In the wee hours of the morning while many were deep in sleep, across town someone was busy cropping a picture he managed to capture. A shade darker here and a little blurring there, adjusting the picture so that it contained three people… the main commodities worthy of his trouble.

“Now, let me send this to CEO Han first for old time sake,” he said to himself with a smirk as he attached the picture file to an email before tabbing on to the “send” icon on his computer screen.

“Knock knock…” YongHwa was roused from his sleep by what he thought were some faint knocking sound on his room door. He sat up in bed groggily and glared at the clock and saw that it was not even 6 am. “I must be dreaming.” He thought to himself because it did not make sense for anyone to be knocking on his room door, let alone this early in the morning. He turned to look at Hyun, brown hair shielding part of her lovely face, one arm draped over her pillow, sleeping soundly and he could not resist placing a gentle kiss on her cheek.

YongHwa was about to go back to sleep when he heard ,distinctively this time around, another knock followed by Bruce’s voice calling out for him in a tone louder than a whisper, “YongHwa… YongHwa…”

Since it was still his day off, he had not planned on meeting anyone that day other than to spend time with Hyun at home. So, he could not imagine what would make Bruce ever intrude into his private time without first calling and was instantly annoyed. He got out of bed and walked towards the room swiftly, not wanting Bruce’s disturbances to risk waking Hyun. 

YongHwa scowled at a 10% embarrassed and 90% flustered Bruce and put his index finger to his lips, signalling to Bruce to be quiet before dragging Bruce by his arm towards the Living room.

YongHwa glowered at Bruce and asked, “Why are you even here?”

“Who is that in the room with you?” Bruce just had to ask.

“What do you mean who? Just what is it that you want that you think you can spring on me like this?!” YongHwa let his annoyance and impatience show.

“YongHwa, you have got to be honest with me. Something big is seething. CEO Han has personally recalled the entire PR team and because your mobile is switched off, I was summoned to haul you in personally!” There was an intentional emphasis on the word “haul” before Bruce continued, “You got to tell me what has been happening and do not try to insult my intelligence or brush my concerns aside by telling me that there is no one inside. I saw the pair of high heels at the foyer. We are in this together from since the day I paid for your used condoms in Japan.” Bruce was sounding desperate.

There was a pregnant silent as Yonghwa and Bruce looked at each other. “Give me 5. Let me go put on something and we’ll talk along the way.” YongHwa replied curtly and returned to his room.

He got ready quickly and left only after leaving a note for Hyun on his pillow, telling her that he needed to drop by the office and would call her later.

They had just gotten into the car when Bruce’s mobile buzzed. Bruce took a look at who was calling and then turn his mobile towards YongHwa and said, “As you can see, the team is in the office already.”

YongHwa took Bruce’s mobile from him and switched off the mobile.

“God! Are you trying to get me fired here!” Bruce exclaimed frantically and snatched the mobile back. Before he could turn the mobile back on, he heard YongHwa say, “It’s Hyun.”

“Mworago? Nugu?” Responded a confused looking Bruce.

“SNSD Hyun,” YongHwa turned to look at the dash board of the car and repeated after taking in a deep breathe. “The person in my house now.”  

“In Japan too?” Bruce solicited for more answers and it earned him a resigned nod from YongHwa, eyes still affixed on the car’s dash board. Bruce could not say that he was surprised that it was Hyun but he was certainly taken aback by how quickly they have progressed. Five years of nothing but pure indulgence in building music career and in 2 weeks, the Prince of FNC had fast-tracked his professional idol life to include a personal dating life with the SNSD Baby Princess.

The two grown men stared out of the windscreen of the car momentarily as if time stood still, the sound of them breathing was the only evidence that it did not. Bruce, endeavouring to digest what YongHwa had divulged as many dozen of reasons as to why they were called to office jumped to his head. He finally took in a deep long breathe and started the engine of the car.

Day was just breaking, slightly illuminating the dark sky a shade of silver when the car emerged from the basement car park. Bruce turned to look at YongHwa momentarily and said, “A famous Chinese Poet said that The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Yonghwa, let’s take this one step at a time and correctly.” To that, YongHwa nodded slightly again the second time that morning.

YongHwa met with a straight faced MD Kim upon arriving at FNC’s office and the three then proceeded to CEO Han’s office together.

Right when they were standing in front of CEO Han’s office, MD Kim turned to look reprimandingly at YongHwa and asked for his mobile.

“What… Am I an errant teenager whose rights to the mobile is taken away?” YongHwa asked unbelievably as he looked at the unyielding stern eyes of MD Kim and knew that arguing with her then would be futile. He took in a fortifying deep breathe, reached into his jeans pocket for his mobile and handed it to Bruce, then proceeded to knock on