t help but recall the smooth firm features of him, all the perfect curves and angles which made him, him. But then he figured it was only the physical features he was speaking of. Above all, Eunji didn’t even seem overawed by him. Instead, she seemed as though there was something rather repellant about him. Perhaps Sung Gyu was thinking too far. Eunji and her businesses weren’t and shouldn’t be of his concern after all.

“Umm…” Eunji started, pulling Sung Gyu back from his thoughts. “Do you mind if I…?”

“Of course not” Sung Gyu said, shaking his head. “Take your time”

Eunji stepped out of the house and closed the door behind her. Moon Soo’s house was located on the right side of Sung Gyu’s, with an identical door and a bronze handle and a name plate above the door lock. Eunji pressed a buzzer a few times, feeling a little exhilarated, and waited patiently until the door unlocked, and Soon Moon Soo’s brother Myung Soo opened the door.

“Ah, it’s you” he said.

“I was looking for your brother. Is he around?” Eunji asked.

“Yeah he is. Shall I call him?”

“Sure”

“Come on in” Myung Soo opened the door wider, letting her in. Eunji stepped inside, looking around warily, and spotted Moon Soo’s mother in the hallway holding a grater and a carrot, asking Myung Soo who had come.

“Moon!” Myung Soo was calling as he made his way further in to the house. “Moon! Eunji’s here for you!”

Eunji flinched at her name being said, but stayed quiet until the said Moon Soo emerged, wearing a weary face, his hair sticking out in all the directions. He took one look at Eunji, widened his eyes and quickly smoothed down his crumpled shirt. “H-hey, Eunji”

“Hey” Eunji greeted with a little wave. “Can we talk?”

A moment later, Eunji found herself seated in the plaza’s fancy new coffee shop, an Americano in her hand, awkwardly listening as Moon Soo explained himself to her.

“I swear I couldn’t stop thinking about you” He said in a dramatic voice, his hand entangled theatrically in his slightly long hair. “Every day and night, ever since you left…You wouldn’t believe me”

“I don’t” Eunji deadpanned. “And now you can stop thinking about me”

Moon Soo pouted childishly. “Ji…”

Frustrated, Eunji put both her palms down on the table between them and slightly leaned towards him. “Look” she said sternly. “You and I had a thing, it was ages back, but now it’s all over”

“It didn’t even end properly” Moon Soo argued. “You only sent me a ing email!”

“To which you never replied!”

“How could I reply when you broke up with me over a ing email?” Moon Soo cried. “It’s bloody ridiculous”

“Your bloody notes are bloody ridiculous!” Eunji reprimanded. “I’m getting a head ache over this”

There was silence for a while then, and Eunji took a long sip of her coffee. It wasn’t that Moon Soo was a bad person. In fact he was extremely sweet and affectionate. But sometimes he could be quite obsessive, and at most times Eunji couldn’t bear him.

“Look, Eunji” Moon Soo said calmly after the long moment of silence. “I’m only asking you one single question right now. Did you ever love me?”

“Huh?” Eunji went, disbelievingly.

“Did you ever love me?” He repeated, and Eunji gave him an incredulous look.

“How could I-?”

Moon Soo held his palm out on her direction. “You don’t need to answer me right now” he said. “Take your time, think about it. I’ll ask you again tomorrow”

Eunji stared at him for a moment and gave a dubious laughter. “You’re out of your mind”

“For you, I am” He said and climbed up on his feet. He reached over and ruffled her hair. “Think about it okay?”

It was only after he had gone that Eunji realized it; she had most unwillingly complied with the most painstaking conquest of all. She had to avoid Moon Soo and everything related to Moon Soo at all costs.

*

So this is going to have two parts. Sorry about that. But we are actually walking into a plot, so I guess its good going. Enjoy!

Loads of love.

Achini.