page thirteen

“What are you doing tonight?”

Yejin was having lunch break when she received Chanyeol’s text. Yejin stares at the screen a bit too long, earning her best friend’s interest.

Jiyul, being the curious girl she is, leans in, trying to get a peak. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Yejin quickly stashed her phone in her pocket. She can’t explain about Chanyeol. At least, not yet. “Just a stupid spam mail.”

“I get that a lot too. It’s quite annoying, isn’t it?” Baekhyun said before eating a piece of sausage.

“Absolutely.” Yejin answered.

Jiyul narrows her eyes on Yejin. Something’s not quite right. She’s not sure what it is, but there’s definitely something. “What was it about?”

“Hm?” Yejin raises one of her eyebrow, mouth full of rice.

“The spam text. What was it about?” She pressed.

Yejin chews her food slowly. She knew Jiyul would be like this. That girl is just too curious that sometimes she wonder if she’s better off to be a journalist or a lawyer rather than to be a stylist. Anyway, the only way to throw her off the scent is to lie.

“Just some bloke offering insurance deal.” Yejin shrugs casually and continue eating. That was good, Yejin, she said to herself. Calm and collected.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see Jiyul makes a small ‘hmph’ sound and her eyes are still narrow, which means that she’s still suspicious. Ignore it, Yejin. Pretend like it’s no big deal. Eventually, Jiyul decides not to press further.

“Oh!” Baekhyun suddenly yelled. Jiyul and Yejin stopped eating and stared at him.

“I just remembered something. I nearly forgot about it. Chen would kill me if I didn’t tell you this. And I’d-”

“Baek!” Jiyul and Yejin yelled at the same time.

“Right. Sorry.” Baekhyun gave them a sheepish smile. “What are you guys doing this Saturday?”

Why does everyone suddenly want to know my schedule? Yejin her head curiously. “Surprisingly, the shop’s owner will be out of town this week, so I’ll be off duty that day.”

“How ‘bout you, Jiyul?”

“I got nothing either.”

“Great. Then I’ll see you both at the band’s gig.” Baekhyun grinned.

“Wait, your band’s performing? Where?”

“At this underground club. Lay has a friend, who knows someone and he knows someone, and so on. It’s too tiring to explain. Besides, I don’t really understand it because it’s too complicated to me.”

“Underground club? Are we even allowed to be there? Don’t we have to show ID cards at places like that?” Yejin asks.

“No ID cards needed. I can guarantee you that. It’s an underground club filled with students like us. Students who enjoys making music, listening to it, and doing singing battles,” he explained to them. “So, what do you say?” Baekhyun’s eyes literally shine when he asked them this. To be honest, it made him look like a puppy. A very cute puppy.

Seeing this, Jiyul and Yejin exchange looks before saying, “We’ll be there.”

“Sweet. I’ll text you the address later, okay?”

They talked a bit more about Baekhyun’s gig. Who’s coming and who doesn’t.

“Chen would flip out when he knows you’re coming.” Baekhyun wiggled his eyebrows suggestively toward Jiyul.

Jiyul lets out a half snort-half laugh thing that she does when she’s amused. “What? Why would he do that?”

This time, it’s Baekhyun and Yejin who exchange looks. Jiyul saw that and she knew exactly what that look means.

“Oh no, he’s not. He’s not, okay?” She protested when her two friends gave her ‘the look’.

“I don’t know, Ji. He’s quite persistent.”

“Plus, he’s so obviously madly in love with you.” Baekhyun added.

“It’s like birds are singing and rose petals flying around when he’s around you.”

Baekhyun and Yejin laughed at that last line. Jiyul just watched them with her arms crossed, lips slightly pouting.

“Laugh all you want, but just so you know, I’ll be doing the same if any of you is caught seeing someone.” Or each other, she wanted to add, but kept it to herself. She won’t say it out loud, for now. It’s not the right time yet.

Yejin takes a sip of her water, while Baekhyun raises both hands, a sign of defeat. Feeling satisfied, Jiyul gave a tight smile and finished her lunch. Soon the bell will ring.

“Speak of the devil.” Baekhyun suddenly said, he jerks his chin toward the door, pointing at the figure whose name is Chen.

“Oh no.”

“Jiyul!” Chen quickly makes his way toward the three of them. It’s amazing that he didn’t hug Jiyul the moment he stands beside her desk.

“I’m having a headache all of a sudden.” She whispered to herself.

Baekhyun and Yejin share a look again before bursting into a fit of giggles.

In his private office, Chanyeol sits on his desk. He just finished signing the last paper that needs his signature. He takes a look at his Rolex latched on his left hand. 1 PM. She should have replied back by now. It’s the end of lunch break, after all. He takes a look at his phone for the umpteenth time, but there isn’t anything new in his inbox besides his father’s texts. He didn’t even bother to open any of them because he already knows what they are about.

Grabbing his cold mug of coffee, he attempt to drink it, only to realize that it’s empty. He sighs and then pressed a button on his desk. “Ms. Lee, please bring me another cup of coffee.” He released the button and sets down the empty mug.

It didn’t take long for his secretary to bring him a fresh cup of java.

“Thanks.” He muttered, not meeting her eyes.

Even without looking at her, he knows that she’s smiling. “Would that be all, sir?” She said in that sickly sweet tone of hers. Just listening to her talking with that voice gives him the creeps. He guesses that he’s been spending too much time with Yejin that he prefers tough girls now.

“Yes, Ms. Lee. That would be all.” He pretends to type something in his computer, hoping that she’d go away. And to his luck, it worked.

He heaves a relieved sigh after he hears the door closed behind her. Truth be told, he feels uncomfortable with his modelesque secretary. He wants to dismiss her permanently, but it doesn’t seem fair for her to be dismissed when she never did anything wrong to deserve such a thing. He’s not a devil and refuses to be one. He sighs.

Just then, his phone rings. He checks the alert; it’s a new message. He opens his inbox and finally, finally after hours of waiting –or at least, it had felt like hours, the message he’s been waiting for arrives.

“I have work at the hotel tonight, but I have a feeling you already took care of that.”

That made him grin. They’ve known each other for a couple of weeks, but she already know this much of him. It’s interesting, in a good way, of course.

“Great. I’ll pick you up at 5?”

“Okay.”

Yejin would be lying if she say she’s not excited for their date. Or at least, that’s what she think it is. It could be just another trick to ambush his blind dates again. If it is the latter, then she’s all prepared. She’s not going to be heartbroken like last time. She’s a strong women, isn’t she? There is no way a guy could make her cry and weep helplessly. There’s just no way she’s gonna let that happen. She’s going to do this contract thing professionally from now on. Last time was a fluke, a technical difficulty.

Yejin stands in front of the full-length mirror behind her bedroom door. She’s zipping up the black jumpsuit she got from Jiyul last year for her birthday. “LBD is so passé. It’s all about the ‘girl boss’ look these days,” she said when she gave this jumpsuit to Yejin. Before today, this jumpsuit has always been stuffed into the darkest part of her closet. She never thought she’d be wearing it for her meeting –let’s just call it that way for now- with Chanyeol.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Well, she got to admit, she didn’t look bad. She checks her makeup; bright red lips and eyes lined with eyeliner, her long hair is loosely hanging above her torso. If Jiyul is with her right then, she would’ve been proud.

Chanyeol checks his watch before he knocks on the wooden door. He smoothes down his shirt and his hair, making sure that everything is in place.

He could hear someone coming before the door opens and reveals Mr. Lee.

Mr. Lee blinks at the stranger standing in front of him. He checks him from the top of his neatly styled hair-do to the nice leather sneakers he wears. As far as he remembers, he never owes money to a guy like him. He looks like he belongs on the cover of GQ magazine or something like that. Anyway, he should say something right now; he’s been staring at him for too long.

“Err, may I help you?”

“It’s nice meeting you again, sir.” Chanyeol smiles at the elderly man. “I’m here to pick up your daughter.”

Mr. Lee’s eyebrows shot up. What does he mean by that? Have they met before? Surely he would remember meeting a guy like him befo-, “Wait a minute, don’t I know you?” He takes a double look at Chanyeol. “Yes, you were the guy from the hospital, the one that hit her with a car.”

Chanyeol lets out a nervous laugh. Was he going to be in trouble? “That’s not how I want you to remember me, but yes. I’m him.”

Mr. Lee rests his elbow on the doorframe. Chanyeol recognize it as a protective gesture. Mr. Lee was about to say something when a voice caught their attention.

“Daddy, who is it?” Undoubtedly, that was Yejin’s voice.

Chanyeol swears he could hear her father grunting before he said, “Your friend’s here to pick you up.” He also didn’t miss the emphasis on the word ‘friend’, which is fine by him. At least he knows that h