Yohan stared at the hotel once again, while Eddie prodded the novelist to hurry inside. With a loud groan, he stomped inside, irritated at his best friend. Did everyone think of him as some child?! (The answer? Yes, yes, they did.) Grumbling, he pressed the button for the eighth floor as he got on, wondering why Eddie wasn’t coming inside as well. Eddie just grinned as he waved goodbye at Yohan while the elevators began to close. Eyes wide, Yohan tried to press the “open” button, but it was too late. The elevator was already ascending to the 8th floor. 

“Fuck! That jerk!” he complained, his anxiety level rising to an all-time high. 

His phone buzzed in his hand as Yohan glanced down at the text message Eddie had sent him. 

“Hey loser. Go break a leg! You got this! :p”

The author tightened his grasp of his phone, imagining himself punching his best buddy. How could he betray him like this?! He knew Yohan hated social interactions! Where was his moral support, for God’s sake? Well… what did he even expect… God had already forsaken him a while ago… Groaning in his cynical and pessimistic state, Yohan trudged out of the elevator and onto the 8th floor hallway. 

With his heart pounding like crazy, and his palms all clammy, Yohan slowly made his way to room 8034. He ran simulations with himself, trying to decipher how he should even greet the man he had snubbed just hours earlier. 

“Hey…  You’re an idiot for even accepting— Argh, I sound like a complete ass…" Yohan muttered as he tried again.

“Ahem… Hey… Sorry about that… Um… Well, fuck, what else am I supposed to say after that?! Goddammit! I’m gonna kill you Eddie…” he huffed, growling with irritation as he pulled on his face, making himself look like an even bigger idiot. 

Before he knew it, Yohan was already in front of Andrew’s door. With a loud gulp, Yohan let out a big, deep breath, hoping to calm down before he had to press on the button. Clenching his fists for a few seconds, he brought his index finger up to the doorbell and pressed it, his heart thumping loudly in his chest due to fear. 

He waited, anxious to just get it over with. However, there was no movement from within the hotel room. Tilting his head to the side, he pressed on the doorbell again, this time a bit longer than the last. Again, there was nothing. With a frown, he was about to press on it again when he realized this was a great chance for him to just leave. 

What could he do when the room’s owner wasn’t in? His “only” option was to leave, of course! Grinning from ear to ear, Yohan turned around to leave when he bumped into Andrew who was standing right behind him. Yohan’s giddy smile disappeared in an instant as he gasped in shock. What the hell? Was he there the whole, damn time?! 

Andrew tried not to laugh or smile as he quickly took a step back. He had been following Caden from down the hallway when the author was muttering to himself. Finding it cute, Andrew had stayed quiet as he watched Caden trying to come up with ways to apologize. 

“Er, hello… What are you doing here, in front of my room?” Andrew asked, pretending that he had just arrived. He didn’t want to embarrass the poor dude any further!

“I—Uh… I mean. I-I’m just here to…” Yohan trailed off; his cheeks flushed as red as a ripe cherry. He couldn’t bring himself to say that he was there to apologize.  

“…? Um, anyways, would you like to come in? It’s a bit weird to be talking in front of the room, don’t you think?” Andrew asked with a playful smile on his lips. Embarrassed, Yohan could only muster a slight nod, getting out of the way so that Andrew could unlock the door. 

The two men entered the clean and tidy room as Andrew placed a plastic bag on the table. He turned to Yohan and gestured for the author to sit on one of the chairs. He reluctantly obliged, cursing himself in his head, as he sat down. He had to finish this quickly; Yohan didn’t want to be stuck with him any longer than need be.

“Ahem… Um… About earlier… Sorry about that. I… My anger got the best of me and I inadvertently redirected it towards you.”

“No worries! I’m sure you were quite surprised when you heard I was going to be your new editor; it’s completely understandable. I hope we can work well together on your new book!” Andrew smiled, extending his hand for Caden to shake.

Yohan bit his lip as he just stared at Andrew’s hand, not making an effort to shake it. No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t want to work with this man. For some reason, Andrew’s bright and radiant energy reminded him so much of Eliza—and he had desperately tried, for three years straight, to forget about her. 

But try as he might, Yohan was plagued with thoughts of the artist. He just couldn’t let her go. She had been a light; a beacon in his most desperate and dark time of his life where he just wanted to give everything up. Yohan didn’t want to ever trust or rely on another person again. It was scary. 

Andrew sighed as he put his hand down. This was going to be tougher than he thought. “Could I ask you something, Mr. Yoo?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“… Do you not like me? Is that why you refuse to work with me?” 

Huh? Where did that come from? “Er… No. That’s not it…” Yohan trailed off, averting his gaze from Andrew’s. 

How was he going to explain that he was introverted and just didn’t like meeting new people—especially if they reminded him of the one person he desperately wanted to let go of?

“Then why?”

“… I don’t like to work with new people. It’s… sort of an aftereffect of fame, I guess. I’m a bit wary of interacting with others and I feel more comfortable working with people I know.”

“Hmm. But the people you know now, were all once people you didn’t know, right? I understand that you’re wary of others. However, once you’re out with a new book, more people are going to be swarming around you, left and right. As your editor, I’m not going to let a book that you worked so hard on not receive any recognition from the public. I’ll help you become your former self again. Will you please trust me and work with me on your newest project?”

“… I don’t want to return to my former self. However, I do understand what you mean, and I am very grateful for that. I can tell you are a great editor… But… I don’t want to rely on someone who’ll be leaving the country in less than a year.”

Andrew froze, he hadn’t expected for Caden to say such a thing. It was true that Andrew was expected to leave once his work here was done, but he had firmly believed that they would still be in contact after he left. He desperately tried to say something, anything before Yohan got up to leave. He racked his brain for a solution when a light bulb lit inside his head.

“Then… Will you work with me if I stay here for a year or longer?”

Yohan blinked in surprise. He had just given a rough time frame as he was confident this new editor would be leaving right after he was done with Yohan’s book—or even sooner than that. After all, Sharon had only asked one of the editors from Korea to come to the Los Angeles branch because she was understaffed at the moment. Why is he so adamant on working with me…?, he thought, with a frown.

Realizing that he dug his own grave, Yohan sighed. Ugh… might as well just admit defeat and go with the flow, he thought, eyeing the new editor from Korea.

“… Very well. I suppose that’ll work…” he reluctantly replied, extending his hand for a handshake.

With an overly enthusiastic smile, Andrew grabbed Yohan’s hand firmly, a huge smile plastered on his face. Yohan widened his eyes as he awkwardly shook hands with his new editor, not knowing what to make of Andrew’s excitement. Well, whatever it was, he hoped that the year would go by quickly with no attachments!

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**