Sighing, Eunwoo rested his chin against his arms. He didn’t realize how dependent he was on her until she was gone. Seriously, it was almost like he couldn’t function properly. Everyone was used to his silence, and everyone was used to him being cold. But now… it just felt off. He liked speaking his mind… and he liked being warm. They say that people don’t change, but that’s a lie. She changed him.

“Yah… so your mom really took Jangmi-ah out of school?” Moonbin sighed. Eunwoo wasn’t the only one out of sorts.

“Just to go shopping?!” MJ pouted, “Why couldn’t she take me too??”

“Because you’re an idiot,” Jinjin rolled his eyes, laughing.

“I-”

“I took notes for her,” Rocky cut in, “Aish… and normally she just takes the notes for me…” shaking his head, he ruffled his hair in frustration, “Why is she making me do work, huh?”

“Yah, she’s not your servant,” Moonbin scoffed.

“I miss Noona’s hugs,” Sanha sunk to the floor against the wall.

“She never hugged you,” Jinjin frowned.

“You just tackled her,” MJ nodded.

“But she still gives really good hugs-”

A loud buzz cut through all the conversation, and everyone stared in anticipation as Eunwoo drew out his phone.

“Is it her?” Rocky leaned forward.

“Noona?” Sanha’s eyes widened.

“Is she-”

Eunwoo shook his head, “No… it’s my mom.”

I took a deep breath. My heart was pounding so fast that I could barely breathe- and yet there was no turning back. If I ignored Eunwoo’s Mom’s request and just went to school… that would be rude and selfish… I mean… she is letting me stay in her apartment. Setting my jaw, I slipped through the glass doors of the Company building. My literally dropped once I walked inside.

“Jangmi-ah!” Eunwoo’s mom’s voice rang out suddenly.

Tearing my gaze away from my surroundings, I bowed hastily.

“Are you ready?” she continued, ignoring my obvious bewildered look across my face.

I nodded silently, straightening my skirt in hopes that it would magically become two inches longer.

“Good, good!” a wide grin appeared across her lips, and she nodded towards the door, “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now- so many meetings just kept popping up, and there was no way I could cancel any of them. It’s ridiculous, really. You’d think everyone would know what to do by now, but I still have to remind them constantly of basic steps like printing out a papers before a presentation,” she babbled on, touching up her makeup as she went, “It gets tiring after awhile. My husband and I are looking into retiring soon- not fully retiring, but we want to travel the world, visit family and old friends, you know? We’ve saved up quite a bit in our time. We haven’t had a real vacation since… when was it? College?”

My mouth parted slightly in surprise, “Really?”

She nodded slowly, “The only traveling we’ve done has been for the company- I feel horrible, not being able to take Eunwoo-ah on special family vacations… honestly, what kind of mother am I…”

“It’s not your fault,” I shook my head, smiling.

“I don’t know…” she sighed, slipping her makeup back into her bag, “He’s gone through a lot… Someday, I want to make it up to him… like go on a trip or… I don’t know…”

“All that matters,” I smiled lightly, “Is that you love him, and he loves you back.”

“That’s true,” she nodded slowly, then laughed, shaking her head, “Enough of that talk. Where would you like to go?”

I shrugged. To be honest, the only places I actually went shopping for clothes were thrift stores or underground shops by the subway.

“Ah! I know!” taking my hand, she led me across the street to the branch of departments stores the company owned, “This is one of my favorite stores- they have almost everything!”

We shopped for hours, and Mrs. Cha quickly learned to not show me the price tags. The first time she brought out a dress, I nearly passed out at the expense. My arms were sore, and my legs felt like a useless pile of jelly. Mrs. Cha was still going strong.

“You could be a model,” she nodded in approval as I stepped out of the dressing room in an outfit she picked out, “You look good in everything.”

I blushed a little, shaking my head, “I’m not really model material. There are a lot of girls at school that look-”

“Oh, nonsense,” she waved off my comment, “They didn’t turn my Eunwoo’s head, did they?”

My ears burned, but I couldn’t seem to find the right words to say after that.

“You know what,” she stood up suddenly, “You need a job, right?”

I nodded slowly. I felt bad living off of Eunwoo’s expense… and I wanted to be able to pay for my father’s hospital bills… but there were little to know jobs offered for students at this time.

“The company is needing new models- how about I put in a good word for you?” she smiled.

My eyes widened, “R-really?”

“Of course! Besides, it’ll be refreshing to have someone actually willing to work with the photographers,” she pursed her lips, “I’ve had to fire so many models just because of their attitudes. I mean, seriously, is it that hard to just be respectful?”

I nodded slowly, unsure of how to answer.

“Eunwoo-ah is of course one of the top models there, but he can’t seem to get along with any of the girls… maybe you two could do photo shoots together? Ah! Yes, that’s a good idea…” smiling, she took my arm and dragged me out of the store, “The company has been wanting him to do shoots with a woman, but he’s refused every single model we’ve come up with- I don’t blame him. All their personalities are really nasty…”

I followed her in a daze. Was she serious? Did she even see what I looked like? Me? A model? That’s funny.

“What did she say?” Rocky leaned forward, concerned with Eunwoo’s dazed state.

“She wants me to go straight to the company after school,” he mumbled.

“Again?” Moonbin scoffed.

“She said she found a girl to do a photoshoot with,” he looked up.

“Okay…” Jinjin narrowed his eyes, “Why do I have a bad feeling about this-”

“It’s Jangmi-ah,” he cut in.

“What?!” Sanha jumped to his feet, “Noona’s going to be a model??”

“This is great!” MJ shouted.

“It was only a matter of time,” Moonbin shrugged, “Despite her shy personality, she’s really pretty-”

Eunwoo shot him a glare.

“Yah… I’m just stating the facts,” scoffing, Moonbin shook his head.

“So you’re doing a photoshoot with her?” Jinjin smiled a little.

“I don’t want to…” Eunwoo muttereed.

“What?!” Sanha choked, “Why?!”

Sighing, he turned away. She was too innocent… he couldn’t drag her into that business… why was he so selfish?

“Look, I know you’re worried about her,” Jinjin continued quietly, “But maybe this is a good thing. If she’s going to stay by your side then she need to l-”

“I don’t want her to get hurt,” he blurted, catching everyone by surprise, “Not… not like what happened before.”