Jiyong sat across Chae rin when the two ladies left. Chae rin shyly laughed and apologized.

“It’s fine. How have you been?” he asked.

Chae rin puffed her cheeks and let out a sigh, “Tired, been preparing for something.”

“Puffer fish!” he mused.

“What did you say?” she asked, completely taken aback with the word he just used.

“Puffer fish?” he said quizzically. Chae rin could not reply, her tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of . 

“You just looked like a puffer fish when you did that. I didn’t mean to offend you,” he hastily said when Chae rin became silent.

You did not offend her, Jiyong. You just reminded her what you used to call her when she puffs her cheeks, silly you!

Chae rin cleared her constricting throat and nodded offering him a wan smile.

“Hey, look, sorry I was gone for some time, work brought me to London for several weeks and Christmas with Omma was spent in Jeju,” he explained. 

Chae rin tilted her head to him, wondering why he is telling her all this. His hand fumbled with his coat pocket and was busy taking something out. He noticed that the ribbon he earlier put went askew so he tried to fix it and neatly tied the package before putting it on the table.

“I have something for you. I saw this when I was in London, I thought you might like it. I was supposed to give it to you last Christmas but I was away. Here, Merry Christmas,” he pushed the package to her and waited for her to open it. 

Finding her voice she said, “But I don’t have a gift for you.”

“It’s okay, you can prepare one for Valentine’s,” he joked. 

“Omo, what is this? Awww, this is wonderful, thank you very much,” she said pulling out a most delicate silk scarf she has ever seen. The scarf was hand-painted with patterns and splashes of turquoise, bright yellow, some blue the color of the deep ocean and a touch of coral pink – spring color at its best. She looked at him and gave him that smile that made her eyes turn into slits, resembling a really happy smiley face.

Seungri watched from where he stood. Whether he likes it or not, he has been pawned by this strange looking guy. However, Seungri thought that so long as he makes Chae rin happy, he’s okay with it. 

Back at In Young’s gallery, Minji has arranged for the canvas to be delivered and personally made sure that all seven new paintings will be taken care of and not haphazardly left in some storage room. 

In Young has already shown her the lay-out for the soft launch and Minji made some minor changes, especially with the lighting. After settling the changes and the time and day Minji will be returning to oversee the arrangement of the paintings, she left.