Part 1 - The Liar's Game

Bold = Speech

Italic = Thoughts/Flashback

Bold + Italic = Speech in Thoughts/Flashback

Chapter 0

The streetlights flicker in the dark.

“How did things turn out this way?” A young woman was walking alone in the alley, speaking to herself

Her face was as white as snow and her lips were as red as rose. Her long hair was messy but flow freely in the cool night breeze gorgeously.

She was like a paper doll, her limbs were thin as a stick. Her body was smaller than average. She looks like she might be blown away by a typhoon.

The strap of her knee-length dress was snapped, the hem and the zip at the back of her dress were torn, seemingly as if it had been pulled apart violently. The dress hugs her body loosely, almost exposing her chest.

She stopped to take a breather, she leans her back on the wall. She was sandwiched by the backside of two buildings. One was a closed restaurant, another, a nightclub, where she just came out from.

How stupid was she? To fall for such a lie.

Her eyes dropped to her body, her exposed collarbone was covered with fresh bruise and bites.

Tears welled up her eyes. Memories of the past few hours flash in her mind.

8 Hours Ago,

“Taeyeon, I found you a rare high-pay night shift job” It was Tiffany, Taeyeon’s best friend.

They were talking on the phone.

“What job is it?”

“Bar waitress at a nightclub, $20/Hour, starting today”

“I will send you the details later” She added.

The other side hangs up and soon a message came.

Tiffany Hwang

20:00

Aswan Nightclub

Nogol Street 21

Nightshift: 9 PM to 3 AM

Bar Waitress: $20/Hour

“Soon… Soon you will be fine. Mother” Taeyeon pressed the home button, on the screen was a wallpaper of a family photo: Little Taeyeon and a young woman; her mother.

 Her father? Her father was missing before she was even born, he doesn’t even know who her father is. There were no photos, no clues at all, her mother refuses to tell her. So she was raised single-handedly by her. To afford living and her studies, her mother works all the time. Morning, as a Janitor. Afternoon, as a cashier. Night, as a dishwasher.

Life is not a bed of roses nor a bed of thorns, it is a bed of roses filled with thorns.

Taeyeon, 18 years old, has an extra thing to trouble about now right after she came out of school; her mother’s health.

A cigarette was a daily necessity for her mother. As a result, lung cancer came knocking on her mother's door.

Taeyeon, 18 years old, thought that she could finally share the financial burden with her mother right after graduating from high school by looking for jobs. But what welcomes her was a $50000 surgery and hospital fee - an entry fee to the working world.

The doctor tells her regretfully “If, by the end of next month, you still can’t fork out the money, not only will the surgery be cancelled, your mother will also have to leave the hospital so that we can have an extra room for other waiting patients”

Hearing that, Taeyeon immediately went around and seek help from friends and relatives. However, only a few are willing to help her. Not that the rest are heartless. They had lent them money in the past but had yet to get it back yet. Taeyeon had no reasons to call them heartless when they didn't even urge for the money back, so how could she shamelessly ask them to help them when they were also barely struggling with life.

But she still receives some help from her close friends and relatives. However, the goal is still far away like a dream.

After finishing her shift at a convenience store. She heads to her new workplace.

“Kim Taeyeon?” The manager of Aswan Nightclub scan through her resume.

Since Taeyeon is not an official staff yet, she would only get half of the pay she worked for today.

“I heard about you from Tiffany, there is usually a trial period of one week but for your case, if you perform well today, you will be hired” she explains.

She continues to explain the procedure and the work as a waitress.

However, nothing goes smoothly for her. In the first two hours, she already broke 5 glasses, another quarter of her pay flew away.

She cries silently as she watches it flew away in front of her eyes.

“Here. Take this wine to room 202. You must not make any mistakes there” the manager emphasis on the word ‘must’.

Just from the manager's tone, Taeyeon knows that room 202 must be extremely important customers.

She walks along the corridors.

“200, 201, 202 here it is” Taeyeon smile as if finding the room was an achievement.

She knocks on the door, hearing no reply, she just walks in.

The room was dark but she could see the silhouette of a few people.

“Excuse me, sir, your wine is here” she walks slowly in the dark, afraid that she might trip over something and drop the tray.

Her feet touched something, she carefully lifts her feet and tries to go past it.

But she failed… she lost her balance and dropped the tray, the wine and Taeyeon fell towards the man in front.

She gulped, she knows she’s in deep trouble.

The other people around them were laughing at their unfortunate but immediately stopped when the man in front of her faked a cough.

She looks up with a guilty face, the man was drenched and reeked with the smell of wine.

If she was not the one who causes this misery, she would have also burst out in laughter. Now, she can't wait to cry.

She realises something more important when someone calls out “How long are you going to flirt?”

She had thrown herself to the guy, she was lying on him.

She blushes right up to the ears. She quickly got up but had taken a good look at him.

He was a young handsome man who without a doubt, could make thousands or even millions of girls to swoon over his good looks. But in the dark, she can't see his face clearly but somehow manages to piece his unclear attractive appearance.

He was wearing a suit, he seems to be a businessman. He doesn’t look much older than she was.

“I’m sorry, I will get you a towel” Taeyeon bow and apologize. She could feel the guy’s glare on her all the time until she left.

She heaved a sigh of relieved but was afraid of what will come next; another scolding.

The manager seems to have given up on her. When she heard the news, she sighed he