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“Or his gift is somehow to manipulate memories like you,” Kang Yoon murmured, a sudden realization lighting up his eyes. “What if, while Sae Ra can remove memories…”
The two women turned to gaze at him, the idea slowly forming in their minds.
“Hyun Woo can create them?”
“That’s ridiculous,” exclaimed Sae Ra, but a chill ran up and down her spine.
“Well, it is one possibility,” murmured Kang Yoon in deep thought, “a particularly scary one.”
“Sounds dangerous…We’re lucky we’re immune to it if that’s really the case,” said Tae Ri.
“Still…” Kang Yoon looked at Sae Ra, his eyebrows wrinkled in concern. “If he’s someone willing to use such a skill with reckless abandon, he’s not the type to shy away from other methods to get what he wants just because his first attempt fails.”
Tae Ri nodded slowly, deep in thought.
“For now, stick to him and observe,” she finally said to Sae Ra. “Don’t put more attention on yourself than needed.”
Sae Ra nodded, then checked her watch. “Oh, speaking of, I gotta go!” She cheerily said goodbye to the group and rushed to the staircase, all done so quickly that Kang Yoon felt rather abandoned in the whirlwind of energy she left behind.
Eventually, he looked back to see Tae Ri’s cat-like eyes fixed on him. If her face was more expressive, he swore he would’ve seen a wolfish grin flashing at him. However, she just continued staring at him impassively, which made him feel even more uneasy.
“I should go, too,” he said, and likewise rushed away, leaving Tae Ri to deal once again with her hangover symptoms as she shuffled back to her desk.
Sae Ra opened the door to the floor with the studios. She was supposed to meet with Hyun Woo for a brief discussion on the next filming. He came out of the doors, looking down at his clipboard.
“Hyun Woo!” she said cheerfully, waving and rushing over to him as he looked up from his clipboard and smiled back.
“Hey, you get back home okay?” he asked, blatantly oblivious to the group of co-workers also leaving the studio doors who threw them curious glances.
“Yeah! Thanks for the meal again.” Sae Ra’s grin widened as she remembered the delicious food. Patting her stomach, she said, “Everything was really tasty.”
“That’s good. Did you all talk about me behind my back after I left?” he asked with a laugh.
“No!” She widened her eyes. “Should we have?”
He laughed again with the faintest trace of awkwardness. “Walk with me to my office?”
The two started down the hallway to a door at the end that led to a small room with two messy desks for the directors of their show.
“Too bad you didn’t stay longer,” Sae Ra said as she sat on a small foldable chair by his desk.
“Well, you said the next dinner would be on you,” he replied casually, flipping through papers on his desk, “so plenty of time to get to know each other. Just you and me next time, though, you promised.”
Automatically, she said with a smile, “Of course! A promise is a promise.”
His smile didn’t reach his eyes as he looked back at her like a reflection. “Great.”
The two had their planned discussion on the general setup of the next shoot. After half an hour, Sae Ra stepped outside, Hyun Woo holding the door for her.
“Thanks! I’ll message you if I have any questions,” she said.
“Please do,” he replied, still amiable, before closing the door.
Her smile dropped as soon as the barrier came up between them, although it had felt like a figurative wall had been up the entire time they’d talked. She felt tired already. It was not easy being a spy… She sighed and turned, almost running into a tall figure in an elegant one-piece.
“Oh!” Sae Ra stepped back and looked up and up into the smiling face of Ma In Ha, the secretary to CEO Kwon Sung Joon. A genuine smile, the first one since her talk with Tae Ri and Kang Yoon, spread across her face. “Oh, hello, Secretary Ma!”
“Hi, Sae Ra,” Secretary Ma replied. “How have you been doing? Has the company been treating you well?”
“Yes!” Sae Ra nodded enthusiastically. “Everyone’s super nice and I’ve already gotten used to things around here. It’s been great. Thank you so much.”
Secretary Ma inclined her head graciously. “No, thank you for your hard work,” she said, her tone as gentle and calm as before. “I see you must’ve had a meeting with the directors. Things have been going smoothly there, too?”
“Uh, yes!” Sae Ra said with one more vigorous nod as if to convince herself. “They’re great.”
After a beat, Secretary Ma nodded, as well, and said, “That’s good to hear. I don’t mean to hold you up any longer.”
With that dismissal, Sae Ra said her farewell and rushed back to her desk to type up the notes and send them to the senior writer. Secretary Ma watched her, her red lips still placed expertly into her default smile. Once Sae Ra disappeared, she finally turned and opened the door to the directors’ office.
As soon as she entered and closed the door behind her, Hyun Woo said, “I think they know.”
“Then I think it’s time and you’re ready.”
He grinned. “I’ll just toy around. I don’t want to do too much damage. She’s harmless, after all.”
She smiled back, unrelenting. “I get it. She’s cute.”
Hyun Woo crossed his arms and propped himself on the very edge of the windowsill. “She is,” he admitted. “Not that she’s my type.” He flashed her another grin. “I prefer mature, sexy women.”
Her smile never changed, as if sewn onto her face.
“And I like men who listen to what I say.”
–
Sae Ra, Tae Ri, and Kang Yoon got off the elevator and headed towards the cafeteria for lunchtime, jostling elbows with other people who were eager to quickly eat and leave for more work or a much-needed smoke break.
“Nothing happened?” whispered Tae Ri.
“Yeah, it’s slow going,” Sae Ra said, trying to look over the crowd to see what the buffet was offering today. She swore she could smell bulgogi, and the cafeteria made such good bulgogi. She was already salivating.
“Don’t you need more game to pull off Operation Seduction?” wondered Tae Ri aloud.
“What’s wrong with my flirting skills?” Sae Ra protested. “Hey, Kang Yoon, don’t I flirt okay?”
“I must be immune,” he replied to which Tae Ri flashed him her unimpressed cat eyes, which in a normal person would translate to a wolfish grin.
A sudden hush fell over the crowd and then a murmuring reverberated through the cafeteria.
“What’s going on?” asked Sae Ra.
“Oh, looks like the CEO is eating here today,” said Joo Young who came over to them. “He does that sometimes. It’s rare but happens.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Sae Ra, going on her tippy toes to see the handsome CEO. Indeed, he was sitting on an island in the center across from Secretary Ma, no one within a fifteen-foot radius of the two who gave off such a powerful aura. Something about their tall figures, black designer outfits, and general presence had everybody respectfully standing far, far away while also staring openly.
Sae Ra tugged on Kang Yoon’s sleeve, leading him towards the food. “Looks like we can grab food while everyone’s preoccupied,” she whispered, making him smile. Her whole face lit up as she saw there was a fresh tray of bulgogi that had been set out just at that moment. My nose never lies! she proudly thought to herself.
She didn’t notice the side glance from CEO Sung Joon, who was likewise enjoying the bulgogi.
“They’ve found each other,” he murmured to In Ha, who bowed her head slightly more as she chewed demurely.
“Didn’t take them very long at all,” she replied after swallowing.
After a few more beats of quiet eating, Sung Joon queried, “Who’s that with them?”
Ma In Ha didn’t even glance up, her answer already prepared from years of being by Sung Joon’s side. “Cho Kang Yoon. A college classmate of Sae Ra’s.”
A slow grin spread across Sung Joon’s face, even as he hid it from the onlookers with a napkin. “Ah, the reason she’s here.”
“The one and the same.” In Ha’s eyes flickered over to Kang Yoon, who was laughing openly down at Sae Ra. It was the briefest glance, her eyes now back down on her half-empty tray.
Tae Ri headed to the far end of the buffet line with her tray, leaving Kang Yoon and Sae Ra in their own little world.
With a sigh of contentment, Sung Joon gently placed his chopsticks down on the table and leaned back, crossing his long legs.
“Shall we begin?”
Next time on 🌸Forget-Me-Not🌸
The PA caught his gaze hovering towards Sae Ra. “Yeah, she’s been here a lot lately,” she said nonchalantly. With a shrug, she added, “Not that I mind because an extra pair of hands is always welcome, but…” Here, she dropped her voice ever so slightly. “Do you think there’s something going on between them? Maybe she likes Hyun Woo…”
Kang Yoon’s pen, as he was signing a clipboard, jerked, leaving a black line across the page.