• Xiaoting •

The remaining week of my short-lived vacation passed by without anything eventful happening. I never really stopped working since I was kept updated with the reports from Shiro, so I wasn't swamped with work.

I was currently staying in one of my hotels in Seoul - the Mvsk Hotel. Shiro and I were walking down the corridor, along with the head hotel manager and her supervisors.

"Ms. Kim, I seem to have noticed that there are plenty of people surrounding ballroom. Are you hosting an event?" I asked the hotel manager.

"Yes we are, Ms. Shen. A press conference for a music release by an artist was held there, and if I'm not mistaken, they should be finished right now."

"What's the name of the artist?"

"Choi Yujin, Ma'am."

I hummed in reply. The name was familiar enough that I know she was a successful idol in Korea, and is taking the West by storm lately. Unfortunately, I don't have a face to attach to the artist.

"Make sure she's comfortable and safe until she's in her car when she leaves. Her fame is good publicity for us. Get someone to check on the situation below, provide her a room if she wishes or if fans barge in the venue. But I am not expecting for the latter to happen."

"Of course, Ma'am." Just as she replied, she called over the supervisor of guest services and did as I commanded.

I kept asking a few more questions regarding the management of the hotel and the current trend of sales, and when I was satisfied with the answers and generally how Ms. Kim Bora replied, I decided for us to get some lunch.

A restaurant was built inside the hotel which was also on the same floor as the ballroom. I made sure to emphasize this when we were designing the structure of the hotel. It was easier for guests if the entertainment commodities we provided were close to each other.

As we passed the towering double doors of the ballroom, I slowed down my steps to observe the design. I nodded in satisfaction.

"Well done, Ms. Kim. The event organizers you hired did a phenomenal job." I praised.

"It was all due to the combined efforts of the team. Thank you, Ms. Shen."

Most of the people left already but I could see a few people loitering near the stage. Probably the clean up team by the looks of it.

We proceed to head towards the restaurant. It had a cozy ambiance and light atmosphere. We decided to take up a table located in the far corner. Ms. Kim dismissed her supervisors and assistant, so all that was left was her, Shiro, and I.

After we each ordered some food, Ms. Kim continued sharing her insights on how we can further improve our services. I listened attentively before a blonde-haired woman shyly tapped Ms. Kim's shoulder.

"Bora eonnie, sorry for interrupting your conversation, but may I talk to you for a second?" The blonde asked.

Rather than answering directly, Ms. Kim looked at me. Understanding her unspoken question, I said, "It's okay, Ms. Kim. Take your time. We were actually supposed to have lunch, so business can wait after our meal."

"Thank you, Ms. Shen. By the way, this is Kim Chaehyun, the manager of Choi Yujin. Chaehyun-ah, this is Ms. Shen Xiaoting, CEO of Shen Hotels International and basically my immediate boss."

My eyes widened a little at knowing who the woman is. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kim. I never expected the famous 'Golden Manager' of WakeUp entertainment to be so young."

The woman laughed. "I get that a lot, but I could say the same to you, Ms. Shen. I may not know much about the hotel industry but for you to be a CEO at such a young age, is obviously saying a lot about your skills. It actually surprised me that you know me."

I gave her an amiable smile. "It became a trending topic back then when you single-handedly managed to lead into stardom the globally popular girl group, Kep1er. Now, you're even managing one of Asia's most demanded artist."

"It was all their work, really. I was just trying to make them eat and sleep when they needed to." The woman was obviously much more comfortable.

"Don't underappreciate yourself, Ms. Kim. You're doing spectacular with your job. Also, thank you for choosing our hotel." I stood up to give her a handshake as a form of acknowledgement.

She immediately took my hand before giggling and letting go. "Thank you so much. To be complimented by such a beautiful and successful woman is making my day already. Bora eonnie, you should never leave your job with a boss like this."

Ms. Kim Bora playfully slapped her arm, "I was never planning to leave anyway."

"I wouldn't want you to." I gave them both a small smile.

They were just about to excuse themselves when I noticed a familiar face approaching our table.

"Chaehy- No way! Why are you here!?"

•°~°~°•

• Yujin •

After finishing up with the press conference, I immediately went to the room that the hotel kindly provided us. I was worn out with all their questions so I need some time to recharge.

"Yujin eonnie, do you want to get some lunch first before leaving?" Chaehyun asked.

"Yes! I heard that the restaurant in this hotel sells one of the best bossam." I squealed.

"Do you want to eat here or just dine in there?"

"Hmm, if there aren't too many people dining, I want to eat there. The interiors of this hotel is beautiful!" I took a sweeping glance at our room and praised the designer.

"Okay~ Then I'll head down first and you could follow me when I text you if it's okay."

I showed a thumbs up to indicate my agreement.

After just a few minutes of waiting, I received a text from Chaehyun saying, 'Eonnie, there's only Bora eonnie and probably her colleagues dining here. You can come down now and I'll just thank her for helping us organize the conference.'

I sent a sticker of Shin-chan saying okay. I retouched my makeup before finally deciding to go down.

My eyes fell on Chaehyun and Bora who were currently standing to probably talk.

"Chaehy- No way! Why are you here!?"

When I was closer to their table, I called out to her. But I saw the familiar cold beauty standing across the table from them.

I'm not sure if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I was sure I saw her eyes widened a little before returning back to her default stoic face.

"... Oh, so it's you." The corner of her lips were tugged up a little. All the guilt I previously felt suddenly went down the drain when I remembered her smirk after pushing me out of the table. It wasn't that hard, but still!

"Yes, it's me! So what if it's me!?" I gritted under my breath.

The woman actually had the gull to raise an eyebrow at me.

"Yujin eonnie, stop shouting at my boss!" Bora glared at me.

I immediately froze at her words. Wait, what? "Oh..."

The tall woman was now full on smirking at me. Why I ought to slap that smirk off her annoyingly beautiful face!

"You two know each other?" I moved my gaze to the only woman sitting down on the table. Woah. She looks so much like Yeseo it's creepy.

"You could say that." The-cold-beauty-who-I-still-don't-know-the-name said before snapping her fingers. "Yes, we met when I was still on vacation. Funny enough, the number one artist in Korea was—"

And before she could finish what she was saying, I was suddenly beside her and covered her mouth with my hands. I chuckled nervously at the three other women staring at us in surprise.

"Y-yeah, we knew each other... I think? I mean, yes we are. We do. Like, know each other, was what I meant. It's just been a long time so I was shocked. Yeah. Anyway, can you excuse us for a minute so we can catch up a little? Thanks!"

Before I even bothered hearing their reply, I quickly removed my hands from the beauty's mouth to drag her by the hand towards the other side of the restaurant that had a wall. When we were finally behind the wall, I immediately let go of her hands and glared at her.

The woman was just blankly staring at me for a few seconds before giving me that annoying smirk again.

"You have a very aggressive way of catching up with someone, Ms. Choi."

"Who are you?" I asked while keeping my glare on.

"Shen Xiaoting."

Pretty, like her. Focus, Yujin! "Why are you here?"

"For lunch." She raised an eyebrow. Sexy. Stop it, brain!

I groaned. "You know what I mean!"

Her infamous smirk returned. "As what Ms. Kim Bora said earlier, I am her boss. As the boss, I, of course need to assess the status of my business."

"Okay, Shen Xiaoting. I don't care if you're the boss here, but what exactly were you planning to tell them earlier?" I squinted my eyes to show her I was serious.

"That you were rude and loud on the day we met."

My hands that were crossed in front of my chest relaxed. "Oh, they're already aware– Wait! I am not rude!"

"So you're not denying your loud?"

I didn't answer her question. "You were the one being rude at that time! I was already apologizing but you were being mean and rude!"

She suddenly stepped closer and brought her face close to mine. My body immediately went rigid at the close proximity.

"May I remind you Ms. Choi that on that day, you spilled coffee on my clothes, you kept shouting nonsense, and you insulted me. I'm pretty sure who the rude one was between the two of us."

"I-I..." I stepped back and cleared my throat to try and defend myself. "I know, and I'm sorry for that. But that didn't mean that you could just tell someone to shut up or that their breath stinks or push them from the elevator because you didn't want to ride with them."

She craned her head to side, seemingly confused. Cute. "I'm sorry for telling you to shut up. You have to understand that I was covered in spilled coffee and you were speaking Korean too fast and too loud. I am still a foreigner after all. But I still admit that it was rude of me to say that to you out of anger. However, you're two other points were false?"

Now I was the one who was stupefied. I admit that I didn't expect her to say sorry immediately. Silence filled the air between us. I asked, "What do you mean by false?"

Shen Xiaoting started talking. "If I remember correctly, I simply told you to stop shouting because I was not deaf. And as for me allegedly pushing you, I asked you first whether you were going down with me or not. You didn't reply so I assumed you didn't want to. You didn't move so I simply pushed you back a little 'cause you were blocking the doors."

"Oh." I said dumbly. This produced a giggle from her. As much as the sound was musical, I pouted because she was obviously making fun of me.

"I guess we got lost in translation? You understood me when I first spoke in Chinese, so I assumed you knew what exactly I was saying."

Okay now I'm officially embarrassed. "Y-yeah, I guess. I was able to understand the few words you said because I had a Chinese friend back in college. I learned a thing or two."

"You only seemed to learn the insults." Her grin was blinding me.

"Yah! It was just because those were the few things she would speak in Chinese!"

"Whatever you say, Choi Yujin." I suppressed the shudder at the way she spoke my name.

"... I'm really sorry about everything." I fidgeted with my hands nervously.

"Likewise." She nodded.

"I want to make it up to you. You seem loaded with money but I can treat you to some food or something." I proposed.

She thought about it for a minute. "Then I'll take you up on that offer, Ms. Choi."

I rolled my eyes at her. "We're not colleagues or anything so stop calling me that. Call me Yujin or just Jin. How old are you?"

"22 years old."

I smiled. "Omo~ I'm older than you so you should call me eonnie.~"

"But you're shorter, Ms. Yujin." She smiled again and pat the tap of my head.

I playfully swatted her hand away. "Yah! Respect your eonnie!"

She giggled. Again. I did that. "But for now, shall we return to our companions? I'll tell you what I want next time when I finally think of something."

She started walking back towards the table so I followed her.

"I don't know how to contact you though?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I do."

•°~°~°•

• Xiaoting •

"You're grinning again, Xiaoting." Shiro said.

I removed my sight from the passing scenery. We were riding a car and Shiro was sitting on the passenger seat while I was in the backseat. After that conversation we had earlier at the restaurant, Shiro and I had to leave first due to an urgent call from one of our nearby branch. I had the staff provide them a meal that will be paid in my name.

I rolled my eyes at her. "If I don't smile, you comment about it. When I do smile, you still comment about. What do you want from me, woman?"

Shiro laughed. "I want... the reason why you're smiling. If I can get my hands on it, I might finally know how to help your subordinates not to feel too scared of you."

"I'd rather not say then. I very much enjoy how they fear me. Respect is overrated anyway." I scoffed.

"But really, who got you smiling like that?"

"... Choi Yujin's reactions. It was quite entertaining."

"Well, she is an entertainer." She giggled at that. "It was a sight to behold, you know. When she haphazardly covered your mouth and dragged you somewhere. What was more amazing though was that you actually let her."

I hummed in agreement. "Yeah, I'm shocked too."

"You should talk to her more often."

I shook my head. "I'm not making any promises."