(This is PART 2 of TRUE LOVE)

He was missing Naeun again.

They left the house together but she had to visit the manufacturing factory for the product analysis after she got their call in the morning, and Taemin had to stay in the office for the photoshoot, as the creative head for the project.

It was already 4pm now, and if she was still not back, she may not return back to office again, but he was still missing her a lot today, and wanted to see her as soon as possible now.

They were done with almost 90% of the photoshoot, and the time of wrapping the shoot was near as they were on the last section.

He was continuously taking glances at the door, just hopeful that she may come back early, and they could see each other, and leave work together.

The door did open and Naeun was the one actually entering the room this time, in her brown overcoat over the black silk blouse inside she was wearing in the morning with the blue jeans below.

He couldn’t keep down the smile curling his lips unknowingly, seeing her face after missing her the whole day, he was more than just happy to express and then as she looked up to find his eyes on her, it was nothing less than a heartache.

He stepped back on the spot he was standing, his knees feeling weak, as he caught the attention of Sunmi, the modeling celebrity for today’s shoot, who was sitting in the chair beside him.

She was busy on her phone till now, but looked up, surprised by watching his feet stumble, to find his flustered eyes, as he took the chair beside her, “Are you okay, Taemin-ssi?” Sunmi asked, noticing his changed face, making him nod in response, “I was here to know if you have any doubts” 

“It’s the last take” “Let’s end quickly before you’re tired of us” he blinked, making her press her lips into a smile, appreciating his courtesy behind the joke.

They were shooting since morning now, and it had been more than 6 hours now, so by this time, Sunmi had got comfortable with Taemin & his style of working, after upgrading her knowledge about the campaign too from their small conversations throughout the day.

“I’m not tired at all” “We can do as many takes till you guys are satisfied with the content” she said, assuring him, making him nod in response, “I appreciate the enthusiasm!”

“But Sunmi-ssi has done really well so far” “You can trust me” he urged, and Sunmi was convinced with the genuineness in his tone, as they both returned to discussing the shot and sequence once again, before she could leave finally.

Before he could go back to work, he looked up, finding Naeun’s eyes on him, as she shifted her gaze purposely, scanning the other staff present in the same room.

She went on scanning the rest of the room quickly, everyone was very busy as expected, to even notice her arrival.

Her own team was busy with the editor, while Taemin’s team was guiding the photographer about the change in the props & background, and the PD-nim was busy monitoring the video taken earlier.

So as the whole scene looked close to the wrap-up now, her relieved heart and curious eyes went back to Taemin.

She walked ahead to stand in the middle of the room, staring at her boyfriend peacefully now. 

Why would she miss him so much when they were going home together anyway?

She had a soft smile curled up on her lips now, watching him from the spot, as he was busy explaining something to Sunmi, not really looking back at her again.

Naeun was actually there to check how the shoot was progressing, and to greet the new face of their brand for this new launch, even if it was almost the time for wrap she had rushed here, so that she could at least greet her in that fleeting moment.

Naeun was excited with how the product had turned out to be one of their most innovative & unique range of products, and after these unending efforts from Taemin & her team, they were able to put everything on table in time.

She was satisfied that finally the launching campaign was happening by the end of next month. Right in her estimated time.

She wanted to walk closer to him, so she looked around first, if anyone had noticed her there by any chance, but no one had that much time to spare, so she looked back at him, only to see him rising to walk to her instead, “Why are you so late?” he had a pouting face, as he came to stand beside her, making her blush & give her smile away immediately, trying her best to keep it low, being careful of the other people around, but she could feel her cheeks rising helplessly now, feeling the heat too, “Were you waiting for me?” she had to ask, making her heart flutter as she waited for his answer. 

She had no idea why she was acting foolish like this, just by watching his face.

He nodded, giving her the puppy eyes now, as she ended up bursting into a soft cackle, turning away from him to keep her eyes on the set where she could see everyone in front of her.

He was standing beside her, as he moved closer for their shoulders to brush then, getting her raised eyebrows on him again, but he just wanted to stare at her for a while.

She nudged his arm, with her elbow, turning back to look in front, “Everything went well here?” she asked, instead to bring up the work now.

“Except me, yes!” “Everything went well here!” he had the grumpy tone, making her smile again, as she was blinking faster to control the butterflies rising in her stomach, “Anyway, we can’t leave early today” she had a sad pout on her lips, as she continued, “Mr Kim has plans for us” 

“What?” Taemin couldn’t hide his disappointment now, as his voice had raised, taking everyone’s attention in the room now, before Naeun could get a chance to comfort him,

“Ms Son, when did you come back from the factory?” Doha asked from her seat, noticing Naeun, making Naeun smile as she stepped ahead to walk to them, 

“Just a while ago” “Are we done with the shoot?” she had her calm yet composed tone, as she took the chair beside PD-nim, 

“Yeah we are almost done” “This is the last section” Doha answered, making her nod silently.

“What happened to Mr Lee?” PD-nim asked, watching Taemin’s dejected look, 

“Nothing serious” “I told him Mr Kim has plans for us in the evening, that’s why he’s a bit-” she answered, making PD-nim smirk, knowing how Mr Kim Kibum was a scary boss during the campaigns, so he kind of understood Taemin’s reaction now.

She turned back to Taemin standing there with his sad face, “Mr Lee?” she called, before anyone else could question his reaction, “Shouldn’t you be here helping PD-nim?”

“What are you going to do if the shots are different from what we want?” she felt the need to scold him now to change the mood, as she couldn’t think of any other way to comfort him, “Are you going to arrange the shoot again?” 

Taemin had walked up, taking an extra chair to place beside her chair, taking the seat, “You know, I never disappoint you” he had the flirting gaze suddenly, making her chuckle seeing him relax and smiling knowing her intentions.

“Oh! Naeun-ssi, as expected from our brand manager” PD-nim commented, “Mr Lee and you suit to be in team together” he added, taking surprised look from Naeun, “MrLee said the same thing to me a while ago” he informed, making her laugh, glancing at Taemin’s smiling face, 

“This angle is more perfect” “It’s not as we wanted” “Is PD-nim going to arrange the model and shoot again, if we don’t get the shots we need?” PD was mimicking Taemin’s tone earlier, making Naeun giggle now, as she looked at Taemin turning his gaze on her, “Told you, I’ll never disappoint you” 

“Proud of you!” she had stood up, patting his shoulder, searching the space again to find Sunmi on the sofa in the waiting room behind, as she excused herself to walk in that direction.

“Hey!” she whispered, taking Sunmi’s attention, “Oh! Hii!”

“This is Naeun, nice to meet you finally” Naeun had extended her hand, making Sunmi stand already, taking her hand in hers, mirroring Naeun’s big smile in return.

“We’re really lucky to be working with you” Naeun mentioned, making Sunmi give her a shy smile in response, “I wanted to meet you!” 

“We were talking about you a while ago” she added, 

“About me?” Naeun was shocked, making Sunmi smile, “All good!”

“Your team is quite devoted to you” she clarified, making Naeun scoff at that flattering statement, but it was true. She had a good team to trust that they were sincere & really devoted to her & their work.

“It’s that, I really love this concept of old vintage color range in lipcolor” “I personally love vintage so much” she looked genuinely interested in the concept, “And Taemin-ssi told me that it was your idea to bring back the vintage colors for the winter trend” Sunmi was beaming with excitement, so Naeun had to believe she was quite sincere with her words, as her jaw dropped, lost for words, feeling proud by that feedback, “It’s really great, I was impressed to know that there’s someone who loves vintage as much as me” 

Naeun was touched by Sunmi’s words. 

She knew Sunmi was a celebrity who was bold & experimental with her fashion, and that was the reason why they wanted her to be the face of this product and get her on-board for this campaign, but after hearing her feedback she was just more satisfied by her decision now, 

“Well, then, we have chosen the best person as our ambassador for this launch” Naeun had given her the most contented smile of the day now, as she was already affected by Sunmi’s sweet & genuine words that had stirred her passion for the project a bit deeply again.

“Sunmi-ssi, we’re ready for the shot” they heard when they had just got into the main conversation, making Sunmi’s face drop in disappointment, “We should exchange numbers” she added, before getting up to leave, “Yeah sure!” Naeun pulled out her phone, giving it to Sunmi, as she saw her type her number, before leaving the spot, as she followed her then, taking the chair beside Taemin again.

They wrapped the shoot, and Sunmi had left finally, and their teams were wrapping their work, getting ready to leave too, when Naeun & Taemin received their message from Kibum.

Taemin's face had dropped again reading the message, as all of them were in the meeting room, when Naeun noticed him sitting across from her on the table.

“Aren’t you taking off?” she was distracted by Doha’s voice, looking up at her, “We have another meeting with Mr Kim” she replied, making Doha nod, “Good Luck then!”

“Mr Lee?” Doha had called Taemin, who had his face dug between his arms on the table, “Huh?”

“Fighting” she had her palm fisted, cheering him with her relatable smile, as he smiled back, “Fighting!” 

—---------

“Make sure you keep check on the available stock, before the promotional week” Kibum added, making Naeun nod, as she was taking notes of his word on her tablet, You know, how we always struggle with the production gap”

“That's what I’m saying” “We know” Taemin had interrupted, “We have cross-checked and confirmed the promoting strategy plan, the content is almost done” “We do this for every project” he was quite frustrated by now, to stay patient with Kibum’s detailed cross-examination, “Do you have to check every task list by list?” he asked, making Kibum smirk, “Who’s the boss here, you or me?” 

“You!” Taemin’s voice had faded out, as he gave up fighting Kibum, and Naeun was not up for help, she was scarier than Kibum with details, he didn’t want to start an argument with her in the middle of heavy work already.

They were back to the meeting again.

“Why are you so upset?” “As if I disturbed your date night?” they heard Kibum, in the middle of the serious discussion, as Taemin had a sulking pout in response, “You have!” “But what’s the use of asking now?” 

“You’re the boss, very unromantic boss” he answered, making Naeun smile now.

“Look at you still talking back” Kibum scoffed, making Taemin sulk more,

“Well….” “You can consider this as a work date then” he replied casually, but Naeun and Taemin expressions had changed, observing Kibum, who had his gaze focused on the laptop, 

“Can we work now?” he added instead of looking up again.

“But?” Naeun was shocked, as she looked at Taemin who was equally in shock at the moment, “Since when-?” he had sat straight to ask that, but Kibum had raised his palm to stop him from completing his question, “I don’t know anything” he had the nonchalant face now, as he glanced between Naeun & Taemin simultaneously to access their reactions, only to end up showing his poker face in that awkward situation, “I really don’t know anything” he shook his head softly, looking back in his laptop now, 

”Okay?” 

“So where was I?” He had continued to talk again, making Taemin & Naeun focus back on the meeting again, but they both were quite confused now to really focus on work for a while.

How did Kibum get to know about them dating when they were being so careful in the office? If Kibum knows, what about other staff?

Were they being obvious without their knowledge till now?

Suddenly a train of questions had occupied their minds.

They finished the meeting, as Kibum stood up to walk out first. 

He reached the door, but stopped to look back at Taemin & Naeun still in their seats, “It was the night we had drinks together, Taeminah!”

“Thank god I was alone there” he murmured, almost in tone to himself,

Taemin had bit on his lip, making Naeun’s jaw drop now with the information, “The night you were drunk?” she remembered, making him nod.

“Make sure he doesn’t drink much in front of others” he informed Naeun now, “Ah! That mouth doesn’t shut when he’s down half a bottle of soju” he saw Naeun press her smile back, smiling himself, seeing Taemin’s concerned face to smile more.

“However, let’s forget this conversation now” Kibum was speaking to them, but looked like he was telling himself too, he didn’t want to change his attitude for both of them, so he was trying to let them know that in some way.

“Nothing is changing as such!” Naeun nodded, agreeing to Kibum, as she saw Taemin nodding too with her.

“Thank you hyung” he shouted, making Kibum wave goodbye before leaving the room.

He & Naeun looked at each other, to burst out laughing now, “Him knowing about this is scariest for some reason” Taemin added, making Naeun burst out laughing again, “Why?”

“Work dates…” he sighed, making Naeun laugh again, knowing what he was indicating with that.

A/N :

I hope it was a satisfying wrap with the Part 2 & you enjoyed this as much as the first story!!

It's Naeun's month, as well as Valentine's month, so I'll come up with few interesting plots, till then have fun reading!!