“Sir…sir?”

Woobin’s eyes began to open, his blurry vision slowly becoming clear.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at the concerned looking flight attendant standing next to him.

“The plane has landed. You can get up now,” she tried to inform him without being rude and commanding him to wake up.

Woobin looked around and then out the window. “We’re in Seoul?”

“Yes sir,” she nodded her head.

He got up from his seat and stretched his long arms. He could feel his muscles unwinding in his shoulders. He rocked his head from side-to-side, slowly, making sure to unhinge every crick in his neck.

He opened up the compartment above his seat to pull out his luggage. As he walked down the aisle he looked around, as if he were looking for something.

His eyebrows furrowed with confusion. The flight-attendant noticed this.

“Is there something wrong, sir?” she asked.

“Yes, I feel as if I had forgotten something…Ah!” he suddenly remembered, a light bulb flashing in his head.

“The girl,” he said.

“The…girl?” she looked at him questionably.

“She moved up from coach to first-class during the last few hours of the trip…where is she? She was sitting right next to me,” he pointed to her seat.

“Oh,” the flight attendant immediately understood. “She already stepped off the plane.”

“Oh…”

“Was she with you, sir?” the lady asked.

He shook his head. “No, no. But thanks,” he replied.

After the flight attendant walked away, he eyed her seat carefully and noticed a single gold charm on the arm rest.

He picked it up to look at it more closely.

She must have dropped this, he thought.

It was a round, gold plate with a very unique looking design on it – like vines twisting around each other.

He arched an eyebrow.

Why did she just leave like that?

…

Sooyeon nervously stepped out of the airport and breathed in the city air.

She was officially on unchartered territory – at least for her.

The city was as bustling as any other busy city back in the states.

She walked up to the main road with her belongings in hand, and raised her free hand in the air – her attempt at hailing a cab.

Cars flew by her in a blur.

“What the heck?” she said defeated. “Am I really that tiny or are they just blind?”

She waved her arm out further, but to no avail.

At this point, she felt like she’d never catch a taxi.

Suddenly, some stranger in a suit stepped in front of her, and began to wave his arm.

Instantly, a taxi slowed down and stopped in front of them.

Sooyeon’s shoulders slumped as she looked at the cab in astonishment.

“How’d you do that?” she asked.

The guy turned to face her and smiled. “Just takes some practice, I guess,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

After seeing him for the first time, she felt as if time stopped itself.

It was like in those dramas where a man and woman make eye contact for the first time and a slight breeze blows while blossoms fall around the handsome boy’s face.

He gestured to the car for her and she slightly bowed her head.

“Are all Korean guys this nice?” she suddenly asked.

This statement made him tilt his head to the side in curiosity.

“What do you mean?”

“Are all you guys really this nice to lady-strangers or are you expecting something out of it? I’m not going to date you either,” she teasingly questioned him.

But he just laughed to himself. “No, no, just…a friendly gesture,” he reassured her.

This guy was different from the first guy she met. He was also very well-dressed in a nice suit, like the corporate executive type.

But his appearance was much gentler and his kindness was warmer somehow.

She looked down and smiled. “Alright. Well…thanks for the help,” she replied.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing to her suitcase.

She nodded her head “S-sure…I guess.”

He grabbed her suitcase and opened up the trunk of the cab and placed it inside.

Afterward, he returned to open the car door for her.

She raised her eyebrow in suspicion. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

“No, I don’t want anything from you, I’m certain,” he answered, shaking his head.

“Thank you again Mr…”

“Changmin,” he instantly replied. “Shim Changmin. But you can just call me Changmin.”

“Okay, well thank you Changmin sshi,” she mocked playfully.

“You’re welcome, Miss…?”

She considered it for a second. “Sooyeon, Jung Sooyeon…but you can call me ‘Miss Jung.’”

Changmin giggled at her. “You’re welcoming…’Miss Jung Sooyeon.’”

Their eyes met for a brief second before Sooyeon stepped into the cab and he closed the door for her.

“Where to, Miss?” the cab driver asked from the front.

“Oh, to this address, please,” she said, pulling out the slip of paper from her pocket and handing it to him.

Sooyeon watched the traffic out the window speed by her.

…

Changmin smiled to himself as he watched her depart.

Pretty name…Jung Sooyeon.

…

Sooyeon arrived at her destination, but what she saw wasn’t exactly what she was expecting.

After pulling her belongings out of the trunk and handing the driver some cash, she stood in front of the home.

The driver sped away as she stared up in amazement.

Holy…

It was a mansion – a heck of a nice one.

It was surrounded by brick wall and she stood before the gated entrance.

It must have been some sort of villa.

Surely…dad must have sent me to the wrong place…

She looked down at the paper with the address and looked at the number of the residence on the brick wall next to the gate.

She was definitely at the right place.

Out of nowhere, a black car drove up behind her and stopped at the curb.

The driver of the car came around the front and opened up the passenger side door of the back.

From the car, there emerged a young lady – a pretty young lady with dark black hair.

She was a bit taller than Sooyeon and had a slender frame. She couldn’t have been that much younger than Sooyeon.

When the girl stepped out, she looked at Sooyeon suspiciously.

“Who are you?” she asked very blatantly.

“Oh…mianhamnida,” Sooyeon bowed.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh um,” Sooyeon stammered. “I came here looking for someone, do you, by any chance, live here?” she asked, pointing to the house.

“It’s my family’s villa,” the girl confessed, then immediately crossed her arms. “Who’s asking?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she bowed again. “My name is Jung Sooyeon,” she smiled nervously, holding out her hand for a handshake.

The girl just raised an eyebrow. “You’re not from around here are you?”

Sooyeon immediately drew her hand back. “No, actually. I came here from the States.”

“You came all the way here from the States? Who are you looking for?”

Sooyeon pulled up the piece of paper from her pocket and looked at the name. “I’m looking for a ‘Han Mi Sook.’”

“Han Mi Sook?” the eyed her curiously. “I don’t know that name,” she shook her head.

Sooyeon felt defeated.

“That…that can’t be right…are you sure you don’t know this person?”

“Nope. I can assure you that no one with that name lives here,” the girl told her.

Sooyeon couldn’t believe it. Why would her father send her to an address looking for someone who didn’t live there?

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” the girl asked her. She was probably trying to be polite, but her voice made her actually come off as a bit rude.

“Um, do you know…where I could find the nearest hotel?”

…

“Eun Kyeong sshi,” Madame Jung called over her friend.

“There you are, Sung Ryeong ah,” she smiled. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Stylists and photographers were running here and there attending to the models and taking photos.

But as soon as Madame Jung appeared, people immediately stepped out of her way.

No one ever gets in Madame Jung’s way.

“How’s the photoshoot going?” she asked, crossing her arms, observing the models from behind the camera.

“Smoothly,” Mrs. Choi assured her. “It’ll be our best September layout, yet.”

“Hmm,” was all Madame Jung replied.

Madame Jung, Jung Sung Ryeong, is the official editor-in-chief of RUNWAY Magazine, a relatively new fashion magazine edition that she founded herself under her recently deceased husband’s ADVANCE Publishing Company.

Ever since RUNWAY’s first issue, she has been praised and held at critical acclaim for her keen fashion sense and support for younger, upcoming designers.

She has been accredited by various new designers for launching their careers.

Other editors-in-chief of other fashion magazines under her husband’s publishing company have come to fear her greatly.

Despite her aloof and demanding personality, people have come to recognize her as a new and powerful force in the fashion industry.

Choi Eun Kyeong is her current Creative Director for RUNWAY and is also her closest friend since they were studying business and fashion in their University days.

She is one of few people whom Madame Jung can trust.

“What do you think so far?” Mrs. Choi asked as the two women observed the shoot.

“Who’s that girl again?” Madame Jung questioned, pointing to one of the girls in the center of the group of models.

“Can’t remember her name at the top of my head. Why? Do you not like how she looks?”

“Quite the contrary,” Madame Jung corrected her shaking her head. “She’s probably the best one for this particular concept. Have her put in the center,” she ordered.

“Alright, but I should probably warn you, she’s from ELITE Modeling Agency.”

Madame Jung just laughed to herself. “That’s a real shame, then. I feel bad for her. She’s going to be the star of this layout and she won’t be earning quite as much as the girls around her.”

“I wonder how Madame Park is doing,” Mrs. Choi joked.

RUNWAY Magazine and ELITE Modeling Agency don’t particularly get along well these days.

--flashback—

 

“What do you want?” Madame Park asked.

“You have no reason to hold your affair with him over my head anymore,” Madame Jung told her simply. “I’m not paying you to keep your mouth shut any longer.”

“Actually, I think I still have every reason,” Madame Park countered.

“And what reason is that? You can’t take my husband away from me anymore, he’s dead,” she reminded her, angrily.

“Yes, but I can still ruin your reputation,” Madame Park grinned. “Imagine the headlines – Madame Jung, too blind by her success to realize that her own husband was in the arms of another woman.”

“This would ruin your reputation too, you know.”

“If I can’t have him to myself anymore, then someone’s going down with me,” Madame Park hissed.

“This conversation is over,” Madame Park concluded, standing up from her seat, about to walk away.

Madame Jung heaved a sigh.

“You leave me no choice, then,” Madame Jung said.

Madame Park looked over her shoulder at her suspiciously.

“How’s your sister-in-law’s business doing?” Madame Jung asked casually.

“What are you talking about?”

“In a society like today’s I’m sure the hostess bar business must be thriving.”

Madame Park gulped anxiously. “How…How do you know about that…”

“Could you imagine the headlines if rumors spread? People would wonder what a dignified woman like Madame Park would be doing funding and running a chain of hostess bars around the country. And she runs a modeling agency? What if people started to think that your models were forced to work in your hostess bars?”

“That’s a lie,” Madame Park slammed her first on the table.

“You try convincing the journalists,” Madame Jung challenged, narrowing her eyes on her.

Madame Park slowly sank into her seat.

“What do you want?”

“Now that we can talk like civilized human beings,” Madame Jung began, putting down her tea, “let’s make a deal.”

Madame Park raised her eyebrow.

“You stop holding your affair with my husband over me and I cease paying you to shut up.”

“Fine,” Madame Park, sighed, defeated.

“Oh, I’m not finished,” Madame Jung replied smugly.

“What else do you want?”

“Consider me cutting you off from my money and holding this wealth of new information against you payback. But now, you need to be punished for your insolence. Now that our relationship with one another isn’t quite the best, I should stop letting your models appear in RUNWAY.”

“Are you banning my models from working with you?” Madame Park asked incredulously.

But Madame Jung shook her head. “I considered it, but I changed my mind. You do have some of the best, anyway. I will allow your models to appear in RUNWAY Magazine, but their stipend will be cut.”

“How much?”

“I’ll be generous. How about…30%?”

Madame Park widened her eyes. “30%?! That’s way too much. If you do that, my models will hate me for it!”

“And if you don’t take this deal, your models will cease to appear not just in RUNWAY but any other fashion magazine under my husband's publishing company,” Madame Jung threatened.

“You can’t do that, your husband is dead. You’re not in charge of his company.”

“No, but my step-son is now. He is officially stepping up to his father’s position and I am being named ADVANCE Publications’ new Artistic Director.”

Madame Park just stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

“Are you taking the deal?”

Madame Park nodded her head in compliance. “You’re an evil wench,” she hissed.

Madame Jung smirked.

“You started this war,” she warned her. “And now I’m ending it.”

 

--end of flashback—

“In a society like this one – the hostess bar business must be booming,” Madame Jung snickered.

…

“Hello, Miss, how may I help you?” the lady behind the counter asked Sooyeon.

“I’d like to book a room for the next night,” she replied.

“Just you, Miss?”

Sooyeon nodded her head. “Yup, just me.”

After paying with her card and getting gall the logistics over with, the lady slid a hotel key to her from across the counter.

“Here’s your room key and I hope you enjoy your stay,” she smiled.

“Kamsahamnida,” Sooyeon bowed.

She headed for the elevator and pressed the button with the arrow pointing up.

She waited for a few moments until it finally opened.

She looked up into the elevator, and there, standing by himself, was the guy she had met earlier.

“Oh,” she gasped pointing her finger at him. “It’s you! Shim Changmin.”

“Small world,” he laughed, stepping out. “Nice to see you again, Sooyeon sshi.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked curiously, ignoring the elevator.

“I just had a business meeting. What are you doing here?”

Sooyeon shrugged. “Some plans fell through and I had to book a place for the night,” she admitted.

“Oh, I see,” he nodded.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” she said, pushing the elevator button.

“Actually, I was just about to go out to eat,” he grabbed her attention again. “Would you like to join me for dinner?” he offered.

Sooyeon eyed him nervously, “Oh, I don’t know.”

“Did you already have dinner plans?”

“Oh, it’s not that. It’s just that I…”

“You don’t trust me,” Changmin finished for her.

“Well no…well yeah…I don’t know,” she laughed at herself, rubbing her head. “You’re really nice and everything.”

“Come on, just one meal?” he said, holding up a finger. “It will be a non-date.”

Sooyeon liked the sound of that. No strings attached? Just a nice guy paying for food?

She heaved a sigh. “Sure. Just…let me bring my stuff up to my room.”

“Great, I’ll wait for you.”

He smiled at her and she unconsciously smiled back.

…

“So, tell Noona all about it,” Gyuri smiled.

Woobin just laughed to himself. “What do you wanna know?” he said, taking a sip of wine.

“The shoot! How was the shoot? It must have been great! How was LA? Were the people nice?” Gyuri continued to ask excitedly.

“Noona, you need to calm down,” Woobin said. “It was…alright,” he shrugged.

“Just alright?”

“I mean it was a great experience,” he assured her.

Gyuri leaned back in seat, beaming.

“What are you smiling at?” he raised an eyebrow.

“You! You’ve been doing so much this past year!”

Woobin could understand her excitement.

Woobin has been on almost every magazine cover in Korea since his modeling debut a few years ago.

He was recently invited to take part in a photoshoot in America and of course he couldn’t say no.

He actually owed a lot to Gyuri. She had a large impact on the launching of his career because a few years ago her friend, Ara, an up and coming fashion designer, was being featured in Korea’s Teen Vogue Magazine.

Ara had asked Gyuri personally to be her female model and then asked her for someone to be her male model.

Gyuri suggested Woobin and ever since that one magazine feature, Woobin’s career had taken off like a rocket and he was being asked for everywhere – on and off the runway.

He finally signed himself under Gyuri’s mother’s ELITE Modeling Agency. Gyuri now works as one of the stylists under ELITE and works closely with Woobin.

“Can’t help that my good looks are so eye-catching,” Woobin bragged, slicking his hair back.

“I’m so happy for you,” Gyuri said as she gently placed her hand over Woobin’s on the table.

Nervously, Woobin pulled his hand from under hers. “Gyuri-ya, we’ve talked about this,” he reminded her in a hushed tone.

Gyuri has never been shy in showing her affection to Woobin. Over the past couple years she couldn’t help but develop feelings for him.

“And I’ve told you every time that I’d wait for you,” she responded, unafraid.

Woobin heavhed a sigh.

…

“So who were you looking for?” Changmin asked, taking a bite of his food.

“I honestly have no idea,” Sooyeon replied.

“You have no idea? Well that’s…reassuring…” Changmin commented.

“It’s weird because the person doesn’t even live at the address my father gave me.”

“Maybe he made a mistake,” he suggested.

But Sooyeon shook her head adamantly. “No, I don’t think so.”

“But you just said that you couldn’t find the person he told you to look for.”

“I don’t think my abeoji would make a mistake right before he died,” she continued. “This person has to be somewhere.”

Changmin nodded his head and continued to eat.

“So what do you do?” Sooyeon looked over at him, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her head on the top of her hands.

“You mean you don’t know me?” he teased.

“Why? Are you famous?” she smiled back.

“My dad is the Chairman of a company that produces fashion designer materials.”

“Wow, daebak,” she remarked. “So you’re a chaebol heir?”

“Yeah, but I don’t like those fancy words,” he waved his hands. “Makes me sound like royalty or something. What do you do?”

“Me? Well, now that my father has passed, I guess I’m going to try my hand at pursuing my fashion career. I went to FIT for fashion design.”

“New York City?” he asked, taking a sip of champagne.

“The Big Apple,” she replied affirmatively.

“I love the city. I just came from there. I was on a business trip,” he informed her.

He looked down at her hands and noticed that she was rubbing her thumb and index finger together in circles. She never stopped and it seemed like she was doing it unconsciously.

“What are you doing with your hand there?”

“Huh?” she asked looking down.

“Why do you rub your thumb and forefinger in circles like that?”

She finally realized that he noticed the slight tremor in her hand before she even noticed it herself.

She immediately dropped her hand from the table into the lap, embarrassed.

“Oh just a … nervous habit,” she lied.

“Why are you nervous?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just..um…wondering what I’m gonna do to…look for the person my father wanted me to find,” she lied.

“I understand. My younger sister has a habit of biting her nails when she’s nervous.”

Sooyeon nodded her head, looking down.

“Are you all finished?” he asked, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. “Would you like dessert or anything?”

She shook her head. “Oh no, thank you so much, you’ve already been way too nice,” she smiled.

She watched as he hailed a waiter for the check and generously paid for both of their meals.

This was a nice restaurant too – probably five-star rated.

She begged him not to take her to somewhere so up-scale. But he said it was one of his favorite places and that his friend’s father owns the restaurant.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked.

“Why not?” he countered.

“Well, I’m a complete stranger. How do you know I’m not a bad person?”

He looked her up and down and smiled. “No, you’re not a bad person. I’m usually a good judge of character and I think you seem nice…Jung Sooyeon,” he said her name.

She looked up.

“So pretty,” he suddenly muttered under his breath.

“My name?” she eyed him curiously.

“Oh…yeah, that too.”

Sooyeon could feel herself blushing. “Eyy, you said this was a non-date.”

“It is,” he agreed. “I was just giving my opinion,” he smirked.

…

“I’ll be right back,” Changmin told Sooyeon. “I just need to give the manager a quick ‘Hello,’ and then we can leave.”

“Arasso,” she replied and he left her to wait by the main entrance.

She walked up to a painting nearby to look at it more closely and as she was standing there, someone turned the corner and accidentally bumped into her.

“Sorry,” she quickly apologized, despite being the person who was walked into.

When she looked up her eyes widened.

“It’s…it’s you,” she said, gazing up at the familiar face, taken aback.

“It’s…you?” the guy raised an eyebrow.

Gyuri rounded the corner and stopped as she saw Woobin and this girl she’d never seen before staring at each other.

[A/N] HOLY COW! That was a long chapter HAHA! But I needed to cut it off at just the right part and introduce more characters. I hope everyone isn't totally confused right now hahaha! Hopefully everything will make sense as the story progresses.

**The action in which a person rubs their thumb and index finger together in a circular motion is known as "pill-rolling" and is a common tremor found amongst people with Parkinson's disease.

I officially return to my dorm tomorrow, so I'm not sure of when I'll update this story next :( Hope you will still stay on this journey with me!

Thanks for all your support! <3

- Jasmine