Without a Heart; chapter 1
C H A P T E R 01
It was cool today.
Watching the morning sun come up a little later than usual from his bedroom window, Kim Heechul remained expressionless as he buttoned up his shirt. His short hair, freshly washed and blown dried, swept across his brow over his mature eyes that gazed into the distance. His once soft hands had hardened from the last 3 years of work, where since then his reputation as a nationally renowned architect had quietened down. However, Heechul continued to work harder than he had before.
Straightening the collar of his shirt, he wrapped the tie carelessly around his neck. Turning back around to the bed, he paid no attention as a young woman sat with her back to him, quietly slipping on the white party dress she had worn the night before. She preened her long hair over her left shoulder, taking this opportunity to steal a glance at him. Heechul ignored her alluring gaze, sat down on the other side of the bed to put on his watch. He felt thin fingers run up his back and placing themselves around his shoulder as the girl leaned her lips at his ear. He could smell the faint scent of alcohol from her breath.
“Did you sleep well?” she whispered to him. Heechul nodded.
“I slept well,” he replied stoically. The girl smiled that he responded, but he then stood up, pushing her off. He turned and looked down at her while fixing his tie.
“I have to go to work in a little while,” he told her. “You do too?”
The girl blinked, then quickly fixed her hair again, looking flustered.
“Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat loudly to sound casually. She got up from the bed and reached for her purse and stilettos. “I should get going.” She turned towards the door before stopped again for a few seconds. She glanced back at Heechul. “Heechul-sshi, give me a call when you want to get together, okay?”
Heechul stared blankly, knowing very well he’d most likely never see her again, but he managed a smile.
“Yeah, I’ll call you,” he lied. The girl smiled and went out through Heechul’s bedroom door, closing it behind her. Heechul nonchalantly turned around to the mirror on the wall.
Since it was around 8:00, the time when most of the people in the house would be awake, the girl moved quickly and lightly in order to prevent any kind of noise. She bit her lip and tried multitask by slipping on one of her shoes. On the way to the door, she stopped at the kitchen table to hold onto for support, cursing softly to herself as the shoe refused to stay put.
“Hello,” a deep male voice came.
The girl looked up to find another man standing before her in the kitchen, his hair was still slightly messy from waking up. He was holding a newspaper in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. He had an amused look on his face through his black-rimmed glasses, as if hardly surprised to see her. The girl stumbled as her hand leapt off the table, almost losing her balance. She chuckled nervously, bowing deeply.
“Hello,” she laughed, bowing as she moved past him. “I was just leaving now.” The man smiled faintly as he watched her.
“The door’s that way,” he said, pointing with his finger.
“Thanks,” she said with a forced smile. “Goodbye!” She quickly ran off, barefoot, and slipped through the front door.
With a closing snap, the man chuckled to himself and shook his head. He set the coffee cup down at the spot where the girl had leaned on, his eyes boring the front page of the newspaper as he sat down.
A creak and snap of another door indicated to him without even having to look that Heechul had come out of his room. He sipped his coffee.
“That one looked pretty young,” he remarked. Heechul plucked a piece of toast from the toaster and set it down on a plate on the table. He grabbed the tub of butter and a bread knife beside it.
“Underage girls aren’t my thing, Jay hyung,” Heechul said with a sigh, sitting down. “And you know I’m not stupid.” He grabbed a knife and started spreading a generous amount onto the bread. He looked over at the coffee machine next to the sink, and it was empty. Heechul shot the man across the table an annoyed glare. “You couldn’t save me a cup of coffee?”
Jay merely shrugged.
“You better make sure none of your one-night stands walk around when my son comes over,” he said, looking up from the paper for the first time with flashing eyes.
“Of course,” Heechul said reassuringly. “I promise there will be no girls.”
Although only a year apart, Heechul had much respect for Jay. Usually the persistent nagging he got from his older brother about his dramatic lifestyle annoyed Heechul over the years, but now he was amused to find Jay incredibly tolerable when actually living with him.
Jay had moved into Heechul’s house 5 weeks earlier after a court case for his pending divorce from his wife of 3 years. A lot of things had happened in the past few months that caused Heechul’s admiration for Jay to shatter. Although still harvesting some hostility to the cause of the separation on Jay’s part, Heechul came to accept what happened and looked on instead with sympathy, for the sake of his family.
The antagonism between Jay and his wife had cooled down thanks to the separation, but both sides had suffered greatly, Heechul knew too well. He got up obediently without a complaint and went to make some more coffee.
A crash from the other side of the house caught both Heechul and Jay’s attention. It sounded as if something heavy had run straight into the wall, dropping whatever they were holding, tripping over and rolling down the stairs and smashing down onto the ground. They heard a loud curse and feet scattering to pick up the fallen items. Jay had the coffee cup an inch to his lips before the youngest of the family burst in, hardly able to catch his breath.
“Yah, Kim Kyu!” Heechul shouted, slamming shut the cupboard door. “Take it easy!”
“Sit down and eat first, Kyuhyun ah,” Jay said in a softer manner. Kyuhyun silently shook his head as he sat down in a chair, his bag on his lap. He frantically threw everything in his arms in, at the same time grabbing Heechul’s untouched jam toast and shoving it in his mouth.
“I’m really late today!” Kyuhyun exclaimed. Jay reached over to his head and pinched out a few beads of hair gel Kyuhyun had missed.
“I thought you said you had an exam this week,” Heechul said, swiping the empty plate away. Kyuhyun almost choked as he attempted to swallow the mouthful of toast all at once.
Kyuhyun was the youngest of the brothers, an enthusiastic college student of 23. Unlike Jay, he had lived with Heechul for the past 2 years because of a transfer to a closer campus for his courses. Kyuhyun was surprisingly bright for his distracted nature, both Heechul and Jay had become concerned with his lack of attention on his homework and getting to class on time over the years, yet he managed to continuously get good grades. He was currently studying mythology and folklore, and they were proud that at least he showed a lot of interest in that area, despite having given up on Journalism, the career path they had all hoped he would take. Even though Kyuhyun was good-natured and handsome, his brothers were concerned about his strange hobbies of carrying out unusual experiments for trial and error rather than memorizing the results from the textbooks his professors had given him. Kyuhyun remarked that it was too boring that way. This made Heechul and Jay worry that he might not ever want to find a girlfriend and settle down. Or move out.
Swallowing the last of the toast, Kyuhyun shot out of his seat and darted to the door, almost slamming right into it. He opened the door only 10 inches and slithered outside. Another crash echoed through the house and the remaining brothers heard the neighbour ahjumma shout at Kyuhyun for running into her bushes. Kyuhyun’s voice apologized loudly and then shouted at a bus in the distance, and as Jay and Heechul assumed he would run after the moving bus, his voice eventually faded away.
Jay took another sip of his coffee and turned back to his paper.
“He’s going to be living with you until he’s 40,” he muttered. Heechul was still watching the door, his expression in dismay. He just downed the rest of his coffee, exhaling sharply. He placed the cup neatly next to the sink and picked up his jacket.
“I’m going to go now,” he said, patting Jay’s shoulder. He peered over to see that Jay was looking at the jobs section. Heechul let out a frustrated sigh and tried to pull the paper away. “Don’t worry about that today, hyung.” Jay stubbornly took it back.
“I’m fine,” he said firmly.
“Just get some rest, there’s no rush for you to find a job.”
Due to the circumstances of his situation, Jay had to quit his job. It had been almost 5 weeks since he went to work, recovering from the emotional impact and not being able to see his son. Jay was beginning to feel guilty of basically living off Heechul.
“It’s not like they’ll hire me straight away,” Jay said, spreading the paper out on the table. He stared down at it, shrugging like it was nothing. “I’ll just go in for an interview.”
“You collapsed from pneumonia last week,” Heechul reminded him. He raised an eyebrow when he didn’t get a response or reaction. “Who was the one who had to drive you to the hospital?” Jay emitted a defeated sigh and took off his glasses.
“Okay, fine,” he resigned, running a hand through his hair. Heechul grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder. He quickly slipped on his jacket.
“Do you want pizza tonight?” he asked as he grabbed the rest of his stuff. Jay nodded without looking at him. “Okay, I’ll see you tonight.”
Jay waved his hand, more or less as if he was shooing a child, and Heechul went out.
The spring was here. Not too cold, not too warm, just right. Most people loved this time or year, where the air was fragrant with the scent of newly arrived flowers, as well as the song of the birds returning from the winter. Since he remembered he left his car at work the day before, Heechul decided to take his motorcycle and pick it up rather than take Jay’s car, in case Jay would want to use it. Pulling himself onto the seat, he suddenly felt fatigued again after the ruckus with his family. He sat still, his eyes on the handle, where even now he could make out a hand print way back from the time when he was careless enough to hold it with his bare sweaty hands.
It was spring again. It was March again, when everything around him reminded him of Boa.
Heechul heaved a sigh, reaching for his helmet and putting it on without a second thought.
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Burning. All she could see was burning.
The flames licked at her sides, etching through her flesh as if someone was ripping through it with a blunt knife. Everywhere she looked, there was red. Everywhere she turned, there was red.
She let out a scream but nothing came out, only the feeling of her chest compressing together with each breath she let out, her ribcage being crushed, unable to draw in any air that it felt like her body would implode. Her eyes watered, the smoke searing her brain that she couldn’t move any part of her body.
It hurt when she moved, it hurt when she didn’t move. Something sizzled against her cheek when she realized a tear had rolled down from the corner of her eye.
Pain… so much pain. But she couldn’t pass out, she couldn’t even waver into unconsciousness and die painlessly, only to be forced to stay awake as her skin and meat were eaten away by the fire, her lungs suffocating as everything enveloped her…
“Yah, Ahn Sohee!!”
Sohee jolted upwards on her mattress, hitting her head on the wooden bed frame. She let out a groan and rubbed her head, opening one eye to check around.
Immediately, she came face-to-face with a pair of enormous eyes, giving her a shock. She jumped up out of reflex, hitting her head again on the top bunk. The visitor was also very shocked at this sudden move.
“Hey, be careful!!” she exclaimed, reaching out to touch Sohee’s head as she brought her gaze around to face her. Still sleepy-eyed, Sohee yawned and shuffled out from under the bunk onto the floor with her cousin.
Sunmi was the same age as Sohee. They had been living together since the fire 3 years ago, that killed Sohee’s father and left her an orphan. Sohee now resided with her father’s younger sister and her daughter, sleeping in the room that once belonged to only Sunmi. The bunk beds had been a recent instalment, where in last few years before Sohee had spent taking turns with Sunmi sleeping in the one bed and on the floor, sometimes even sharing the bed despite Sunmi’s mother saying no.
Unlike Sunmi, Sohee’s aunt was strict and much colder towards her, berating her often because of her existence in the house had taken away several of Sunmi’s comforts. Sohee also had the impression that she was not keen on taking her in at the death of her father, whom Sohee knew her aunt was extremely close to. All in all, however, Sohee was still a member of the family.
Sunmi hugged her Mimi doll in her arms as if it were a precious puppy, smiling at Sohee with bright and alert eyes.
“Are you feeling okay?” she asked. Sohee subconsciously touched the side of her back with her hand, ignoring a burning sensation she got every morning and responded with a nod and smile.
“Just a bad dream,” she muttered. Sohee sighed and stood up from the floor, tying up her long black hair into a ponytail. Sunmi stood up as well as searched through the pocket of her shorts with her free hand, the other still holding her Mimi doll. She pulled out a bottle of pills and held it out to Sohee. Sohee looked at it questionably, but was met with a smile.
“I refilled your prescription for you,” Sunmi said proudly. “Since I figured you shouldn’t miss any intakes for your next checkup.” She widened her eyes with a look to tell Sohee to take it. “Come on, you want my mom to yell at you for another 2 hours for forgetting to take your medicine?”
Sohee rolled her eyes and took the pills, opening them straight away and popping two into her mouth. She quickly picked up a bottle of water beside the bed and took a swig. Sohee glanced at her cousin, still hugging the Mimi doll while looking at the mirror on the closet. Sohee scoffed.
“Yah, you're turning 19!” she exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her. “Shouldn’t you throw that thing away, the hair’s gone all mouldy or something.” Sunmi just ignored her, still playing with the doll like a little girl. Sohee sighed loudly and began to get ready for school.
It didn’t take long, since their bedroom was so small, they didn’t have to roam through any closet or drawer to find their uniforms. Sohee kept hers beside her bed, hung on the railing of the frame instead of bothering to fold it up.
As they finished slipping on their school dresses, the sound of something sizzling in the kitchen could be heard, possibly Sohee’s aunt cooking something for breakfast. Sunmi set her Mimi doll on her bunk and rushed to use the bathroom first while Sohee took the time to pack her bag.
She bent down slowly for her notebook, but even doing it slowly, the burn scars throbbed dangerously in her back as her body stretched down. Sohee clenched her teeth as it reached a 45 degree angle before stopping to take a breath. She didn’t dare squat, fearing that her scars would rip right open, despite it having healed years ago. Sohee leaned forward again, reaching her hand as far as she could, pain tearing at her back. She shut her eyes, a tear streaming down her cheek until she finally felt the pages in her hand. At the touch, she collapsed onto her knee, another explosion of pain in his body.
“Sohee yah, hurry up and brush your teeth! Omma’s going to get mad at you again!”
Sohee took a deep breath and stood up again, holding onto the bed frame for support. Once the pain passed after a few seconds, Sohee smiled with relief and packed the notebook into her backpack. She went to the bathroom and quickly cleaned up.
When she entered into the kitchen, her aunt was at the sink with her back facing the room. Sohee quietly made her way to the chair beside Sunmi, who was munching on cornflakes. Sunmi enthusiastically pointed at the carton of milk for her. Sohee silently poured herself a glass and spooned some scrambled egg the aunt had left on the table.
They ate quickly and in silence, and both the girls stood up with a mouthful of food.
“See you later, omma,” Sunmi mumbled perkily.
“Alright, dear,” spoken in a sweet motherly voice was the response. Sohee knew when she went back to the dishes that she wasn’t going to give her a response, so she just forwarded out the house with Sunmi.
They didn’t live too far from the local high school. In fact, it was a mere 10 minute walk, closer than even the grocery store. Because today was sunny, a lot of people were walking and cycling to school as well instead of driving, the atmosphere was much livelier than usual.
With their arms linked like 2 best friends, Sunmi and Sohee would take this time to quiet chat about things with each other, things only the two of them would share after the rush of getting ready to school. Since a lot of people were walking by them and would have any chance of eavesdropping on their conversations, they huddled close and spoke in soft voices.
“Say it,” Sunmi giggled. Sohee puffed up her cheeks in a sulk, looking away. Sunmi nudged her. “Come on, say it!”
“No,” Sohee told her. Sunmi rolled her eyes.
“What’s wrong with saying you like him?” she asked. Sunmi tugged at her arm and nuzzled her head against Sohee’s shoulder. “He likes you, you know.” Sohee pushed her off making Sunmi pout.
“I don’t care. I’m not saying it ‘cos it’s not true.”
“What’s so bad about saying you like Jiyong oppa?” Sohee rolled her eyes in annoyance.
There was a rumor going around the school. A weird one. Because Sohee and Kwon Jiyong were both in the same school drama club and had played the lead roles in the winter musical, everyone automatically assumed they were dating because of their convincing performance.
Sure, Sohee was glad her role was so realistic that people believed it reflected romantic feelings for her acting partner, but really that was all it was! Acting! She and Jiyong had a close friendship since they joined the club, along with Sunmi, last year. She relied on him a lot as a friend and classmate, which was probably why people would come to believe it to be romantic.
But it wasn’t. Ugh, like she gave a damn about having a boyfriend, just because it was the trend nowadays.
“But Jiyong oppa really likes you,” Sunmi pressed on. Sohee screwed up her forehead in a frown; yeah, Jiyong had been acting a bit differently since the rumor started, but she wasn’t going to think about it because it wasn’t like what she was thinking about.
“Yah,” Sunmi nudged her again, fascinated with Sohee’s expression. “You’re already dating, aren’t you? Just admit it.”
“Ah, seriously!” Sohee exclaimed, pulling her arm away. “You’re so annoying today!” She pulled up her backpack and started marching ahead. Sunmi started running after her.
“But Jiyong oppa is cute and you two would make a great couple!” she called out. Sohee shot her a glare.
“Don’t talk so loudly!” she snapped. Sunmi managed to catch up and looped herself around Sohee’s arm again, laughing.
“Why? Wouldn’t having a boyfriend help you with that romance novel you're trying to write?”
“Shhhhh!!”
Sunmi laughed again.
“If you think he’s cute, why don’t you date him?” Sohee asked. Sunmi’s smile faded and she looked at the path in front of them, shrugging with a wavering look on her face.
“I said he was cute. I didn’t say he’s my type,” she said frankly. Sohee burst out laughing.
They finally arrived at the school gates, along with about a dozen other students too. As predicted, Jiyong arrived around the same time as they did on his bicycle, greeting warmly them outside their classroom.
Kwon Jiyong was something of a school heartthrob. In just his school uniform, he was ridiculously handsome with a bright smile and a charismatic aura. He was a mischievous student that was more than often scolded by the teachers, but nonetheless it did nothing to tarnish his popularity. He even had his own fanclub, which consisted of most of the girls in the class. In fact, the only girls who weren’t part of the fanclub were his friends of the opposite sex, Sohee and Sunmi.
Cautiously aware of the staring eyes as they approached, Sohee was forced to feel awkward while greeting her friend, something that had never happened to her before. She simply bowed her head in a nod to Jiyong, which caused a murmur to go around. She stood nervously to the side, clutching her bag until the teacher arrived to let them into the classroom. Sunmi raised her eyebrows teasingly at Sohee as Jiyong let her in before him, much to the outrage of the other female classmates.
If she had a won for every time a girl would look over their shoulders at her in the back of the classroom, she would probably end up with enough money to quit school and retire straight away. Sohee continued to mouth “I’m not dating him, I’m not dating him” over and over again as they stole a glance every now and then, until Sunmi, who sat next to her, placed a hand on hers and told her it was no use (in fact, they were both shunned since neither of them were part of the fanclub and yet got more attention from Jiyong than anyone else).
Sohee let out a deep breath as she shuffled on her seat, the scars on her back side now reduced to a stinging, tingly sensation. She frowned a little and scratched her head, deciding to pay full attention to the board over the onlooking heads, and perhaps this could make her tolerate with two uncomfortable situations.
It was going to be a long day.
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Heechul was at the site earlier than he had to.
With a blueprint in his hand and a safety helmet on his head, Heechul surveyed the building construction in front of him in utter silence, comparing the scale with a pencil tip between the sketch and the real thing.
His boss had told him it was going to be a library, but only an idiot would actually believe that. Even in its early stages of construction, Heechul thought it was painfully obvious that this building was going to be some kind of casino from the framework of its wall. The interior design he had put down for the project had been scrapped, and instead of giving up until the construction was finished in approximately 7 months, Heechul chosen to prepare it now.
Accepting such a tedious, mundane project as well as trying to balance two others, one of which was due in less than 2 weeks, Heechul found himself unable to think about anything else but work.
“Set it over here!” he screamed at a large crane in front of him, waving his arm towards his left. The crane exhausted loudly and obeyed, bringing down a large plank that seemed too long to be lodged into the building. Heechul quickly scribbled down some notes and stepped over the fragments of the construction towards the sheltering.
Sitting in one of the chairs, one hand holding a pen and scribbling on a notepad held in the other, a phone pressed against his cheek, Kim Jaejoong was in the middle of an important phone call that required quick notes to be taken.
“Yeah…” he muttered, giving Heechul a nod of acknowledgment as he came in. “Okay, make sure you send them to the right number. Actually, why don’t you send them to the rest of my crew? Okay, thanks. I’ll talk to you later.” Jaejoong let out a puff and hung up, falling limp on his chair.
“It’s done,” he muttered. “I’ve gotten Mr Yoo’s signature for permission on the Kangnam construction site.”
Heechul didn’t reply. Jaejoong lifted up his head to look, finding him completely absorbed in his notes.
“Hyung,” Jaejoong called out.
“I heard you,” Heechul mumbled, nothing looking up. Jaejoong watched him for a few more seconds before getting up. He walked over to see.
“Heechul hyung,” he said again, shaking his head. “Just give up on this project. It’s stupid and a waste of time.”
“That’s my business,” Heechul said coolly, not paying attention. Jaejoong pulled the notes out of his hands, leaving Heechul hanging in midair.
“It’s my business too,” Jaejoong said angrily, throwing the notes aside. “I’m part of your team and we have a project due in 2 weeks that you haven’t bothered chipping in to help with!” Heechul sighed and fell back onto his seat, rubbing his tired face roughly with his hands. Jaejoong took a look at the notes.
“You’re an architect, not a construction worker. You used to be more than this.”
Heechul let out a soft, mirthless laugh.
“I guess my inspiration wore off over the years,” he confessed plaintively.
“We should get it back, then,” Jaejoong said, putting the notes away. He grabbed Heechul by the sleeve and pulled him up. “Get your camera.”
“Where are we going?” Heechul asked, doing what he was told anyway. Jaejoong bent down at the laptop at the table, clicking a few times to a website that was filled with photographs of a large monumental building that looked like it had been designed simply to make the other buildings look uglier. Jaejoong pointed at the screen.
“See that? That thing is a 20 minute drive, and we can get a lot better shots than what this site gives us. Come on, we’ve got 2 weeks to draw up the blueprints.”
Heechul smiled to himself and complied. It had actually been a while since he used his camera. A year ago he had been given a vacation to go to Europe for sightseeing, where his boss had thought it would give him inspiration for a new design. However, Heechul found himself marvelling at the buildings instead of photographing them, an opportunity he felt he had wasted due to his spacing out. Jaejoong had been patient with him, knowing it to be the long term effect of his breakup that came about around the same time of the year, every year. Taking the first step to make Heechul remember his love for photography was the first step to getting back on his feet.
Jaejoong drove them in his car while instructing Heechul to call up their “wingman”, the one other person of their crew.
“You call her our ‘wingman’?” Heechul asked, amused. Jaejoong shot him a sideway glance, not really understanding what was so funny.
“That’s what she is,” he said matter-of-factly. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing,” Heechul said, sending the text message. The rest of the ride was silent again.
Jaejoong stopped at their destination in a quick 15 minutes rather than the 20, which he explained of having taken a shortcut rather than speeding. Heechul clutched his camera tightly as they stepped outside.
It didn’t look like it did on the website. It looked more like the entrance to a factory than anything else, equipped with its own toll booth and security guard. Heechul eyed their target behind the toll, and motioned Jaejoong to move ahead.
“Oh, damn, it’s a male guard,” Jaejoong said disappointedly. Heechul snickered; it was always easy for Jaejoong to talk his way out of a situation with women. With men, however, his appearance was frail, pretty and he looked like the son of a rich family, further causing hostility. He cleared his throat loudly as they went up to the booth. The security guard, a boring looking man in his mid-50s, looked up from his book with a sullen expression.
“How may I help you?” he asked in a thick, lazy voice.
“Hi, we’re hoping you could let us in,” Jaejoong said. “We work for SM Architects…” He flashed a business card. “…is it alright if you let us in to take a few pictures? It’ll take less than 10 minutes.”
The guard’s expression didn’t change.
“Do you have an appointment to go in?” he asked. Jaejoong blinked.
“Appointment?”
“These are restricted areas,” the man droned on, scratching his eye. “I’m afraid I can't let you in without permission.”
“Permission?” Heechul blurted out. “Who the hell from?!”
“I believe the photos are up on the website,” the guard said, changing his voice. “Maybe you can use those instead.” The two architects didn’t seem to appreciate the suggestion, now offended by the man’s condescending tone.
“It’s not even going to cost you any money, and you won't let us in?” Jaejoong exclaimed. “Ahjussi, we came all the way down here from Seoul, we didn’t hear about anything about getting permission!!”
“And the photos on the website are crappy!” Heechul spat.
So, there was a bitter argument. If the place hadn’t been so deserted in the first place, perhaps their voices wouldn’t have carried so far. Initially reluctant to come, only agreeing because of his best friend, Heechul found himself heated up and shouting viciously at the guard ahjussi. He was usually respectful towards people older than him, but it was plain obvious that he didn’t want to let them in simply because he didn’t care about what they needed, and he seemed to find that the more angry they got at getting refused, the more amusing he found them. The final blow was made when Heechul totally lost it and shot a violently graphic death threat at him, the guard picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear. Just as Jaejoong and Heechul began to panic and wondered whether or not they should just run and forget the blueprints, a rumbling sound suddenly echoed louder and louder until all three people came to realize a car had arrived.
A cloud of dust formed at its wheels as it came to a dramatic halt a few feet before them. The door opened very slowly and a slender leg stepped down, the world seemed to stop.
Standing up from her seat in the car, a young woman of beauty so radiate, with her pearl white skin, sparkling brown eyes and her flowing red hair, it felt as if an angel from heaven had come down, bringing with her the aura of a goddess. She spotted the three men a few feet before her, and she smiled. Softly, her doe eyes becoming half moons, enough to take any man’s breath away. She slowly catwalked over to them, her hair swept over her bare neck, her black dress hugging her perfect form as she moved with such grace and elegance.
The guard ahjussi stared shamelessly with his jaw dropped, even forgetting that he was holding the phone. Jaejoong and Heechul, on the other hand, didn’t seem affected at all, simply watching anxiously her to see what she dared to do next. The woman clicked her tongue as she glanced over at them.
“Aigoo,” she said with a silvery laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re causing trouble for this nice ahjussi.” Heechul exchanged a weird look with Jaejoong, but they were ignored as the guard let out a wheezy laugh. He quickly set the phone down again.
“No, miss, they weren’t causing trouble,” he said, straightening his hat. The woman smiled and bowed her head.
“Hello, I’m Park Yeeun,” she introduced herself poshly. She waved her hand absentmindedly at Heechul and Jaejoong. “I hope my photographers weren’t bothering you. They assured me there wouldn’t be any problems for my modeling shoot today.”
The guard’s expression melted to that of confusion, looking over at the boys, then replaced his stupid smile as he turned back to Yeeun.
“Oh, so you're having a modeling shoot?” He let out an obnoxious laugh. “Oh! I sincerely apologize, I didn’t realize!!” He went out of his booth and personally opened the gate for Yeeun. “Please take as much time as you need, Park Yeeun-sshi.” Yeeun smiled at him.
“Thank you,” she said gratefully. She looked over at her “photographers”, still watching the situation dubiously. “Let’s go, boys.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and went in first.
Jaejoong stifled a laugh while Heechul shot him a glare to keep quiet until they were clear of the guard ahjussi’s earshot. It wasn’t easy since the ahjussi watched them walk into the site until they finally turned a corner in the far distance.
Having let Yeeun enter first, she disappeared around the turn, so the guys were more than surprised when she suddenly jumped out to scare them, almost giving the already mentally-exhausted duo a real heart attack.
“ACK!!!!” Heechul exclaimed, almost dropping his camera. He breathed heavily and clutched his chest, while Jaejoong had been so frightened that he fell over. Yeeun laughed loudly, putting her hands on her hips. She smirked at them.
“Were you waiting long?” she asked, but seeing the embarrassment on their faces, she didn’t need an answer and laughed again. “Aigoo, do I have to bail you two out every single time you blow your tempers?”
“That’s why you’re our wingman,” Jaejoong told her, taking off his jacket. He wrapped it around her revealing dress, allowing the atmosphere to become less awkward. Yeeun smiled smugly as Jaejoong adjusted her collar.
“What? You don’t think I look pretty with this dress, oppa?” she said in a flirtatious voice. Jaejoong just smiled and ran his hands down her arms, ensuring that she was warmly wrapped.
“You’d look pretty anyway,” he said matter-of-factly. Yeeun let out a giggle. Jaejoong pulled away and turned around to pick up his camera. Heechul watched the display, a look of annoyance mixed with embarrassment. Annoyed at Jaejoong, embarrassed at Yeeun.
“Aishh, who told you to wear that dress?” he scolded, going over to button up the front for her. She smiled and rested her hands on his forearms. He frowned and looked at her face closely, lifting up her chin to examine her makeup. It was a little much.
Yeeun was the third and final member of Heechul’s team. She was handpicked by the president of the firm himself to work with Heechul and Jaejoong. She was the same age as Kyuhyun, the youngest of the group, but her part was just as important as the others. Although she was naturally flirtatious, Yeeun was extremely dedicated to her work, as well as having a strong sense of loyalty and kindness. More than often she would work late nights, even taking over a task for her colleagues if she felt they couldn’t get it done on time. Heechul, although finding her flirting to be tiring at times, was incredibly grateful for her in the last 3 years where she agreed to help with his part on projects when he suffered from severe depression due to the breakup.
She and Jaejoong seemed to have the same personality, and both would at times act like newlyweds, making decisions without Heechul, or would bicker like an old married couple. However, despite these romantic antics, Jaejoong kept her at an arm’s length.
The reason for their unique bond? It had started from a rumor that only Jaejoong, Yeeun and Heechul knew the truth behind.
Yeeun had started working at the firm when she was merely 20 years old, but the night before her first day, she had met Jaejoong at a bar, and they hit it off.
What thought to be a meaningless one-night stand turned out to be a new colleague the next morning. Luckily, unlike the other lady friends Jaejoong had made throughout his years of reckless heartbreaking, Yeeun was good-natured about it and instead they struck up an unexpected friendship.
Yeeun, being the only one-night stand to end up working directly with Jaejoong, she was probably the one of the few women in his life he genuinely cared about. Whether platonic or romantic, Heechul had no idea and had no intention of finding out.
Yeeun closed her hand over Heechul’s and pulled it away.
“Admit it,” she smirked. “If I hadn’t come, your family would have to bail you out of jail for upsetting that ahjussi.”
“You shouldn’t do that to an innocent man,” Heechul told her. “If he were any older, he would’ve had a stroke the moment you stepped out of the car.” Yeeun laughed again.
“Am I that beautiful?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck playfully. He pushed her away gently, although he had to laugh at her words.
“You know you’re beautiful,” he told her in a lazy tone. Yeeun pinched his cheek.
“And you’re really handsome, oppa,” she said sweetly.
“I know.”
For the “shortcuts” in their careers, Jaejoong and Yeeun used the same method as each other. Jaejoong was able to sweep any woman off her feet, just as Yeeun could make every man eat out of her palm when she chose to. Through this, their team obtained easy access to exclusive resources, as well avoiding any hardships given out by stubborn authority figures. Heechul found this to be unethical and sexist, so he was uncomfortable watching them in action. However, since it got results and the two acted like professionals about it, he couldn’t really say anything. Yeeun glanced around to Jaejoong behind her and clapped her hands together loudly.
“So, are we going to get this done by today or what?”
She happily looped an arm around each of her two colleagues, holding the blueprints in front of her so they could all see. Heechul gazed up at the monument in front of them as a soft breeze passed through the site. He felt Yeeun tighten her grasp around his arm as she leaned over to talk to Jaejoong about something in the blueprints, pulling Heechul down slightly because of her shorter height. Instead of asking her to let go, he raised his camera with his free arm and took a snapshot. Looking at the image, he smiled with satisfaction.
Time to work.
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CHARACTERS INTRODUCED:
Jay (The TRAX)
Kyuhyun (Super Junior)
Sunmi (Wonder Girls)
Jiyong (Big Bang)
Yeeun (Wonder Girls)