The 10mag interview came out Monday as expected. Since, 10mag caters mostly to English speaking community, the people in the building had been extra friendly lately. The residents of the building are mostly expats and I was greeted by excited fans who loved mostly my first book Conversations. I have yet to know how the interview transpired into local news.
After having breakfast yesterday, he left to have lunch with his family. Although his mom called to bring me along, I politely declined. I don't think that it's time to be meeting them after knowing about what they tried to make Jae-woo do. I wanted our meeting to be more civil and in a lighter mood. He called this morning in order to make an appointment with me on Wednesday, to discuss about our deal. It's a good thing Lisa and my lawyer will be arriving tomorrow night.
"I won't be able to see you until Wednesday. I will be going to Busan for business…" he stated. I was hoping to hear about what happened on his meeting with his family, but it seems he doesn't have plan to tell me.
"No worries. I also need to focus on my research…my lawyer will be arriving tomorrow. Everything will be ready by Wednesday…" I revealed.
"I read the interview…it might take a while before it will reach local media, we'll just see what will happen then…" I can hear an amusement in his voice.
"I'm excited…." I teased.
"See you Wednesday…"
Monday lectures ended smoothly. If there's one place in Seoul that I can have peace, it's the University. It seemed like the outside hullabaloo won't ever reach this fortified campus. I almost wanted to regret why I didn't accept the housing here. Especially now, that I can see a group of reporters waiting outside the building of my apartment. Going to work in the morning Tuesday, there are already group of reporters by the entrance of the building. I still remembered last night what the team talked about when the issue of Tatler comes out. We received the package yesterday, and although there are few reporters snooping around the building there's not as much as now.
"Ara, we're inside the lobby of your apartment building. We're waiting…" Chris was waiting for me last night.
"You can go up to the penthouse, I'll be there shortly. I'm just parking the car."
The good thing in the building is, even the parking needed ID to go in. If you're not registered resident, you cannot enter. And it's also advantageous for me that there's a direct elevator going up to the penthouse directly from the basement parking. I arrived at the penthouse, and Chris, Simon and Go-young are waiting by the door.
"Have you been waiting long?" I greeted.
"We just arrived about 10 minutes ago…" Chris answered.
"Come on in…" I offered.
"Simon is waiting to discuss with you about a statement he needed to relay the press right now." Chris have an urgency to his voice. Then there's a buzz in from the lobby.
"Miss Ara Rivera, you have a package here and the manager wants to talk to you…" the receptionist called.
"If you can just ask the manager to come up here, I can talk with her at my place…" I relayed.
After 10 minutes, there's a knock at the door. I have not seen Mrs. Ahn ever since I signed the contract for the flat. She's a nice lady. Although, she has an aura of being stiff and snob. I introduced her to the team.
"Ara, some residents are not happy about some unwanted guests by the lobby since this afternoon, what are you planning to do about it?"
"We are discussing right now, as we speak. I apologize"
"You know the rules here Ara, this kind of disturbance is not allowed."
"It's not her fault that they are here, though…" Chris interrupted. Mrs. Ahn just looked at him.
"It's nobody's fault but they are here because of her…" she claimed. I stopped Chris to further intervene.
"I'll promise to take care of it, they should be gone shortly…"
"I just came here to relay the residents' messages. Please don't take it to me personally. And to give you this…" she handed me the package.
"Thank you, Ma'am."
Of course, I know the repercussion into breaking the rules. If I will cause trouble or sort of disturbance that will compromise the privacy and peace of the residents in the building, they have the choice to vote me out. I signed it because I liked that clause in the contract. I felt that it will protect us from the outside world. But I never really thought that I will be subjected to such situation.
"So, let me hear your thoughts?" I started.
"We are going to have a press briefing after the Tatler interview will come out that's our plan, so they will be pacified for now…" Simon answered. I opened the package. It is the Tatler issue. Two magazines, Tatler Singapore and Tatler Philippines decided to feature me on this month's issue, I smiled. It came out nicely. They indeed made it look like a coming-out, uncovering the woman behind The Girl. The cover seemed lay-out is very apt, it has an interactive mask on it, you have to flip the mask before you can see my face. I looked so confident, only my bare face on the cover, and I have never been this proud.
"This interview you mean…" I handed them the copy of the magazine. They looked at it and begin to inspect the interview.
"Do you think I have enough readers in Seoul to arrange a book signing/press conference event instead?" I blurt out. They looked at me, seemingly inspecting if they just heard it right.
"I already started coming out, why would I stop now, right?" I conceded.
"Your book on The Girl has been translated in Korean last year, which means you already have a fan base here. As I can see you have sold 50,000 copies so far, that's just calculating the Korean language copies. So, I would say The Girl is known to Korean audience as well. Not to mention your first book Conversations, that's the more famous in here, possibly because of moms who can relate with you, it has been translated 2 years ago and sold 100,000 copies so far." Chris is looking at his laptop while talking.
"I'm ready to make the statement…" Simon stood up and handed me the copy.