Yoona makes it a rule to never trust wealthy men.

Wealthy men, she concludes, are filthy, vile animals that pick out women that are as young as possible, to be held like dolls by their sides, trophies that ooze of their masculinity and prowess.

Here's the thing: Yoona is aware of her own beauty. And she's also aware of the fact that she's a - although she prefers the term, 'being genuine.' When wealthy men look at her, they see a prize that's almost unattainable. 

A doll that won't smile no matter how many dollar bills you throw at her feet. A doll that will belong to someone else if you don't hurriedly bring different designer bags and cosmetics to her hands. 

It's foolish. Wealthy men fight over her frantically with the fear that she'll belong to someone else. It's funny because she would rather get her own teeth pulled than even think about someone calling her 'mine.' 

Of course, every rule has its own exceptions: take, Kim Heechul, for example.

Heechul is the only son of a renowned fashion designer, allegedly the illegitimate son to some huge actor, and her only friend, if she could count him as that. Yoona meets Heechul at least once every week, mostly for lunch because that was the only time in which they both happened to be free. Heechul has a keen eye for picking out the best restaurants, which thankfully, don't have many people, and Yoona mostly leaves their meal choices up to him.

"How's your mom?" He asks, his eyes scanning over the menu. The Japanese cafe they're at is outdoors, and normally Yoona would detest that, but it's a relatively warm day, with no humidity, so she keeps quiet about it.

"The same," She replies, delicately putting a forkful of pan noodles into . 

"The dad?"

She swallows. "An uptight ."

"Oh, and my favorite one to ask about. The sister?" 

"A bigger than ever," She answers, rolling her eyes. "Probably plotting some way to kick my family out of her house." 

Heechul chuckles. "Sounds typical of her. I heard she was getting engaged though."

Yoona nods, mildly surprised at Heechul knowing of the news already. "It's already spread?" 

Heechul rolls his eyes. "Well, it's not like she's marrying some average salaryman. She's engaged to Kwon Jiyong, you know." 

"Everyone knows that Kwon Jiyong is obsessed with one of the Jung sisters," Yoona remarks absentmindedly. "I would say I feel bad for her, but she has the heart of a block of ice and probably couldn't give a about who her partner is as long as he has some type of benefit."

"You know what's even more interesting?" Heechul says, raising both of his eyebrows in amusement. "I've heard rumors that Choi Seunghyun is planning on getting engaged to one of the Jung sisters. And here I thought Seunghyun and Jiyong were friends..." 

"What a storm," Yoona simply comments. "Not that I expect any less from our type of people." 

"You're kind of off today." Yoona's eyebrows lift in response to his statement. She looks up and Heechul's normal cheeky smile is replaced by a more gentle look.

"Stop. That expression of yours grosses me out."

"I show a fraction of emotion and you're immediately disgusted," Heechul sighs. "But seriously, what's going on? You're even more detached than usual." 

"Tell me," She pauses, looking away for a second. "How do you think I can convince Sehun to come back quickly?"

Heechul gives her a confused look. "Sehun? He's only got 3 more months of studying to wrap up before he graduates. Is there something urgent?" 

"Not something important specifically," Yoona answers with a deep exhale. "But I feel more stable when he's around."

"Did...they do something to you?" Heechul asks carefully. "I mean your stepsister and stepbrother." 

Yoona remembers the kiss and events from the night before with Jongin, and immediately inhales quickly. It's a memory that fills her with bitterness and shame, and she buries it beneath the depths of her heart.

"No," She answers with a lie. "But it would be nice to watch the two of them fall apart." 

Heechul stares at her for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "I wasn't going to tell you this, but I saw your stepbrother with Jung Soojung yesterday. He's hanging out with some pretty high-class people."

Yoona an eyebrow. "It's not unusual for him to be hanging out with women from our circle."

"What I mean is that you shouldn't underestimate him too much," Heechul comments, poking at his food absentmindedly. 

Yoona narrows her eyes. "You know more than you're telling me right now, Heechul."

Heechul gives her an uneasy look, before letting out a deep breath.

"I don't know if Kim Taeyeon put him up to it or something, but what I've heard is that he was fishing for information about his mother."

That comes as a surprise to her. As far as she's known, ever since their mother was kicked out of the house, her two stepsiblings lost all contact with the woman and had not met her since then.

"Why would he go to Jung Soojung for that?" She suddenly asks in confusion.

"Their mothers used to be best friends," Heechul answers as if it's obvious. "I remember that Jung Sooyeon and your sister used to be quite close too, only growing apart after your stepfather remarried your mother." 

"Great. More enemies," She sighs.

Heechul shakes his head, a gleam in his eyes.

"Not yet, they aren't." 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yoona is bad at being nice, especially if it's to someone that she hasn't met before and she knows she has to impress.

Jung Sooyeon fits exactly into that category. She's heard of the girl before - frankly, who hasn't? - but she's never gotten the chance to ever meet her, simply because their crowds were so different, even if they were both ridiculously wealthy.

The Jung Group is incredibly powerful in itself, and at its forefront, are the family's two daughters, Sooyeon and Soojung. It's a shame, but Soojung is already enamored by Jongin and probably ready to find out everything she can about his mother.

Sooyeon is her only choice in stopping Jongin from finding her.

Perhaps it's cruel. Maybe Jongin is finding her because he wants to see his lost mother for once before he dies or his father finds out. 

But she has grown up learning to detest her stepsiblings in ways that betray human emotion, so instead of feeling remorse, she feels anticipation and a rush of excitement for the very fact that she can get her revenge on him in the most awful way.

So here she is at 11AM on a Saturday morning at an art museum.  

"Jung Sooyeon likes art exhibits," Heechul tells her the night before. "She likes fashion too, but there's no runway shows coming up. Your best bet is going to the Seoul Art Museum early on the weekends to catch a glimpse of her. VIP section only, of course."

The VIP section is empty at this time of the day, save for a few people, and Yoona actually en