Song: Nothin' by Chanyeol

(March)

He felt the sunlight on his skin, his leg muscles tense from cramping inside this unfamiliar sedan.

His right cheek hurts as if it hit something hard the night prior.

He sat up so suddenly and his head met the car’s roof.

“Shiiiitttt…” he held his throbbing head and observed his surroundings. He double checked his belongings; his watch (which read 8am) that he still wore, his wallet which is still in his bag, his cash the same as the last he remembered it.

He recalls partying alone after dinner, drinking way too much, and that’s it.

Sometimes he would wake up at a random hotel room or somebody’s house, but it’s the first time he woke up in the car of his hook up.

He also remembers what happened which led him to going all out, and he shook his head so he can let go of that thought.

He noticed a woman sitting at the driver’s seat and he tapped her shoulder.

“Oh. You’re finally awake, sir,” she stretched her arms and fixed her hair.

“Who are you? Why am I here?”

“You out and I didn’t want to leave you with a shady cab driver so I let you stay in my car.”

“I don’t ride a cab. I’m pretty sure I drove my Mercedes going here.”

“Woah. You a chaebol son or something, sir?”

He only scoffed.

“Well, you kept looking for a cab, so I thought, yeah...”

The sunlight was on the man’s features that she clearly saw his chiseled face; the roundest eyes and the deepest dimples that appear even if he was only talking.

Despite his model-like features, he seemed to be tired, stressed, sad.

Well who wouldn’t look like that if you live your life that way, drinking almost every night until you pass out? Yuna pondered on her own situation too.

“My face hurts,” he complained.

“Uh, you fell face down the floor, that’s why.”

He observed the woman from where he sat, and he wondered if he made a move on her at the club as she isn’t his type at all.

“I see. Did we here?” he asked so openly as he looked around.

She waved her hands, not knowing if she will be offended of his bluntness, “Oh, no. Please don’t think of it that way.”

“So I met you in the club? And I out from there?”

“Uh, not exactly, but yeah, it kind of happened like that.”

He cracked his stiff neck.

“You let a stranger in your car that easily? Why are you so trusting? What if I’m a serial killer?”

“Errrr, I know you’re not.”

“How?” he was curious.

“I just know. Based on my gut feel,” she wants to say that she sees him almost every night at her place of work, and she knows he isn’t the type to make a scene or be hysterical when drunk.

She looked bubbly, giddy, and had cute facial features. A bit far from his ideal type—womanly, with a strikingly beautiful and mysterious face.

He decided to be courteous still. “Let me treat you to breakfast to give thanks. I’m Park Chanyeol, by the way.”

“I’m Han Yuna,” she took his hand when offered a handshake. “I’m good. I think I need my bed more than food,” she laughed weakly.

“Of course. Sorry for taking your time. You sure nothing happened to us?”

“Nothing, trust me,” she laughed. What is it with men nowadays? Why do they ask about these things so casually? She thought.

“Uhm, how about I get your number so I can thank you at a more decent setting?” he handed over his phone to get her number.

“That is totally unnecessary,” she murmured. “I’m always here in Itaewon anyways. I’m sure we’ll bump into each other again.”

“I insist. It’s just for a platonic meal,” he nudged her with his phone. He knew his pride wouldn’t let him have this kind of favor with a stranger.

She sighed and started typing on his phone.

“Right. Okay…” he straightened his outfit and got his phone back. “See you soon? Thanks for this, Han Yuna.”

“Sure. See you, Park Chanyeol…” she smiled at him through the mirror when he went down her car.

She kept hitting her head on her car’s headrest. “Can I still drive home? I’m sooo sleepy. It’s good though that he went back to his senses,” she observed the man from her side mirror.

She grunted when she saw her phone with 5 missed calls from her Aunt Hyojoo. She knew she’s in deep trouble once again.

---------------------------------------------

12 hours earlier

“I’m breaking up with you, Chanyeol,” the beautiful woman said while they were in the bustling restaurant that time.

His response surprised her. “I know.”

“You do? Then why did you still come here?” Bae Joohyun asked.

“We’ve known each other since we were young. It will be a shame if we part ways on a sour note.”

“Me too…I was…I was hoping us to work this time around, I have to admit,” she said sullenly.

“I wanted to make things right between the two of us after everything that happened with Choi Dara. And for what it’s worth, I’m very, very sorry for everything that happened in the past,” he observed her face, and while she kept it expressionless, she still looks breathtaking to his eyes.

“I thought going after the yangban will give me peace of mind. And it backfired on me and my family. Hurtle Media is close to shambles after what Dara’s brother, Choi Seungheon did. I couldn’t blame him though, I know what I was putting myself into when I decided to focus on slandering his most precious sister,” she sighed and looked at random things at the restaurant.

For a while, she envied the groups of people dining that time, probably not having problems as serious as hers.

With the support of her family of broadcasters, Joohyun started Hurtle Media, an online news agency that delivers timely reports and gossips to the general public.

It has evolved from this straightforward website to being well-known in exposing scandals of prominent people, celebrities and the royalty alike. It’s got a network of paparazzi, all waiting for the tiniest inclination of idols and popular personalities dating so they can hound on them and earn tons from it.

She got carried away planning her own ‘revenge’ towards Choi Dara, the woman who snatched her boyfriend, Chanyeol, when they were still in their teens.

It was as elaborate as any afternoon drama, with Dara seducing Chanyeol so he can sleep with her, and even giving the hotel’s keycard to Joohyun so she can catch them in the act.

Joohyu