It was the day before the auction and Lina was panicking excessively. But it was not due to the pressure for tomorrow's grand event.
Then what was the reason, you ask?
Because she hadn't heard any news from Steph regarding her dress.
Neither had she seen it nor heard anything about it.
After the lunch that they had together last week, she hadn't even seen his shadow around her.
However, today he had asked her to come to meet him before lunch at his workspace, but when Lina reached his floor she was blankly staring at his locked door.
"Manager Tim? Has Steph gone someplace?" She anxiously asked the bespectacled man who was busy reading some files.
"Ah… Boss hasn't come to the office yet, Miss Lina." He glanced at the door and answered her.
'Shit! What should I do now?' She bit her nails and paced around.
She wanted to see what her dress looked like so that she might make sure that she had the perfect matching accessories and shoes.
Seeing her act this way, Tim felt bad for her. His boss never followed a set schedule, he came and went as he wished.
But for the past two weeks, he had always come on time and only left his room when the office hours came to an end. So even Tim was confused about why he had not yet arrived.
"Miss Lina, have you tried calling him? He must be stuck somewhere." He kindly suggested.
"Yes! He must be stuck somewhere, I better call him. Thank you, Manager Tim." She gave him a thumbs up and strode to the elevator.
'Let's hope that he really is stuck or else no one can save him from my wrath!' She glared at the phone which only gave her a 'busy' tone whenever she dialed his number.
Instead of going back to her office, she went to Wade's floor and decided to whine to him about her problems.
The secretaries all bowed their heads when they saw her because they were already aware that she was a special existence for their VP and offending her would mean offending the 'Big Devil'.
"Oh, Nana! What brings you here?" She heard Wade's surprised voice when she pushed his door open and entered it.
Asst Kirk and Wade were discussing some details about the new mall that Obsidia had rented a store in. But Kirk bowed and left when he saw Lina entering.
"Ge… Steph is MIA! He hasn't been answering my calls and I don't know where he is!?" She plopped on the couch and kicked up her feet like a child.
"Still hasn't shown you the dress, huh?" He chuckled but immediately shut up when he saw her furious face.
Wade had somehow convinced Steph to reveal the color of her dress so that he might wear a matching colored tie with his suit for the auction.
Though he knew what color her gown was going to be, he did not leak it to her.
'The honor among men.' He proudly declared when she had begged him to secretly inform her about the dress.
She ignored him and tried calling Steph once again.
'Pick up! Pick up!' She pleaded as she stared at the phone's screen.
"Noona?" She jumped up when she heard his voice through the phone then she hurriedly brought it to her ears and started yelling at him.
"Where the hell are you? Do you have any idea how worried I have been? I've been waiting for so long! You asked me to meet you before lunch and you still haven't reached the office building!" She sternly scolded him.
"Noona…!"
She froze when she heard his cries from the other side because he sounded as if he was in some sort of serious trouble.
"What's wrong?" She questioned in fear.
Wade was also alarmed when he saw how her expressions changed, so he moved closer to hear their conversation.
"They won't let me go! They've even taken away my car and only now did I get my phone back!" His aggrieved voice resonated in her ears.
"Who are they? Where are you right now?" Lina got up from her seat and Wade quickly followed after her.
They were walking towards the door as Steph sent Lina his whereabouts.
Lina promised to reach his location as quickly as she could and after asking him to calm down, she hung up.
They had already reached the parking lot so Lina sat in Wade's car and gave him the location.
'This location is…?' He frowned when he saw the address.
"Will you drive?" She yelled at him and he pushed his thoughts away and drove out of Obsidia.
Wade was still mindful to not drive too fast because he did not want Lina to have another panic attack when she was already this scared.
"Wade, drive faster. We do not know what kind of trouble he's in!" She urged and seriously looked at him.
"But Nana…" He couldn't continue his words when he saw the determined look on her face.
"Okay. Just hang on." He reminded her and the car picked up speed.
The thirty minutes journey was cut down to fifteen because Wade had rushed through the streets like a madman.
Lina finally opened her eyes when she felt the car coming to a halt.
'Have we reached?' She let go of the seat belt that she had been holding for the entire ride here.
"M UNIVERSITY?" She frowned when she saw the big board on the building.
It looked like it was lunchtime for them since they could see the students running around everywhere.
Wade got down and opened the door for Lina from the other side as he helped her out.
She had to take the support of his body because she couldn't even feel her legs and her entire body was trembling without control.
"You should just stay here, I'll go find him." He stopped her when she almost fell down.
When Lina was about to argue with him, she heard someone shouting her name from a distance.
"Steph!" She turned to her side and saw him standing many feet away from them.
He came running towards her and Lina rushed forward to check if he had any physical injuries.
Like a mama bear checking her cub, Lina turned him around and checked to see if he was okay.
"Are you hurt anywhere? Who was that idiot who tried to harm you?" She questioned him in anger.
"That idiot would be me." Another voice spoke.
She was so busy examining Steph for injuries that she had not seen the other person walking towards them.
"You..!" Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the other person's face.
"Why are you he-" She couldn't finish her sentence because her tight nerves and fatigued body had won over.
"Nana…!"
"Lina...!"
"Noona…!"
She heard panicked screams as her consciousness faded and her body went crashing towards the soiled ground.
---
'Urgh! My head hurts!' Lina groaned as she slowly opened her eyes.
"What the …" She jerked away when she saw three faces so close to her.
"Get away, you creeps!" She pushed them away and rubbed her throbbing temples.
'I shouldn't have asked Wade to speed over.' She regretted her decision because she felt very weak and tired.
But when she remembered the reason why she had asked Wade to speed, she quickly looked up.
"Are you okay?" She questioned Steph and saw his guilty face.
"Yes, he is. This idiot just wanted a ride back to the office because his car was confiscated." Wade glared at Steph and explained what had happened.
"But who confiscated your car?" She asked.
"I'm so sorry, Noona! Wade told me about your sickness, I would never have pranked you if I had known that it would hurt you!" He leaped forward to hug her.
But two hands held his shirt firmly and yanked him away from her.
"And why are you here?" She looked at the other man in the room.
"Hello, to you too!" He answered sarcastically and Lina rolled her eyes.
"You know each other?" Wade and Steph looked at them incredulously.
"Of course, I met him at the airport before I came back to the country." She then looked at him.
"Right, Uncle Noah?" She wiggled her brows at him and he scowled when he heard how she addressed him.
"Big brother is Noona's uncle?" Steph was confused by this sudden relationship revelation.
"Big brother?" She alternated between the two men and smacked her head when she saw the similarities.
The same curly brown hair, long legs and the exact same thick eyebrows.
'Well, the best indicator should have been the same surname 'Jin' but apparently, I'm too dumb to connect the dots.' She mocked herself and chuckled.
"So Lina is your Noona huh?" Noah hit Steph on his head jokingly.
Steph had been singing praises about his new sister back at home, so much so that his real elder sister was jealous and wanted to meet this Noona who had taught him some good manners.
"I had confiscated his car because he did not turn up his last three assignments and he rarely attends his classes." Noah explained why Steph couldn't reach Obsidia on time.
Noah just wanted to teach the brat a lesson but instead, he just called his 'Noona' and acted like he was in trouble.
Then he even challenged that his Noona would soon be here to take him away.
Noah had stuck around to see who this legendary Noona was but he was shocked to see Lina here. What further shocked him was how she suddenly fainted.
"I may be missing something here. Why exactly did you confiscate his car here in his college? When you could have done it at home and saved him the embarrassment." Lina was still confused.
Wade quickly whispered something in her ear.
"You are a professor here!" She screamed out.
She looked at him from top to bottom and evaluated him.
'Formals, rolled up sleeves, geeky glasses and messed up hair. Gosh, that's the stereotypical description of a sexy professor!' She blushed when she saw him sneakily winking at her.
Wade rolled his eyes while Steph glared at his elder brother.
"Noona, let's go! You still need to try on the dress and it's already late." He dragged her out the door to shield her from his brother's perverted eyes.
When they exited the building, the sun was setting over the horizon.
'How long was I unconscious for?' She looked at Wade and he mouthed the words 'six hours'.
She then proudly nodded her head.
'Much better than the last time I fainted.' She high-fived herself and got into the car with Wade and Steph.
Steph turned around and stuck his tongue out at his brother who couldn't tag along because he still had work to do in the university.