Saturday

Han Jiyoon rested her head against the car window. It was the most uninteresting Saturday of her life.

The socialite wife of a former bigshot attorney had a routine every Saturday. She’d go to the spa/club, get her special spa treatment, gossip at lunch with her friends there and then return home late afternoon.

But today was rather boring. Since it was summer, most of her friends had gone to spend their vacations out of town leaving only 3 of them. They didn’t even have much to gossip about because again, the people around their residences who they gossip about are on their vacations as well. Even Jiyoon has her teenage niece staying over because her parents have gone to Busan for work and pleasure.

Jiyoon frowned wondering what she would do at home. Her husband is playing golf today and her niece Hana has gone to some female rockstar’s concert with her friends. She decided she’d go shopping after freshening up a bit and there’s that opera show in the evening too. But then found it pointless to go home at all.

Jiyoon was about to tell the driver to turn the car and take her to the mall but before she could say anything, her eyes fell on a passing house. It was the one near hers but there was considerable distance between the buildings in this high profile area.

There were premium beach front properties in a secure gated community. People who lived here were the whos who of South Korea. The house next to Hans had been unoccupied for months though otherwise the earlier residents were great gossip for Jiyoon and her friends. Both husband and wife having affairs behind each other’s backs was not uncommon in this area full of not just rich and famous but also those middle-aged couples who have grown tired of their unexciting married lives. The couple moved out when the wife walked into the man and one of the hired es and then it came out that the wife was sleeping with her husband’s young assistant.

Jiyoon couldn’t help her excitement seeing new neighbours moving in. she can’t see who it is yet, but they seem to have artistic tastes. There were a lot of musical instruments- an upright piano, keyboards, 3 guitars. There were some paintings Jiyoon felt a bit jealous of since they were rare, a large office table similar to her husband’s and some very bright youthful living room furniture.

Jiyoon decided that shopping can wait. She’ll check out her new neighbours and go to the opera later.

Jiyoon sat in her lawnchair stirring her tea. She made it look like she was basking by the poolside, but really she was just spying on her neighbour. She had such a good view too. The low hedge meant that she could see directly the side view of the house.

That included who entered and exited the house, the glass walled kitchen, the backyard pool and from her balcony the upper master bedroom of her neighbours. Really, her kind of women left no stone unturned for gossip.

The sound of her bell ringing made her reluctantly leave her perch. She opened the door with a scowl but that vanished seeing the exceptionally tall man in front of him.

“Good afternoon.” Oh God! Jiyoon was glad she had her sunglasses from her basking on her. This man’s smile was blinding. Jiyoon wouldn’t mind having an affair with a man that looked like this. Jiyoon’s morals were questionable when it came to scandal but not as loose when it came to fidelity. She did wish she could though, seeing this fine specimen of a man.  

Jiyoon mentally slapped herself. Her husband was a good man and this fellow in front of her is nearly half her age. ‘Okay Jiyoon, act mature. Speak.’ “Good afternoon dear. How can I help you?”

“We just moved in….” The man pointed at the house Jiyoon had been shamelessly spying on. ‘Fantastic eye candy I have here’ she thought. “I’m kinda pressed here. Do you know where the supermarket is here, preferably where I can buy baby food?”

“Baby….food?” Jiyoon frowned. ‘A man this young with a baby? Already?’ As if on cue a squeak came from below and Jiyoon found adorable bambi eyes stare at her behind the man’s legs.

“Minnie say hi.” The man coaxed the toddler by sidestepping and showing the boy. The little fellow removed his fingers from his mouth and waved at her with a saliva coated hand. “He doesn’t speak much in front of strangers. He only started speaking a week back.”

“How cute! How old is he?”

“9 months. So….the supermarket?”

“Oh yeah sorry. You came from that gate right?” Jiyoon pointed in the direction she came from as well. “that’s the main entry but if you go from the south gate you’d enter the main street with all the shops. Why don’t you two come in and I’ll fix you some lemonade.”

The man shook his head, “I’ll take a rain check. Get this munchkin his food first.” He stepped backwards to leave and the toddler was crawling with him but he halted, “Oh how rude! I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Yunho and this is Changmin.” The man named Yunho pointed at himself first and then to his son.

“I’m Han Jiyoon. I’d introduce you to my family but there’s no one. Come by for dinner when you're done. Neighbours should stay close.” Jiyoon was hopeful that she’ll unearth more secrets of her new neighbours.

“Thanks. We’ll be going then.” Yunho picks up his son and puts him down the stairs before the baby starts crawling again.

“Yun-ah!” a girl with bright blue hair called out to him once he out of the gate. Jiyoon found her familiar, “The wardrobe won’t fit. It’s too tall.” She told him.

“I told them it’s collapsible. I hope it’s empty?” Yunho told her.

“we empties all your books from it but can’t figure out how to fold it.” she told him.

“Okay, I’ll handle that. Su, you take Minnie out. That gate goes through the main street.” Yunho points in the direction Jiyoon gave him, “keep him occupied till moving is done. Okay Su?”

The girl nodded and skipped off with the baby Changmin in arms.

‘Su? Blue hair? She looked familiar….’ And then it struck Jiyoon. It is Kim Junsu, musical star, model and also fashion designer. Jiyoon would know her. Not only has Jiyoon been a regular purchaser of her handbags and eyewear, she’s seen her musical Elizabeth quite a few times. The bubbly persona has made her a charming attraction in the media fraternity where she otherwise garnered fame for playing male characters in Musicals. Her talent to pull off almost any look has made her a famous model and she dabbles in the fashion world lately after taking a break from musicals. It is rumoured that she married some unknown business tycoon. Jiyoon is convinced that Yunho is her secret husband.

“How juicy!” Jiyoon squealed.

~~~

Sunday

Jiyoon forewent the opera to sit on the balcony and observe her neighbours again. Moving had finished well into the evening and a few hours were spent arranging furniture by Yunho and someone he called ‘Chun’.

Jiyoon figured they could be brothers because that ‘Chun’ was his brother because he called Yunho ‘hyung’. Then that ‘Chun’ left in a rather expensive car and two hours later Kim Junsu left after some frantic call. When she relayed this information to her husband who came late in the evening, he told her to not pry into their neighbour’s life. Like Jiyoon would listen.

She even woke up early today and got the biggest eye candy of her life.

At 7 in the morning, Yunho was doing push-ups in his backyard, shirtless and rock hard abs exposed for a lot of the middle-aged voyeuristic women who live around that house. You didn’t think Jiyoon was the only one with these tendencies did you.

After Jiyoon took a 3 minutes and 36 seconds shower (lest she miss the ‘abs show’) and went to her lawn this time. The new sight made Jiyoon almost consider jumping this delectable man, key word ‘almost’.

His sweatpants were replaced with tight swimming trunks and he just did a professional dive in the pool. He did a few laps and then settled for just lying on his back in the water. Some kind of sounds Jiyoon couldn’t hear made him swim to the edge of the pool. His little son Changmin crawled to his father and sat on the wet poolside. While Yunho nuzzled and cooed his son, Jiyoon made a show of watering her garden and inched closer to the dividing hedge. She could hear Yunho talking clearly.

“did you sleep well my baby boo? How’s your new bed?” the child babbled nineteen to the dozen in response to his father but there were clear words like ‘Appa’ and ‘Ma’ and ‘foo’. “if you're here, then it means Umma has come back.”

‘Umma?’ Jiyoon looked at the front of the house and the black SUV Junsu left in wasn’t there. There was a silver Lamborghini and a white Rolls Royce there instead. Little Changmin confirmed Jiyoon’s deduction as well.

“Umma….no!” Changmin shook his little finger in front of Yunho’s face.

“No? did you climb out of your  crib?” Yunho frowned. He was about to heave himself out of the pool but heels clanking on the tiled porch and he smiled brightly.

“I got him out.” Jiyoon gasped. A gorgeous woman with short blonde hair stood beside Changmin. Her legs were wrapped in tight pink leather pants and black knee-high boots. Her mid-rib baring top wasn’t tasteless and covered by the sleeveless furry coat.

“Don’t tell me you performed wearing that yesterday?” Yunho’s face showed his jealousy.

“It’s more than I wore I yesterday.” The girl smirked.

“Umma is being naughty.” Yunho told Changmin.

“Umma no!” Changmin repeated again.

“why does he say that?” Yunho asked.

“He meant he doesn’t want to call me ‘Umma’.” The girl answered.

“he will have to once we get married.” Yunho’s statement made Jiyoon gasp. Yunho is having an affair with an idol and he will dump his wife and marry her and is trying to get his son to call her ‘Umma’.

“He will find something to call me. Don’t push him. Meanwhile, try clearing your schedule for April. I’m cancelling some performances so we can get married. You better finish off the pre-wedding arrangements before that.” The girl said.

Jiyoon bit her lip to stop from making any sound. ‘Pre-wedding meant divorce your wife so we can get married soon’.

Jiyoon ran inside her house to let out squeals of excitement. This was the most scandalous blather in a long time. She couldn’t wait for next Saturday to tell her friends.

“You're being too obvious, Imo.” A young girl deadpanned.

“You no nothing Hana!” Jiyoon was itching to spill the news to her.

“about what? Another new neighbour who’s having an affair? Isn’t that all they do in this place?’ Hana rolled her eyes.

“You know Hana, I feel like fish out of water.” Jiyoon’s husband Jaemin entered. “What do ya say? I should find some young hot gal and do her?”

“Yuck! Samchon, you're too old to talk like that. In fact, no one talks like that.” Hana laughed at her uncle while Jiyoon smacked him.

“whatever, all my news will be wasted on the two of you. I’m going shopping.” Instead of going to the front door, Jiyoon walked up the stairs.

“I bet she’s going to the balcony to spy again.” Jaemin chuckled.

“Imo would be over the moon if she knew I’m familiar with our neighbours.” Hana jerked her chin to the couple on the other side of their lawn.

“You do?” Jaemin enquired.

“Uh-huh! That girl with her legs in the pool, Kim Jaejoong aka Youngwoong. I went to her concert last night.”

“So she’s involved with the young man?”

“You can say so. She’s awesome Samchon. You have to see her.” Hana gushed, “She can sing, dance, act, compose and has her own fashion label called ‘Moldir’. She was all over the media for her work and also her company.”

“She has her own business?”

“not that company? I meant the ‘friends’ company. She’s called a social butterfly for a reason. Her friends spanned all kinds of professions. But she has a regular set of friends. The CEO of her entertainment company Park Yoochun, then these idols from Big Bang and SS501, there’s that Jin Yihan guy then the supermodel Kim Heechul, that musical actress Junsu, a lot of actors and even some politicians’ children.You know the President of Jung Corp?”

“Yeah! I worked for his father. Never seen the kid though. They say he’s the youngest businessman there is.”

“yeah, they’re rumoured to be a couple because they’re spotted alone often. And then she suddenly took a break. Yesterday’s concert was a part of her first tour in 2 years. And she announced yesterday she’s taking a 3 month break again.” Hana pouted at the last bit.

“You really are a fan I see.” Jaemin chuckled.

“She’s awesome!” Hana squealed.

Just then, a storming Jiyoon ran down the stairs. “Oh My God! Oh My God! Where are my binoculars?” Jiyoon opened drawers in the living room and found her instrument.

“What now?” Jaemin pinched the bridge of his nose.

Jiyoon bounced excitedly, “Changmin is playing in their bedroom-”    

“Why is that so scandalous?” Hana said sarcastically.

“and Yunho is having with that girl in the kitchen.” Jiyoon waited for an explosive reaction but the two just looked at her blankly.

“Just watch instead of peeping at some people.” Hana deadpanned and walked away.

“I hope they put up drapes on the glass walls soon.” Jimin shuddered and walked out of the house.

Jiyoon pouted for a while before running to the lawn and positioning her binoculars.

Monday

Jiyoon peeped from her balcony and contained a squeal. Yunho just hugged Junsu who entered the house and then went out with Changmin.

15 minutes later that ‘Chun’ who Jiyoon had googled and found was named Park Yoochun came. He was talking to Junsu in the backyard but things turned when he was suddenly on top of Junsu. They managed to move to the living room and made out there.

“I knew it couldn’t just be Yunho.” Jiyoon was get impatient for Saturday to arrive.

Tuesday

Things were getting more interesting.

Yunho came back from somewhere in the afternoon and Changmin wasn’t anywhere around. He stepped out of the Lamborghini and opened the other door for a different woman.

Jiyoon couldn’t see her face but she couldn’t fight back her shock.

He’s keeping two women- the blonde one and a brunette one.

This one was wearing a short white dress and her long brunette hair reached unnaturally below her waist.

“Obviously extensions.” Jiyoon scoffed.

Hana made a tired expression as she walked out of her room, “I think a new MV is around the corner.” Hana mused as she checked her phone for any latest news about her idol Younwoong.

She ignored her aunt’s shouts of “they’re doing ‘it’ in the bedroom!”

~~~

Wednesday

Today was a pool party.

Jiyoon recognised the actor as Jang Geunsuk, she’s his fan. There was that older actor Jin Yihan and some Plop from Bang Bang Hana liked. Then there was Hana.

“Oh right!” Jiyoon scratched her head. ‘what’s the whole idea of being here when I was invited to the housewarming party?’

Hana is right there, playing with Changmin and some soft toys in the grass. Her husband was of course, at the grill where Park Yoochun is helping the guests. The man didn’t miss giving a teasing face every time he caught sight of her.

“What the hell am I doing?” Jiyoon immediately dressed up and ran next door. This was the perfect time to get more information.

The house is exactly how she imagined (or saw from her prying; debate later). The red couch she saw was actually coupled with a black one. The glass walled kitchen was now covered with red drapes. She finally saw Changmin’s room, it faced the other side of the house.

When she went to the pool, she saw Junsu pretty much wrestling with Yunho.

“give it back! Give me my lizzy!” she sideways piggybacking Yunho while yelling. Everyone watched amusedly, some even hooting for more action. Yoochun ignored them.

“It’s a bloody duck!” Yunho choked out between fighting off the wild girl and getting strangled.

“Suie~!” Jiyoon fought to contain a squeak seeing it was the brunette. “I hid Lizzy. I’m sorry. Please leave Yunho.” The girl held an ugly duck plushie which was clearly overused. Junsu stomped to her after releasing Yunho and took the duck with a huff. Changmin saw the duck and started crying at it’s ugliness.

“Pa~! Pa~!” he crawled to his father to be rescued.

“Aw! Isn’t he cute.” There was a blonde girl and Jiyoon deduced it was the first woman who was with Yunho.

“Jessica, you're actually saying my baby being scared is cute.” Yunho deadpanned. Jiyoon admired how the man can be so natural with his wife and two affairs in the same place.    

“Lizzy is neither ugly nor scary!” Junsu yelled.

“Tell that to him!” That Bang Bang Plop pointed at Changmin.

“Chunnie, everyone’s being mean to Lizzy!” Now Jiyoon had to admire Junsu too for being so casual with her affair over there.      

Said affair was scratching his head, “Lizzy who?” that ended with Park Yoochun in the water and the other men cackling at him.

Junsu went somewhere with Jaejoong when a new guest had come. A girl with short red hair and some stunningly y features.

“In case you're wondering, that’s Kim Heechul, she’s a model.” Hana said behind Jiyoon.

“Don’t let her near your Samchon.” Jiyoon whispered to her harshly.

“If you're jealous of her, you shouldn’t be. She’s involved with some Chinese Idol, Hangeng. They’re both very publicly besotted by each other.” Hana said tad condescendingly and that’s when Jiyoon finally noticed she wasn’t empty handed. Little Changmin was clinging to her while