“It's been seven hours and fifteen days since you took your love away…” crooned Sinead Connor. Hyun was sitting in her private corner at the book café by herself with a cup of coffee at hand that she had no intention to drink and the first tear of the day dropped.

It was just hours ago when she had awoken with this nagging ache in her chest, wondering where he was, what he was doing, and if she was in his thoughts too. Grief weighed hard on her shoulders, and the now familiar ache in her heart that engulfed her for days had resurfaced once again. 

It had been seven days since he left. It had also been seven days since she had any contact with him and those were awfully excruciating days. The ache burrowed pit deep within her in the last few days made breathing strained even. She could not describe the pain she felt except that it was present, constant… plaguing her every waking moment.

From when it happened, her days started to shrink as her nights became extended and darker, making way for sleeplessness to become a regular companion.  An overcast of forlornness started to replace her usual glow. Her eyes, bathed in tears ever so often in the last few days began to lose its spark. Her smile and laughter were laced with sadness as her happiness evaded her.

YongHwa was constantly on her mind, his name on the tip of her tongue in every sentence that came out of , her olfactory system seek waft of his scent in the every breathe she took. She was in fragments without him.

She should have known that trouble was headed her way when she received the abrupt early morning call from Hyo telling her that she was on her way over to pick her up for an urgent meeting at the office. She remembered how nervous she was as she made her way through the hallway into the meeting room, hands curled up into fist so as to stop them from shaking even when she had Hyo by her side, exactly 18 unnerving minutes after that call.

The clock on the meeting room’s wall showed that it was 6.45am. The mood at the meeting room was one that was solemn and heavy as she moved to sit across her manager, with Hyo settling for the chair on her right. Hyun had on a worried look and her hands that were clutching onto the fabric of her track pants, were all clammy and cold. Not a word was exchanged… not until CEO Kim and Mr. SM Lee entered the room along with their looming darkness and her anxiety increased tenfold.

The three of them bolted out of their seats simultaneously to greet with a 90deg bow. CEO Kim threw her a cutting look and she was instantly intimidated. He did not waste any more time engaging in small talk and threw a printed copy of the picture in Hyun's direction before demanded for an explanation. 

Hyun’s eyes widened and her cheeks went a few shades paler when she saw the picture from last night. Her mind was all jumbled as her eyes fixed at the picture, unmovingly. Her delayed reaction to the explanation demand resulted in CEO Kim’s thundered voice asking point blank if she was dating YongHwa. Her whole body jerked as she came to her senses, in reaction to the loudness and started to tremble. 

CEO Kim stared at her sharply as she struggled to hold on to her emotion and continued, "I suppose you think that Jessica's departure is not enough an impact that you will pull a stunt like this to sabotage SNSD’s comeback at this time?" By then, Hyun was shivering with anxiety and was calling YongHwa in her head a dozen times at least whilst praying that this was a bad dream and that she would wake up from it soon.

Her non-verbal shivering and not refuting the relationship was not the reaction CEO Kim was trying to coerce. He wanted to intimidate her into denying that she was dating and if she was he would like that to serve as an immediate injunction.

He held Hyun’s eyes with his stern glower and started to cast doubts. "Do you think that FNC’s CEO Han will allow his cash cow to be embroiled in a dating scandal at a time like this, when he is starting his solo concert this week? Do you not think about the negative impact this will have on SNSD should he deny this? You are all still suffering the aftermath of Jessica’s departure caused by that Kwon boy! Is it your wish to bring down SNSD with more scandal?"

Hyun finally caved at the second mention on how it would impact SNSD and teared. Hyo who was trying to be her pillar of strength on the side line finally spoke. “CEO Kim, this is different from Jessica's. It should not be complicated or a scandal. Let Hyun have this and this news will quickly blow over when Tiffany announces her break up with Nichkhun.”

“What?! Break up with Nichkhun? Are you ing kidding me?” Roared Mr. SM Lee as he slammed his hands on the table and allowed his ruthless, more dangerous demeanour surfaced. 

“Do you think my company is a Theme Park where you can take a ride on my parade with some boy when you like to and then break up with him when you wish to? This is a business! To be precise this is my business and it is not a field where you can roam around carelessly and take a piss when you deem fit! Every decision has monetary implications! Jessica’s relationship driven departure caused a deep dip in our share pric