"Eunjung, promise me you'll stay calm..."
She was lying on the hospital bed, staring blankly at her best friend whose face was now as white as a sheet. She had already heard these words a hundred times before, replaying in her mind like a broken record. Each time she hoped that Jiyeon would open her mouth and say something differently, but each time her hopes had been dashed.
"... the doctor said that when you collapsed in the room, your right wrist hit the ground at an awkward angle. It should heal eventually! But... in the meantime you won't be able to have full mobility of your right hand. It could take a few months or even a few years before it will be back to normal..."
That was blow number one.
She watched as Jiyeon took a deep breath, unsure of how to continue.
Just continue... It's not as though I don't already know this...
"Eunjung... Jongin... Jongin is gone. I tried to find him but his apartment is empty. His friends say he left for America early this morning."
I already knew it. He was the one who locked the door.
That was blow number two.
"What about the..." Eunjung looked down at her abdomen, which felt completely normal compared to the pain in her wrist. She didn't know why she was still asking, when she already knew the answer. No matter how normal things felt, everything was different now.
Jiyeon looked at her sadly, before slowly shaking her head.
"I am so sorry, Eunjung..."
That was blow number three.
#
"Ya! Wake up! Can you hear me?" she heard a mellow voice call out to her from the hazy depths of her consciousness. A hand shook her roughly at the shoulder, as she slowly opened her eyes.
"Jongin..." she murmured, as the first name she could think of popped into her mind. The person staring back at her was not Jongin, and it took her a good couple of minutes before the face registered in her mind. D.O. was looking down at her with a frown on his face and perhaps a slight tinge of concern, but only ever so slight.
"What happened to you?" he asked curtly, his voice betraying no sign of worry whatsoever.
Eunjung sat up slowly and looked around, slightly disoriented. She was still in the storeroom but the lights were on now and the door was open. As her memories slowly came back to her, she realised that she had had another panic attack, her first in a long time. Raising a hand to her cheek, she found that it was wet with tears. She had been crying, crying because of the fear that history was repeating itself. Being locked up in that room and the horrendous aftermath of it was the darkest period of her life, a period she thought she had left dead and buried - evidently not.
"I'm sorry. I... I have claustrophobia. The door was locked..." she babbled, trying to sound as coherent as possible.
It wasn't a lie. She did have claustrophobia, except she hadn't been born with it. One traumatic incident three years earlier had left her with a deep fear for confined spaces, a fear that was strong enough to make her collapse unconscious. Her psychologist had been trying to help her overcome this fear for the longest time but nothing seemed to work. Her fear was connected to her memories, and as long as she still remembered, she would still be scared.
D.O. shook his head and helped her to her feet. "Can't you stay out of trouble even for a little while?" Twenty minutes after she left the kitchen, he had finally started thinking that she was gone a little too long and decided to tear his attentions away from the cupcakes and go search for her. The storeroom lock had been faulty for awhile and it had taken him a good fifteen minutes before he finally pried the door open and found Eunjung collapsed on the floor, murmuring what sounded like someone's name. "You're dismissed for today. Go home and rest."
"The vegetable oil..." Eunjung picked up the bottle of oil that was lying on the floor.
D.O. quickly grabbed the bottle out of her hand before turning around and heading off down the corridor, leaving Eunjung staring at his retreating silhouette.
That man must have a heart made of ice and stone... she thought to herself. But then again, at least he bothered to come looking for her. The man she had once loved more than life itself didn't.
#
By the time Eunjung peddled her bicycle back to her apartment block, it was already way past the witching hour. She would barely get four hours of sleep before she had to drag herself up and back to the hotel kitchen again.
"I hope he doesn't make this a regular affair," Eunjung grumbled to herself as an image of D.O. popped into her mind. She scowled in annoyance. So far it seemed as though D.O. was out to make her life miserable, and she didn't fancy her chances of remaining in Global Hotel as long as he was at the helm of the kitchen. Sooner or later he was sure to find some fault to weed her out.
"I better start looking at the job ads to see if there's a backup option..." she sighed as she locked her bike to the bike rack and headed up the stairs.
It had been a long day and she needed a good night's rest to recuperate.
Not long after Eunjung disappeared up the stairs, a black BMW sports car drove up the road, stopping a couple of metres away from her block. The window of the driver's seat rolled down to reveal a young man with a piercing pair of deep brown eyes. He looked up towards the fifth floor, where a darkened window suddenly flickered with light as the owner returned to the house.
It's been three years... She probably doesn't live here anymore...
He was supposed to have been headed back towards the loft apartment that the company had prepared for him, but Kai didn't know why he had subconsciously driven back here, to a place he had not been to in close to three whole years. The apartment block looked pretty much the same as he remembered it, perhaps a little more worn round the edges with the whitewash flaking off at more places than one.
Everything about this place was so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time.
When he left this place three years ago, he had hardened his heart and made up his mind to leave everything behind - including the love they had for six years. Six years was not a short period of time and no matter how unfeeling he was, he couldn't deny that the time he spent with her had left its mark on his heart. It had been a difficult decision to make, but he had never looked back since.
Till now.
Perhaps now that he was three years older, he was feeling more nostalgic about the past. Regardless, there was no way he could turn back time, and even if he could, he would still have done the exact same thing. Now, he had everything he always dreamed of - fame, fortune and an unbelievably successful career. If it meant he had to sacrifice one girl to achieve it, then it was a sacrifice he would have to make. After all, he could always find another girl.
I'm sorry Eunjung. I hope you're happier now...
He wound the car window back up and stepped on the accelerator. That was enough nostalgia for one night.
#
Kai had barely stepped foot into his new apartment when his phone rang.
A quick check of the caller ID told him that it was his new employer on the other end of the line. He was supposed to have gone into Alpha Enterprises earlier in the day to meet with the man but he wasn't in the mood so he simply took off in his BMW, leaving the poor assistant behind to fret about how he was to answer to his boss. He didn't need to speak to Kim Joonmyeon to know what he wanted.
He wanted Global Group, and he wanted it fast.
When Alpha had first brought the case to his attention, he had hesitated upon whether or not to take it up. Acquisitions of large companies were not something that he was unfamiliar with, but Global Group was a different story altogether. It was obvious that Global was trying to acquire Alpha Enterprises, and not the other way around. In everyone's eyes, this was a done deal, since Global was by far the larger of the two companies, with solid finances and favourable political backing to support them. This was the first time he would be trying to execute a coup of such a scale. If he managed to help Alpha get what they wanted, then he would officially have reached the pinnacle of his career. If he failed, however, then it could very well spell his ruin.
Kai never backed down from a challenge.
He only hesitated for a day. The next morning, he signed the contract.
"Hello?" he picked up the call and answered coolly.
"Why didn't you stop by my office today?"
Not even a hello? Kai's lips curled up in a slight smirk as he mused upon the other man's abrupt tone of voice. Kim Joonmyeon was definitely not a person to be trifled with, that much he already knew based on the man's track records. He had only seen the man once over a Skype video conference, which had ended with Kai feeling rather amused at what he had just gotten himself into. At age 25, Kim Joonmyeon was much more mature than his age would prescribe, with an authoritarian tone of voice that implied he meant business. After speaking to him, no one would doubt the reasons why his father, the elder President Kim, was handing over the family business to him at such a tender age.
"Sorry. Jet-lag," was his nonchalant reply.
He could almost imagine Joonmyeon scowling at the phone when he heard that. "Come in to the office tomorrow, we have a lot to discuss. Global Hotel Seoul is receiving the Crown Prince and Princess of Monaco in two days time."
"And so..." Kai didn't quite see the link.
"Global Hotel Seoul is the crown jewel of Global Group's holdings. Such a high profile event occurring at this period of time is perfectly aligned with our plans. If we allow Global to grow from strength to strength, then when am I ever going to take it under my wing? I don't have all the time in the world to play games."
No time to play games? Then what exactly is it we're doing right now...
Kai smiled to himself. "As you wish. I'll drop by first thing in the morning." He walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of wine. The assistant had done well in following his instructions, getting the fridge stocked with his favourite bottles of Spanish wine. He poured himself a glass and took a sip.