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3. First Glance

"Welcome to Starlight Digital Photography! How may I help you?" said a tall guy, while showing a sweet smile on his face. Jinhae squeezed Jinhee's hand tighter, and the latter wondered when they started holding hands. Jinhee looked at her with a questioning look and soon understood why she was acting strangely. Jinhae was starstruck by the young man in front of them. 

"Eh-ehm," Jinhee cleared "My sister here wanted to do something, right Jinhae-ah?" she nudged her softly, bringing her back into reality. 

"Huh?" Jinhae looked at her sister with a questioning look and understood the situation right away. "O-oh, right! W-we wanted to have s-some sisters shots, i-if that would be ehm- possible" Jinhae really tried not to stutter but failed miserably. Jinhee chuckled to herself and witnessed for the first time how her little sister blushed non-stop. She never knew she could be this shy in front of guy, she heard that she never entertained any guy before and that she didn't want to do so as of now. But looking at her now, something may change sooner or later.

"Sure, why not?" he replied smiling sweetly at the two. 

Jinhae suddenly gasped silently at the sight and squeezed her sister's hand tighter. "Eonnie," Jinhae faced Jinhee and whispered "you talk to him first, please? I'll be out for a bit. I need some air." Jinhee nodded letting her sister's hand go and faced the young man.

"Excuse me, I'll go out for a bit. I need to make a call." Jinhae bowed to him and made her way to the door. 

As soon as Jinhae was out of sight, Jinhee approached the young man and asked "So, what do you recommend us to do?", "Well, it depends on you both. If you want just some pictures, I can easily do it now. But if you want a full photoshoot, which in my opinion is better, we have to schedule a date. As of now I'm out of people, and a photoshoot requires a lot of work." he answered firmly.

"I see," Jinhee started "knowing my sister, she'll definitely go for a photoshoot. So, I guess we'll go for that one. When can we do it?" she smiled softly.

"Tomorrow my staff will come back from a conference, so is it fine tomorrow by noon?" Jinhee nodded "Ok, tomorrow at noon. Under what name should I reserve it?" he asked her holding a pen on his left hand. 

"Baek Jinhae" the guy smiled and wrote it on his planner. "Ok, this is your reservation number," he handed her a small paper with numbers, which she gladly accepted "just show it when you come here and look for me. My name is Lee Hongbin." Jinhee nodded and extended her hand.

"Thank you, Hongbin-ssi. We'll be on time." Hongbin shook her hand and smiled "It was my pleasure, ma'am. See you tomorrow." Jinhee bowed and moved to leave the shop as Hongbin waved her goodbye.

As soon as Jinhee was out of the shop, she started looking for her sister. She looked everywhere from toilets to various shops, but she couldn't find her anywhere. Jinhee was about to take her phone and dial her sister's number but a sight of a young lady eating ice-cream happily caught her eyes.

"Yah! Baek Jinhae!" Jinhee was nearly shouting as she was getting near her. "How dare you leave me there and after looking for you all over the mall I find you here eating ice-cream like nothing happened?" Jinhae looked up from her ice cream like a lost puppy.

"Oh no! Don't you dare look at me like that." the younger one blinked innocently and stretched her arm pointing her cone to the older one. "Want some?" Jinhae offered with an awkward smile.

~◆~

"Oh Hyung, you're here." Hongbin said as soon as he spotted his friend entering his shop. "What brought you here Hyung?" Leo approached him and took a seat in front of Hongbin's desk. It was a usual thing between their group of friends to visit each other at work. Even though they were very busy they'll definitely find time for each other, in case one of them had a problem. And Hongbin sensed that today it was his Hyung who had one.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to take some fresh air." Leo sighed and looked over an aisle filled with photographs taken by his dongsaeng. Out of all his younger friends, Leo prefered Hongbin the most. Not that he didn't like the others, but Leo kind of found himself in him: the way he was so determined to get what he wanted and how passionate he was in doing what he was doing. 

"Just tell me, Hyung" Hongbin said while keeping his eyes on his computer. "Tell you what? Can't a Hyung visit his Dongsaeng?" Leo tried to reason feeling embarrassed that Hongbin knew him all too well.

Hongbin shot him a small glare, which made Leo sigh and give up. "Ok, fine. I'll tell you." Hongbin closed his computer and turn his entire attention to Leo. "I'm all ears."

"I'm getting mar-" 

"I know."

"Wait, you know? How?" Leo's eyes grew. How come he already knew?

"Well, let's just say an annoying bird came to tell me."

"Aish! Cha Hakyeon!" Leo shook his head. "You can never tell a secret to him, can't you?"

"He was just trying to help, I guess." Hongbin stood up and went to grab some files he printed a while ago from the printer. "Maybe he thought that if more of us knew about it, more help you would get. He was really concerned about you, Hyung."

Cha Hakyeon was the type of friend that didn't want anything to harm his loved ones: he would be the first one to try to solve the problems when they occur and if he couldn’t find a solution right away he would consult the others and ask for their help.

All of them considered him as an older brother, even if most of the time he would annoy them to death especially Leo. But that’s one of Hakyeon’s charms.

After picking up the files he printed, Hongbin approached his favorite part of his shop. Admiring a wall full of his photographs his eyes landed on one which he considered as the best shot he had ever got in his entire life. Five teenage boys were seating on the grass, doing several things: from eating to ruffling each other's hair. But what made this one so special was that no one was not smiling. 

In the picture you could see Hakyeon chopping with his hand their maknae Sanghyuk's neck, who is currently pursuing his dream to become a lawyer. Next to them was seating Jaehwan or Ken, the clown of the group and a famous web series artist. He was munching a huge sandwich while having Wonshik or Ravi, Leo's co-writer and famous rapper, trying to get a bite from it. And lastly, Leo was seating farder away from them under a tree, while admiring them all with a faint smile on his lips. 

"What's her name, Hyung?" Hongbin turned his eyes away from the wall and looked at Leo. 

"Baek Jinhee." Leo firmly answered him.

"Baek Jinhee, you say?" The younger one smirked. "I bet she's a cutie. Can't wait to meet her." Leo glared at him, knowing exactly what the younger one had in mind. And this only made Hongbin chuckle silently.

~◆~

After a while, Leo had to leave the shop and went home after getting a call from his mother, saying that he was badly needed. As soon as he entered their house Mrs Kim, their house keeper, welcomed him brightly and lead him to his father's study room where Mr. Jung seated.

"Good thing you're back, son." Mr. Jung stood up taking off his eyeglasses. "Get yourself ready, we are going to have dinner out tonight." Leo immediately perked and glanced at his father while wearing an are-we-meeting-them-tonight? look.

"Yes, we are going to meet them tonight." Mr. Jung phraised Leo's thoughts.

Leo couldn't explain his exact feeling at the moment. It was a mixture of excitment and anxiousness, with a small hint of insecurity.

Will she be turned off as soon as she sees him?

What will he be wearing?

Should he wear a tie, or is it too formal?

Should he go or not?

With a confuse mind, Leo nodded to his father and excused himself. He made his way to his room and started getting ready as soon as he enter the room. Let's impress future Mrs. Jung.

Sweaty hands, trembling legs, Leo seated inside a fancy restaurant together with his parent. The table consisted in six seats and arranged with six sets of plates. Excitment was well written in the faces of the olders, they couldn't wait to see their future daughter-in-law. Just as the waiter was pouring some water for him, Leo spotted two figures. A man and a woman, both of midage. The man wore a black formal suit while the old woman a simple yet elegan evening dress.

Soon after, a third one made her way through the main doors. Leo's eyes perked and he could feel his heart stop beating for a second. The young lady was now in between the two elders and all together they slowly walked towards the Jungs.

Leo couldn't take his eyes off her and admire how she walked flawlessly towards them.

It's her. It is really her.

~◆~

Parking her car in front of their house, Jinhee along with Jinhae took their shopping bags and entered the house. A warm smell of cookies welcomed their nostrils and the two immediately rushed to the source of the exquisite smell. Inside the kitchen they spotted their mother, who was about to take out the tray of cookies out of the over.

"COOKIES!" Jinhae exclaimed and rushed to her mother's side, helping her putting the tray on the kitchen counter.

"Oh, sweeties! You're both home." Mrs. Baek smiled warmly at the two. 

Jinhae extended her hand to grab one cookie but a hand slapped her own right away. "These were not made of us to be eaten, it's a gift for someone we're meeting later at dinner."

"Someone?" Jinhae questioned.

"Yes, Jinhee's inlaws. But don't worry sweety I already made some for us." Mrs. Baek pointed at their dining table. "There, stuff yourself!". Not being asked twice, Jinhae immediately ran towards her beloved cookies and happily ate. Jinhee shook her head, she couldn't believe that her sister still had space for sweets after eating that huge ice-cream an hour ago. 

"Mom," Jinhee diverted her attention from Jinhae and faced her mother, "I'm not coming."

"Yes, you are."

"Why?"

"You need to."

"But Mom, I need to work on some papers. Jinhae kept me busy today, plus I don't have time tomorrow." Jinhee whined, pointing at her sister.

"You're coming and that's final!" she heared her mother say rather firmly.

"Ugh! Fine!" Jinhee sighed and headed to her, where she immediately trew herself on the bed, head buried into the pillow. Patience, all she needed to be is patient. With a heavy heart she forced herself out of the bed and started to get ready for the upcoming event.

Soon after she was all ready and made her way downstairs,  where her parents were waiting for her. "Ready?" She heard her father say as soon as she stepped in front of them. Nodding her head, Jinhee followed her parents out of their house and headed towards their car. Once inside, all she could feel was her hands getting wet. This always happened whenever she felt nervous or under pressure, but now she was certain that she felt nervous. Why was she nervous? It was just a dinner with her future husband. Yeah, just a dinner.

Without even noticing, the car came to a stop and their driver, Mr. Kim, went out to open their door. The couple immediately went out leaving Jinhee still inside the car, immersed in her thoughts. Was she ready to face reality? She didn't know. All she knew was that she needed to be the good daughter she was, and to her duty as one. 

"It's just a dinner." She tried to convince herself "Go there, smile, introduce yourself, smile and soon it will end."

Once out of the car, she soon found herself out of this luxurious restaurant. Heaving a sigh, she entered.

And there he was. Her duty. Her final destination. Her future husband. 

Jung Taekwoon.

A/N: I know I know. You all want to kill me, am I right? I'm sincerely sorry. Like I said, many thing kept me really busy. But I'm back~ I hope you liked this crappy chapter. I tried my very best, and please tell me if I made some error (grammar or not) so I can learn and not do it again.

Once again, cheongmal mianheyo (I'm really sorry)~ I love each one of you! 

ppyong~ C♡