Chapter 23: The Help

“–I’ll call you tomorrow... no, there’s no need to –“

She let out a sigh and stopped on her tracks.

“Fine, do as you please but leave me out of it”

She placed her phone down and ran a hand through her hair as she tossed her phone inside her bag. She glanced at her clock and a frown immediately enveloped her face; she was late for a meeting.

“Ms. Nam, there’s a note for you”

Her secretary handed her a piece of yellow note upon passing by the girl’s desk to enter her office. Hyunjung thanked her and entered her office, closing the door behind her and read the note.

Coffee? 11:00 PM at the coffee house down the block.

- Client

She raised a brow at the note and tossed it aside; whoever it may be, she was not willing to waste her time for this so-called client. All official businesses must be done in the office and in the office alone, nowhere else. That was how professional Nam Hyunjung is.

She grabbed her phone from her bag and exited her office, proceeding to the meeting room only to find that the meeting has started already and someone was delivering a presentation in front. She apologized to her boss and sat down.

-

When the meeting had finally adjourned; her boss had a little chat with her. She was glad to hear though that it wasn’t about her tardiness;

“Your sister... Dr. Nam?”

“Yes?”

They both walked down the office hall, the hall leading to her boss’s office.

“She’s getting married, isn’t she?”

Hyunjung sighed and nodded with a forced-smile on her face

“And it’s with Kim Heechul too; lease extend my congratulations to her, she is quite an eye catcher”

“Yes she is Madame Lee”

She told the lady and her boss smiled at her; the lady went inside her own office while Hyunjung took the left turn to go to her own office. Her secretary was on the phone and upon seeing the elder Nam; she placed a hand over the receiver of the phone.

“Ms. Nam”

She stopped upon the calling of her name and turned to the girl

“There’s someone on the phone, she says her name is –“

Hyunjung sighed and told the girl to put her through. She closed the door to her office and picked up the phone as she sat down on her leather chair.

“Who is this and what is your business with me?”

A low chuckle of a girl was heard on the other line making Hyunjung frown; if this was a prank call, she was going to track down this brat and give her a good slap in the face!

“Nam Hyunjung; you are Dr. Nam’s sister, right?”

“Yes I am, now what do you want?”

“Allow me to introduce myself; I figured that you may not accept my invitation to coffee. Call me Hyerin”

“Alright Hyerin, what do you want really because you really are talking pointless things”

“Do you like the idea of your sister to get married with Heechul?”

Hyunjung fell quiet for a moment and began to laugh a moment later

“Look, if you work for the media then I really can’t say anything to you, I’m sorry but –“

She reached over to the phone, ready to press the button to end the call when Hyerin spoke

“I’m Heechul’s ex-fiancee!”

That made Hyunjung retreat her finger from pressing the button and she stood up from her chair, her other hand resting on the glass desk.

“What do you want really?”

“To save everyone from this stupidity; Dr. Nam is in danger because of this stupidity of Heechul’s! Does she not see that so many people are plotting to kill her?”

Hyunjung swallowed hard

“What are you talking about?”

“All I want is the safeties of everyone... stop this wedding Hyunjung, I know you want your sister to live a long life but with Heechul in the picture... I don’t think that’s possible”

“I –I can’t do anything, this is Youngmi’s choice, there’s nothing I can do even if I tried”

“I’ll help you if you want”

Hyunjung bit her lip.

-

6 more months before the wedding

A knock came on the door and a groggy-looking Shindong opened it. It was nearly 12 noon already and he was the only awake because basically he fell asleep in the living room and was the first one to hear the doorbells and knocks.

“Who is it?”

He spoke as he pressed the button, letting out a yawn as he closed his eyes.

“It’s me, Youngmi”

He let out another yawn and proceeded to opening the door; Youngmi slid herself inside as Shindong said a quiet hello and went back to the couch to sleep some more. Their schedules finished at around 5 AM in the morning which explains why they all were dead exhausted.

‘So much for my excitement’

She thought as she puffed out a breath and closed the door which Shindong forgot. Youngmi walked through the hall which held the rooms of each member and stopped at Heechul’s door. She turned the knob and slowly opened it before stepping inside and closing the door behind her.

The curtains were closed, dimming the room and on the bed lied Heechul while Hangeng was already on the floor. She set her bag on Heechul’s desk before tiptoeing over to Heechul’s bed, careful not to step on Hangeng and so she climbed up on the bed, shaking Heechul.

“Hnn -5 more minutes!”

He growled, hauling the covers over his head making Youngmi pout.

“I got the photos ~”

Youngmi cooed as she slowly pulled the covers away from Heechul’s head. Heechul let out a groan as he shifted and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, opening to see Youngmi holding up the paper envelope full of their copy of the photos in her hand.

He let out a sigh and sat up with a yawn

“What time is it?”

He asked her, she handed him the envelope and smiled

“12 noon”

He opened the envelope and took out the photos, going through each and every single on of them. He smirked upon seeing the final one.

“Can I keep this?”

He asked; Youngmi picked it out of his hands.

“Not yet; we have to choose 10 photos for the invitation book”

He went through the photos again, picked out 10 of the best shots and handed it over to her. He grabbed the final photo and gave her back the rest, she separated the 10 picks from the remaining and tried to grab the photo back from Heechul but he wouldn’t give it back.

“Aniyo ~ this is mine to keep”

She let out a sigh; a loud yawn startled them both and Hangeng rose from the ground, stretching himself and exited the room without a greeting; he looked like a soulless and mindless zombie.

“That was awkward”

She said; out of the blues her phone rang, just as Heechul was about to give her a kiss on the cheek. She zoomed out of the bed before his lips could even brush against her fair skin.

“Yeoboseyo?”

“Youngmi...”

She let out a sigh upon hearing her unnie’s voice

“Neh?”

“I’m coming to Seoul in 3 week’s time”

Her eyes glimmered

“Really? Good! You can get your dress fitted by then!”

Her unnie fell silent on the other line; it took a while before she could speak

“We need to talk”

She turned back to Heechul who fell back on his bed to doze off some more

“If this is about –“

“Youngmi, please not today... we’ll talk when I get there”

Youngmi let out a sigh

“Fine...”

“I’ll see you soon”

“Bye”

-

Only 6 months to go and she was beginning to become paranoid herself; her wedding, their wedding was standing on a thin string, thousand of feet from the ground and one single blow of the air from any objecting person could send it crashing down.

She was alone but Heechul pr0mised to meet up with her for dinner with her mother at their house later on in the evening. She sat alone inside a cake house, getting herself some alone time treats after she had given the selected photos to the publishers of the invitations.

A few looks were given to her, here and there but she ignored it all. She just wanted some peace of mind and to just get away from everything, she just wanted to be a stranger for now to everyone before she could see Heechul again later.

Just to forget all the twist in her life.

“Excuse me...”

She turned her head away from the window and looked up to see three girls, each holding something in their hands.

“Yes?”

The one on the center asked her; she wore glasses, a nice black hanging shirt, a pair of white shorts, a white backpack and a pair of sneakers. Her hair was tied up to a messy bun.

“You’re Nam Youngmi, right?”

Apparently, she couldn’t be a stranger.

“I am”

She smiled; the one on the left smiled widely as she held up a nicely white wrapped up box in her hand. She wore a red shirt with white polka dots, skinny jeans and boots; her hair was straight and fell nicely behind her back.

“It’s so nice to meet you unnie!”

She squealed

“Please accept our gifts!”

She held it forward to Youngmi who stood up to take the gift with a smile and bowed slightly in thanks. The one on the center gave her something inside a white paper bag and the one on the right gave her a small sized box wrapped in blue.

“Kamsahamnida; I’ll make sure these get to Heechul”

She smiled, greatful.

“Oh no, they’re not for Heechul-oppa”

The one on the right said; she looked at them, confused

“They’re for you unnie!”

The one on the center chimed; surprised, she bowed once again in great thanks. She’s never received anything before.

“Omo, thank you so much ~”

“Can we get a photo together?”

The one on the left asked, Youngmi didn’t know how to answer at first but she only nodded her head in a yes. One of the girls asked a waiter to take the photo.

Afterwards, they all said their thanks and goodbyes then left. Youngmi sat back down on her seat and finished off the cake in her plate before grabbing her bag, the gifts and then left the cake house. Strolling down the streets; some people on the other side of the street recognized her and kept calling out to her and constantly, her head often turned to look. They would wave she would also wave back.

Heechul did always say that be nice, so she very well followed his advice but mainly because she was nice.

‘So this must be what it feels like to be a celebrity’

She thought; a honk of a car snapped her out from her thoughts, making her jump slightly and turn to see a black car on the street, the windows rolled down and she saw Leeteuk sitting on the passenger’s seat, Siwon was driving the car.

“You scared me”

She breathed out a sigh. Leeteuk chuckled.

“Get in the car Dr. Nam ~”

He said;

“Why?”

“Just because”

He smiled; hesitantly, she let out a sigh and got on the back seat, buckling up before Siwon drove off.