Dear lovely readers,

I am so so sorry. After much contemplation and several changes, I have finally decided to upload this chapter. 

I kept changing my mind. But I think I have left this for long enough. So here it is. Hopefully it's not too boring. 

OMG and Changmin is finally BACK! I feel secure now finally. It was weird without him and without him interacting with Yoong. 

Hopefully we do get to witness some kind of OTP interaction soon. 

Anyways, Happy reading.  

Yoona is re-reading the notes she had written down from the correspondence of the couple in her planner. She cannot seem to find a comfortable way to sit in the lobby of this famous catering academy. It is not the seats, for they are actually quite comfortable as she had experienced them many times before. It is not the environment because this is all as natural as breathing for her. And it is not like she has not gone through this before, even without her unnie, Sooyoung. She takes another deep breath and shakes her head, trying to clear the haze in her mind when she couldn’t pick up any of the words in the line she had just scanned.  Checking her watch once more, the minute hand seemed to have only moved one space forward. At 10 minutes before the scheduled meeting time, a person stands in front of her. When she looks up, she knows why she was probably so unsettled (with  an inkling of a hunch) as she finds what she dreaded the most…

“Where’s Miss Yeonhee?” she asks as she stands up from her seat (rather reluctantly). There is no greeting or direct acknowledgement and welcome of his arrival. But Changmin does not seem to mind either.

“held up at work. So let’s not waste time” He unfolds his arms from his chest and slips his hands into his pockets casually. It seems he remembers their conversation from their last encounter and backtracks his words. “I mean, she couldn’t make it. There was something that came up regarding a client. So what I meant was, since you have other schedules, let’s not run beh-“

“IT’s ok.” Yoona says trying to hide her bemusement. Of course she does not let him know of her approval of his attempt to rephrase his curt words. “I understand, I want to get this over and done with too.” She says as a matter of fact – not forgetting to punctuate it with a forced smile at the end.

“Alright” Changmin shrugs, following her towards the reception desk. Just when Yoona turns, her ankles decide to give way after a period of tapping of her feet on the ground. He catches her arm before she falls further towards the ground. She straightens up, clears and mumbles a thanks without actually looking at him. And their receptionist greets them. IT is a face Yoona has not yet met before.

“Hello, how can I help you today?” The receptionist smiles at them ever so sweetly.

“We had a scheduled taste testing for 11am this morning.” She pipes in without taking a breath.

“Oh, right! Of course! …. For your big day!” She gleams ecstatically after clearing . “this way please.”

Yoona raises her eyebrows – biting her lip in concern. She glances over her shoulder at Changmin who seems to not have caught the address so in the end, as of course he is on his phone writing correspondence of some sort so she shrugs it off.

****

Feeling the need to distance herself and the driver, Yoona sits more to one side of her seat – (in other words, close to leaning against the car door). On a normal occasion taste testing was always one of the guilty pleasures she rather enjoyed  - though she does not wish to unprofessionally disclose or admit to any of her colleagues, let alone clients. But this particular potential client has a specialty of pushing her to the verge of discomfort.

But she reminds herself she is a professional. Professionals are not supposed to be affected by their personal emotions in any way, let alone show it.

She clears .

“IF you didn’t like that caterer. The next one we are heading to has more of a fusion take towards their cuisine.” She begins by explaining. When she takes the chance to look across, she finds him rather concentrated on the road in front of them. Or rather concentrated on how to critique perhaps?

He has a frown on his face. It takes him a few moments to realise that Yoona was staring at him, waiting for an answer.

“oh sorry. You said something?”

“I was saying that the next…” but she is abruptly cut off by the sound of his vibrating phone.

He is in the midst of pulling down the sun shade and retrieving his Bluetooth ear-piece when suddenly the driver in front decides to halt abruptly in the middle of the road. Changmin, was always known for his quick reaction time. He stretches out his right arm across and in front of Yoona to stop her from being thrown too far out of her seat. He checks on her – Yoona is wide-eyed and breathing heavily. She gulps before responding to his apology. Only turning to find his neck turned to find the car which was in front, having made a turn to go back down the opposite direction of the street.

“Are you alright?” he says rather worriedly.

Yoona has her hand pressed against her chest. Feeling her heart pace slow down a little. The adrenaline receding after a circulation hrough her limbs. She nods and catches the concern in his eyes.

“thanks” she finally manages to mumble while trying her best to look at anything else except at him.  

He does nothing to directly respond to her gratitude. “Could you please do me a favour?” With one hand still on the steering wheel, he picks up his phone with his right hand and passes it to Yoona without looking at her.

“because it’s confidential matters with clients, I can’t put it on the car speaker. I’ll need you t-“ he thinks about what he was saying and back tracks again – something he never had the time for. “Could you please kindly help me hold the phone for me?”

 “since you asked nicely, I don’t see anything wrong with doing that” She says jokingly, while taking his phone from the side panel.

She stretches out her arm with the phone so that it is within hearing proximity to Changmin.

“Yes Jonghyun? Sorry I’m driving.”  

“Yes I am, there’s nowhere to park. How did the conference go? Is that what he said?” he says, while smoothly taking a right turn.

 “I need that emailed to Yeonhee.” He takes a look at Yoona and his cheek brushes against Yoona’s fingertips. She looks away after a reflex retreats her fingers for a moment.

“I mean, could you please” he clears his throat, covering his mouth with a fist. “Could you please email it to Yeonhee for me?” the diction sounds completely foreign coming out of his mouth. And Yoona can feel the discomfort in the air, she puckers her lips to try to stop her amusement from showing.

 “No” Changmin’s sudden defensive tone makes Yoona quickly look at him. Changmin thinks back to the comment his friend Jonghyun made ‘you’re acting weird.’ He rolls his eyes in denial. 

“Whatever. Thanks Jonghyun.” He says looking at Yoona “Thanks” he quickly says, signalling her to please hang up.

Yoona was in the midst of thinking about something else when he had briefly conveyed his gratitude.

“what did you just say?”

He takes his eyes off the road to look at her directly in the eyes.

“I said thank you.” He says, there is no hint of the usual sarcasm or impatience that he usually carries.

She is unsure whether it is how she is looking directly into his eyes or whether it is the fact that he is being courteous that throws Yoona off balance. Her emotions are held in temporary shock as she tries to ignore the quickened pacing of her heartrate.

she can only bring herself to mumble a “oh it’s nothing.”
***

Sooyoung walks by Yoona’s room and backtracks after spotting her troubled expression through the glass window.

She leans on the door, waiting for her to notice, but she does not until Yoona’s phone starts playing a solemn ringtone.

Yoona is a little startled, as her phone vibrates and distracts her from her previous reverie (or as it appeared, viewing of the blank now asleep monitor of her computer). As she picks up the call, it is Sooyoung

“You changed your ringtone.” Sooyoung simply states.

“yes I… how do”

“I’ve been standing here for probably 5 minutes.” Sooyoung says casually as she hangs up and speaks directly across the length of the office. She waits for Yoona’s signature apologetic smile. And she stops feigning irritation  and sits down patiently in the chair across from Yoona. She smiles ever so caringly across at Yoona that Yoona almost voices out her worries.

“Anything you need to tell me?”

At first Yoona avoids her gaze and stares back down at the paperwork on her desk.

“No.”

“well, you do realise you’ve been acting strangely recently.”

“have I?”

“Hyoyeon mentioned to me once, then Sunny tells me that you’re sometimes staring into the distance while she is arranging her flowers. But that’s not what worries her. It’s the look on your face. You looked so sad.”

“I’m not sad” Yoona says brightly, shaking her head in denial. “I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. That’s all.”

“Well, if you do need me, I am always here for you. You know that right?” Sooyoung says, searching for Yoona’s eyes and Yoona nods assertively.

“Thank you unnie.”

****

Yoona stares helplessly at the time on the clock. It is informing her that there is half an hour left to the scheduled appointment. One that she had been secretly dreading. She opens the file on her computer and stares at their names.

“Shim Chang...” she reads out without realising. Luckily she stops herself midway through the sentence.  “What are you doing Im Yoona?” Yoona scolds herself. She

Whether it was by chance or by coincidence, nobody knows but Yoona wishes to thank whatever this sudden incoming call was about, as soon as she hears her phone ringing. It at least gives her the hope she yearns for. Just when she picks up the call and presses the phone to her ear, Sooyoung knocks on Yoona’s door. Yoona gestures for her to come in, but Sooyoung just smiles, folds her arms and leans against the doorway.  

“Oh Yoona, thank gosh you picked up.”Hyoyeon says on the other end of the line.  

“what’s wrong?” Yoona’s voice is panic stricken after noticing the urgency in her colleague’s voice. Sooyoung attempts to ask Yoona nonverbally.

“We’re having the shoot for the Jeon wedding at Lotte, the backup dress doesn't fit.

“How can that be right? We’ve adjusted it and gave her leeway since the last fitting.”  

“Well… as you might have guessed, she’s gained weight and there’s one more thing, she’s starting to show …”

“What? She didn’t mention anything about being pregnant.”

“She’s saying stuff like, she’s scared if she lets too many people know the baby will get jealous which will lead to miscarriage. You know the traditional wife’s tales…”

Yoona stays silent, clenching and unclenching her hands.

“So should we reschedule?”

“No we can’t. Not if she’s showing. This can’t be pushed off any further. The mermaid won’t make her figure look flattering. Remember the first dress she tried on? The empire waist one? Do you remember whether you put the dress aside for her?”

“Yes I did. Naeun should know where it is…but nobody seems to be picking up.”  

“Everyone’s out at lunch at the moment…” Yoona looks anxiously at the time on her watch and bites her lips, looking at Sooyoung. Sooyoung gives her a nod of understanding. “Ok. Can you please send me the measurements and the code. I’ll try to make it there as soon as I can.”

Yoona hangs up on the call and walks over to Sooyoung to pat her on the arm and keeps it there.

“will you be fine?”

“it’s just building the concept. I think I can handle that.” 

“text me if you need anything. Thanks Unnie.” And with that she runs towards the gowns department, ignoring the discomfort of running in heels.

It only takes Yoona a few minutes to locate the dress, having remembered clearly the features of the bride and her wants. She rushes to her office to collect her bag. In the midst of the madness she remembers that she needs to ask Sooyoung to borrow her car.

Upon approaching Sooyoung’s office Yoona catches part of the conversation

“What do you see in Yeonhee?” Sooyoung begins with the first conversational prompt. Yoona hesitates outside the door and remains hidden, waiting for a response that take more than a few moments to come.

“Just a pretty face.” He says plainly. And Yoona is unsure whether he is starting to pick up on how to be coy with girls. She smiles slightly, pretending that she does not notice the heavy feeling that surrounds her.

****

 “So what do you see in yeonhee?” Sooyoung asks, directing the question to the groom-to-be.  Changmin glances briefly across to Yeonhee. She's good at acting. But Changmin is changmin. Always the nonchalant guy.

“Just a pretty face.” He says, earning a light slap on his arm from Yeonhee.

“Yah you don't see anything else?” She complains laughingly. “After all there are so many qualities.”

He looks over at Yeonhee with a questioning look. Yeonhee apologises while laughing embarrassedly.  He doesn’t miss the knock on the door, he had been looking in direction a few times since this briefing started. 

Changmin’s previously relaxed expression disappears and it is replaced with the unreadable one he always puts on whenever is guard is up.  

And he doesn’t remove his gaze from the new incomer. Yoona acknowledges them first, and bows after an apology.

Sooyoung does the explaining

“There’s a little unexpected mishap that occurred with one of the shoots. Yoona needs to run some errands for those clients.”

“Sorry. But SOoyoung unnie is completely capable of thinking of ideas for your photoshoot. So please don’t worry.”

“We’re not worried. Is everything ok?”

“yes everything is under control. Please excuse me.”

Sooyoung passes Yoona the key.

A few moments later, the sound of her heels disappear as she exits the office building. You can see her rushing outside, she passes Sooyoung’s office window. And as her heel gets caught in an unlevelled tile she trips and falls, landing on her knees.

Changmin was the first to notice, standing abruptly, not even waiting for Sooyoung or Yeonhee to register what had happened.

As he reaches outside, he finds her brushing down the garment bag of the wedding dress she is carrying. She seems to be disregarding the fact that her knees are bleeding, either that or she does not even realise yet.

Changmin takes a few steps closer albeit a little hesitant, he reaches out to support her up by the elbows. Yoona bites her lips and lifts herself limply. “thank…”

“Yoona!” Sooyoung calls out at the moment Yoona looks up to realise who had just helped her up. Surprised, she takes a step back away from him. And she turns to Sooyoung  

“oh unnie, luckily the dress is fine.” She says holding it up with a smile.

“that’s not what she’s asking.” Changmin cuts in, startling Yoona a little.

“Yoona ssi, you’re bleeding” Yeonhee bends to look at her knees. Yoona shies from the overwhelming amount of attention.

She looks down at her own legs. There is a graze, and it stings but she is able to hold it in.

“You need to get this disinfected.” Sooyoung says as Yeonhee agrees.

“no, I’ll be fine. I really need to get this to them, they’re waiting.”

“you can’t possibly be driving in this state right?” Changmin asks – and realises his tone sounded a bit too confronting.

“I…” Yoona remains silent for a bit, considering her chances.

“Yoona…” Sooyoung starts.

“I guess I won’t be driving then” Yoona says, covering it up with a forced laugh as Yoona returns Sooyoung’s key. Feeling the discomfort growing, Yoona finds the chance to dismiss herself. “I guess I need to hurry to catch a taxi.” She says. 

“please take care Yoona ssi.”

***

Yoona is too distracted by her own thoughts when she receives a text from Sooyoung.

[‘first met her on a rainy day. I guess… she managed to make an impression. – Mr Shim’

What do you think Yoona?]

His words somehow trigger a panorama of both memories and ideas. For some reason, she cannot seem to feel the usual warmth inside her as she thinks of it. Rather, there is a sense of misplaced discomfort? Pain? She cannot tell anymore and she is too tired to work it out.

She stares out of the car window, staring almost aimlessly out at the streetscape, the passing traffic and the weather outside. It is a fine day today, perfectly sunny – the sky a wonderful hue of blue.  

“rain.” She whispers under her breath and closes her eyes to lean back into the seat.

***

“So how did you meet her?”  

Yeonhee and Changmin exchange nervous glances. Then his gaze softens as he stares outside the window of the office.

“we met on a rainy day.”  He says without looking at anyone in particular. After a moment, he turns back to look at Yeonhee who stares at him with her head tilted. ‘we did?’ she asks nonverbally. There is an unnoticed tension in Yeonhee but luckily Changmin alleviates the situation with a teasing comment

“She managed to leave an impression. ” he says bluntly. Sooyoung types into her phone quickly, and sends it to Yoona. “but I think we can spare you the details.”

“But the weather wasn’t anywhere near as cold as him. “ Yeonhee smiles proudly at her own backhanded comment.

***

[That’s all he said. He said the rest of the details we don’t need to know. Yeonhee says he’s a very private person. Like we couldn’t tell right? So what do you think Yoona?]

Yoona stares at the text.

She draws out her sketch pad and begins with a few . It was a passive process, her sketching articulating the picture that is impressed into her mind. Yoona does not recall needing to think too hard about it all.

In the end she takes a photo of her finished product and sends it to Sooyoung with the caption ‘potential concept of the shoot’.

*** 

Sooyoung excuses herself from the conversation as her phone notifies her of the new message she received.

“Already?” Yeonhee exclaims in amazement. Changmin remains in his seat, and does not speak. 

Sooyoung receives a picturesque sketch of a couple standing in the rain. In the sketch, the couple is standing facing each other on the side of the street. The guy is stretching out his hand for the girl to take. The girl is about to reach out to take it.

“So what do you think of this concept?” Sooyoung asks as she passes the photo of the sketch over to the couple.

Yeonhee stares at it in admiration. She turns excitedly to Changmin who has a hand over his mouth. Taking his first look at it, he stays still, silent – looking almost distracted. 

To yield a response, Yeonhee pats his arm. He looks up curiously at her.

“what do you think about using this concept for our shoot?” Sooyoung watches as the couple study the drawing. There is a look of concentration lingering on Changmin’s face before he shrugs and breaks the silence. He turns to Yeonhee (who was already waiting eagerly for his response).

“well, if you like it, let’s go with it.”

“What do you mean if I like it? I love it.” Yeonhee says with a dazzling smile.

***

Yoona returns to the apartment that night and joins Sooyoung on the couch. She sits up immediately to look at her friends knees which are now carefully bandaged. 

“Did they reject it?” she asks tiredly.

“Of course not. Yeonhee loved it.” Sooyoung quickly replies as she bends over and stretches over her legs.

“Does that mean he didn’t like it?” Yoona carefully asks.

“Nope. He didn’t say anything.” Sooyoung replies in the midst of her stretching.

Yoona doesn’t respond. Sooyoung suddenly bounces back up into a sitting position.

“But he did seem oddly nice today.”

“What do you mean?”

“For example, he asked where you were.”

“Sounds like he was just questioning my professionalism”

“It sounded like genuine curiosity to me.” Sooyoung says, peeking at her curiously, waiting for her response. But Yoona does not reply.