Sooyun stares at the water as the taxi driver drives across the bridge to Incheon.  She had just gotten off a flight from LA to Korea.  16 hours on the plane.  12 of those hours, she spent sleeping.  It is good to be back in her mother country after being in America for 4 months for a short movie shooting with Amanda Seyfried, along with her other movie premieres, and photo shoots for various magazines.

            Her work was done in 3 months, but decided to spend an extra month with her dad.  It has been a while since they’ve been able to spend valuable time together.  Mr. Sung had visited at least 4 times a year in last few years for 2 weeks.  Thus, Sooyun decided to give her dad a break and stayed.

            Sooyun thanks the taxi driver as he helps get her 2 luggage for her from the trunk.  She hands him the cash with a tip and he just nods his head, not knowing.  She pulls her 2 luggage up to the wooden gates and slips into her purse to get her keys as the taxi pulls away.  She presses a button on a keychain and the doors open, letting her in. 

            She lets out a sigh as she stops at the white grand piano in the large foyer.  She is lazy, not wanting to carry her luggage up the stairs.  There were a lot of things she packed to America and then brought a whole new luggage back…  Although she is enthusiastic about the things she bought, she is not excited about carrying them.  She is jet-lagged after all, even if she did get 12 hours of sleep.

            Sooyun leaves the luggage by the grand piano and heads to the home gym.  Before having dinner, she and turns on the sauna she had installed 2 years ago.  Realizing that she didn’t have much time to go to the public bathhouses anymore, she decided it was best to have a home sauna.  She finally heads to the kitchen through the dining room with a growling stomach. 

            She walks towards the fridge when she realizes that her maid had already made food for her.  She smiles as she lifts the pot lid and sees spicy tofu soup.  Sooyun had not asked for her maid to make her dinner.  All she asked her to do was stock up the fridge on the day she came home.  It was kind of the maid to do such a thing for her.  She turns on the stove to warm it up and continues onto the fridge.  Her maid had made some of Sooyun’s favorite side dishes: cucumber kimchi, stir-fried dry anchovies, seasoned garlic stems, and spicy pickled octopus.  waters, just staring at it.

            After having dinner, she went upstairs and changed out of the clothes she was wearing.  In a towel, she heads downstairs back to the sauna.  The warmth of the sauna was relaxing and helps her mind calm down.  She’s back in Korea now, but there has been a major request through Hana’s beauty salon…  SM Entertainment wants her to be a long-term makeup artist for the company, in particular for SNSD’s Hyoyeon who had specifically requested for her.

            Sooyun didn’t mind being tied down to an entertainment company, but she wants to know what her contract entails.  She still wants to work with her constant rising list of clienteles, magazines, photographers, fashion designers, commercials, and more.  She does not want to be limited to what she can do as a makeup artist that is bound to a company by contract.  Since Hyoyeon is a TV personality and is still active in the music industry, she will be on a lot of TV and music shows.  Sooyun isn’t sure how she will be able to continue working with her current jobs and Hyoyeon at the same time considering those facts.

            She lets out a long breath, relieving the stress.

            Everything will turn out OK, thought Sooyun.  The worse thing is turning down the contract… 

            “You need to understand that I don’t really want to lose other projects that I am working on.” explains Sooyun, to the SM representative.

            According to the contract, she cannot work with anyone outside of the company.  Although the company is offering a full time position with benefits along with double the salary of what other makeup artists receive at the company, it wasn’t enough.  They are limiting her with what she can do and her annual income, itself, is already higher than what they were offering.

            Money was never a really big factor before, but because she is now well-experienced with an amazing CV she should be paid for her expertise, not just because she’s a “makeup artist.”  SM is not respecting her, in any form or way, considering the pay she would be receiving and how they were limiting her work.

            “I understand, but you also need to understand that you are the makeup artist that Hyoyeon and other artists in the company are demanding for.” said the SM rep.  “You will probably not be able to work with other projects if you were to work with our other artists.”

            “Well, thank you for disclosing that.” says Sooyun.  “However, limiting the possible projects I can pick up on my free time is something that is shying me away from this contract.  In addition, the gross annual pay you are offering me is below my annual income for the last 3 years.”  The rep flashes a look.  “It may sound crazy, but I am a makeup artist with an interesting CV.  If you and your company were to read it, then perhaps you will understand that I’m just not any other makeup artist off the street.  If you were to have offered me this job 5 years ago with this pay, I would have thought that I hit jackpot.  Now, is a different story.”

            Sooyun stands up to leave, but the rep stops her.  “Wait!” he quickly calls out.  “What is an ideal contract you are willing to accept?”

            In the end, Sooyun was able to walk away with a flexible contract.  SM was that desperate to have her sign on.  Although she will be Hyoyeon’s makeup artist in the next 2 weeks, the company will also give her permission to film videos of the artist and any other SM artist she will be working with on her YouTube account (with over 1 million subscribers).  The reason why SM had really wanted was a very simple and cheap business trick.  She did not only provide makeup artistry skills for their artists, but free global advertising as well.

            Sooyun isn’t surprised.  This is SM after all.  They are a company, seeking to make the highest profits out of low costs.

            She isn’t willing to let a cooperate company use her in that form or way.  She wants to get paid for the things that she will have to do for them: being a makeup artist and their international sales representative.  Thus, she got the pay she wanted.  Her pay: 300 million wons a year for 2 years with bonuses.  It wasn’t easy for her to fight for it, but it was well worth it because of the people (Lee Hyori, Kim Taehee, Cate Blanchett, even Miley Cyrus, and more), magazines (W, Vogue, Marie Claire Korea, and more), and brand-names (Dior, Laneige, and etc) that she had worked for.  All of those experiences in 5 years.  That really means something in the makeup artistry industry to have all those work experiences under her belt.

            And, she could still continue to work with her incurring list of clienteles and may accept independent projects like photo shoots and commercial shoots on her off days.  She doesn’t mind as long as she does get what she gets.  However, there is a downfall to her request.  She must follow SM’s orders when they request her to work with any other artists in the group, even if that means that she will have to go live abroad for months (considering that they have groups actively promoting in Japan and China).

            Although that made the whole job completely unpredictable, she didn’t mind.  She had worked in Japan for a year before and has many clients there and in China/Hong Kong/Taiwan.  Those countries’ culture and dynamics are nothing new to her along with their languages.

            Sooyun smiles as she steps into Hana and Jae’s beauty salon.  It’s already after hours since they close early on a Monday night.  They had gotten engaged on the day that they opened their shop, which was quite surprising since Jae had stated that he didn’t want to get married before.  She does work there part time when she has time off from her customers and photo shoots, but it seems unlikely now.

            “Well, hello.” smiles Hana, as she folds her black apron.

            “Hello to you too.” laughs Sooyun.  “Where’s Jae?”

            “In the back with Lee Minho.” she replies.

            Sooyun nods her head.  Jae, Hana, and she have been building up a nice list of dedicated customers that are celebrities.  Their loyalty is what that has driven them to be so well known.  The constant sighting of younger idols in the last 3 months has brought many younger customers in as well, according to Hana, which isn’t a bad thing.  Most customers are there because other famous celebrities had mentioned the newly opened salon a few times and wanted to have the same hairstyle or haircut as their favorite actor and etc.  But, Hana and Jae are really glad that they can reach out to the younger crowd and are actually getting loyal customers from them.

            “You have been getting requests to do makeup on people.” says Hana, as turns off the lights to the room.  All the employees had left already.  The only people there are the three of them and Lee Minho.

            “Really?” asks Sooyun, as her friend heads to the back of the salon.

            “Of course.  Your overseas projects and vacation were considered to be too long to some clients.” laughs Hana.

            Sooyun smiles.  “Well, it depends when they want it.” she shrugs.  “I signed the contract with SM already.”

            Hana’s eyes shot open with a gasp.  “You did?!” she asks.  “Oh my fudging God!!”  Sooyun laughs, softly.  “Tell me the details, Sung Sooyun!!”

            “Over dinner!” she responds.  “I don’t want to repeat it for Jae again!”

            Sooyun sits on the rug, in front of the box she would glance at every year, glad that her long day is done.  After dinner at Hana and Jae’s place, she immediately wanted to come home.  She has only been in Korea for a week and so much had happened already in one day.  She has no work for the whole week, so she plans to sleep in.  She wants to pig out so badly and do nothing besides listen to music and watch dramas the whole time she’s off. 

            SM was really something to call her overseas to talk to her about their job offer and is glad that she could get a good contract with them.  She didn’t plan on doing anything for a month after she arrives in Korea, but obviously she’ll have to start work soon.  The work she did in America was draining and her one month with her dad was not good enough rest.  They were always doing something, if not in LA, then in California such as touring/sight-seeing since she never got much of the state whenever she visited.  It was always about work and she would get 2 days with Mr. Sung before she left for Korea.  But, that didn’t mean that Sooyun didn’t mind working again.  She became a complete workaholic after Shin died. 

            Shin…

            Working was the only way that she could cope with his death.  And, it still is the only way for her to deal with it.  That is why she was able to get so much experience under so little time.  She was willing to take up any photo shoot, even if it would be a 24 hour shoot, and photographers/fashion artists/editors loved that.  So, she was always assigned to a photo shoot that most makeup artists would end up declining.

            Sooyun opens the box his journal was in along with his old iPhone.  She flips through the pages and her eyes tears up.  There is no way she will never cry flipping through those journal entries or the photos.  Sooyun charged the iPhone and looked through the photos.  It has been a long time since he left.

            “I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since today since you left.” says Sooyun, as she stares at the photo of she and Shin.  “Life just pasts on by even when the other person is gone…”

            Lu Han stares out the window of the condo when his girlfriend calls out his name.  The sun is setting and coloring Beijing in rays of orange and light purple.  He turns to face her and she smiles.

            “Lu Han.” she continues to say.

            “Yes, Xiao Xue?” he asks.

            She is a Chinese model that is 4 years younger than him.  They met when EXO M was promoting a Chinese fashion brand with her.  She had stated before in her interviews that she’s always liked their band and Lu Han is her favorite member, flattering him to some degree.  They have been together for a year already.  Many people had told him that it would be hard to date as an idol; it hasn’t been that hard for Lu Han though.   Xiao Xue understands his schedules since she is quite busy as well as a model.

            She walks up to him, with her long, sensual legs, and hugs him.  “I’m going to miss you.” she says, as she buries her face into his shoulder.  “I’m sorry I can’t be there to see you perform.”

            Lu Han pulls her away and looks into her beautiful face.  “It’s OK, you’ve seen me perform many times before.  Besides, I’m only going to Shanghai.” he laughs, softly.  Xiao Xue pouts her thin lips and he continues to laugh.  “You’re so cute when you do that.” 

            He quickly leans down and kisses her lips softly.  She responds quickly, deepening the peck. 

            SM TOWN SHANGHAI.

            Lu Han smiles and takes in a deep breath as the lights turned off, leaving the stage in complete darkness and the audience screamed excitedly.  EXO had just finished performing a song from their new mini album and the crowd is still going wild as they wait for the next act.  The guys and he quickly head back stage to cool down and get a drink as a makeup artist hands them towels to wipe their sweat off.

            A makeup artist is applying the last bits of makeup onto Hyoyeon’s legs when he glances around randomly.  Her performance would be after the current act.  Her makeup was heavier than the usual, but it is fitting for the y concept her act is going to be.  Although she looked busy, trying to practice some dance moves with her upper body, he bows along with the other guys.  She smiles at them, embarrassed, and returns the gesture.

            Before EXO could even get to the water, a makeup artist already started reapplying BB cream and powder to D.O.’s face at one of the vanity table.  The staff was short 3 makeup artists and they were trying their best to get to everyone.  Lu Han quickly downs an ice cold drink and tries to fan himself dry with a magazine to make it easier for the makeup artists to apply the makeup.  He didn’t want to cause any of them trouble when they were already stressing out.

            When his heart beat drops to a regular pace and his forehead is no longer beading sweat, he takes a seat at one of the vanity tables.  A line of EXO members is already forming.  The person after D.O. would be Tao, then him, and Suho after him.  As soon as the makeup artist is done, she takes a step towards Tao and D.O. stands up, taking a huge gulp of water.  Lu Han lets out a long breath, tired.

            Lu Han closes his eyes and leans back on the chair, waiting.  He feels a presence at his side, but didn’t want to open his eyes.  He knew that it was just the makeup artist as someone hovers over him.  He could smell the faint smell of baby lotion, which is actually nice and he likes it.  Lu Han feels himself fall in a light slumber as she quickly puts BB cream on his face again with a brush and pats his face with powder.  Then, she lines his eyes with eyeliner again.  Her presence is no longer there when he heard himself made a noise.  Lu Han opened his eyes, startled, and sits up straight in the chair.  He opens his eyes to see Sehun standing in front of him, smiling evilly.

            “Hyung, you must be super tired or something.” he winks.  “Did Xiao Xue give you a rough night last night?”

            Lu Han’s face automatically blushes, giving everything away.  “Yah!  It’s not what you think!” he said.  He quickly stands up to smack Sehun, when he slyly slips away with a loud laugh.

            He is drifting off again as he lays on the bed.  He was hoping that Sehun would come back to the room soon and turn off the lights for him, but it seems like it is unnecessary.  He is already falling asleep.  He had already showered and is in bed.  He feels his breathing start to slow down and his mind is-

            “Hyung!!” calls out Chen, coming into the room with a loud bang.

            Lu Han opens his eyes shot open, startled.  He quickly sits up in bed just as Chen shoves his iPhone into his face.  “Hyung, isn’t this the girl that was Moon Shin’s ex-fiancée?” he asks, too loudly.

            Lu Han’s face scrunches up, confused and not caring.  “What?” he asks, looking up at Chen.

            “This is the girl you used to like, right?” asks Chen, as he holds the phone up to Lu Han’s eye level.

            The picture of her bright smile and eye-smile is too bright on the LED screen, hurting his eyes.  He quickly pushes Chen’s hands away.  “Yeah.” he replies, flatly.

            “I see!!” responds Chen, excited.  “Guess what?!”

            Before Lu Han could ask, Lay barges into the room.  “Lu Han!  Your Admin SY is here.” he says, or rather, yells.  “She’s a makeup artist and works for SM now.”

            “Huh?” questions Lu Han, uninterested.

            “She took a picture with D.O. earlier.” quickly explains Chen.  “I think she’s his fan now.”

            “Yeah, didn’t you saw her?” asks Lay.  “She was working on your face after our ‘Maniac’ song.  Don’t you remember her?”

            “I closed my eyes and didn’t bother looking.” answers Lu Han, with a monotone voice.  “Does she smell like baby lotion?”

            Lay and Chen glance at each other.  “I don’t know.  I don’t smell her.” says Chen. 

            “Well, she worked on you.” says Lay.  He, then, shrugs.  “I guess you don’t remember her then.”

            “Why are you guys making such a big deal?!” asks Lu Han, irritated.  “She doesn’t matter anymore.  It has been 4 years.  Things have changed.  I have changed!  It doesn’t matter if she’s in front of me or not because I have moved on.  I have Xiao Xue now.”

            The guys stare at him.

            “Lu Han…” starts Lay.

            “She was crying.” finishes Chen, softly.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

            Yay!  I finally updated!!!  I hope you enjoyed this!!!  Sorry for not updating earlier.  I couldn’t because my grades matter more…  (Had 2 exams this past week and I’m so glad it’s over with.)

            T_T  It’s been 4 YEARS!  OMG! 

            Please comment!  I would like to know what you think about the progress of the story.  ^^

LOVE,

loveFORyunho