A couple of weeks later, Ha Jin was at her office, when her phone buzzed with a call from an unknown number.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Hi Ha Jin. This is Jan Di. Remember me? From New Caledonia?”

“Oh, Jan Di! How are you? It is nice to hear from you.”

“Thanks. I got your number from Ga Eul. I just called you to invite to my place tonight for a small get together.”

“Uh-m, thanks Jan Di. But I am not sure…”

“Ha Jin, I know it might seem a little awkward to you with this sudden invite. In fact, it is a special occasion. And I eagerly wanted Ga Eul to be a part of it. But as you know all F3 Sunbaes will be there, and she might not feel like coming. I wanted both you and Jae Kyung to be there as well, so that she does not feel uncomfortable. And it would be nice to meet you girls after our lovely time at New Caledonia. I hope you will not mind,” added Jan Di thoughtfully.

“Oh-ok. I will come surely. Send me your address.”

“Oh, Ha Jin, thank you so much! I can get you picked up from your office, if it is okay.”

“No thanks, Jan Di. I will get there as soon as I am free at my work.”

“So, see you then in the evening.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Jae Kyung was in the middle of a photoshoot when she was told that a visitor is waiting for her. She was not expecting anyone to visit at her workplace, and she was already running late for completing her photoshoot; thanks to the tantrums of the models. She just huffed, kept her DSLR aside and walked out to the waiting area in the studio.

“Hi Jae Kyung!” greeted Woo Bin with a pleasant smile.

“Woo Bin, what are you doing here?”

“Duty calls, mademoiselle. Your Highness Jan Di has ordered me to pick you and Ga Eul and bring to her residence for this evening,” replied Woo Bin with a bow.

The evening party had completely escaped Jae Kyung’s mind. She was so much bogged down by the photoshoot, that she did not notice it was almost 6 in the evening. And Jan Di did offer her some sort of pick up for the evening.

“Ma’am, the model is not picking up his phone,” interjected Jae Kyung’s assistant from the back.

“Aishh! This moron! How am I supposed to finish my job with such unprofessional people?” exclaimed Jae Kyung holding her forehead.

“What is it Jae Kyung? Is there something I can help with?” asked Woo Bin seeing her so perturbed.

“Can you get me a male model in 5 minutes?” blurted out Jae Kyung irritated and immediately realized that she was venting her frustration on him for none of his fault.

“I am sorry Woo Bin, please ignore my rudeness,” murmured Jae Kyung palming her face.

“It is fine. I will wait here. Take your time,” replied Woo Bin calmly and took a chair to sit.

Jae Kyung walked back inside, with her shoulders stooping low.

“The producer will eat off my brain now! Ottokke!” exclaimed Jae Kyung picking up her camera.

“Ma’am, can I ask you something?” asked her assistant sheepishly.

“What?”

“Is that your friend? Song Woo Bin? From the great Song chaebol?”

“Song chaebol? Yeah, whatever. Why?”

“Why don’t you ask him to do this for you? I mean model for the photoshoot? He is a very well-known face in the industry, his photos will actually make this feature a blockbuster,” added the assistant enthusiastically.

“What? No, no way! We are merely acquaintances. I cannot ask him for such undue favours!” protested Jae Kyung.

Just at that moment, Jae Kyung’s phone buzzed and seeing the producer’s number, her hands went cold.

“Jae Kyung, I am yet to receive your photographs. We are supposed to publish the photo feature tomorrow! Did you forget that already?”

“No Sir, I am on it now. Will send it to you just in an hour,” muttered Jae Kyung and hung up.

And that left her with only one choice.

………………………………………………………………………………………………....

Yi Jung drove his car along the main street and turned to a narrow lane that led to the address Woo Bin had texted him. The text said that Woo Bin was stuck in some urgent matter, and another ‘urgent’ matter needed to be taken care of. Thus, he had asked Yi Jung to reach this address immediately. And he would let him know later what it was about.

“This all sounds so dodgy. What ‘urgent’ matter does Woo Bin have here at a primary school and day care?” muttered Yi Jung as he parked his car in front of the small, brightly coloured building.

He entered the building cautiously and looked around. Although he could hear cheerful voices of kids, but there was no one in the corridor to ask around. There was a glass door at the end of the corridor, and walking up there he peeped in. There were numerous kids with clay doughs in front of them, trying to make, or deform in most cases, several figurines. Yi Jung found it very amusing, and nostalgic at the same time; it reminded him of his childhood days with his brother, learning the basics of pottery. Unknowingly, he stepped in the classroom and started walking around the kids and their creations.

Suddenly, a small boy, around four years, tugged at his jacket. Yi Jung was surprised and leaned down as the boy pulled his arm.

“Are you the Prince Charming Miss Chu told us about?” whispered the boy in a not so soft voice.

“Prince Charming?” asked Yi Jung with amusement.

“Yes, the prince who saves the beautiful Sleeping Beauty from the naughty witch and marries her?”

Yi Jung was very amused to be identified as a fairy tale character by this little munchkin. He laughed out heartily and ruffled the kid’s hair.

“Yes, I am the Prince Charming, but do you know where is my Sleeping Beauty?”

“Oh, she is here, our Miss Chu. There she is coming,” exclaimed the boy and started jumping in joy as Ga Eul entered the class.

“Tae Min, who are you talking…” Ga Eul froze in the middle of her sentence on seeing Yi Jung.

“Miss, Miss! See, your Prince Charming is here!” shouted Tae Min, and all the other kids joined him in jumping around the two grown-ups in their class room.

Yi Jung was shocked beyond expectation. He would have never imagined that Woo Bin would trick him in this way.

Damn you, Woo Bin! I will break your neck the moment I see you.

Ga Eul’s face reddened with shock and embarrassment. This was the last person she would have thought to be ‘picked up’ by to get to Jan Di’s place. And on top of it, all her pupils were rejoicing, assuming the same man as her ‘Prince Charming’. Never had she imagined that a seemingly insignificant conversation with her barely 3 feet tall pupils about fairy tales and Prince Charming would backfire at her at such an inopportune moment.

“I…I did not know…Woo Bin is stuck in some business and asked me to come here. I am sorry, I will leave now,” muttered Yi Jung and turned towards the door.

Ga Eul was stupefied by the whole situation and only when she saw him walking out of the door, she called out his name.

“Yi Jung, wait.”

Yi Jung halted in his stride and slowly turned to her.

“In another 15 minutes, these children will leave with their parents. I will have to wait till all of them are picked up. If you want you can wait here,” murmured Ga Eul.

Yi Jung nodded and walked back in the class.

“Kids, please get back to your places. You need to finish your figurines fast. This uncle here will help you. He is a very good potter, did you know that?” spoke Ga Eul to the children, trying to get back some cheerfulness in her voice.

Yi Jung took seat on a small chair beside Tae Min and started helping him in getting a reasonable shape out of his dough. The next fifteen minutes passed with ease as the kids erased all the uncomfortable vibes between the grown-ups with their innocence and loveliness.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Woo Bin drove through the busy traffic of Seoul, while Jae Kyung sitting beside him spoke to her producer on the phone.

“Yes Sir, it is Song Woo Bin. He happened to be at the studio at that time and he was kind enough to get me out of this mess…”

Woo Bin could not hear the other caller’s voice, but he assumed his amazement from Jae Kyung’s expression. After talking for about a couple of minutes more, Jae Kyung hung up the call.

“All day he had been eating away my brain for the photoshoot, and now that he has seen your face on the photographs, only sugary words are effusing from his mouth. Bloody !” muttered Jae Kyung.

“I suppose he will be more careful of the ways he treats you henceforth,” replied an amused Woo Bin.

Jae Kyung turned to him, scrutinizing him thoughtfully.

“Are you that famous a character? Should I be more careful to be around you?” asked Jae Kyung.

Woo Bin guffawed loudly at such an innocent inquisition.

“How long have you been in Korea?”

“Over a year now. Why?”

“No, nothing,” smiled Woo Bin.

For the first time in many years, Woo Bin felt relieved to be knowing a person this close who had no inkling about his background.

………………………………………………………………………………………………....

Ha Jin arrived at the Shinwa Residence late in the evening. An unexpected conference call held her back at work later than she wanted to. As she was ushered to th