"Grace." 

Grace ignored the voice next to her and continued to tab her cases. 

"Gracieeee." 

She sighed and looked up from her paper, meeting with a pair of dark brown eyes that were too close to her face for comfort. Yelping, she nearly fell off her seat but immediately composed herself. The said young male chuckled when he saw her shocked expression and she only huffed when he places an iced latte in front of her. 

"Thought you might be thirsty." 29 year old Nam Woohyun, her colleague who's office is just next door to hers offered. Woohyun has dark brown hair that is swept to the side and his fringe slightly curled. He wore a cotton black shirt with two buttons undone and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wore a pair of matching black slacks which fits him in all the right places. The 5 ft 10" man sat on the edge of her dark brown desk, twirling her Parker pen in between his lanky fingers. 

"Thanks." She mumbled and took a sip from it. When the 28 year old lawyer realized that he wasn't going anywhere soon, she sighed dramatically. "What do you want, Woohyun? I am very busy." When in actual fact, the only thing the Intellectual Property male lawyer was interrupting her was her daydreaming about what to have for dinner.

He leaned closer, she leaning further into her office chair, avoiding the fact that she could see down his shirt. "You know, if you're not so busy reading about family law fun facts, we could do something much more fun." Grace rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him. Woohyun who gave a not so innocent wink and she honestly felt like throwing up. She had no idea why on earth he enjoys tormenting her. She wondered if she could sue him for ual harassment. 

"And for what could be the millionth time, Nam Woohyun, I am not interested and clearly," she takes a glance at her rose gold watch, "it's time for me to leave." She starts closing her folder and stacking away her documents and Woohyun scoffed. 

"Try not to miss me so much, Gracie dear." 

Honestly, the man was the definition of persistent and she had to hold back from vomiting her lunch. 

"It's hard not to miss you since you're always here." She mumbled and sighed with relief when he finally left her office to bother someone else. 

---

"Yes, mum. I am sure." Grace grinned as her mother nagged about separating the whites and the coloured clothing. 

"Just checking, sweetheart." Her mother teased and the young woman chuckled as she switch her phone to her other ear. "How was work today, Grace?" 

"It's fine. Sungyeol and I are putting together an application for an interim care order. Besides that, Woohyun has been bothering me to death. I am beginning to think I should report to the board for his behaviour." 

"Gracie, maybe you're taking his actions to heart." Her mother tutted and Grace sighed. 

"Mother, I feel harassed. He has a mentality." Grace came up with the term ' mentality' for men who do basically have a mindset. It was basically where the male species do not understand the meaning of 'no' and think that a woman's no means yes. Grace was a very frank and honest woman. There was no two ways about it. Her no means no and her yes means yes. It was not rocket science to figure her out. 

"Darling, the whole firm already fears you. You are already 28. Why don't you give this young man a chance? I've seen his picture and he looks like a decent man." 

The young woman knew her mother was going to pull the age card sooner or later and she hated it. Grace's not interested in dating anyone. She was the definition of an independent woman. She doesn't need a man to fulfill her needs (when it came to ually, that's a different story). She was on the peak of her legal career and she didn't need any form of testosterone and lust driven male to be her distraction. 

"Thank you for pointing that out mum but this is the 21st century. I don't need a man and  when I do find a man, I want someone who will treat me with respect."

"Darling-"

"Mum, you always told me that when I am dating a man, he is not only dating me but he is dating my entire family. Look at Woohyun for example. If he can't respect me as a person, what makes you think he is going to respect you or papa?" She said in an expressionless tone as possible to her. She took a deep breath as she waited for her mum to respond. 

Her mother fell silent. Kimberly Lee-Fang knew that dating and men were a sensitive topic around her only daughter but she just couldn't help but voice her concerns. She wasn't getting any younger and her daughter is almost reaching her 30s. It was as if she was losing her daughter to her own work. 

"Grace, it's been-"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." She said, tightening and her voice rising slightly. 

"Gracie-"

"Mum, if you are going to bring up about my love life one more time I will hang up on you." Grace threatened and from the sharp breath her mother took, she knew she stepped out of line but she was too frustrated and angry to apologize. 

"Just... I want to focus on what is important to me right now and men aren't important." She told and without waiting for a response, she ended the phone call and tossed her phone on her bed. 

Clapping a hand to , she knelt on the ground and closed her eyes, trying to hold back the sobs that were escaping her lips. She hated the fact that her mother was right. Aren't all mothers anyway. 

After the incident, she had gone on dates her mother had set her up with. From Lee Sungjong who still lives with his mother and looks too darn pretty to be a boy to Kim Taekwoon, another lawyer who was after her job. In between, she dated a rich but very arrogant Kris Wu and wushu instructor but cry baby Huang Zitao. While there were also some nice men out there that her friend, Lee Minah had introduced to her, Grace couldn't see a future with them. 

She always ended up comparing them to her ex. 

She cried harder as she thought of Hoya and she dug her nails into her arm, hoping the pain would distract the memories that came rushing back. 

23 year old Grace was walking to her Criminology class together with Moon Haerin, a girl with long dark black hair and everything in a woman on a warm Friday afternoon. She was sweet, kind and very soft spoken: very lady like. She was the opposite of Grace's attitude and people often wondered how these two became friends. But, Grace knew that Haerin, once you're close to her, she is equally as loud and crazy as Grace, if not, crazier. Just as they were about to enter the class, Grace caught sight of a young boy from the corner of her eye.

Haerin was about to pull her in when she saw who caught Grace's attention. Lee Howon or better known as Hoya came into the picture with his dark brown hair spiked up and wearing a deep purple polo shirt. He was chattering away to his friends from his course and unlike most of the guys they have met, she had not seen someone so carefree, so lively and bubbly. Yet, he had that natural charisma as he walked down the university corridor. He was rather good looking among all the other boys they have eyed over the years. He was tall and from how fitting his clothes were, he was showing off his toned body (not like they were complaining).

Yet, Haerin was the last person to be attracted to him.

“I don’t understand why you don’t like him very much Rin. He is everything in a man!” Grace said and Haerin groaned. Leave it to love sick Grace to takeover. Haerin hated when she went on and on about Hoya and after a while, Haerin would just mute her out. 

"Come on, Gracie." Haerin tugged her by the arm and pulled her into the room, not before Hoya and Grace made eye contact and he gave her a genuine smile at her. 

---

"You coming, Rin?" Grace asked, clutching her books to her chest. Haerin gave her a tired smile and shook her head. "Nah, need to get home. Unlike you, I still live with my parents."

"Urgh, move out already you freeloader." Grace teased and Haerin rolled her eyes.

"I am trying to but you know how my parents are: overprotective and all that jazz." She said as they reached the bottom of the stairs of the entrance of their university. "I will text you about it. Tomorrow we are going to go shopping alright? I need to get a pair of new shoes. I heard Melissa is having a sale." Haerin laughed at how whiny Grace can get and shook her head.

"Shopping again? Need I remind you that you have a mountain of shoes in your closet."

"Tchh." She clicked her tongue. "One simply does not have enough shoes."

"Whatever, Gracie. I am going to go now before my mother rings my neck." It was Grace's turn to giggle and with a goodbye, they went in the opposite direction. She was still smiling to herself about their little bickering that she didn't realize that a ball was coming towards her. When she did realize, she was already on the ground and her books were all over the place.  

"OOF!” Grace fell backwards and landed on the sidewalk. “I am sorry!!” Grace looked up and low and behold, Hoya was standing above her in all his sweaty and football jersey glory. She just stared at him, taking in the view of how the sunlight made his skin glisten and how fit and chiseled his arms were. 

“Here, let me help you.” He extended his hand and she gladly took it and was on her feet within seconds. “Th-Thank you.” She said timidly, blushing and he began picking up her textbooks that were all over the ground. "Sorry about that." He apologized and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "No, it's fine." She said trying very hard not to sound like an idiot in front of him. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." 

"You're Grace, right?" He queried and Grace nodded, genuinely surprised that he knew her by her name. "How did you know my name?" She asked, her heart beating against her chest out of time. 

"Well," he said looking at the textbook. "It's on the book." 

She wanted to face palm herself now. Of course it would be on the book. 

"So, since they are my books, can I have them back?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. It was Hoya's turn to turn red and handed the books to her. As she was reaching for the books, their hands brushed and she felt a static pass between them. She could tell because his eyes widen and his cheeks turned a deeper shade of crimson at that point. 

“Anyway, I better get going." She said backing away slowly. "Your friends are waiting for you." Tilting her head towards his teammates who were making their way towards them. 

She just turned away when he spoke again. 

"It's Hoya." 

She turned around and saw him there giving her a smile. 

"I know." She said to him. 

"How?" 

She points at her chest. "Your name is written on your jersey." 

Faintly, she heard a buzzing noise coming from next to her that made her groan, waking her up from sleep. She opened her eyes, still hooded and sleep's arms wanting to pull her back. She slowly uncoiled herself from the foetal position she was in and shake the grogginess fogging up her vision. She took in a shuddering breath but her whole body was still shaking from the aftermath of crying her eyes out. 

She slowly dragged her entire body towards her bed and stretched her arm to feel for her phone in the darkness. When her fingers caught hold of it, she looked at the blinking screen. Grace squinted her eyes at the glaringly bright white light as it flashed continuously a number she didn't recognize. 

Grace wanted to ignore the phone call since it was late but there was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind was telling her otherwise. 

Clearing , she took in another deep breath. Once she was sure she was composed, she swiped her thumb to the left to answer the call. 

"Hello?" Her voice croaked. 

"Is this Miss Grace Fang Mae Ling?" A man's voice came over the receiver. 

"This is she. Who is this?" Sitting up straighter. 

"Hello, Miss Fang. I am Mr. Jang Dongwoo of Lim Associates." 

Immediately, she thought of one of her opponents' lawyers calling her for an appeal. Yet, the name Jang Dongwoo did not ring any alarms in her mind. Then, she thought she was being sued or a fresh case but then, why contact her directly? They would need to send her a letter or call her extension instead of calling her. 

"What can I do for you Mr. Jang?" 

"Please, just call me Dongwoo. Mr. Jang is my father." He said politely and she didn't feel irked by his sudden friendliness and the muscles on her shoulders began to relax. 

"What can I do for you, Mr. Dongwoo?" She couldn't drop the title since it was only formality. They are not friends after all. 

"Do you know Moon Haerin?" 

Grace swallowed thickly and she felt her blood run cold at the mention of her name. She her lips and nodded, quickly answered when she realized he can't see her nod from the telephone. "What concern is she to you?" Not bothered to hide the defensive tone from her voice.

This Dongwoo character didn't seem to realize her sudden change of demeanour and answered in his calm and composed manner. "I am her lawyer and..." 

---

Grace rushed to the bathroom once the call ended. She sank to her knees in front of the toilet bowl and vomited. The taste of bile on her lips made her sick even more, her stomach churning at the thought. 

She closed her eyes and fell down on her knees to the cool marble floor, tears escaping the corners of her eyes. 

"Gracie, Gracie!" Haerin's voice echoed in her mind. 

"Shut up, shut up!" Grace covered her ears as tears rolled down her cheeks but to no avail. The conversation between him and her a few minutes ago kept echoing her mind, amplifying each time. 

"... and I am sorry to tell you that she is gone." 

"What do you mean by gone?" 

Jang Dongwoo's voice turned grave and went quieter as he spoke. "She's dead, Miss Fang. She died a couple of days ago." 

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

---

A/N: Hello everyone! So, the first chapter is up and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Do leave your comments, subscribe and upvote if you enjoy it :D till then! xx