Structural Damage

Chapter 5 - Phone Calls

Se Ri walked into the office, just like most mornings, she was the first one there. She flipped on the lights in the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She was going to need quite a bit of it today because she got no sleep last night. Her mind would not shut off, all she could think about was Jeong Hyeok and the look on his face when she pulled away and began to walk off. Her talk with Seo Dan wasn't helping her either. Her best friend was cautioning her to stay away from him, and her body was screaming to run towards him.

She walked over to her secretary's desk and wrote her a note, asking that she not be disturbed. She intended to lock herself into her office and not come out unless it was to get coffee or to go home. She walked into her office and quietly clicked the door closed and turned the lock. She fired up the laptop and emersed herself in her work.

****

The knock on the door and the announcement of "housekeeping" stirred Jeong Hyeok out of his slumber. Well, that and the stream of sunlight that was coming in through the break in the curtains. His head was pounding, but he was able to pull himself off of the bed and made it to the door, asking if they could come back later. Since he was upright, he might as well take a shower and see if he could return to the land of the living. The clock on the nightstand read 11:30 am. He had no idea what time he had gone to bed, but he was pretty sure he could have slept for a few hours more and been just fine.

Emerging from the bathroom a short time later, he was feeling better and went searching for his phone. He found it tucked under his pillow, the charge was dwindling. He plugged it into the bedside outlet and checked his messages. There were several from his buddies, they were concerned that he left to take a call and never returned. They wondered if he was alright, he went ahead and responded now, letting them know he had gone to his room and passed out, but he was fine.

He had a missed call from his management team, he figured he would give them a call to see what was going on. He had no projects on the burners right now so maybe they had something come up for him. He had been on an extended vacation at the moment. He knew he would want to take some time off after filming those monster movies back to back, but he needed to give some thought to the next project.

The final message was from Seo Dan and it was just a phone number. No note or indication as to who the number belonged to. This was odd, to say the least. Usually, if she were going to text him a number, she would give him a name or information to go with it. He figured he would just call her and ask; he dialled her number and waited for her to answer.

"Ommo, good afternoon Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi! I'm glad to know you are still alive."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I thought I'd give you a call and see what this number is that you texted me last night."

Seo Dan let out a hearty laugh, "Oh my, you don't remember talking to me last night?"

"Um, no," he said hesitantly, worried now for what he might have said or done, "Oh God, what did I do or say?"

"Well, let's see, for one, you were extremely drunk. You were not just a little buzzed, sweetie. You were quite wasted. So much so, that you described taking the moving box thingie from the bar back to your hotel room."

Jeong Hyeok let out a groan and dropped his head, "Shit! Okay, so I was wasted, and you are not going to let me live this down. What were we talking about?"

"You had asked me to call you after I'd spoken to Se Ri. You wanted me to fill you in on the details. Does this sound vaguely familiar?"

Jeong Hyeok ran his fingers through his hair, "Yep, it sounds familiar. I wanted to know if she hated me and if I had screwed things up with her. That's why I was drinking last night, trying to drink her off my mind."