Chapter 6: Give Me

We were in the car park in the basement of my office’s building. Jeong Hoon’s hands were on my hips as his lips roamed across my neck and down to my collar. We’d had a quick breakfast at the nearby Delifrance had ended up here right after that.

“Why did you have to wear a blouse with such a high collar today?” Jeong Hoon grumbled as he continued to kiss me.

“Cos I knew you’d want to do this?” I giggled. My blouse’s collar ended with ruffles above my collarbone and there was no way to unbutton it, save for taking off the whole blouse.

I climbed over to sit on top of Jeong Hoon, my legs straddling him from either side and I returned his kisses as he lay there in the seat, slowly dragging his hands down my back, across my butt and down to my thighs. Thank got my skirt had high slits.

“I have to go,” I whispered as I nibbled his earlobe.

“Not yet,” he groaned and guided my head so that our lips met.

“I really need to go, or Karyn will have my ass,” I said.

“Tell her… your ass is mine,” he laughed softly as he gave me another hard kiss before he pulled away.

“I don’t think she cares,” I said as I climbed back to my seat and started straightening out my outfit.

“Bitch,” he laughed.

“Yes…” I agreed as I reapplied my lipstick. “I’ll see you at lunch,” I said as I turned to look at him.

“Okay,” he smiled. I reach over to rub of some of my lipstick which has ended at the corners of his mouth.

“Love you,” I whispered.

“Saranghae,” he replied and leaned over to kiss me gently and slowly. “You’d better go before I get started again,” as he nibbled my lips before he pulled away.

“Yep,” I laughed as I opened the door.

I walked into the lobby feeling giddy from all the passion earlier. So giddy, that I didn’t notice Lee sonbae until I walked right into him. I felt myself losing balance, falling to the ground and I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact of it. That’s when he caught me by the waist and pulled me up. We were face to face and glued to each other from waist down. I could feel his breath fanning softly against my cheek and I blushed as soon as I realized the compromising position we were in.

“Choesonghamnida,” I said and quickly pulled away.

“No harm done,” he smiled. “Just be careful next time. Someone else might not have such quick reflexes,” he winked.

“Nae,” I bowed a little and I started walking really quickly towards the elevator. It was a little silly of me to do that in the first place, since he was going up too, and we’d definitely have to share an elevator.

“Did I scare you back there?” he asked as he fell into step beside me.

“Erm… no. Why do you say that?” I replied.

“You were running away from me,” he laughed softly.

“I was? No I wasn’t.”

“Then it must be your great enthusiasm in getting to work,” he smiled.

“Hmm?” I looked at him.

“You must be dying to get to your desk and start working,” he said.

“Oh… yea,” I smiled. This was getting a little too awkward for me. Sure I wasn’t one of his fans, but somehow, today, he’d managed to make my heart go pitter-patter. ‘It’s just the shock from almost falling!’ I told myself as I took a deep breath.

The elevator finally arrived and we descended the floors in silence. I heaved a sigh of relief when I arrived at my floor.

“See you later,” he smiled as I walked out.

“Later?” I repeated after him.

“The meeting, remember?” he smiled as the elevator doors closed.

Damn! I forgot about the meeting. I’ll have to cancel my lunch plans with Jeong Hoon today, since the meeting was a lunch meeting. I dumped my bags onto my desk and whipped out my phone to call him.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Jeong Hoon, I can’t have lunch with you and your cousin today,” I said.

“Why?”

“I have a lunch meeting.”

“Oh… dinner then?”

“I’ll call you later,” I said.

“Okay. I’ll be fine. Call me once you’re able to get off work.”

“Right! Love you,” I said. I sure used it a lot today. Must be my brain recognizing the permanence of Jeong Hoon in my life.

“Saranghae,” he said, and I could picture him smiling his sexy smile as he said it.

“Saranghae…” I heard Skye mimic as soon as I flipped my phone shut.

“Shuddup!” I said as I started to unpack my laptop from my bag.

“You sure turned him into a blob of mush,” Skye laughed. “I’ve never known Jeong Hoon to be so mushy and romantic during our school days.”

“Then I guess I’m what he’s been missing in his life,” I smiled.

“And why would you think that? The last thing a guy needs is a girl to turn him into a useless blob of mush. I’d rather stay a man and be without a woman.”

“I’ll be sure to tell your next target what you’d just said.”

“Hey… keep that between me and you. The ladies have me pegged as a sensitive male and I don’t need you ruining my rep for me.”

“Player,” I said as I turned on my laptop. Hundreds of emails popped up in my Inbox as soon as I logged on. I groaned as I started to go through them. With the concert and Fashion Week coming, I had my hands full. Mails from sponsors, event coordinators, fashion houses, I was swamped. I let out a loud sigh.

“Sighing so early in the morning?” Shoei said as he appeared beside me.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get on track with my work,” I whined.

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“I can’t even finish clearing my emails.”

“Clearing emails? There is a way to clear them all at once.”

“How? Show me.”

“Okay,” he said as he leaned between my and my laptop. He click on one of my emails in the list, hit CTRL+A to highlight all the mail, then hovered the mouse over the delete button. Before I could scream, he clicked it and the mails started to disappear.

“Shoei!!!” I screamed and he just laughed. “What did you do?” I exclaimed as I stared at the screen in shock.

“I cleared the mails away,” he laughed.

“I meant clear in the sense of reading them. Not deleting them!”

“Chill… They’re still saved in your recycling bin,” he laughed as he started clicking around my screen and the mails reappeared. “There you go.”

“Not funny,” I said as I hit his arm.

“You really need to relax. You’re so high-strung today.”

“Gah!!! Leave me alone!” I said.

“Okay, grumpy…” he laughed as he walked away.

I worked feverishly all morning until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up and saw Skye peering down at me.

“What?”

“It’s time for the meeting,” he reminded me.

“Oh…” I said as I stood up quickly and started gathering my stuff.

“What’s with you today?” Skye asked me.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so nervous and blur.”

“I’m just… not having a good day,” I said. It was a lame excuse. I had no explanation for why I felt like that today. It certainly wasn’t a bad day, but I wasn’t sure why I felt so unsettled.

“Not a good day?” Skye smirked. “I saw you and Jeong Hoon this morning. Not a good day?” he smiled knowingly.

“Where did you see us?” I asked him.

“In the parking lot,” he coughed and winked at me.

“Omigod!” I exclaimed. “You stalker!”

“Hey… who would missed his pimped out Mitsubishi. I’d recognized the license plate and walked over cos I saw that the engine was still on. As soon as I saw what you both were up to, I turned and walked away. I’m a gentleman. I don’t stare.”

“Fine… whatever… let’s go,” I said as we walked quickly towards the conference room.

Everyone was seated and waiting when we entered.

“Sierra-shi,” Karyn’s voice grated. “You had to be fashionably late hadn’t you?”

“She should be the Fashion Editor then,” Lee sonbae joked and everyone laughed. Despite Lee sonbae’s effort to lighten the mood, Karyn didn’t look amused.

“I’m sorry, I got carried away with my emails,” I explained.

“Don’t we all,” Karyn replied. “Let’s see your presentation.”

Shoei helped me hook up my laptop to the projector and I started my presentation. As soon as I finished, I looked at the senior editors, waiting for some input and comment. Finally, Karyn spoke.

“Redo it,” she said.

“I beg your pardon?” I said. I was in shock. Did she just ask me to redo weeks of research?

“Redo everything. This is utter rubbish!” she said as she looked at me challengingly.

What had I done in my past life to deserve a boss like her?

“Yes,” I sighed and just then, Lee sonbae cut in.

“I don’t think it needs to be redone,” he said.

“Why? Don’t you think it's all nonsense?” Karyn exclaimed, surprised that Lee sonbae defended me.

“It just needs improvement. Come see me after lunch, Sierra. I’ll help you fix it,” he said.

“Well…” Karyn huffed. “In that case, it’s your call. Meeting dismissed,” she said as she got up and left the room.

I packed up my stuff as everyone else filed out of the room. Lee sonbae just sat there and looked at me.

“Sierra,” he said.

“Yes?” I replied as I looked up.

“I think we should have lunch in my office. Come over with all your materials. I’ll get my secretary to order in some lunch,” he said.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you, Lee sonbae.”

“You won’t” he smiled as he got up. “Be in my office in 20 minutes,” he smiled as he walked out of the conference room.

Chapter 5: Patch It Up

“Jeong Hoon,” I exclaimed. “What are you doing?” He looked at me and his face darkened.

“Waiting for you, what do you think?” he said.

“Didn’t you say you were going home?”

“Would you forgive me if I did?” he said. I kept quite for I knew the answer to that question. He knew me well. He knew that if he wasn’t here now, I’d be pissed for the rest of the week. I opened the door and walked into the apartment without another word as he trailed after me.

“Have you eaten?” I asked him.

“Yea,” he replied curtly as he sat down on the sofa.

“I’m gonna have my dinner and I’ll be right out,” I said.

“Okay,” he said as he switched on the television.

I ate quickly and took a shower before I came back out to the living room. I didn’t think I would be able to pay attention to him while I was sweaty and grimy from my walk home from the bus stop. I walked into the living room and sat beside him, facing the television. We pretended to watch the television in silence for the next few minutes, or at least I did, and Jeong Hoon finally spoke.

“So are you going to hear me out?” he asked.

“Mm…” I murmured, not looking at him. He turned off the television and adjusted himself so that his body faced me.

“The girl who called yesterday… she’s my cousin,” he said.

“So why couldn’t you just tell me that when I asked?”

“I was panicking myself because she wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“What do you mean?”

“She sort of ran away from home,” he explained.

“How old is she?”

“She’s only 17.”

“So what are you going to do about her?”

“I’ve called her parents to inform them that she’s safe with me. I’ll let her stay a couple of days before I try to persuade her to go home.”

“And meanwhile, who’s entertaining her when you’re at work?”

“I’ve taken the day off tomorrow to bring her sight-seeing. You want to come along?”

“If you’d told me earlier, I could’ve taken the day off tomorrow. It’s too late now.”

“No problem, I’ll be fine. I can show her around myself.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed as I suddenly remembered. “If you didn’t know she was coming, why did she say that you were supposed to pick her up?”

“She sent me a text message before she boarded the plane in Korea. I didn’t see it until after her phone call that morning,” he reasoned as he took my hand. “You doubt me?”

“Mian,” I said as I leaned over into his arms and he put his arms around me. “You have to admit it was pretty sudden. Any concerned girlfriend would behave like that.”

“Mian,” he whispered and kissed my hair. “I’ll be quicker at explaining stuff the next time.”

“So where are you taking her?”

“Shopping,” he sighed. “Where else?”

“You can meet me for lunch,” I suggested. “I’d like to meet your cousin.”

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll call you when we arrive. I’ll pick you up.”

“Okay,” I smiled. I pulled away from him and stood up. “You’d better go home,” I said.

“Chasing me away?” he grinned.

“No… it’s late and you’ve not showered and stuff.”

“Araso, I’ll go now,” he smiled. “Naeil payo,” he said and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

“Is that all I get?” I said, pretending to be annoyed. “That’s what you call a make-up kiss?”

“Mian,” he said and he pulled me to him and kissed me slowly. I put my arms around him, not caring that he’d been out the whole day and had not showered. We pulled away sometime later and I noticed his eyes looked like they were half-closed.

“Are you sleepy?” I asked him.

“Nah,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Just felt so comfortable that I could just relax and fall asleep.”

“I make you sleepy?” I asked him.

“No,” he said, putting his arm around me and dragging me along as he walked to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said and he kissed me again before walking off.

Danae came back an hour later, with Dong Wook in tow.

“Where did you go?” I asked her.

“We went to the opening night of this new play. Hossan Leong was hilarious!” she grinned.

“I don’t know what she sees in him,” Dong Wook sighs.

“She has weird tastes,” I replied.

“Hey… are you trying to imply that I’m weird?” Dong Wook asked me.

“Hmm… maybe you are,” I laughed as I walked into my room and closed the door.

I turned on my laptop and began my nightly ritual of scouring the internet for the latest news on TVXQ. I’m not some stalker fan, mind you. This is research… so that I will be prepared when I interview them at Sentosa. I stared at Jae Joong’s photo, the one taken for the Prince in Prague photo book. He looked mesmerizing as usual. I could drown myself in those eyes of his. How could someone look so gorgeous all the time? How could someone have that kind of intensity in his eyes all the time? I flipped my laptop shut at 11pm. Time for bed. As I snuggled against my bolster under the covers, I imagined myself hugging Jae Joong.

My phone rang and I opened one eye to peek at it. It didn’t sound like my alarm. I looked at the time on my radio clock; it’s too early for my alarm to ring.

“Hello,” I mumbled into the phone as I flipped it open.

“Sierra, you awake?” Jeong Hoon asked.

“What do you think?” I said as I yawned and stretched.

“Do you wanna go for breakfast together?” he asked. What’s up with him? Feeling guilty?

“Breakfast? We’ve never had breakfast on a week day,” I don’t get down that easily :P

“Have you forgotten?” he said.

“Forgotten what?”

“It’s been a year already.”

“A year? A year of what?”

“Gawd!!! You’re so dense in the morning,” he said, exasperated. “It’s been one year since we’ve met!”

“Oooh…” I giggled. “Mian.”

“I’m not gonna do the remembering for our next anniversary,” he complained. I could almost imagine him pouting as he said that.

“You think we're gonna last that long?” I teased.

“Yaah!! What are you getting at?”

“Mian,” I laughed. “I’ll get dressed. Come pick me in half an hour.”

“Ppali,” he said.

“Araso,” I replied and hung up.

30 minutes later, I stood at the gates of the condo’s compound waiting for Jeong Hoon. I was dressed in a feminine blouse adorned with lace and a simple pencil skirt. I decided that today since today was a special day, I was allowed a new pair of shoes. I happily unearthed my new pair of kitten-heeled ballet shoes that I bought a few weeks ago. They felt wonderfully comfortable. It pays to pay more because my feet didn’t feel pinched and I didn’t feel any blisters coming. Jeong Hoon pulled up minutes later in his pimped out Mitsubishi. I remember when he first got that car. I was wondering if I’d dated the wrong guy. I hadn’t imagined him to be like that. I thought that he’d just buy a nice, classic European car.

“Hello,” I smiled as I got in. I reached over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and turned to put on my seatbelt.

“That’s all I get?” he asked.

“You’ll get more, later,” I winked.

“I’d better,” he laughed as we pulled out onto the main road.

Chapter 4: First Craze

“Sierra-shi… were you late today?” Karyn’s voice grated like nails on a blackboard.

“No, Karyn. I was on time.”

“Good. We wouldn’t want to be late on our first day as an editor.”

“Is there anything else, Karyn? I have a meeting in 10 minutes.”

“Yes, your first huge assignment,” she said as she dumped a thick file in front of me. “It’s an upcoming concert to be held on Sentosa. We expect you to cover it. You’re allowed to bring a partner.”

I flipped through the file and scanned through the artistes invited. Wang Lee Hom, Guang Liang, Wu Yue Tian, Edison Chen, Eru, Bada… and my heart stopped in my chest… TVXQ! I struggled to maintain my composure. “Erm… I’ll be sure to do a good job. Can I go now?”

“Yes,” she said and immediately turned to face her laptop.

I dashed out of her room to my cubicle. I sat down and I started to flip though the file again. Were my eyes deceiving me? Lee Hom, Guang Liang, Wu Yue Tian… I chanted in my mind as I flipped through. And there they were again, right after Bada. TVXQ! I stared at their photo; it was the one on the Version B of their 3rd album, the one where they all looked dangerous and manly. Can I scream? I want to scream with joy! And I did. Immediately, Skye’s head popped up from his cubicle.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with a shocked expression. “Did you get your period or something?”

“No!” I said, apalled. Sometimes Skye could be really crude.

“Then what is it? People are going to think you’re nuts.”

“TVXQ’s coming!!” I squealed in excitement.

“Where? Here? Our office?”

“No, silly. I’m covering the concert they’re gonna perform in.”

“Concert? Can I come? Who else is on the list of performers?”

“Your favourite, Bada,” I said and mischievously added, “I’m allowed a partner, and I’m not bringing you with me.”

“Sierra-yah…” Skye said as he came over to my cubicle. “Please take me with you! Chebal!!” he wailed and he shook my arm.

“We’ll have to see if you behave yourself for the rest of the week,” I winked.

“Aaahhh… Sierra-yah… You’re so evil.”

“What’s going on?” Shoei said he walked over.

“This girl…” Skye started.

“What about me?” I said as I batted my eyelashes.

“What’s with the screaming just now?” Shoei asked.

Just in case I’ve not described the two of them, they’re both tall and have great figures, but I’m not interested. Shoei’s a little darker than Skye since he loved to surf. Shoei reminds me of Hyde from L’arc en Ciel, the Japanese band with a hint of Takeshi Kaneshiro going on. He wears a pair of thick framed glasses to work. He’s serious to the point of being able to have a straight face, a deathly serious face, even when he was obviously cracking a joke. We’d laugh our heads off after he was done and he’d just smile. He had a mysterious smile, so it’s no wonder that he was one of the most revered guys in the office, apart from Lee Min Woo sonbae. Skye? Skye’s like part Won Bin with those eyes of his and the rest of his face fulfills the prerequisites of being a Korean pretty boy; the nose, the bone structure down to the jaw line. However, because he didn’t maintain an air of mystery about him and was almost too approachable, he wasn’t the most popular, but he still had his fair share of fans.

“Her idols are coming to town,” Skye sniffed. “So is Bada…”

“I’m going to cover a concert and TVXQ are performing in it.”

“Your dream come true,” Shoei smiled. Everyone knew about my obsession with TVXQ.

“Can you believe it?” I beamed at Shoei.

“Right, great, calm down… you’re gonna get a stroke,” he laughed.

During lunch, Jeong Hoon called while I was happily eating my pasta.

“What do you want?” I said in a surly tone as soon as I flipped the phone open.

“Sierra-yah,” he drawled sweetly, obviously trying to be cute. “You’re not still upset, are you?”

“That’s an understatement,” I said. “What do you want? I’m in the middle of lunch.”

“Will I see you tonight?” he asked.

“I thought you were busy with your fiancée from Korea,” I replied.

“She’s not my fiancée,” he said. “Stop acting like that.”

“Then who is she?” I half yelled into the phone. Several people in the restaurant started looking at me.

“Pipe down,” Shoei hissed at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

“I’ll tell you everything tonight, I just wanted to know if you had time to meet me tonight,” he said. He was starting to sound a little impatient, but I didn’t care. I was still hurt.

“Whatever,” I said and I flipped my phone shut before he could say anything.

“Can you not do that in public?” Shoei said as soon as I’d hung up on Jeong Hoon.

“Do what?” I said innocently.

“Make a scene,” Shoei said sternly. He was the kind of guy who liked to be inconspicuous and yet he possessed an aura which demanded everyone to look at him. It was truly ironic.

“I’m not making a scene,” I defended myself.

“No, you’re just making noise,” Skye snorted.

“Shuddup, Skye,” I said and made a face at him.

We were back at the office within the hour and bumped into Lee sonbae on our way up. I just keep bumping into him all day.

“Where did you guys go?” Lee sonbae asked.

“This Italian place nearby,” Skye replied.

“The one beside the Vietnamese restaurant about a block away?”

“That’s the one,” Skye smiled.

“I was there yesterday, they served great appetizers,” Lee sonbae said.

“We didn’t really have time for appetizers,” I said.

“Has Karyn been on your cases for having long lunches again?” he asked.

“Nah… we just prefer not to aggravate her,” Shoei replied.

“She’s a capable woman. She just doesn’t know how to be nice, that’s all,” Lee sonbae laughed.

“See ya, Lee sonbae,” Skye said as the elevator doors opened on our floor.

“See ya,” Shoei and I said as we waved at Lee sonbae and walked out.

It was 7pm. There was so much to do today that I’d been glued to my laptop ever since we came back from lunch.

“You’re not leaving yet?” Shoei stood beside my desk. He’d his laptop bag slung over his shoulders, ready to leave.

“In a moment,” I said as I continued to reply a mail.

“Do you want me to wait for you? I’ll walk you to your bus stop,” he offered.

“I’ll be fine. You go on ahead,” I looked up and smiled at him.

“If you say so,” he said and turned to walk off.

“Bye,” I called after him, and he raised an arm in response, without turning back.

I continued to type for another half hour, and my mobile phone rang. It was Jeong Hoon. I scowled at his caller ID before I answered.

“Wae?” I said, grumpily.

“Open up!” he said.

“What?”

“I’m at your door and I’ve been ringing the bell for ages. Are you in the shower?” he asked.

“No, I’m still at work,” I said.

“What?” he yelled and added some expletives.

“Hey! Don’t use that sort of language on me!” I yelled back at him. “You didn’t tell me what time you planned to go to my house and you didn’t bother to call before going to my house either.”

“Are you coming back?” he asked me, and he still sounded pissed.

“I’m leaving in a moment,” I replied.

“I’ll come pick you up,” he said.

“It’s gonna take you like half an hour to get here,” I complained.

“Fine! Get home yourself!” he yelled and hung up on me.

I stared at the phone. What was up with him? Was he going through hormonal changes?

I packed up and left within the next 15 minutes. It was a bit past 9pm by the time I’d gotten my takeaway dinner and reached home. As I walked out the elevator, I saw a figure crouched in front of my apartment’s door.

Chapter 3: Obsessions

5 minutes later, Jeong Hoon emerged from the bathroom.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked him through gritted teeth.

“Mian,” he said as he kissed me on the cheek. “I’ve no time to explain now. I’ll call you tonight,” and he walked out of my room.

I finally get the job I want, live in the apartment I want and now there is the possibility that my boyfriend is cheating on me. So much for the first day of my supposedly new life. I walked out of my room and found Danae and Dong Wook eating their cereal in front of the TV.

“Where did John Hoon run off to?” Danae asked.

“I have no idea. Some girl called and off he ran,” I sighed. “I see you’ve got the TV hooked up.”

“Dong Wook needs his weekly dose of cartoons,” Danae said and Dong Wook kicked her feet playfully.

“I’m going back to sleep,” I said and I went back to my room to lie on my bed. I couldn’t sleep. Who the hell was that girl? Why couldn’t Jeong Hoon take 1 minute to explain her to me? I decided to surf the Internet since I couldn’t get back to sleep. Thank god I had the sense to hookup my broadband before I moved in. I could never survive without the Internet. It was my source of entertainment. I would spend hours surfing on all the things that interested me. The latest clothes and accessories, the latest chick lit available and of course, the endless stream of celebrity news, especially those concerning my favorite Korean band, TVXQ!

My obsession with TVXQ began more than two years ago, when I happened to watch their performance at the MKMF awards. They were singing Tri-Angle and they were dressed in their gothic inspired outfits. The first member I noticed was U-Know Yun Ho because he was the most boyish looking of the bunch. On a trip to Hong Kong, I bought their first album and listened to it every single day. When their second album was finally released, my attention shifted to Hero Jae Joong. I’d seen him in their Japanese music video for the song My Destiny from the album Heart, Mind and Soul, which I’d bought when I found that Rising Sun was not available at that moment, and I’ve started to fall for his beautiful face. Don’t get me wrong, beautiful he may be, but he is every inch a man, in my opinion. Ever since their release of the third album last year, I’ve been continuously obsessed with every bit of information regarding their work and their lives and this obsession did not sit well with Jeong Hoon.

“They’re younger than you are!!” he once said.

“Lots of women date younger men. Besides, Jae Joong is technically only 2 years younger than I am. That’s not such a big difference,” I said defiantly.

“Yes… and their taller, they’re much more muscular, they sing better, they dance better, did I miss anything out?”

I could see he was upset and I felt a teensy bit sorry for upsetting him. I walked over and hugged him and whispered in his ear, “You missed something.”

“What?” he said in a surly tone.

“You’re here, and they’re not,” and I kissed him.

Sometimes I wonder, where does the fantasy stop and where does real life begin. Call it wishful thinking, or you can even say I’m mad. Sometimes, I’d want to meet them so much that I’d conjure up images of them in my head and I’d imagine they’re right in front of me. The closest I’ve ever been to them is at their first concert in Malaysia. Pretty sad, eh? And sometimes, I really want an opportunity to at least communicate with them, or get their attention. But I’m not brave like those girls who crowd at the airport with banners, screaming at the top of their lungs and trying to rush forward to get a glimpse or touch them. Would they really notice someone in a crowd? Or a crowd is simply a sea of faces to them. And because I don’t know enough Korean, I miss out on info only Korean fans would know; like how to post on their official site or read their special messages to Cassiopeia.

Cassiopeia… At times, it irks me when they only thank Cassiopeia whenever they made a speech. I’m not a member of their official fan club. But that sure the hell doesn’t mean that I love them any less. It just isn’t convenient to sign up here. Or maybe I just haven’t tried hard enough. Oh well, enough with the bitterness. All TVXQ fans unite! Cassiopeia or not, we have one thing in common; that is our love and support for them. How I wish I could tell them in person someday.

Jeong Hoon never called and Sunday quickly came to an end. Before I knew it, I’d spent the whole day in front of the PC amassing thousands of bytes of TVXQ photos and videos. Jeong Hoon would have a fit if he saw this, but at this moment, I couldn’t care less. He was the one who disappeared without a word. I’m not about to feel guilty for all that I’ve done today. By the time I went to bed that night, he still hadn’t called. I’m so ready to murder him.

The next morning, I woke up as soon as my alarm rang. My first day as editor of the entertainment section at ‘Hot!’ I looked at my mobile phone and sure enough, there was a message from Jeong Hoon.

‘Miss u baby! <3 CU 2nite.’

I flipped my phone shut. I wasn’t going to reply his message. After what he did yesterday, he’d better come prepared to grovel tonight. I got up and started flipping through my closet. What shall I wear today? Not too formal, not too casual. I’m an editor now. I need to exude some professionalism but not seem like I’m trying too hard. I finally decided on a pair of grey slacks, a peach colored three quarter sleeved, round-necked top with a colorful knitted vest on top. I showered quickly and got dressed. Then I started putting on my makeup. The truth is I hardly wear any makeup; apart from a dusting of loose powder, eye liner, mascara and lipstick. I prefer to look as natural as possible as opposed to caking on makeup on my face.

I walked out of my room and started to make my breakfast. Danae emerged from her room after as I was walking out the door. Her job at the recording studios was more flexible than mine. If she didn’t have an appointment in the morning, she’d usually sleep in.

“I’m leaving,” I said and closed the door. As I descended in the elevator, I hooked up my MP3 player and plugged it into my ears. Call me a traitor, but these days, FTTS is all I listen to. TVXQ are my main eye candy though. I crossed the highway which separated me from the bus stop on the other side. It was about 7:45am and there were at least 7 people already waiting at the bus stop. My bus finally arrived and I cursed when I saw that it was full. I’ll probably have to stand all the way to the office today. Standing is such a physically taxing activity at such early hours in the morning.

I reached the office one hour later. After purchasing my daily cup of latte from Coffee Bean on the ground floor, I went into the elevator and hit the button for my floor. In the elevator with me was our chief editor, Lee Min Woo. I might not have mentioned this, but ‘Hot!’ was a Korean owned magazine and it had originated from Korea. Due to that fact, most of the senior positions at ‘Hot!’ were held by Koreans such as himself. He’s only 27 year old and that’s a pretty young to be a chief editor. We keep an almost informal culture at ‘Hot!’ Therefore when we met seniors like him, we’d just call him sonbaenim (senior).

“Lee sonbaenim,” I greeted him as I entered the elevator.

“Ah, Sierra. First day as an editor, I heard,” he winked. Lee sonbaenim was always full of charisma. It didn’t hurt that he had a hot body to boot. All the girls at the office fawn over him whenever he walks by. The bolder ones are always popping into his office and asking him if he needs a drink or a snack. If they keep this up, he’s going to lose his fit body and the adoration of his fans.

“Ne, sonbaenim,” I acknowledged him.

“Nervous?” he asked.

“Anieyo, sonbaenim,” I replied.

“Hmm… you seem to be a one liner,” he laughed.

“Ne?”

“Every question I’ve asked you, you replied with a short sentence.”

“Mianhamnida,” I said.

“There you go again,” he laughed. “Do I scare you?”

“Anieyo, sonbaenim.”

“Well, you’d better learn to speak in longer sentences. You seem so different today, compared to the girl I saw during the presentation last week. It was your great communication skills that got you this position. So be sure to use it well,” he smiled and oozed with charisma as he did.

“Erm… actually, the reason I have not much to say is because I’ve not had my morning coffee,” I smiled as I held up my cup.

“Oh! I see. I don’t blame you. On a bad day, I’ll need my second cup before I can think straight.”

“This is me,” I said as the elevator doors opened. Lee sonbaenim’s office is on the floor above mine.

“I’ll see you around,” he smiled and waved as the elevator doors closed, the kind of wave where he only stuck out his index and middle finger.

“Was that Lee sonbaenim?” the receptionist on my floor squealed as soon as I turned around.

“Yes, it’s him,” I rolled my eyes. Groupies…

“You got to ride in the same elevator as he did!!! How lucky are you? I bet you’ll have a great day today,” she continued squealing.

“Right…” I drawled as I walked in. As soon as I put my bag down on my desk, Skye popped up from the cubicle behind me.

“Yo!” he said.

“Stop popping up like that,” I glared at him. “I almost spilled my latte.”

“Mian,” he smiled. “So how was your weekend?”

“Don’t ask,” I said as I started to toss the files on my desk aside to make room for my coffee and laptop.

“Aah… lovers’ quarrel,” Skye laughed.

“It’s all your fault,” I pointed at him.

“And why is it my fault?” he asked, pretending to look hurt.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You introduced Jeong Hoon to me.”

“And you should thank me,” he said. “Isn’t he like the hottest guy you’ve ever dated?”

“I’ve dated plenty of hot guys, thank you.”

“Well… they didn’t last as long as he did, did they?” he smirked.

“Wipe that expression off your face!” I said as I sat down and turned on my laptop.

“So what happened?” he asked as he came over to lean on my table.

“Some girl called yesterday, looking for her Jeong Hoon oppa.”

“And?”

“He didn’t explain who the girl was.”

“Hmm… okay. That was wrong of him.”

“Thank you.”

“Is he planning to tell you?”

“I wouldn’t know. Why don’t you ask him?”

“I will,” Skye smiled. “Now don’t get upset or your pretty face will get wrinkled.”

“Who’s wrinkled?” a voice came from behind us. It was Shoei.

“No one,” I said as I started to scroll through my email. Shoei was one-third of our group at the office. As you might have figured, Skye and Shoei are my closest friends at work. On the first day of work, none of the girls wanted to have lunch with me and till this day, I didn’t know why. Even though they’ve warmed to me and we’re all friends now, but my lunch group and sometimes weekend party group consists of me, Skye and Shoei. Before I forget, Shoei works in our IT department, maintaining our website. He’s from Japan.

“Karyn wants to see you,” Shoei said as he picked up my latte and took a sip.

“What about?” I asked him. Karyn was one of the senior editors and bitch with a capital ‘B’.

“Maybe she wants to congratulate you on your promotion?” Skye said and he’d meant that to be funny. Karyn and I were never on good terms. Before my promotion, she was always on my case and her favorite thing to do was to publish my mistakes for all to see during departmental meetings. Lucky for us, we had another senior editor, Jae Hee, who was sane and not a bitch. She would come to our rescue most of the time.

“Sierra-shi,” Karyn sang from her office. She had this annoying high-pitched voice that made our hairs stand whenever she spoke.

“You’d better go,” Shoei said as he walked off to his cubicle.

“Coming…” I groaned and started walking to Karyn’s office like my shoes were filled with lead.