Chasing Butterflies

Wanderess

She wandered down the lamp lit street, kicking aside empty beer cans.  She had snuck out, just as she always did and now she had nothing to do. But wandering aimlessly through the city was a far more favorable option than spending another night in her parents' house. There was nothing she hated more than her father and his cold, unfeeling eyes; he cared about nothing but his damned business. The one thing she hated more was her mother and how she insisted on only the 'finer things' in life. That of course meant shoving her daughter into uncomfortable shoes that pinched her toes and too-tight dresses just because they had designer labels.

That wasn't the life for her. It wasn't what she wanted. No number of pearl necklaces could make her happy. But what did she know about happiness? Not much.

Ever since she could remember her parents conditioned her to be the perfect daughter: educated, polite, put together, and sophisticated. And for a while she was too young and too ignorant to realize that she was nothing more than a puppet to them. A little doll that they could dress up and pose as their 'perfect daughter' so they could show off their 'perfect family' to the whole world.

They had never once given her the opportunity to explore life for herself. And at a certain point she realized that they didn't care. They had never cared about her. All they cared about was making sure that the world saw a perfect family image and nothing else. They trapped her inside their expensive house and pushed their lifestyle onto her. That life wasn't happiness, that house wasn't a home to her. It was a prison.

"Hey! Watch it," she had been so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when she ran into someone.

"Oh sorry! I wasn't really looking where I was walking and—" her eyes landed on the man she had run into. Holy hell he was attractive. She swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. "Sorry," she mumbled awkwardly.

Believe it or not she hasn't spent much time with men... none actually. Well of course she attended the stuffy cocktail parties her parents forced her to go to and she shook hands with all the important business men like she was told to. But she had never been alone with a man that wasn't sporting a three piece suit and bald spot. And this guy certainly didn't look anything like those stuck up business monkeys.

His eyes landed on her and suddenly he wasn't so pissed off that she had run into him. The girl he had left back in the bar was completely forgotten as he stared down at this girl who had rammed head-first into him. This girl looked like she could be a fun night.

"That's okay, sorry for going off on you," he shot her a smile. "I'm Youngkyun." She melted under his steady brown eyes and that hypnotic smile, just like he knew she would.

"I'm Izzy," if this guy got any more attractive she was going to cry.

"So tell me Izzy," he started, a smile still on his lips, "What are you doing out here so late?" There it was. The question she had hoped to avoid. If Youngkyun knew how messed up her life was he wouldn't want anything to do with her, she was sure of it.

"Oh uh," she didn't know how to answer. But it turns out she didn't have to.

"You wanted a night out. Am I right?" He stared down at her with a smirk on his face. "Your brother, sister, parents pissed you off and you couldn't stand to be in the same house any longer." Izzy gawked up at him. How could he have possibly known that?

"Uh, actually yeah, that's exactly what happened." His smirk widened and Izzy couldn't help but find it attractive. "Except I don't have a brother or sister," a tiny smile worked itself onto her face as she spoke in a teasing tone.

"Well regardless, if you're looking for a fun night you've come the right place. Come on, my apartment isn't far from here." Youngkyun began walking away, turning to cast a mischievous glance over his shoulder at Izzy.

Izzy stood frozen, debating with herself. She could turn around right now and go home and be the good girl that her parents expect her to be. Or she could go with this man who she had met only minutes ago and participate in whatever his idea of a 'fun night' was. But one thought stopped her; what would her parents think of this?

She swallowed her anxieties and sucked in a deep breath. "Youngkyun! Wait up."

Parents be damned. She didn't care what they thought of her. Izzy wanted to live her own life and this looked to be the first step. She pried her legs away from the pavement and rushed to catch up with Youngkyun where he now waited for her. Her better judgement had abandoned her, but this option seemed much more fun than making the right decision.

"Glad you decided to join me," his smirk made something stir inside of her. This guy was trouble. And she liked it.

They walked silently as he led her through the dark city. The air was cool but Izzy didn't feel the chill, she was buzzing with excitement. The thrill of disobeying her parents was not something she had ever felt before and she liked it. Knowing that they were sleeping, ignorant in their bed as she went off into the city with a man she had only met a minute ago was undoubtedly the best feeling she'd had in a long time.

Youngkyun led her to the West side of the city, a place that her parents deemed "filthy" and "not a place for civilized people" but she couldn't care less what they thought. He glanced at her every once in a while as they walked, eventually reaching a small apartment building. Silently, Izzy followed him up the steps and waited as he unlocked the black door to his apartment. They walked into a sparsely furnished living room which connected to a white tile kitchen. Izzy could see several doors lined up in a hallway on the right of the kitchen. Youngkyun dropped his keys on the coffee table with a clang, startling Izzy out of her thoughts. He stepped closer and closer until there was hardly enough air to breathe between them. This was new to Izzy. She had never been this close to a man, especially no man as attractive as Youngkyun.

He smiled, a fire burning in his mud brown eyes. "How about a drink?"