Jina’s POV

I jerked away as the hot straightening iron touched the back of my neck . “That’s it!” I screamed and jumped off the chair. “I’ve been burned, attacked with make -up, and forced into what is probably the tightest dress ever created. This isn’t worth it; I’ll make it up to you some other way.” I turned away from her, desperately trying to reach the zipper that was trapping me in this dress. The moment I felt the zipper, I felt Hyori’s hand wrap around my wrist and before I could fight back I was sitting in front the mirror again.

“Look what you did,” she said in an annoyed voice, “Your hairs frizzy again and now your make-up is ruined. The date is in an hour and a half!”

“It would be better if you let me go like this.” I tried to reason with her, “I mean for sure the date will fall through if he sees me like this.” I smiled at her through the mirror and got a sharp glare that had me cringing in return.

“As tempting as that sounds, I have a reputation to maintain. Let’s just get through with this okay? I’ll be more careful.”

After almost forty-five minutes and a huge can of hairspray later, I was finally ready. I stared at my reflection, and for once, probably the first time in my life, I was speechless. My long, black hair was perfectly straightened and shined beautifully. The light use of the black eye-liner and natural make-up made me look classier, and somehow it made me look younger. My brown eyes reflected the shock I felt and I continued to stare into the mirror wondering if the girl that was staring back was actually me. Hyori pulled me out of the chair, snapping me back into reality. She placed me in front of a full length mirror and admired her work. “Wow.” Was all she said, and I simply nodded. The tight black dress Hyori put me in accented all the curves of my body in all the right places. She handed me a studded clutch bag and smiled at me. “I put your phone in there as well as extra money just in case. The car is waiting for you out front. Make me proud!” I smiled at her.

“Don’t worry.” I said confidently, “Messing things up is sort of my specialty.” I walked out of the house and just like she said, a sleek black car was waiting for me. The driver opened the back seat and I slid in. He closed the door and when he finally arrived at the driver’s side the car quickly drove off into the night.

******

“Ms. Lee Jina, we’re here.” The driver got out and after a few seconds the backdoor opened. I stepped out, trying to look as cool as possible, but ended up nearly breaking my neck thanks to the five inch heels Hyori insisted I wore. I had barely done anything but my feet were already killing me. ‘This is why I prefer sneakers.’ I thought to myself.

I walked into the elegant restaurant and immediately felt as if I didn’t belong. I could almost smell money in the air; it was obvious you had to be a big spender to have dinner at a place like this. The lighting was dim and was set for what most people would consider a romantic night. As I looked around, I felt relieved that there were actually other people in the restaurant. What was I expecting? That the whole place be reserved for us?

“Do you have a reservation?” A tall woman asked from behind the podium. I smiled at her, but she didn’t return it. Do rich people usually not smile?

I wiped the smile off my face. “Yes, by the name of Zhang Yixing.” The woman looked at me astonished at first, but after she looked me over she nodded and led me to a table. I sat down and she placed a menu in front of me.

“Mr. Zhang will be arriving shortly.” She left without giving me a chance to say anything. Was it that obvious that I wasn’t one of them? Did I practically exude the air of a poor person? All the clothes I was wearing were designer. I shook my head after remembering that the only reason I was here was to help Hyori. I opened the menu and looked over the items carefully. I chuckled to myself after looking at the prices. “$30 for a salad?” I asked myself quietly. I heard the chair across from me being pulled and I looked up to see the man from the profile folder sitting across from me. Zhang Yixing. My first thought when I saw him was that the picture nowhere near did him justice. He could definitely be an idol. My breath almost caught in my throat when he smiled at me, but something in his eyes told me that smile wasn’t sincere.

“Hello,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Zhang Yixing.” He bowed in his seat. I bowed in return before introducing myself.

“Hello, my name is Lee Jina.” I wanted to smack myself because of the shy voice that had escaped my lips. He looked taken aback at it too because after a while all he did was clear his throat. He opened the menu and looked down. I did the same.

“So, do you see anything you like?” I looked over the menu once more before placing it down and shaking my head.

“Everything here is too expensive. I mean, look at this,” I grabbed his menu out of his hand, startling him. I found the item I wanted to show him and turned the menu around pointing at it, “$30 for a salad!” He just stared back up at me wide-eyed. I was confused before the realization of what I had just done dawned on me. A girl probably never acted like this around him. She probably acted cute or classy, but I just wasn’t like that. I was straight-forward and opinionated, I hardly ever held anything back, but I was an extremely loyal person, and that made up for all my faults.

“Sorry.” I finally said. “I’ll just have what you have.” After quickly regaining his composure he nodded at me. Things remained silent as the awkwardness quickly found its way into this situation. This obviously wasn’t going well, but that was the point wasn’t it? He definitely wouldn’t ask me out after this, let alone ask about me.

**********

It had been about ten minutes since we received our food and there was still no table conversation. I was picking at the steak he had ordered me, waiting for him to say something.

“Please eat comfortably.” His smooth voice said. I looked up at him to find him looking back at me.

“Can I really?” He nodded his head and I picked up my knife. I might as well enjoy this meal. It’s not like I could come here every day. I dove in and cut a large piece of steak and put it into my mouth. The tender meat exploded with a flavor I had never tasted before. I didn’t know what it was, but it was delicious. He cleared his throat again.

“So, Ms. Jina ho-” He began saying,

“You can call me Jina if you want. You don’t have to speak formally to me.” He stared at me again with the same wide-eyed look. I was beginning to question why he was looking at me like that before I shrugged it off and returned to my steak.

“So Jina, how old are you?”

“Only a year younger than you.” I smiled at him, “I’m twenty.” He returned my smile with a dazzling one of his own and I almost forgot how to breathe. I looked away from him and around the room to no one in particular.

“What do you do for a living?”

“I don’t have a job.”

“What car do you drive?”

“I drive my skateboard, it has good gas mileage.” He chuckled at my bad joke and I was beginning to feel comfortable around him… until he asked me the next question.

“What do your parents do?” A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed hard. I looked away from him again.

“My parents… my parents are dead.” Silence. Complete and utter silence. That was the only thing that filled our table.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mea-”

“It’s okay,” I interrupted, “You didn’t know.” It was still quiet when I decided to ask him some questions.

“Is it okay if I ask you some questions?”

“Sure.”

“Why are you on this date? I mean you’re twenty-one, you don’t have to get married so early.” He raised one eyebrow at me and leaned back in his chair.

“Do you know nothing about me Jina? Do you not know who I am?” I looked around the room confused before leaning into the table.

“I though you said your name was Zhang Yixing.” He stared at me with a blank look on his face.

“Well if you want the real reason, it’s because of my mother. I’m rich by birth. I have no major accomplishments, I don’t own any businesses, yet I drive sports cars that people dream about. I’m on this date because my mother thinks it’s about time I take over her company. I have no interest in doing so, but if I want to live the life I’m currently living, I really have no choice.” I nodded at him, it was true, why else would a good-looking, rich, twenty-one year old be on a blind date? It’s not like he would have any problem meeting woman.

“What’s your ideal girl?”

He gave me a questioning look before answering, “I need a woman who’s smart, well-mannered, influential in society, and someone who isn’t a complete airhead. She must not be after me for my money, can’t have some little common folk running around the mansions can we?” He chuckled and looked at me as if I knew exactly what he was talking about. Little common folk? Did he really just say that?

“Little common folk? I’m sorry, but who the hell do you think you are?” He looked at me, mouth hanging open at my sudden outburst. Did he expect me to laugh at that? “Listen, I don’t care how rich, handsome, or ‘influential’ you are, you have no right to disrespect people. You do realize that the people who work for your companies are little common folk too, don’t you?”

He leaned forward his fingers lightly tapping on the table. He was too close to me now and I could smell the scent of his expensive cologne, in a different situation the smell would have been intoxicating, but now it just smelled disgusting. “Don’t sit here and pretend that you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth too, Jina. You’re exactly like me.”

I stood up and smirked. “It’s funny how wrong you are. I am nothing like you. No, Yixing, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I’m not rich, famous, or important. I’m poor, got that? I’m lucky I even have a dime to my name, and not a day goes by that I take those little common folk for granted. You have no idea how much I hate people like you. Money, that’s all any of you are after. Money, money, money, stupid money! What does money get you at the end of the day? A big house? A nice car? What happens if one day you lose all that money and the people you thought were your friends left you because you had nothing to offer them anymore? Don’t compare yourself to me, Yixing, you’re nothing like me.” I turned around to leave, but not without feeling guilty. I shouldn’t have let all that out on him, he wasn’t the reason for that terrible part of my life. I walked passed the podium where the unfriendly lady had greeted me when I walked in. I was almost to the door of the restaurant when someone jerked my hand back and pushed me into a dark room. A light clicked on and I found myself staring directly at Yixing’s eyes. If it wasn’t for the heels I probably would have only reached his shoulder. His grip was firm on my wrist as his eyes glared into mine.

“Money, money, money, stupid money?” he said to me, but somehow he seemed to be speaking to himself. His eyes focused on me once more, “What did you mean back there?” I was far too pissed off and upset to deal with this situation right now.

“Yixing move.” He blocked the door.

“I’m not letting you leave before you tell me what you meant back there.” I let out a deep breath and tried to grab for the door knob, but he pushed my hand away.

“Fine. What do you want to know?”

************

Annyeong ^_^)/ I already had these first two chapters prepared so I decided to update them now. Please tell me what you think. Third chapter will be published in the next couple days ^^

P.S Thank you to my first subscriber of this story @Caraphernelia