See you at outside Jung Sik Dung at 6

Youjung stares at the message that was sent the moment she left the building but till now, there wasn’t a reply. The delivered never turned to seen and that was what worries her. Gripping her handbag’s sling tightly, the fear of being stood up slowly appearing and it intensifies at the sight of more couples walking into the restaurant. Sweet smiles and tightly held hands make her stomach churn.

Adjusting the Daniel Wellington watch, the minute hand stops directly above the number six. She lets out a sigh before looking around the place once again; making sure that she didn’t miss Donghyuk. Fortunately, no one recognize her. She went back to being a faceless stranger that people walk pass in a hurry. A small smile appears at the memory of wishing to be unknown a few days back and here, she gets what she wants but her heart yearns for the attention.

To her, the attention represents a certain male who unknowingly crept into her heart for the past four months. Staring at her red heels, she blinks once again and looks up, getting really bored. The heels were also killing her feet and she wish to throw them across the road before running around barefooted – free. She walks in a small circle slowly to pass time and the next time she checks her watch, it was already seven-thirty.

She swallows the betrayal and embarrassment as she walks away from the entrance of the restaurant with slow steps. Thinking back to her life, she hardly had friends that she could hang out with, people finding her too serious for their liking or too boring for them. So when she entered university, she learnt to just be acquaintances with everyone so a repeat of high school wouldn’t happen but it seems though that everyone just wanted to be out of university that they never bother to make bosom friends.

A neon light attracts her attention and she gazes at the sign and the long queue forming outside. Youjung changes her destination and head towards the front of the queue. The two bouncers recognizing her immediately straighten at the sight of her. “Don’t you have a date?” the warm voice whispers when she gets into hearing range and she sighs as she looks away.

Disregarding the two males at the entrance, she enters at the sounds of dismay displayed by the customers. She immediately heads to the second floor, the VIP level but was stopped halfway through her trek by a drunken male. She pushes him off and before he could latch onto her again, a hand grabs the failing arm. “She’s one of the bosses here. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t touch my boss,” the handsome male says with a smile as his grip tightens.

He turns to nod at her, one that she returns and continues making her way to the second floor. The bodyguards move the moment they see her, gaining more protests from unhappy supposedly VIP customers. Ignoring all the talk about her using her looks, she strolls up the stairs and immediately heads towards the bar. The bartender immediately frowns at the sight of her and finishes the drink before putting it in front of the customer with his dimpled smile.

She takes a seat at the corner of the place and he switches out with another male who throws worried looks over to the female. “Youjung, what are you doing here?” the bartender asks gently, having heard her problems from earlier.

“A beer please,” she requests but when he doesn’t attempt to move, she reaches over the counter to grab one herself and ignores the protest coming from the male’s mouth. “Shut up, Jooheon and let me drink.”

“It’s Oppa but whatever,” he mumbles in annoyance and tries to stop her again. “I’m not letting you get drunk again.”

“It’ll be my only one, Oppa,” she mocks before taking another sip.

Jooheon rolls his eyes but takes off his jacket and places it over her legs. She looks down and offers a bitter smile. He turns to lean against the counter and to observe the people streaming in. As the beat starts to build up, she peers between the metal planes to catch sight of a tuff of blonde hair with one side of the headphones stuck to his ear. “Yoongi Oppa is planning to make this place catch on fire huh,” she comments, taking another swing of her beer.

“Hyung does this every night for your information. You’ve just been away for too long,” the red-haired comments.

They stay like that for the next hour until the other bartender pleads for Jooheon to return since it was getting busier and he wasn’t able to cope. Youjung waves the older male away to work, the first bottle of beer still in her hand. Looking at the girls dancing in skimpy clothing showing off their rack and bums and at her own dress, she almost laughs. She wasn’t in correct clubbing uniform and she wishes she was. All dressed up but no one to go out with.

Her attention diverts when she hears a commotion happening and the sight of the female employee again with another guy. But this time, she was desperately trying to get the male who seems uninterested. She finishes her beer and walks over to the both of them. The employee was pushed to the ground but Youjung grabs her before she fell. “Please kindly leave this area,” she says, looking at the tall male who was decked in branded clothing. “I do not wish to have unpleasant people tainting the VIP area of my club.”

Before the male could say anything the handsome male from before appears to the customer away. Youjung turns to the female employee and adjust the other’s clothing. “Don’t degrade yourself for some guy who doesn’t know how to treasure you. Love yourself first and the right guy will come,” she advises before smiling at the other.

Pulling up the dress to cover the s and stretching the dress at the other end, the employee stares at the CEO’s fiancé once again helping her. Before she could be thanked, Youjung turns around and walks back to her where a new beer was placed. “You’re limited to three tonight, Noona. Ordered by Jooheon hyung,” the other bartender says with a smile and the female nods before shooing him away to do his job.

She slowly sips on the beer, enjoying the slightly bitter taste on her tongue as she silently observes the scene around her. A few of the workers greets her with a nod and smile while others made small talk with her before being sent away to do their jobs, not wanting them to get in trouble even though knowing that they wouldn’t.

At around midnight, the club was at maximum limit but more and more people were being let in. Sensing a bad foreboding, she finishes her second beer and puts some money under the empty bottle. Chatter and giggles gains her attention as her eyes travels to a group of young men and women entering the VIP area. Instead of leaving, she continues to stay seated, observing the group from the shadows.

When they were all seated, she recognizes the familiar faces of Yunhyeong and Chanwoo. There were four more males around them that she swore she saw before but no name appears in her mind. “Sorry I’m late!” the sweet voice exclaims the moment he enters the area and she freezes at her spot. “I had a date.”

“With sister-in-law?” one of the males teases.

“Ani, some female employee,” he replies with a grin and takes a seat, earning obnoxious cheers from the other males.

Youjung stops breathing momentarily at Donghyuk’s reply. She observes him for the next fifteen minutes and all he did was accept the shots given by a shorter male. A bunch of females passes by them as the group wolf-whistles but he doesn’t do anything but just smiles before looking at the drink in his hand. The ladies responses and assigns themselves automatically to each male. Please don’t.

A smirk emerges on Donghyuk’s face as he pulls the female onto his lap and nuzzles into her neck, earning a giggle from the girl. He whispers into her ear as the girl continues to laugh and hit him lightly. The arm around her waist snugly fits and it kills Youjung, knowing that it wouldn’t ever happen to her. The group drinks merrily with loud cheers, disturbing other patrons but they seem oblivious, wrapped up in their own worlds of gambling, drinking games and alcohol.

A loud cheer emits from the group as Donghyuk and the girl shares a love shot. He brings her closer before kissing the girl. A gasp escapes from , attracting Jooheon’s attention. It took him a while to understand what she was staring at. When the kiss was broken, a huge grin appears on Donghyuk’s face and he looks around the group to gain praises but his sight fell at a female who was staring from afar, tears filling her eyes.

Feeling a stab in her stomach, Youjung clamps her hand over her face as ugly sobs built from the whole day finally surfaces. They both made eye contact and the shock in Donghyuk’s eyes was something she would never forget as Jooheon escorts her to the rooms provided just for the employees. You promised me you wouldn’t cheat on me.

Guilt starts to poke at his conscience at the memory of promising his fake fiancé to not cheat on her but the female on his lap who was currently giving him a immediately pulled his attention back. He ignores the burning pain in his heart as a smirk veils his real emotions. Our relationship isn’t real. It doesn’t matter.

Jooheon hushes Youjung as she grips onto his shirt tightly as tears stain the shirt. He lifts his phone to send a quick text but was stopped mid-way by a strong grip. “D-don’t,” she pleads, still in the same position. “D-don’t worry th-them.”

Ignoring her pleads; he uses his strength to break her grip before speed texting with one hand and then pockets the phone. In a matter of minutes, thirteen other males enter the room and everyone would freeze at the sight of the female breaking down. “Little one,” the warm voice starts, signaling to switch places which Jooheon does. “I saw everything. Do you want V and I to bring them out?”

She manages to shake her head, aware of every pair of eyes on her. She whimpers and turns away from them, almost curling into a ball but the owner of the warm voice stops her. “Let me bring you home. Take a big, fat sleep and tomorrow will be better,” the warm voice comforts her and she grips onto his shirt as an agreement.

The warm voice carries her bridal style, holding her close as Jooheon adjusts the jacket on her legs to ensure that no one outside the room would try to do anything to her. The warm voice ensures that no one would notice that it was Min Youjung, the fiancé of the infamous Kim Donghyuk – well fake fiancé. “Hyung, take care of her,” Jooheon says, earning a nod from the older, as the door was opens and he exits, tighten his grip of her.

Youjung was awake but chooses to close her eyes but her hands were tightly curled around the shirt, away from sight. “You’re such a silly girl,” he mutters loud enough for her to hear. “I thought you would know how to take care of yourself better. By the way, Donghyuk’s staring.”

She ignores the last statement, choosing to pretend that she was sleeping but the male chuckles knowing otherwise. Soon, she is placed in a comfy environment and her eyes finally open to see the interior of the BMW that she was in a few hours ago. A sigh releases out of her and she relaxes properly, tugging the jacket upwards feeling cold. Another jacket was draped over her exposed arms and she looks to see the greyish-blue eyes smiling.

The drive back home was silent as both were preoccupied with their own task at hand. When the car stops, the warm voice gets out and opens the door for her before leading her into the newly furnish house. The house that she grew familiar with for the past ten years seem so different from when the last time she had a memory with it.

He leads her to a room and announces that it was hers for the night as she drops both jacket onto the bed. She looks around to see boxes of contact lenses, accessories and mini Japanese items. “Where are you going to sleep tonight, Oppa,” she meekly asks before he leaves and a smile appears.

“I’ll room with Jooheon, no biggie,” he responds and then leaves her alone.

Youjung carefully looks around the room and notices the occasional item that obviously doesn’t belong to the owner of the room. There were more objects than before but it still seemed neat and everything had their own place in the room like it was meant to be. She catches sight of herself in the mirror, a short but conservative white dress and red heels. Kicking off the heels, she smiles at the pain that was gone.

Scouting around the room, she heads towards the wardrobe and dig around for some form of clothing that wasn’t too baggy but comfy at the same time. Once finding a shirt and jumper, she heads into the bathroom attached to the bedroom, hoping that a shower would take her mind off stuff.

When she finally finishes her shower, she exits from the bathroom and lays the dress on the bed as a frown creeps up her face. She notices a pair of shorts at the edge of the bed that wasn’t there before and picks it up to confirm that it was one of her piece of clothing left behind. A small smile appears as she slips into it and half tuck the jumper and shirt.

Opening the door ajar, the smell of fried chicken wafted into the bedroom. She gets lure by the smell and follows it till the living room where four other males were eating chicken, at least ten boxes of fried chicken in front of them. “Little one!” the warm voice exclaims at the sight of the female. “Come eat with us!”

She nods and takes a seat as one of the males passes a plate filled with drumsticks with a comforting smile. Her head goes to a nod as a sign of gratitude and digs in. A quarter through her plate, more chatter were heard as more males enter the living room, cheering at the sight of chicken. A quick glance to the clock showed that it was four in the morning but not everyone was home yet.

Jooheon settles next to her with a wide grin, showing off his eye-smile and dimple. He attempts to steal a drumstick but was smack by the warm voice at the other side of her. “Don’t steal little one’s food,” the warm voice playfully threatens.

“Wonho hyung, she has so many drumsticks!” Jooheon protests with a pout but grabs a wing before Kihyun could reach over for it.

“Yah Jooheon!” Kihyun exclaims with a mock glare before grabbing the wing next to it.

Youjung gazes at the males around the living room in amusement, missing the noise created by the ten males. She continues to feast on the drumsticks as the amount of chicken depletes right in front of her eyes. “Jungkook, order more chicken!” Wonho orders and the younger rolls his eyes but does it right away having been a victim of slow eating.

As the men waited for the chicken to arrive, Youjung’s mind wander to Donghyuk and that girl in the club, wondering what they were doing now. The tears rose and threaten to spill but a gentle touch brings her out of her trance. Her teary eyes met warm eyes and smile. “Forget about him for one night,” the owner whispers loud enough for her to hear. “Deal with him after you wake up.”

A slow nod happens and he brushes a stray tear before ruffling her hair then putting an arm around her. She lays her head on the forearm as she continues to eat the meal in front of her, having not eaten anything since breakfast the previous morning. She hears the distant sound of the door opening and pays no attention to it till everyone in the room falls to a silence. Sensing the arm behind her head tense, she looks up and sees Donghyuk behind the remaining four male owners of the home.

She chucks the plate on the table in front of her, almost spilling all the waste out and gets up before dashing into the kitchen. “Don’t come near me,” she yells as she washes her hands to rid of the oil, looking back from time to time to ensure that he wouldn’t enter.

She felt like a child at her immature acts thrown at Donghyuk. She leans against the sink and takes paced deep breaths. Wonho enters the kitchen and immediately heads towards the female whose knuckles were white. “Little one,” he calls out affectionately and a pout forms on the female’s lips. “You cannot avoid him.”

“I can and I will,” she replies with folded arms, “for as long as I want to.”

“But do you really want that?” he asks with a pointed look and she holds the eye contact before deflating. “Knew it. Talk to him, little one. He deserves a chance to explain.”

“Why are you helping him?” she asks with a raised eyebrow and earns a shrug.

“He seems like a pretty good guy and like I mention before, he’s a changed man. I believe everyone deserves a second chance,” he replies. “I know you don’t believe that but hey, you unconsciously gave him a second chance at life.”

A silence fell over them as Youjung stares at the marble ground. “You know what to do, little one,” he speaks, breaking the silence. “He’ll be at the swing.”

She doesn’t attempt to respond and Wonho leaves it, knowing that she needs time to think and make a decision for herself. Jumping onto the table, she taps the top as her mind shifts to think about the different possibilities and endings that can happen from the confrontation that was bound to happen. When finally coming to the conclusion that talking to him was the best way, she jumps off and stumbles to gain her balance, falling to the ground.

Groaning in pain, she pushes herself off the ground before gently rubbing her face where it met with the ground. A frown forms on her lips but she walks out of the kitchen like nothing happened. She checks the time and it was almost six in the morning. She reconfirms with herself that she must be running off adrenaline from the previous day that haven’t been used up till now.

Glancing between the door leading to the backyard and the hallway back to the bedrooms, she contemplates where she should go. A pang of guilt drives her out of the warm house into the cool dawn air. Silently walking over to the swing, she makes out the silhouette of Donghyuk bent over as soft breaths emits from time to time. Standing in front of him felt surreal after running away from him the whole day. She softly clears but the male doesn’t moves.

She tries again but no response. Annoyed at the lack of attention, she bends down to see the peaceful features of the male. His hand was supporting his head, in a pathetic attempt of a pillow. His head slowly falls off the hand and before she could do anything, his eyes open and immediately blink rapidly while rubbing the tired eyes. “Youjung,” he calls out at the sight of the girl and stands up, bumping his head against the top of the swing.

Youjung giggles behind her hand as Donghyuk rubs the nape of his neck. “It’s late, let’s talk about this another day,” she suggests and crosses her fingers in hope for some sort of agreement.

Instead of the nod she wishes for, the shake of his head sealed the deal of no sleep and she tries to cook up some legitimate reason to why she would be missing her lecture in a few hours. As he attempts to speak, she stands there, tugging on the sleeves as she stifles yawns. “W-why did you run away?” he stutters with a shaky voice but his eyes filled with curiousity.

“Because I didn’t want to be around you,” she whispers, her mind clear from all tiredness.