Sunggyu arrived home late that night after he went out with some friends he hadn't met for ages. He was due to leave the next day to return to Seoul and resume his work but he was still feeling nervous over the wedding thing. He took off his jacket and put it on the chair and began producing all sorts of things from his pockets. When he pulled out the money he got from Seul-ki earlier, he frowned.

Why was it so hard for him to even say 'sorry'.'

Now this was the reason he never had any girlfriend that lasted longer than a few months. Kim Sunggyu never apologizes; that was his life motto and he couldn't help to love and hate himself for that. He won't chase after girls who had left him either; he won't ever go that low.

He lay down on the bed, looking at the bill in his hand, studying the king's face and sighed. He was reminded of Seul-ki's face when he mentioned about his father at the cafe. He knew that Seul-ki was an orphan but it really slipped his mind at that time. He should've have just bit his tongue, he cursed.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, slowly. "Lee Seul-ki."

He got down the bed, and folded the bill carefully, wrote something on it and slipped it into one of the pockets in his wallet. He shrugged and went to the bathroom to clean himself. After he did, he jumped on the bed and looked at his cellphone. There was a missed call from Lee Seul-ki. He jumped and hit dial.

You want me. 
You've fallen for me.
You're crazy for me.
You can't escape me. 
I've got you under my skin. 

You want me. 
You've fallen for me.
You're crazy for me.
You're my slave. 
I've got you under my skin. 

                                                                - Mirotic

Sunggyu flinched a bit, hearing the caller ringtone Seul-ki had on her phone. He scowled and shivered when Seul-ki picked up her phone.

"You called?" He said, before Seul-ki could even say anything.

"Hm." She must be nodding, Sunggyu thought.

"Is there anything?"

"I don't think I can do this." Sunggyu began to feel strange. Why was her voice different? She wasn't all that nasal when she was on the phone with him the night before.

"Do this?"

"To fail this." She took a deep breath.

"Did you meet my parents?"

"I met your father."

"What did he say?"

Seul-ki was quiet. "He knew about our plan."

"Ah." Sunggyu cursed mentally. "And?"

"He said that he won't force me to marry you but the problem now is Halmeoni. She wouldn't budge."

She sniffed. Sunggyu was quiet.

"Kim Sunggyu-sshi?"

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know..." She sounded weak and it kind of made him worried. He tapped his knee, tried to think of what to say.

"What did Halmeoni say?"

"She... told me she won't ever change her mind. She even begged me..." Her voice was sad and it was trembling a bit.

"Lee Seul-ki are you crying?" He blurted out.

"No." She sniffed and cleared . "I'm having hay fever."

"But it's winter." He said, in a straight tone.

"Winter fever then." She said and then she was quiet. "Can't you talk to Halmeoni...?"

Sunggyu sighed. "I guess I will have to."

"Thanks."

"Well..."

"Good night." She said, and before he could even return it, she hung up. Sunggyu looked at his phone in disbelieved. No one hangs up on Kim Sunggyu! He was beginning to get agitated again but remembering her shaky voice, he sighed and crashed on his bed, thinking about this Lee Seul-ki, the woman he might be marrying.

Seul-ki went to bed, all sore and stiff from the beating Halmeoni gave her. She removed her sweater carefully and looked at her in the mirror, and though they weren't deep, there were marks on her back. She flinched and put on her sweater again, pulled the futon down from the cupboard and lay down, still trying to dry her tears. She gave Sunggyu a call to let him know that she failed the mission but she thought maybe she shouldn't have called with such teary voice so she hung up as quickly as she could.

She put on Love in the Ice on her mp3 player, after she plugged in the earpiece and with tears still coming down from her eyes, she fell asleep. She didn't even realise when did Halmeoni sneaked in, with an ointment in her hand and was applying it near feet. She got up slowly but Halmeoni told her to lie down again, on her stomach and she obeyed, still sniffing. Halmeoni's ointment was soothing and it was making her calm. She rolled Seul-ki's shirt over to her neck, saddened when she saw the marks she had left on the poor girl and with a trembling hand, she applied the ointment.

When was the last time she had hit Seul-ki that badly? It was probably when Seul-ki had a fight from the kid from her school. Seul-ki had punched the boy in his face and his nose was bleeding. Of course, the punch came after she had ravaged his uniform and kicked him hard. Seul-ki was almost kicked out of the school for that but when the headmaster called up the boy's parents and Halmeoni in his office and asked what happened, Seul-ki spoke out loud.

"He called Tae-joon's mother a !" She wailed.

Everyone was taken aback. Tae-joon was a boy in her class, their homeroom teacher explained. The headmaster furrowed and asked her to continue what she was going to say. Seul-ki took a deep breath and explained that the boy had been calling Tae-joon's mother names because she worked in a not-so-nice place. Tae-joon didn't want to put up a fight but the boy was still disturbing him and pushed him down on the ground and the next thing he knew, Seul-ki was all over him, tearing his uniform apart and giving him blows too strong for a girl.

"He shouldn't have called someone's mother names!" Seul-ki shouted, determined.

The boy's mother began protesting, saying it was just kids playing around and the father looked like he didn't want any of it to have anything to do with him. The boy, whose nose had stopped bleeding removed his handkerchief from his mouth and shouted at her.

"What do you know