I looked around the loft. For a month that I have stayed here, it feels oddly familiar now. I slept through the flight. I slept almost 12 hours, so I'm ready to face this city and whatever they will throw at me. I took a quick shower. The media team headed by Chris is coming for a meeting today. I needed to orient them about what's coming ahead. I change into a more comfortable casual outfit. I know I'm meeting them at my house, but I still need to be formal. I choose a simple Malene Birger olive green wrap around jersey midi dress. I put my hair up to a bun. Soo-ah arrived with Han-nah 15 minutes before 1pm. I greeted her with a hug,
"Sweety, I think we can have the meeting by the dining area." I informed. They start to put the subway sandwich by the table.
"We bought sandwiches Miss. Would this be enough?" Han-nah looked as if she is not confident of what she just did.
"No worries, I can make some antipasti…" I went to the fridge and prepare some charcuterie. I cut melons and put on grapes and olives on the cheese board. And I took out a rose and a wine. Soo-ah came to the kitchen to help out.
"How are you, Miss?" she asked.
"I've been better…" I admitted.
"Mr. Chris will be bringing one other person…I think it's from their firm's PR department."
"That's good then, the more the merrier…" I joke.
"Does Mr. Jae-woo know your back?"
"He'll be coming later. We have important stuff to talk about." I calmly informed. She smiled. Our company arrived after 10 minutes. I greeted Chris and gave him the copy of the book I promised. I knew his assistant, and I am familiarizing the other guy he brought with him.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Ara this is Simon, he is the assistant PR Manager of Andersen here in Seoul." Chris introduced him. I tried to be modest in examining him. He looked like he is probably on his late 30s. He is good-looking. Why will I have to meet a lot of good-looking men after my divorce? I chuckled. I didn't realize he is paying attention to me.
"I'm sorry. I'm thinking something else. Nice to meet you, welcome aboard." I offered them the food spread at the dining table.
"Nice to meet you too, Miss." He greeted and extended his hand. There's a warmth with that made me feel weird when I held his hand. Oh, please if I have to be attracted to all the good-looking men in Seoul, I will just stop with this Phd nonsense and start dating one every day. I presided the meeting when they settled down.
"I'm sorry to have taken your time off on a weekend. I expect that you have read carefully your contract in doing this, and I am hoping that we'll have a good teamwork from now on. The leader for this team would be Chris. I wanted this meeting to brief you about the purpose of this group." I started.
"You have to neutralize my media presence in Seoul. I am here to finish my PhD and in 4 months I would expect to focus on it. Which means, all the unnecessary and baseless articles that will come out should be defuse by this team. "
"Next week, Tatler April copy is coming out, and I will be on the cover. I did an interview with them to finally disclose my identity as Ara Charlotte." The only person who is surprise is Han-nah. It's either Simon don't know about my book or he was already briefed about it.
"On Monday, 10mag will also release their interview about me. And they will feature my life in Copenhagen and how The Girl started... These are the only extent of my interview… I know that Andersen's is employed under RTR but right now, Chris, Simon and Ga-young, you are directly contracted privately by me."
"The range of your job is indefinite. So, I am hoping that you will go far and beyond what is expected of you and I promise that you will be compensated accordingly." I ended my statement. And Chris took over.
"So, the first order of business, is to come up with a press statement about the recent interviews. I think the 10mag interview will be the most pressing issue, since TATLER may not reach Seoul early next week. Simon you can talk with Miss Ara if you have any question or how you wanted to proceed with the press statement. Han-nah, I think Mr. Nam Jae-woo have a team monitoring the online searches with certain keywords about Miss Ara so you can coordinate with them." He knew how to handle this team well.
The meeting ended half past 4 in the afternoon. Soo-ah stayed. I know we have some catching up to do.
"Miss, it's been a while…" she started.
"I know…I miss our chats…"
"I'm getting married…" she informed without warning. I was shocked.
"I can still be your assistant until your PhD finished. We are getting married next month, and you're invited." I'm still speechless.
"I'm sorry, Miss if it's too sudden for you…" I gathered my composure.
"Sweety, you should not be sorry about this kind of news. I'm sorry if I was shocked. I just didn't expect it. But I'm happy for you… Don't worry about me… I can take care of myself." I assured her. But the thought of not having her every time I call for just the most trivial thing makes me sad.
"You can also talk to Han-nah miss if I'm busy…you can also trust her…" she is like giving me a consolation right now.
"I'm fine sweety…"
"Anyway, miss have you talk to Mr. Jae-woo yet?"
"I will talk to him later…"
"Do you need anything else?" She asked. Yes. She always asks about what I needed. I will miss her. I gave her a very tight hug; she might have been surprise. But she let me…
"Thank you sweety. I'm really happy for you…if there's anything you need, I'm always here…"
She left. I'm just looking by the hallway, contemplating. How many people came to my life that will eventually have their own lives. Of course, I would not expect them to always be with me. They are their own person.