« You..you wanted to see me Miss Kim ? »

By the tone of her voice, I could guess my intern was anxious. Ugh, I must have sound ed too strict during lunch break.

“Hey, relax Umji, I just need to ask you a favor.”

“Hmm? About what ?”

About 30 minutes after lunch break, I was back in my office. The discovery I made earlier on my mind, I just couldn’t focus on my work anymore.

When she entered the room, I was on the couch against the right wall of the room, directly in front of the door. I arranged a small and cozy lounge, for whenever I wanted to relax or to have less formal talks with my employees or business partners.

My phone glued in my hand, I believed playing game would distract my mind from the rollercoaster of emotion I experienced all morning. How wrong I was.

“Come and have a sit first, do you want to drink something ? Coffee ? Hmm, you look like more like a tea person.”

“Thank you, but i..it’s okay Miss Kim.”

She said, still nervous. She took place of the Scandinavian white armchair next to the couch I was sitting, hands link to each other, looking at the carpet.

“Hey why does it look like I’m about to eat you, am I that scary ?”

“N..No not at all Miss Kim, It’s just, it’s not every day the CEO request ed an interview with an intern.”

She said, finally looking at me.

“Don’t worry, I was just teasing you. Well, let’s get into business then.”

I said, locking my phone . I put in back in my pink suit pocket.

“I need you to tell me more about that fansign event we were talking about earlier.” I bluntly asked.

“Excuse me ?” she replied, confused.

I couldn’t blame her, the way I came up with the subject was awful. Speak about tact Yongsun.

“Ah, I think I need to give you some explanation right ? Well, I’m interested to expand our influence in to the publishing world, so I need to meet this company to talk about my plan, but they seem very discreet.”

I paused for a bit. I couldn’t believe all the thing I was doing to meet a person who might not even be Byulyi.

“So I thought about going for it directly. What can you tell me about this fansign you’re attending ?”

“Oh, that ? Well, I don’t have all the detail yet, they avoid giving us all the information at once because they don’t want them to spread.” She started, looking relieved after knowing the topic of our chitchat.

All the mystery around this author was really intriguing, why would they do that ?

“All I know as today is the date and time. They communicate with us by email, and told us they would give us the date a few hours prior to the fansign.”

“a few hours ?!”

“I knooow, I really hope the place won’t be faraway from my home unnie, I really don’t want to- Oh, I’m sorry Ms Kim !”

She said, suddenly bowing, embarrassed by her familiarity.

“It’s fine Umji” I replied, patting her shoulder, asking her to stop her ministration.

“It’s an informal talk after all. So, do you think you can give the location on Saturday ? Representative of the publisher will be there for sure, I want to meet them.”

“Of..of course Miss Kim, I will !”

“Thank you Umji, really. I means a lot to me .” I said, overwhelmed by this feeling of hope I had ever since I read the first sentence of “Doll”.

I couldn’t believe all the thing I was doing, but my reason was long gone, I had to be sure.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

D-Day.

I was nervous like never before.

In the taxi that was leading me to the location, I thought over and over again about I was about to do , and numerous time I thought about telling the driver to stop so I could run away.

But on the other hand, just the thought of seeing Moon Byul Yi again made me so happy, all I wanted was to run to that art gallery.

Yes, an art gallery. A very peculiar place to hold a fansign. But given all the mystery around this author, it wasn’t that surprising.

The night prior to the fansign was a sleepless night for me. My mind was too agitated, and I spent hours reviewing the document I wanted to give to Byulyi.

Even in the taxi, I was holding on the envelope like it was a life or death matter.

Umji texted me the location at 10 am, telling me the fansign would begin in the afternoon, in this art gallery in Gangnam. As I told her I would meet her there, I was already thinking about how I would even enter. This event looked very strict, they would know if somebody barged in.

“We’re here miss.”

The taxi driver said, cutting my trail of thought.

No…I mean yes..I mean finally.

I never was this close to my goal, I couldn’t back off now.

I quickly paid the driver as I left the car, and spotted Umji near a modern art fountain.

I walked toward her and if I was nervous and anxious, if my stomach was doing flip after flip, on the other hand my intern seemed totally excited and carefree.

“Hello Miss Kim !” she said, enthusiastically

“Hi there Umji. And we are outside of work, please call me unnie, like I know you can.” I said, teasing her as a way to forget about my stomach.

We exchange a few more words as we walked toward the art gallery. We quickly noticed a guard near one of the entrance. The building was plain, white with a massive patio door. And while the regular entry was in between the patio door, we quickly understood we had to take the smaller one on the right of the building to go to the fansign, where this guard stood.

“Ah..I think he’s checking ID, it’s going to be a problem Miss Kim….unnie.”

I smiled at Umji trying to correct herself but I also shared the same concern.

I knew an ID check would happened. I mean, this whole event was so secret and selective, they wouldn’t want their precious author to meet people they weren’t supposed to meet. The only solution I thought about in the short period of time I had was to bribe the bodyguard. I wasn’t really proud of me, but I had no choice either.

Luckily, this guard was easy to “persuade” and let me in, along with Umji. But then, a new obstacle went in the way.

This ing waiting line !

There was about 60 people in front of us, mostly hardcore fan of the author. From time to time we could hear loud whisper and gossip. The place we were waiting was on of the wing of the gallery, and it was filled with painting.

15 minutes, that was how long I could endure before starting to lose patience. I was so close, just a few meters left before knowing if this journey would lead me to my Holy Grail It wasn’t a line of fan that would postpone it.

I left Umji and went back to the guard at the entrance. With a few more persuasion, aka another couple of 100$ buck I made him understand that I needed to see the author with no further delay.

I avoided the stare of the angry fan as I walked pass them, and managed to mouth an apology to Umji, but the wait was killing me.

It felt like centuries as we walked the long gallery until the closed and white door , surrounded by 2 other bodyguard . Seriously, wasn’t it a little too much ?

He told me to wait, while he was pulling the “VIP card” on his coworkers for me to break the last barrier.

“Just stay here for a second miss” he said, as he entered the room first.

This “second” was interminable. I could feel my heart going crazy, and I was sure the fast beating could be heard in the whole gallery as well.

No, I was sick of waiting, no more delay or manner to bring this up.

I wait ed for the last 2 years to see Moon Byul Yi, I didn’t have a second left to spare.

As I couldn’t bear it anymore, I just went to that door and opened it. I needed to know, I had to.

Inside, I could see and hear the guard telling about a special guest waiting to a bunch of people. He was directly speaking with a light grey and purple haired girl, a very pretty one if you asked my gay self.

But I wasn’t there for her, or this guard, of the other people around them. No, the main reason of my presence was sitting behind them, hand on a table. They were blocking my view, but I didn’t need my eyes to recognize her, they were speaking loudly, but I didn’t need to hear her voice to recognize her.

I felt her, as soon as I entered the room. It was her, the author, it was really Moon Byul Yi.

Finally.

After 2 years, I’ve found her.

She was here, she was safe, she was living the life she wanted, the life she deserved .

The grey hair girl was yelling at the guard who let me in but I couldn’t care less, all my attention was at Byulyi.

As the people around us slightly moved, I could finally see her

She had black hair, and round glasses like the one she loved to wear back in the manor.

I was immobile, speechless, and it was the same for her as our eyes met.

Everything around her became blur, the noises, gone, the time, stopped.

God, she was even more beautiful than I could remember.

“Excuse me Miss, you shouldn’t be in here.”

Said the grey hair girl, putting her hand on my shoulder, trying to push me outside the room.

I stayed put , eyes still on the frozen of ByulyI .

I heard the guard and the other woman talk to me, but I didn’t listen, as I could finally could take control of my body and move my legs toward the only person that matter.

“Hello Byulyi” I managed to say, now in front of the table.

Behind me the guard was being scolded by his coworkers and the lady was still trying to push me away, put I was smiling like a fool when I saw Byulyi getting up of her chair, meeting my eyes once again.

“U..Unnie” she said, almost in a whisper.

“Long time no see, right ?” I replied, matching her tone.

“How..how did you..”

“I read your book, and I knew it was you.”

I said, reading her mind.

By then, the room went quiet again, and as I became aware tha we now had spectator s, the bubble kinda blew up and I felt embarrassed by this unwanted attention.

I coughed a little, to get rid of it and went back to look at her wonderful eyes.

I took a step forward, but the grey hair lady step in and stopped me once again.

“Who are you ? This event is for Moonstar’s fans only, and-“ begun the woman, diplomacy gone in her voice.

“Heeyeon, it’s okay. She’s..she’s someone I used to know.” Byulyi interrupted her.

Her intervention kinda hurt and made me realised one thing. I was part of her past, a past she moved on.

What if seeing me woke up old demons for her ? Awful memories she tried to forget.

Seriously Yongsun, you are an idiot ! A selfish and stupid .

I never thought about how meeting with me would made her feel, and I suddenly left like the worst trash ever.

“Listen”, I begun, suddenly very ashamed of me.

“I won’t bother you for long, I am here to give you this, Byulyi.” I said, putting the envelope from my bag and putting it on her desk.

It was the nearest I was to her in the last 2 years and it felt really good.

“I’m glad you are doing well Byulyi.” I said, whispering so she was the only one hearing what I had to say to her.

“It might sound useless now but..I was worried for you when you left.” I stopped a few seconds, taking time to look at her once more, to smell her wonderful perfume, to engrave every single details of her in my memory.

“But it seems like you don’t need anybody to take care of you now, right ?” I said, patting her book, feeling so proud of her.

“I was so wrong all that time, I misjudged you and well..I acted like an to you.” I confessed, tear in my eyes.

“I’m really sorry Byulyi.” I finally said, suddenly backing off. My feelings were unleashed, raw, and I never felt this vulnerable my whole life. But I hurt this girl, and I should live with that mistake my whole life, and do everything I could to try to be a respectful human again.

“What’s inside this envelope is a way to redeem myself, to show you I never gave up our fight, it’s up to you to do whatever you want with it now.” I said, as the guard accompanied me until the door.

“Have a good and happy life, Byulyi.”

I said to her, looking at her one last time before the guard closed the door.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CLIFFHANGER !!

Hi there people o/

Finally, Byul and Solar met again \o/

Hmm...I really wonder what is inside this envelope...

Please tell me what did you thought of this chapter ^^

Btw we are getting close to the end of the fic..one last chapter left..already !

I'll try to update soon, so stayed tune~