It was a week since Jong Woon surprisingly showed up at Jessica’s cubicle, and he was already giving Yuri a hard time—that is, unintentionally. Yuri didn’t dare call Jong Woon to her office; everything he did would first get to Jessica before it had to get to Yuri’s desk. Nonetheless, the pile of drafts on Yuri’s table had been piling up, and Yuri later on realized it would be a hassle not to call Jong Woon to help her out in picking the concepts for her event.

She leafed through a centimeter-thick pile of draft papers with a bunch of drawings and designs, all by Jong Woon. She wasn’t the art director; nonetheless, things had to go through her anyway because her big event was to be at stake.

“Scrap. Scrap. Scrap. No. Scrap.”

Then, from the drafts that she held with her hand, her gaze shifted to Jessica, who was relaxingly sitting on the chair in front of her desk. 

“Guess you forgot to thank me now?” Jessica chuckled. Yuri wasn’t amused. “I’ve been doing all the stuff you were supposed to do during the past few days, you know.”

“What does he think? Is this a children’s party?” She ignored Jessica’s comment and continued to pore over the concepts and designs. “The colors are all too vivid, and the overall designs are too unconventional. We shouldn’t have hired him for this.”

Truth is, she found it difficult to choose, because all of the concepts were too good to be passed up. She just couldn’t find the right one for the upcoming event.

“Why?” 

She continued browsing through the drafts until she reached the last one, and her finger paused at the middle of the page. It was just the concept she wanted: minimalistic, monochromatic in shades of red—simply elegant. Then Yuri noticed something, and when she looked at the calendar on her phone, she knew there was something awfully coincidental:

Her event was set on Valentine’s Day.

“Nice,” she mumbled. The design gave her the perfect excuse not to call Jong Woon for the design, and on the other hand, it made her want to see him and thank him for saving her life.

“What?”

She forgot that she had to treat things more professionally.

“This one’s too boring. Scrap.”

Then again, professionally speaking, it was a great concept, anyone in the company, even the art director, would approve of it. Yuri regrettably crumpled the paper, much to Jessica’s dismay, and she was about to throw it into the trash bin when Jong Woon peeped out from the door.

“You called for me, Yuri-sshi?”

Yuri bit her lower lip and gave Jong Woon a forced smile. Actually, it wasn’t forced, because her lips were relaxed. She quickly hid the paper in her back and cleared , and prayed that Jong Woon wouldn’t notice the draft that she had just balled into her hands.

“Well, now that you’re here, let’s talk about your art concepts,” she said. Jessica nodded her head, as if she was planning something up her sleeve, and she hurried towards the door without taking time to notice Yuri’s inquiring look.

“Have fun working,” Jessica said. No, she didn’t mind the possible consequences—all she cared about was for Yuri and Jong Woon to mend things between them together.

Jong Woon stared at the door as Jessica slowly closed it, then he glanced at Yuri, who was busy straightening out the sheet of paper with her hand.

“Seriously, you know, I can just talk with the art director.”

“Well, it’s going to get through me, anyway,” Yuri insisted as she nervously leafed through the rest of Jong Woon’s drafts with her one hand.

“What’s your point?” Jong Woon asked. He sat down on the chair in front of Yuri’s desk, making her tremble even more. She wondered if the piece of paper on her hand was already straightened out. She cursed herself for accidentally turning down a good art concept.

“My point is that we have to work together in this.”

“You’re not the art director, Yuri-sshi.”

“But I happen to be your supervisor.”

Jong Woon laughed at Yuri, because it was rather getting awkward for both of them. Yuri also noticed it. “Geez, why did you even have to accept my job offer?” she mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Yuri smiled at him again and stood up from her seat, when in reality she didn’t know why she did that. She gazed at the shelf of books and papers and made an effort to sound undaunted and impartial. 

Jong Woon showing up in the office after rejecting Yuri’s job offer wasn’t part of the plan—Yuri thought she knew Jong Woon well; he wouldn’t go back to a place where he’d already been kicked out.

With a deep breath, Yuri handed the piece of paper she had earlier crumpled to Jong Woon, and she hoped that he wouldn’t feel bad about it. Two years ago, Jong Woon was known to get upset over a fold on the card, or a crease on the onionskin paper. 

“What the hell did—“

“Scrap that,” Yuri interrupted. She decided to be a little harsh and gave Jong Woon a smirk.

“But I was crossing my fingers for this one. You liked minimalist designs.” Jong Woon explained. “Unless you have a different taste now, then I won’t let you scrap this.”

Yuri didn’t know if Jong Woon was being professional or if he was trying too hard to suit her personal tastes. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to find away to refuse his designs and, realizing that she had no other option but to accept it, she took the crumpled paper away from him.

“I need a better copy of it.” Yuri finished. She smiled contentedly, thinking that she already had the upper hand of the situation. She glanced at the door of her office and asked Jong Woon to leave.

“You know, you’re making things hard for yourself, Yuri-sshi,” he said. “Before, you weren’t even diffident to ride on a hundred-foot Ferris Wheel.”

Yuri hated the word ‘before’, since the day she and Jessica saw his resume on piles of scratch paper. She hated how Jong Woon told her that she had changed, when, in fact, it was he who had, in a span of two years, gotten what he couldn’t have.

The only blatant proof that he didn’t change was his fear of heights, and his lingering memory of two years ago.

“I could have made everything easy if you hadn’t—well, you know what, I’m the one who’s making things difficult for you. Please go back and give me a copy of this design. Tomorrow, we’ll be meeting with the art director regarding your concept.”

Jong Woon merely nodded and closed the door behind him. Yuri waited until his footsteps disappeared into the hallway, then she slightly opened the door again. All the more did she think that it was Jong Woon who had changed much—

Didn’t Jong Woon know she didn’t like doors closed out on her? Then again, two years ago, she had closed out hers on him.

---

Siwon knew that Yoona was on the phone for most of the time. He knew that she had to attend to more than a dozen calls from hotel clients, and that she had to send out invitations by e-mail to about a hundred conference guests as Siwon had told her to. He knew that she was under his supervision now, that she had to learn a great deal from him in terms of hotel affairs.

So at about twelve midnight, Yoona wondered why Siwon was watching her most of the time, even from afar. His stares were disturbing, for her—she would often turn her back on him when she made calls, and while she wrote on paper, she bowed her head to the point that her bangs would cover her face.

She was in the middle of writing a receipt for a waiting hotel visitor when a voice came up in front of her.

“What’s up? All work done?”

Yoona almost jumped from where she sat, and she found a zigzag line where the customer’s name should be on the receipt.

“Damn it.” Yoona cursed silently as she kept herself from looking at her new boss. “Okay, boss, what’s up with the surprise party you’re giving me?”

Siwon leaned closer on the counter to see what Yoona was doing. “You know, I love surprises.” he said. Yoona scoffed and tore down the receipt she had made a mistake on from the pad.

“And since I love surprises, I will have to give you a surprise task.”

Yoona suddenly looked up at Siwon. “I hope it’s not one of your schemes to get through to me, because honestly--”

“I want you to make sure that the training kits for this upcoming bank conference tomorrow are distributed to all of the participants at six in the evening sharp.”

Yoona sneered at him. “Is that all, sir?”

“There are about two hundred of them in this hotel,” Siwon said. He straightened up and walked away from Yoona’s desk. Yoona, on the other hand, nervously glanced at her watch and realized that handing them out to two hundred people within fifteen minutes isn’t a joke.

“What are you up to?” she frowned at Siwon, who had already turned his back on her.

“I thought you want things done professionally?”

“You’re cruel,” Yoona sighed. She dropped her pen and crossed her arms in front of her, but then she dropped them down when Siwon let out an airy laugh.

“Hurry up,” he said, “You only have fifteen minutes.”

Yoona stomped her foot on the marble floor as Siwon headed for the elevators. Could life be more miserable with him around? Nonetheless, she picked up her phone and dialed her way to the bellboy department, hoping that in fifteen minutes she’d be able to get her life back, and get Siwon out of it.

“Hello,” she spoke over the other line, “Can I have the bellboys assembled just for a moment? I need help.”

Three minutes later, the hotel bellboys—over a hundred of them—were already in the reception area, but they were there for a different purpose. The visitors and guests had eyed them and raised a brow at them, and Yoona didn’t fail to notice such a peculiar but expected reaction from them. On the other hand, she was quite amazed by the fact that she, a hotel receptionist, was able to phone in almost all of the bellboys in the hotel.

She cleared before speaking. “Don’t worry, this will take only less than fifteen minutes of your time.”

Yoona was quite worried by the fifteen minutes—maybe they were even more than fifteen minutes. She pointed to the stacks of boxes at one side of the reception desk and spoke in a more serious tone.

“Here’s what I need you guys to do.”

Ten minutes later, Yoona pored over the list of guests and found that she only had half of it checked out. Which meant—

“How’s my fifteen-minute pizza delivery?”

Siwon was in front of the reception desk, in the mood for screwing Yoona’s life badly again. Yoona could feel cold sweat trickling down her hotel uniform, but she had to act as if she had already finished the task.

“It’s almost done.”

What a vague excuse.

“How soon is ‘almost’?” Siwon asked, “Half an hour more?”

Yoona couldn’t take Siwon’s mockery anymore. She opened to speak and retaliate, but Siwon already had the guest list. He pulled a pen from his pocket and examined the list—he should have laughed, perhaps jeered on Yoona, but everything became a different case.

“This won’t do well with bellboys, Yoona,” Siwon said, “Besides, it isn’t their job to just give training kits like boy scouts selling lemonade.”

Yoona sighed. “I’d like to see you try, boss.”

“No, I’d like to see us try.”


Somewhere behind Siwon’s words had knocked Yoona off her composure, and she remained frozen in her chair as Siwon pulled the telephone from her desk and dialed a different set of numbers.

“You know, Yoona, you could ask for the guests,” he said. Yoona bowed her head down in shame. Siwon soon heard the ringing sound over the line.

“This is a five-star luxury hotel, and it has to give the best of its services to its guests. But things wouldn’t always work that way. For everything else, you have to ask for them to give you the cooperation and respect that you deserve.”

Yoona looked up. “But I’m just—“

“And number two, being a hotel receptionist doesn’t make you any less smart and free-willed than the executives.”

Siwon then spoke to the other line. “Interpol, yes? Miss Yoona here wants to speak to you.”

He handed the phone to Yoona, who somewhat looked surprised. Yoona shrugged her shoulders and looked quizzically at Siwon. He just smiled at her and headed for the elevators again.

“Um, hello?”

It was Yoona’s first time to speak to the Interpol staff.

“Can I, um, can you tell the bank conference participants to gather at the conference hall immediately? Their training kits are ready there.”

She barely had three minutes to finish her task, but she was more confident than she used to be ten minutes ago.

“And I need some of the bellboys with the training kits to report there, too.”

At six in the evening, Yoona was nervous. It was an hour worth of overtime, and she wasn’t satisfied with it. She was about to phone in the staff in the conference hall when she saw Siwon walking out of the elevator again.

And what was it that he was holding?

“Good job, Yoona.”

Yoona froze in her seat yet again. Every step that Siwon took suddenly became a lookout moment for her. She barely noticed the champagne bottle he was holding—maybe it was empty, maybe he was saving it for someone, maybe it was nothing but one of Siwon’s tricks. Whichever it was, Yoona hoped it wasn’t meant for her, because if it was…

“The staff barely made it by six in the evening. The bank conference people can now sleep soundly with the training kits beside them.”

Yoona frowned a bit. Was this a game that she was playing in the arcade?

She watched as Siwon popped two champagne glasses from his pocket. Yoona knew where these things were headed to, and it made her worry. Fifteen minutes ago she cursed her job, and now, she’d be starting to love it. But she didn’t deserve anything like a bottle of champagne and warming smiles from her boss—in fact, she deserved to be miserable with Jong Woon than to be happy with someone else.

“Let’s celebrate.”

Yoona had to go home. She was supposed to be home. Jong Woon should’ve fetched her by then.

“No. I, I can’t.”

Siwon didn’t frown at her, surprisingly—but his smile disappeared, and to Yoona it was a sign of disappointment. “Well, it’s just champagne. You don’t have to remind me that--”

“He’s going to pick me up.”

She forgot to send Jong Woon a text message, which reminded her to do it at that moment.

Siwon stood still as the young lady started collecting her things and hastily jammed them into her bag. “Going home?” Siwon mumbled, his eyes all on her. The smile was sweet to Yoona, but it gave her a fair warning that she shouldn’t be celebrating her victory with her boss. Jong Woon should’ve been there.

“Yes.”

The clouds gave way to the rather starry night when Yoona exited the hotel. She heard the low humming of motorbike engine, and knew from that sound alone that Jong Woon has come to make her day, at least.

Jong Woon stopped his motorbike in front of Yoona, and without removing his helmet, handed out another helmet to her.

“Had a hard day?”

Yoona smiled weakly; she felt like she should give up on her job. And no, it wasn’t stress or anything, just something she couldn’t bring herself to tell Jong Woon.

“Let’s get something to drink.”

Yoona saw Jong Woon’s smile behind the windshield of his helmet.

“Okay.”

The motorbike zoomed along the street, away from the hotel, leaving Siwon to drink the champagne bottle by himself, when he could have shared it with someone else. 

He clearly wanted not just ‘someone else’.


---


It was a heady Friday night at a bar, and Jessica should be celebrating the end of a notorious week. Instead, all she could do was wear that contorted face every time she chugged down tequila, then pout and tell her friend Yuri how singles like them (Yuri didn’t like that she was part of ‘them’ but well, it’s true) could feel as lonely as spring notebook without the spring.

“Nice example,” Yuri chuckled. “But it’s such a lame comparison.”

Jessica laughed sarcastically. The view of her shot glass about two feet away from her was becoming hazy, and so is her view of her own life. “Look who’s talking. If I wasn’t in the office this week then you would have been exactly the kind of notebook that I’m talking about, or maybe worse.”

Yuri fell silent. Just a sprinkle of salt on her wrist could feel a bit better. She quickly grabbed a slice of lemon from the saucer after drinking from her own shot glass. It was her sixth glass so far but she felt oddly sober. Jessica, on the other hand, looked like tomato.

“Well, thank you,” Yuri said, pouring another shot of tequila into her glass. She couldn’t believe she was that resigned, or maybe she was already drunk. “But you’re still on death row for bringing Jong Woon back to the office.”

The blonde girl merely shrugged her shoulders. “I think I’m a saint.”

“You’re drunk.”

“No, girl,” Jessica swayed her hands, almost hitting Yuri in the face, “Just tipsy.”

It meant the same thing; well, it didn’t matter to Yuri anymore. It was the cigarette smoke and dizzying strobe lights that made her hate that place—she began to wonder what made that kind of world carefree and easy-going.

“You know, I could have dated a lot of guys.”

Yuri looked up at her in surprise; she loved surprises, but she wasn’t ready for what Jessica had just pulled off.

“What?”

“You heard me right.”

“You know what, you really should go home,” Yuri scoffed.

Jessica ignored Yuri—she went for another shot of tequila, and this time she opted to put the salt on the lips of the glass because she thought she had been too much dirt off her wrist (not that it was common knowledge in the bartending world, though).

“Sometimes, when you get there, you feel like he’s not the one, and you end up ruining the date night. It’s always the same scene, over and over again.”

Yuri patted her on the shoulder as she looked at the distance, beyond the shelves of wine bottles and martini glasses.

“Well, you’re being too choosy, girl.” Yuri set down her glass and decided it was her last shot. “It’s okay to take risks and make mistakes. The thing is, you’ve loved someone and you gave him your best shot.”

Jessica merely nodded; the effect of tequila was making her a bit light-headed. “I think this would also be my last. But Yuri, how should you know if he’s the one?”

Yuri laughed. “God, I don’t know! It just—“

Suddenly she remembered how Jong Woon had come to her life for the second time, and she wondered If someone was playing tricks on her fate.

“—he just happens.”

Yuri then decided to change the subject. She smiled sheepishly at Jessica and rested her chin on her one palm. Jessica looked at her, rather confused.

“You’re not attracted to me, are you?”

“No. But maybe the guy who gave your wallet back is into you.”

“Psh. He stole it,” Jessica replied.

“But he gave it back to you.”

Jessica called for a pitcher of water before retaliating. “The point is, he stole it.”

“The point is, he gave it back.”

“What do you mean?”

Yuri’s grin was uncomfortably wider than the usual, and Jessica had to look on the wooden surface of the table to avoid seeing her smile.

“Maybe he’s the one.”

“So you want me to end up together with a thief?”

“No, I wanted my best friend to be happy,” Yuri leaned back on her chair. “You should really give yourself a break. Get a guy, maybe get laid, make mistakes, screw up at work. It’s the only way you’ll find out the right answers.”

Jessica smiled knowingly—Yuri could act like a dweeb, but Jessica is still happy to know that Yuri is, above all things, the best friend ever.

“Thanks.”

Suddenly, Jessica’s phone rang. She looked at Yuri, excusing herself from their flattering conversation. Yuri smiled and nodded.

“Booty call?”

Jessica quickly pressed the call button, ignoring Yuri’s lame joke.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I happen to come across your number, and I think I need help tomorrow evening. Will you be free at seven?”

“Wa-wa-wait,” Jessica answered, “Who the hell are you?”

It was a bad question, because Jessica knew the answer by the sound of his voice.

“It’s Lee Donghae.”

Without knowing that Donghae still had to get an answer from her, she pressed the end button and smiled eagerly at Yuri. Unfortunately, Yuri wasn’t going to reciprocate.

“What’s wrong?” Jessica asked. Donghae can wait later.

Yuri stared blankly at Jong Woon as he held a young lady’s hand and led her out of the bar, smiles all in their faces; Jessica could have blocked the view and they could’ve been there for God knows when.

Before Jessica could turn to look at where Yuri was looking, Yuri bowed her head down and got her bag from the side of her seat, though she didn’t exactly need anything from her bag.

The best friends both wouldn’t be getting any sleep after that. Yuri wished they wouldn’t for the same good reason.


---