At breakfast before the office tour, Yubin couldn’t help but ask Siwon about his best friend. She tried to make it sound casual since she did not want Siwon to misunderstand her interest in Taecyeon and cause some unintended rivalry between the guys. Contrary to what she expected, it seemed Siwon was not at all suspicious about her interest in Taec and gave Yubin some interesting details about his best friend. That Taec was not from a Chaebol family and came from a humble background where his parents ran a Korean restaurant in the US. He and Siwon met in campus and became instant best friends. He even mentioned about Taec winning over Siwon’s dad with his smart brain and hard work that he kept getting promoted until he was finally an executive director at CM Group by the early age of 25. So she found out he was the same age as her.

After the office tour with Siwon, Yubin had to leave for another appointment and Siwon once again sent her off to her driver and bodyguard and bid her a cheek to cheek goodbye. As she sat in the car thinking and trying to match pieces of information about Taecyeon, she suddenly let out a loud clap.

“Aish! Why didn’t I ask Siwon what he did in 2006 new year’s eve? He should have known him by then and it could be possible they went to New York together.” she said out loud, causing Chansung to give her a curious look. And then she shook her head at her silly suspicion. Taecyeon just happened to remind her of that stranger since she felt a similar attraction to him. It couldn’t be that coincident.

“Are you ok, your highness?” Chansung asked.

“Nothing, Channie. Just me and my silly thoughts.”

“Ermm.. Did that Siwon-shii score well today?” Chansung asked.

Yubin smiled at the funny fact that Chansung had become a lot closer to her lately that they could joke around about her dates, along with Yenny as well. The surprise office visit was of course to check on whether the heir was a serious heir who knew all the workings of his big company and its future plans. However, Yubin only got a tour of his fanciful office and didn’t get a chance to find out more because, well, her mind was occupied with his hot best friend in the next office as well.

“Well.. I didn’t really take down the scores. I might have to try again.” She admitted and Chansung shook his head in disappointment.

“Anyway, I hope you still remember our charity date on Saturday.” Chansung changed the subject and reminded her.

“Oh yes! I’m looking forward to that. Yenny as well.”

Yubin and Yenny apparently insisted to join Chansung on his volunteer work at the orphanage he used to live in when he was a kid. It was a random slip of the tongue from Chansung on what he does on his off days sometimes and it ended up with Yenny and Yubin offering to join him. Yubin had done some charity work with her mom before and was no stranger to this. As for Yenny, she was elated to find that Chansung had such a charitable hobby and found herself wanting to know him better. He also didn’t mind the extra help anyway.

The following days, Yubin did not get a call from Siwon and she felt that it was good thing since she did not want to start asking him about his best friend again. It was best to not ponder on such silly thoughts as well. However, she soon found out that it was impossible to keep her thoughts away when Taecyeon suddenly appeared at the orphanage on Saturday. She saw his handsome tall figure in a red checked shirt and casual washed jeans walking towards Chansung and giving him a nice friendly hug. Not only that, before Chansung could introduce him to Yenny and her, Yenny and Taec exchanged surprised looks and suddenly announced each other’s name at the same time.

“When did you get here, Taec?” Yenny asked and then quickly explained to Yubin and Chansung. “We used to work in the same company in Manhattan. Different departments but we liaise on a few projects before.”

Taec saw Yubin and was as surprised as Yubin was at that moment. Yubin wondered why she didn’t match the pieces that he would have known Yenny as well since they used to be in the same company.

“ Taec, this is Yubin….she’s ah...” Chansung introduced, trying to see if Yubin was fine or not fine to be introduced as the princess.

“We’ve met.” Taec injected, smiling at Yubin, sending some magnetic chills to her yet again.

Yenny finally connected the dots. “OH.. Yes. She went to CM office recently. I’m sure you guys met there.”

“Ahhh.. it’s a small world, I guess.” Chansung added.

“How did you guys know each other?” Yubin asked Chansung.

“Oh.. he lives opposite my block and we kinda got acquainted through basketball.”  Chansung explained. “I invited him for this volunteer work since he’s been pestering me to bring him around.”

“Am I such a bother?” Taecyeon chuckled, looking at Chansung.

“Yes, the same way she pesters me for my bike.” Chansung tilted his head towards Yubin. He was so much more fun on his off days. Yubin loved her Channie this way and she playfully hit his arm.

The day was filled with surprises for Taecyeon. He was glad it was mostly pleasant surprises. The girl who was filling up his mind the last few days was actually close to the few people he knew in Korea. Yenny whom he found out was Yubin’s best friend, was his ex-colleague and though they were not particularly close, he did enjoy working with her on some of the company projects. Not to mention that his new-found sport buddy seem to be also close to Yubin as well. It was even more surprising when he found out they were both working for Yubin and was amazed by the down-to-earth relationship of Yubin and her subordinates. No one would ever suspect she was a royalty. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans with sneakers and a loose funky tee like a regular girl. It was a different sight from the day she was at the office and once again, he couldn’t keep his eyes away from her.

Meanwhile, a few kids ran over to Chansung and asked him to join them for a game of soccer. Chansung obliged and asked Taec to join him for the soccer game.

As the girls sat watching by the sidelines at the 2 big boys playing soccer with the kids, Yenny let out a sigh, shaking her head. “Unnie.. I have never seen Chansung smile this much. It’s like these kids make his day. I need to control my feels. I thought it was just a crush on his cool looks but now… sigh…This is not good for me.”  

“Yenny, what’s Taecyeon like?” Yubin was thinking of something else instead.

“Ermm.. well. I know he is super close to your bachelor no.3, Siwon since they hang out all the time when Siwon visits the Manhatten office. I only worked with him on 2 projects so far. At first, we all thought he was only rising in his ranks in the company because of his close friendship with Siwon but after working with him those projects, I found that he’s actually really good in his work but yeah, he’s pretty much a workaholic.” Yenny realized she was almost in work mode, like she was giving another one of her reports to Yubin. Then she looked at Yubin curiously. “Are you thinking of adding a bachelor no.5 to your list?”

“What? I mean, I’m just curious about him since he’s Siwon’s best friend.” Yubin shrugged, as she continued watching Taec play soccer which she felt he was not really good at the sport or he was trying to be lenient and let the kids win on purpose. “Oh, did he have a girlfriend then?” Yubin suddenly asked Yenny.

“Hmm.. ok.. You are obviously interested in him! Stop pretending!” Yenny seemed to have gotten off her work mode and into best-friend-I-know-what-you-are-thinking mode.

“Aish.. Fine! Just tell me already.” Yubin admitted, looking at Yenny for more answers.

“Ok, as far as I can recall and since I’m not that close to him on a personal basis, I can only base it on hearsay. So I heard He dated 2 girls in the company. I wasn’t sure if he was two-timing them then but there was this dramatic catfight between the girls because of him in his office once and it made BIG news in the Manhattan office. That was 2 years ago I think and since then he didn’t date any girl in the company.”

Yubin felt her heart slumped in disappointment upon hearing that piece of information from Yenny. For a guy who’s the best friend of a well-known playboy and possibly a two-timing expert, she was probably not the only stranger he had ever kissed in a club if he was really him, she thought to herself.

A/N: Tune in to the next chapter. More TaecBin, of course.