Surprise
HERSHETuesday – February 13th.
"What's cooking?"
"Oh. You're home," said Irene, turning to her mom who's standing by the door. "I bought a roasted chicken for dinner. Would you like to eat now?"
"Maybe a little later after I change." The older lady stretched her neck out in an attempt to see what's keeping her daughter busy. "What are you preparing?"
"Just umm... a little something for my team."
"Homemade chocolates?" her mom asked after getting a glimpse of the ingredients. "For your team, you said?"
Irene nodded. "Yeah."
"Valentine's present?"
"Yeah, something like that." Irene grabbed a bowl and started stirring a mixture into it. "I want to give them something special."
The older woman hummed. "I'm surprised that this is the first time you did that."
"It's for a change, mom. I need to treat them once in a while."
Irene's mom leaned on the door frame and folded her arms across her chest. "Seriously. Just tell me who the lucky guy is."
"Mom!" Irene turned away to hide her blushing face. "There's no guy, okay?"
"Whatever." Her mom chuckled. "I just hope your team will love that."
Irene just smiled to herself. Yep, she's hoping Seulgi will love it.
---
Wednesday – February 14th.
There were flowers on the table already waiting for her when Irene came into the office. Some of them were from unknown admirers while some have names on them.
Of course, she always feels flattered receiving those. But it's not enough to win her. Truth is, she's wondering what could even win her.
Not too long the interns came in with Yeri holding a bouquet in her hands. Irene met eyes with Taeyong who looked at him with a coy smile.
Taemin came in shortly and handed all the females in their team a long-stemmed red rose. He cringed in disgust when Irene joked he's the one she's been waiting for. It was a fun day because everyone was in the mood to give love. However, Irene can't keep her eyes away from the graphics department area from time to time.
Just one more day to go. One more day. Everything will be okay again tomorrow.
---
Irene is reading an article when the reception guard placed a box on her table.
"What's that?" she asked, looking up at him.
"For you." The guard tapped the top of the box.
"For me? From who?"
"I don't know." He looked at the papers in his hands. "A man delivered it just now. It says here it's from Honey..."
Irene's eyes widened.
"Honey?" Taemin stood up from his chair. "Who's Honey, Irene?"
Irene shrugged. "I... I don't know."
The guard tapped the box one last time. "I'll leave it here, all right?"
Irene nodded and said her thanks before he left. That's when the confusion started creeping up inside her as she stared at the mysterious box.
It will be a lie if she would say she has no idea who the sender is. So far, she had used that endearment to one person only.
Could it be?
"Aren't you going to open it?" Taemin motioned to the box.
Irene shook her. If her suspicion is correct, then she'd want to see that present all by herself only.
However, the box made quite a scandal that surely intrigued her colleagues.
"Let's look!" Yeri poked the box. "Wow. It's light."
Krystal went over to inspect the box too. "Honey? Just as I thought. You were hiding something from me."
"I didn't know that Ms. Irene has a boyfriend," said Yeri.
"I didn't know that too, Yeri, considering that I'm her best friend." Krystal turned to Irene.
Taemin eyed Irene skeptically. "Yeah. You knew all the things about us but you're keeping your secret from us, your friends?" He placed a hand on his chest and yowled. "Agh! It hurts!"
Feeling pressured, Irene brought her arms mid-air. "Guys, I don't have a boyfriend. Okay? You all know me. I don't even know who sent that."
"If you're saying that you don't know who the sender is then why don't we look what's inside?" said Taemin.
"I second that motion," said Krystal.
Irene glared at her audience in protest. But their glares are much more powerful than hers.
She exhaled in defeat.
Irene stood up, not feeling excited about this. She's nervous, afraid that the box might contain any clue of the sender's identity.
She opened the box nonetheless, with the audience at her back. Inside it, a bunny stuffed toy was looking up at them.
"It's so cute!" said Yeri.
"Wait a minute. Is it just me or does it looks like Mrs. Baechu?" asked Taemin.
"Yeah. It the same stuffed toy," said Krystal.
"It's not the same stuffed toy," said Irene, smiling. "I think this is Mr. Baechu."
She picked up the toy and read the note attached to it.
'I guess he got a little lost on his way back to his wife. The long wait is over. He's finally home. - Honey'
"Kyaaaaaa!" Krystal shook Irene's shoulders. "Who's Honey, Irene? Tell me!"
"I told you. I have no idea." Irene flipped the bunny stuffed toy that looked exactly like Mrs. Baechu except for the missing eyelashes. "This is indeed Mr. Baechu."
Yeri picked up Mrs. Baechu. "Wee! Even Mrs. Baechu has a date today!"
Irene hugged Mr. Baechu to her chest.
"Whoever that guy is, I already like him." Taemin nudged Irene.
"Why?" asked Irene, still not taking her eyes off the bunny.
"Because this is the first I've seen you smile like that after receiving a present."
"Hmm? Why? Was I not smiling before?"
"Let's just say that your smile is different today."
"How so?"
Taemin waved his hand. "Could you do me a favor? If this guy would reveal himself and will ask you for a date, could you please go out with him?"
Irene raised the bunny and stared at its cute big round eyes. "Don't worry. I surely will."
---
Irene was on her way home when her phone rang inside her bag. She smiled after seeing the caller ID.
"Hey, honey. How's it?" said the caller.
"Honey your face..." Irene chuckled.
"Is that the proper way to greet the finder of your long-lost pet?"
Irene was trying to hold off her smile because she doesn't want to attract the attention of her fellow passengers on that subway.
"Thanks for the gift, Seulgi."
"You're welcome. I hope I surprised you with that."
"You did. In fact, you surprised everyone. They were bugging me for that mysterious sender."
"Haha! I knew the delivery would attract some attention. I had to be more discreet."
"Even so, the Honey still got a LOT of attention. The girls went crazy about it." Irene rolled her eyes, remembering how she was ganged up.
"I had no choice. I had to use it so you would know it came from me. What did they say?"
"Well, Krystal and Taemin were accusing me of keeping a relationship secret from them."
"Yay. I'm sorry if I put you in trouble."
"It's okay. It's not big of trouble anyway." Irene massaged her temples. "By the way, where did you find it?"
"Dad and I were strolling around the mall looking for a place to eat when we passed by a toy store on sale," said Seulgi. "That's when I saw that bunny. Problem is, it was the last stock they have. It was trouble getting it because I had to bribe a kid to not buy it."
"What? You paid a kid to get it?"
"Yeah. A few bucks. The kid won't let it go at first."
"Wow. And how did you deliver it to the office without the courier's label on it?"
"I got help from Amber. I had it delivered to her place and asked her to buy a fancy box for it."
It's not a new thing for Irene to receive gifts during this time of the year. However, this is the first time she felt so happy about receiving something. She loves the bunny so much that she couldn't take her eyes off it the entire afternoon.
It just makes her wonder, was she happy because of the gift, or was it because of the sender?
"So, how are you?" asked Irene instead, trying to erase the little confusion building up in her mind.
"I'm good. We're currently in Bali"
"Enjoying yourself over there?"
"Yeah. Dad's been busy, so I toured around here and took some pictures."
"What time is your flight? You're supposed to be here by tomorrow, right?"
"Uh. Well. There's a little problem," said Seulgi, slightly hesitant. "They canceled all flights for now because of the storm signal warning."
Irene remembered the news this morning about the strong typhoon landing on Indonesia. "Oh. You can't go home yet?"
"I'm afraid not yet. And if this continues until Friday, I might go back there by Sunday instead. I just found it now that's why I called you."
The bad news totally drained Irene's energy. Her week has been hella boring and now she needs to endure additional boring days before she could see Seulgi again.
"Calling me just to tell me the bad news?" Irene sighed.
"Partly, yes. But I also want to hear your voice."
Irene blushed. "Stop with the sweet-talking."
"Hey. I'm not kidding. It's gonna take a few more days before I could see you again so hearing your voice could somehow cure me from missing you."
Nothing is more comforting than to know that the person you're missing most is missing you at the same time. Irene was about to give in and smile however the idea of not seeing Seulgi for the entire week took away her excitement again. She let out a displeased sigh instead. She knows there is a big possibility that flights are still unavailable even tomorrow.
"Irene? Are you okay? You're not talking," asked Seulgi.
"I'm okay."
"You don't sound like it. What's the matter?"
"I don't know. I guess I just got stressed in the office."
"Too many flowers to carry?" Seulgi's voice sounded like she was smiling.
Irene shook her head no even though Seulgi can't see it. "I left them all at my table."
"Wowowow. So, you really got flowers?"
"A few."
"Wow. Just wow."
"Hey. Don't wow me yet. I bet you have more presents waiting for you at your table. Two of those were from my teammates," said Irene.
"We'll find out once I come back there. By the way, where are you now?"
"On the subway, heading home."
"Is that the reason you sound grumpy? No date on Valentine's night?"
"I have a date, excuse me."
"Whoa! With whom?"
"With my mom." Irene chuckled after sensing the jealousy in Seulgi's voice.
"Oh. That's nice," said Seulgi. "So... there's no dinner date, like a romantic date with someone, right?"
Irene chuckled again. "How could I? My date is too busy looking for a bunny stuffed toy in Indonesia."
Seulgi laughed. "Your date's crazy, leaving you alone like that."
"I know. Should I find someone else to date instead?"
"No! Don't! Let me make it up to you when I'm back, okay?" said Seulgi, quite panicking now.
"IF you're still coming back. Unfortunately, you're stuck in there, Seulgi."
"Oh. Come on. If I could swim there now I would, you know."
Irene smiled. "I miss you."
She heard Seulgi smile. "Same. But you know what, honestly, I think I'm missing you more than you're missing me."
"Mmm? How so?"
"Because I'm missing you so badly now that I already regret going here in the first place."
That surely made Irene smile again. "Hey. Don't say that. It's your dad's birthday, right?"
"I know. It's just that it feels like something has been missing since I got here," said Seulgi. "My only consolation of going here is seeing my dad. Aside from that, everything makes little sense. And sadly, all I could do is to send you that fluffy bunny."
Getting drowned by flattery, Irene's emotion took over. "You have no idea how badly I'm missing you now, Seulgi."
"Really? You do?"
"Yeah. You don't want to believe me?"
"It's just too good to be true. If you only knew how badly I want to go back to what happened last Saturday, going out with you and just having fun."
It took Irene a great deal of effort to repress a smile because she doesn't want her fellow passengers to think she's a weirdo.
Her eyes were darting quickly around the subway and through the windows but none of the images she's seeing are registering on her mind. All she could see now is Seulgi.
There's no point in denying it. She knows she's missing Seulgi more than she should. It's something she cannot control anymore.
"Can we talk when I get back?" asked Seulgi.
"Sure. You still owe me a date, right?"
Seulgi chuckled. "Right. But what I meant is can we talk about something? About us?"
Irene brought a hand to her chest. "A-about us?"
"Yeah. Don't you think we need to talk about this?"
Irene was lost for words for a moment, unsure of what to say. Although undefined yet, it is clear that something is going on between them.
Irene's sure it's more special than an ordinary fling. And it's getting deeper each day.
Since the day they met, Seulgi has been giving her all these roller-coaster feelings that are all new to her. They may be hard to explain but she loves having those feelings.
But above all that, a big part of her surely wants to know Seulgi's side of the story, if she's feeling the same thing, or if this is all part of how she really is.
Despite the uncertainty, Irene decided. "You're right. We really need to talk."
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