{Chapter 01.}
Crossing Paths

Fidgeting her fingers continuously, Sunye was clearly nervous. She didn't know what to expect of her prospective boss, but she really wanted to make it work this time. She looked again at what she was wearing for the big day - a beautiful white blouse, a dark grey pencil skirt and a pair of medium black heels. It was nothing over-the-top, yet at the same time, it looked really sleek and professional. So far so good, she thought to herself.

"You can enter the boss' office now," the pretty secretary, named Kim Saejin, told the anxious petite girl who had waited for over half an hour. "Good luck!"

Sunye smiled gratefully at the lanky employee. She had a feeling the two of them would make great friends if she was to be granted employment at Modern Compact Design and Construction Company.

To her surprise, Mr Lee Jihyuk did not look like he was anywhere near 50 at all in real life. In fact, it wasn't even the boss she had seen on magazines sitting there, looking straight at her. He was actually young and quite the looker. Did he retire and is this his son or something? Sunye mentally cursed at herself for her complacency. How could she not be aware of the situation of her potential boss?

As she sat down across him, she noticed there was a man in his 20's, probably the same age as her prospective boss, she assumed, at the coffee table at the side. She wasn't aware of his presence before due to the overwhelming needs of wanting to make a good first impression.

She almost dropped her jaw when she realised it was the Ahn Wooyoung.

Holy . Yeeun would die to be in my shoes right now!

"Ahem, excuse me."

Sunye snapped out of her trance and immediately refocus her attention back on the agenda. She groaned silently at the poor impression she must have given Mr Lee.

“You are...?” He said, slightly displeased at how much she was gawking over his good friend.

It wasn’t like that hadn’t occurred before; After all, Ahn Wooyoung was a living magnet whose looks and mere presence would attract women very easily. However, if the lady sitting before him was seriously hoping to find a post at his company, Lee Junho would have expected her to be professional. What she had just exhibited failed to prove that trait.

Yes, definitely a bad first impression.

“Good morning, sir. I’m Min Sunye.”

“Are you serious?!”

Sunye’s interview finished just in time for lunch and not wasting any time, she immediately reached for her iPhone and dialled Yeeun’s number upon reaching the elevator. She knew Yeeun would happily agree to have lunch together – as far as Sunye’s memory could serve, Yeeun hated having lunch with her colleagues because they were always forcing her to treat them to lunch. Park Yeeun regretted ever flaunting her wealth with all those designer handbags and Laboutins when she went in for work during the first week – now they were all taking advantage of her. But, more than anything, she knew how Yeeun would go ballistic if she found out who Sunye had just encountered.

“I didn’t know the Lee Junho and Ahn Wooyoung are affiliated! Damn, their circle just keeps getting hotter and hotter!” As annoying as it was becoming, Sunye was getting used to how her best friend was turning into one of those rabid fangirls who would dig every single ounce of information to satisfy their curiosity.

“You’re saying my potential boss is a part of Gothang?”

Gothang is an elite group, which consists of socialite friends who comes from some of the wealthiest families (chaebol) in South Korea. They are the coolest circle of affluent males. The mysterious air around them and their incredible good looks contribute to the constant craze girls have for them. Not many outsiders were really aware of the circle, but they were written about in the media every now and then.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Yeeun, Sunye would not have known at all.

“That’s what I’m wondering... The last time I checked, Lee Junho wasn’t in it at all. Ahn Taecyeon, Ahn Wooyoung, Nichkhun Horvejkul, Hwang Chansung, Choi Seunghyun, Dong Youngbae. He could be new... I haven’t seen pictures of them for the past few months, anyway.”

“Interesting...” Sunye spoke nonchalantly, as she took another bite of her favourite Big Mac.

“Did you know that--” Yeeun stopped her sentence abruptly as two people entering McDonald’s stole her attention.

When she least expected it, Yeeun’s flapping hand struck Sunye’s unguarded one repeatedly.

“What the hell?”

“That’s Ahn Junsu and Ahn Sohee. O-em-gee!”

Sunye turned her head around and took a good look at the figures which were driving her friend bonkers. Dressed in a blue floral print casual dress and a pair of beautiful Jimmy Choo yellow flats, with her hair let loose stood the ever-so-elegant Ahn Sohee. Sunye was very well aware of her, because she was a rising model and she was always on the covers of some of the coveted high fashion magazines around. She was fondly called as the Princess, because quite frankly, she was a living epitome of one. Standing tall next to her was her brother, Ahn Junsu. Not much was known about him, other than the fact that he was the eldest son of Ahn Kohang. Unlike his siblings, the 27-year-old was pretty much low-key for most of the time. However, be not mistaken by his discreet preference, because he was after all the Ahn’s first born. His quiet and seemingly aloof character was definitely not to be underestimated.

“. Why the did I leave my camera at home? Did you bring yours??”

Sunye questioned her friend’s intentions. “Yah, are you seriously thinking of taking a picture with them and embarrass yourself?”

“Ahn Sohee is a legit celebrity. There is nothing embarrassing about wanting to take one with her, okay?” Yeeun replied, searching through Sunye’s handbag when she realised her friend wasn’t helping at all.

“I didn’t bring it,” she told Yeeun. “Why don’t you just use your Blackberry?”

“Oh god, totally. Why am I so stupid?” she responded, half-amused at her lack of logical thinking.

“Um, excuse me, are you Ahn Sohee?” Yeeun asked the obvious, as soon as she reached the siblings who were waiting in the long line of queue to make their orders. “I’d like to take a picture with you and your brother if you don’t mind.”

Before either of them could respond to her request, Yeeun had already tagged along Sunye with her and asked her to take a picture of the three of them. As if that wasn’t rude enough, Yeeun had the nerve to put her arms around Junsu’s shoulder. Sunye could feel her cheeks turning a hue of pink out of embarrassment.

Staring at the bubbly woman almost hugging him like they were close friends, Ahn Junsu was feeling undoubtedly disturbed.

“Hahahaha oppa, I think she was your fan, not mine,” Sohee laughed heartily, recalling their earlier encounter downstairs with a female who claimed to be a fan of hers. However, from the way she was acting, it seemed like she was more interested in Ahn Junsu. “What was her name again, Park Yeeun?”

What stood out among Sohee’s gorgeous features were her prominent puffy cheeks and cat-like eyes. Although already 18 in age, the one-of-a-kind pair of jowls she was blessed with gave her a youthful impression, which certainly made her excel in her career. Nonetheless, lest it not fool the long, womanly, beautiful legs she had and the maturity way beyond her age she possessed.

“I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but at least she’s hot,” Junsu said as-a-matter-of-factly.

“Ooooh! Yubin unni wouldn’t be pleased hearing that, would she?” Sohee teased.

“Oh my gosh, I missed eating this!”

Junsu was always Sohee’s automatic favourite brother. It was odd, considering their big gap in age, but kind of expected seeing how he was the big brother and she was the baby sister. Apparently, glorified statistics have it that the eldest and the youngest in the family always share a special bond. So, it was no surprise that she only had to do minimal begging until he would agree to bring her to McDonald’s, going against everyone’s orders in the process, and that she chose him of all people. Ahn Sohee was not supposed to eat all these unhealthy fastfood, especially considering the fact that her strict manager had successfully booked her the front page of Bagary and a runway show in downtown Seoul within this week. But what could Junsu do? He always had that special soft spot for Sohee.

He just chuckled in amusement at the sight of his sister beaming at the burger as if it was the most genius creation ever invented.

Ahn Wooyoung stopped his Bentley at the side of the road and paid undivided attention towards the helpless drunken young lady passed out at the passenger seat. She definitely had a rough night – her usually neat, silky hair was ruined and messy. It appeared that she had been crying... a lot. Her eyes looked swollen and her cheeks were tainted with wet mascara due to her endless weeping.

She kept on mumbling a name. She said it with so much aggressiveness and longing that it was pretty obvious that the owner had such a huge effect on her.

Her subconscious state resulted in quite a degree of incoherence in her articulation, but Wooyoung knew exactly who she was calling for, despite all its slur.

“Wooyoung...”

Because it was him.

He gazed at her desperate figure in deep contemplation. He had asked himself a lot of times why things happened the way they did. Why was everything so difficult? Why couldn’t he just go back in time and erase that one chapter that ruined everything?

Sighing, he reached his phone and dialled her housemate’s number. It was funny how long it had been yet he still remembered it by heart.

“Hyerim, it’s Wooyoung.”

He understood why she had been taken aback by his sudden call, but he didn’t want to divulge about it any further.

“I’m with Yubin just outside your house. She’s wasted... Can you help me get her?”

“Sure.”

Right after he was assured that his ex-girlfriend was safely back inside her house, he almost immediately walked back to his car. His family was particularly strict about having dinner together every Thursday and he was running late.

He looked at his wristwatch. Ten minutes past 8.

Snap!

Wooyoung muttered a curse as he heard the clicking sound of a camera. His eyes immediately searched around to find the guilty owner, whom he pretty much wouldn’t mind punching at that moment.

His trained eagle eyes spotted a young boy attempting to run away from the scene just a few steps behind the bushes. Sure enough, there was a camera hanging by his right shoulder.

The athletic Ahn Wooyoung caught the boy, who must have been at most 11 years old, in no time. His strong pair of hands stopped the guilty party with mere minimal efforts.

“Goodness. A kid paparazzi?” he said, to no one in particular. Wooyoung wondered and questioned what had the world come to. This boy should be staying at home or play video games or some sort, not turning pale and stammering to find excuses after being caught by a celebrity victim.

“How old are you?”

“10,” was his barely audible reply. The boy was definitely scared to his wits.

“You are supposed to be at home at this hour,” Wooyoung advised, gently yet very insistent.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

“Delete the pictures, or I will sue you and your family will be homeless and you definitely will go to prison for the rest of your life.”

“I will delete it, I will delete it. I'm sorry..”

Frightened at his cheat threats, the weeping boy quickly deleted all the priceless photos caught of him and his ex-girlfriend. Wooyoung felt beyond relieved that those moments weren’t captured by some professional paparazzi, or it would have been such a nightmare to see the headlines tomorrow morning.

It wouldn’t have been such a mess had Yubin been just some random girl from his past, fact of the matter was she was his brother’s current girlfriend.