KITCHEN, LEE RESIDENCE – 8:28 AM.
Rin was so happy it was the weekend. She didn't think she could face Moon Taeil right after what happened. Or rather, what he did that made her all jittery and flustered around him.
She can feel her face turn a shade of red every time he was around, and while talking to her, too. Her co-workers thought she had truly lost it. They understood, though. Working for Moon Taeil was no easy task.
Even up until now, she gets embarrassed whenever that memory comes into mind.
But Rin had other matters to attend to for this weekend. It was her niece's school's sports festival, and being the great aunt that she is, she's supposed to attend in support of her.
"Hyori, did you get your soccer shoes already?!"
"Yes, mom!"
"Good! Hurry up! We're going to be late!!"
Rin chuckles as she fixes her niece's duffel bag, making sure it was filled with towels, extra clothes, and water. She knew how exhausting outdoor games get, and she was thankful that she has a job that doesn't require her to go outside that much. She was lucky Moon Publishing is a big company that can afford air conditioning.
"Chaerin, is her bag ready?!" Lee Hyerin, Chaerin's older sister, shouts from behind.
Rin flinches at the volume, sending her sister an exasperated expression. "I'm done. You don't need to shout," she whines.
"Sorry," Hyerin giggles. "By the way your phone was ringing earlier. Your boss was calling."
Rin feels herself freeze as her eyes widen at her sister. Hyerin rolls her eyes. "Relax, I let it go to voicemail," she assures. "I still want to beat his ass."
"Why?!"
"Because of what he did to you? He totally made you uncomfortable by invading your personal space," Hyerin huffs, hating Moon Taeil more.
She's heard her sister rant about the guy for 4 years, but it was never anything serious. Like, he couldn't decide what the fuck he wanted to it, or he was too picky with clothing, or that he hates meetings and makes Chaerin go to them in his stead.
Hyerin knew it was all part of Chaerin's job but she wasn't going to let it pass if that ass Taeil crosses the line.
"I didn't push him away though..." Rin admits shamefully. "And he smelled nice..."
"I can smell his STENCH from here. Don't you dare let him off the hook, Lee Chaerin." Hyerin states firmly.
Rin groans, hearing her full name for the nth time. "You sound just like him! Just call me Chaerin or Rin!" she complains, almost losing it.
"Okay, relax! Man, he's really getting to you, huh?" Hyerin muses. "What an ass."
"Yeah, such an ass," Rin agrees, Taeil's firm curvy butt coming into mind. She sighs in resignation. "C'mon, let's go."
SANGYEON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL – 9:06 AM.
Rin feels like dying, with the sun directed at her. She always hated it.
They were outdoors, watching the grade school students play activities. Her niece's program hasn't started yet so Rin was still under the sun for no reason.
"Stop fidgeting," Hyerin scolds, lightly hitting her knee.
"It's the heat!" Rin complains, feeling rashes form on her skin already. She suddenly feels she's right back in elementary school.
It's like Chaerin and Hyerin are attending their own sports festival again. The younger complaining about the heat, and Hyerin being the older sister, taking care of her.
But no, Chaerin promised herself she won't be a burden anyone else anymore. This time, she wanted to take care of everyone around her.
"I'll go get us drinks from the vending machine," Rin volunteers, finding an excuse to escape the sun's heat ray.
She walks through the school hallway, looking for a nearby vending machine. She spots one at the far end, and quickly runs to it.
There was a guy who was in the middle of getting his drink so Rin had to wait for her turn from behind.
"Ah shit—"
Rin peers over to what got the guy cursing. The guy turns around, scratching his head in confusion.
"I got an extra coffee. Do you want it?"
Rin was surprised when the guy started talking to her. "I—Sorry, I don't drink coffee," she politely declined.
"Oh." The guy pouts and frowns at the drink in his hand.
Rin finds it cute and giggles into her hand. "You don't like coffee?" she asks.
"No, I prefer tea," the guy responds, chuckling cutely.
Rin notes how big his smile is, and how attractive his full grin was.
"My boss hates tea," Rin doesn't know why she mentioned that out of nowhere. "He's obsessed with coffee, though."
"Gross!" the guy makes a face, shaking his head. He doesn't understand caffeine-induced people. "Tea is much healthier!"
"Thank you!" Rin throws her arms in the air exasperatedly. At least someone understands her. Not like that Moon Taeil who keeps hating on tea like it's poison or something.
The snickers at Rin's reaction. He extends a hand over to her. "I'm Yuta, by the way," he introduces himself.
"Oh, sorry—" Rin rushes to shake his head. "I'm Lee Chaerin. Nice to meet you."
"You too."
Rin takes a good look at Yuta, making sure to take note how beautiful his smile was, and how his tanned skin looked pretty under the sun light. She thinks it's lame to be poetic about a person you just met but it's what she thought of upon staring at a beauty that is Yuta.
Yuta waits for Rin to finish getting a drink so the two of them could walk back to the open grounds together.
"So, you here with your kid or...?" Yuta starts a conversation.
"Wha—No! No, it's my sister's kid. I'm just here to support them," Rin replies. "How about you?"
"Ah, I'm here with my niece, too. Her parents are workaholics and I didn't trust the sitter to accompany her so I just went with her."
"I see." Rin unconsciously tucks a hair strand behind her ear. She tends to do that whenever she gets shy around someone.
And right now, who wouldn't get shy over someone as handsome as Yuta?
The two continued to talk as they walk, mostly about their niece, and their mutual love for tea.
Yuta mentions about his tea slash book shop, and how it came about. He talked about how his best friend helped him every step of the way.
Rin loves how passionate he is while talking about his business. It makes her think about how Taeil built Moon Publishing from scratch. She doesn't know much about the company's history, but from what she heard about Ten, Taeil's business started in his own apartment.
Rin suddenly grows curious how Taeil started off. Did his eyes shine like Yuta's? Was his young self still full of hopes and dreams? Did he still smile?
Oh my god did he smile?!
"How about you, Chaerinssi?"
Rin snaps out of her internal turmoil as Yuta pulls her back to reality.
"O-Oh, me? I work at Moon Publishing."
Yuta's eyes widen at that. "Whoa! The one who published NEO CITY? I love that book!" he says excitedly.
"I see you're a fan of the franchise," Rin giggles into her hand.
"Fan? I've been reading that since I was a kid!" Yuta sighs dreamily. "Author Kim is one of my heroes."
Rin purses her lips together as she recalls what type of person Author Kim is. "I'm glad he's made such an impact," she says.
"Yeah." Yuta chuckles shyly. "Sorry for fanboying all of a sudden. I just love his books."
"It's fine. I'm surrounded by bookworms at work anyway," Rin shrugs, thinking about how much of a Greek Mythology fan Jungwoo is. Or Lucas and his urban fantasy obsession. Even Mark's obsessed with reading unsolved crimes. Yeah, she's friends with a bunch of lovable weirdos.
"Yeah." Yuta smiles at her gratefully. "What about you? What type of books do you read?"
"Me?" Rin points at herself. She ponders for a moment and recalls why she got in the book publishing industry in the first place. "I don't like anything in particular but... oh! There's this certain book that got me hooked."
"What is it?"
"Vermillion by Pearl." Rin recalls the first time she picked up the book. She was 12-years-old, and her mother had brought her and her sister to a flea market. She happened to pass by a big old bookshelf, when something red caught her eye.
Her mother caught her staring at it and offered to buy for her if she promised she'd read it. Rin didn't have to since in only a day, she managed to finish the book.
"What's it about?" Yuta asks.
"It's a collection of poems by the author. I think she just wrote all her heavy emotions in it. As a girl going through puberty at that time, I could relate to all the mixed feelings she was having. I really loved it."
Rin reminisced the time she was obsessed with that book, and whenever she was feeling something so extreme, she'd read the book to calm herself down.
"Actually... the title really suited the concept of the book. The color red pretty much sums up all our pent-up emotions, no?"
Rin smiles at Yuta, who was giving her an unreadable expression.
"...I guess you're right," he agrees with a small voice.
Rin suddenly remembers a certain hairstyle that always gets her attention. She hadn't noticed she was staring directly at it until she realized she was looking straight at the school parking lot where a car just parked and a certain someone hopped out of that car.
"I have to go," Rin says out of nowhere.
"What?" Yuta looks at her in surprise and kinda disappointed (?).
"I have to go," she repeats and rushes to where she saw Moon Taeil walking to.
"O-Okay? Nice meeting you!" Yuta calls after but Rin had already disappeared off to the corner. "Damn, I didn't even get her number."
"Sir!" Rin yells as she run towards Taeil, who just entered the grade school building. What the fuck?
"Lee Chaerin?" Taeil stares at her, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Rin is taken aback. "What—What do you mean what am I doing here? What are you doing here?!" she returns the question. "S-Sir."
This time, it's Taeil that's caught off guard. Right, he did not think this through.
"I'm not stalking you alright?" he blurts out and instantly regrets it.
Rin frowns at him as he stammers.
"I—I was looking—You weren't answering your phone! And i—Well, you know—"
Taeil's entire head was bright red as Rin wonders how the hell is his face the same shade as his hair.
"I saw the flyer on your desk!" Taeil exclaims.
"On my desk? Wait, sir—are you working on weekends?!" Rin cannot believe how much of a workaholic Moon Taeil is. Does he not have a social life?! Isn't Ten supposed to be pestering him to go out?!
"Yeah?! What about it?!" Taeil yelps defensively. "Ten went on a trip to Bali so no one's pestering me."
"Well I am!" Rin feels her blood boil. "I made you drink all that tea to reduce stress and now it's the weekend when you can relax you decide not to? What's wrong with you?!"
Taeil feels himself shrink as his own secretary nags him about his health. God it's like Ten 2.0 over here!"
"I just needed to ask you about the documents on the NEO CITY book tour! I'm arranging an initial schedule—"
"That's due til next month! Heck, even Author Kim hasn't cleared out his schedule yet!" Rin can hear her voice rising. Why does Moon Taeil hate his body so much?!
"I—I wanted to get ahead of things..." Taeil murmurs with a small voice.
"Um, excuse me?" the pair flinches as one of the teachers appears and approaches them slowly. "All parents are being called to the field to accompany their children for the relay. May I know what your child's class is so I can help direct you?"
"What—" Taeil's eyes widen as he looks at Rin. "You have a kid?!"
"No!" Rin immediately denies. She turns to the confused teacher and smiles sheepishly. "She's in 3-3."
"I see. Please follow me." the teacher gestures for the two to follow her as she starts leading them back to the activities field.
The two tail closely behind. "You're a parent? Who's the father? Is it Wong Yukhei?" Taeil was whispering over to Rin.
"No! It's my niece. I'm here with my sister—Stop with Lucas! We're not dating! I'm single, okay?!" Rin whisper-yells to him.
"Really, you're single?"
"Yes! Now please tell me why you're really here, sir."
"I'm—"
"Please head over there to find your child."
"Uh, yeah thanks!" Rin smiles over to the teacher as they were finally left alone to talk.
"Alright." Rin crosses her arms as she faces Taeil, giving him a stern look. "What are you really doing here, sir?"
"I told you already. Why do you keep asking?" Taeil reasons, avoiding eye contact from her.
"Really, sir? You went all the way here just to ask me that? You couldn't just call or email me?"
"You weren't answering your phone!" Taeil argues back. He notices that Rin's expression wasn't wavering so he gives in. "...Also, I wanted to apologize."
Rin definitely wasn't expecting that. "For what?" she asks.
"The other night," Taeil reminds. "I—I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable by coming onto you like that. I should've respected your personal space. I'm sorry."
"I—" Rin feels blood run to her face as it turns bright red. Why does Moon Taeil have to remind her about that?! "I—It's—I—I honestly forgotten about that."
Lies. It's all she thinks about now. And his red hair, and lips, and jawline. Fuck, Moon Taeil.
"But thank you for apologizing, sir. I just hope..." Rin stares at Taeil, whose face remains remorseful.
"It won't happen again," Taeil pledges.
Rin kind of feels disappointed but whatever! Of course, it won't. This is her boss for crying out loud! And she's set on maintaining a professional work ethic around him.
"Of course, sir." Rin nods to him.
The two stood there in silence, waiting for each other to speak again. Taeil looks sideways, scratching his temple.
"I'll get back to the office then," he says.
"What? No—" Rin grabs his wrist before she can register it. "—Sir. You can't work during the weekend. Give it a rest."
"Lee Chaerin, I can't just sit on my ass all day. What do you want me to do at home, lounge around and do nothing?"
"But sir. You should learn to relax once in a while—"
"Chaerin, there you are!" Rin was cut off when her older sister approached them from the field. "The relay's starting, come one!"
Hyerin pulls Rin's wrist, dragging her bag to the field. She hadn't notice Taeil from all the rush, and completely looked past him.
"Wait, sir—Don't leave yet!" Rin yells back as she stumbles to the field where her niece was waiting for her.
Taeil just watched the sisters get ready for the race, observing the program from the shaded area that gave the perfect view of the field.
It was refreshing to see Rin like this. Lee Chaerin was always so formal and professional around Taeil so seeing her like this... It was nice. He got to see another side of her today. He finds himself smiling as he watches Rin cheer excitedly for her team.
Without knowing it, Taeil's shoulders started to sag, and he starts to feel less tense as the moment passes. He didn't know it but, it was the first time in a while that Taeil got to relax on a weekend like this.