“Yoo-hoo. Wook, are you listening to me?” A pair of fingers snapped loudly in his face.

Ryeowook jolted from being interrupted in the middle of piece. Colin stood in front of the piano with an annoyed look on his face. Realizing he had no idea how long his manager had been standing there, the piano boy gave a sheepish grin.

“Heh, sorry Colin. I guess my mind just wandered again.”

“Again?” The look of annoyance was replaced by disapproval. “I know it’s the off season but you don’t get a free pass just because no one’s in the lobby. You are still on shift”

“Sorry,” Looking down, Ryeowook muttered under his breath, “but technically, you aren’t supposed to talk to me when I am on shift.”

The older man scoffed. “Please. I’m your boss. I could start demand to speak with you even if you were in the shower. And besides; there’s no one in the lobby.” He said, gesturing to the emptiness, then letting out a yelp as he narrowly dodged the playful smack the younger directed at him.

Ryeowook noted though that his manager was quite right. The entire first floor seemed devoid of life, take him and Colin. Of course, this wasn’t uncommon around this time of year since most potential clientele were prepping for new students, new interns, or new talent. Not vacationing on tiny hotels in the Caribbean.

What was uncommon, however, was that he was here and not back home in Korea. Usually he was off during the fall season, but he had to start saving up his paychecks now.

Sighing inwardly, Ryeowook knew he was making good money here (especially since the head of this hotel was ridiculously generous and had offered him double the pay just to extend his work season) and it was mainly by playing music. Background music, but still, music. And yet, he couldn’t help but miss that big city feeling with kimchee fried rice and people who spoke his language.

Suddenly, he realized he had been phasing out again. Quickly, he turned his attention back to the hotel manager who was now leaning against the piano, observing Ryeowook.

Colin raised an eyebrow at his employee, “You sure do miss Yoona, don’t you?”

Oh yeah. And his girlfriend. He was really missing his girlfriend.

“Well, nothing a little mindless labor can’t tune out,” Colin gave Wook his staple you’ll-be-working-overtime-tonight smile and returned to the business he had come to address. “As I was saying before, that business group booked out the restaurant tonight and I'm going to need you to waiter.

Tomorrow, we have the new seasonal employees coming in as well as some new guests. A certain couple requested a Korean-speaking tour guide and since we don’t have tour guides and you’re the only Korean working here, I decided you would do it. Overtime pay.” He added quickly as Ryeowook looked less than thrilled at his new job description.

“Waitering…”

“Just for tonight.” Colin injected.

“…and tour guiding?” Ryeowook looked at his boss warily. They’d tossed him odd jobs like restaurant duty before but he’d barely seen half the sights and they were hardly the main attractions. Did they really expect him to take strangers sightseeing?

But, upon closer inspection, he realized just how stressed older man looked. It made sense: they were understaffed and lacking business. The only guests they had right now were some disgusting businessmen who didn't know how to tip. Colin wasn't the only one who needed these guests. HE needed normal guests. So if a Korean tour guide was what set their hotel apart from the fifty other in the region, he would happily oblige.

“I’ll do it.”

“Wonderful! I’ll send them an email. Thank you Wookie.” Ryeowook beamed as Colin jotted down his agreement on the clipboard. It was always nice to receive compliments from the boss.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Colin said before he left, “Stop playing that classical minor crap. It’s depressing.”

 ___________________________________________________                                                                                                                                                    

The older rolled his eyes as a slightly less depressing (though still minor) tune filled the lobby.

It was obvious Wook didn’t want to be away from home for another three months. Though there was no use in pushing the issue with the piano player as he would never say anything that would come off as ungrateful. Although, homesickness and the stress of a long-distance relationship seemed like valid reasons to take time off, the younger seemed hell-bent on putting on a happy face and working a couple extra months to please their elderly CEO.

Most people would think he was up. Colin thought the boy just didn’t know how to put himself first.

It was evident in his playing. Ryeowook was an unbelievably talented composer and singer, yet he insisted on working on some island no one had ever heard of instead of finding some well-deserved fame in the music industry. For God’s sake, the man wouldn’t even put his music on the internet. It was like he was afraid of being discovered of something.

Sighing, Colin strode through the hallways. At least Wook sticking around brought in two new guests. He’d have to email that man soon to tell him their “tour guide” was now available.

He felt a little guilty charging for a service they technically didn’t offer, but Colin had faith that his rather versatile piano player would impress them. Hell, maybe they’d even extend their vacation. Business had been real lousy lately and it was starting to look like years of effort were going down the drain. But he wouldn’t let that happen. Not without some payment.

_____________________________________________________________                                                                                                                                    

Approximately nine-thousand miles away in Seoul, South Korea, a man with dark eyes and long fingers waited in line at the airport café.

And it just so happened that Cho Kyuhyun was ridiculously irritated.

“Do you happen to have apple muffins?” The young woman in front of him asked. The cashier gave her a strange look and shook his head for the umpteenth time.

‘My god!’ He wanted to scream. ‘The muffins in the damn case are the only muffins they have!’ But he restrained himself. No use in causing a scene here. The girl probably would have just blinked at him anyways. Freakin’ muffin

“Ma’am, we only have banana and blueberry muffins available.”

“Ohhh…” Finally , this fact seemed to get through to her, “Then do you happen to have croissants?” 

Kyuhyun took a deep breath.

He was just about to give Miss Oblivious a piece of his mind when his phone buzzed. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a fairly new smart phone. After clicking through about ten different inboxes, he realized it was actually an email alert.

“Dear Mr. Cho,

Our tour guide is now completely free to aide you and your partner for the next week. He is a native Korean-speaker who has been working on our island for several years and should be fully competent to showcase our town and beaches. We will send someone to pick you both up the airport when you arrive.

Enjoy your flight,

Colin Angelton

Manager”

Kyuhyun let out a sigh of relief upon reading the email. Thank goodness they really did have some interpreter. He’d gotten the feeling that the manager had been BSing him earlier. The “should be competent” part was a little suspicious, though. He brushed it off as a translator problem. If not, well, anything was better than trying to dredge up a non-work related conversation with his girlfriend.

Yes, his girlfriend. His four-year, workaholic, stop-being-so-clingy-Kyuhyun girlfriend who had shot down his marriage proposal. Twice. Not that he was bitter about it or anything.

“Sir? May I take your order?”

Snapping back to the present, Kyuhyun realized that the vexing woman had left; apparently empty-handed.

“Uh, sure. I’ll take a hot chocolate, an iced tea, and two whole wheat bagels.”

“Coming right up!” The cashier chirped, pleased that this customer knew what he wanted.

“Thank you.”

Kyuhyun turned to the café windows to where Seohyun was sitting facing him. She’d recently had her hair tinged brown.  It now fell in waves around her innocent looking face and emphasizing those squishy cheeks he loved.

The tall man sighed.

It wasn’t that she didn’t care about him. If she really didn’t care then she wouldn’t have hesitated to leave him a while ago. Still, the businessman cringed at the memories of his first two proposals. They were humiliating, to say the least.

The first one was a fairly standard proposal during the holidays over dinner. He had gotten on one knee a presented her with a diamond ring. Her sweet adoring eyes didn’t even blink as she rejected it. The sting was only made worse by the fact that both their families happened to be at that dinner.

For the second one, he had pulled the old hiding-the-ring-in-the-dessert stunt. After finally convincing Seohyun to order the chocolate cake, the waiter ended up mixing up the desserts by giving his ring to some other long term couple and … yeah. That night was a huge mess. She still said no. He let the other guy keep the ring.

It was strange though. You wouldn't think any relationship could survive two rejections that severe, yet they just kept coming back to each other.

Maybe it was their history. They had been friends for years before dating and it only made sense. He and Seohyun, they were comfortable this way. He enjoyed coming home to her presence and she liked his company. Work might've put some blocks in their steady lifestyle but nothing too bad.

Their anniversary was in one week and he had planned out an entire vacation leading up to it. She needed a break and he needed an excuse. Hopefully, a week of togetherness in the Caribbean followed by a heart-achingly cheesy proposal was bound to receive a positive response.

Smiling, Kyuhyun paid for his order and walked back to his soon-to-be-fiancée with a drink in each hand the bagels balanced carefully on his arm.

Seohyun looked up from her laptop as he approached and gave him a warm smile. Her boyfriend sat down next to her, pecking her on the cheek. A bagel slipped from his arm, but she quickly caught it. Kyu blushed and she giggled at his clumsiness. Gently, she accepted her tea with a soft “thank you” then almost immediately returned to the editing her PowerPoint.

They say third time’s the charm and, for Kyuhyun, this had to be true.

WooHoo! First chapter is up! 

Thank you to everyone who already subscribed! I was SO ecstatic when I checked my story and saw that people were interested in my idea! I hope my actual writing is enough to keep you guys interested. =)

Let me know what you thought of this first chapter! I know it's mostly exposition right now but apparently just because it's realistic fiction doesn't mean I can avoid description. Oh, and if you're wondering why Kyuhyun isn't part of SuJu, it'll come up eventually. It was a lot more dramatic than Ryeowook's rejection but it has been eight years. He's not THAT hung up on it. I think... 

Sorry for rambling, but I just want to thank you for subscribing and commenting! Next update should be coming soon!