Prologue: Melancholic Bitterness

*Dara:

I am alone. I looked up at the gloomy skies and I can't help but succumb to the welcoming melancholy of the cold sea water lapping at my feet.

I was standing alone at the water's edge, my eyes burning with unshed tears. I hugged myself as I shivered from the cool sea breeze against the thin fabric of my yellow sundress.

"Where are you, Jiyong-ah?" I shouted weakly, faint hope clinging to my heart that somehow, my words will be carried to wherever he is.

But he never came. He left me all alone.

I've never been more alone.

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*Jiyong:

Glamour and money surround me. Women adore me. Greedy people and lying bastards with hidden motives cling to me. Power-driven people worship me. I am sick of them all.

But most of all, I'm sick of my thoughts about her.

How I wish I never met her. How I curse the day our paths crossed. How I curse the fate that brought us together and the same fate that brought us apart. How I despise the love that blinded me and drove me to a painful and lonely path of revenge.

I smirked at the thought. Tsk. Love. What a hateful word. It's a myth and a feeling that should never be entertained.

"Mr. Kwon." a flirty high-pitched voice distracted me from my musings. I shrugged another clear invitation to a warm bed from a business tycoon's wife. 

I smirked at the thought. If only she'd see me now. Would she not have left me? I thought bitterly.

Now, I'm standing with more than the money and the power one man can hold. But I am alone. Even though I am in the middle of a ballroom, where a huge and glorious celebration of the rich and famous is underway and thousands are in attendance; I am still alone.

I am in the center of it all.

And yes, I've never been more alone.