A week later…

“Hi”, So Min smiled beautifully as she greeted Hyun Joong who arrived at her workshop. She was frantically designing all the wedding clothes for the entourage

“Hi, how’s the preparation going?” Hyun Joong asked as he tried to appear nonchalant even though he wanted to kiss So Min’s beautiful lips.

“Everything’s doing fine. I’m almost done designing the clothes of the other participants like the brides’ maid and maid of honor. I’m starting with the designs of the wedding gown”, So Min said as she went near Hyun Joong and friendlily sat beside him on the sofa as she showed him one design after another.

Hyun Joong looked at the designs. The motif of his wedding was lavender and So Min fantastically accomplished her task as a top designer.

“These designs are really good. They’re the best that I have seen…you must have really fulfilled your dreams of becoming a top name in the fashion industry”, Hyun Joong commented…he meant it as a compliment but it sounded like a slight insult to So Min.

“Hyun Joong, please, if you meant to say that only being at the top of the industry mattered to me then you’re wrong. If you believed that then you didn’t know me well at all”, So Min said as she stood and looked defiantly at Hyun Joong challenging him.

“I’m sorry, So Min, if it sounded like a slight insult. I really meant it as a compliment to your skill and talent. I really do…” Hyun Joong immediately stood and unconsciously embraced So Min and kissed her forehead to comfort her.

So Min smiled to herself as she felt Hyun Joong’s arms around her. His warmth seeped to her senses and she closed her eyes and inhaled his cologne. Yet, as she was getting comfortable in his embrace…

 “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking well. I shouldn’t be doing this to you…let’s continue looking at your designs”, Hyun Joong told her as he detached himself but he was not able to look at her and he tried to mask his unease with a cute but confused smile and chuckle as he held her hand and gently pressed it as they sat on the sofa again.

“By all means…let’s continue”, So Min said as she smiled more before she sat near Hyun Joong again.  

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That day...in the afternoon, Chae Won was with Si Hoo…they were touring the mansion that Chae Won and Hyun Joong bought…

“You accomplished a great deal with the designs for this mansion. I like your plans for the renovation” Chae Won said as she admiringly looked at the renovation plans for the kitchen and the living room.

“You inspired me to accomplish a great deal and besides I didn’t accomplish things on my own I did it with you”, Si Hoo boldly replied since Chae Won helmed the interior designing of the mansion which she interior designed in European style.

“Will you please stop it? Will you please stop throwing compliments at me?” Chae Won irritatingly said as she walked ahead.

Si Hoo followed at the close distance as he watched Chae Won walked gracefully and he smiled.

“I was thinking that we’ll live here after our wedding so I planned the renovations according to how I wanted it and it jived with your tastes. We really have the same tastes in everything”, Si Hoo said as he cornered Chae Won’s body with his own at the balustrade of the balcony of the master’s bedroom.

“We’re not getting married, Si Hoo, I’m marrying Hyun Joong so stop your fantasy”, Chae Won said as she tried to push Si Hoo away from her.

Si Hoo did not say anything…he just stole a kiss on her before he turned his back and walked ahead.

“Stop kissing and embracing me too as though you and I are still together”, Chae Won said as she tried to still her beating her heart as her hand moved to her lips and she controlled a smile from peeking out.

They were outside the mansion when Chae Won received a call…

“Hello, Hyun Joong”, Chae Won answered the call with a smile.

“Hello, Chae Won, I’m sorry I won’t be able to pick you up there. I’ll just call a taxi to pick you up. I have an emergency heart operation here. The patient needs to be operated 30 minutes from now or he’ll die”, Hyun Joong apologetically said.

“I understand, Hyun Joong, I’ll just take care of myself. Just take care of your patient”, Chae Won smiled knowing how dedicated Hyun Joong was as a doctor.

“I’m kind of nervous but at the same time I’m honored to perform this operation and save another life”, Hyun Joong said.

“You’re a great person…a great doctor. I know you can do it. I’ll see you at the hospital. Fighting!” Chae Won said with a smile.

“Fighting! Thank you, Chae Won. I’ll wait for you here let’s have dinner together,” Hyun Joong said replied smiling as he was scanning the patient’s records.

“Sure, let’s have ramen and some chocolate and strawberry cake and tall glasses of iced Americano”, Chae Won said with a smile.

“I’ll wait for you here, okay. You better hurry up. Bye!” Hyun Joong said.

“Bye!” Chae Won said as she cut the call and smiled to herself. Hyun Joong had always been the most thoughtful of people.

“He won’t be able to make it here”, it was more of a comment from Si Hoo than a question. He felt his heart lurching in his chest at the thought of Chae Won being so happy and comfortable with Hyun Joong.

“Yeah, he’s needed to operate on a patient. I’ll just go to the hospital so we can have dinner together after his major operation with his patient. I’ll just call the taxi operator”, Chae Won said as she started to dial the number.

“Don’t bother…” Si Hoo said as he grabbed her cellphone and pulled her hand gently towards his car.

“I’ll just take the cab”, Chae Won protested.

“I’ll just take you to the hospital even though I want you to spend dinner with me. Hyun Joong’s a lucky guy indeed”, Si Hoo said with a deep sigh as he opened the passenger seat and waited for Chae Won to enter. After a few minutes of trepidation, Chae Won reluctantly entered. Si Hoo closed the door and moved to the driver seat and started the engine and they went on their way.

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So Min looked at her cellphone. She wanted to grab it and dial Hyun Joong’s number. She just saw him that morning when they looked at her designs together but she already missed him a lot.

“Oh…what to do? What to do? I want to see you badly, Hyun Joong”, So Min said as she gently combed her fingers to her hair.

She stood and walked inside her office as she eyed her cellphone as though it was her salvation…

“Oh…darn it! I’ll just call him to hear his voice, okay”, So Min told herself as she grabbed her phone and dialed Hyun Joong’s number.

“Hello, So Min”, Hyun Joong answered after a series of ringing.

“Hi, I just wanted to invite you to eat dinner with me”, So Min tentatively asked…as she fanned her face which was blushing much.

“Ah…I’ll have a major heart operation with a patient in 15 minutes”, Hyun Joong replied as he eyed his wrist watch.

“Is that so? Do you have time after the operation, then?” So Min asked hopefully.

“Actually, I’ll meet Chae Won for dinner after the operation”, Hyun Joong replied.

“O…okay…” So Min said as the smile on her face vanished and she felt weak all of a sudden. She should not have expected that Hyun Joong would choose to have dinner with her instead of his fiance.

“Are you okay, So Min?” Hyun Joong asked concernedly.

“Y…yes…of course. I’ll just see you then sometime”, So Min said as she tried to control the tremor in her voice.

“Okay, I’ll hang up now. They’re calling me”, Hyun Joong said as he cut the call.

“Stupid, So Min, stupid!” So Min said as she slumped on her swivel chair and felt tears stung her eyes.

She then stood and opened the window of her office to inhale some fresh air to calm her nerves and to think…

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“You’re quiet. I’m not used to you not saying anything”, Si Hoo commented.

“Why are you doing this, Si Hoo?” Chae Won asked.

“Because I love you so much it hurts here to know that you’re marrying another man”, Si Hoo replied.

“We lost what we had years ago”, Chae Won replied.

“You remained in my heart all those years and I know that I still have yours until now”, Si Hoo replied.

“You’re crazy do you know that”, Chae Won said as she looked on the road ahead.

“I might be…I mean crazy to win you back”, Si Hoo said as he winked at her.

“Dream on, Si Hoo. Dream on”, Chae Won said as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Here, eat this”, Si Hoo said as he fumbled with the small compartment of his car and got a piece of milk chocolate and handed it to Chae Won.

“What’s this?” Chae Won asked though she already knew the answer to her question.

“It’s your favorite milk chocolate. Eat that because you might wait for Hyun Joong to finish with the operation. Eat that so your stomach won’t hurt in hunger. You haven’t eaten anything this afternoon right?” Si Hoo replied with a concerned smile.

Chae Won did not say anything…she just opened the wrapper and took a bite. The chocolate melted in and she was reminded of how Si Hoo used to give her the milk chocolate when they were still in school years ago since she tended to forget eating when she was busy doing things.

“Thank you, Si Hoo”, Chae Won said as she tried to smile a little.

“You’re welcome, Chae Won”, Si Hoo replied as he looked on the road ahead.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So Min on the other hand, went out of her office and stretched outside and breathed the cold air. She knew that she could not have dinner with Hyun Joong that night but at least she could give him something and a thought popped in her mind and she smiled as she went to her car and started the engine…

“I’ll have this chocolate cake here”, So Min said as she pointed out the cake on the glass shelf at the bake shop.

“Okay, miss, I’ll just put in the box for you”, the attendant said.

“Thank you”, So Min smiled sweetly remembering that Hyun Joong always had weakness for chocolate cakes…chocolates and strawberries were his weaknesses.

“You must love your fiance so much”, the attendant said with a smile as she handed the box to her and So Min handed her the payment.

“Yeah…he means the world to me”, So Min replied with the sweetest smile before she went out of the bakeshop and she went to her car. She would bring the cake to Hyun Joong as a gift even though they might not eat together at least she could remind him of her…

So Min arrived at the hospital, she went to the office of Hyun Joong…

“Hi, is Dr. Kim done with the operation?” So Min asked one of the hospital attendants.

“Not yet, miss, but I guess in a hour or two…he’d finished”, the attendant replied.

“Could you give this to him?” So Min said.

“Sure, miss”, the attendant said.

So Min smiled before she turned around and walked towards the exit of the hospital. She went to the parking lot and leaned on her car for a while before she decided to go inside the driver’s seat. She was about to start the engine when she saw a car coming…it was Si Hoo’s car.

“Si Hoo’s…here…”So Min said as she saw that Si Hoo was with Chae Won who went out of the passenger seat.

“Thank you for the ride, Si Hoo. I’ll go now”, Chae Won politely said before she bowed and went to walk towards the entrance of the hospital.

Si Hoo was about to start his car when someone knocked on his window…

“So Min…you’re here”, Si Hoo said with a friendly smile as he opened the driver seat and went out.

“Hi, Si Hoo, you’re with Chae Won”, So Min teasingly said.

“Yeah…but she’s still excited to see Hyun Joong. I guess I’m not making any progress this week past”, Si Hoo said as he sighed and leaned on the door of his car.

“Me, too, I came here to bring Hyun Joong a cake he likes best but he will instead have dinner with Chae Won. It’s so frustrating”, So Min said as she also sighed deeply.

“Don’t be so sad, So Min, it’s just a week anyway. We still have 1 month and three weeks before their wedding. We can still work on our campaign”, Si Hoo encouragingly said with a smile.

“I guess we still have enough time to win them back”, So Min replied with a smile.

“Let’s have dinner together and talk about something”, Si Hoo said.

“About what, Si Hoo?” So Miin asked.

“How we could break our engagement and tell it to our parents”, Si Hoo replied.

“Yeah…we really have to break this engagement if we’d launch a full campaign to win them back”, So Min agreed.

“And to make sure that this time our parents could not make any move to hurt the ones we love”, Si Hoo added.

“Of that we agree, Si Hoo. Let’s go grab something so that we can discuss things”, So Min said as she went to her car and started the engine and followed Si Hoo’s car to the parking lot exit.

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