Last Chapters Recap:

Park Shin Hye disguise herself as a trainee in Femme Magazine, because she wanted to dodge her responsibility to be the Director. She met the Flower Boys of Femme there which include: her supposedly secretary Jung Yong Hwa and his gank, Jung Il Woo, Kang Min Hyuk and Yoo Seung Hoo. Jung Il Woo challenged Yong Hwa to take the nerdy In Ha - Shin Hye's alter ego - to the company anniversary party and changed her appearance during the event. When he was trying to win the bet, Yong Hwa found out about Shin Hye's real identity and fell in love with her. They decided to date. In the party, Shi Hoo - her second cousin - played the recording of the night when Yong Hwa and Il Woo made the bet, infuriating Shin Hye. She decided to assume the director's position and shook things up by re-shuffling the human resource in the company.  Ye Jin, her bestfriend, finally found out that Shin Hye was an heiress and was furious. Due to the fight and a terror from an unknown person, Shin Hye decided to move back to the mansion. She overheard that her grandfather was the mastermind of the recording incident during the party. Shin Hye's brother Hyung Sik decided to go back to Seoul, befriended Yong Hwa and helped him when Shin Hye wanted the theme of December edition changed in last minute. Belle Magazine issued its edition with the same theme as Femme, but it turns out Shin Hye planned the whole thing and published the original theme. Yong Hwa realized that he was still madly in love with Shin Hye, he moved in to her old apartment and decided to win her back. Shin Hye went to a party held by Belle and met Kim Tan, he first love. She found out that their date was ruined by So Ra 7 years ago and now he was So Ra's husband. In the party, So Ra announced that they would be holding a fashion show at the same time as Femme and working with Femme's models.

​---o0o---

Since the last three months, it seemed that furor never stopped happening in the woman's magazine, Femme. The company had gotten much more exciting than the last few years, the once dull office had become an adrenaline source. Shin Hye was just beginning to enjoy her days in that company, where she finally felt that the people had the same vision as her, supporting her and were dependable; but then another challenge came up, this time from outsiders.

The announcement made by Belle's Creative Director spread like wildfire among the industries, confirming people's speculation that both companies were competing head-to-head. The events that were being held by both companies were now under the microscope of the industry. Who would hold the better events? Which events would be attended by more influential people? Which companies would gain more revenue and popularity from it? And since both were going to be held at the same day, it was easy for people to do direct comparison.

Which was why the whole company was now in uproar, since most of the models were hijacked by Belle and they were left with no one that could attract public attention. Femme was on the verge of failing and they could kiss goodbye the additional revenue they were counting on to pay their debt. And if they could not pay their debt, they had no other choice but sell their shares with possibility of buyer none other the competitor itself, Belle. So, bottom line, trouble.

It was not over-reaction when an emergency meeting was called by the Board of Director, just when they thought everything was going well, a new problem arisen. It was time for them to take matter into their hands and decide which direction the company should take. The chairman seemed to be already anticipate it, so he gathered all the crucial personnel in Femme to discuss the matter before they heard anything from the BoD.

Shin Hye was already in her office focusing on stacks of documents on her desk, Il Woo was beside her also doing the same thing. They were running through the model's contract trying to find any clause that could prevent them from participating in Belle's fashion show. After the last documents, they slouched on their respective seat looking dejected.

"Argh!! How is it possible that there is not a single clause that prohibit them from doing the fashion show with the others, when they're already said yes to us?" Shin Hye exclaimed in desperation.

"It's because this is all the general contract, it's impossible to sign an exclusive contract with one or more models. It's unfortunate that we didn't sign any agreement for them to participate in our fashion show." Il Woo explained, he too had a worried look. If they didn't have any models to walk the runway, they might as well cancelled the whole event.

"Is that how it always done?" Shin Hye asked in disbelief, "We never sign an agreement with the models to do the fashion show?"

Il Woo shook his head, embarrassed by the way HR worked in the past. "Something like this never happened before, once they agreed on doing this with us, they cleared their schedule and they are always true to their words."

Shin Hye heaved a deep sigh, "What does she wants? Really?" she closed her face with both of her hands, Il Woo looked at her sympathetically but had no idea how to make her feel better.

"Nothing! She just like to mess with you." Shin Hye heard her Creative Director said; she looked up demanded further explanation. "I met her for lunch a week ago, before the December edition was issued. She offered me a job at Belle." he confessed.

"Mwo?!" Il Woo exclaimed, belatedly realized that he had no right to be upset since they were not on speaking terms.

"I think... she had a tendency of wanting what's yours. She hadn't even seen my work, but she already wanted me to switch side; no reason at all." he explained.

Shin Hye's eyebrows curled, tracing her relationships with the said competitor to way back at highschool. She scoffed remembering what her sunbae, Kim Tan, said on the party, that So Ra deliberately sabotaged their date and ended up seducing him instead. "So what do think she wants now? My company? Is she doing this to buy Femme?" she asked.

Yong Hwa shook his head, "I'm not sure! I hate to think that it's true, but from the number of times that I interact with her... she can be pretty unpredictable. I think she's a sociopath." Shin Hye held her breath hearing his theory, "Look, are we sure that the event is even true? Let's check with Kyung Hee university..."

"It's true! They booked Kyung Hee university on the 31st, though the university are still unsure about what event would be held there." Shi Hoo walked into Shin Hye's office, his phone was in his hand, "Chairman is heading this way, he's now in the lobby." he reported.

Shin Hye stood up and walked to where the sofas were, she might as well find a comfortable position; when her grandfather came, the discussion would be much more serious. The men followed suit, they took seats dispersedly. Yong Hwa chose seat that was the nearest to her, he was determined to do everything to ease her burden.

Chairman Park Geun Hyung marched in with his loyal assistant behind him; the men stood up in courtesy and sat back down when he gestured them to do so. He took seat on the armchair at the end of the table, the proper seat for the leader of the group.

"So, what happen? What kind of mess are they doing right now?" he asked his grand daughter sternly.

Shin Hye took a deep breath, "They are holding the same event as us at the same day, and they hijacked all of our models." she said and continued to explain what the implications of that turn of event to the future of the company.

Chairman Park nodded his head several times while clearly on a deep thoughts. "President Lee called me, they had a meeting of their own and suggest that we delay our event."

"Mwo!!?!" Shin Hye, Yong Hwa and Il Woo exclaimed in unison, even they were surprised at the unintentional coordination. 

"Why do we have to delay? We were first!!" Shin Hye shouted.

Chairman Park sighed, "It's not about who's being first. But they had the upper hand here. What are we supposed to do without our models?" he asked. "Let's move it down one day, just one day. Then we have our models, the spotlight to ourselves and the VIPs!" he shouted.

"Yeah! But that's mean we admit defeat to them?" Shin Hye countered, "Didn't you say before the party that I had to come to show them that we're not afraid?"

"This not about being afraid! But being smart, because fashion show may save us from all the debt!" he exclaimed

"Harabeoji!!" Shin Hye shouted, she was about to protest.

"Shi Hoo-ya! What do you think?" Chairman Park looked at his grand nephew, the man was more experienced, so he might know what to do. 

Shi Hoo looked at Shin Hye, "Biyane Shin Hye-ya! But I think moving it down is the best thing to do now. It's not the time to think about pride. Manager Jung?"

Il Woo jerked, did not expect to be asked. He sat straight up and said, "Yes, I too agree... we can not jeopardise anything right now, it's a crucial time for us."

Shin Hye roared in frustration, she covered her face again with the hands. "What do you want to do, Director Park?" she heard that voice said, she looked up and saw Yong Hwa was looking at her gently.

After pondering on the handsome face, she looked away and clothes her eyes, "I don't know!! I'm so confused!" she cried.

Yong Hwa sighed, "Look! There are also a downside of delaying the event, especially only one day. We could be seen as admitting their dominance, their nasty play, which means our reputation is on the line. Also, having similar events two days in a row would make people feel inundated, we could not guarantee that the same person would want to attend a similar event every night!"

Chairman Park and Il Woo was taken aback by his theory, they could not help to agree with the Creative Director, both options turned out to have its own advantage and disadvantage. Shin Hye looked at him hopeful, at least she found a reason should she wanted to carry on with the event. 

"Okay, then let's delay it for a week then!" Shi Hoo said, Shin Hye looked at him dejectedly. He just made her even more confused.

"What do you say, Director Park?" Chairman asked for her decision, Shin Hye could only sighed in defeat, covered her face and whimpered. "Are we delaying the event?" Shin Hye froze, she did not even seem to breathe. The men looked at each other, afraid that the Director passed out or something. But then she slowly nodded her head. Shin Hye could hear sigh of relief without looking at the people in the room. "Good! So during the meeting with BoD this afternoon, you are going to announce that we are delaying the event. Twesso! I have something on schedule this morning, I'll see you all at the meeting!" Chairman Park said while standing up, he immediately walked out of the room followed by the other men.

Shin Hye took another deep sighed and let down the hands that were covering her face all the while, she jumped in surprise when she saw that man was still in front of her, watching her closely. He smiled encouragingly which somehow made Shin Hye even restless. "What?!" she barked.

"Are you sure with your decision?" Yong Hwa asked gently

"I.. uh..!" Shin Hye was about to shout but nothing came out from , so it just moved without any sound, like a goldfish. Yong Hwa could not contain his laugh, amused by the cute fish face. She looked at him offended by his laugh, "Why are you laughing, do you think this whole situation is funny?!" she yelled while standing up to go to her desk.

Yong Hwa followed suit, "No! I don't think it's funny." he said, "It's just that your vacant look is so damn cute!" he added under his breath.

"Why are you so calm about all this??" she half-shouted desperately.

"Because I believe you'll find a way!" he said firmly. Shin Hye's was taken aback by his statement, his eyes exuded determination without a single doubt. "I put my trust in you, Director Park. And I'm behind you 100%." her heart fluttered, "But you need to be sure with your decision... so I'm asking you again. Are you sure that delaying the event is what you want?" he repeated.

Shin Hye's heart thump faster, the look on his eyes just made her blush. "Yes..." she said, "No! I don't know!" she added almost immediately. "Can you please leave? I need to be alone." his presence did nothing to help her to decide. She sat on her chair, hand supporting head.

"You still have until the BoD meeting to decide. Whatever it is, I'll support you but you need believe in your own decision." he pursed his lips and walked out of the door, but by the time he was out of the office his expression changed. He was actually very concerned but did not want to show it to her, hoping that it could help to ease her worries.

Yong Hwa sighed and plodded out of the secretarial area. He opened the door and jumped instantly when seeing Secretary Choi standing in front of the door, the older guy smiled in satisfaction as if he was waiting for Yong Hwa. 

"I thought you would have already gone with the Chairman." Yong Hwa said while closing the door behind him.

"Yes! Actually I ask him to wait in the office as I need to... go to.. um restroom." He said shyly admitting his lies to his boss.

Yong Hwa frowned a little realizing that Secretary Choi was indeed waiting for him. "Can I help you with something?"

"How is agashi?" he asked in concern.

"Confused! I think she's not really sure herself about delaying the show." Yong Hwa explained, he was curious as to why the older man had to go to such length to ask about Shin Hye.

"You know, Creative Director Jung! Before I serve the Chairman I was the Director's secretary. Shin Hye's father's secretary, your precedence." he began his story.

Yong Hwa turned his whole body to face him, he had a feeling that the story was more than just Femme's historical organisation structure. "Yes! I know that, Secretary Choi."

"Tell me, Creative Director Jung. How long did you work as secretary." Secretary Choi had that enigmatic smile on his face.

"Three years." Yong Hwa replied, still guessing where the conversation was heading.

"And how many times did you come into the closet?" he continued the conundrum.

"Pfft!! I lost count..." Yong Hwa played along.

"Did you ever notice that on top of the door, there's a small shelf?" his smile grew wider.

Yong Hwa looked at him quizzically, "Deh?" in the three years of repeatedly enter the small space, he never paid attention to what's on top of the door.

Secretary Choi raised his eyebrows, clearly enjoying the puzzled look on Yong Hwa's, "And did you know? That the late Director was actually prepared something for Agashi's 18th birthday?" his expression turned bleak, "Unfortunately he passed away before he could realize the plan."

"What are you saying?" Yong Hwa could feel his own heartbeat.

The older guy smiled in satisfaction, he knew Yong Hwa would get interested. "He was preparing a game for agashi. A game that led to her 18th birthday present." he put his hand inside his pocket, held Yong Hwa's hand and put something inside his fist. "The game was treasure hunt. And the treasure is still left untouched." he gave Yong Hwa one last smile and left.

Yong Hwa pondered for a few seconds, "Secretary Choi!" he called, the man turned to face him. "Why now? Why didn't you give it to her earlier or later?"

"I forgot about it, so I didn't give it to her earlier. But I think, now more than ever, she needs a confidence booster. And who would be better at giving that besides her best supporters?" Choi Won Young replied and hurriedly left Yong Hwa, he already took too long of a time for a restroom trip.

Yong Hwa contemplated for awhile and lit up after figuring out what the man was trying to say. He abruptly opened the door he just closed and ran to the Director's office, knocked it a few times and bursted in without hearing her response. Shin Hye who was playing a Newton Cradle Ball, jumped in surprise.

"Kamjagiya!! What are you doing? I told you to leave me alone!" she shouted.

"I'm really sorry about this, but I need you to come with me?" Yong Hwa said while marching to her side, grabbed her hand and pulled her to stand up.

Shin Hye gasped by their contact, "To where?"

Yong Hwa did not answer, he just kept pulling her hand her to the direction of the closet while looking left and right for a stool, or anything that he could step on when opening the shelf above the door. Nothing was small nor light enough for the job.

"Wae gurae?" Shin Hye looked at him in panic.

Yong Hwa was in too deep of a thought to respond, suddenly he lit up all on his own. "Sseolma!!?" he exclaimed and went to the walk-in-closet, dragging the Director who was in utter confusion all along.

He put her inside the confined space and closed the door, Shin Hye held her breath realizing how small the space was for both of them. Not to mention the heated moment they had the last time they were both in that room. She gulped several times, beginning to get very nervous. "Ya! What are you doing?"

The man she was talking to was in no conversing mode. He was examining the door, and just as he expected, the back part of the door was a series of wood plank neatly put with similar gap from each other, creating come kind of ladder. If it was sturdy enough, it could support a person to reach the shelf on top of it. Yong Hwa shook the door several times to check its strength, but considering how he always thought the door was too heavy for a closet door, he should not have to check at all. Shin Hye observe the man like he had gone mad.

With a huff, Yong Hwa put his left foot on the first wood plank, the footing was too small so he had to be careful. He put his right foot on the second plank which enough for him to reach the shelf. He knocked the wooden plate and felt that it was actually thinner than he expected. He d the below part of the plate and felt narrow crevices along the line, like some kind of railing. He tried his suspicion and pushed the wooden plate to the side, it turned out to be a small sliding door that covered another wooden plank that had key hole. Shin hye widen her eyes watching the scene that looked like from a movie.

"Wah! Your dad is Indiana Jones!" Yong Hwa exclaimed in amazement, he grabbed the key from his pocket and put it into the keyhole, turned it and opened the shelf. He instantly saw two thick black booklets that looked like scrapbooks; grabbed both of them and jumped back to the ground. Shin Hye jerked and looked at him, still puzzled with what was going on. "Happy Birthday!" he said to Shin Hye while giving the booklets.

"Mwo?!" she cried, observing the thing Yong Hwa was giving her. She stopped breathing for a moment when she realized what it was.

As Yong Hwa explained what he heard from Secretary Choi, Shin Hye scanned the black scrapbooks. One of them had her name on it and the other was her brother's. She caressed the book and could feel the velvety cover and the golden thread that was used to form her name. Her hand moved to open the book and was instantly moved with all the pictures of her since she was a baby until her teenage days, taken by her parents without her consent as every pictures were candid. Something fell off from the scrapbooks, but she was too preoccupied to notice as she was coming out of the closet to sat on the couch, devouring the lovely and meaningful pictures of her.

Yong Hwa climbed the door-ladder to put everything back on place and saw a white envelope laid around on the floor, apparently it was a letter kept inside the scrapbooks. He came out of the closet and saw Shin Hye was in her own world browsing the photo album, he contemplated for awhile and decided to sit beside her. He thought the worst that would happen was she kicked him out of the couch.

Which fortunately did not happen and Yong Hwa ended up enjoying the pictures with her. He laughed at her childish antic when she was five, her tomboyish behaviour when playing baseball (he thought it was a picture of a boy at first), her sleeping habit on top of her study while finishing her article for the school newspaper. He gazed at the real Shin Hye and thought that she did not change even one bit.

Shin Hye felt someone was looking at her and look to her left, she was stunned to see how close they were. Yong Hwa's face was centimeters from hers and he was looking at her intently, her heart thumped even faster by the closeness. They looked at each other for while, until Shin Hye looked away, overwhelmed by the intensity of his stare. 

Yong Hwa looked down, disappointed at her subtle rejection. He held out the letter he found just now. "I think this fell down from that." Shin Hye looked at the letter and recognize his father handwriting. She held her breath as she grabbed the letter from his hand.

"I'll leave you alone now, see you at the BoD meeting." he said while slowly standing up, he was kind of hurt and did not want to prolong the alone time with her.

"Yong Hwa-ya!" he froze when she called him casually, the first time in a couple of months. He turned around to look at her, who was still eyeing the book on her lap. "Gomawo!" she said without looking at him.

"O!" was all that could come out of his mouth. His throat suddenly dried up, but he felt happy all of the sudden. He had a feeling that the wall was slowly crumbling down, that he finally had a chance to mend his relationship with her. A new hope arisen in his heart. And as he opened the door and came out of the room, an ear-to-ear grinned slowly formed on his lips.

Shin Hye looked at the white envelope for a long while. A letter! Wrote by her deceased father was kept inside a scrapbook that was clearly assembled by her deceased mother, prepared for her 18th birthday and was forgotten because they passed away just several months prior to the birthday. It had finally arrived to the rightful owner even though it was seven years late.

With trembling hands, Shin Hye opened the envelope and took out the paper that slowly turned yellowish. She gasped silently as she read through it, her heart felt heavy and tears were collected on the corner of her eyes; the yearning that she had towards her parents, which she tried to ignore for seven years, was slowly creeping in forcing itself to Shin Hye's heart and refused to budge. Shin Hye finally relented and devoured her repressed feelings as she scan through the letter word by word.

Shin Hye-ya! Forgive me, I'm not as dilligent as your mother to prepare such a fancy and beautiful present. All I have is words and that is what I can give you on your 18th birthday.

My child, my beautiful daughter Shin Hye. The daughter that I am most proud of. The memory is still vivid in my mind of the day you were born into this world. You made your mother in labour pain for 24 hours because I wanted for a son. Exactly fifteen minutes after I surrender for any gender God was giving me as a child, you came out of your mother. Looking red, chubby and breathtakingly beautiful. I never believed in love at first sight, but I did fell in love with you instantly when the nurse gave you to me. (I almost dropped you that day because I never held a baby before, please forgive me!)

And as you grew older, you amazed me everyday. It was as if you are realizing all of my dream. I wanted a son who I can watch baseball with. You're a daughter, but you became one hell of a baseball player. Such a shame your mother asked you to quit... My love for words had to be stopped when I started this business, but you became an editor-in-chief in the most prestigious school in South Korea; and student body president on top of that? Geez! Don't you ever sleep?

There was never a day when I didn't feel grateful for having you as my daughter and I hope that you felt the same way about me as your dad. Today you came into the office, crying (Yes! I and Secretary Choi noticed that too). I had a feeling that someone was hurting my child, don't ever tell me who it was, or I'll open the hell's gate for him/her... I suppose it was a HIM.

Shin Hye-ya, broken hearts are just another form of emotion. Something that came without your permission but it will eventually passed and changed into another one. Men, or people in general, WILL cause heartbreaks. It's the diversity that caused disappointment and it is not always our fault, or theirs... So! Never blame yourself for the disappointment, don't stop opening your hearts to people and never fear in putting trust on others. We were meant to kiss several frogs before we find the true prince.

I'm so sorry if I rarely been there for you, I was preparing a company that someday I hope would be yours; you're a great editor-in-chief, so I believe someday you'll lead this company to the top. I hope I would still be around, going to the office with you everyday, bickering about work and come home together. Aaah! My heart thumps just the thought of that! We will have so much fun together, Shin Hye-ya! I hope you'll love the company as much as I do.

So! Happy Birthday Shin Hye-ya!

Always be the remarkable person that I know you are.

Always be true and believed in yourself, I know you'd do just fine!

Be open with advices but refused to be dictated.

Love and be loved because you are such a lovable person and never think otherwise. 

If you ever have doubt about yourself, look into your heart and follow it, and remember you have at least one person to support you in every step of your way. Your Appa! 

I love you Uri Dal! Happy 18th Birthday Shin Hye-ya!

PS: Please don't peek at your brother's letter.

As she finished reading the letter, she clutched the piece of paper on her chest and cried uncontrollably. The letter was everything she remembered about her dad, loving, funny and always supporting her at everything, even when she had a fight with her mother. His name was the only thing that could come out of . The gift was perfect and there was no better timing than that moment for it to come to her. The cry eventually subsided as Shin Hye determine her next step. The fiery in her eyes came back as she finally decided what she wanted to do.

--- 

The great meeting room in the 16th floor was full with the Board of Director, they were still chatting among themselves about the latest turn of event. Like what happened among the management, the BoD opinion was also divided between delaying the event and carrying it on. So even when the Director of Femme was not there to make the announcement, the room was already heated. 

Park Shi Hoo, Jung Yong Hwa and Jung Il Woo stepped into the room, they walked to the front of the room and stood on the side of the stage. All looking very serious however Yong Hwa looked more nervous than the other fellows, as he knew that there was a slight possibilities that she would change her mind. Or not! He just could not guess how her 18th birthday gift could help her with this situation. But whichever it was, he was determined to back her up all the way.

Shin Hye walked out of his grand father's office, looking calm and determined. She went there thirty minutes in prior to make sure that no BoD member came up to her and influenced her in her decision making process. Her grandfather was enough of a distraction. The old man was walking in front of her, chanting their plan of facing Belle's challenge, his version. Shin Hye eyed him from behind, a slight guilt came across her eyes.

"Okay! So we'll delay the show for a week and make it two times grander than theirs..." he was still chirping all on his own.

"Harabeojji!" Shin Hye called, the man turned around to look at her. She smiled sweetly and hugged her, Secretary Choi felt that the two needed sometime alone, so he walked straight and came inside the meeting room; announcing their arrival, preparing the attendees. "Whatever happened, you'd still love me right?" she asked once she pulled away from her grand dad.

"O?" he asked with a vacant face.

"Whatever happened in another 10 minutes, I want you to trust me... can you please trust me?" she asked pleadingly.

Chairman Park smiled, thinking that his little girl needed an encouragement for when facing the BoD, "GeuReum! You'll do just fine, just do as we discussed just now. Arachi?" he said. Shin Hye smiled bitterly as he left her on the hallway and went inside the meeting room first.

Shin Hye took one last deep breath before she enter the room, the attendees instantly fell silent and took seat; it was a total opposite of a few months ago when she was introduced as the new director. Her fierceness reputation preceded her and was already well known even by the BoD. She climbed the steps of the stage and stood behind the podium. 

Yong Hwa could not help but to stare at the beautiful girl, he looked at her in awe as she exuded charisma and confidence. By that time he knew, that she was not the confused girl he talked to in the morning. She had made a decision and was sure about it. His heart became calmer, the nervousness that was clouding his mind instantly evaporated, making him smile proudly at her.

​

"Good afternoon honorary member of the Board, I know you are all restless with the event occurred during the holiday that might jeopardised our company. So without wasting anymore of your time, let me announce my decision regarding to our annual fashion show." she paused. Yong Hwa could feel Shi Hoo and Il Woo were holding their breath; Chairman Park gazed at his grand daughter looking very sure about something. "We decided to carry on!! The fashion show will still be held on the night of January 31st. Please watch over us!" she shouted and immediately bowed to get their blessing.

"Mwo!!!?" Chairman Park stood up from his seat looking red from the anger.

The member of the board instantly stood up to protest, they shouted and yelled in anger for not having their wishes fulfilled by the young director, only a handful of people stood up and clapped to her. 

"Director Park! How can you decide something so rashly like this! Think it over! There's a possibility that our show would be a total failure!" a man said.

"The possibility is 50:50, they have a chance of failing as well as our chance in succeeding." she debated.

"But we don't have any models to work with!" a woman shouted.

"Models are not the sole factor in a fashion show, surely we could find a way to make it happen without those traitor!" Shin Hye argued, a bit stronger than before.

"Director Park, what is this? You said you'd cancel!?" Chairman Park could no longer contain his shock.

Shin Hye looked at him apologetically, "Cheossonghaeyo, Chairman. But I changed my mind." she said.

"Creative Director Jung! Say something!! Stop her!" he asked for a support.

Yong Hwa jerked from the sudden spotlight, Shin Hye looked at him expectantly, worried that he might try to stop her. "Pfft! What she says, Chairman." he roared which gain a shock look from the Chairman. "If she wanted to carry on with the show, we as her team could only support her."

"You!? How dare you!" the Chairman barked.

Shin Hye's smile grew wider, her heart felt warm as she saw the encouraging smile from her Creative Director. "Please! Ladies and Gentleman... believe in our company, in our staff. We have hundreds of talented, creative and hardworking person under our roof. I'm sure if we work hard, we could have a better show than Belle. It's your own company, why do you have so little faith in it?" she challenged.

"What if it didn't succeed?" a woman said worriedly

"We have to believe that we have a chance to succeed, otherwise it will fail." Shin Hye was slowly getting agitated, all this time the BoD could only complaint, instructed and demanded without ever doing the real work; so she thought it was unfair for them to acted that strong when they don't even know how it was like in the field.

"Yes! But what if we fail? And we could not pay our debt? What is your plan then?" the man she knew as President Lee finally said something. 

Shin Hye knew he was trying to corner her, but she did not care. "Then I'll take full responsibilities!!" she said calmly which made the four men in front of the room went wide-eyed. "We would take any required measure if we could not pay our debt because the show failed, but let's think about that when it happens. Right now, please allow us to focus and work in peace to make sure that we don't fail." she said in a convincing voice.

"Are you willing to sell your shares to Belle?" the annoying President Lee asked again.

"If that is what would be required to save it, yes! But before that, I'll make sure I wouldn't have to do it!" she gritted her teeth, fighting an urge to take out the old man's eyeball.

President Lee scoffed, "You're very brave Director Park, almost like crazy. I hope you understand that once you sell your shares to Belle, you're immediately ousted from the Director's position!" he threatened.

"Then sit back and watch, President Lee. I'm sure you'd find this very amusing" she challenged while walking down the podium and went straight out of the room. She hoped her grand father would not be too mad and still cover her from the old people that only worried about their money.

She marched her way to the elevator still hearing the faint commotion inside the room, her heart raced from the confrontation that she just went through, her breath was heavy not only from the fury she had towards the BoD but also from the nervousness that was slowly creeping in. Did she just agreed to step down from the Director position if she failed? Did that mean she just lost her family's management right? As she got nearer to the elevator, her heart got restless even more.

"Oh No! What if I failed?" she thought in panic scrunching her face as if in pain, "Shin Hye pabo!! Why did you have to act almighty?!" she mentally smacked the back of her head.

The elevator door opened, she stepped inside it without paying attention to her surrounding since she was already racking her brain for her next move. Once it was about to close, someone blocked it and ran inside the machine. Shin Hye jumped in surprise wondering why people loved to do that. She saw her cousin-slash-secretary panting with a troubled look on his face.

"Shin Hye-ya! What happened, I thought we agreed to cancel." he asked impatiently.

"I'm sorry Oppa! I was never sure about that decision, so I thought it over and think that this should be the best way to do it. Let's show the industry that we are still the best woman magazine and we are not backing down from silly intimidation." she reasoned.

"That silly intimidation would cost us the whole company, are you sure you want to go through the headache. We don't have a model, not a single one... who are we going to work with?" he felt the phone in his pocket vibrated, looked at the caller and had a sudden change of expression, awfully nervous to be exact.

"I believe if we worked hard, there will be a way. This is just like playing with stock. If we delay the show, it means that we are playing save and only gain so much. But if we take risk and work hard to lessen the risk, we would gain much more. People will see what kind of company they are... Are you a risk taker or a save player? Either way... I'm proceeding with show."

The elevator dinged and opened, after one last convincing stare, Shin Hye stepped out of the machine. Shi Hoo took a deep breath and looked at her dejectedly, "I hope you know what you're doing." he shook his head.

Shin Hye turned around, frowning. "Aren't you coming out?" she asked when he did not seem to move.

He held out his phone, "I have a personal matter to take care of. Give me an hour."

The curl on her eyebrows deepen, "Where are you lately, Oppa?" she asked curiously. Shi Hoo face tensed but he did not have time to answer as the elevator was closing in.

---o0o--- 

Shi Hoo's BMW X3 pulled over at a deserted alley of a residential area in the outskirt of Seoul, he peered at the GPS to make sure that he was in the right place. After looking around, he finally found the restaurant that he was supposed to go to, checked the name once again to make sure that it was the same as what was written in the text message of his phone. 

He took a deep breath, stepped out of the vehicle and walked to the restaurant. It was empty inside since the lunch hour had passed for several hours, the receptionist girl looked up and stared at him quizzically. "Are you lost, Ahjussi?" she asked rather rudely, the place was so secluded that people often came just to ask for direction.

"No! I'm meeting my friend." Shi Hoo answered not caring about the harsh tone of the girl.

"We don't serve lunch anymore, dinner starts at five." she cursed her luck for having a guest when she wanted to catch up on one her dramas during the break.

"I'm not asking for any... I have an appointment, my friend is Nam Goong Min." he said with an annoyed face, he knew the name would make the girl change his attitude.

As predicted, the girl stunned and went jittery. "Ah! Deh! Come with me, Sir." she said while grabbing a menu and led him to the dining area.

The Italian restaurant was actually very nice, the brick wall and stainless piping on the ceiling gave off rustic feeling and although it was rather small, the place exuded exclusivity and sophistication. There were a lot of pillars and crevices where the tables were located, a perfect place for a rendezvous. Shi Hoo caught on right away of why the friend wanted to meet him in that place. The girl led him to a table just beside a pillar, pulled a chair and let him sat on it.

"Can I get you anything, Sir?" her tone was now polite.

"Just water, I'm not here for long." Shi Hoo said while taking out his phone, which was why he missed the receptionist's rolled eyes. 

He looked around the room and thought that the place was quite nice, it's quiet and had a unique fragrant, typical Italians herbs; but with its secluded location he wondered if the place was doing well. He would love to have a place like that someday, where he could stay all day enjoying Italian food and came home. His sight stumbled on the clock, it's 3 p.m already but the guy he was meeting with had no sign of coming. He ended up going through his phone and browsed on the news.

The article about Femme carrying out the fashion show was already up, the feud was on! Pictures of Shin Hye and So Ra were plastered before the article which entitled a provocative sentence and suggesting the long time competition between the two ladies. Somehow they managed to find out that both were high school friends of the most prestigious school in South Korea.

Shin Hoo sighed remembering the meeting he just attended, he really could not understand his cousin. Why would she wanted to go through all the trouble of competing with Belle when she did not even have models to work with? Even the chairman listened to him, why couldn't she listen to her own grand father?

But then again, he was always wrong about her and everything he had carefully planned out about her were always backfired. Getting her to go home, helping her to disguise herself, keeping her from the man who love her even breaking them apart. Everything happened as planned but the result always not in his favour.

Maybe it was better if he just let her romancing the annoying guy. She was never in a relationships before, so being madly in love with a commoner would make her detest the position even more. Yes! That was where all of his plan went awry, he should had just let her drunk in the puppy love until it was too late.

Even after the re-shuffling, he was still enjoying the fierce battle between them, courtesy to his nasty act during the party, but now the atmosphere seemed to be different. He was not as hostile as before and she seemed to be relenting slowly; it would be just a matter of time before they start to get friendly again. And that would be trouble for him. He's already casted aside as a lowly secretary, if their dynamic started to get harmonious, there would surely be no place for him in the Femme management.

"Yaa! Shi Hoo-ya! You look five years older when you're thinking!" a deep voice exclaimed pulling him out of his train of thoughts, he looked up and smiled weakly. A man in beige suite smiled cheerfully although the smile did not reach his eyes. "How are you, Chinggu-ya?!" he said while holding out his hand, Shi Hoo stood up and reached out for a hand shake. "Oh! What the hell...!" the man said while pulling him in a bear hug, Shi Hoo returned the gesture trying to fake a sincere smile.

"Did you wait long?" he chirped, while receiving the menu from the receptionist girl. "Let's have a Vajra Barbera!" he said to the girl, naming a red wine.

"It's okay... a lowly employee must always wait for the boss, right?!" he joked, but his smile faded as two big men in an all black suit came in and stood behind the man. It was like a scene in a mafia movie. He looked closely at the two bodyguards and instantly felt alarmed. "Did you get a lot of customers here? It's pretty secluded." he tried to look calm.

"Not bad! It's enough to generate revenue and make profit. This wasn't meant to be my main business anyway,, if you know what I mean?" the man smiled mischievously.

Shi Hoo scoffed, "Yeah! I figured you need to have an extra tasty food to attract people to even come here." 

"Don't be mistaken my friend, this may look like an italian restaurant! But we're not actually selling food here!" he bragged, Shi Hoo looked shock afraid that he might be trapped in a drug dealing location. The man laughed, "What I sell is 'secret'! People who need discreet meeting place, celebrities who are in secret relationships, they all go here as we swore secrecy. My employee don't even bring their cellphone into the dining area!" he smiled proudly. "Do you know that model who just got caught dating with an actor? Lee Hanui? They had been dating here for two years! Luckily they did not fight in my restaurant!" 

Shi Hoo laughed, he was right, people would pay good money to have a rendezvous place like that place. Not to mention that it was pretty enough for taking someone on a date. "So why did you call?" he asked after watching the waiter pour red wine into his glass. "I thought we agreed not to contact each other anymore." he reached the glass and play with it.

"Aigoo!! Shi Hoo-ya! Don't be offended... we used to be college besties, I would never cut ties with you!" he exclaimed in an overly friendly way.

"We were, until you used me! That's fine... cut ties with me. I'm not offended at all!" Shi Hoo said calmly, the man turned sour by his coldness. "Do you want to talk to me about Jong-i, Nam Goong Min-shi?" 

"Ani! I saw the sales report for this month... it's declining very sharply, isn't it? Do you know what happen, Shi Hoo-ya?" he said with a cold smile.

Shi Hoo tried to look calm, "Gu Rae? I didn't know about that... let me check it first for you!"

Nam Goong Min laughed like he just heard something ridiculous, "Are you trying to say the Director secretary doesn't know what happen in his own company? Even I  know what happen!"

Shi Hoo scoffed, "So why are you asking me?"

"What I don't understand is, how a company as big as Femme could breach a contract and sign with other supplier at the same time?" he widen his eyes as the voice raised.

"You're wrong! We didn't sign a contract with your competitor... its a whole different services. I'm sure you're already know that." Shi Hoo raised one of his eyebrows.

Nam Goong Min bang the table with one of his fist, "I dont care if it's another service! Why does my sales decrease? I already gave you the lowest price there is in the market!!" he yelled.

Shi Hoo saw the two bodyguards tensed up, "Why are you so worked up? It's not like we are the only customer you have." Keeping a straight face when being watched by two giants were very hard to do, "Besides, I thought Jong-in is like this restaurant of yours. Not your main business! Isn't that why you can give us twice as cheap as the other suppliers?" he smirked, "So I didn't think you'd care whether the sales is good or not."

"How I run my business is not your concern, cancel the recycle paper contract, bring back my sales like usual!!" Nam Goong Min looked at his 'bestfriend' unnervingly.

"Or what? You gonna beat the crap out of me like you did to one of my staff?" Shi Hoo stared back at him, did not want to loose on the battle table, "Are you out of your mind? Trying to kill someone in a bar full of people?"

He laughed, frighteningly hysterical. "You know how much he cost me because of that raid? I had to close down the factory, pay a lot of bribes to the cops, lost most of my dogs and could not operate for more than two months! two freakin months!! Now that was messing with my main business!" he slouched in his back rest, looking very disappointed.

"Well!! How can you be so stupid putting the address of your gambling venue on the website of your company?" he said calmly as if scolding the friend from skipping out of class.

Nam Goong Min smiled that creepy smile again, "Relax! I've corrected that error. The troublemaker