When Hyejin picked herself out of bed the next morning, her entire body felt battered and bruised, and when she slowly crawled her way to the bathroom she felt as if someone had tied lead weights to her feet. Lifting up the hem of her pyjama top, she winced when she saw the angry purple bruise that had developed at her waist area. The girls hadn't held anything back when they kicked her last night.
As she let the cold water from the shower soothe the pain, the events from last night surfaced once more in her mind.
After their momentary pause by the Han river, Hyunwon had driven her all the way home in silence. She could still feel his anger and annoyance radiating throughout the journey, though she knew better than to ask too many questions. Even when he dropped her off at her doorstep, the only thing he said to her was, "If you're not feeling well tomorrow then take the day off." Then he sped off into the night.
He probably thinks I'm creating unnecessary trouble for him again, she thought to herself. She didn't blame him for thinking that way.
The memory of Hyunwon lifting her off her feet and carrying her into the lift kept floating into her mind, and when she looked at her own reflection in the mirror she realised that her cheeks had gone bright pink. She could almost still feel the warmth of his chest and the steady heartbeat that was coming from within.
"Stop it, Song Hyejin," she chided her reflection. "He's someone else's fiancé now."
The voice of her father calling her name from the living room distracted her from her monologue, and she quickly threw on some clothes and headed out to see what the commotion was about. To her surprise, she found Ares standing in the living room, with her puzzled father beside him.
"This boy says he's looking for you," her father said, studying Ares warily from head to toe.
"Ares! What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd give you a lift down to work. You disappeared from the dinner so abruptly yesterday and you didn't pick up any of my calls—I was really worried about you," he said.
Hyejin ran back to her room and picked up her phone, only then did she realise that she had switched her phone to silent mode at the start of the dinner and that she had received fifteen missed calls from Ares over the course of the night. Scrolling through her call log, she frowned, walking back out to the living room.
"Sorry, my phone was left on silent. But why did you call me throughout the night?" Then she noticed that he was still wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing at the dinner, and that there were visible dark circles around his eyes. "You haven't gone home? Were you waiting outside my house all this while?" she asked incredulously.
She had always known that Ares had a penchant for doing strange things, like roaming the streets in the wee hours of the morning, but this was a little too much.
"Who is this boy? What do you mean he has been waiting outside our house all night?" her father demanded. He waved his newspaper threateningly at Ares, saying, "Are you some kind of stalker? Leave my daughter alone!"
Ares flashed the older man a tired smile and said, "Don't you recognise me anymore, Uncle? You used to cut my hair for me when I was a kid. My grandma would bring me to Gongja barber shop and you would give me sweets because I didn't like getting my hair cut."
"What?" Hyejin's father looked surprised, but seconds later a knowing look appeared in his eyes. "You're that chubby kid! Of course! What's your name? Minhyuk? Minhyun?"
"I'm Hwang Minhyun."
"That's right, that's right! Look at you, all grown up now. You look so different from when you were a kid! Where did all that baby fat go?"
Hyejin watched with mild amusement as her father reunited with his long-lost son. It was as if those fifteen to twenty odd years where they hadn't seen each other were suddenly wiped off the record.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier that the two of you had met each other again? I would have invited Minhyun over for dinner when we have barbecue," her father turned to her and said reproachfully. "So, what brings you here this morning, Minhyun? You said you wanted to give Hyejin a lift to work? Are the two of you..."
"No!"
"Yes."
"Is it no? Or is it yes?" her father scratched his head in puzzlement, looking from one to the other.
"I'm sorry I didn't stop by to visit earlier. I really should have. Hyejin and I have been going out for a while now. I hope you can give us your blessings," Ares said bashfully.
Hyejin's jaw dropped.
This was supposed to be an act, and in her opinion her acting exploits shouldn't need to come all the way home. She immediately grabbed her bag from her room and then Ares by the arm. "We're going to go now," she said hurriedly. "I'll explain everything when I get home. I promise. In the meantime, pretend you never heard anything, alright?"
Leaving her bewildered father behind, Hyejin dragged Ares out of the house and back to his car.
"What was that all about? Why did you say all that to my father!" she exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Ares asked. "I mean, it's the truth. I thought we should let your father know so he doesn't get a shock if he finds out from the newspapers or something."
"My father doesn't read that kind of news. Anyway, we're only doing this temporarily. There's no need to blast the news to my family when we both know that there's an expiry date to this. What's going to happen after we decide to end this charade? My father will start asking a whole lot of questions and I don't guarantee he won't be coming after your head with one of his antique razor blades! Why are you making things even more complicated than they already are?"
After her outburst, Ares fell silent for a moment, his eyes staring somewhat sadly at his own shoes.
"Why does there need to be an expiry date?" he finally said quietly. "I know you're only doing this to help me cover up for my condition, but since we're already in this situation, can't you give me a chance? If it's because of Hyunwon, then you should know that he's already announced news of his engagement to Kara. It's not going to work out between the both of you."
"It's not about him," Hyejin replied tersely. "Look," she turned towards Ares, suddenly feeling a little guilty because of how down he looked, "I didn't mean to sound harsh, but this isn't easy for me. I just don't belong in your world, Ares. Take yesterday's dinner for example. I didn't understand nor was I interested in half the things that those people were talking about, and throughout the dinner I just felt like a fish out of water! And then there was the—" She cut herself off just when she was about to mention the awful encounter with Mina and the Lollipop girls. Ares didn't need to know about that. It would only make him feel even more guilty for dragging her into this and she didn't want to risk aggravating his condition. As it was he was already being hyper-sensitive to everything.
"Never mind. All I want to say is, I know you're a great guy and I wish I could reciprocate, but we come from two completely different worlds, Ares. I'm just a small town girl from a barber shop, and you? You're on every billboard in town."
"What if I gave all of that up? I mean, I'm also tired of all the stress and having to be on my toes at all times because the world is watching. Maybe I don't belong in that world either. I don't mind giving it all up. Maybe I could even help out at your father's barber shop?"
Hyejin fell silent. She could hear the desperation in Ares's voice, like a drowning person trying to cling on to a life raft, and the anger and frustration in her immediately faded away. He was even proposing to give up everything he had worked so hard for just to keep her by his side.
"Let's not talk about this right now," she said quietly. She didn't know what response she could give him right now, so not giving any response was the best she could do. "We should go. I need to get to the salon."
Throughout the journey, Ares looked like he wanted to say something on several occasions, but each time he glanced her way he would swallow his words back down again. When they reached the Cutting Edge, he gave her a weak smile and a feeble wave as she stepped out of the car.
"I'll call you later?" he asked hesitantly, as if afraid of her rejection.
Hyejin felt guilty just looking at him, because she felt like she had added on to his insecurity. She nodded her head and tried to give him a bright smile in return, although the nagging pain at her waist only made it appear like a grimace. As she walked hastily towards the building entrance, she could still feel Ares' gaze against her back, all the way up till she disappeared through the doors.
Ares' words kept occupying her mind even as she went up the lift and walked into the salon. Because he had given her a lift, she had arrived earlier than she normally would and most of the others had yet to report to work. She walked towards the employees' changing room on auto-pilot and kept her bag in her locker, all the while still wondering what she should do about her temporary boyfriend.
"Hyejin."
This was only supposed to be temporary! What does he mean he wants me to give him a chance?
"Hyejin."
If I give him a chance, who's going to give me a chance? Mina and those girls will never leave me alone, and all those crazy fans of his."
"Song Hyejin."
But will he be able to take it if I give him a flat out no? I mean, I only mentioned that this play-acting had an expiry date and already he looked like I was taking away half his life!
A tap came at her shoulder, making her jump up and crash against the corner of the marble counter. She cried out in pain as her bruised area came into contact with the marble.
"I thought I told you to stay at home. What are you doing here so early?" Hyunwon lectured. "Does it still hurt a lot?" he added when he saw how white her face had gone. She was clutching onto her side, her teeth clenched tightly to stave away the pain.
Hyunwon grabbed her by the hand and led her back towards the lifts.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To the hospital."
Hyejin struggled to free herself from his grip, but the pain had sapped away much of her strength. "I don't need to go to the hospital," she protested. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
When the lift doors opened, a surprised Yeseul stared at the both of them. "Is everything alright?" she asked, sensing the tension in the air. Her eyes flickered down towards Hyunwon's hand, which was still holding onto Hyejin's wrist.
Hyunwon glowered and pushed Hyejin into the lift, hitting the button for the basement carpark.
The doctor at the hospital gave her a whole lot of medicines and creams for her bruise, which had developed into an angry blue-black patch the size of her palm. He also gave Hyunwon a couple of judging looks, until the latter was forced to say that her bruises were not a case of domestic abuse and he didn't have anger management issues. Even with Hyejin's confirmation, the doctor didn't look very convinced.
"This doesn't look like the way we came," Hyejin remarked as Hyunwon's car drove down an unfamiliar boulevard.
"It isn't. We're making a detour to my apartment," Hyunwon replied.
"What?"
"Since the doctor thinks I'm an abusive boyfriend with anger management issues, I might as well live up to his expectations." He reached into his shirt pocket and fished out a name card, tossing it into her lap. "Just before we left, he slipped me this." The name card belonged to a psychologist.
"It's your own fault for looking so grouchy all the time..." Hyejin mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing."
"I need to pick up some files from home. Forgot to bring them out of the house this morning," he said as the car turned into the car park of a tall condominium block. When he stepped out of the car, he turned back and looked at her quizzically, as if to ask why she wasn't moving.
"I can just wait here," she said.
"Hurry up." Again, that was the non-negotiation tone.
Hyejin reluctantly got out of the car and followed behind Hyunwon as they headed up to his apartment, all the while thinking that he was an overbearing, controlling (but still handsome) son-of-a-bitch. When she stepped in, the first thing that caught her eye was the incredible view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in his living room, and that made her forget everything that had been going through her mind at that moment. She pressed her nose up against the glass and gazed out at the view of the city, complete with the river in the background.
"Give me a moment," Hyunwon's voice rang out as he headed into his room to search for the files he had come back for. "If you want to grab a drink, help yourself. There's water and juice in the kitchen. Oh, and you should take your medicines now."
There he goes being all controlling again, Hyejin thought as she dragged herself away from the gorgeous view of the city skyline and headed for the kitchen. Whether or not I take my medicines is my own problem. Why does he need to have a say in that as well?
Regardless, she did as she was told and swallowed all the pills she was supposed to swallow. The sooner she could rid herself of the bruises and their accompanying aches and pains the better, because every time she winced from the pain, it reminded her of what happened at the gala dinner and she would immediately start to regret agreeing to help Ares put on this show. As she washed down the pills with a huge glass of water, she looked around the kitchen, noting that it was extremely neat and tidy. In fact, the entire apartment was extremely neat and tidy.
But of course, the fellow has OCD.
She raised the glass of water to her lips and was about to finish drinking the remaining half of the glass when Hyunwon's voice appeared out of nowhere, saying, "Alright I'm done, are you ready to go?"
Her hand slipped.
"Oh crap!" she exclaimed, staring down in dismay at the mess that had been made. Thankfully her reflexes had been quick enough to catch the glass before it shattered on the floor, but it hadn't been quick enough to stop her from spilling the rest of the water all over the front of her blue blouse.
Hyunwon sucked in his breath, trying not to flare up because of the few drops of water that had been splashed on his black marble floor. At least she hadn't broken the glass, he told himself, or else he would have had to replace the entire set because he couldn't stand just having five glasses instead of the full set of six.
Frowning, he took the glass out of her hand and said, "I'll get you a shirt that you can change into."
"It's alright, there's no need—"
"You're already battered and bruised. Do you want to add a cold and fever to that too?" Hyunwon interrupted. "The final assessment is coming up soon. Unless you want to give that up and spend your time in bed nursing all your woes, then I suggest you stop being stubborn and just hurry up and get changed. Follow me."
He led her to his bedroom, where he opened his cupboard and rummaged through it, eventually pulling out a black T-shirt with some graphic print across the front. He threw it to her and said, "This one has always been a bit too small for me, although it may still be a little big for you." With that, he left the room and shut the door behind him.
After quickly changing out of her wet blouse, Hyejin looked around the room, realising at that moment that she was actually in Hyunwon's bedroom. She slid open the doors of his wardrobe, running her fingers along the expensive fabrics of his jackets and shirts, all of which had been arranged according to their colour. Likewise, his drawers of ties and socks were also colour-coordinated, much to Hyejin's amusement. As she walked around, taking the opportunity to study his personal space, she noticed a couple of photo frames on his bedside table. She bent over and peered at one of them which had an old photo of a young woman carrying a toddler, and she couldn't help but let out a giggle when she realised that the toddler was none other than her boss.
"Who would have ever thought he would make such a cute kid," she said to herself.
Beside it, there was another wooden frame, but it had been placed faced down against the table top. Out of curiosity, she picked it up. The image of two teenagers in their high school uniforms greeted her, with a beautiful young girl planting a kiss on the cheek of the smiling boy on their graduation day. It didn't take her long to recognise who they were—and the moment she did, her heart sank all the way down within her chest.
So there aretimes when he can smile this happily after all...
It was no wonder they were getting married. If Kara could make Hyunwon smile from ear to ear in a manner that revealed the genuine happiness that was brimming inside, then there was no doubt that she was the perfect girl for him.
The sound of the doorbell ringing distracted her from her thoughts, and soon after a familiar female voice could be heard outside.
"I didn't expect you to be home, but I thought I'd just drop by to try my luck," Kara was saying. "I haven't got any schedules in the afternoon, so I stopped by the supermarket to buy some food so that I could cook for us tonig— Whose shoes are these?" She pointed at the pair of women's shoes sitting near the door.
"I thought I already made it quite clear that there's no need for you to do all these things," Hyunwon said coldly. "I'm busy right now so you should just leave."
"Is there another woman here?" Kara was still staring at the shoes, her voice becoming more shrill with every syllable she uttered. She pushed past Hyunwon and walked further into the house, searching around for the owner of the pair of black flats.
"It's none of your business, Seorin," Hyunwon replied. He turned and caught hold of her arm to stop her from going any further. "Just leave." If she had been this jealous of another woman a couple of months back, he would have been more than happy because it showed that he actually mattered to her; but now, seeing her behave this way just made him feel slightly disgusted. He tried to drag her back towards the door, his eyes flickering towards the direction of his bedroom for just a second as he did so.
That quick glance didn't escape Kara's notice and she immediately yanked her hand out of his grasp, heading straight for the bedroom. When she flung open the door, Hyejin, who had been plastering her ear against it to eavesdrop on the conversation outside, came stumbling out.
"It's you?" Kara exclaimed, staring at Hyejin in disbelief. "Y-you're... you're that girl from the gala dinner. You're supposed to be Ares' girlfriend! What are you doing in Hyunwon's house?" Then she noticed the T-shirt that Hyejin was wearing. "Why are you wearing his shirt?" she shrieked, her pretty face draining of all colour.
"It's not what you think," Hyejin quickly explained herself. "I'm only here because—"
Kara didn't bother listening to her explanation. Before she even made any headway, a stinging slap landed across her left cheek, almost making tears come out of her eyes. She raised a hand to her cheek, stunned at what had just happened.
"Enough!" Hyunwon shouted. He marched over angrily and grabbed hold of Kara's wrist. "Are you out of your mind? What the hell do you think you're doing!"
"Is she the reason why you've changed?" Kara turned to look at him, searching his face for the answers. "Ever since I came back from America, everything has changed. You never used to raise your voice at me, but you're shouting at me now just because of this girl? We've been together for so many years. How could you choose to side with her instead of me?"
"We were together for so many years but you could still turn your back and walk away from me just like that. Ever since that day, you lost the right to be asking me all these questions. Now leave, before I call the security guards and things get messy. As for the engagement, I think it's time to put this farce to an end. If you want to play the victim and put the blame on me then so be it, but I'm through with all this."
Kara froze, her eyes widening in shock as she listened to what he had to say. She almost felt as if she was staring at a stranger right now. There was no warmth in Hyunwon's eyes, just as there wasn't any in his words. She turned around and faced Hyejin again, grabbing the girl by the shoulders. "This is all your fault!" she shouted. "If you hadn't appeared, Hyunwon wouldn't be treating me like this. It's all because of you!"
Still in a daze after the slap on the face she had received, Hyejin didn't know how she was supposed to react to all this, but she didn't need to because in the next moment Hyunwon had stepped in and pushed Kara away. Putting himself in the middle of both of them, the frown he was wearing deepened as he glared at the hysterical girl.
"Stop it, this has nothing to do with Hyejin. Do you know how ridiculous you look right now?" he bellowed.
"She's the reason why we've become like this. She's already going out with Ares but she's still clinging onto you—can't you see that? Why are you protecting her?" Kara cried.
"Because I like her."
#