2 years later:
"excuse me sir but can you please switch your phone off, we're about to take off.." the air hostess said lightly shaking Haneul, who was frantically typing something on his phone.
He raised his head and with a single nod gestured the air hostess to go.
Switch your phone off. Haneul laughed a little when he remembered the little incident he had with Ash years ago, when they first met.
"where are you Ash..?" Haneul whispered as he looked at the city lights disappearing behind the thick black clouds.
~
"sir! Good morning! welcome back to Seoul! we have your car waiting outside, the driver will take you to your place.." a young boy holding a dozen files, with a worried expression on his face said
Haneul stopped midway and looked at him, "where's my coffee?" he asked in a very serious voice
"si-sir..here you go.." the boy said handing Haneul a cup of coffee
Haneul took a sip and almost immediately spit it out in his handkerchief.
"Have you forgotten that I like black coffee, sugarless?" He had a frown on his forhead
"s-sorry sir..I bought the wrong-"
"stop." Haneul raised his finger, "inform the office staff, I'm going there now." he said as he started towards the exit door
As he stepped out of the airport, the things around him started doubling. He shook his head a few times
"sir?" the boy asked holding his arm to keep him on his feet
Haneul jerked him away and held his head but he couldn't stay on his feet and collapsed.
~
Haneul opened his eyes, closed them and then opened them again, looking at the unfamiliar surrounding, he quickly got up and was surprised to see himself in a bed.
"what is this place?" he asked himself as he tried getting out of the bed but his legs still felt weak.
"oh you're up!" a soft voice said cheerfully. Haneul looked at the direction it came from and gave a small laugh.
He shook his head and rubbed his face several times and opened his eyes again, his laugh turned into a shocked expression
"Ash..?" he whispered, still not believing she was standing there in front of her
"you remember my name?" she replied as she entered the room, holding a tray with soup and rice on it.
"what.." Haneul whispered, moving away from her, "what are you doing here?" he asked, still in shock
"this is my house..I'm living here.." she replied, sitting on the bed and placing the tray in front of him
He looked at the room and then at the food, then back at Ash
"are you really here?" he asked, extending his hand to touch her face but stopped midway, pulling his hand back and looking away
"yes..Haneul, I'm here..for real. Did you miss me this much?" Ash teased
Haneuls shocked expression was calm now, he gave a huff, "miss you? I don't do that..I don't have time for such useless things, you see. I stopped doing that when I stopped looking for you..it has been quite some time.." he said
"you..were looking for..me?" she asked with a small smile on her face and amazement
"I stopped. Anyways, can you please explain to me how I ended up here?" Haneul said, lifting the sheets off of him and getting out of the bed
"huh? oh..uh you fainted at the airport..fortunately, I was there as well and I saw you, when I said we should take you to the hospital you secretary said you hate hospitals and that your physician visits you at home, which is weird because you were unconscious and none of your people were agreeing on letting me take you to the hospital..so I asked them where your house was and all of them went quiet..they had no idea. I thought you still lived in your old house so I brought you here and it was locked, and the manager told me you don't live there anymore. So I brought you here and now you're up.." Ash explained
"and I didn't wake up while you kept moving me around like a..bag?" Haneul asked
"no. Because you're not well..I heard you ate nothing back in Spain and that you didn't even eat in the plane. I heard you don't take proper meals on regular basis either. Stress, overwork, stress, coffee, overwork and that's it. That's your routine. Oh and I also heard that you like stressing out your staff as well. I heard from Jung that one of your employees was hospitalized because of overwork and stress. she was your secretary." Ash said in one go
Haneul raised an eyebrow, "Jung? he told you all that? is that how he talks about his boss?" Haneul clenched his jaws
"Haneul..he is worried about you and so am I-" Ash stopped because Haneul covered her mouth
He shook his head, "I don't want your worry. I don't want you to pretend like you care. I'm Seung Haneul, I'm used to being abandoned..I don't like people interfering in my life. I'm no longer the person you knew. I'm not your friend anymore." he said slowly and clearly and stepped away, fixed his tie and walked out
"relationships aren't ended like this.." Ash said from behind. he stopped before getting inside the elevator and turned around, with a smirk on his face, "I don't believe in relationships Ash." he got in the elevator, "Welcome back to Seoul", pressed the button and looked at Ash with eyes that were quiet, there was no longer a storm in them, they were empty and..soulless, he looked at her in exasperation and said, "don't bump into me again." and with that the doors closed and he was gone.
Ash was confused and shocked, this wasn't the Haneul she knew. What happened, what caused him to be like this? She was happy to see him and she thought for a moment he was too..but turns out he wasn't.
Ash decided not to think much of it but it kept bothering her. His eyes..they were too quiet today.
"I wonder what happened.."
