S e s s i o n : T w o

Like a Chinese Fairytale

The boy walked into the office, his hands running through his hair, as if he was still debating about something. He stopped near the lift, away from vision of the petite lady sitting behind her desk, typing something on her computer.

He sighed and thought to himself that maybe he could come some other time, ‘Yeah…the problem isn’t that big. Is it…?’

“Do you need help, sir?” the brittle voice of the lady behind the desk emerged and Haewon gasped in a shock, but took less than a second to return to his normal state. He walked to the desk and took a deep breadth in.

No turning back now, he thought to himself and then pulled his big black shades off, “Yes, I have an appointment with Dr. Rovina.”

“Name please?” the secretary asked, her eyes glued on the screen.

“Jung Haewon.”

The crowd cheered as LU:KUS performed their first single. It felt like a millennium since Haewon was back on stage, performing with his previous band mates of X-5. A lot of things were similar, the anxiety, the screaming fangirls, the adrenalin pumping through his veins and the mic in his hands. But a lot of things were different too.

“Hello, Haewon-sshi,” Rovina got up from her seat as the young idol entered her office and offered him a seat, “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you,” He siled weakly and took a seat on the black couch. Rovina turned around to her cabinet to grab a new file and some papers while telling him to relax and make himself comfortable, “There’s some cider and juice in the fridge. If you want, I’ll ask my assistant to get us some hot coffee, considering it’s a chilly day, right.”

“Uh…hmm,” Haewon didn’t really have words at the moment.

Rovina sat back on her chair and pressed number ‘1’ on her telephone, putting it to speaker, “Mi-rae, two mochas for me and Mr. Jung.”

“Yes, boss,” Mi-rae replied with her timid voice and then Rovina kept her hands on the desk, taking in a breath and then set the clock, “So, Mr. Jung!”

Haewon snapped back to reality and looked at her, Rovina read his expression and then smiled at him warmly, “Haewon-sshi, are you worried about something?”

“Is this…completey confidential?” he asked sweating slightly and Rovina nodded, like a wise old lady, “Yes.”

“Even our bosses won’t find out what goes on here?”

“No,” she shook her head and then Haewon sighed in relief, “I have a problem. It’s a very big problem.”

“I’m listening,” Rovina quickly wrote today’s date on her notepad, the time, and then Haewon’s name on top of the file and her fresh yellow page, with a green pen signifying ‘paranoid’ ‘timid’ troubled’.

The stage felt different this time. There was a strange vibe in the air, a feeling that made his head a little lighter than usual. As he danced to their new song, his eyes landed on a particularly special person. She looked lost, as if why was even there. Her eyebrows were knit together, eyes almost in tears as she frantically ran her eyes around the crowd, as if looking for someone. Haewon continued performing with his perfect aura and confidence, and as the performance ended, his eyes never left the girl. Her brown hair were going into all crazy directions as her head turned to face the stage to take a glimpse at group. Her eyes fixated on Haewon, the fans chanting the group’s name madly.

For a debut stage, they were quite popular.

“Lu:KUS! Lu:KUS! Lu:KUS! Lu:KUS! Lu:KUS! Lu:KUS!”

“I love you J:One!” screamed a random girl and Haewon blushed wildly as the lights dimmed and it was their que to leave.

The girl let out her breath, which she had held as she took in the intense beauty of the black haired man on the stage, his eyes nearly pierced her soul, “J:One…”

“So, you fell in love with a fan,” Rovina shrugged, “It’s not a big deal, really. Love, attraction and all happen all the time.”

“Not with me!” he exclaimed his hands sweating and then Mi-rae knocked on the door, “Miss Kwon?”

“Come in, Mi-rae.”

“Coffee,” she kept a mug in front of Rovina, on her desk and one of the coffee table across Haewon, “Thank you.”

Mi-rae left and then Rovina gave Haewon a confused look, “Why not?”

“Well, I haven’t ever fallen in love. Like…ever,” Haewon sat back picking up his mug, and Rovina took a small sip of her coffee, “Okay, forgetting about the whole love fiasco you’re having, Haewon-sshi, tell me a bit about yourself, your family, past and stuff.”

“What does that have to do with this girl?” he asked cocking a brow and Rovina gave hi a confident smile, “All in time, Mr. Jung. All in time.”

After a brief silence between the two, Haewon in some air and spoke, “My mother died at a very young age. I was just ten, hardly knew about the world. Dad was always busy with work, always out on business trips and I didn’t have any siblings.”

“That would explain your detachment and thoughts about love,” she nodded, making a few notes on her yellow notepad.

“I moved to Seoul a few years back, then joined Open World Entertainment…one of my biggest mistakes,” he kept his hands on his forehead, briefly rubbing his temples.

“I remember, you being a part of a different group, X-5, I suppose?” she raised a brow and he nodded, “We could only do little in the industry when all hell broke loose thanks to that man.”

“So, when you’re on stage, you see so any fans, right?” Rovina asked and Haewon nodded, “So why this girl?”

“Eh?”

“She has to special to stand out in the crowd of over hundred people,” Rovina shrugged.

“Her eyes, they were looking for someone, until she looked at me. Our eyes locked into each other. They were hazel in colour, beautiful and soft like honey,” Haewon remembered the colour of her eyes and smiled to himself, “She looked like a goddess who had stepped out of a Chinese Fairytale, telling me that we were meant to be.”

 If Rovina were a normal person she’d think of Haewon as a creep. But being a person who is supposed to accept various people’s personalities, she understood how he felt. It must have felt like standing under a cherry blossom in full bloom in mid December. Something that if unlikely to ever happen.

But in Haewon’s life, it had happened.

The cherry blossom had bloomed in mid December, and he was still unable to understand whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

“When our eyes locked…I felt as if I’d fallen into an abyss of pure warmth. They were so warm, so beautiful. I just wanted to jump off the stage, catch her in my arms and run away with her to a place where no one would be able to find us. Away from thewhole fame, the noise, the fans,” he spoke and then threw his hand over his face, “But I can’t.”

“Because you’re an idol. You have signed contracts to fulfill,” Rovina said in an understanding tone.

“It’s not just that,” he looked at her, “I love music. I love making music. Singing is my passion! But I fear…” he hesitated, “I fear I might have found something I want to keep closer to my heart than music.”

It had been almost forty five minutes since Haewon and Rovina had been discussing Haewon’s life. She had managed to avoid the topic of the girl for a while now. She had realized that it was definatley hostile territory for him, in an emotional way.

They talked of his X-5 days and how he felt during those days, and then how shattered he had been when the company had disbanded them, all because of their CEO’s ‘problems’.

“We were just a month shy of another comeback, you know,” Haewon spoke, his eyes fixated on the view of the concrete jungle outside the wall, “And then the news broke out like wildfire. At first, people suspected us too. But we were innocent. And then Ghun joined the army un announced and Zin left saying this world wasn’t for him. I wanted to give it another try. Ghun and I had tried before too. And he just felt like his courage to get back into the entertainment world had been exhausted by now. He couldn’t do it again.”

Rovina felt pity for the idol sitting in front of her. She had researched Haewon’s background well enough. He was once a part of a trot group, along with X-5’s leader Ghun, but they vanished off the radar soon. And then came back as X-5 members which went downhill because of the CEO’s scandal. It was understandable why the leader would have given up. To work this hard, step on the stage, perform and earn nothing was exhausting for sure.

“Sometimes I feel like…like I’m unlucky,” That made Rovina lift her ears, “Whatever I do, with whomever I try something, I take the whole deal downhill, taking everyone down with me.”

“Haewon-sshi,” Rovina spoke after keeping her pen down, “Maximum people in this world think that there are two ways of life. One that leads to success and one leads to failure,” Haewon looked at her, “But in reality,” she smiled gently at him, “Whatever path in life you take, it goes through numerous failures at first, but if you work hard and never give up, you reach success.”

At first he didn’t understand her, but as she continued, he slowly understood her point, “Every failure points out to what may have gone wrong. Maybe trot wasn’t working out with that lovely voice of yours. Maybe the company you chose this time was wrong. But now that you’re here, maybe you’re in the right place. You wouldn’t find out until you give it a try.”

“Are you saying that I should approach that girl? Find her out? Meet her?” Haewon treid to connect the dots.

Rovina shrugged, “The road may be rocky, but you won’t find out until you walk on it.”

“But what if she’s a fan, a very crazy obsessive fan? Or an anti fan!? That would be horrible! And if the fans find out they’re gonna make a living hell out of all our lives!” he muttered the last part to himself and Rovina let out a small laugh, “Winston Churchil once said that if you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Haewon started at her confused. Looking for that girl would be the death of him. His company would make their lives hell. What was he supposed to do!?

“You must know her name, right?” Rovina felt he didn’t understand a single thing of what she advised him, “I do. I even know where she lives.”

Rovina raised a brow and he shrugged, “I was free for the past week. It wasn’t difficult to track her down. Plus she hardly left her house the whole week.”

She smiled again and passed him a paper, “Write it down, eave it with me. I’ll help you out.”

“You’re allowed to do that?” he bucked his eyes at her and she relaxed in her chair, “I’m allowed to do a lot of things, Mr. Jung.”

Haewon scribbled the name and address of the girl on the paper and then she told him to add a little description of how she looked, “I’ll let you know if she’s safe territory for you.”

The watch suddenly went off and Rovina shut it down, “Well, that ends our session.”

“Do I…Do I need to come again?” Haewon asked as he got up. It wasn’t hard for Rovina to make a connection with her clients. They grew attached to her soon, because of the fact that they were sharing the most intimate personal details with her. Although Haewon thought this was a matter very big for him, Rovina thought otherwise, “I think you’ll be good on your own,” she shook his hands and he began leaving, “If…” he stopped at the door nervously, “If she is safe territory…can I really step into it?”

“What’s a life without any risks, right?” Rovina smirked as she sat in her chair, like a boss.

“Right,” he pulled his shades and cap on, and walked out, wrapping his muffler around his neck covering his face.

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Shani6's Corner:-

Well....Sorry I've been busy. But I updated earlier than planned.

Anyhow, next chapter...

S e s s i o n  T h r e e  : Luhan - Y o u n g  N o  M o r e