章 232: Sharing Good News
Yeo Ri had Secretary Kwon drive her straight to Gun's university afterwards.
Since it was evening and just around the time for the day's classes to end, there were quite a number of students milling about in the vicinity.
Yeo Ri hadn't contacted her brother yet nor informed him of her arrival, as she had intended to surprise him. In her excitement, she had forgotten to put on her usual disguise.
Kwon Tae Yang followed her from a distance after finding a spot to park his car.
Since the girl hadn't told him to stay away, he decided to follow her while tactfully keeping his distance just in case she was uncomfortable with his presence.
While she walked towards Gun's faculty building, noises and looks of recognition trailed after her.
"Is it that girl? The one from the commercial—"
"She's that girl, right? VitaQua—"
"—Should we go over?"
"Is she a student here? Is there some sort of event or something—"
"She's the VitaQua girl, isn't she? What's her name, Lee something—"
"—Yeo Ri—"
Hushed murmurs could be heard in the vicinity. The passers-by were looking at her, some even daringly taking out their phones to take digital evidence of her appearance.
Seeing the amount of attention the girl was garnering, Secretary Kwon immediately closed the distance between them, battling through the increasing number of people blocking his path to get to her side.
Yeo Ri's popularity had truly preceded her. In a matter of minutes, some people approached her.
"You're that girl, right? The pretty one from the commercial!"
"Excuse me, can we take a picture together?"
"—Picture, over here, please—"
"Are you an idol? Do you have any SNS accounts? I'll follow you!"
"Hello! I saw your commercial! You're prettier in person—"
"Um..." Yeo Ri was forced to stop walking as she looked around with a surprised look. She hadn't expected to be greeted so suddenly by so many strangers. "Uh," Yeo Ri stuttered, unconsciously stepping back from them and drawing her shoulders in.
"Do you mind if we take a picture?"
"Sign here, please—"
"Can we take a picture?"
"Hello—"
Soon enough, Yeo Ri was surrounded by a gaggle of people asking for photos or autographs. She hadn't been approached like this since her first year in middle school, before her so-called fan club established ground rules which prevented the kids from bothering her too much. She had already forgotten how she used to deal with them back then—she only remembered that Min Chae had always been by her side to chase the boys away.
Their voices overlapped with one another, making for a cacophony of sounds which was beginning to confuse—and scare—her.
"Can we get a wefie with you? Here—I'll hold the phone," a random guy said as he gestured for his mates to cram into the frame within his upheld phone's screen.
Yeo Ri flinched from the sudden invasion of privacy, but before she could say no, the guy had already pressed the shutter. After taking several shots, they finally left after muttering a short 'thank you'.
However, before she could relax, more and more people approached her.
"Excuse me—"
"Hello—"
"U-um..." Yeo Ri had never felt her fame up until that moment. The online popularity that she had gotten seemed unreal since she only saw it through the screen, and she didn't expect so many people to recognise her immediately. She had naively thought that her fifteen minutes of fame had died down in the last few days, or perhaps replaced by something more sensational. She felt overwhelmed but continued to keep a polite smile on her face. If anything, she couldn't act rudely towards them since they were all obviously older than her.
Inconsiderately, they didn't seem to notice the strain in her expression as they shoved a phone or a pen in her direction, bothering her with their attention.
"—That's enough! Step away!"
—To Yeo Ri's surprise, Secretary Kwon had intervened, stopping them from further breaching her privacy.
"That's enough, please stop! No photos allowed, please give her some space, thank you!" As soon as he saw the girl's figure, he immediately pulled her close and swatted away all the phones directed at her. He covered her face with his gloved hand, preventing them from taking any pictures of the poor, frightened girl.
He assumed a protective stance and pushed the throng of people out of the way, dragging the young girl to a safer and less crowded area. He disregarded the people who wanted to follow after them, warning them to back off with a glare. He didn't care if his actions seemed rude to others; his priority was Yeo Ri's safety, and at such a crucial and risky period, he couldn't allow people to just approach her carelessly. Who knew if someone within the crowd had hidden a weapon or something? He didn't want to be responsible for her getting injured while she was under his watch.
Secretary Kwon looked to be somewhat fierce and strict in his crisp black suit, and because the glare of the sun was too strong while he was driving, he had worn a pair of sunglasses—which he had forgotten to take off after leaving his car. He hadn't had the time to care for his appearance as he had to chase after the unruly young miss who didn't even bother to wait for her chaperone before running off.
Looking at the bodyguard-like man, the others could only give up their pursuit.
Now that they were alone and unfollowed, Secretary Kwon finally released his hold on Yeo Ri. He muttered a small apology over his discourteousness.
"You didn't have to do that," Yeo Ri replied with a disgruntled pout. She seemed confused by Secretary Kwon's actions. The things he had done lately didn't seem to be within his job scope, she mused. However, she still felt thankful for his action even though she didn't want to show it. "And take off your glasses... geez, do you think you're in Men in Black or something?"
Secretary Kwon sheepishly touched the frame of his sunglasses before taking it off. He tucked his glasses neatly inside his breast pocket and straightened his blazer awkwardly. "I'm just doing my job," the man said as he looked away, as if hiding his embarrassment. "Miss Yeo Ri, you should hurry and find your brother," he reminded her in an attempt to change the topic.
Yeo Ri didn't object to his reminder, and quickly turned back to her original quest.
After manoeuvring through the hallways for some time, Yeo Ri finally arrived at the lecture hall where Gun had his last class, as written in his schedule.
Just in time, the class had ended and the door opened, with students streaming out hurriedly as if they couldn't wait to leave the room.
Finally, after craning her head for some time, Yeo Ri spotted her brother among the many students. Her action and appearance caught the attention of the other students, but with Secretary Kwon guarding her side, none dared to come closer.
"Oppa!" Yeo Ri called out with elation, hoping to catch her brother's attention.
Just as she had expected, Gun immediately reacted to her voice, and after scanning the area once, he instantly spotted her. He glanced briefly at the man standing next to his sister, but paid him no mind as he poured his undivided attention on his baby sister.
"What brings you here? Did you finish work? Yeo Ri-ah, you should've just gone straight home. Aren't you tired?"
As soon as he was within her earshot, he bombarded her with a string of questions.
Yeo Ri's smile widened at her brother's concerned look. She shook her head, "I'm not tired. Today was a good day so I thought I'd come pick you up so we can eat out later, Oppa. Is that fine with you?"
"Of course," he replied instantaneously. He would always spare some time for his one and only baby sister no matter how busy he was.
"Hi, Yeo Ri-ah!"
Behind Gun, a couple of his classmates were present. Yeo Ri hadn't realised their presence since her attention was on her brother the whole time.
"Oh, hello, Da Na-unnie, Ha Jun-oppa, and Gun-oppa's friends," Yeo Ri bowed her head politely towards them.
"Geez~ you two sure love being in your own world, huh?" Ha Jun sighed in exaggeration, teasing the Lee duo. He came closer towards them and slung his arm on Gun's shoulder. Only a second later, his arm was shrugged off by the other man.
"No way, the VitaQua girl—?!" Murmured one of the people in the group of friends.
Da Na glanced at them briefly before bumping Ha Jun's shoulder with a ridiculing grin. The two had always had a silent competition between them on who can be closer to Gun, and Ha Jun's attempt at normalising skin-ship had failed yet again.
Choi Da Na turned her head to look at her friend-cum-crush's more beautiful and younger female counterpart. "How's work been, Yeo Ri-ah? I hope my mom isn't working you too hard," Da Na casually joined into the conversation, showing off her familiarity with the Lee siblings in front of her other classmates.
"It was alright. Auntie was just with me until earlier. She went back to the company, though."
"Oh." Da Na shifted her eyes to the strange man standing next to Yeo Ri. "You... must be the new assistant... manager... right?" She asked slowly with wariness in her tone. Her eyes narrowed at the man, looking as if she was trying to gauge him out.
"Yes. Sec—Manager Kwon has been looking after me for a while now," Yeo Ri answered in Kwon Tae Yang's stead.
Da Na nodded in understanding, deciding to put her trust in him since it seemed like Yeo Ri was vouching for him, but on the side, Ha Jun's head tilted slightly.
He had managed to catch Yeo Ri's slip, and he wondered what that could be about.
Hiding his frown, his gaze alternated between his friend Gun, Yeo Ri, and Manager Kwon. Although the latter two appeared unruffled, Gun's expression seemed to worsen after Manager Kwon was mentioned. He figured there was something deeper going on behind-the-scenes, but he didn't know how he could approach the subject without seeming nosy.
The two friends exchanged several more pleasantries with Yeo Ri before finally letting the Lee siblings go about their way, leaving no room for anyone else to cut in-between the harmonious exchange.
With curiosity biting away their minds, Gun's other classmates could only watch as the two Lees and the unknown man walk away.
...
..
.
"So what's the occasion today?" Gun smiled down at his sister who was happily swinging his arm as they walked.
"I got a big bonus today, so I wanted to eat out to celebrate. Also, I set an appointment with In Guk-oppa, this Saturday. I thought it might be a good time for us to move to a nicer place," Yeo Ri beamed back at her brother.
"That's nice, but do we have enough to move...? The rent here can get pretty expensive," Gun said, his brows furrowing.
Smiling proudly, Yeo Ri presented him with a bomb: "That's okay! We have ten thousand dollars to spend."
"...!" Gun halted in surprise. "Ten thousand?!" Ten thousand was certainly a huge amount. Although not enough to buy a house, it was more than enough for a year's worth of rent at their current place. With that amount of money, they certainly could move to a better place and live comfortably for at least a few months. But knowing Yeo Ri, she would probably continue to earn bigger and bigger amounts of money. He was also worried about safety now that Yeo Ri was getting so well-known. It was better for them to move to a secure area before anything happened to his precious sister.
"Yeah!" Yeo Ri laughed giddily after seeing his response. Behind her face mask, her lips curved into a large smile and a blush bloomed on her cheeks. That was exactly the response she had wanted from him, and now that she had witnessed it, she was satisfied.
With the good news finally revealed, the two continued their walk with ease.
As they were walking down the street of a nearby strip mall, Gun turned to his sister again, "Yeo Ri-ah, do you want anything?"
"Hm..." Yeo Ri's eyes drifted around the rows of shops before focusing on one particular store. "Ice cream!" She exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.
Gun sent her a disapproving look. "Ice cream again? It's unhealthy to eat so much ice cream, especially before a meal. You'll lose your appetite."
"I can't?" Yeo Ri pulled down her mask and shot back with a saddened pout.
"..." Gun was silent for a moment as he bore Yeo Ri's puppy-eyed attack head-on. Unable to bear her heartbreaking expression, Gun quickly caved in.
"...Just a little bit. No more than one scoop, okay?"
"Mm!" Yeo Ri nodded in delight. She hurriedly pulled Gun's sleeve, dragging him to the direction of the ice cream shop.
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