Chapter 54 - Brave

Ye Rim had arrived late, as usual, and when she opened the apartment door, she noticed that the key was jammed. "Did Eun Ha forgot the key in the door again?!" She tried to pull her phone out of her bag as she struggled carrying the box with President Baek's valuable gift. But before she called her unnie, the message popped on her phone:

"Is that you, Ye Rim?"

"What happened? Open the door."

"I need to make sure."

What the...?! What?! Unnie ?! I want to come in!" Ye Rim tried to control her voice so as not to wake the neighbors. She heard the footsteps on the other side of the door. "A prank like this, late in the night, please no, unnie, I'm exhausted."

"What's your dog's name in sophomore year?"

"Bita. From Vitamin. Now let me in, funny girl." To her astonishment, Ye Rim heard the shuffle of furniture, possibly the sofa, and then the door opened a little. Eun Ha looked up at her with fearful eyes before wide opening the door. The singer came in, a little worried, and as she passed her older friend, Ye Rim found that for some strange reason Eun Ha smelled of garlic. She dropped the large box on the sofa and collapsed into it, exhausted.

"Unnie, what is going on? Why are you wrapped like that in the blanket?" she asked, mentioning the fact that Eun Ha covered her head with the duvet like she was a Joseon maiden protecting from sun. "And why are you locking everything up like this? Did someone try to break in here?" it was the only plausible explanation for her unnie's strange behavior.

"No, ha, well, I heard noises. And ... Well, they sent me a horrible video before I went to sleep, and I ... I woke up scared in the middle of the night, listening to noises. Maybe someone tried to get in, but I just wished to make sure our house was safe."

"And that strong garlic smell? Did you order any food? I thought you were on a diet…?"

"Ah?" Eun Ha ran her hand quickly around her neck under the blanket, seeming to pull something out. "Yes, I mean no. Don't talk about my breath like that."

Ye Rim for a moment even thought her friend had dreamed of vampires. "Eun Ha, if you're going to be watching creepy videos, at least get a boyfriend to call when you wake up scared this way!"

The older one sat next to her best friend, still wrapped in the blanket from head to toe, and glanced at the box, but didn't ask any question:

"What ?! You will see a big Dior box and is not going to ask what it is? You, out of everyone else?!" though tired and intrigued, Ye Rim was more shocked by Eun Ha acting so strangely. "Come here, let me see if you have a fever," she advanced on her friend with the back of her outstretched hand to measure her temperature. Eun Ha dodged her Hans and slapped it out of her way,

"Did you go out to return one outfit, and come back home with another?"

"It was a day full of plot twists. But look," Ye Rim took her new coat out of the box, and saw a flicker of interest in her frightened friend's eyes. In fact, Eun Ha was constantly looking around like a scared kitten every time a little noise was heard in the building." It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Wow! It's from the last collection. Yoo Ji Kyung had one of those on Vogue Korea," Ye Rim put it on, eager to show her friend the coat, and Eun Ha stood up, balancing the blanket as best she could with one hand, and went to touch the coat, feel its texture, check the seams and finishings, admiring the quality and design of the clothing.

"I heard that three times tonight." she confided, laughing. "President Baek of Home Paradise. He came to Pearl and bring it for me."

"No way!" Eun Ha exclaimed, with a pained expression.

"I didn't know what to do! I was so happy to see him again, and everyone who went there today! The house sold out, they spent a lot there! You know how flamboyant the President is."

"Well, but… the coat was a bit over the top, didn't it?"

"Yes. But I couldn't make him to be ashamed in front of his employees. You know he is like that. He gets satisfied with this kind of… ostentation. He was very good to me in the past, I couldn't refuse in front of them. He would feel devastated. But I'm gonna find a way to give it back to him. By the way, I will have to do this early in the morning, because he said he would travel to Manilla in the afternoon. Do you believe he wanted me to go with him?"

"Uhn, he's very nice, but maybe not so innocent!" Eun Ha slapped the coat, as if beating President Baek for his boldness. Ye Rim escaped and fetched a glass of water to soothe her throat after a night of work. From the kitchen, and still wearing her coat, she said,

"Are you doing laundry at this hour?"

"Ah, well, yes," the older girl just gave up explaining why the washing machine was working in the middle of the night. "Well, if you wish, tomorrow morning we can go together return his gift. We can do this discreetly. He's a really good man, and if his pleasure is being admired as a man who likes to gift extravagant things away, what to do? But you're right, keeping it is weird."

"He goes on to say that the jingle saved his business from bankruptcy. He is cute. I wanted to keep this coat so badly! But that would be abuse, and a reason for him to think wrong things about me. Ah!" she seemed to remember something. "Am I still pretty? For pictures? It would be nice to have photos with this wonderful manteau on my Instagram, right?"

"You silly! Yes! You look decadent at the end of the night, with this blurry makeup, but a nice dress and a beautiful coat. Decadent glamour! Especially with the kitchen in the background and the glass of water in hand. Just like as a fancy fashion editorial. Let me get the camera."

"Yes, let me enjoy the last moments with this wonderful coat! And when you get back, I'll tell everything else what happened before it. The audition, and the ... Dr. Kim!" She squeed, and the older girl, who was in the middle of a step to fetch her photographic equipment, suddenly froze. 'Dr. Kim ?! What does she mean, how does she happen to speak his name with such excitement ?!'

…

Later, after the photos and reports, Ye Rim was in her bed, slowly drifting into sleep as the images of the day shuffled through her half numb mind: bills to pay; the avocado in the fridge that was rotting; the hot coffee and how the more she knew Dr. Kim Jun Hyeon, the stranger and, in his own way, the more fascinating he became; and how he and the disturbing Lee Dae Won were talking about her but she couldn't hear a thing; until she hit the memory lane, with the joyful feeling of seeing loved ones:

President Baek and people she worked with in the time she was a mere store clerk in Namdaemun, how she had been deceived about the content of the 'idols' agency deal. Agency that were nothing more than a façade for obscure dealings and that threatened to sue Ye Rim if she didn't pay for the breach of contract. It lead her to work part time with a microphone in her hand attracting customers with household sale offerings at the store door.

The day the President Baek listened to the jingle she created and decided to use it in a radio advertis.e.m.e.nt, and how it resulted in a contract with an overseas manufacturer who thought his modest network was bigger than it really was.

That was the start of his rise as a successful chain owner, and also of his penchant for gaudy extravaganzas. She learned that he, in the past, was a very poor and self-educated man, who started his business by selling socks as street vendor, and used to thought it was a reason for him to be so flaunt of his new wealthy status.

President Baek learned of Ye Rim's problem with the agency, and somehow scared them to leave her alone. She realized that the President seemed more solicitous than appropriate for the difference in status and especially the difference in age, but he was a kind man and never really proposed anything, though Ye Rim feared the day it would inevitably happen. Until she was finally accepted by a serious idol agency, and said she would resign…

"Ye Rim-ahhhhhhh!" Eun Ha showed her head, wrapped back in the blanket, through the doorway. By her tone alone, Ye Rim already knew that Eun Ha wanted something.

"Ahnnnn?"

"Can I sleep here?"

"Really, unnie? Still scared?" she made room in the bed for the other girl. Eun Ha ran to the bed, a beam of light dancing in the dark preceded her.

"Aigoo! What are you doing with a flashlight and… this pen of yours, unnie?"

"Ah, the pen? I just… got it by accident."

"Please, if you're going to get it on, turn it the other way."

"Okay."

"Where in the world an a.d.u.l.t woman that went to college is afraid of ghosts…" Ye Rim grumbled, curling up in her own covers and turning her back, but realizing that Eun Ha was really scared and wide awake. 'Aigoo I cannot sleep with Eun Ha being so scared by my side.'

"Was the video too bad? What was it about?"

"If I tell you, we'll be both scared."

"Okay. So let's just sleep, okay? Give me your hand," she reached under the cover, awaiting the contact of Eun Ha's hand. Her unnie's cold hand touched hers.

"Aigoo, Unnie. What a ghost hand!"

"You don't know what a ghost hand is."

"It's just like yours. Chilling cold."

"No, it's not."

"Oh really? And how is it then?"

"Yeah… never mind. You don't need to know."

"You're scaring me saying that."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you're right. No you're not. I'm too sleepy to be afraid. And don't worry, your donsaeng is here to defend you. Now sleep. And turn off the flashlight."

"Aish!"

The flashlight light went out.