Chapter 1

Sunggyu stood in front of the mirror, adjusting his crisp white tuxedo before arranging his caramel hair, getting ready to go with Sungjong to Nam Woohyun’s ball.

“Ready?!” Sungjong was already at the door, calling him to go. “We’re going to be late!”

Sunggyu groaned. “I sort of don’t feel very well,” he lied. “Maybe we should go some other time.”

“What?! No buts, Sunggyu. We’re going whether you like it or not! Let’s go, we’re already late!”

Sunggyu didn’t even have time to grab a comb to tame his unruly hair before Sungjong grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door towards the car.

“We have to get there before the guards see us!”

“Why does it seem like we’re doing something illegal,” Sunggyu slapped his forehead, after he was pushed roughly into Sungjong’s black car.

“Sneaking in is not illegal,” Sungjong got into the driver’s seat and put on his seat belt with a click. “That is, unless if you get caught.”

“Same th-,” But that was all Sunggyu got out before Sungjong pressed the gas pedal, and they were rushing toward the Nam Corporations Grand Ballroom.

-

“Hello beautiful, I’ve never seen you here before,” Nam Woohyun, standing tall, confidant, and handsome grinned to the lady before him. She wasn’t drop dead gorgeous, but definitely very pleasant to look at. Her long dark green dress complimented her hazel eyes, and her voluminous hair held just the right curls to accent her slim frame and waist.

The ball was gorgeous as always. Chandeliers shone brightly in the ceiling above, the walls and ceiling were painted gold with various murals painted everywhere. A string quartet was playing classical music in the background of it all. Everything was formal, fancy, and tastefully ornamented.

She giggled. “Why, thank you,” she said in a breathy, seductive voice.

Woohyun held out his hand and bowed, “Do you dance, madam?”

“Of course,” she giggled, and took his hand, before Nam Woohyun was pulling her onto the dance floor.

“Gorgeous lady, what’s your name?” He whispered into her ear.

She shivered in excitement, before replying, “Why do you want to know?”

He grinned, “Well, I would be obliged to know the name of the pretty woman I will be marrying eventually.”

He pulled her into an elegant spin on the dance floor, just enough for her to hide the blush on her cheeks. However, as she pirouetted across the floor, she failed to take notice of two men, holding punch drinks, wandering aimlessly across the dance floor. She ended up colliding into them and fell down with an embarrassing crash. The punch glasses fell onto the floor also, staining her green dress a loud shade of brick red.

“You-” she screamed. The punch had apparently splashed on her face also, and her makeup was running hideously down her face. Sungjong had apparently fled the scene, leaving a frantic Sunggyu try to help the screaming woman on the floor in front of him.

“ you, you ing jerk!” She screeched, and instantly all eyes were on the incident in front of them. Even Nam Woohyun was watching, arms crossed and a smirk of amusement on his face, tapping his toes in expectation. “You ruined my dress! My expensive, thousand dollar dress! You ruined my dance, my night! You ruined everything!”

“I’m so sorry..!”

At that point she was hitting Sunggyu with her delicate little fists, screaming and sobbing as Sunggyu tried to help her up, despite the failed attempts.

“That’s enough,” a strong voice pierced through the room, and everyone’s eyes traveled from the incident to the source of that voice.

Nam Woohyun stood, proudly and walked in a most dignified manner towards the the woman and Sunggyu.

He ignored Sunggyu, and held out a hand to the woman, who took his hand as he helped her up. She whimpered, “Woohyunie, he spilled punch on me,” she pointed at Sunggyu, “on purpose!”

Nam Woohyun. Sunggyu froze. This man, standing in front of him, was Nam Woohyun himself. The lady that he had just spilled punch over was the one Woohyun had been dancing with.

. What had he gotten himself into?

Sunggyu was distraught; already his evening was turning out for the worst. “I’m sorry madam! It was an accident, I swear! I didn’t see you, it was my fault completely. I’m sorry, I-“

Woohyun held up his hand, and Sunggyu instantly shut his mouth. No matter how daring he may be on the inside, he is not going to mess with the wealthy heir to the world-famous Nam Corporations. Who knows what the man right in front of him can do to him right now.

But Woohyun didn’t speak to him just yet. He whispered comfortingly to the lady and her hair, “Don’t worry, I’ll have your beautiful dress cleaned as new. And if you’d like I can order a new, better dress in its place if it’s not to your liking.”

He then hailed two uniformed guards to come over. “Please, take this pretty lady home,” he gave her hand to one of the guards’. “And do make sure she gets a change of clothes.”

Everything went smoothly after that. The string quartet resumed their classical music, the ladies and gentlemen resumed their discourses. Sunggyu considered just leaving when Nam Woohyun wasn’t looking; he tried to fade peacefully into the background to just get out of there, but Woohyun called him before he could just run away.

“You!” Woohyun’s authoritative voice startled Sunggyu, and he froze.

Woohyun waved his finger, “Come here,” he said.

And of course, Sunggyu had to politely oblige, as he walked nervously to the wealthy man in front of him. “Y-Yes, sir?” Sunggyu stuttered, and bit his lips in nervousness. Nam Woohyun was probably going to kill him for taking away his lady, slowly and painfully.

When he was standing right in front of the other, Woohyun gave him an intense once-over. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before,” he murmured. “Are you on the invitation list?”

“Uh-” Sunggyu’s heart was thumping rapidly in his chest. He didn’t know what to say, he was panicking like crazy and didn’t know what to do. “You see, uh… I mean….”

“He’s with me.” 

Woohyun and Sunggyu both turned their heads at the intruding voice.

The man who apparently saved Sunggyu was also drop-dead gorgeous also, though not as much as Woohyun. He wasn’t wearing a suit coat, but rather just a shiny dark blue formal shirt, that seemed to hug his physique in all the right places. Sunggyu could tell, this man worked out, a lot. And if he were interested, he would totally want to, well, in Sungjong’s words, ‘tap that ’.

Sunggyu cringed. What in the world was he doing, looking at other guys? He swore, he was going crazy.

“Hoya?” Woohyun sounded surprised, and he pointed a finger at Sunggyu. “This jerk’s with you?”

“Um, yeah,” Hoya smiled sheepishly. “I just wanted to drag a friend along, so…”

“Well, clearly he doesn’t know his manners,” Woohyun looked distastefully at Sunggyu. “Nor his etiquette, in any chance…”

“I’m sorry!” Sunggyu blurted out, but flinched when Woohyun sent a disgusted look his way. He was just trying to make better the situation. Unfortunately though, it turned out contrary to what he expected.

“Take this street rat home,” Woohyun grabbed Sunggyu’s arm and pushed him towards Hoya’s direction. “Because clearly, he does not belong here.”

Sunggyu had absolutely no words to say, as he hung his head in shame. Hoya nodded, and gently took Sunggyu’s arm and guided him outside, while Woohyun just walked away, to join back in on his ballroom endeavors.

-

They had finally gone outside, apparently to the breathtaking garden outside the Nam ballroom. It was beautiful, with night flowers whose scents wafted through the night air, fountains, greek statues and columns, and exquisite lighting that made the garden seem almost magical. Sunggyu breathed a sigh of relief as he finally felt himself relaxing.

“Sunggyu! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Sunggyu glared daggers at his friend. “I hate you, Sungjong!” Sunggyu yelled, not even paying attention to Hoya’s amused stares next to him. “I swear, I’m never going anywhere with you, ever again!”

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Sungjong smiled at Sunggyu, waggling a finger in his face. “You got out safely, and you got to meet the famous Nam Woohyun! You should feel honored, not every common person like you gets to meet someone as rich and famous as Nam Woohyun!”

“Yeah, and I made myself the biggest fool of the country, right in front of him, and the entire ballroom!” 

“At least you got saved!”

Oh, yeah. That Hoya guy.

Sunggyu turned to his right. Hoya had an amused smile on his face and for a second Sunggyu was reluctant to talk.

“Um…,” he started, trying to find his words. “Thanks, for um, you know…”

“No problem,” the Hoya guy assured with a smile. “Woohyun can get a bit uptight at times, so sometimes I feel like it’s my responsibility to help some people a little. My name’s Hoya, by the way.” Hoya held out his hand.

Sunggyu shook his hand with a grateful smile. “Kim Sunggyu. And this,” he motioned to Sungjong, “is my friend, Lee Sungjong. Again, thank you so much for helping us out. I don’t know what I would do if Nam Woohyun got on his bad side.”

Sungjong suddenly gasped, “Wait. You’re Lee Howon?”

Lee Howon? Hoya? Wait a minute, that name kind of sounded familiar. And then Sunggyu’s heart stopped.

“Lee Howon?” Sunggyu choked out. “As in, Lee Howon, the chairman’s son?!”

Hoya looked a bit embarrassed as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “Ah, yeah, haha…”

“Why did you help me?” Sunggyu gasped out. “I mean, I wasn’t even invited…”

“You look like a nice guy,” Hoya stated. “I don’t know, you just looked like you were about to be in some deep with Woohyun, and I guess it wasn’t even your fault, so I just decided to help out.”

“How could I ever thank you…” Sunggyu breathed in relief. “I mean, seriously, I don’t know what I would do if….”

“It’s alright,” Hoya assured. “But tell me, what are you doing here? You weren’t invited.”

Sunggyu pointed a finger accusingly at Sungjong. “He made me.”

“No I didn’t!” Sungjong immediately retorted. “I wanted you to try something new! You coop yourself inside and read way too much for your own good, you need to get out more!”

“And look where that got me!” Sunggyu motioned his hand to the surroundings. “Now not only have I made a huge fool of myself in front of the Nam Woohyun, now everyone in that damn ballroom will remember me as the clumsy idiot who spilled punch on that lady’s dress! And I bet those people in there are rich and famous too, how am I going to live with that?!”

“Now, now,” Hoya assured, “it wasn’t that big of a deal, don’t worry too much about it.”

“Hoya,” Sunggyu looked straightly at him. “I am forever thankful for you helping me, but with all due respect, you weren’t the one who embarrassed yourself in front of the entire Seoul upper class!”

“Don’t worry Sunggyu!” Sungjong was optimistic, as he guided Sunggyu through the exotic garden, Hoya following. “It was only one time, I’m sure everyone will forget it sooner or later! In fact they probably forgot it all already!”

Hoya nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry. Nam Woohyun isn’t the type to hold grudges over trivial things like that. Trust me.”

Sunggyu sighed, “I hope that’s true.” He turned to Sungjong, “Can we go home now?”

“What? But we just got here!”

“I’ve had enough excitement already to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.”

“I still want to stay!”

“And I want to go home!”

Hoya finally interjected, “Would you like a ride home, then?”

“No,” Sunggyu responded immediately. “I mean! No, thank you. I wouldn’t want to burden you, especially after you’ve already helped me out so much…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. But thank you for the offer.”

“What are you going to do then?”

Sunggyu looked around him, “I’ll just be here, outside I guess. There’s no one out here, anyways. I’ll stay here. Sungjong, you can go back inside, I’ll just wait out here, and enjoy the plants or something like that.”

Sungjong held no pity at all, “Thanks, Sunggyu!” He gave him a quick hug, and ran back into the ballroom.

“Will you be okay out here?” Hoya asked.

Sunggyu chuckled, “Yes, I’ll be fine. Thank you for all of your concern though, Hoya. I really appreciate it, and I cannot thank you enough.”

“No problem.” And with that, and a wave goodbye, Hoya left Sunggyu to go back inside.

Sunggyu heaved a deep sigh, and breathed in the fresh night air. 

He couldn’t wait to go home, and (hopefully) never have to face Nam Woohyun ever again.