“Yah! Are you not going to do that properly?”, Hyeyoon points to a staff who is decorating a board. She huffs her bang in annoyance, as she put a hand on her waist and another hand goes up to pinch on her nose bridge. She closes her eyes as she attempts to refrain from cursing. The staff bit his lips in guilt as he clasps both hands, praying that he will be able to get out of the place alive. He’s an intern, therefore he is prone to mistake, but he never thought that she can be that scary. He thought she will go easy on him because this is first time joining them for an event.

“Do that again. Someone go and help him.”, Hyeyoon looks at few staffs nearby, signalling with her eyes for them to help with decorations.

“What’s wrong with her?”, the staff who got scolded asks timidly after Hyeyoon leaves the scene.

“Well, that is just her being herself.”, the female staff answers while she adjusts the placement of balloons around the board.

“But she was nice, up till yesterday? She became a totally different person today.”

The other chuckle upon his words.

“Yes, she is nice. She has the brightest smile and is friendly towards everyone…EXCEPT when it comes to work.”

“What? Is it possible to alternate like that? Her stare could kill a person, right there and then.”

“You’ll get used to it. Don’t worry, she will turn normal once we are done with this event preparation. She isn’t like this usually, Maybe she have some misunderstanding with our client.”

“Or just something trivial that didn’t live up to her expectation. You see, she has got some abnormal behaviour at times. Once, she went berserk because her favourite coffee is out of the stock.”

“Really?”, the staff frowns at the unbelievable fact.

“Yes, just put up with her. Oh, and keeping quiet would help a lot during those times. Talking back can cause more damage, though.”, the female staff chuckles after she said that and gives a tap on the staff’s shoulder.

..

“Are you okay, there?”, Mira closes the door behind her and she walks up to Hyeyoon who is sitting in front of a mirror. After helping with the decorations, Mira came to look after Hyeyoon. She knew Hyeyoon would be in the standby room, dwelling in guilt.

Hyeyoon turns to Mira with a pout.

“What? Are you feeling guilty now that you scolded our intern? He is scared to death, don’t blame him if he quits right away.”

“Am I being too harsh?”, Hyeyoon asks with an awkward smile, showing all of her teeth.

Mira nods as an answer and she leans against the table beside Hyeyoon.

“I should do that much, don’t you think? Otherwise they won’t do their work properly. Did you see how he arranged the flowers on the board? He has no sense of art at all!”

Mira giggles at Hyeyoon’s comment. She is not sure why, but Hyeyoon always try to look tough in front of people. She despises being seen as weak or incompetent. However, that is clearly not herself, she will immediately feel sorry for indirectly hurting other’s feelings. Mira wonders why should she do something like that when she did not mean to.

“Also, our director is very annoying. I’m not comfortable working with him.”

“Why, did he harass you again?”

Hyeyoon nods, and Mira curses the man in her head.

“He called me to meet in his office and he asked me to arrange the files on his table. While I was doing that, he suddenly grabbed my hand several times, pretending to help.”

“What? That’s so disgusting. Aren’t you going to report him?”

“I did once, but there was no action on him. Well, he uses his power to abuse others.”

“Be careful, then. He’s been aiming on you for quite a time. Since you rejected him the other day, and turned down his invitations to ride his car and also to have meals together. I bet he thought you provoked him.”

“I’m not down to such things.”

“You should find a boyfriend, he can teach Mr Hyuk a lesson. Then he won’t dare to harass you anymore.”

“Yes, of course, if finding a boyfriend is as easy as buying things at the mart.”

“It’s not that you can’t find one, you just won’t.”

“I don’t want to be trampled on. I’m done being a weakling and pushover. I would not let myself to be pathetic anymore.” Hyeyoon answers while staring blankly to the floor, reminiscing the painful memory inside her head.

“Did someone hurt you?”

Hyeyoon let out a laugh as she rises up from her seat.

“There’s no such thing. I was just saying, don’t take it seriously. Let’s go through our preparations once again.”

Hyeyoon pushes Mira by her shoulder, forcing her to move forward and they go out to the main hall. They are working as an event manager, where they plan and manage events from beginning to the end. They have some reputable clients and is highly wanted because of their fantastic works. That is why, Hyeyoon as the leader of the group becomes sensitive during the preparations as she tried to do the best for her clients.

“What about the food? Have you contacted them?”

Hyeyoon checks the list of menus for the birthday party as she waits for her staff in charge to answer the question.

“Yes, I called them and they will start with the preparation this evening. Since the event will start at 8, they will be here around 5 to set up everything.”

Hyeyoon nods in satisfaction, with her eyes still on the menu list.

“Ah, and the client requested to make a space for mini bar. She hired special bartenders for that, so we don’t have to do anything on that. Just leave some space there.” Hyeyoon points to a corner and the staff nods as a response.

“Hyeyoon-ah. Someone wants to see you. I will take care of things here, so you should go.”

“Who is it?”

Hyeyoon frowns at the sudden request. She thought she had settled everything, who else is left out?

“The bartender. I think they need something from us. Mira is waiting with that person outside.”

“Oh, I see. I will go and meet the person. Take charge here.”

..

Hyeyoon goes to find Mira outside and she spots her talking with a man. Out of nowhere, Hyeyoon’s heart starts to beat frantically. Only seeing the back of the man gives her a weird feeling, she feels sick.

That man radiates a familiar, but ominous aura. In every step taken towards them, she can feel her heart beats faster. That man seems so familiar, and he certainly stands out to her.

“Mira..?’

Hyeyoon calls out for Mira as she stops midway, few feet from both of them. She can’t bring herself to move any further, she has a feeling that she actually knew the man, and she hopes that she is wrong.

As soon as both of them turns to her, Hyeyoon swear her heart skip a beat. She was right, it is him. She knew it right away when she saw him back then. His height stands out, it is rare to spot a man as tall as he is. However, something about him changed. He seems….softer than the last time they meet. His hairstyle changed, too. But that eyes….hasn’t changed.

“Oh Hyeyoon-ah. This is the bartender in charge. His name is Rowoon.”

Rowoon. Hyeyoon repeats the name in her head. That name is so familiar that her heart clenches upon hearing it. Old memories are coming back, and the feelings she thought was dead, is creeping through her whole body. The sudden rush sends her dizzy and nauseous. She feels sick. Rowoon must somehow feel the same, because his ears turn red after they made an eye contact. She was not sure of what he is thinking, and she is afraid to know.

“Hyeyoon, are you okay? Your face is white, as if blood drained off you.”

Hyeyoon snaps to the reality upon Mira’s voice and broke off the intense eye contact.

“I’m alright. What was it? Why did you call me here?”

Hyeyoon clears and looks away from him.

“Rowoon asked to meet us because he wants to use some of our equipment.”

“Oh, sure. Lend it to him. You know what to do, right? “, Hyeyoon glances to Mira, asking her to take charge. She just wants to leave the scene immediately, his stares on her is burdening.

“Are you kidding? I’m not in charge on equipments. It’s yours, I need to check on the receptionist counter. I’ll leave it to you.”

Hyeyoon stares at Mira who is leaving, wide-eyed. How could she not read the situation? You senseless person. You said my face is white, shouldn’t you do something about that? I’m dying here, you dumb .

“Hyeyoon-ah.”

Her heart starts to beat faster as he calls out her name. It has been a while since she last heard that. Time passed, but his voice still sends butterflies in her.

“Y-Yes?”

Hyeyoon blinks her eyes several times as she tries to sound normal, unswayed by his presence. She forces herself to lock eyes with him, clasping her hands politely together. Yah, pull yourself together. Why you should behave like this? You’re not the one who left back then. He is the one who should be nervous.

Rowoon does not break of the eye contact, and a smile creeps up his face.

“Found you.”

..

2 years before

“Found you.”

Hyeyoon bend down to catch her breath before she straightened her back and pointed to the guy in front of her.

“You’re dead now that I found you.”

“What are you? There must be something wrong with your head.”

Hyeyoon let out a giggle in disbelief.

“Wah…this clueless man. You knocked over my doughnuts! That is an expensive one I bought with my first pay, you !”, Hyeyoon yelled out in frustration.

The man looked over to the scattered doughnuts on the road and his eyes trailed to the woman. The man is actually in a rush because he needed to go home and see his mother. He skipped the school for entire day and forget to return home on time as he supposed to. If he arrives late, his mother would be suspicious of him and he would get scolded.

He sighed as he ruffled his hair in annoyance.

“Give me your number. I’ll give you the money later, I’m rushing now.”, he held out his hand towards her, asking for her contact.

“Excuse me, are you some ert? Did you follow me here?”

Hyeyoon asked as he frowned upon him. Crazy jerk.

The man stared at her in disbelief. What’s wrong with this girl?

“Forget it, I’m going to get it on my own.”

She went towards him and grabbed his sling bag. Without warning, she opened the zip and start searching for his wallet. The man was dumbfounded at her sudden attack and he instinctively pushed her away, securing his bag.

“Are you crazy?! Why would you search a stranger’s bag?”

“Give me my money. Give me back now!!” Hyeyoon yelled so loud that her face turned beet red.

“Woah, relax there. Is it okay to let someone like you wander around like this? I think you should not be let loose without supervision.”

That guy blinked in panic as he observed Hyeyoon throwing tantrum, people are starting to stare at the unexpected scene.

Hyeyoon glanced to the man’s name tag. Kim Rowoon. Kim Rowoon, you’re dead.

“Noonaa…”

Suddenly, a boy around age 7 came around, reaching his hands toward Hyeyoon. Hyeyoon grabbed his hands and kneeled down to meet his eyes.

“Oh, Min-ah..Noona is sorry for being late.”, she said as she brushed away strands of hair that covers the boy’s eyes.

“Where are my doughnuts? You promised if I listen to your words, you’ll buy me delicious doughnuts.”

At the boy’s words, Hyeyoon turned to Rowoon in frustration.

“Didn’t you buy that? Are you lying again? I want my doughnuts!”, Min started to cry and pushed away her hands on him. He ran away from Hyeyoon before she can say anything back.

Hyeyoon got up from kneeling and turned to Rowoon who was still standing wordlessly, taken aback by the whole situation.

“Are you satisfied now? I have been saving money to buy him that and you just have to ruin everything.”, she explained with red and teary eyes, trying to hold back from crying.

“Do you know how hard it is to console him? Do you know how tiring it is to do that? I don’t know what to do, my mom has been the one to do everything. Now that she’s gone, I don….”

She paused, unable to continue as she burst into tears. She squatted down immediately, covering her face with both palms and cried her heart out. Rowoon was taken aback by her sudden burst, she looked exactly like kid who got her candies stolen away. He scratches the back of his head in confusion and the guilt is creeping onto him.

“Yah…I’m sorry. I’ll compensate right away. I’m sorry, so please stop crying.”, he pleaded as he moved towards her. He looked around as people are staring and sneering at him.

Rowoon took out his wallet and brought out all the money he has.

“Here. I’ll give everything I have for now. I’ll give you more later. I’m sorry, I really am. I did not do that intentionally.”

Her sobbing faded after he said that. She sniffled away her tears and wiped her entire face with her sleeves. She got up from squatting and let out a sigh.

“That feels good.”, She stretched her hands out as if she had just woken up from a deep sleep and smiled towards him.

Rowoon stared at her in confusion, unable to process her sudden mood change.

“Since I cried it out, everything’s good now. I’ll take this, but make sure you hand to me the rest. Otherwise, you’re really dead. From your uniform, it seems that we go to the same school. I’ll find you, Kim Rowoon. Don’t forget this face.”, she drew a circle around her face before she took away the money from his hand. She smiled once before leaving Rowoon dumbfounded, frozen at the place.

What is that? Did I just met a psycho?

..

“I said don’t do this anymore.”

Rowoon stared at the girl who is handing out a letter for him.

“Please, just take a look at this once. I really really really like you, can’t you give me a chance?”

The girl doesn’t want to give up, still handing out the letter, hoping that he would accept it. She saw him once during culinary class, and she can’t stop thinking about him.

“I don’t need to be responsible for your feelings.”

Rowoon was about to leave, but the girl grabbed on to his hand, stopping him on his track. Rowoon closed his eyes in annoyance as he pulled away his hand in a swift.

“Go find someone else to do this. Leave me alone.”

“Honeyyyy-yaaaa….”

Both Rowoon and the girl turned towards the strangely high-pitched voice. Rowoon’s eyes widen as he locked eyes with Hyeyoon who was smiling brightly at him. Hyeyoon put away a strand of hair behind her ears before she walked forward to them. She went to Rowoon’s side and linked her arm with him. She stared at the girl with a confused expression.

“Who is this? What are you doing with him?”

The girl was too flustered to answer and Hyeyoon turned to Rowoon.

“Yaaa Honey, I’m waiting to eat with you, what are you doing here? I’m going to get angry, hing!”, Hyeyoon flashed an aegyo, pouting and batting her eyelashes at him. Rowoon blinked in shock, trying to decipher what is going on. Why is she acting like this? Does she really lose a screw?

“Who….are you?”, the girl asked after observing Hyeyoon for a while.

Hyeyoon turned to the girl with an annoyed look.

“Are you the one who followed my honey around, confessing to him?”

“But… who are you?”

“Tch. How dare you ask that to my face. Woah.. I’m going to lose my temper at this rate.”, Hyeyoon clicked her tongue, with a hand on her waist. She fanned herself with her hand in annoyance.

Rowoon’s eyes never left Hyeyoon, his gazes are fixed on her. He’s thinking hard on the reasons behind her actions.

“There’s no way you guys are in a relationship. I have never seen you around him.”, the girl snorted as she shook her head in denial.

“Yahhh!”

Hyeyoon’s sudden yell made the girl jumped a bit, and Rowoon put a hand on his ear, protecting it. Hyeyoon huffed her bang in annoyance.

“Do you really want me to show you the stars in this broad daylight? Do you want to go home with blue eyes? I’m his girlfriend, his one and only girlfriend, so don’t show your face around him anymore. The next time we lock eyes, you’re done for.”

Hyeyoon said as she pointed her eyes with two fingers, and then towards the girl. She glared at the girl wide-eyed while making a ‘die’ signal, clenching her fist with her thumb pointing to her own neck and she moved it in a line.

“Aren’t you going to get lost? Aishh.”, Hyeyoon raised her fist and the girl immediately leave the scene, running for her life.

Hyeyoon cleared as she pulled away her hand from him.

“Since I cleared her out for you, now give me the rest of my money.”, Hyeyoon asked with her palm held out to him.

“Are you a gangster? What’s that? You’re really something. Who told you to pretend to be my girlfriend?”

He scoffed and picked up his bag from the floor. He turned back to her, slinging the bag over his right shoulder.

“What if the rumour spread? Would you be responsible for it?”, Rowoon asked with his eyes on her.

Hyeyoon shrugs as she fixed her hair.

“I can just be your girlfriend then. What’s the deal? It’s not like we are madly in love with each other. We can just act lovey dovey just like what I did just now.”

Rowoon crossed his hand on his chest as he scanned her.

“Did you go to the hospital? I think there’s something strange with your head.”

“That’s not your business. Give me my money.”

“What if we caught dating by the teachers?”

“Well, maybe we would get suspended. That sounds fun. Ah, I have no parent so they can’t summon my parents, so…it doesn’t really matter.”

At her words, Rowoon felt a tug in his heart. He bit his lip in guilt and lowered his crossed arms.

“Sorry.”

“Forget about that, just give me my money. If you’re sorry, then give me extra.”

Rowoon chuckled at her remarks.

“What’s so funny?”

“Have you eaten yet?”

His sudden question threw Hyeyoon away.

“Pardon?”

“Miss Girlfriend, let’s go and grab something to eat. You said you waited to eat with me.”, Rowoon grabbed her hand and dragged her away with him right after he said that.