It was a dark sleep.  One without dreams, so you were glad you woke up to see light, very bright to the point of blinding you.

Repeatedly blinking, you squint, trying to focus your sight onto whatever it could grasp while you sit up, looking around.

Yes, there is a vase.  Flowers in it.  Colors.  Tables, windows, a door.

“I can still see,” You bring your hands to your eyes, gently testing your sight and setting a finger upon your eyelid, trembling from relief.

“Feeling okay?” A familiar voice says and you turn to its source.

“Ah, Hyosung-ssi,” You dip your head in a bow.  “Yes, fortunately,”

She quietly grabbed a chair and took a seat beside your bed.  Now you realize you’re in a hospital.

“What did those words mean, Jaemi-ssi?” She asks, her face stern.

“Which one? Fortunately? I am well and I feel okay,” You frown in confusion.

“No,” Hyosung shakes her head.  “The one where you say that you can still see, Jaemi-ssi.  But, really now, that’s not even your name, is it?”

Completely awaken now, you turn your head to face Hyosung and meet her eyes.  Discovery was inevitable.  “No, it’s not,”

“Well,” She breathes through her nose and purses her lips.  “Should I be the one to tell this story, or will you have the honor of doing so, Lady Park?”

“I hope I don’t have the honor of doing a mistake, though, Hyosung-ssi,” You look right into her gaze and hold it firmly, until she becomes the one to look away.

That gaze, that lock of eyes, became the key to you revelation.  You knew, that she was unlike any other person.  Being Samsung’s director, she is one of your company’s top corporation, but still, you are considered of higher rank.  Although so, you and her both know that neither she or you would do what either think each would.

“Do forgive my insolence, Lady Park,” She deeply bows.

“No, it was the right thing to do,” You smile at her.  “It’ll be a long story, so, you’re sure you’ll be able to cope with me?”

“I am assured,”

Then begins your story.  Of the fact that you are the Park family’s second daughter, of your blindness and it’s disappearance, and finally of how you’re concealing your identity in order to achieve the best out of Eunbok.

“Lady Park, if I may,” Hyosung says at the end of your story.  “Would it be illogical for you to conceal your identity when in reality, with it, you can obtain what you desire?”

Chuckling, you answer her.  “Let me correct your quiestion; with my identity, I can obtain what I desire quickly,” Your hands played with each other.  “True.  But, Hyosung-ssi, I’ll return to you a question of the sort; would it be fair if I were to go through those logical ways?”

At that, she lowered her gaze.  That means she understands.  Fair, was a good word for the meaning you truly wanted to convey.  If you used your name to get Eunbok through the market, it was a shortcut.  One everyone hates, one everyone despises.  They, who needed years of hardwork to be where they are, they, who do not have what you do and they, who are just mad with envy.

A smile crept onto Hyosung’s lips.  “Truly, you are the one of the stories told,”

“Stories? What about?”

“Your beauty, intelligence and wisdom, Lady Park,” Hyosung says. 

Flushing, you then lower your gaze.  “Does those kinds of stories really circulate about the companies, really now.....” You mutter to yourself, turning your words into incoherent mumbling.

For the first time today, Hyosung lets out a light laugh.  “Then I guess I know what your weakness is, Lady Park,”

The two of you quietly laugh for a moment then let comfortable silent settle between you.

You were the one to break it first.  “Hyosung-ssi, I’ll come out directly and ask you with all I can, for you to assist me in this matter.  Of concealing my identity,”

Hyosung hesitates for a moment, then answers.  “Even if I say I would assist you, what makes you so sure that I would not truly reveal who you are? No, the question is, what makes you trust me so?”

At this question, you smile at her and respond to her question.  “Just because,” You grin, shrugging.

She gapes at you in shock and shakes her head.  “Ridiculous.  You never seem to run out of surprises.  Then, I say that I will assist you, too, with all I can, Jaemi-ssi,”

“Then it’s settled!” You clap delightedly and swing your leg off the bed, slipping your feet into your shoes instead of the hospital slippers and you were about to exit the room when someone knocks on the door. 

“Yes?”

The guest comes in and it turns out to be a doctor.  The doctor.  The one that tended to Jongdae.

“Doctor, it is a pleasure to meet you,” You deeply provide him with a bow, surprised to see him.

“Hello, err, Jaemi-ssi,” He bows as deeply and gestures for you to sit down, helping you onto a sofa in the room.  He glances at Hyosung and then at you.

“It’s fine, she knows,” You eye her carefully and nod.

“Agasshi, you must avoid what I told you to,” The doctor shakes his head in disappointment, setting down his clipboard.

You lower your head and toy with your hands once more.  “I’m sorry.  It is inevitable,”

“As inevitable as it is, I will not let you risk losing your sight again!”

You flinch, grimacing.  Waiting for his next words.

“I don’t have time for politeness so let me get this straight, agasshi.  Do not overthink, do not overstrain yourself and do not lose any hour of sleep you can get.  Do not force your eyes to work beyond its limits and do not linger over anything for too much of a time,”

“I know, I know,” You sigh.

“It’s been exactly the 6th time,” He said.  “The 6th time of saying that you know, and yet still, here you are, facing me with the same problems,”

You glance at Hyosung and try to show a smile, which came out as more of a grimace. 

He looks at you and asks.  “The first time was how you would start the clothing business, the second time was Chen-ssi’s role in your life and the third, is?”

“Err,” You hesitate, then clear your throat.  “It’s Jongdae, doctor,”

“Twice, then.  What of him?”

“I don’t know.  He told me he wouldn’t be at work and then for the whole week he truly wasn’t.  He doesn’t answer his calls and it tells me that the phone is out of service area,”

The doctor thinks for a minute, looking at his hands, then at you.  “Wherever he is, you must believe that he will truly, always, return to your side.  That’s what you always held on to, right? That he will be beside you when you need him,”

You sigh and manage a thin smile.  “I guess so,”

Standing up, you put grab your bag and excuse yourself from your doctor, who tells Hyosung to care for you. 

As the two of you exited the hospital, Hyosung takes you into her car and drove you towards Eunbok. 

“I’m sorry, Lady Park, but who is this, Chen?” She asks out of the blue.

“Well, he’s just my—“ You halt yourself.  “What was that word again, err, assistant? Yes.  He’s my assistant,” You eras the word ‘just’ from your sentence, because Jongdae is not ‘just’ your assistant.

“I’m not going over my boundaries but I don’t think he is all that for you,” Hyosung frowns.

“What do you mean?”

“What kind of assistant worries you, what kind of assistant is latches himself into your mind, and what kind of assistant is ‘always by your side’? I don’t think the last question means what it does, instead, it means a lot more, am I right?”

Her words push you into thinking.  What kind, really?

What is Jongdae to you?

“And if I may, is Chen, or, the name you use to refer to him, Jongdae, the one he uses in Eunbok?”

You quickly answer her question, a disturbance to your thoughts.  “No, he uses Soohyun.  Cho Soohyun,”

The name wakes you up from your thinking.  “Cho! Is he the one who handed you the pictures?” You question Hyosung.

“Depends.  If the one you mean is a person with a prominent jaw bone—“

“Yes, it is him,” Your eyes widen in shock.  Jongdae started your deal with Samsung.  It was the last thing he did before he went who knows where.  Perhaps.....”Hyosung-ssi, did he tell you anything else, besides the one relating to Eunbok and me? Maybe things, about himself?” Quietly, you pray for the answer to be what you hope for.

“Not specifically, but he told me simply that, and I quote, ‘I’ll be going away for quite some time, so I wish you can take care of her in my place,’”