Angel Smile 204 Scene 204

"I'll take it later," Gun mumbled sluggishly.

Yeo Ri let out a sigh, dropping her hands tiredly. "Oppa..."

"Hm..."

Yeo Ri scrunched her brows before assuming a stern tone, "You have to eat your medicine if you want to get better."

"Okay," Gun obediently nodded, though he made no movements to follow her wish.

After several more attempts of coaxing him into taking the medicine, Gun finally capitulated and swallowed the pills with difficulty. Yeo Ri helped him lie back down on their shared full-size bed, tucking him in properly.

It was only after Gun seemed to have fallen asleep did Yeo Ri relax. She picked up the empty bowl of porridge she had made for him and carried it over to the sink to wash.

Yeo Ri quietly wrapped up her chores, making as little noise as possible so as to not disturb her sick brother who was sleeping.

Yeo Ri let out another sigh as she dried her hands on the kitchen towelette. She glanced at her brother as she thought back to the day before.

After she got home from the Han family's house, Yeo Ri had spent some quiet time thinking alone. It was only when Gun came back that evening did she spur back into motion.

At that time, Gun had looked slightly pallid, and by the time it was night, he started coughing endlessly and his temperature went up. Someone from the school must've infected him with their cold, seeing as Gun had been fine when he left the house that morning.

Luckily, they had stored a bunch of medicines from the time Yeo Ri was hospitalised, so she immediately took out the cold and fever medicines and gave it to Gun. However, his fever still had yet to break the morning after.

Yeo Ri had already called the faculty to inform them of Gun's absence and texted his two friends, Ha Jun and Da Na, about his condition, and if Gun was still sick after taking the second round of medicine, she had planned to take him to the clinic after lunchtime.

Ding dong!

Just as Yeo Ri finished replacing the small basin of water she used to cool Gun down, the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" Yeo Ri whisper-yelled. She glanced at her brother, hoping that the sudden noise did not jolt him out of his rest.

"Yes?" Yeo Ri opened the door slightly, only to see Noh Ha Jun standing directly in front of her, smiling widely.

"Hi, Yeo Ri-ah!"

"Ha Jun-oppa!" Yeo Ri greeted in surprise. She glanced at the vaguely familiar faces of the three companions standing behind the older guy. "What are you doing here? Don't you have classes, Oppa?"

Ha Jun waved his hand in dismissal, "It's fine if we miss a class or two. Don't worry about it, Yeo Ri-ah," he reassured the young girl. "We're here to visit the patient," he said, holding up a plastic bag branded with a pharmacy's logo. He'd brought along some medicine, snacks, and anything that could help cure the common cold.

Yeo Ri was not familiar with Ha Jun's schedule, so she did not say anything more. Though, she knew that Gun had two classes before lunch, and one tutorial after a two-hour lunch break today. If Ha Jun was his classmate, then they probably had somewhat similar schedules.

"Come in, Oppa, Oppa's friends," Yeo Ri smiled at the group, ushering them in. "Our house is a bit small, but make yourselves at home."

"Then, we'll be intruding~" Ha Jun unabashedly took off his shoes and stepped into the Lee duo's humble home. He never had the chance to enter it before, so his eyes were glued to every detail in the quaint house before settling on the sickly young man lying on the bed that was position on the floor, slightly off-center from the middle of the tiny living-slash-dining area.

Unlike Ha Jun's shameless behaviour, the other three who had accompanied him to Gun's house were more polite. They quietly followed the brazen boy, their gazes loitering at anything and everything. 'So this is where Lee Gun lives,' they seemed to be thinking.

"Sorry, Oppa just went to sleep. Would you like some tea? Coffee?"

"It's fine, Yeo Ri-ah. We don't plan to stay very long," Ha Jun grinned before glancing at his other schoolmates, "Right, guys?"

"Oh... yeah... I guess?" One of them mumbled.

"Um... excuse me?" One of the other males in the group raised his hand hesitantly as if he had something he was curious about. "Are you perhaps... that girl in the commercial? VitaQua?"

"Ah... yes," Yeo Ri flinched slightly, but kept herself steady and sent a small smile towards the man. "Nice to meet you, I am Lee Yeo Ri. Thank you for taking care of my brother at school." Yeo Ri bowed politely towards the group.

The man's eyes brightened. "I knew it! I thought you looked familiar! Um, if it's not too troublesome, can we take a picture...?" He asked, fidgeting. His friend elbowed him with a tight smile, whispering, "hey, just what are you doing to someone you just met?"

"What?" The man hissed back at his friend, rubbing the sore area that had been jabbed by his friend's sharp elbow. He turned back to Yeo Ri with a sheepish smile, "Um, so, can we?" He rummaged his bag for his phone, turning it to the camera app and shyly inviting her into the frame.

Yeo Ri's smile turned somewhat strained. She hadn't agreed to his request yet, but at this point, it would be too rude of her to decline the older man.

Sensing her dilemma, Ha Jun tactfully grabbed his friend's phone, snapping a self-portrait of himself making a duckface.

"Hey—!" The owner of the phone protested, taking back his phone and deleting the stupid picture.

Yeo Ri glanced at Ha Jun, who grinned back at her, with surprise, then gratefulness.

"He—" He was about to hand his phone over to the younger girl, but the sound of ringing caused him to stop. Someone had received a call.

It was the generic phone ringtone, so everyone fumbled to look for their phones in case it was theirs.

"It's not mine," the only girl in the group said after checking her phone.

"It's not mine either," Ha Jun added after glancing at his own phone for confirmation.

"Ah!" Yeo Ri noticed the vibrating phone on her side of the bed. She hastily ran over to pick it up, "I'm sorry, it's mine," she said to the group apologetically.

She quickly pressed the green 'accept call' button, "Yes, hello?"

"Hello. Is this Miss Lee Yeo Ri?"

"Yes, this is she," Yeo Ri politely replied to the unknown person on the other side of the call. She had been in too much of a haste to pick up that she didn't even have time to look at the caller ID.

"Ah, yes, I am calling on behalf of GG Doll—" the person explained, "—and we were wondering if you have time to spare for a photoshoot today. We're in a bit of a hurry since one of the girls had food poisoning. President Park gave us your contact information after we asked her if she had any girls who were free today."

"Yes," Yeo Ri quietly assented. President Park—Mrs. Choi—hadn't given her any extra work these past few days since she asked to be kept out of the spotlight for a while. For the older woman to give her contact information over to the representative, this must've been an emergency.

"Of course, we will compensate you properly. We will be offering 5000 dollars for your services," the representative said.

"Eh?"

Yeo Ri stupidly dropped her jaw. She felt as if she had just heard an absurd amount of money. "H-how much...?"

"Five thousand dollars," the person patiently repeated.

"..." Yeo Ri fell into a daze. "R-really?"

The amount of money that was offered was over ten times the amount she usually earned for a shoot. On average, she would earn somewhere between $50 to $300 per shoot depending on the type of shoot and how long it took. On top of that, she was a rookie so it was impossible for someone like her who was new to the industry to be able to earn so much in one go. Therefore, she felt as if the representative was pulling her leg.

"Ah, the reason why we're paying you so much is because the boss is interested in you. She's probably trying to use your popularity to boost our traffic," the representative added, chuckling to himself. "So don't feel bad about taking the money."

"Ah... yes..." Yeo Ri glanced at her brother who was still sleeping. His brows were scrunched, as if he was not feeling too comfortable.

Yeo Ri frowned. She was torn between accepting the job and taking care of her brother. Gun was sick, so she couldn't just leave him alone. Though, that being said, the offer was really too enticing. Being a young girl, this was the first time she had a chance to see that much money land in her lap.

"Yeo Ri-ah? Is it a job offer?" Ha Jun asked her as soon as he saw her conflicted look. An idea crossed his mind.

Ha Jun grinned widely at her, "Don't worry about it and just take the job, Yeo Ri-ah. I don't mind staying behind and look after Gun for a while," and while he was at it, he could explore the small home and learn about his friend's secretive home life, he thought.

Yeo Ri's brows wrinkled. She bit her lips, hesitating. "Are you sure, Ha Jun-oppa? What about your classes?"

Ha Jun waved his hand dismissively, "Missing one or two classes won't really affect me. Yeo Ri-ah, in university, missing a few classes isn't a big deal, you know?" He said with a righteous tone. "Besides, Da Na is taking the same classes, so I'll just tell her to take down the notes for me."

"If you say so," Yeo Ri finally relented after hearing his reasoning. "You're a lifesaver, Oppa."

Yeo Ri turned back to the phone call, giving her affirmation.

"Great! We're expecting you to arrive in 20 minutes. Please hurry!"

"Huh?!" Yeo Ri panicked. Twenty minutes?! That was barely enough time to do anything!

Yeo Ri frantically ended the phone call, rushing to get ready.

Chapter end