I ran out of there as if my were on fire. My cheeks were flaming! No, not those cheeks. I was burning up from the day's fiasco. Insane. I had to be insane to agree to any of this. As soon as I made it around the corner, far from their view I flipped through my notebook. God, what an idiot I was! I didn't write a single thing! I smacked myself with the notebook, earning a few curious stares from passerbys.

I had to return again tomorrow and not only did I daydream about Hyukjae's personal life, I had nothing to show that I ever went on a tour-. I stopped. The voice recorder! I looked up towards the sky, god if you're watching allow me the tiniest shred of dignity. I prayed silently before I dug into my pocket to find...nothing. Now at this point, I was seconds from losing my mind. Notebook? Check. Voice recorder? Somehow not in the pocket, I clearly remember placing it into. Frantic, I searched through my camera bag.

"Looking for this?"

I peeked up and saw Chaerin standing before me in all her glory.

"I leave you to do one thing, Lee Donghae." Ooh. My full name. I was definitely in heaps of trouble.

"And let me guess, you were too busy fanboying to actually pay attention to what was said!" She tossed the voice recorded into my hands and I barely caught it.

"I-all of this was your idea, Chae! You just had to use me and my stupid crush to gain an article piece!" I had to blame someone. Chaerin's way of pouring salt on an open wound was sorely not needed at this moment. My grave was already 6 feet under.

"Yes because I'm an editor, Donghae. Forgive me for using my best photographer to write the article of the decade!" She started walking towards me and I backed up slightly.

"We're going back in there right now. I'll ask for a tour and this time, actually pay attention! I shouldn't be saving your every time some little inconvenience happens."

I nodded my head. I wasn't like this, but for some reason the thought of Hyukjae scrambled my entire brain. I followed like a sad puppy on her heels as she pranced back in there with the confidence I was currently lacking.

"Lovely to meet you again, Yuri. Long time no see." Chaerin walked straight up to Yuri and kissed her on the cheek. The two seemed like old friends. I glanced around the lobby and saw that Hyukjae was nowhere to be found. Apparently I was being too obvious because Yuri caught onto me fairly quick.

"Jae is in the kitchen prepping for lunch."

"Oh I see."

"Chaerin, what brings you here? Your entourage ran out of here so fast I thought the article was published already." She smirked and I scowled.

"Well-" She began and looked back at me. I glanced elsewhere, I could tell from the eyes burning my skull that she was upset that anything needed to be said. It made me sound like a child being reprimanded for leaving class.

"-Donghae's a bit shy. That's why I wanted him to be in the background. He's here for photography, mainly. Any article that comes with it will be a drabble at most. Don't expect him to write an entire biography on Chef Lee Hyukjae."

Yuri beamed and I frowned. A drabble? Less than 250 words aka I'd be spending as little time with Hyukjae as she could manage. What did she think I would do? Murder the guy? Steal his recipes? I couldn't boil water to save my life.

"That's perfect, Chae!" She clapsed her hands together in joy. "I spoke to him earlier regarding that. Jae is secretly in the process of writing a book and I was hoping we wouldn't spoil too much about the information he'd be sharing."

"Of course, Yuri. You have his full discretion that no such thing will happen. In fact, I'm certain you'll want to read the articles before they're posted."

I rolled my eyes. Naturally, Chaerin was the better judge of character between us two. I could easily tell that she was faking the whole thing, which meant she knew Yuri's so-far shady personality. She was smiling to Chaerin, but almost cursed me to my death.

"Absolutely. I look forward to reading what you and Donghae have churned out. I'll free Hyukjae's schedule a bit, but I won't be able to promise more than an hour or two at a time. This has been a very busy year for him."

"I'm sure of it. Donghae and I will head back to the office. Take care, Yuri."

"Same to you, Chaerin."

The two hugged, kissed each other on the cheek and then went their separate ways. As we walked out the restaurant, Chaerin pulled a carton of cigarettes hidden underneath her blouse. She removed a cigarette, along with a lighter hidden in the carton and lit it. She returned the lighter to the carton and placed it back underneath her blouse as she took a deep pull of the cancerous smoke. She exhaled and sighed.

"God I hate that venomous ."

My eyes almost bulged out from their sockets. "What do you mean?"

"Hae, sometimes you have to work with some really terrible personalities and she is definitely one of them. Let's walk."

As she began walking, I followed closely behind. Clearly the two had history and I was all ears for it.

"We knew each other since freshman year of college. We were friends up until she stole my boyfriend. Caught her doing the spread eagle and my boyfriend right in the middle of it." She took another drag before tossing the cigarette onto the sidewalk and crushing it. She blew out the smoke and smiled.

"Luckily for her, I don't blame the other woman. Unluckily for him, I'm a blackbelt." She stuck out her hand, waving for a taxi and one stopped within seconds. She opened the door and then turned towards me.

"Anyway, steer clear of her. Your business is with the chef, not with his help. And whatever dirt you find reaches my ears only, am I clear? Yuri's sneakier than she looks. Only reason she's asking to read the articles is because I'm involved. She thinks I still have some vendetta against her. I'm heading to the office, call me if anything."

She slid into the taxi and closed the door. I watched as she left, amazed at the information I just learned. I felt better, knowing Chaerin was on my team. But didn't know how to react to the thought that if the two were together, was she cheating on Hyukjae? I shook my head doubtfully. Smart, successful, rich. Only an idiot would toss away truffles for truffle oil. Similar flavor, but you can't compare a $250 truffle to a $15.99 bottle of truffle oil at Trader Joe's.

I walked back and got into my car. I tossed my bag onto the passenger side, taking out my voice recorder. Fortunately enough for me, I actually recorded the entire tour from earlier. Chaerin didn't get to go on a tour, but I'm certain she didn't want to spend any longer in the presence of Yuri. One could forgive, but one could never forget. I drove off, figuring I'd get something to eat before heading back home. There was a Harry Potter movie marathon with my name on it.

As I drove off, I recalled Yuri's words from earlier.

"I expect you back here at 5 am. I won't be here, but you'll be going on a voyage with Hyukjae."

I swerved over to park near the sidewalk, my heart running its own marathon. Me? Hyukjae? A date? Wait. I pinched my leg. Not a date. Remember Hae, not a date. A date was mutual. My attraction to him was unrequited. Woefully, I sighed. 5 am was early enough, I was about to check the time on my wrist recalling that I left my watch. Fortunately I had a car and the radio. It was only 3 pm. I had more than enough time to actually plan a proper outfit this time. I checked my rear windows and pulled off. I could still do this.

Maybe.