“Yeah that should be all right. I think we will go ahead with the contract. Regarding the photographs, I will have to wait for the approval form m colleague Ms. Dara. Yeah..ok..”

I was busy with many assignments at my desk. The office was buzzing with work. Country’s top photographers and designers were contacting me at the office for collaboration and I was handling every call, as they were of high profile.

As I finished my call from one of our publishers regarding the photo shoot, I heard the clacking sound of heels from afar. I knew it. She was back…..back to work…..my Dara. I looked up and saw her majestically walking towards my office. Dressed in formal black pant, peach chiffon top and self designed black blazer, which she accompanied with hanging teardrop red stone earrings and designer bag. She always had a peculiar way of walking which made a much louder noise of the heels than others who walked in them.

I am seeing her after an entire month. After the incident at Jeju, she went into total seclusion. I tried to contact her and even went to meet her at her place, but she did not respond. But thanks to my sources, I got to know she was being safe and even made the effort to meet with a therapist to get over her shock. But she could have let me in a little into her life. I am her boyfriend and I am ready to give her my shoulder to cry on. I was worried.

I kept staring at her as she came directly to my office….so clear, so bold and so beautiful.

*knock knock “hi can I come in?”

“Yeah yeah..sure…..” I went in for a hug, but she dodged it and reminded me that we in the office.

“How are you Dara?”

“ Good….very good actually.”

“ im happy to know that. “

“ So looks like everything is working fine without me?”

“Fine? It’s a chaos and I’m just lost.”

“ Ok so…im not coming from home….im actually coming from the Chairman’s office.”

“You went to meet dad?”

“Yeah…I wanted to……so looks like he does not know what happened in Jeju huh?”

“ Yes, I that was not needed for him to know so I took care of it.”

“Took care? What did you do?”

“ Don’t worry, everything is over…so it’s fine.”

“ No tell me what is it? I need to know Siwon”

“ Fine…….Max made a court appeal against you stating all sorts of non sense.”

“What kind of non sense?”

“ non payment, plagiarism, ill treatment, no proper workplace.”

“Wow…..that guy was staying in a 7 start hotel in Jeju for the love of god.”

“Exactly, so I went to meet him.”

“You met him?…and he agreed?”

“ Indeed he did…because my offer was, well interesting to him.”

“What did you offer?”

“ Cash….lots and lots of cash.”

“ What?”

“ Don’t gasp….. i knew his intention the minute he agreed to meet me. So in exchange, I asked him to withdraw the case and to provide us all the photographs including the originals.  I have the agreement signed that he will not interfere with you anymore.”

She took a minute to process all that information and then said..

“ Do you realize what you just did?”

“ Yes, very much.”

“And you had no intention or even the thought of telling me this entire episode?”

“ I know you were visiting a therapist……did you have any intention of tell me that? Besides, I was involved in this problem as well.”

“Siwon that is personal and this is business. How do you expect me to tell you my personal problems?

“ Personal? Dara do you have the slightest idea we are in a relationship?

“ So what? Just because im in a relationship with you means I have to tell you everything? I need my space Siwon. Besides this is business in which I was majorly involved.”

“ Space? Really? Then where do you place me then Dara? What makes me different to you? Being in a relationship means to share….share opinions, thoughts, feelings. But till now you have not even considered me in that way. What makes me different from Yan Suk? Yan Suk can do the same thing for you. im trying to help you. “

“Business is business and personal space is different. There are certain things that has to be kept personal irrespective of that connection each one has. That called personal space and I like my personal space not to be intruded.  This is business, and you did not tell me about it. Siwon…you should not have done this.”

 “ I don’t understand.”

“ Siwon, why are you trying to do things for me? I could have faced my own problems.”

“ I am not trying to do anything fro you.  I am just trying to protect you. That’s all…very simple.”

“Protect me? What kind of stupidity is that? You think I a child?”

“ Dara, calm down. I think you are over acting.”

“geez, Siwon, I don’t under stand you men. All of you think, that women cant face anything and they always need men help. Don’t you dare think of me this way! I am who I am.”

“ Listen missy, I did not want you to get into any trouble and the company too. If anything gets out, it will just cause unwanted trouble for you and me. Just try to understand before you blurt out anything.”

 “ What ever it may be you should have told me and you should not have done what you did.” She said and walked out. I don’t understand why she is always so stubborn on things like this. I was honestly just trying to protect her and did not want her to get into any trouble. I am seeing her after a month and she si being like this. Its killing my heart.

I stomped to my room fuming through my head. I saw Yan Suk waiting for me in my room with my lemon tea and that ‘ why are you being like this’ stare.

I entered my room, “ don’t! Just don’t say anything Yan Suk. I know what you are going to say.”

“ This is herbal tea and it will keep you calm.” Is all he said and walked out of my room.

Immediately after his departure, I heard Siwon aggressively get up from his chair and slam his office door and stomp his way out. The entire office was staring at him and I knew why.

“Ah, he is just being very childish!”

After a few hours, when I was completely lost in all the work that was pretty much taken care by Siwon, Yan Suk came back again with some more papers.

“ I need your approval and signature for these.”

“ ya sure, what are these?”

“ These are the background photographs and the copyworte material.”

I took a few minutes to read through them and the finally reached the last piece of paper.

I was pleasantly shocked. It read,

 ‘ Dear Ms. Dara,

You must be very tired working too hard today. So how about dinner tonight? My treat!

Yan Suk.’

I did not say anything to the very cute gesture of Yan Suk. I’ve always liked Yan Suk from the first day I arrived here in Seoul. He has this friendly warmth. I smiled at his invitation but said nothing, instead wrote on it, ‘ make sure you buy me lots of desserts’

I put the papers back in the file and gave it back to him without any emotions on my face. It puzzled him. He must have expected some sort of reaction from me, but he did not get any.

He went back to his table with the same confused look. He browsed through the file. I was watching him, as it was fascinating. He looked like a lost kid. Suddenly his expression changed and a smile came upon his lips. That’s when I realized that he found my answer. He gave me a bright smile.

It was after work and I was getting ready to leave for home. I glanced at my neighboring office of Swion’s. I had some sort of feeling in the pit of my stomach. I did not know what it was……missing someone? Wanting someone? Or perhaps guilt?

“ Ready Ms. Dara?” Yan Suk asked me which distracted me from the line of thoughts I was having.

“ Yeah lets go. I hope you have enough money…coz I’m going to eat a lot.” I joked.

We drove to a nice family Korean restaurant. We were seated by the window that over looked the busy shopping street.

We made our order to the kind ajumma who had ideas about us. We never really bothered, because today, we did not come to eat as boss and employee, but as two good friends.

“ So what is it you want to talk to me?” I asked Yan Suk, yet again shocking him

“ Well, how did you know I wanted to talk to you about something?”

“ Simple psychology……men always try to feed or buy something for a woman if they wanna ‘talk’.”

“ Oh really?! Well anyways, as you rightly said, I want t talk to you about something.”

“ What is it about?”

“ Its about you and Siwon hyung.”

“hyung huh?”

“ Yeah….. im going to be very frank with you today and what Im going to say, I hope this will not destry our friendship or our employee relationship anyway.”

“ ok…go ahead.”

“ Dara, I honestly did not like the way you spoke to Siwon today.”

“What do you mean?”

“ About the issue with Max and the settlement. You have no idea what he went thought for you. “

“Exactly….why dies he have to go through anything for me?”

“ Because he is your boyfriend! “

“ So that does not mean he cares for me all the time. Besides I have to and want to face my own problems.”

“ No Dara, all that he wanted to do is protect you. You have to know the truth. Max threatened to make a big fuss out of the issue and even tried to expose you…on ………..you and him having some sort of affaire with everyone on the field. Siwon got furious that he could have killed him. But he kept himself clam for you and made a monetary settlement. He paid with his own money. He made agreement under his name. Do you have any idea how much legal problem he put himself through? All that he wants form you to be a girl, his girl. He is trying is level best to be a good boyfriend. Why don’t you see that? Let me ask you, its been almost four months that you guys have started, how many dates have you been with him?”

“One.”

“One? Dara, me and Min Jin have already done it.”

“Really?”

“ Not because we had to do it, it was because we trusted each other and we thought it was time we took things to a different level. We wanted to be with each other. We like each other’s company. But with Siwon and you, I don’t see any vibe. I don’t see you shy away with his gaze, I don’t see you want him. Why? Why is that you keep him away. You have to trust someone Dara and let that someone be Siwon.”

“ See Yan Suk, we have spoken about this, and we have agreed to take things  a little slow.”

“ Dara, taking it slow is different than not wanting it at all. Siwon definitely  has all sorts of feelings for you. He wants to be with you. He likes you professionally and more personally. The way he sees is something special and literally everyone in the office knows that. But there is nothing from your side- no reaction, feelings. It upsets him. It kills him.The day you came back to Seoul and did not contact anyone, he went crazy without knowing where you were. He literally drove up and down the city just to know you were being safe.”

“ i…….i…don’t want….” Tears started forming in my eyes hearing all this from Yan Suk. Have I been that blind?

“ You know that he was engaged before and then the wedding broke off. The way he adored that girl, is something the business circle knows. They thought that the couple are going to last. I don’t know what happened, but when Siwon announced the break of the wedding, he was devastated. I can’t use a better word than devastated. Now the smile we all see on his face is because of you. I know this because I am a guy and I understand him.”

I listen to every word that came from Yan Suk’s mouth with concentration and a lot of questions to myself.

“ All im saying is Dara, sometime, you have to let your guards down to let the people who love you enter your life. Being always strong may get you up the career ladder, but once when ou reach there, there may not be anyone with you. Be a woman to Siwon, Dara. That is all. Don’t make him wait” He said, wit his pleading and honest eyes.  I felt like I was being slapped across my face with his words.

May be it is time for me to experience love.

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Yan Suk has made Dara realise about Siwon and the love he has for her.

Will she be more understanding?

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Hi Guys, an update for you all.

I Hope you are enjoying the story so far.

keep reading!

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To Be

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Continued