One Year Later

 

     It had been a year since Ji Yong had worked at Ara’s company. Ji Yong and Ara had become great friends within that year. They were like best friends, except that Ara had a major crush on him! She wasn’t sure what Ji Yong thought about her besides friends. She wasn’t about to ask him though. She was happy to be friends with like the hottest guy alive! What more could a girl ask for?

     “Miss. Kim?” said Young min.

     Ara mentally shook her head. She looked up at him, taking her eyes off the window. “Yes?”

     “These are the paper works that you need to check,” he said, handing her a small pile of papers.

     Ara took them and placed them on her desk. Young Min went to his desk, taking calls and jotting down information that he needed. Ara started looking through the papers. She wasn’t too fond about the paper works that she had to do but she loved music. She got to hear music all the time and that was good enough for her.

     Ara finished with her papers and called Young Min over.

     “Should I file these away?” he asked.

     Ara nodded her head. “Do we have to go to the recording studio today?” she asked.

     Young Min checked his phone and looked through the schedule. “You have one after your lunch break.”

     “Alright,” she said. Ara looked at the clock and it was actually lunch break now. She stood up and headed out the door.

     “Young Min,” she said.

     He looked up. “Yes?”

     “You should have your lunch break now too,” she said.

     He smiled. “Okay,” he replied.

     The two of them went down to the cafeteria. Ara grabbed a sandwich and sat down. A few seconds later, Ji Yong sat beside her. She smiled at him and he smiled back. He looked like an angel.

     “How was your day?” Ara asked.

     “Pretty good,” he replied. “I’ve been working on the song you wanted.”

     He was composing a party-like song- up-beat and fun.

     “How’s that going?”

     “It’s going pretty well actually. How was your day?”

     “It’s going pretty well. I just did some paper work before lunch.”

     “That ,” he said, biting into his sandwich.

     She laughed. “It does,” she agreed. “I’m going to the recording studio after lunch though, so that’ll make up for it.”

     Ji Yong laughed. “That always makes the day better.”

~~~

     Ara headed towards the recording studio. The singer that they were going to record was Park Minhee. She was sitting in the waiting room already.

     “Hi there,” Ara said with a smile on her face.

     “Hello,” Minhee said. She had a warm, friendly smile on.

     Young Min came in and opened the door for us. We walked in and Minhee went into the recording room. Young Min and Ara were waiting out in the control room. Minhee started singing her songs and Ara closed her eyes, listening to the music.

~~~

     “Thank you for coming today,” Ara said.

     Minhee smiled. “Thank you allowing me to come,” she said.

     “I hope you’ll come again soon.”

     “I will.”

     Minhee left the room and Young Min and Ara stayed behind a bit. Ara looked at Young Min.

     “What’s next?”

     He looked at the schedule. “5stars is supposed to be here next,” he said.

~~~

     It was the end of the work day. Ji Yong caught up to her before she got into her car.

     “Did you want to hang out at the park tomorrow?”

     Tomorrow was a day off so it’d be like a day of being with Ji Yong. Like heck she’d go!

     “Sure,” she replied happily.

~~~

     Ara fell on her couch and had a broad smile on her face. She couldn’t believe that they were going to the park. Actually, she couldn’t believe that she was best friends with Ji Yong. She got ready for bed and headed to her bedroom. She fell on back on her pillow and fell asleep instantly.

~~~

     It was the day that she was going to hang out with Ji Yong at the park. She was so happy. She got up pretty early and got ready. The only thing that took so long was what she was going to wear. She wanted to look good, obviously. It was Ji Yong! She rummaged through her dresser and picked out some outfits that she thought would look best. She decided to wear something that was more comfortable and…her. She didn’t want to fake being someone else.

     Ara headed out the door and walked to her car. Her keys jingled in the air with every step she made. She had her handle on the car when someone grabbed her behind. She didn’t know who it was but she started struggling to get free. She dropped her car keys and the man knocked her out.

~~~

     Ara could hear the roar of a motorcycle. She opened her eyes and saw that she was at the back of one. She was lying on her stomach and there were four others around the one that Ara was on. She moved her hands but they were tied up. The gang had covered so she wouldn’t talk. She was kidnapped!

     Ara looked around and noticed that there weren’t any cars on the road. She didn’t know which road they were on so it must have been a side-road.

     The gang stopped in front of a run-down building. It looked like it could be demolished anytime soon because it was falling apart and looked rusty and old on the outside. The guy that was on the motorcycle that Ara was on, grabbed her and made her stand up. Ara winced at the pain that shot up when he grabbed her arm. He pushed her to move forward and Ara tried to get her footing back, fumbling around so she couldn’t fall. She kept walking towards the run-down building’s doors, if you could call it that. There weren’t any doors but it looked like a doorframe.

     Ara sat down on the chair and one of the gang members covered her eyes. She could only hear what the others were saying, but they removed the cover on .

     “What did you want?” she asked, trying to sound confident. She couldn’t see them so she didn’t know what they were going to do.

     “Well no one’s going to come save you,” one of the members said.

     “No one even knows you’re gone,” one laughed.

     There was only one person who would know: Ji Yong. The only thing was that he didn’t know where they took her so there really was no one who could save her.

     Ara sat there quietly. She didn’t want to get on their nerves or they might kill her or torture her. They seemed the type to do so. She tightened her hands into fists and bit the inside of to keep from screaming for help.

     Then someone walked into the building. She didn’t know who it was.

     “Who the heck are you?” asked one of the gang members.

     “Ji Yong,” replied the owner’s voice.

     Ara’s eyes widened. Why was he here? “Go Ji Yong!” she yelled.

     “I’m not leaving without you,” he replied.

     The gang members all laughed. They couldn’t believe that one guy was going to beat all five of them. He was either stupid or he must be a good fighter.

     “Just leave!” Ara yelled.

     Ji Yong didn’t listen to her. All Ara could hear were feet moving on the cement and some hits hitting contact with someone’s body. She wasn’t sure who was winning but she hoped that Ji Yong would be alright.

     She couldn’t hear anymore movement and her heart started racing. She could hear it pounding in her ears and she wasn’t sure who won. Someone uncovered her eyes and she still had them closed. She gulped, prepared for what she would see. She opened them slowly and her eyes widened. The five gang members were beaten up onto the floor.  Ara turned around quickly and a relieved smile formed on her face.

     Ji Yong was fine. He didn’t have a single bruise on him. He looked like it was just a warm-up or something. He gave her a smile.

     “Are you okay?” he asked.

     Ara nodded her head. “What about you?”

     “I’m fine.”

     Ji Yong went around Ara and untied the ropes. His hand brushed against Ara’s, making her heart beat faster.

     Calm down, Ara, she thought.

     That didn’t work because the next thing that happened made her heart skip a beat.

     Ji Yong turned her around and his head leaned in. He was looking into Ara’s eyes and Ara could feel his breath against her lips. Ji Yong closed the small gap between them and kissed her.

     Ara felt like she was in heaven. She couldn’t believe that Ji Yong kissed her. It was like her dream come true! She was so happy right now and she could hear her heart beating faster with each second. She was pretty sure that Ji Yong could hear it. She tried to calm her heart down but then just gave up. It wouldn’t work anyways so there wasn’t any point in trying to calm it down.

     After the kiss, Ara and Ji Yong held each other. She still couldn’t believe that this was happening. She didn’t mind it though.

     Ji Yong placed his mouth close to Ara’s ear. “I love you,” he whispered.

     Ara’s eyes widened. A smile formed on her face. “I love you too,” she whispered back.

     This was heaven.  

~~~

 

Ara woke up and looked around her house. She looked at her phone and she frowned. Today was the day that she was supposed to hang out with Ji Yong.

     So that was a dream, she sighed.