"Ma, you have to make sure to take your medication, okay?"

Joohyun reminded her mother, Jiwoo, as they waited for the bus to arrive after visiting the hospital for Jiwoo's weekly check-up.

"Dr. Nam said you have to watch your stress level. You're not getting any younger."

"Psh. Stop fussing about me."

Her mother dismissed with a nonchalant manner while shooting her daughter a look.

"You should be worrying about yourself. You should be married by now with grandchildren for me to care for."

"Ma."

Joohyun knew where this conversation was headed while taking her mother's arm and leading her onto the bus as it arrived.

"Bogum and I haven't even talked about marriage let alone having children, Ma."

She helped her mother settled into a seat before taking the one next to her.

"If it happens, then it happens."

Jiwoo made a face upon hearing her daughter's words.

"You and Bogum have been dating for ten years, but nothing. Is he even serious?"

Joohyun remained calm while patting her mother's hand.

"First of all, it's six years, not ten, but don't worry, Ma. I'm sure the day will come soon. Just you wait."

Joohyun recalled seeing a tiny black velvet box in the backseat of her boyfriend's car the other day when he had picked her up for work that morning. She glanced at her mother who still seemed reluctant to believe her daughter

"Soon, Ma. Just be patient a little longer."

Later that night Joohyun readied herself to celebrate hers and Bogum's sixth year anniversary. She wore a very stylish white top over black skinny jeans, and cute black and white Converse heels to match. Joohyun believed tonight would be the night where her long-awaited vision of marriage would come true. At first thought she was too average and maybe weird for someone like Bogum, but their time together over the course of six years had changed her view of that. Or so she believed.

Upon arriving at the high-end restaurant, Joohyun couldn't believe her eyes due to the fact that they were at the Skylight Terrance where it took months or even a year to even make a reservation. The anticipation of what tonight may lead to had her heart thumped rapidly against her chest as she was overcome with anxiousness and silent excitement. Joohyun tried to remain tranquil as possible as she didn't want to get a head of herself now and possibly ruin what could be one of the greatest moment of her life.

The evening went wonderfully and beyond Joohyun's expectations of it. Bogum was charming, attentive, and complimented his girlfriend here and there with lots of small kisses to her knuckles every so often. She was a cute mess and she nearly forgot about the whole proposal until their date was coming to an end. Unfortunately, nothing happened of what Joohyun assumed was going to occur that night. No special dessert, candlelight mood, or musicians playing a special song. No Bogum getting up from his seat to kneel on one knee in front of Joohyun ready to propose to her and spend the rest of his life with her.

There was no tiny black velvet box presented in Joohyun's sight to gasp at the item inside. Instead, she was sent home with a quick kiss to the lips, and left feeling like it was just like any other date that they had in the past. Bogum didn't even mentioned their anniversary. She hoped that he would say something as she was the one that normally said stuff concerning their status and the likes. Joohyun felt that in every romantic expectation, the guy would take the lead and that night it made her realized that her boyfriend of six years had never done such things in their relationship.

Of course Bogum showed her that he care when others were around and doing this and that whenever she invited him over to visit her mother. Then again she realized that she had never met his parents yet or that the topic itself wasn't ever brought up. Joohyun shook the thoughts away while letting out a slow breath as she entered her house and up the stairs to her room in a quiet manner. Almost like she was on auto-pilot, Joohyun went about her nightly routine like normal as if nothing affected her.

While settling into her comfy bed with the covers pulled close to her chin was when her mind started thinking. Joohyun soon wondered if she was just overthinking everything and maybe had missed the times when Bogum was quite romantic and cared for her in those aspect without others around. When it was just the two of them he was as affectionate as to when it wasn't just the two of them. She couldn't quite recall clearly, but still the inkling feeling of what she maybe have suspected all of this time was now edging itself to the front of her mind. A lonely feeling settled around her.

Not wanting the loneliness to creep upon her Joohyun got out of bed while taking a small blanket, earbuds, and her phone as she headed out to the balcony connected to her room. Settling herself upon the chair she had set up long ago with the blanket wrapped tightly around her Joohyun plugged in the earphones and let the music consumed her. If she could separate those parts of her from her real self, then maybe reality wouldn't hurt so much in the end. Still though deep within her Joohyun knew that you could only keep the reality away for so long before reaching your breaking point.

It was a late sunny Tuesday afternoon and Jessica was photographing for the brand, MOLDIR, in the company's courtyard, but wasn't feeling the model despite the excitement coming from the company's secretary and the model's friends to the dismay of Jessica. Her friend and boss, Tiffany, accompanied Jessica to play peacemaker for the company's sake. The annoyance continued when the model's friends kept joining the photoshoot which irked Jessica even more after telling them she just needed the model. When it happened for the nth time that day and within the hour since they started, Tiffany intervened knowing Jessica was about to call off the shoot any second now.

"Let's take a break." Tiffany suggested while stepping in front of Jessica. "We'll try this again in fifteen minutes."

Jessica quickly put down her camera with a relieved look while the said model, Hyeri Lee, went to fix her hair and makeup along with her gaggle of friends. The secretary turned out to be Bogum stepped up to Jessica with an eager look.

"So what do you think, Ms. Jung? Hyeri's wonderful, isn't she?"

Jessica hid her facial features by wearing a face mask that conceal the lower half of her face. This was mainly to obscure the way she wanted to feel in front of the client so that they didn't see her true feelings. Jessica feigned a polite smile to reach her eyes that didn't appear like she was gonna throttle the model and her buddies.

"Yeah, totally." She curtly replied as nicely as possible.

"Wonderful. I'm thrilled of the turnout." Bogum exclaimed happily. "To be photographed by the one and only Jessica Jung of Twinkle Memos."

"Yeah, totally."

Bogum didn't catch the sarcasm in Jessica's tone this time around as he turned to Tiffany.

"I'll check up on Hyeri first, Ms. Hwang, and then we can sort out the rest."

Bogum rushed off leaving the two women behind with eager steps. Jessica rubbed her temples to ease the tension as she shook her head with a tsked before going through the photos. She let out another tsked indicating that she was seriously not satisfied with any of the images she had taken. Tiffany noticed her friend's frowning face.

"What's wrong?" Tiffany cooed as she lightly shoulder bumped her friend to pick up Jessica's mood.

"Nothing." Jessica simply replied.

"Yes there is."

"There isn't."

"I know there's something or someone wrong."

Jessica didn't respond and Tiffany cast her a knowing look.

"You're not happy with the turnout and it's either because of the setting or the model."

Tiffany leaned closer to Jessica so it was only heard among the two of them.

"I'm gonna go with the model and her giggling friends."

"Oh, god, yes. She's not working for me and neither are her annoying friends that take this like it's some personal photoshoot or something. Besides, why can't she just hold and wear the items for a solid minute without changing positions every five seconds."

"You do know she's a rich man's daughter, right?"

"So?"

"She's rich. Like super deep money rich."

"I still wouldn't care as she's not the one paying me. Her father or mother could be super rich, but it's not her money. Anyways, the real thing is that if she doesn't work for me then it just not going to work out at all. Neither are her friends either. They're just as bad as she is."

"Yes, I know."

"Do I look like a social media clout photographer to you?"

"A social media photographer, yes. Clout photographer, no."

"Exactly. Also, this isn't her accessory line or company. The creator of MOLDIR is the one that requested me, not her."

"Yes, I know. Besides, you have the say of what photos are kept and are deleted for the finishing results."

"True, but . I wish the others could have taken this one instead."

"I could try to see if Sunny is free."

Jessica brushed it off with a shake of her head.

"Nah, I should be fine as long as she gets her together or it's just not gonna work out at all."

Tiffany glanced at her friend with a weird face.

"What?" Jessica inquired as she debated on deleting the photos or not after seeing her friend's hesitation.

"Well, you're gonna have to play nice because I think Ms. Lee is Mr. Park's girlfriend or at least it seems like it."

Jessica groaned.

"If that's real Tiffany, then that's even worst because he really has no interest in the integrity of the product or the company, but of his own personal interest isntead. Honestly, I would prefer someone else."

Tiffany patted her friend on the back.

"Well, you're gonna have to deal with it unless there's another way to go about it."

"I guess."

Jessica sighed still upset about her model as her eyes wandered until she caught sight of a person that caught her eye better.

"Ohh, her. I like her. She fits better."

Tiffany's eyes went to where Jessica was looking at and nodded in agreement.

"She's cute. A little plain and slightly above average, but more down to earth. What makes her a better fit than Ms. Lee?"

"Because that woman's aura is way nicer than Ms. Lee and her three friends combine."

A few days passed and Joohyun hadn't heard from Bogum since their date. She sent him good morning and good night texts, but no response. She was left on read countless of times, but now she was desperate for a response. Bogum also hasn't picked her up for work either and she just resorted in taking the bu