Parking her car in front of her boutique, she looked out of the window and ran her eyes through the establishment. It’s been quite some time since she last saw the place but somehow, she felt glad to be back.

          Gathering her things, she walked out of the vehicle and made her way inside. Once she entered, the sight of Mrs. Yoo in the counter welcomed her. The lady brought her head up to look at the door and immediately painted her face with a surprised look when she saw Taeyeon. “Taeyeon!”

          Taeyeon chuckled at the old lady’s reaction and nodded her head. “Hello, long time no see!” She understood the lady’s reaction especially after being gone for some days. No one must have expected her appearance for the day, given also that she didn’t give Luna or anyone in the boutique a heads up about it.

          “How have you been? You’ve been gone for some time.” The old lady went out of the counter and walked towards Taeyeon.

          From what she told Luna, Taeyeon figured out that her secretary must have spread the news that she wasn’t feeling well the past days. Luna asked her about her condition one time when she dropped by their house and Taeyeon simply said that she wasn’t well. And she thought that maybe that was what the old lady was asking about, if she’s feeling well already.

          “I’m doing well now, I guess.” She answered, smiling at the old lady after.

          “Everyone in here missed having you around.” Mrs. Yoo uttered as she helped carry Taeyeon’s stuff as they walked towards her office.

          Taeyeon chuckled. “Please tell you’re not just saying that because you guys want some bonus on your salary.” She jokingly asked as she opened the door.

          She heard Mrs. Yoo laughed behind her as they both walked inside. “Of course not! Everyone’s really looking for you even if Luna already told everyone that you’re not feeling well.”

          It wasn’t really a surprise to hear that from the lady since it usually happens whenever she goes missing in the boutique for some days. She wasn’t exactly sure why they are missing her or if it is even true but speaking for herself, she would also say that she also missed the working environment with them whenever she goes out of the country or whenever she busies herself with other things that requires her to work outside.

          “That’s really sweet of you all, and I hope that you are all telling the truth by that.” She said and chuckled after. “Anyway, is Luna here today?”

          “Yes, she just went outside to get some lunch.” Mrs. Yoo answered.

          “Oh okay, that’s great then! If she arrives, please do tell her to come here quickly. I’ll read and sign some of these papers first while I wait for her.”

          Mrs. Yoo nodded at her and placed her things down on the table. “I’ll give her a call in a moment.” She then excused herself after and left Taeyeon alone inside her office.

          Taking her seat down on her chair, Taeyeon looked through the thick pile of papers on the side of her desk. Her work had stuck up, indeed.

          Take everything slowly, okay?

          She could hear Baekhyun’s words on the back of her mind. Well, I hope I could take things slowly with all of the things I need to finish.

          Heaving a sigh, she arranged herself on her seat and started going through the papers one by one, reading them and signing all of those done already. And as she was in the middle of it, she couldn’t help but to think how much she totally wasted her time to the point wherein she had let her work to pile up so much. These are a lot of work, really. And she could only wish for Luna to just arrive already so she wouldn’t have to go through all of it and just have her explain some of it to her.

          She had probably finished only less then fifteen of the papers when her door suddenly burst open, revealing Luna and her rather excited face. “Unnie!” She squealed as she entered the office excitedly. “Oh my gosh unnie, I missed you! How are you?”

          “I’m doing well already, but let’s have a talk later okay? Help me with these papers, I can’t handle reading them thoroughly one by one, I feel like I’m getting a fever because of these.” Taeyeon commented and hurriedly motioned for Luna to take a seat in front of the desk.

          Her secretary just laughed at her before she took her pen out of her blazer pocket and sat on the chair in front of the desk as what Taeyeon have told her.

          And she helped Taeyeon in signing the papers, explaining her the contents of the paper and right away jumped into reminding Taeyeon of the other things that she has to do. “Other brands have started conceptualizing and preparing for their fall and winter campaign, and there are a few people already who are asking about your plans for it. From our original work calendar, we are a bit behind the schedule already.”

          Taeyeon nodded her head. “Do you have any news about the other brands’ theme for their campaigns?”

          Luna shook her head. “From the last update, it seems like everyone is still in the process of building their concept. With that, I think we are still quite on time together with everyone.”

          “I’m such a loser, I haven’t really thought of anything yet to be honest. I should consult Jessica regarding this.” Taeyeon muttered as she multitasked, responding to some mails as well at the same time.

          Luna laughed at her comment before proceeding to the other reminders. “Sales and orders are going great still, and there has been quite a demand for some products.”

          “Give me a list of these products and we’ll see what we can do about it to boost up our sales.”

          “Noted!” Luna replied before taking it down on her notebook. “Since our sales have been good, are we pushing through your plan of expansion?”

          Taeyeon paused. “I think I have to go through that once more.” Expanding her brand is a big thing and she wants to be careful in deciding things about it. Though it had been her long time to really expand and give a concrete platform for her brand, she wasn’t sure if it’s already the right time for her to do it.

          “Are there other things that I need to attend to?” She asked.

          “Oh, your cousin had been bugging me for days regarding your supposed photoshoot with them since he told me you were not answering his calls.” Luna told her and Taeyeon felt herself stopping right away.

          Oh shoot! She has totally forgotten about that matter. And it was not that she was intendedly avoided his calls. She did turn her phone off since she wanted to detach away from everything and everyone for some time. She wanted to have all her time for herself, and it totally slipped her mind that she has a pending photoshoot to do.

          “Oh good Lord, can we get Key by the phone? Or better, can we ask him to drop by here today? I need to discuss that photoshoot with him.”

          Luna nodded her head and stood up from her seat. “I’ll get on him now.” She said before excusing herself out of the office.

          This is the result of not using a planner, Taeyeon. She does have a planner but sadly, she just isn’t using it very well. And with how distorted her mind could get at times, especially like this, she knew she had to properly take note of her duties and schedules and not just rely solely to Luna. And I totally need to learn how to not get too drown in my thoughts and emotions.

          As she finally wrapped up attending to her unanswered pile of mails, her phone placed on her desk suddenly rang. Grabbing it quickly, she saw Jessica’s name plastered on the screen, and right away clicked on the green button. “Jess,”

          “Oh thank God the woman finally answered!” She heard Jess exclaimed loudly on the other line. “Where have you been lady? Oh goodness, what happened to you?”

          “I was just at home, Jess. What are you talking about?” She confusingly asked.

          “Well if you don’t know, you were just unreachable for days. What on earth happened to you?”

          Taeyeon furrowed her brows. “Wait, was someone looking for me?” She asked, ignoring Jessica’s question.

          She heard her friend heaving a sigh on the other line, probably already noticed how Taeyeon was slightly avoiding the question. “Sunny and Hyo were moving things around at the dorm, they wanted to ask you about your stuff that you left there but apparently, they couldn’t contact you. Key had also been asking us about you. So now, spill the tea missy. What happened?”

          Taeyeon wanted to scoff loudly and even laugh at how good her friend just diverted the conversation back to her question. “What are you talking about? I was literally just not well, that’s all.” She wasn’t sure where her lie would take her, but she wanted to see.

          There was a long silence after on the other line and she knew her friend figured out already that she’s lying. Well, I am bad at that. Remember?

          “You’re not telling me something.” Taeyeon honestly hated how easy she is to read and how smart her friends are.

          “And what would that be? You can even call Baekhyun if you wanted to make sure.” She knew she’d regret involving Baekhyun in her lie, but that would probably seem more convincing. I’m sorry Baek! I hope you’re having a great time at your work!

          There was once again a long silence on the other line, and Taeyeon crossed her fingers and hoped that Jessica would finally stop asking question. She just hates it when she is being interrogated by the girls.

          And it seemed like the magic in using Baekhyun’s name worked when Jessica finally responded on the other line. “Alright, alright.” Jessica sighed. “Are you fine now? Where are you?”

          Taeyeon hummed in response. “I’m at work now, catching up on some duties that I missed.”

          “Yeah. You definitely need to work on your campaign already.” Jessica answered.

          “And speaking of, help me with my campaign. I couldn’t think of any concept or theme. I think my mind is already broken.”

          “Oh god, I hate thinking of couture concepts. My line is made of casual and comfy clothing, I don’t do couture, you see.” Her friend retorted.

          She scoffed. “You are honestly such a lazy person, aren’t you?”

          “Oh well, I am not Jessica Jung for no reason.” And Taeyeon swore she wanted to hit her friend’s head with that.

          She was about to answer back when Luna suddenly entered the room with a phone on her hand. “He’s on his way already. About ten minutes, he said.” She announced.

          “What?!” Damn, where did he come from? Ten minutes? “Jess, I’m hanging up now. Key’s coming.”

          “Alright! I’ll see you soon! Tell him he’s ugly!” Jessica managed to say in one go before ending the call after. Sometimes I wonder why my friends likes to bicker with each other so much instead of just living a peaceful life and friendship.

          She placed her phone back on her desk and collected the papers scattered on top of it and set it aside so she could have a clear space while talking with Key later. She was just about to ask Mrs. Yoo to buy them some drinks but the door suddenly burst open, revealing Key who strangely still had his shades on. “You know there’s no sun in here, you can take that thing off already.”

          Key indeed removed his shades. “What happened to you seriously? You’ve been MIA did you know that?” He right away said as he entered her office, placing the two cup of iced coffees on top of her desk after. “I got you your favorite, Vanilla Sweet Cream.” Key added, handing Taeyeon her drink after.

          Taeyeon took it from him and sat down on her chair after. “Thank you. I’ve been unwell for the past days so I took a time off from work.” She couldn’t believe she was actually effortlessly using the lie to tell to everyone. But thoroughly thinking about it, it wasn’t really exactly a lie. She was really… unwell during those days. But not physically speaking though. But still, the context was right.

          Key sighed. “Oh, I’m glad you actually have a reason for being gone.” He exclaimed before taking the seat in front of her desk. “Good thing the company has been chill about it. It’s really just me that is panicking to be honest.” Her cousin uttered and Taeyeon suddenly and unconsciously bit on her lower lip after that. “But how are you now? Are you good going back to work and all of these?”

          Taeyeon nodded. “I’m good now, don’t worry. And regarding the photoshoot—”

          “That one, yes! We have to actually set a date for that already and discuss about the theme. Do you have anything in mind? And oh! The questions! There aren’t any questions made yet, but you can tell me what do we need to filter out, I mean you know, your marriage isn’t really the common one, so yeah.” Key managed to say all at once that Taeyeon didn’t even find the chance to in.

          “About that,” she started and took a sip of her drink before continuing. “I have something to tell to you.”

          “What is it? Wait, can I borrow a scratch and a pen?” He asked, but ironically just took a pen from the holder and took a piece of her pad on the desk without waiting for her answer. Oh well, typical Kibum. “What is it?”

          “Well…” she trailed, not really knowing how to properly say it to Key. “I’m kind of…”

          “Do you have a theme in mind?”

          “No—”

          “Set of questions, then?”

          “Wait, no—”

          “Particular photographer that you want to work with?”

          “Key, no—”

          “Outfits that you want to wear?”

          “Freaking , Key—”

          “Then what is it?”

          “I want to cancel the photoshoot.” She blurted out right away, in which she wasn’t prepare for.

          Key remained silent on his seat for a moment with his mouth hanging open a little and his eyes widened. “What?!” He exclaimed minutes after. “What do you mean?!”

          “Well it’s because—” Oh Jesus Christ forgive me with the horrible things that I could possibly do with this creature!

          “Why are you backing out?! Noona!”

          “Can you ing shut up and let me explain? I’m literally about to speak about it. Goodness.” Taeyeon let out a heavy breath and gulped on her drink after. When Key immediately shut his mouth on his seat and waited quietly for Taeyeon, she brought herself to explain.

          “I want to cancel the photoshoot because…” she started in a low voice and trailed off as she searched for the right words to say. She wasn’t exactly sure how she would explain things to her cousin. She doesn’t necessarily want to already disclose to anyone including Key about the possible return of Wooyoung especially if she hasn’t got any answers yet. “Because I don’t think… I could handle any more attention from the media regarding my marriage.” And she hoped those words would be enough for Key to understand; even if that’s only one part of the many reasons why she wanted to back out.

          Key remained silent on his seat for a while, keeping his eyes fixated on his cousin as if he is still processing everything in his mind. And by the looks of it, she could sense that he isn’t completely buying the answer. Why am I a terrible liar?

          “But why? Did something happen?” Key confusingly asked moments after.

          Taeyeon shook her head. “Nothing happened. I’m just scared of what can happen.”

          Key’s eyes worriedly looked at her, his brows slightly furrowing together. “What do you mean?”

          She took a sigh. “I think the more I talk about it, the more I risk things for the both of us.” She paused and turned to look at Key who was just waiting for her to speak more. “Of course you will ask me things that people are curious about, such basic questions like where did we met, when did we start dating, when did he popped the question and all. And I will obviously lie about it. Every single one of it.”

          None of them were speaking for a moment after that and they just let the silence around them for some time as they both think through things.

          “Don’t get me wrong Key, I would really love to do the photoshoot and interview.” Taeyeon started as she broke off the silence with a low voice.  “And honestly speaking, I think it’s a good avenue for me to be known more in the fashion industry. But I’m going to risk a lot of things. And if I let my lied answers out there, the media will surely dig in everything that they could.” She paused and shook her head slowly. “And call me a coward, but I don’t ever want them to know that this marriage isn’t what everyone thinks it is. Because that would just bring so much chaos and mom would totally be outraged if that happens.” She tried to conceal everything into modified words without removing the gist of her concerns and what she really wanted to say. And she hoped his cousin would understand her.

          Key has been silent on his seat and Taeyeon just left him be. She was certain that it was very unprofessional of her to cancel the photoshoot in a short notice and she actually hates doing it. Even if Key is indeed her cousin and is almost like a little brother to her, they are both a professional when it comes to discussing things such as this; and she knew that what she did was unethical.

          “Key,” she called out in silence and he immediately brought his head up to look at her after. She took a few seconds and remained silent as she just stared back at him before she spoke. “I’m sorry.” She apologetically muttered after.

          Key then wrinkled his nose and squinted his eyes at her, his brows slightly furrowing together. “Be thankful that you’re my cousin and I love you or else I would have been angry at you.” He said and Taeyeon let out a sigh out of relief and laughed at him.

          “No really, I’m sorry. I didn’t do this because I know you’ll eventually forgive me and you’re my cousin. It’s just that… I want to be extra careful.” She explained, her eyes still looking at him apologetically.

          Key shook his head and smiled at her. “I totally understand noona, don’t you worry. And knowing you, you prefer having peace anywhere. Heck, you always even curse me to death whenever I’m being loud at times.” He uttered and they both burst out of laughter at that after.

          “You’re perfectly right with that one.” Taeyeon commented through her laughs.

          “See?” He laughed. “And honestly speaking, you’re still quite a hot topic right now especially your marriage. They’re still keeping their eyes on you that’s why I actually agree with you when you said you want to be careful.”

          Taeyeon quirked her brows at that. “Really?” She asked and Key nodded. “Though it’s been more quiet lately than how it was on the few weeks right after the wedding. There aren’t any papz lining up outside anymore.” Scenes of those dreadful moments started to play on her head and she strangely felt how stressful those situations were at that time, and how she uncomfortably endured—and managed to ignore the questions and so as the annoying bright flashes of their stupid big cameras. I truly hate all of that.

          “Noona, you know them. You don’t actually get to see them but they are there.” Key uttered and Taeyeon knew he was definitely right.

          She slumped her back on her seat and groaned. “I hate them.” She muttered.

          “And that is why I am going to allow your wish. So maybe at least for once they could stop putting their noses after you. We will not push through with the photoshoot and interview, but there’s a catch.”

          Raising her brows at him, Taeyeon wondered. “And what is it?”

          “You still have to do an interview or a photoshoot and interview with us in one of the next coming months. But of course, not focusing on your marriage anymore. I have to make a good deal with you in replacement of your cancellation or else my boss would kill me.”

          Nodding her head, Taeyeon remained silent on her seat for a few moments as she considered the offer. Well she knew she couldn’t actually decline it and she doesn’t actually want to trouble Key more to his company and boss, but she thought of way she could conduct the interview that would maybe focus on her career more than her personal life that she’s trying to keep away from the public.

          “How about, I’ll let you guys be the first one to have access of my fall and winter collect