Even though Jaemi was fired as an actress, she was still technically a working model. She continued going to her fittings and photoshoots but it was so much more difficult for her to really want to be there and model. Actually, it had been difficult for her to really enjoy modelling for the past couple of years, ever since she started getting sponsored. At first, she attributed her diminishing enjoyment to the fact that she felt like she was cheating other more talented, beautiful, and hard-working models by giving herself and unfair advantage. But now, she knew that it was really because she was cheating on Hyuk and she only denied it until now because all she wanted was to invent a perfect version of herself for him. Now, none of it mattered.

              All Hyuk really did every day was eat, sleep, go to class, and study. He wished that he was this busy since he came back for school not only because he was still behind in classes, but also because keeping himself busy was a really good way to distract himself. Another pretty decent distraction was Lia, the girl Aidan was trying to set him up with. They had only been texting each other for the past few days because Hyuk wanted to put off meeting her for as long as he could. Texting her was already a bit difficult because she only spoke a little Korean and he wasn’t super fluent in English. He really didn’t want to think about dating anybody for a while anyway.

              Hyuk saved the progress on his paper before going to the kitchen to make himself another cup of coffee. He found Aidan eating his leftover burrito in the kitchen.

              “Hey I heard you’ve been texting Lia,” Aidan commented with his mouth half full.

              “Oh, yeah…we text each other sometimes...I guess” Hyuk replied uninterestedly while he searched the fridge for something to eat quickly.

              “Well?” Aidan asked expectantly. “How’s it going? Have you guys gone out yet?”

              Hyuk fervently shook his head. “She seems nice but I actually really don’t want to date anybody right now. I’m so busy already.”

              Aidan nodded and took another bite of his burrito. Hyuk did seem really busy, but he thought that Hyuk should just take a break for once and go out with somebody. As far as he knew, Lia wasn’t looking for anything serious anyway because she was pretty busy herself. Just as Hyuk was about to leave the kitchen, he thought of an amazing idea.

              “Wait!” he called out to Hyuk. “Abby’s having her birthday party tomorrow night and Lia’s going to be there. You should come, get a little buzzed with her and have some fun” he added suggestively. “I’ll even stay at Abby’s so you guys can have the room to yourselves.”

              Hyuk stared blankly at Aidan for a few seconds. “Are you saying that I should…hook up? With Lia?” he clarified.

              “Yes! Exactly!” Aidan replied excitedly. When Hyuk started refusing adamantly, Aidan tried to convince him by explaining, “Trust me, this is perfect! You can move on and meet someone new without the commitment of a real relationship.”

              Hyuk gave Aidan a doubtful look. In theory it actually didn’t sound like a bad idea at all, but he knew that in practice, it’d be a disaster. He had never even kissed anyone, let alone had with, anybody except for Jaemi and he wasn’t exactly sure he wanted to change that. However, hanging out and getting drunk with some friends seemed pretty appealing too.

              “C’mon,” Aidan urged. “You know I’m right.”

              Hyuk sighed heavily and conceded. “Fine. I’ll go, but I won’t hook up with anybody.”

              Jaemi was more anxious than usual while waiting for Hyuk to reply. She wondered if he even read any of her messages, but she tried to stay as optimistic as possible. Suddenly, her phone started ringing. Her eye lit up and she eagerly answered it without checking who was actually calling her.

              “Noona hurry up. I’m waiting outside for you,” Shin stated. Her expression immediately darkened and she felt like throwing up. She quickly gathered her belongings and told Miyoung she’d be heading out first. She didn’t even know why she was still doing this; it just felt like this was an automatic response ingrained into her after almost two years of doing it. When she stepped outside of the building, she saw him leaning against his excessively flashy car and reluctantly got in with him.

              As usual, he put his arm around her and complained about not seeing her enough. She tuned him out as usual and wondered if this was going to be her life from now on: just going through the motions for everything and waiting for Hyuk to forgive her.

              “Ah, I heard you got fired from the drama,” Shin said, catching her attention for the first time ever. “It’s ok, noona. I can get you on a hundred other dramas if you want me to. But actually, I think you should just stick to modelling. I like it when you’re just sitting and being pretty,” he cooed. Her skin crawled, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. He continued, “But I heard you got fired because you were so distracted by your boyfriend.” He pressed his lips against her ear and whispered, “I never knew I had that effect on you, noona.”

              She felt his lips against her skin and she couldn’t contain herself any longer. She pushed him away as hard as she could and glared at him. She hated the sight of him. He stared back in confusion. She wasn’t allowed to do that.

              “W-w-what’s the matter with you noona?” he stammered.

              “Don’t. Call. Me. That,” she muttered angrily. “I’m not your noona. I’m not your girlfriend. I’m not your anything!”

              “I-I don’t understand. This isn’t part of the deal,” he replied, feeling intimidated by her anger.

              She unlocked the car door and coolly said, “Well the deal’s off. I’m done.”

              He pulled her by the hair and forced her to sit back down. Now he was the angry one while she looked at him in fear.

              “You’re done when I say you’re done,” he barked at her. “You think you can just walk out on me? I made you! You’d be nothing without me! You need me!”

              “No! I don’t need you!” she yelled back at him. “I don’t need any of it! I don’t want any of the fame or success if it costs me the best thing in my life! I hate you and I wish you never came into my life!” She successfully unlocked the door and got out of the car.

              He clenched his jaw and his fists and followed her. He harshly grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the nearest alley where he proceeded to take out his anger on her through his fists and feet. When he finished, he spat at her and drove off.