| CHAPTER TWO |

Easy and Womanlike

Naïve. Youthful. Kind. Silly.

A lot of words surfaced around in Jiwon’s head towards the man she just had a meeting with. Nevertheless, she was quite relieved that he’s not some crazy ert like she feared and the meeting went on smoothly. Having have heard many things about the model Park Hara from social media made her really wonder how on earth a guy like that would be engaged to her. They’re like fire and water, as she even bluntly mentioned to Kyungsoo during the meeting.

However, being the way that she is, Jiwon still quite doubts if the man is really that good. “He is quite nice, how old is he? He acts a bit … how can I say?” She looked at Hyesoo who immediately smiled back while nodding. “Mr. Do is quite the charmer, he’s very liked in this agency ever since he started. He actually began as Miss Park’s personal assistant.” Hyesoo replied casually in delight.

Bingo. A smirk molded on her lips as she nodded in comeback. She knew it, no man is ever really trust-worthy. She automatically figured out that he must be using Hara to be where he is now. “I see, that’s some promotion he got. But whatever, as long as he works well with me.” She tells her before walking ahead.

She pauses when she spotted the same creepy guy from the office earlier. He leans sideway on the wall while smiling at her. As they get closer, Go Hyesoo bowed to him. “Hello, Mr. Byun, I see you’re here early today, you have any photoshoots?” She suddenly turns a hundred-and-eighty degrees from the professional assistant she was earlier to this shy lady, her voice even going a pitch or two higher.

Baekhyun tilts his head to look down to her, his bangs flipping a bit from the movement. Jiwon watched in disgust as Hyesoo automatically blushed while she hugged her schedule book like her life depended on it. “Hm, I wish. I don’t have any model though; would you like to be my model today?” He asked, his voice soft and nifty at the same time. His eyes then moved from Hyesoo to Jiwon. “Any gorgeous woman would do, actually.” he added while putting both hands in his pockets.

Jiwon took her sunglasses out of its case and put it back on her. “Let’s go, Miss Go. Take me to the apartment I’m staying in. Chop-chop. I am exhausted.” She walked ahead, even bumping against Baekhyun’s shoulder quite sharply and snapping her fingers to call Hyesoo. “Ah, yes, ma’am.” Hyesoo looked at Baekhyun one last time to bow before leaving to follow the woman. Baekhyun twirled his body around, keeping close against the wall as he watched them leave. “Chop-chop~” He mimicked her including the snapping of fingers. Finding that extremely attractive for some reason. “Ugh, she’s … Holy .” He slapped his own cheek to bring himself back to earth after that hurried encounter before rushing back to Kyungsoo’s office.

He arrived in and slammed his palm against Kyungsoo’s table. “Yah, give me her phone number.” A fearful look formed on Kyungsoo’s face as he looked back. “Err, I can’t do that, Baekhyun.” He shook his head while nibbling with his bottom lip. Baekhyun flopped down the chair in front of the table and folded his arms. “Do Kyungsoo, are we friends or not?” he asked kindly.

The man eagerly nodded. “But I really can’t, I’ll get in trouble. Baekhyun, there’s like—many many girls in here, uhm, I don’t agree with what you do but maybe pass on this one and just find another? She’s very good and she can really help our agency. I don’t want to get in her bad side.” He pleaded while rubbing his palms together for more emphasis. “But Kyungsoo, I want to get on her back side though.” His argument made Kyungsoo silent for a while as he slowly processes it in like it’s some math equation and when he figured it out, he covered his ears in panic. “Oh goodness, Baekhyun—that’s not very nice to say. She’s a woman, don’t be like that, please.” The poor man yelped out of terror even though he already knew the man was purposely making him uncomfortable.

Baekhyun leaned on the back of the chair with force and messed his own hair up with both hands. “She gets on my nerves. She’s so obnoxious, she hasn’t even shared a full conversation with me and she already acts like she’s better than me. I ing hate women like that, those ones who give off ‘I don’t need a man’ vibe really gets me furious because it’s pure bull, of course they need men just like how men need women. that.” He tells him, his words get sharper and sharper as he reaches the end of his sentence.

Kyungsoo removed his hands on his ears while blinking in wonder. “She does? Then why do you want her number then?” The man looked very confused. Having known Baekhyun long enough now, he knows that he wouldn’t waste time to make a move on a woman he doesn’t have any interest in. “I guess she’s staying here in Seoul now, huh? Do you know where she’s staying? I’m pretty sure Park & Co., provided her the place so you know. I need to chase this one.” He asked instead.

Cautiously tapping his hands on the table, Kyungsoo looked from his left to right while thinking. “Baekhyun, you see, I know you’re used to getting the girls all the time but again … maybe pass on this one, please? She’ll be working with us and that’s not very professional to date each other here like that, I mean Hara and I are a bit dif—”

Baekhyun laughed while waving both his hands in front of him. “Hold up, Kyungsoo. You’re getting the wrong idea here, man. I don’t have any genuine interest in this girl aside from the fact that she’s extremely hot. I just want to let her know that no one rejects me. Okay? Because no one does. Not even your sweetie Park Hara years ago, remember? Sorry, I had to make a point, buddy. No hard feelings.” He stood up, tapping the table once. Kyungsoo just sat there in silence once his fiancée was mentioned. Instead of feeling offended, he just looked at him in worry. He could see how messed up his friend could be, his eyes were always full of hatred and ego towards women, so it seems. “I’m just gonna play a little game with her, is that bad? You’ll see, my friend.” Baekhyun added one last time before leaving the room.

Luckily, he ran fast enough to reach them before they could even step out of the building. He catches his breath as he blocked their way. Hyesoo bowed at him again while Jiwon just stood there folding her arms. “What do you want this time?” She finally spoke, looking down to him. He stood up straight and chuckled. “Finally, got a word out of you. I love your voice, damn. Do you sing?” He handsomely smiled while shaking his head, as if extremely amazed by the music he’s hearing.

Jiwon took in a nice deep inhale as she brushed her long hair away from her shoulder just to face him more clearly. She then breathed out while looking him in the eyes. “Look, I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear enough and caused misunderstanding back in the office. My bad, let’s start afresh, Mr. Byun.” She tells him.

A smile further grows on Baekhyun’s lips. He knew it was going to be easy but he didn’t think it’s going to be this easy to get her going already. “Alright.” He lifted one arm to re-offer his handshake. “Welcome to Park & Co. Miss Jiwon, I must say, I’m very excited to work with you. You’re … very beautiful, sorry I can’t stop observing. I’m just a very observant man.” He makes a proper intro. That’s the most proper he could ever get. Suddenly, Jiwon put her hands up in defense. “Woah, wait … let’s not have the same misunderstanding here again, please?” She asked.

“Huh?” Baekhyun’s shoulders fell as he blinked in confusion. She takes a step closer; and another, and another. The sudden movement caused him to stomp backwards. As she gets closer, his smile comes back wider. “Wow, Jiwon. I guess I can call you by the name, rig—”

“You look like a Corgi. Your smile is square, your eyes are droopy, your chin is too pointy, you look like you have lipstick on, you’re loud, you’re annoying, you’re a narcissist and you’re obviously a player.” She cut him off. Hyesoo who’s beside her widen her eyes in shock as she looked at Baekhyun, very concerned, not ever hearing anyone speak to him like that before.

Baekhyun opened his mouth to speak but he wasn’t given a chance when Jiwon continued.

“I don’t like you at all. You irritate me so leave me alone. Sorry if you have ever misunderstood, in any sort of way, my utter disgust of your presence in front of me. Now … shoo, boy.” She waved her hand to gestur