CHAPTER 10- THE TWO WOMEN OF HIS LIFE

FLASHBACK

            "Joohyun-ah, someone's staring at you outside," Irene's friend, Chaerin, said. She looked out the window of their classroom. A male student with deer-like eyes was standing there. She smiled at him. Yeah, it didn't feel weird, maybe because of his innocent looking face. Other guys would look creepy if they stared at you like that but this guy looked harmless.

            He smiled back shyly and suddenly moved towards their classroom as his classmates started filing in. Irene looked back to their professor as he declared their class dismissed.

            "He's cute, isn't he?" Chaerin asked her.

            "Huh? Who are you talking about?" she asked.

            "Snow White?" she said, doing slight hops as she walked. "The guy staring at you in Social Science class." Irene didn't answer but somehow felt weird.

            A few days after, Irene was scanning through some books in the library and decided to sit on the floor. She popped in her earphones and listened to the song she has to perform for the trainee evaluation and fell asleep while reading. She was too deep in sleep, when she woke up, her head was already on someone's shoulder.

            "Omo! Joeseonghaeyo! I must have dozed off...." she looked up to see the same deer-like eyes looking at her.

            "Annyeonghaseyo. You were sound asleep and your head was just... Well, I thought that maybe you'd get a stiff neck so I made you sleep on my shoulder," he explained.

            "Uh, nae. I'm sorry if I was a bother," Irene said as she felt herself blush in embarrassment.

            "Ah, aniyo. You were not anywhere near a bother," he said. "By the way, I'm Kim Jinwoo. And you are?" He held out a hand for a handshake.

            Irene stared at his outstretched hand and back to his face. 'His eyes are so beautiful,' she thought.

            "Irene Bae," she said, holding out her hand to his for the first time they held each other’s hands.

IRENE'S POV

            It felt like a bucket of ice cold water was being splashed over me. Right now, standing on our doorstep was the man I was hoping not to see yet. Kim Jinwoo. My heart raced when our eyes met. What is he doing here? What shocked me more was the people he was with.

            "Hello, everyone. I'd like you to meet my cousin, Caleb. Kim Jinwoo," Jin happily announced.

            The other girls and Gyuri-eonnie were at first silent, I guess they also didn't know how to react. Jin is Jinwoo's cousin? No, how? Yeri took my hand and I looked at her. As if like telepathy, she was asking me if I was okay. I nodded but of course I was not. All this time I was pouring out all my feelings about the break up and it turned out to be his cousin? Fate must be joking with me right now.

            "Oh, hello, Sir," Seulgi said. Awkwardly. The others followed to greeting them.

            "Whoa, what happened girls? You seem to have lost your energy," Hoseok joked.

            "Aniyo, we were just quite surprised.” I gestured the girls again into our greeting. I acted as if everything's okay and as if I didn't know him. It was awkward, even Gyuri-eonnie seemed it.

            "So, why are we here? You see, girls, this amazing cousin of mine is the President of KJW Group of Companies and he just made this amazing proposal to me," Jin started. No, he didn't know we were debuting.

            I was about to tell you of our debut that day you broke to me the news that you want to break up with me. I looked at him and it felt like all the blood rushed to my ears. I couldn't hear anything. I didn't want to hear his voice.

            "Model." Just a few words. His voice was enough to tear me to pieces.

            "Our shopping mall," I looked down and held on to Gyuri-eonnie's arm. She held my hands and tried to calm me.

            "Your strong right? Just bear with it for a while," she told me in her soothing voice. I nodded but inside, my heart felt like bursting. I stared at Jin, He smiled at me. I smiled back at him. I didn't want him to worry about me. He didn't know it was Jinwoo. How could I tell him? They seem so close to each other.

            "So this will be a great thing for your debut," Jin said in an excited manner. "Being exposed as an image model of KJW Malls as rookies is a big deal. A great way to start off your career. So what do you think girls?"

            The other girls acted excitedly. Of course we should be excited about it. KJW is a big company and as rookies, it’s such a big deal to model for the biggest shopping mall in Korea. I wish I could be as excited as I should be but I'm feeling the opposite.

HANI'S POV

            I drove my car around Gangnam area to meet my sister. She wanted to have coffee with me before we start getting busy for our jobs tomorrow. I am going to work as the new manager of the advertising department of our company while LE-eonnie, who is a part time photographer was requested for her services for the new ad campaign of KJW Shopping Malls.

            There she was sitting inside Starbucks reading the daily newspaper. I parked my car and went in the cafe. After taking off my sunglasses and placing my bag on the table, I asked my sister what she wanted to have.

            "Ah, the Iced Caramel Macchiato," she said. I walked to the counter and placed the orders. One Iced Caramel Macchiato and a Captain Crunch Frappuccino. I returned to our table after getting our orders.

            "That' Starlight Entertainment right?" LE-eonnie asked me, pointing out to the building at the opposite side.  "I heard Alex's about to handle that soon."

            "Oh really? Who told you about it?" Hani asked as she sipped on her drink.

            "Oh, I got to meet Joonmyeon-ssi yesterday as I visited the office. Jinwoo didn't tell you about that?" she asked.

            I was suddenly taken aback. I know my sister has a good radar but I still try my best not to tell her that Jinwoo and I are well... Not that close anymore. “Well, you know Jinwoo is a busy person. He must have forgotten to tell me about Alex."

            "Heeyeon-noona! Hyojin-noona!" a familiar voice called out.

            "Oh! Jimin-ah! Jungkook-ah!" Eonnie called as she waved her hand at them. I turned around to see the boys. I waved at them. Jungkook ran and hugged me.

            "Wow! It' been so long." I said. Jimin came to hug while Jungkook jumped like a little kid asking for his candy at Hyojin-eonnie

            "You cute little bunny!" Hyojin pat his head after hugging him.

            "Yah, how about me noona?" whined Jimin.

            "A cute cat," Eonnie said coolly, which made the kid pout. I laughed. This kids are like a breath of fresh air. This was one of my real smiles for the past few weeks.  "So, came to buy coffee? It's on me."

            The two boys ordered their coffee and as we talked as we waited for their orders. "So what's up with you here?" I asked.

            Jimin pointed at the building of Starlight. "Jin-hyung. And we also work for Starlight. We'll be reporting starting today."

            "Wow, so does that all mean Taehyung, Namjoon....?" said Hyojin-eonnie.

            "Mm-hmm... All of us. We wanted to help Hyung establish his place as the upcoming President. You see he is handling a debuting girl group." Jungkook started drinking from his cup. "Would you like to come visit?"

            "Would that be ok?" I asked.

            "Of course," Jimin blurted. "I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."

            We finished our drinks and headed out the coffee shop. “So this girl group you'll be debuting, what do they look like? I know that Starlight's talents are no joke visually and skill-wise, but how would you describe them?  Not just the typical "pretty", "beautiful"? That too hackneyed."

            "Whoa! Why so serious Noona?" Jungkook chuckled.

            "What my younger sis meant here is, I guess, she's thinking maybe she can consider them as the image model of the brand she handling now. We'll I'll be the photographer."

            "Wow!" The two younger boys said in unison. "Well, they are five girls. They are not just beautiful. They're talented, refreshing just like soda," said Jungkook.

            "Or when you look at them, it feels like taking a sip of a cold glass of lemonade or taking a dip in a pool in a hot, hot summer," added Jimin.

            "Or you can say they're are sweet."

            "Like ice cream cake?" asked Hyojin.

            "Yes, like ice cream cake," they said again in unison.

            "Well then, maybe these are your models," Hyojin said as she faced me. I nodded. Maybe she's right.

            "Ooohh... Jin-hyung will be delighted to hear this. Anyway Noona, for what company? Oh no, wait. You..." Realization dawned on Jimin as flashes of the latest news flashed in his head. "You are the First Lady of the KJW Group of Companies. Wife of Caleb-hyung." I only smiled in response.

FLASHBACK

            Four years old Jinwoo followed behind his Dad as they entered an unfamiliar mansion in California. He held on to his pants as his Dad looked at him and smiled. He looked around the unfamiliar surroundings.

            "So, this your Uncle Heejeon's home in California. It's beautiful, right?" his Dad said. Little Jinwoo kept scanning the place. He nodded at his Dad and he slowly took away his little hands from his Father’s pants and started walking around the living room. He suddenly jolted at the sound of two Pomeranians barking down the stairs that came running at him. Afraid at the appearance of the dogs, he came running around, howling and came running to his father, cowering in fear.

            "Fifi, Dandy!" a loud whistle suddenly sounded making the puppies turn around and run to the owner of the cute voice. It was a wide headed girl with bright, round eyes. She took the two dogs with two hands and walked in front of Jinwoo and his Dad.

            "Hello, Uncle Jingoo. I'm Ahn Heeyeon. Four years old." Heeyeon did a deep bow.

            "Hello, Heeyeon-ah. So, you're Dad has already told you about us coming?" said Jinwoo's dad to which Heeyeon nodded with a big smile. "Aigoo, such a beautiful kid. By the way, this is my son Jinwoo." He pulled Jinwoo out of his back and tried to let them link hands when suddenly the excited Fifi jumped at Jinwoo.

            "Appa!" he hugged his Dad. He tried to comfort him saying that the puppies are not scary. "Look at Heeyeon, she's not scared. And they are both cute."

            Heeyeon suddenly moved forward carrying the two dogs with her and sat on the floor. "Fifi and Dandy are nice. Look." She took Jinwoo's hand. He turned to Heeyeon whimpering as she tried to let him touch Fifi and Dandy's fur. "Aniyo!" he said in his little voice as tears fell from his eyes.

            Heeyeon didn't let go but gently placed his hand on the soft fur to which the dogs enjoyed. "There, you see they're not going to bite." Jinwoo started laughed when Dandy jumped at him and started cuddling and his face.

            "Jingoo-yah!" the booming voice of Ahn Heejeon came as he descended down the stairs.

            "Heejeon my friend," the two old friends did their greetings. "It's been so long." They watched as the two kids started playing outside with the two dogs. That was the start of Heeyeon and Jinwoo's friendship.

            The next day, the four of them decided to visit the Ahn's vineyard at the countryside. The two kids ran after their fathers as they placed the two dogs at the back of the car. They then followed the kids.

            "The kids really get along well." The two fathers are amused at the four years old. Heeyeon, being the jolly one, started singing children's rhymes and bobbing her head. Jinwoo just listened and look outside the window but suddenly turned at the sound of Heeyeon's voice calling out his name.

            "Jinwoo!" She started playing peek-a-boo using their safety chairs and their laughs filled the car. Later, Jinwoo kept hiding feeling a bit embarrassed and happy at the same time. Heeyeon broke into another set of children's rhyme.

            "Jinwoo!" she called out again. This time Jinwoo held out his hand to Heeyeon which she gladly took.

            Ahn Heejeon looked at the rearview mirror and saw the two. "Look at the kids. They are holding hands."

            Jingoo slowly turned to see the cute scene happening at the back. Out of the blue, Jinwoo blurted "Oh, I see fire over there."

            "Aniyo, I believe, there is a fire going on at our very own backseat." The two friends can't help laughing at the two cute kids who still kept their small hands tightly entwined with each other.

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Hello everyone. Here is another update. Sorry if it always takes a long time for me to update. Kindly bear with me. I hope you like this update. Saranghaeyo, chingus!

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