"Park Bom" He calls her quietly as he stands beside her who is talking with a few people he doesn't know. She turns her head towards him at the sound of him and smiles.

"Jiyong" She replies and even though he's sure the others won't probably feel it, he can taste the coldness in her voice. But, hell, he doesn't care right now. Not when that man beside her is touching her. So without thinking, he holds her arm and tugs her gently to him while giving a secret glare at Soo Hyun. Jiyong has no doubt that the man saw it but he ignores it anyway. Instead, he looks down at Bom who has a slightly crease on her forehead as she looks up at him. "I thought you're not coming" He whispers into her ears and to his joy, he felt her shivers that brings out a smirk on his face.

"Well, can't I come here just because you ditched me?" She said through her gritted teeth and the smirk fades away from him.

"I didn't ditch you. You rejected me" He retorts.

"Did I?" She steps away from him and turns towards the others who are staring at them openly. "I'm sorry but excuse me for a second" Then she walks away from them.

Jiyong doesn't go follow after her because her question is still ringing in his ear. "Did I?" Did she? He tries to remember the conversation they had that day and he chokes inwardly. ! She didn't. He has just assumed and she didn't correct him, again.

# # #

Park Bom reappears after half an hour looking all cold and untouchable again as she sits down at the dining table which happens to be the same table with Jiyong. He doesn't know if he should punch the person who arranged the seats or not because as much as he loves the fact that her seat is beside him, her other side is Kim Soo Hyun. She doesn't show any hesitation when she sits down, then again she doesn't show any acknowledgement of his presence either.

"So what are you currently doing when your shopping mall is now half blackens and half ashes, Bom-sshi?"

Jiyong's eyes snap toward the questioner angrily. It's one of the women he has talked earlier and she is now smiling innocently at Bom with an expectant expression. It's as if she doesn't mean any harm. The other people at the table shuffle uncomfortably, while some of them glance at Bom with nervous eyes. Good. At least they seem to know how Park Bom can be poisonous. But apparently that woman doesn't know.

He tilts his head to examine Bom's face and found her staring at the woman with a raise brow. She doesn't seem offended instead she looks amused and he stiffens in his seat because he knows that kind of Park Bom so well. The oblivious woman has just woken up the sleeping tiger.

"May I know your name, Miss?" Bom her head side way and asks. Damn! There goes first blow and the woman seems to notice it too because pink color slowly crawls up on her cheek as she realizes even though she has known who Park Bom is, she, herself, is still a nobody to Bom.

"Yoona. Im Yoona"

"Ah" Bom's brows shot up in that mocking way only she can pull off and leans forward to look closer at Yoona. "What do you do, Yoona-sshi?" Second blow.

"I'm a designer" She replies through her pursed lips which just made Bom smiles.

"Ah, I see" She said with a mocking understanding expression. "No wonder you don't know me very well" Then she takes a luxury sip of water from her glasses before she continues. "You see, my shopping mall is not the only one I have, Yoona-sshi. Even though I don't pay much attention to my other business, I happened to own a hotel in Shanghai and three branches of Empire shopping malls in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. So I'm sure I can divert some of my focuses on them while I rebuild the Empire here"

Jiyong saw a slight proud smile runs across Kim Soo Hyun's face at that even though it disappears quickly.

"I'm sure it will work out sooner, Bom-sshi" One of the business men from their table said admiringly much to Yoona's distaste.

Her trademark smug smile tugs at her lips. "It will" She said confidently and she glances at Soo Hyun. "Because I have the best architect who will build my Empire back"

And when Soo Hyun smiles at her with a raise brow, Jiyong doesn't want to look at that scene anymore for some reasons. He feels left out; while, on the other hand, Bom and that man look so harmonize with each other. They look like a complete pair. He shifts his eyes to look away from them only to meet with Yoona's sudden bright ones. What is she thinking?

"I'm sure Dara would be sad if she's still around" All movements at their table stop immediately as they all turn to look at Yoona with wide eyes. This is a low disgusting blow she used and Jiyong stops breathing for a minute. This is going to be bad. Really bad.

"Im Yoona-sshi" Soo Hyun's voice appears warningly and Jiyong saw the man's hand reaches over Bom's and holds it from the corner of his eyes. ! What the hell is he doing? Anger and burning feeling appear inside him and Jiyong is about to pull her near him without thinking when Yoona's next question comes out. 

"How did you guys meet and fall in love by the way?"

! Every ing one in here, in this hall, knows that Jiyong was in love with Dara. Not Park Bom. It was a big news in Entertainment world for Christ’s sake.

"I'm not sure about Jiyong" Bom voice appears coldly, startled Jiyong as a result and he turns to look at her. She's not looking at him and he's glad that for somehow because he knows her eyes are so cold right now. "But when I first saw him, I was only 12 and he was playing with Dara in the garden" Then she stands up from her seat. "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen" And she walks towards the exist of the hall.

"I'll go" Jiyong said flatly and stands up when Soo Hyung tries to go after Bom.

Letting out a loud sigh, Soo Hyun sinks back into his seat and, "Ok" 

# # #

When Jiyong finally catches up with her, she is walking quickly outside of the hotel. "Park Bom! Wait!" He calls but she doesn't look back at him instead she increases her speed. Jiyong wants to run to her but there are many watching eyes and he doesn't want to make a scene so he just walks quicker.

Bom stops beside the street and looks around to find a cab. She wants to go away from here. Far far away from here. It's not about Yoona's taunting questions because there's nothing new about them. She has faced them countless times already. But the thing is why is she even here? This is not the place where she should be. And she just realizes that she's not trying hard enough to walk away from Jiyong. Instead she's trying to get closer to him. And she knows she can't do that.

"Park Bom Lee" Jiyong's stern voice appears beside her and he drags her arm to turn her towards him. "Where are you going?"

"ing away from you!" She snarled before she could think and Jiyong's eyes go wide at her words. And the pain shoots through in him is nothing to do with the cursing word she used for the first time with him. But the thought that she's trying to run away from him. She doesn’t want to be with him. She hates him. That cracks his already broken heart a little more.

Swallowing down the forming lump in his throat hard, he stares at her with pain. "What are you doing, Park Bom? Why? Why are you doing this to me?"

The torture look on his face makes Bom gasps and she takes a step back. What did she say? But before she can th