The sound of flipping pages snapped Jisoo out of her reverie. Minji was still talking about the other university press reaction to this month's issue when something popped up in her mind.
"Minji, do you happen to have any information about Zhang Yixing?" she asked out of curiosity. She almost forgot about him after a month, especially when they had no more mutual interaction other than that one in the Q&A session. And now that it came to her attention, she was wondering if they could have a chance for another encounter.
"Yes, Professor. Mr. Zhang was an apple in the eyes at the conference, so we decided to run for his story too, we have it here."
Jisoo got excited in an instant. She watched Minji flip some more pages to show her a full-page story of 'Zhang Yixing: a business tycoon from a nobody', the title said. A half-body cropped picture of Yixing filled the right side of the page, apparently taken on the same day of the conference. He folded his arms on his chest, his eyes staring at the camera confidently with the familiar little smile showing a deep sweet dimple on his right cheek. Jisoo had to admit that he looked extremely attractive in the picture, she always had a soft spot for a man with dimples.
Anyway, reading the article, Jisoo learned that he wasn't exactly who she thought he was about his work. Yixing turned out to be a chief executive of a company called Zhang Dong Petrochemical Corporation. Whoa, what a job he got himself in. It clearly explained how he possessed that boosted confidence in speaking up his controversial mind in public.
"Zhang Dong Group is one of the world's largest oil refining, gas, and petrochemical conglomerates in China. They were involved in the production of various petroleum products, like, um, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, ethylene, and chemical fertilizers. They also claim the big project in the exploration of crude oil and natural gas within China. This company is now the largest foreign company that supplies most of our country's gasoline and jet fuel for the airlines company's demand over the past three years, and they're still expanding. I heard they are aiming for Western Europe this time around."
Jisoo nodded her head listening to the young girl revelation while reading the article. In a single look, by the way he gave a long, contemplative answer thoroughly explaining his thoughts over the given questions, Jisoo could see how thoughtful he was as an individual. She thought of asking her about her impression of this guy when somebody knocked on the door, and she found Baekhyun poking his head in.
"Hey, are you busy?"
"Oh, hi, come in." she invited him in, and at the same time, Minji took this as her cue to leave. The girl excused herself with a deep bow to both of them and made a beeline to leave the room as Baekhyun made his way in.
"She's an undergraduate, right? What is she doing here?" he asked as he seated himself across the table. Jisoo replied to him by giving him a copy of the magazine she was reading.
"She's from the university press."
"Ah, I see. I heard they broke their selling record this month. Your face is apparently marketable." he teased, pointing her picture at the cover.
"Shut up."
Jisoo altered her attention to something else, anything but his face. Fishing her phone from the drawer, she had left it there since the morning and expected many messages came from the people trying to contact her. But from all people who called her today, she didn't expect twelve missed calls came from her mother.
She couldn't help but let out a single sigh. If she could name a virtue on her mother's side, patience was definitely not in it. Her mother was a headstrong person when she had something she wanted, and she's that type to make sure that she would get it no matter what. And with these twelve missed calls, there's only one thing that could explain all this.
Baekhyun was saying something, but she wasn't really listening since another call was in, and it was her mother again. 
"Sorry, Baekhyun. I have to take this call," she said before leaving the room to speak outside.
"Kim Jisoo, why didn't you answer the phone? I called you like, a thousand times today." Her mother questioned when she answered the call.
"Mom, it's Monday. I have a full schedule on Monday." She replied to her mother tiredly as she leaned her shoulder by the huge window wall frame, watching the scene of the people passing by at the outside front building.
"And the full schedule means you can't spare a five-minute talk to your mother? Oh, it hurts, Young Lady, I raised you better than this."
Oh, not to mention that her mother was also hyperbolic.
Jisoo pinched her nose bridge, "Mom, I never bring my phone with me when I have classes. I always leave it in the drawer." she explained.
"Why do you do that then? What if something happens and you don't have your phone with you, how will you call for help?"
"Mom," she started to chuckle, "Nothing bad will happen. This university is like Hogwarts, it's the safest place in Seoul. Anyway, why were you calling me?"
"Ah, right, right. So there's this man..."
See? She had expected this.
"Mom, no. I don't want to have another blind date. Can't you just stop? It never works!" Jisoo protested. She couldn't understand why her mom wouldn't stop matchmaking her with those men when it always ended up as a failure.
After she finished her doctoral program, her mother started to have this concern over her potential marriage percentage which had dropped to zero. Her mother mentioned some of her friends' daughters who stayed single after they were forty because they were, she said, too focused on chasing their careers. Some even died single, and it became quite a talk among her social inner circle. Her mother began to make arrangements with her acquaintance's sons so they would have to meet each other on blind dates. But really, from dozens of men she had met, no one had contacted her for a second meeting or anything. Even if there were, Jisoo wasn't interested in them at all.
"But this one is different, Jisoo." her mother defended. "This one is your style."
"And how do you even know that he's my style?" she inquired.
"Well, see how you're so crazy over those pretty boys dancing on TV, I know this one is your style."
"Mom, I'm not crazy..." she scoffed and sighed again for the second time, it's no use to explain anything to her mother anyway. What does her liking in watching week-end music programs have to do with all this? They were her youth memories, it's so irrelevant!
But the thing about this was, it was the first time her mother ever mentioned her teenage afflatus, and even if it had nothing to do with anything at all, she couldn't deny that it had her attention. "Fine. Who is he?" she asked her ultimately.
"He's a, his parents were your father's acquaintance when he was in China. I'll send you a picture, check your KTalk."
"But, Mom. Promise me, it's the last, okay? If it doesn't work, I want you to stop doing this." she stated, insisting. Like seriously, this blind date thing needed to end. She's just twenty-six, for God's sake. It's not like they would end anytime soon, she had times to date in the future. 
"Just, read my message. You'll like him, believe me."
"I know, just promise me, please," she repeated.
"Okay, okay. I promise you, even though it's not necessary. Just thank me later."
And that's how they ended the conversation. She only paused to blow another deep sigh before checking on the message her mother just sent. And the picture that came with it took her breath away. What are the odds of having her mother send her Zhang Yixing's picture when she was practically burning with curiosity over this certain person just for the whole twenty minutes before?
She always thought that a kind of serendipity was merely unoriginal when it came to such a relationship. She meant like, they were strangers who met on a very usual occasion, only to be reunited on an arranged date, especially when she clearly showed her interest in him. It's just too cliché. And it got her into thinking whether their previous meeting was a real coincidence. After all the interaction, despite the short and almost meaningless one, and with this unexpected coincidence, Zhang Yixing had successfully made his way to get her full attention.
She scrolled up to see this Yixing guy's picture again. It was candidly taken when he was attending some kind of a gala in China. He was in a neat black suit, a small smile on his face while waving at the cameras. He was just as gorgeous as the last time she saw him, surely the most good-looking one among all of those her mother had introduced her. And yes, her mother was also right, looking only at his appearance, he indeed was her type. She didn't have the slightest idea what kind of a person he might be, but his previous public show was enough to tell her that he was charismatic. He seemed quiet and calm, and he looked like a nice man, so it wouldn't hurt to give it a chance. She had nothing to lose now anyway, if it didn't work then she would just let life lead her to whatever it wanted her to do.
'You're meeting him tonight at 8 on Seorae. Enjoy the date! Don't forget to call back!' she read her mother's newest message.
Tonight? Like, it was five o'clock and she had only three hours before meeting him, she didn't even prepare a proper dress, damn it!
Still a little dumbstruck by her mother's message, Jisoo walked back into her office and just remembered that Baekhyun was still there. She almost forgot about him in this short moment, since she was a bit occupied by the whole situation.
"Ah, so, Baekhyun, what were you saying?" she asked him as she got back to her chair.
"Right, I was saying, what about dinner with me tonight?"
Jisoo raised her eyes from the phone screen. As if it didn't make anything better, dinner with Baekhyun was very tempting when there was no Yixing situation. And she had to admit, no matter how much she had a fancy for spending her evening with Baekhyun, she was more interested in meeting this particular familiar stranger. So she had to turn him down. For once after all the mess he caused for their relationship, she wanted Baekhyun to see that at least it looked like, she wasn't that crazy over him anymore.
"Sorry, no can do. I have a date tonight." She told him nonchalantly.
Baekhyun leaned his head backward, taken aback by her reply. "A date? With who?" he asked back, seemingly hard to believe that anything she told him was true. Jisoo could see where this disbelief came from. All he knew was she was single and not looking all the time, seeing how she was so busy with all the papers and research, now also the IRO kinds of stuff. She never told him about the blind dates, she had never talked about it with anyone on the campus. Jisoo couldn't just embarrass herself in front of her crush that her mother was so eager to matchmake her with some men out there, and that it never worked since she couldn't get her crush over him just yet. All he knew, the only man who was always seen to hang around with her, other than her cousin, was only him.
His reaction was just understandable.
"Not going to tell you," she replied to him shortly.
Her eyes fell on the magazine in front of him, which Yixing's picture was staring at her from the flat-opened page.
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*disclaimer:
Yes, the main characters are inspired from real celebrities.
The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.