Why Are You So Annoying?

Chapter 10

☾⛧Meeting Sejin's uncle ⛧☽

Luckily for Hayi, her only class for today ends at 2:20 PM and her shift at the convenience store doesn't start until 4 PM, so she definitely has time to meet with Sejin's uncle.

As she wasn't able to properly do her morning routine earlier today, she suddenly halts her walk, faces the glass windows of the store in front of her, uses it as a mirror, and fixes her hair and make up. "You look like a human now. Thanks, Kookheon." She laughs while remembering his make up tips from earlier. She takes one last look at her clothes and adjusts her skirt before continuing to walk to the meeting place.

☆°˖✧ ♡ ✧˖°☆

The chimes of the cafe doors ring as Hayi enters. She scans the area and sees Sejin seated facing a man at a corner of the cafe. Sejin sees her and waves at her. Hayi waves back and sees his uncle look back to her direction. She almost gasped loudly. As if it wasn't enough that she's already nervous at the thought of meeting a client, her heart starts fluttering harder upon seeing a handsome face. "Crazy. Is his face real?" She thinks to herself. She nervously approaches the two but tries to present a calm and composed appearance. Hayi goes beside Sejin.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Lee." Hayi bows to Sejin's uncle. "Please, just call me Dongwook." He says as he extends his arms for a handshake. Hayi lightly laughs. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Dongwook." "Nice to meet you too, Ms. Hayi. Have a seat." He offers and Hayi responds with a tiny "Sure."

"Thank you for making some time today, Ms. Hayi. I'm sorry if it was too sudden." Dongwook says as they were sitting down but Hayi shakes her head. "No, it's okay. It's my free time until 4 PM." "Oh, I see. Let's not waste anymore time then." Dongwook then pulls out an envelope and explains, "This is my first time requesting for an artwork commission and I don't really know how it works. So, I searched for some artworks and printed them out for reference." Hayi is impressed. Her past clients do not give references or pegs until she asks one from them. "That will be very helpful. Thank you." She replies.

As Dongwook takes out the contents of the envelope, Hayi notices the girls seating behind him trying to take a photo of him secretly. She then subtly looks at her side and sees more people whispering at each other while looking at them. She leans in to ask Dongwook a question. "Aren't you uncomfortable, sir? People are looking at you." But Dongwook smiles while saying, "It's okay. I'm used to it."

Hayi is amazed but she tries not to show it. "I guess this is normal for actors?" She makes a remark, and Dongwook agrees. "As long as they don't follow me to my house, I'm not really bothered." They laugh.

"By the way, uncle, didn't you also study at our university?" Sejin changes the topic and Hayi is once again surprised. "Really?" She asks. "Yes, I'm an alumnus from the theater arts department." Dongwook enthusiastically replies. For a moment, Hayi remembers Yuvin who's taking the same course, but she immediately shakes away the thought. "Actually, this very cafe was our hang out place back then. I'm glad it didn't change that much." Dongwook gazes around the interior of the cafe before finally giving Hayi the artwork references.

"These are mostly surrealist scenery paintings." Hayi comments. "Although you've also included some realist portraits" She continues. "Yes. As you may have already heard from Sejin, I want to give this artwork to my fiancée as my proposal gift." Dongwook explains. "And the image I want to portray in the artwork is a very chaotic setting, but then, there is the two of us, standing beside each other in the midst of everything." Hayi gets her notepad to write down Dongwook's vision. "The image you have in your mind... are you thinking of having the surroundings painted in surrealism while your portraits are very realistic?" Hayi asks to flesh out his idea. "That's right." Dongwook answers. "I want to have a contrast in our portraits and the background." Hayi nods in understanding. "That's very sweet. I'm imagining it would somewhat look like a wedding portrait." She comments to which Sejin agrees. "Yeah, I was thinking the same too. I didn't know you were such a romanticist, uncle." He jokes at Dongwook who replies, "Well, not really. I just really love Hana." And Hayi and Sejin both say "Awww..."

"Is Ms. Hana your fiancée? Is it possible to see how she looks like for reference?" Hayi clarifies. "Yes. Oh. I didn't print any of her photos but I could give you her Instagram page." Dongwook replies. "Yes, that would be great." Hayi tells him.

"So... would the execution be challenging?" Dongwook asks Hayi, and she can feel the conversation would now move towards whether or not she will accept the offer. "Mixing styles in an artwork would definitely be challenging, but I really love your concept behind it." She replies. "So is that a yes?" Dongwook asks her. There it is. Hayi now needs to make a decision. "I understand that you're loaded for this semester since I heard from Sejin that you're graduating." Dongwook says before she can even say anything. "I'm not rushing the artwork, although I'd appreciate to get updates from time to time about its progress." He explains.

If only she wasn't taking her thesis right now, Hayi would immediately say yes. The pay is really good. The concept is really great. All that is making Hayi's life complicated is her thesis. "I can be your assistant. I'm not yet graduating, anyways." Sejin interrupts Hayi's train of thoughts. She laughs. Suddenly, her heart feels lighter. "Well, since Sejin offered help, then I'll accept it." Hayi makes up her mind, and Dongwook is thankful about it. "That's a relief." He says.

Hayi knows accepting this commission work will make her life more stressful, but she has never backed down from a challenge. "You can do it, Go StrongIndependentWoman Hayi." She tells herself.

☾⛧New Characters!⛧☽

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