“We what??”

In unison, Eun, Kyoungmi, Jihoo and Yoojoon turned their heads towards you, their eyes bulging.

“We, err,” Scratching your head, you contemplate on how you would explain to them.

Eun walks towards you, her forehead frowning in disbelief.  “Agasshi, come again?”

“Excuse me,”

All of a sudden, someone enters Eunbok, a camera slung over his shoulder. 

“Oh, you must be the photographer,” You smile and come to greet him, shaking his hand.  “Kim Jaemi, owner of Eunbok,”

“Yes, yes I am,” He grins back and shakes your hand firmly.  “Kang Woonha, executive Samsung photographer,”

You grimace at the sight of your workmates, their jaws practically dropped open.  You silently signal them to pay their greetings, and Yoojoon becomes the first to snap out of his shock.

“Hello, I’m Kang Yoojoon, college student, please take care of me,” He bows politely and shakes Woonha’s hand.  Woonha nods approvingly and catches Kyoungmi’s eyes.

As if woken up, Kyoungmi walks over to Woonha and does what Yoojoon did.  “Shin Kyoungmi, college student, look forward to working with you,”

“Hoo, pretty,” Woonha’s finger lifts up Kyoungmi’s chin and he gives her a lopsided smile, making her blush. 

“And that’s Eun, secretary and Jihoo, vice-assistant,” You briefly introduce the other two.

“I see, I see,” Woonha nods, clearly eager to do his work.  “Wait, vice-assistant? Where’s the assistant assistant?”

“Oh,” Now that you think about it, where is Chen? “Eun, where is Jongdae?”

“Right! I forgot to tell you that he told me to tell you that he’s out for some business,” She answers, her eyes delivering you a message that told you, that the business was related to the Park family.

“Ahh, I see, there you have it, Woonha-ssi,” You nod and smile.  “The studio, then.  Shall we?”

You guide Woonha around the place and tell him where’s where and what’s what, before entering your studio.  Quietly you thank Eun, because the last time you were in it, it was like a shipwreck.  But, it’s perfectly cleaned now. 

“And this, is our studio,” You open the door for him. 

Woonha politely surveys the place and a smile spreads on his face.  “It’s an excellent place,” He says, regarding you respectfully. 

“You flatter us too much,” You bow in thanks.  Pointing to a table at the studio’s corner, just by the background curtain, you explain.  “This is your table and this is the usual photoshoot spot,” You flip the light embedded on the table on and gesture towards the white, plain background.  “Do ask me for anything you need.  I would provide it with the utmost generosity if it were to be in my power,”

“You do too much, Jaemi-ssi, but thank you very much, and I look forward to working with you, in the present and in the future,”

It’s a Saturday, so Yoojoon and Kyoungmi both don’t have college to attend, thus their presence in the shop, tidying up for opening time. 

Woonha still in the studio, you rush into the shop and gather them around for a quick briefing.  “I didn’t know he was an executive by the way, and this deal we have with Samsung will give us new gadgets everytime anything comes out, so you better take care of whatever you’ll get very carefully.  And Jihoo, control your temper if Woonha snaps a sudden picture of you.  Yoojoon, Kyoungmi, relax and think of him as me because I won’t be taking pictures of you guys anymore.  Eun, be as you are.  Eunbok, hwaiting?”

“Eunbok hwaiting!” The 4 cheers out loudly, surprisingly ecstatic. 

“Arrgghh I love you guys,” You hug them together and grin, the alarm clock that signals opening time ringing aloud.  “Let’s go!”

Customers quickly stream into the place, making it bustle with chatter, in excitement and contemplation.  You spot Woonha leaning on the back door, watching the whole shop, his arms crossed and a thin smile on his lips.  He catches your eyes and he mouths ‘Don’t mind me,’ While he gestures for you to continue with your work. 

You do continue and you focus, because you never work without focus. 

“Sajangnim, can you help me?” You hear a customer shout for you.

You lift your head from a child customer you’re tending to and answer, “Yes! Sorry, uhh, Jong—“ Quickly, you catch yourself.  Jongdae’s not here today.

“I got this, sajangnim,” Eun fills in for you, nodding.

You thank her and return to the child, fixing his hat.  “Our Sungjae is good-looking now,” You gently pinch his cheek and pat his head.  “Be a good boy, okay?”

“Mm,” The child grins at you and hugs you in thanks. 

“Thank you, sajangnim,” His mother nods in thanks at you and takes her son’s hand, guiding him out of the shop.

“That noona is pretty, mom,”

“Yes, she is.  When you’re older, meet a good and pretty woman like her, okay?”

You smile at the two and turn your head, striding towards Eun.  “Thanks Eun, I’ll take it from here,”

Finishing up with the customer, you bow and let her leave. 

“Hello, sajangnim.  Lovely day?” A regular comes up to you and bows, shaking your hand.

“Indeed it is,” You smile.  “What do you need?”

“Nah, just this,” He shows you a cardigan he picked out, already in Eunbok’s paper bag.  “Anyways, don’t see your boyfriend around.  Where’d he go?”

“Boyf—aish, assistant,” You shake your head in amusement.  “Do we really seem like we’re dating? He has some business, so he took his leave today,”

The customer laughs.  “Obviously.  I don’t know about you, but he, you know, never mind,” He grins and gives you a mock salute.  “Thanks for this and the chat, see you soon!”

Well, eventually, closing time comes and you let Eun count the earnings for you.  You sit and sigh on one of the shop’s tables, sipping your water.  A day without Jongdae beside you was, extremely peculiar. 

You realize, that there are a lot of things you can’t handle without him.

During work today, you dropped a bucket of string bundles that rolled everywhere around the shop.  Thankfully, Jihoo and Yoojoon were there to help.  Then, while attending to a customer, you pricked yourself with a needle and Kyoungmi had to come to you and give you one of her printed band-aids, wrapping it around your injured finger.  Not only that, you forgot where you put a customer’s ordered scarf and blazer and gladly, she wasn’t irritated at all because she was another regular of yours. 

Cycling through today’s events in your mind, you heavily sigh again. 

“Jaemi-ssi—“

“Trust me, Woonha-ssi, I’m not usually this unorganized,” You cut him first before he continues.

He chuckles and settles beside you.  “No, it’s not like that.  I’m completely amazed, on the contrary,”

“I know righ—eh?” You shake your head and frown.

Laughing, Woonha goes on.  “Instead of being unorganized, you have a marvelous time management.  And focus too, if I might add.  I mean, handling all that people by yourself and still having time to sincerely chat with each one? Nobody does that anymore these days.  They just serve and let the customers go satisfied, not bothering with unneccessary chit-chat,”

The things he said were things you were very used to that you were surprised he thinks it’s amazing.  Guess people really don’t do what you do.  “I, uhh, guess so?”

You realize that Jihoo, Kyoungmi, Yoojoon and Eun are all also settling around the table your at, as they always do. 

“And your team,” Woonha shakes his head.  “It’s been only a day and with all that happened, I fell in love already,”

As if the ropes around their necks were loosened, everybody heaves a sigh of relief.  Well, you didn’t think they were that pressured by Woonha’s presence, but, Woonha speaks truth.  To you, everyday you fall in love with them.

“Well then, that’s all for today?” Woonha asks.

“Yes, it’s closing time already,” You nod, standing up as he did so. 

“It was an amazing day and tomorrow and everyday I’ll be here with you so take care of me, too.  Yoojoon-ssi and Kyoungmi-ssi, we’ll be starting the official photoshoots tomorrow, okay? I’m telling you because your sajangnim here told me that you’re the models.  But Jihoo-ssi, Eun-ssi and, if it’s not a bother, Jaemi-ssi, it is not impossible that the three of you must be in the picture too.  The products will come in tomorrow and I will bring my team with me,”

You nod and shake his hand.  “See you tomorrow then, Woonha-ssi,”

The executive photographer leaves the shop and when the hum of his car engine disappears, the 4 of you return to your circle on the table. 

“Creeps the hell out of me,” Jihoo shivers playfully.

“Oh my God, I know right,” Kyoungmi quietly adds, rubbing her arm.  “He just stands there and trains his eyes on anything that moves,”

Everybody laughs at her sentence, brightening up the shop even though it was empty.

“And he had an amazing time,” You raise your eyebrows sarcastically.  “The time when he got to watch me spill a basket of string bundles and stab myself with a needle and forget a customer’s pre-ordered product,”

“Eish, agasshi,” Eun cuts in.  “Really, though.  You handle things very well.  And that was the, one..two..three..ten millionth time I’ve said that,”

You laugh and stand up, letting Yoojoon and Kyoungmi go home.  Jihoo, Eun and yourself go into the studio and settle down to tidy up your things, sitting quietly as you were done. 

“Oh, Eun, what was it about Chen again?”

“He had a Park business,” Eun replies.  “Something about the company’s papers? He didn’t give me the details but told me to tell you not to worry about him,”

Jihoo then clears his throat.  “Sorry, I gotta go.  My noona is telling me to come home and help her cook,” He rolls his eyes, waving his phone at you and bows towards you, leaving the place with a wave. 

“But it really was different,” You quietly say.

“Hm? What was?” Eun asks you, listening as she tidies up your files.

“Not having Jongdae around,”

You didn’t notice, but at your words, Eun’s hand hesitated for a moment, her lips slightly parting to say something, but thinking it over, she takes it back and continues tidying up.  “Of course it’ll be different,” She chuckles.

“Yeah,” You absently reply.  “It wasn’t just different, it was different, you know,”

At the same time, Eun’s phone rings and she apologizes before picking up, tucking it back into her bag before standing up to leave.  “Real sorry, agasshi.  Choi-sajangnim needs to see me,” She winces and gives you a hug before leaving.

Silence.

That was all you had. 

You’ve never felt so alone.  It was weird.  There’s no Jongdae to bring you coffee, there’s no Jongdae to open the door for you, there’s no Jongdae.  He just isn’t there.

You start your car after you’re done with locking up the shop and slowly drive home.  The Samsung billboard ad shows everybody in it, everybody in Eunbok, but Jongdae.  Why isn’t he where you look for him?

Pulling over, you unlock your phone and press 1 for speed dial, setting it upon your ear as you listen to it connect.  1, number 1, the most important person you always call, the one you need the most and the one that always picks up.

‘The phone you are currently dialing is not answering.  Leave a message after the beep, beep,’

What?

You try again, and the same notification rings in your ears. 

No, what’s going on?

Chen may answer late, but he always answers. 

Always.

But why not now?

AYO I'M BACK AFTER THE MIDSEMESTER TEST

I'M UPDATING

HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

KEKE

tell me what you think and what you want for the next chapter, i might take it into account ^^~