"Have you received the message?" He tentatively asked.

"En. I did." She simply answered.

"You don't have to go back if you don't want to." J reassured that she didn't have to comply on what was written on the message.

"I have to. I'm a member of the Jin Family after all." Kim Eunji tilted her head as she said that which made J be silent for a while.

"And besides, I know that you'll be there too, right?" She asked.

"En." He answered her.

The two talked for a while and then ended when it's time for Kim Eunji to board the plane. Since the family meeting was in three weeks, she decided to accept another photoshoot project in the US.

Though she was clueless of what will happen to her if she decided to go back to the Jin Family House, she's somehow calm as everything will be under control.

***

A customized black Ducati Panigale V4 S Corse had stopped in front of one of the tallest building in Manhattan, Net International. This act caught a lot of attention as the rider was not a man but a woman. She was wearing a black rider jacket over her simple white lose shirt, black jean pants and leather boots.

Unfortunately, her face was hidden underneath that helmet. Her glossy ash blonde hair was draped on her back.

When the woman took off the helmet, everyone on the entrance gasped. Though her eyes was still hidden by those huge tinted aviator shades, her porcelain like skin was enough for the people to tell that she's beyond beautiful.

"Such beauty, is she a model?!" Someone asked in fascination.

"No, she's not. She's EL. The freelance photographer who had been blessing the world with her beautiful photos for quite some time now."

"Is that so?" Someone asked.

"Why settle being a mere photographer when she can earn a great fortune with her face? And that aura? Damn!" The same person added.

"She's so hot!"

The woman heard their gossip about her but decided to ignore them as she tossed her keys to the valet attendant.

"Take care of her." She shortly said and walked towards the huge revolving door.

With her huge helmet on her left hand and a backpack on her back, she walked towards the receptionist and asked as she removed her aviator glassed revealing a black eye patch covering her left eye. "Good morning. I'm here for Mr. Johnson's photoshoot."

But before the receptionist could respond to her, a familiar voice rang on her left. Based on how the person sounded, she's must have been in a hurry as she was panting.

"EL! Thank God you finally arrived!" The girl on her mid-20s casually spoke to her.

"Alice what's the problem?" EL asked her with a puzzled look.

"Master Johnson!" The girl named Alice started.

"What about him?" She raised her brew as she asked.

"He arrived earlier than expected on set and had wanted to have the photoshoot earlier than scheduled.

The photoshoot was still three and a half hours from now and they had just set up their equipment for the photoshoot when the man arrived and demanding to do the photoshoot immediately.

"Lead the way." She simply said then Alice immediately walked back to where she came from with EL tailing behind her.

As soon as Alice opened the door, EL could immediately feel the tensed atmosphere.

She witnessed how her team tremble as they were nervous but as they saw EL came inside the room, they heaved a huge sigh of relief.

However, when she scanned the room to look on the source of this weird energy, she was a bit surprised when she saw a familiar looking man clad with a tailor made black suit and tie. His hair was neatly combed on the side. He was looking distant and aloof as he leaned on the seat with his arms resting on the armrest and his long-legs crossed together.

Did destiny has a lot of time to play tricks with her? Of all people that she didn't want to see after that night turned out to be the person who hired her for this photoshoot. And it was too late for her to realize that Nathan and Master Johnson of NET International was one and the same.

Yes, EL was none other than Kim Eunji herself. Like actors who had screen names, Kim Eunji had hers as EL. It's just the initials of her names though. Kim Eunji who was now on her identity as EL the Freelance Photographer, composed herself.

She slowly walked towards him and cleared her throat.

The man looked up and then was stunned when he saw who it was.

"Miss Kim, what are you doing here?" As he asked, she did not look at him directly as she cursed herself for not realizing it sooner. She then straightened her back and looked at the man who had stood up from his seat.

She thought that no one would see through her look as EL. She was glad that no one recognized her in China but the man was different. Despite her striking bad-ass make-up, different hair color and an eye patch, he had manage to see through her.

In just one glance, he knew that it was her immediately.

"I'm here for Mr. Johnson's photoshoot." She answered professionally.

"Then, I'm afraid I'll give you a poor customer satisfactory report Miss-"

"EL. Call me EL and not my name Mr. Johnson. I'd like to separate my personal life from work. I hope you get what I mean." Kim Eunji meaningfully said.

"Alright EL." Nathan meaningfully smiled at her.

"And I hope you're professional enough to not make my work... difficult." Kim Eunji added. She meant that she hoped Nathan won't bring her trouble because of what she did the last time.

"Rest assured EL. I'm a man of my word. But I hope your team is flexible enough to cope with your clients demand. After all, I'm a busy person." He said.

Kim Eunji understood the situation.

"How much time do we have left?" She asked him.

"I only have 2 hours left before my flight. I'll be departing 1 hour and 30 minutes from now." He honestly answered.

The photoshoot was scheduled for the afternoon. However, Nathan had to fly back to Beijing today. Therefore, they had to move the photoshoot.

"I see. We'll done preparing in 5." Kim Eunji calmly said and then turn around to look at her team.

"Attention! Code ALPHA!" As she announced, his team immediately move.

And indeed, in just 5 minutes, they were done setting up.

"Mr. Johnson, please sit on the couch."

This photoshoot was for M Magazine where Nathan was featured and being officially introduced as the new Chairman of NET International, the King of the cyber world.

Nathan sat down like a King that he was. On the other hand, Kim Eunji walked behind her camera. The photoshoot started immediately.

Kim Eunji subconsciously gulped when she saw his gazes which could pierce someone's soul. It wads like the man was trying to read her.

After a few clicks, Kim Eunji then placed her camera on her neck as she walked towards Nathan.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked.

"You're doing good so far. In fact, I could say that you're a natural. However, I want you to show another side of you. Try to be more relatable. Show the human side in you. Try to smile." Kim Eunji instructed in a calm way.

For some reason, a loose hair messed up Nathan's perfect hairstyle and Kim Eunji did not hesitate to fix it.

Her action caught Nathan off-guard. The crew gasped when she did what she did. They haven't seen EL or Kim Eunji doing that to her previous clients.

"What are you doing?" He asked her with a serious look.

"I'm just helping in fixing your hair." Kim Eunji honestly answered.

"Oh." Kim Eunji returned back on her position and took a couple of shots. She smiled after she was satisfied with it.

She showed a warm smile towards Nathan that made the latter blushed.

She did not waste any time to capture that as it's not everyday that this man would show this side of him.

"Delete that." Nathan sternly said.

"Hmm. Why should I? It's beautiful." Kim Eunji honestly answered which made Nathan blushed even more.

Because of this the tensed atmosphere earlier became light. For some reason, Kim Eunji didn't find the man annoying and he was miraculously cooperating even though she often bossed him around during the photoshoot as she demanded him to make some poses.

This made Nathan's subordinates turn to be surprised this time as they never imagined their Master to allow someone to do what she had done.

After an hour, the photoshoot ended.

"It's a wrap everyone!"

The team cheered as they heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank God!"

As mentioned, Nathan and his mean immediately left the room as soon as they received the confirmation from Kim Eunji that it's okay to leave.

***

Kim Eunji was doing the edits on her Mac when Alice and the rest approached her.

"EL..."

Kim Eunji looked up and saw them with a sad look.

"Hey...what's wrong?" Kim Eunji asked.

"EL... is it true?" Alice was hesitant to directly ask her.

"Is it true that you're retiring?" A man named Magnus asked.

Kim Eunji was silent which made the atmosphere to be tensed.

"Yes." She finally answered after a while.

"Why?" Alice asked as she became emotional.

It was hard for Kim Eunji to let go of this job. Her venture in photography started only as her hobby. She took a few short term courses to improve her skills more later on.

"I think... I think I had reached my limit in this field. It's not that I'm falling out of love with this. I still love doing this and it's hard for me to let go. However, there are things that I should prioritize more." Kim Eunji confessed.

This saddened everyone.

"Then what about us? Are you going to disband our team, too?" They were worried now. Kim Eunji had always been their backbone on the group.

"Guys. You can still go on even without me. In fact, all of you can open a photo studio together with your skills. You have done several photo gigs in the past." She persuaded them.

"EL. We did it because we know that at the end of the day you'll still be coming back from your trips from heaven knows where. But now that you decided to leave... we don't think we can make it."

Alice answered as she became the spokesperson of the people behind her.

"We'd prefer to come with you wherever you go than stay here." They confessed.

"I'm sorry guys but I can't just bring you with me. You have families here." Kim Eunji emphasized.

"But you are family, too. Everything we have now, it's all thanks to you."

Kim Eunji's heart was touched as she heard that.

"I..." Kim Eunji was speechless. She didn't know she had affected them so much in such a span of two years of working together to the point that they treated her as family.

" Just tell us on what to do and this team will follow you wherever you want us to go." Alice said which made Kim Eunji emotional.

"Guys. All of you really don't have to do this." Kim Eunji was about to tear up but forced herself not to cry in front of them.

"But we wanted to EL."

Kim Eunji looked down which was a wrong move for her because when she did, the tears that she had been forcing back to her tear ducts flowed freely.

As they saw her cry, everyone panicked.

"Oie! What do we do. EL's crying."

Kim Eunji gently wiped her tears off her face as she looked at them. "Alright… Give me two months to prepare everything."

Everyone cheered as soon as they heard her.

This group did not want to part with Kim Eunji as they felt that even their life was not enough to pay back everything that Kim Eunji had done for them.

On their darkest days, EL showed up to lend a hand and showed them the light towards the right path. In short, EL or Kim Eunji was their savior.

While the group was celebrating, the man who was about to leave 15 minutes ago could be seen standing by the door and had heard everything.

He was about to reach out for the door knob but decided not to on the last minute and withdrew his hand.

"Master Johnson, we'll be late." Marco reminded him. Though they were boarding his own private jet, Nathan had no luxury to delay the flight.

Nathan then turned his back against the door and placed both of his hands inside his pocket as he walked out of the place.

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