“I can’t trust you to make any decisions for yourself, can I?” Rachel intoned, putting her hands on er hips and staring at Eun-sang’s walk-in closet. Bright colors and expensive fabrics exploded across the racks, and yet all of them still had price tags. Only a small corner of the room, with a Jeguk uniform, a few pairs of jeans, and an array of denim and cotton, looked used at all.

“I didn’t buy any of them, if that makes you feel any better,” Eun-sang sighed, sprawled out on her bed again. She’d been woken up by an agitated Rachel that morning, who had insisted that she needed to prepare for the lunch date they had with Rachel’s mom and Young-do.

“That’s because I bought most of these for you!” she yelled. “Really, how can the heiress to the Jeguk Group not have a fashion sense?”

“Because I have you to pick out my outfits for me,” the other girl cheekily replied. “Besides, it’s just lunch with your mom and Choi Young-do, stop making a fuss.”

“Um, hello? Choi Young-do being there is the whole point. You have to look your best to be your best. Let him know what he’s messing with.” Rachel pulled out a hot-pink, frilly skirt and stared at it in disgust. “Okay, I don’t take credit for this one.”

“It was a joke gift from Won-oppa last year,” Eun-sang waved off. “So what you’re saying is, I need to scare him off and he’ll leave me alone?”

“Can anyone scare Choi Young-do off?” Rachel asked, rolling her eyes. “Just make the message clear that you’re above his petty games, and he’ll stop eventually.”

- : -

“Young-do, how is school for you this year? I hope the transition hasn’t been too difficult,” Rachel’s mom said cheerfully as she placed her fork down. If she, too, felt the palpable tension in the room, her tone didn’t reflect it.

“I think school will be… interesting, to say the least.” His eyes didn’t leave Eun-sang as she quietly picked at her food.

“Well, with all the school you’ve been skipping lately, let’s hope you don’t fail,” Rachel sniped from beside her.

“You’re skipping school?” CEO Lee asked, her eyes turning back to Young-do. “You can’t do that now, Young-do. It’s not playtime anymore.”

“Who are you to tell me what to do?” he gritted out, dropping his knife and fork onto his plate with a loud clang.

“Don’t talk to my mom like that.” Rachel cut in furiously.

The room fell into quietude again. Eun-sang couldn’t help but sneak a peek at him - he was agitated and tense in his chair, his gaze intense as always. He obviously wanted to leave, and honestly, she couldn’t really blame him.

Finally, Rachel’s mother broke the silence. “Young-do, now that I’m going to marry your father, I really hope that we can form at least a friendship… you have to understand I don’t want to replace your mother - ”

“Don’t talk about her!” he yelled, standing up from his seat and throwing his napkin on the table. “You don’t know anything about her, and you can’t understand, so stop trying! I may not be able to control this marriage but I can control our family relationships, and I can tell you that I don’t want any.”

Before he could leave the private dining room, however, Eun-sang stood up from her seat.

“Yah.” Her voice shook from anger as she clenched her fists at her sides. “Apologize. Now.”

“Why are you even here?” he shot back coolly. “Stay out of our family matters, Cha Eun-sang.”

“This is my family too,” she defended. “CEO Lee is the most caring, wonderful woman I know. She’s been a mother to me my whole life, and Rachel, my sister. They’re under Jeguk’s protection. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the one intruding on this lunch. Apologize.”

“What about your own mother, Cha Eun-sang?” Young-do sneered. Her blood froze with shock; was he really going to go that low? “Doesn’t it bother you that your own father thought your mother was such a disgrace that he wouldn’t even let you take the family name? What power does a Cha really have in the Jeguk Group, passed down through generations of Kims?”

She couldn’t speak. She couldn't breathe. Of all the things she thought Choi Young-do was capable, she didn’t think he could cut her at the most tender spot. He was such a hypocrite, refusing to speak about his own mother but using hers as the first ammunition in his arsenal? How dare he?

The silence was deafening - even he seemed to realize the mistake he had just made, opening his mouth again -

“Get out.”

All three teenagers in the room turned to look at CEO Lee, who was still sitting quietly at the table, her eyes cast downward at the napkin in her lap.

Her eyes flashed upwards at Young-do. “I said, GET OUT!”

It wasn’t util he was safely out of her line of sight, and the two other women had embraced her, that Cha Eun-sang felt the tears on her cheeks.

It had been too long since she last cried.

- : -

The phone vibrated in her pocket just as she was opening her locker, just as the cursed mobile device had been going off all weekend - and even this morning. She knew who it was, but for some reason, she always checked anyway.

Call from: Do Not Answer

In the beginning, she’d been courteous and let it ring through voicemail. After the eighth call, however, she had started to just swipe the red ignore button on the screen. Yes, it was rude, but he deserved that, and more.

Rachel had believed his interest in her to be one of his petty games. But oh, how wrong she’d been. All it seemed he wanted to do was to break her down, tear her apart and steal her very soul.

He wanted to devour her.

If she was the Queen, he was the Devil.

And speaking of the Devil, she closed her locker door to face him.

Choi Young-do looked down at her phone, still buzzing in the palm of her hand. “Do Not Answer? Is that really the name you have for me? What’s Myung-soo’s name in your contacts?”

“It’s ‘Sweetiecakes,’” she said coolly, shifting the books she was holding and look him in the eye. She couldn’t afford to be afraid of him anymore, not after what he had done. And really, what did she have to be afraid of? He had already hurt her in the worst possible way; there was nothing else that could top that, and he probably knew it.

“Change mine to that,” he smirked, leaning against the locker. “Or I’ll steal your phone and change it for you.”

“Get out of my way, Choi Young-do. We’re done here.”