Hello everyone!
What can I say? I just couldn't stay away for long!
LOL

This is the so called "Secret Baby Plot" that I was working at during Nano, I hope you guys enjoy this story.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this new project, and thanks to Sandy for her endless patience and awesome.

Onto the Story!

Prologue

Hae Soo always prided herself on being good and fairly level headed in a crisis. It was what had allowed her to pick up the pieces of her life time and again, whenever her world invariably imploded. And it always did implode: losing her parents at sixteen, having to move out of her cousin's house at twenty thanks to Myung Hee's skeevy new husband; a year working at the Taejo Group; having to leave the love of her life only to find herself broke and pregnant.

She had always made the best of her circumstances. Living with Myung Hee had been wonderful while it lasted. And when Soo truly needed her, she had come through for her. When she left her cousin, Soo had ended up working at the Taejo Group and met So - who gave her the best year of her life and her beautiful daughter. After leaving him, she had met Madame Oh, who took her in and loved her and Seol as if they were her own.

For the past five years, Soo's life had been good—happy, even. She had her daughter, a job she enjoyed and that challenged her as Madame Oh's personal assistant; and a wonderful mother figure in Oh Soo Yeon.

That was why, when Madame Oh was offered a position as Director of the National Dance Company, of course Soo agreed to move back to Seoul with her. That wasn't even a question; they were family.

But Soo should have known… when she found a small, reasonably priced apartment for her and Seol, when the move went off without a hitch, when she found herself liking her new neighbors… her life was due for an implosion.

It always started the same way. She grew comfortable, let her guard down and then… BOOM.

Chapter ONE

Present day.

Hae Soo looked around her new apartment's sparse décor. After five years of living at Oh Soo Yeon's house, she was finally in a place of her own. It was her first time ever living on her own, actually. Myung Hee had helped her find this place and helped her shop for the basics, but she had a long way to go before it was all settled.

Myung Hee had been so happy when Soo told her she was moving back to Seoul. In the past five years, they had seen each only a handful of times whenever Myung Hee could make her way to Gyeongju to see Soo and Seol.

Life had been good there, but Soo knew it was time for both her and Oh Soo Yeon to stop hiding.

The two of them had come a long way since they first met. When she had begun working for her, Soo had been very intimidated. Oh Soo Yeon had been nearly a recluse back then; bitter over a career-ending injury years before and … other personal tragedies Soo found out about later on. The first month of her employment, Soo had been sure that Madame Oh hated her.

But when Madame Oh had found Soo throwing up one morning and seen the look of sheer terror in Soo's eyes when she asked if Soo was pregnant… something changed then. Madame Oh had hugged her, asked—just once—if the father was in the picture. When Soo answered, "Not really..." Madame Oh had patted her back and said: "Just as well, we'll be fine."

And they had been. But now it was time for bigger and better things.

"Umma!" Seol's small voice interrupted her train of thought as the little girl ran into the kitchen at full speed. "Can I wear the pretty hairpin today?"

"The pretty hairpin?" Soo asked and Seol nodded, doing her best impression of a puppy as she pleaded with her eyes. "Sure, why not?"

Soo went back to her room and found the hairpin her daughter liked. It had white flowers, a small blue butterfly and a sprig of red berries. So had given it to her on their first month anniversary. Soo had been growing out her bangs at the time and she had to push them back constantly. When he had given it to her, So had said it was because this way he was able to see her eyes all the time.

He was a sap that way. And they had been so happy.

Going back to her daughter, Soo braided Seol's hair a top of her head, and put the pin to one side.

"Now let's go! You know how your Halmeoni feels about tardiness."

Seol nodded and ran off to get her backpack where she kept important things like her stuffed wolf, coloring pencils and some other random objects she deemed essential.

Seol chattered the whole way to work. Asking questions that were soon forgotten (often before Soo could think of a proper answer), pointing at things and just babbling away while Soo nodded and patted Seol's back or rubbed her arm.

The chattiness definitely came from her. So was the quiet, brooding type; maybe it was because of his loaded family background, but he was always mindful of the things he said and…and she really needed to stop thinking about him.

Wang So had been in her mind a lot lately. Soo assumed it was because Seoul reminded her of him: the places where they used to eat at or go to the movies, their favorite walks around the parks in the city, rowing in the river. It made Soo feel nostalgic, even though they hadn't ended on the best of terms. They just had ended, to be honest.

Thankfully, the chances of running into each other were quite slim. This was a big city, after all, and they didn't move in the same social circles. Currently, Soo had no social circle to speak off but she hoped to get along with the fellow staff at the National Dance Company.

Reassured by this idea, Soo walked into the National Theater, home to the Company. Soo flashed her badge to the security guard to be allowed inside and smiled as Seol did the same. Madame Oh had asked the security staff to make a badge for her, since she would be spending a lot of time at the theater until Soo found her a spot a good nursery school. (Seol was waitlisted in three, and Soo hoped for a spot to open up soon).

"Halmeoni!" Seol cried happily when they walked into Madame Oh's office.

Oh Soo Yeon was in her fifties, but still one of the most gorgeous women Soo had even seen up close. It wasn't something as easy as prettiness, but something that shined from within. Oh Soo Yeon had commanded the stage of every major theater in the world as a prima ballerina, and she knew what was her due.

"You're here!" Madame Oh said happily, gathering Seol close to her.

Soo smiled at the two of them, feeling perfectly happy… which was why she should have known her day, and possibly her life, was about to go to hell.

…00…

Baek Ah did not have time for this, but he figured it was best not to alienate his new boss. Oh Soo Yeon had been in charge for just twenty-four hours, but she was already making waves. Starting with the fact that he now had to accommodate twenty-four additional dancers to the photoshoot he was supposed to be styling.

Intellectually, he knew it was a good idea. The traditional and folk dance branch of the company was sorely underdeveloped, but he would have appreciated a heads up. He was responsible for the entire publicity photoshoot and had been planning it for weeks. He was the goddamn Artistic Director of this company, and one of the lead choreographers to boot. He deserved a little more consideration if he said so himself.

But when Oh Soo Yeon had looked at him over the brim of the report she was holding and told him to get on with it... a chill went up and down his spine. Yes, it was better to stay on this woman's good side.

"I'll send my assistant with the rest of the dancers shortly. You head over to the location and get started, Mr. Wang."

Baek Ah nodded. This woman was not to be meddled with. She kind of reminded him of his favorite cousin, whom he loved but would really, really rather not run into when he was in a temper.

—..—

The first project Soo was assigned was to supervise a photoshoot for the publicity of the upcoming season. The company's Artistic Director Baek Ah was in charge, but Madame Oh wanted Soo to make sure everything was done to her own standards.

Seol insisted on coming with her, of course, and they both caught a ride to the location with one of the dancers.

"I'm Kim Woo Hee," A young woman introduced herself as she unlocked her car, which had definitely seen better days but was scrupulously clean. Kim Woo Hee was about Soo's age, with beautiful dark brown hair and perfect make-up.

"Hae Soo and Hae Seol," Soo answered, setting Seol into the back seat and putting on her seatbelt before climbing into the car herself. "Thank you for letting us ride along, Ms. Kim."

"Unless you want me to call you Miss Hae, just call me Woo Hee. It's ok if I call you Soo?"

"I would like that."

Woo Hee grinned then. "And it's nothing, I was heading there anyway, and I like the company."

Hae Soo smiled, "So, what drew you to ballet?"

Woo Hee laughed. She had a wonderful, slightly husky laugh. "Nothing at all. I'm not a ballerina. I specialize in Korean Traditional dances: the sword dance, the fan dance, all of those."

"I didn't know the National Dance Company did that as well."

"We are the smaller, lesser known branch of the company. Most of the dancers come from folk troupes from the provinces since we don't have a proper school set for it within the company like the classical ballet and modern dance companies have. I learned from my grandmother."

"I don't know much about the traditional dances, to be honest."

"You should come to one of our rehearsals." Woo Hee invited.

They made small talk as they made their way to the location, which turned out to be the Taejo Group's Headquarters.

Just. Her. Luck.

-00-

Six years before

Hae Soo knew she had a job millions of people would kill for. She was only twenty-one but had managed to snag a well-paid internship at the Taejo Group, one of Korea's largest conglomerates. Soo didn't know what kind of strings her cousin's husband had pulled to get this for her. She just hoped it had cost him dearly since he was the reason why she had to drop out of college and move out of Myung Hee's house.

Hae Myung Hee was eight years older than Soo. When Soo's parents died, she had taken a surly, grief-stricken teenager into her home. Myung Hee was at times Soo's mother, her cool older sister, and the best friend a girl could ask for. Soo adored her. Sure, it had been rough at first, but they had figured it out eventually. Their plan had been for Soo to live at home with her and attend the National University – which was a short commute from Myung Hee's place.

But then…Myung Hee had met and married Hwangbo Wook. Wook moved them clear across the city, and with the wedding, the move and her always fragile health, Myung Hee's finances became a little precarious (the money was still there but tied up in Wook's company). Soo didn't think it was okay to let Myung Hee pay for her college fees and living expenses as well.

At first, Soo had liked Wook. He was handsome and charming, and Myung Hee thought the world of him. As such, Soo had been more than willing to like him. But soon enough, Wook began to show his true colors: sitting too close to her, cornering her when Myung Hee wasn't around, staring at her too long... in the end Soo had thought it best to just move out before something happened. She couldn't deny that his attention was flattering and made her waver… until she remembered he was a married man.

Her high school best friend offered to share her apartment; and lovely, sweet Myung Hee had gotten Wook to use his business contacts to get her this job. Privately, Wook had promised to leave her alone "unless you don't want me to" he had added, making her skin crawl.

Wook was, in short, the worst. But handy sometimes.

Hence the job a million people would kill for (what with Korea's difficult economy and all). Soo knew she should be more appreciative of it, but she couldn't really. Ever since she had discovered her love for makeup, Soo had worked very hard to get into a good University to study chemistry (though it was not a subject that came naturally to her) so she could one day create her own line of cosmetics and skin care products. She was going to be Korea's Estee Lauder or Helena Rubinstein. Or someone like that.

Instead, she was working at an office and wasn't even sure what this company actually did and working weekends at a cosmetics shop doing makeovers to save up to return to school the following year.

"Snap out of it, Hae Soo!" Soo told herself before going into the HR office to start her orientation and get her ID badge. She was quickly put to work in the copy room.

Soon enough, the days and weeks began to drag on. At first people had been friendly until they somehow found out she had been "recommended" for this job. That's when the bullying started: her things often went missing, her lunch had been tampered with twice until she decided to stop bringing one. She was always assigned the most mind-numbing tasks, and she always had to wait for deliveries (which either were always late or her co-workers enjoyed giving her the wrong time so she had to stand for hours in the parking lot waiting for the delivery to arrive); and so on.

One day, three weeks into her job, she had already been to three different storage rooms across two different floors trying to find some fancy ass A4 paper they needed to print the dossiers for a big presentation that was going to happen later that day. And now she had the lovely task of taking the print mockups to the Director of Operations (whatever that meant) for final approval before they printed the rest of the stuff.

Soo was leafing through the pages—muttering to herself about how boring it all sounded—when she collided with a rather solid form. Soo looked up to see what she had bumped into and found herself staring into the frowny face of a well-dressed young man. His own ID badge identified him as W. So from Daily Operations.

W. So had one mighty scowl so, in a flash, Soo did the only thing she could think of: She dropped the papers she carried, brought her hands up to her forehead, and began to make dramatic noises. She bent over, pretending to be in great pain.

"You bumped into me," W. So said in what turned out to be a fantastic voice, even if it was laden with frost.

Soo sighed and straightened. "It was worth a shot," she said before crouching down to pick up the papers she had dropped.

"That's it?" He asked, slightly incredulous.

"You could help me, you know?"

He snorted – actually snorted! – and walked away.

"What a gentleman!" Soo said, just loudly enough to be sure that he heard her as he turned the corner.

W. So paused for a second, annoyed and amused at the same time.

Author's Note: Thanks so much for making it this far!

Please drop a comment if you can ;)