His Stylist Noona

Chapter 4

Da-eun Pov

You woke up the next morning feeling infinitely more relaxed than you had the day before. After getting a full, restful night of sleep, you slept in and awoke naturally, no knocking or alarm needed.

You had been utterly exhausted, but quite content when you finally stumbled back into your room at almost 8:00 PM last night. It had been a really good day on set. Despite getting a late start, you had managed to finish Tae's tattoo on time. The shoot had then gone incredibly well. The weather had been perfect, the marching band they brought in was excellent, and the guys knocked it out of the park with their performances.

There was one moment from that day that you couldn't stop thinking about. While the guys were waiting on the set to shoot the first scene, Hobi had walked up to Tae to admire his tattoo.

"Wow this came out really great," the older man said as he pulled back Tae's shirt slightly to see the full design. "I might have to ask Da-eun to give me one for our next music video!"

"Sorry, Hyung," Tae replied with a shy smile, "but Da-eun is my stylist noona. You can't have her."

He had been joking, of course, both boys immediately started laughing, but you felt a tiny flutter at his words nonetheless.

He had called you his .

If only he knew how true that statement actually was.

You laid in bed relishing the memory for an embarrassing amount of time before you finally got up to get changed and ready for the day. Reaching for your suitcase, you noticed something shiny laying on the desk and knew instantly what it was: Tae's ring necklace. He had taken it off yesterday morning before you started his tattoo and must have forgotten to put it in his pocket.

For just the briefest of moments, you entertained the idea of trying it on. Ever since he had told you why he wore it, the beautiful, purple ring had occupied an absurd portion of your thoughts. You found yourself absolutely dreading the day he came in no longer wearing it, but then also sometimes fantasizing that the reason for its absence around his neck was that he'd given it to you. It was ridiculous to think about that, though, and it was even more ridiculous than you had considered putting it on your finger a moment ago. Not only would that have been completely inappropriate, and a total betrayal of Tae's trust, it also would have been a potentially lethal form of self-torture. The ring was not yours and it was never going to be yours; you needed to get that through your head.

Knowing exactly why it was so important to him, you wanted to get it back to him before he realized it was missing and panicked, assuming he hadn't already. You got dressed, stepped out into the hallway, and padded down the hall to his room. It was almost 10:00 AM, so you assumed he was awake, but you knocked softly just in case. You heard shuffling inside the room and a minute or so later he opened up the door.

"Hi, Noona," he said with a sleepy smile.

"Hi, Tae," you said, smiling back at him. "I hope I didn't wake you up."

"You didn't, but even if you did that would be OK. I owe you for yesterday," he assured you with a laugh.

"I'm still so sorry about that," you replied guiltily.

"Don't be," he said earnestly. "Yesterday was perfect. The tattoo was perfect. You were perfect."

At his praise, you felt yourself blush and for a moment you forgot why you had come to his room in the first place.

"Thanks, Tae," you said shyly.

"But, anyway the reason I came here is that I...I have your ring," you continued, suddenly feeling nervous.