“Pardon me, is this seat taken?”

Wendy looks up from her seat to promptly have her breath completely stolen by the woman looking down at her. She flicks her eyes quickly to the empty chair beside her, then to the nameplate marking her own (Son Seungwan, Son Enterprises Inc.), then back up to the absolute angel still calmly gazing at her.

“Uhh, sure. I mean, NO! The seat isn’t taken, please be my guest." Wendy laughs awkwardly.

“Thank you. I’m Bae Joohyun. This is my first time here,” the stunning woman states as she sits down with an even more stunning (yet shy?) smile.

Son Seungwan has never, ever, met someone as beautiful as Bae Joohyun at a charity ball. And she has attended many, many charity balls over her young lifetime.

“Oh, I’ve attended so many of these I could write you a script of how they’ll go. If you like, I could offer you some tips?” Wendy continues, flashing an awkward smile at the newcomer (Who had completely stolen her breath, maybe her heart, who knows?). Something in her manner must have assured Joohyun that she genuinely wanted to be helpful rather than condescending. Joohyun eyes her swiftly up and down before replying with a rather suave smile, “I’d like that”.

They start with drinks. Wendy makes a fool of herself only a handful of times, but it seems to make Joohyun laugh so she doesn’t really care. She finds out they’re only three years apart in age. She also learns that her business name is Irene. And by the dessert course, she realizes that she is utterly and completely attracted to this woman.

Only slightly tipsy, Joohyun motions Wendy closer to her at the edge of the table.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asks in a conspiring whisper.

Wendy simply nods and scoots closer, trying not to be too disruptive as the 6^th overly rich old man continues to self-congratulate on the event stage.

“I’m bored,” Joohyun states with an adorable giggle.

Wendy chuckles too, looking up and into Joohyun’s eyes, noting her flushed cheeks and an expression screaming “I’d love to get to know you better, but in a different setting”.

Taking the bait, Wendy offers “You want to skip out? I can have my car brought around in two minutes.” So much for all the etiquette training her family put her through.

Joohyun bites her lip, considering. She then nods, takes Wendy’s hand, and leads her out the back where they exit into the fresh night air.

As they wait for Wendy’s vehicle, Joohyun snuggles up to Wendy’s arm where their hands are still linked.

“Cold?” Wendy asks, sensing the warmth of the older woman’s body seep into her own, feeling it migrate to her chest and curl up there.

Joohyun nods, smiling up at her. However, her expression rapidly evolves to something more sultry and she nearly gives Wendy a heart attack when she responds, (suave smile appearing once more) “But I’m hoping you can warm me up.”

Joohyun sits in her office, staring at her cell phone and the message fading on the screen.

Son Seungwan

‘Want to come with me to NYC for a business trip? 2 days, lots of down time I promise!’.

Joohyun looks out from her office window, contemplating the beautiful, goofy, smart, and kind woman that she is seeing. Well, more than seeing. As she looks out over drab grey buildings, basking in a rare moment of alone time, she can admit to herself that she is falling. Hard.

Her company wasn’t built on denial or inaction, though. She made it to where she is with forceful leaps from her comfort zone and some lucky breaks in business. Joohyun looks back down to her phone with a smile. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let down your walls, Joohyun.

She types out her answer: “Sure, why not? ;)”

***

Joohyun is treated to the most wonderful two days of her life. Wendy plays tourist with her everywhere she wants to go and suggests so many good food places.

Who can blame her if she ignores a couple of business calls? She’s never felt more alive than she has with Wendy.  And at the end of their first day, she says so, watching the younger woman’s eyes glisten as she cutely mumbles It’s nothing, new places make me excited too.

Joohyun takes advantage of the feelings of heightened liveliness and asks Seungwan to be her girlfriend the next day. Wendy nearly shouts ‘Yes!’ as she tackles Joohyun onto the couch of their rented flat. If the is extra satisfying that night, they both don’t comment on it.

Instead Joohyun takes in life with her new partner, appreciating the little things during their short stay in NYC. Like how it feels almost normal walking down the sidewalks of SoHo, hand in hand with her beautiful girlfriend. Like how extra sweet and thoughtful Wendy is with time to plan elaborate dates and outings. And how nice it is to be in love.

Wendy hears Joohyun sigh for the third time in 20 minutes. They’re having a video date as they both work late in their respective offices.

“What’s wrong baby?” Wendy asks as she pulls up a new email.

“Do you mind if I vent?” her girlfriend sighs out, sounding exasperated.

“Of course, let me know what’s on your mind,” Wendy responds.

Joohyun opens , then closes it. Then starts again with intent.

“I need to replace a shareholder that owns a 20% stake.”

“Oh wow. I see. Otherwise… your remaining stakeholders approach your controlling share?”

“Right. We don’t always see eye to eye, and I don’t intend to give up control yet. I know the direction I want this company to go. My other shareholders, especially Mr. Kim, are threatening all I’ve worked for. If he forms a coalition with others, they could really derail our vision” Joohyun is beginning to look more and more frustrated and Wendy’s heart literally squeezes at the sight.

“What if you just sold the whole stake to a new shareholder?” she supplies, trying to look as earnest as possible. Wendy really hopes that Joohyun picks up her hint from her tone.

Joohyun of course recognizes Wendy’s obtuse offer.

“Wendy, would you really want that?”

“The timing is perfect, baby. I was just talking with Dad about setting up a small subsidiary that I can use for venture type projects, but this will be even better!” Wendy smiles wide, trying to impart her confidence and good feelings to her stressed girlfriend.

Joohyun smiles a small but real smile, gaze soft into the camera.

Joohyun is surprised by her girlfriend on her birthday with a homemade cake and two tickets to see Coldplay (her favourite band) in concert at their show in London. She cries when Wendy reveals she’s already coordinated with Joohyun’s assistant to secure the time away.

They fly to London on the private plane Wendy borrows from her family. They spend most of the flight singing along to a Coldplay playlist that her girlfriend created just for the trip. And perhaps for a little while, they also dismiss their flight crew and join the mile-high club. Joohyun knows the plane's altitude but feels like she's beyond Earth's stratosphere when she's with Wendy.

They arrive for the concert and Joohyun realizes her gilrfriend picked out perfect seats. However, instead of heading straight to them, Wendy tugs her off to the backstage area. With widening eyes, she realizes that her girlfriend arranged a pre-show meet up with the band. She barely even remembers meeting the group, feeling starstruck the whole time and gratefully accepting the tour t-shirt they give each of the women.

But it doesn’t end there. On the way back to their seats, Wendy points out a seating section where there are children of varying ages milling around. Seeing her confused look, her girlfriend explains about a music school where all these children attend and enlightens Joohyun to the charitable nature of the institution. Joohyun nearly cries again when Wendy explains the reason they’re here is because she took the dividends from her share of Joohyun’s company and paid for the entire class to come to the concert. Joohyun feels like kissing her girlfriend right there, but they haven’t discussed coming out together publicly yet. She settles for holding on to her arm just a little tighter.

Wendy and Joohyun both sing along to every song until their voices are hoarse and the lights go out. Joohyun catches her girlfriend’s eyes as the lights die off, smiling wide and full of love and excitement. She tries to capture the moment to remember for the rest of her life. She realizes she could want that with Wendy. Her first taste of forever.

“Baby, I have something important to tell you.”

Wendy sees Joohyun’s eyes widen in alarm, and she is terrified she is ruining their Friday night. Wendy has been stewing with this news for two days and couldn’t stand it any longer. She was absolutely terrified that it would change everything, but she couldn’t go a day further without talking with Joohyun.

“I want you to know, I need you to know this first. It’s about mom and dad’s retirement.”

“Oh?” Joohyun acknowledges, walls still up, caution still in her face.

Wendy decides to just come out with the facts. Joohyun always appreciates having facts first. “They’ve decided to finally do it. Fully step away. They want my sister to take part of the business and me to take on the international stuff. They think our other candidate, Ms. Park, can do well in a subsidiary and that I'll grow into this opportunity. More than anything, I wanted for them to have a retirement without worries- and for them, it means they want me at the helm. How could I say no?”

Wendy’s heart is doing somersaults and pirouettes simultaneously. She knows and Joohyun knows what this will entail. While some may think she was groomed her entire life for this, the future leadership of her family’s companies was actually completely open. The family didn’t have to run it forever.

Joohyun reverts to her business self, and it begins to scare Wendy.

“So what does this mean for us, Seungwan?”, she states almost coldly.

“It means I will be CEO. I, uhm, won’t be in Seoul as much as I’ll be everywhere else. I can only carry on with half my foundation work…” she trails off, feeling more and more like this was a huge mistake and not the next chapter of her life.

Joohyun continues with questions, looking less cold and more fiery already.

“Our time together is already so limited. Even with your junior duties, we still struggled to make time for each other. I am not made for a long distance relationship, Wendy.”

Wendy feels the world crashing down and her ears begin to ring faintly. Joohyun is drawing a line in the sand.

“I can’t refuse this right now baby. I’ve agreed with my family to help them make this transition. I don’t want to lose you in this because we’re both so preoccupied with… with… business,” Wendy spits out, like it's a dirty word. “I love you” she pleads.

“Seungwan, all I want is time with you. I love you, so much, but I can’t devote myself to someone who cannot work with my busy schedule too,” Joohyun responds, having passed through her fiery stage and now looking just plain sad.

“We could try it out? See if we can make it work?” Wendy offers weakly, eyes already tearing. She knew the day would come when the things most important to them would come into conflict. It didn’t make dealing with it any easier though.

Joohyun approaches her, cupping her cheeks with both hands. “No, baby. We can’t live just giving half of ourselves. I can’t give up my company and all I’ve built. You can’t give up on your family.” Joohyun is fully crying now and Wendy has never hated being part of a multi-national empire more than this moment.

Joohyun continues, “Maybe our timing isn’t right. I will always love you, Wendy. If this changes, if there’s a chance, I sincerely hope we can find each other.” She kisses her, softly, gently, then pulls away to gather her things.

Joohyun attends the charity ball where she first met Wendy, glamourous on the outside and gloomy inside. The event brings up sore memories; it has taken her months to cope with losing her greatest love. She hopes to make it through the evening with a little alcohol and no unwanted attention. However, Joohyun is completely thrown by an interview question flung from the overcrowded media section at the red carpet.

Maybe she is tired, or sad, or just misses Wendy (like she has every day since she walked out of her apartment) but she puts on her best Irene face and answers the pointed question from an overeager lifestyle magazine reporter.

“I have barely spoken to Wendy since she took over her parents’ company. Wendy has been incredibly busy and I wish her all the best.”

She continues into the venue, night totally ruined but unwilling to show it. Joohyun tells herself she is strong, that she and Wendy did the right thing, that she wasn’t being a coward when she denied giving them a chance. Her heartbreak is too fresh, however. She is practically a ghost all evening at the charity ball and leaves before dessert is served. She misses Wendy, but she hopes it will get easier with time.