'Beep... beep'

The message tone from Dara's cellphone woke her up.
She stretched and sat up rubbing her eyes.
She checked her cellphone.

"Yah, Dara unnie, where were you? You didn't go jogging with us again!" Chaerin texted.
 

Her eyes widened as she turned to check the time.

It showed past 7:00 AM.

She was suppose to go jogging with Chaerin and Jiyong at 5:00AM.

"Aigoo! I slept in!" She said, hitting her forehead with her palm.

She rushed to the bathroom to take a bath.
In the middle of taking a bath she heard her cellphone rang.

"Aish!" She muttered grabbing a towel to wrapped herself up.

Water dripping on the floor while she ran inside her room.

"Yoboseyo?" She heard Chaerin's voice on the other line.

"Chaerin-ah?"

"Park Dara, you stood us up again!" She said sounding pissed.

"Mianhe Chaerin-ah, I woke up late again." Dara apologized.

"Actually I'm in the middle of taking a shower right now." She added.

She heard Chaerin sighed.

"Alright, call me back once you're done, okay?"

"Arasseo."

She hung up and was about to go back when the cellphone rang again.

"Agggghhhhh!" Dara screamed.

"Yoboseyo?" She answered irritably.

"Baby?!" She heard a man's voice on the line.

"Youngbae?"

She heard him chuckle.

"Seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" He joked.

She didn't respond.

She was still disappointed about what happened last night and she doesn't feel like talking to him.

"Are you mad at me?" Youngbae asked.

"Ani." She lied.

"I'm really sorry; there are a lot of things that's been going on at the office lately." He explained.

She rolled her eyes.

"It's fine Youngbae, I understand." She said flatly.

"Uhmmm baby," He said. "About the dinner tonight, I'm afraid we need to cancel again. I'll have a dinner meeting with some overseas clients." He said sounding a bit embarrassed.

'Clients or women?' Dara thought.

She didn't answer.

Youngbae could tell that she was not happy about it.

"How about this, I'll cancel the meeting tonight," He quickly suggested. "And we can..."

"No Youngbae, it's fine." Dara cut him off from what he's about to say.

"We can hang out together once you're free."

She wanted explode but she still maintained her calmness.

"I'm really sorry, Dara. I promised that I'll make it up to you." He apologized. "I love you baby."

"I love you too Youngbae."


After taking a bath, Dara went to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast.
She made herself a sandwich and waited for the coffee to brew.

'Ring... ring...'

She ran to the living room to answer the cordless phone.

"Yoboseyo?"

"Dara unnie!"

"Minji-ah, what's up?"

"Why aren't you at work?" Minji asked.

"Oh, I took a day off." She simply answered.

"Unnie, are you okay?" Her friend asked with concern.

"Of course I am!" She said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing." Minji said sounding skeptic. "I just talked to Chaerin unnie. She said you didn't go jogging with her and Jiyong oppa this morning."

"Oh, yeah, I woke up late again." She reasoned, feeling embarrassed.

"Did you wait up for him?" Minji asked all of a sudden.

She sighed. Though Minji was two years younger than Dara, sometimes she can really act like an older sister.

"No, he already told me earlier last night that he couldn't come for dinner." She lied. "I just went to bed early."

She could hear her friend sighing on the other line.

Her friends know that she's having a tough time lately and they're very worried about her.
They already advised Dara to confront Youngbae about the rumors but she just stubbornly refused.
Bom would always tell her that the longer she pretends that everything is fine, the longer she'll suffer.
As much as Dara doesn't want to admit it, Bom was right.
The pain is killing her.

"Aigoo, unnie," Minji could only say. "So what do you plan on doing now?"

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea."

She suddenly heard the doorbell rang.

"Someone's at the door." She told Minji.

"Alright unnie, I'll call you back later."

"Bye."

Dara went to open the door.
She was surprised to see Jiyong.

"Annyeong!" Jiyong greeted with an awkward smile.

"Oh, annyeong," She greeted back, looking around if Chaerin is with him.

"Chaerin is not with me." He said, knowing who she's looking for.

"I came here alone."

She furrowed her eyebrows.

It's not like Jiyong hasn't visited her before but she was wondering why he came so early.

"What brings you here?" She asked.

Then she suddenly remembered the jogging incident.

"Oh Jiyong, if you came here just to scold me about not showing up on this morning's jogg--"

"It's not about that." Jiyong cut her off.

"Eh?" She said looking confused.

She saw his face turned serious.

He held up a small package for her to see.

"It's because of this."


= Flashback =

Earlier that morning...

Jiyong just got back from jogging with Chaerin.
He was walking towards his apartment when he noticed a package lying on the floor in front of his door.
He picked it up and saw that it was addressed to him but it doesn't show who or where it came from.
When he entered his apartment, he put the package on top of the kitchen counter and headed to the bathroom.
After taking a shower, he got dressed, and prepared himself for work.

Carrying his laptop, he heads to the kitchen to grab something to eat from the fridge.
His eyes landed on the package that's on the table.

"Shoots! I almost forgot." He said to himself as he took the package and opened it.

Inside the package there was an envelope and a cd.

Jiyong wrinkled his forehead.

He's used to receiving cds from aspiring singers since he owns a small music company.

He then checked what's inside the envelope.

"What the !" He blurted.

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock when he saw what's inside.
He quickly opened his laptop to check what's in the CD.

"Hell no! This is not good.. Not good at all.." He said shaking his head.

For a moment there, he didn't know what to do.
Call someone.
Go somewhere.
He looked at his watch.
He put everything back inside the package.
He dialed a number on his cellphone and exit his house.
While in his car, Jiyong tried to compose himself.
He took his cellphone out of his pocket and called someone.

"Yoboseyo?" A woman's voice on the other line greeted.

"Yoojin-sshi, please cancel all my appointments today." Jiyong ordered his secretary.

"Ye, sajangnim."

= End of flashback =