Hide and Seek

“After all, we all know Hide and Seek can be a scary game, especially when we don't want to be found.”

by Callie Hunter

Life was strange. It had a habit of bringing people together again when they least expected it.

“Aeri-yah, wait!” Son Naeun raised her voice but the little four - soon to be five - year old in front of her was too excited to listen as she jumped into the elevator. Naeun had no choice but to quickly follow.

She remained oblivious to the person who had turned around to watch her as she hurriedly walked inside the lift before the doors could close.

Taemin stood there like a frozen statute for a split second, before his body naturally took over. He almost ran towards the elevator. However, he was too late. The door was already shut.

He silently cursed under his breath. He only got to see the floor level the elevator was heading to. However, the hotel was too big to check the rooms by himself. The highest chance of finding the person he was looking for was by contacting the reception.

“Excuse me.” Lee Taemin said as he approached the counter and handed over his business card. “I am looking for someone on the 11th floor.”

“Would you be able to let me know in which room Son Naeun is staying? I urgently need to contact her.” He asked and put on his most seductive smile.

The receptionist blushed when she recognized who he was and immediately looked down. “I am sorry, Sir. We are not allowed to give out guest information.” She answered uneasily.

“I understand.” Taemin answered slowly. “However, you could just call the room and check with her.” He longed for his last straw. “Of course I’d reciprocate the favour.”

Taemin discretely handed her a few banknotes.

“I cannot take that, Sir.” The receptionist answered. “All I can tell you is that the 11th floor solely belongs to guests of the Choi family and we are only allowed to contact them under very specific circumstances. I would really lose my job if I would call the person or tell you more.”

Taemin realized that he was not getting anywhere and left the reception in frustration. Still, he learned something. After not finding a trace of Naeun for years he at least got to know who was backing her now. It didn’t make any sense to him then, but for some reason she had established a connection to the hotel owners, the Choi family.

But how did she become close to them?

And who was the child Naeun went after when she disappeared in the elevator?

Taemin’s head was spinning from all the questions in his head. He almost forgot his afternoon meeting. After he got in the car in front of the entrance and told his driver where to head next, he fished out the phone from his pocket and contacted his secretary.

“Look for Son Naeun again. It seems like she is staying at the Choi family’s hotel in Gangnam.”

Meanwhile the receptionist had also gotten on the phone.

“Sir, something unexpected happened. A man named Lee Taemin approached me and asked about your guest on the 11th floor. However, I think he is confusing her with someone else. He called her Son Naeun.” She said nervously.

“How did you react?” The man on the other line asked and listened attentively to her answer.

“Immediately order for her things to be moved to our hotel in Isadong. I don’t want Miss Son to be bothered in case he comes back.” He answered. “I’ll contact the guest myself.” Then he hung up.

*****

Naeun felt nervous as she unpacked her luggage in the new hotel room. It was really a shame that Rosé and Lisa were not as familiar with South Korea. Otherwise she probably could have just stayed where she was. However, instead she ended up taking a huge risk.

She had only been back for about a week and Taemin had already noticed her presence in Seoul. She was worried she would be found out soon. However, she had to trust that her friends would protect her well during the month of her stay. She repeatedly told herself that she would be heading back to Melbourne in no time to feel better.

Her phone rang and Naeun quickly picked up.

“Rosé.” She answered in a muffled voice. She didn’t want to wake Aeri who had just fallen asleep on the big double bed.

“Hey, how are you?” The younger one asked cheerfully but didn’t even wait for an answer before she continued to talk. “So Lisa and I were wondering about the new samples. How is the production coming along?”

“I’m good, thank you.” Naeun replied anyway. A small smile appeared on her lips when she thought of her co-workers who were also her good friends. The two of them were always such great mood makers that she really missed them right now.

“Jennie and I already picked a factory. We are thinking of placing some products in big chains all around the country. However, we also want to open our own store here in Seoul and later in Busan. The brand isn’t called In Your Area for no reason.”

“Will we have enough investment money for it? That’s a pretty ambiguous plan.” Lisa asked worriedly. Obviously Rosé had put the call on loudspeaker.

“I think so. Jennie was quite confident about it. To be honest, I’ve been busier with the management of everything else. She wanted to take care of the finances herself.”

“Perhaps she asked Kai to invest.” Rosé suggested. Kai was Jennie’s fiancé. Since Rosé, Lisa, Jennie and Kai had attended the same high school in the US, they all knew each other. Naeun hadn’t met him yet though. She only knew that he was a successful business man who had been working in America for the time being. She also knew that the both of them had briefly dated in high school but eventually broken up after Jennie went back to study in Seoul.

They started dating again almost two years ago. However, the long distance relationship was not easy to handle. With Kai being in the States most of the time and Jennie establishing their brand in Australia, the both of them didn’t get to see each other much.

They eventually decided that they needed to find a place where they could both stay and work and ended up picking Seoul. Apparently Kai’s mother had wanted her son to come home to help manage the family business for a long time and Jennie didn’t mind being closer to her parents again, too. Besides, Asia and especially South Korea were great places for a fashion company to expand to. So Jennie would be in charge of running the South Korean branch in future. Naeun was only here to support her during the initial stages, because her friend was also busy with her wedding preparations.

“How is little Aria coping with the jetlag?” Lisa asked, using Aeri’s western name. Since they all communicated in English most of the time, they usually went with her western name. They also barely ever used honorifics when they spoke to each other.

Jennie was born in South Korea. However, she lived in New Zealand for five years before moving to America at age fifteen. At the end of high school, when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Jennie decided to continue her studies in Seoul to be there for her. By a twist of fate, Naeun became her mother’s spinal marrow donor, helping her to fully recover.

Jennie was so thankful that she ended up seeking out Naeun. When she found out about the harsh life Naeun had been living, Jennie became determined to return the favour even more. However, Naeun didn’t want to be treated nicely out of pity and outright rejected her. Jennie didn’t give up though and asked Naeun to call her if she would ever change her mind. One day Naeun really did and the rest was history. They quickly bonded and when Jennie wanted to start a fashion business in Australia, Naeun eventually decided to go with her.

There they teamed up with Rosé and Lisa. Rosé was of Korean heritage but born in New Zealand as well as raised in Australia and America. After high school she returned to Australia and later settled down to work with them in Melbourne. It was quite convenient for her, because her family also lived there.

Lisa was originally from Thailand but her parents stayed with her in South Korea for a few years when her step dad became the chef of a luxury hotel restaurant. During this time she picked up the Korean language. She later went to attend high school in America in order to improve her English. There she met Jennie and Rosé and they stayed in contact ever since. Lisa loved fashion so when her friends came up with the idea of an own fashion brand, she was all in and met in Australia with them.

Their first break through was a kids collection and they came up with the brand name In Your Area while watching Aria at a playground. Whether in English or Korean pronunciation, the names “Aria” or “Aeri-yah” sounded a bit like “Area” and they liked the meaning of their clothes being wherever their customers were so they just went with it.

“She is doing well. I am glad Minho Oppa and Jennie’s Mom are taking care of her when I am working t