On the other hand, Hyukjae became busy with their business. Yet he was inspired to work because of what happened during the past days. Though his table had lots of documents piled for him to sign, it didn’t annoy him. He sees Jessica every day; and he was glad she was becoming kinder to him.

“Sir Hyukjae, Mr. Kwon wants to talk to you on the phone,” his secretary informed him through the intercom. He immediately remembered who Mr. Kwon was. He had been working in the company as senior photographer ever since.

“Put him on the line,” he ordered.

After a while, the phone in his room rang.

“Ye—annyeong haseyo, Jiyong-ssi,” he greeted the guy on the other line. “What made you call now?” He heard him chuckle.

“Are you in a rush, Hyukjae-ssi?”

He was aware that he was only joking.

“Do you have a date—”

Yeah,he almost said.

“Okay—okay—let’s get to business so you won’t be late on your date.”

“What you’re saying is?”

“For the cover girl of our magazine, I already thought of someone. Since professionalism is our next concept, she—”

“If she’s a newbie, then no—we can’t afford to risk—”

“Trust me with this, will you? She’s not a celebrity but she’s perfect for our theme,” Jiyong retorted. “I’ll meet you on Friday. Clear all your schedules that day and I’ll show her pictures. I found her years ago but she declined my offer. I was hoping that you can do it instead—convince her.”

“Fine. As if I have a choice…”

---

“I’m Victoria Song, Dr. Lee Donghae. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Donghae raised his brows—confused about what she said. “Finally meet me?”

“Yep,” Victoria's smile grew wider. “I wasn't able to meet you when you arrived. I was in China that time. Mrs. Lee had been talking a lot about you.”

Donghae nervously smiled at what he heard. He scrutinized her looks and found that she's her ideal type of girl—prim-and-proper, classy but elegant.

“Hey hyung, don't listen to her,” Kwangmin whispered to him.

“Don't listen to her sweet talks,” Youngmin added.

The twins were directly showing their disgust to her. But since he's a gentleman, he spoke to her politely. “What can I do for you, Victoria-ssi?”

“Nothing—really nothing... I just wanted to see you... And talk to you, perhaps.”

“So—what are we going to talk about?”

She was speechless for awhile and examined his office. When her eyes landed on twins, they gave her a smug—which was really unpleasant.

“We can have a decent talk at the restaurant near the hospital.”

“Sure, let's go.”

---

“Yoboseyo?” Jessica answered her call. She had no intention of picking it up earlier but the caller was persistent. Lines formed at her forehead because of irritation. “If you're on the way here, you shouldn't have called me. I'm busy—”

She wasn't able to finish her statement because Hyukjae already entered her office at the university. Yes—he was her caller.

“Mianhaeyo, princess,” he said sweetly.

However, instead of being happy with his endearment, she was perplexed on her seat. His last word echoed in her mind—making her recall the past.

“You’re not Cinderella, ‘coz you’re my princess…” ‘He’ once told her—it was all sweet nothings that broke her heart. This made her upset. “Don’t call me ‘princess’, Hyukjae—I have a name.”

“Eh?” Confusion was written all over his face. And he was quite dismayed. “You don’t like it?”

“Why are you here?” she changed the topic.

“It’s already lunch time, dear…”

Her lips parted but she just closed it when she had nothing to say. She stood up from her seat and went to the washroom. “Wait here—”

He understood what she meant—that she wanted to fix herself before going out with him. His lips twisted into a smile as he roamed around her small office and reached the pile of books at the corner. A certain black book caught his attention—