"Eh? Sowon unnie's not yet here?" Yerin's eyes widened after hearing from her co-worker that Sowon was still nowhere to find. It was unusual for her to be late for work or to be absent without calling their supervisor. Sowon was a responsible employee, and for her to suddenly disregard her duty for the day at the department store was suspicious.

"Did she call you?" Nahyun, one of their co-workers, asked a worried Yerin, "Sowon seemed fine yesterday. But she left early."

Yerin furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what her friend could be up to. Sowon was not even answering her phone, which made her worry even more.

The supervisor suddenly came inside the office, "Miss Kim cannot be contacted. I need someone who can substitute for her post at the counter," she roamed her eyes around and saw Nahyun, who seemed to be alert enough to be a cashier for the day, "Nahyun, you join Yerin at the counters while Sowon is missing," the supervisor spoke firmly.

Nahyun nodded, "Ye--yes, ma'am!"

While Nahyun prepared herself to be the substitute cashier, Yerin kept on dialing Sowon's number, hoping that she would pick up and answer the phone. But she was already on her 8th attempt, and Sowon was still unreachable.

"Where could she be?" Yerin sighed.

-

Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" was playing on the stereo when Sowon opened her eyes. The effect of the alcohol had already worn out but her hangover was already kicking in. She looked around and was aghast to see that she was not in her own room.

Sowon immediately rose up from the bed, her face looking mortified than ever, "Wh--where am I?!"

Despite the headache she was experiencing, she was sure that she was inside a man's bedroom. The white walls, the navy blue curtains, the minimalistic furniture and the organized manner of how the books and displays were arranged were screaming orderliness and control. And the classical music playing only assured Sowon that she was inside the room of someone she did not know.

"Good heavens," she whispered to herself as she pulled the blankets closer to her, "What happened last night? Why am I here? Where is this place?" Sowon tried remembering what happened to her the night before, but the only thing she could remember was her botched blind date and how she furiously walked out of the restaurant after her date told her that he would have liked her better if she was shorter. The events after that were nowhere to be found inside her brain.

She was already in an awkward situation, but she suddenly realized that she was not even wearing her own clothes anymore. Sowon took a peek under the blanket and saw that she was already wearing someone else's nightgown.

"This does not look good," she whispered to herself. Sowon froze on her spot, trying her best to remember everything. Did she sleep with her date? No, that would be impossible. She could recall how she left her date angrily at the restaurant last night. Did she sleep with another man? No, that would be very impossible. She could recall that she went to the food stall near the shopping center after the fuss she created at the restaurant... and she just ate barbecue and drank soju there. No one came to talk to her or something during her stay at the food stall.

Sowon closed her eyes shut. She was almost there. The images in her brain were slowly getting clearer.

There was a curb.

There were stars.

There was an empty bottle of soju.

There was a car.

There was...

"Yes, I can see it now!" Sowon spoke to herself as her brain processed her memories forcibly.

There was... a man.

Sowon creased her forehead after her brain recalled the figure of a man who helped her get inside a car. She slowly opened her eyes after realizing that she went with someone she did not know, clearly a violation of her mother's golden rule for her: "never talk to strangers... especially when you are drunk".

Sowon was still in the middle of her deep thinking when she heard the door open. She quickly turned to look and saw a young man enter, holding a tray of food on his hands.

The man's eyes widened after seeing that Sowon was already awake. He smiled, "Ah, good morning, Miss Kim. I prepared breakfast for--"

"Who are you?!" Sowon immediately stood up and aimed a pillow at him. Good thing he was able to dodge it without spilling the food on the tray.

"Whoa there," the man nervously chuckled, "Please calm down. I won't do anything bad--"

"Why did you bring me here?!" Sowon fumed. She quickly grabbed the flower vase on top of the table beside the bed and postured like she was about to throw a baseball.

"Mi--Miss! Please calm down!" the man exclaimed. He slowly approached an upset Sowon as he explained himself, "Look, nothing happened. You're in my apartment. I brought you here because last night, I was supposed to bring you home but you fell asleep."

Sowon creased her forehead, "No--nothing happened?"

The poor man nodded, "If you're wondering why you're wearing different clothes right now, it's because I asked Mrs. Park next door to change your clothes last night. You were reeking soju and barbecue," he added before reaching out to take the vase away from Sowon, trying to be very cautious of his rather impetuous guest.

Sowon breathed a sigh of relief after realizing that nothing bad happened to her the whole night. Good thing a kind gentleman found her, or else she would not know where she would have ended up, "I'm--I'm sorry for... overreacting," she smiled shyly, but a sudden thought snapped inside her head.

She had been embarrassing the whole time already.

Sowon was aghast. She immediately cupped her hands to cover . Her eyes widened at the thought of being seen by an unknown man looking like an uncivilized oaf, "Oh my gosh," she spoke, "I'm so sorry! Holy crap, I didn't mean to be this rude!" she immediately went