▮ TEASER 002

The young woman sat down on a blue plastic chair closely examining her surrounding. There was not a single moment her eyes left the people around her, not even when she was speaking to the waiter. To her left was a table of four, all men, with a flushed face; it was obvious they were drunk, as it could have easily been seen by the soju bottles scattered around their table. Every couple minutes she would hear one of them loudly scream some profanity as he slammed his deck of cards down onto the table and took a shot of soju. Based on his body language and tone of voice, she knew he had lost that round and was unhappy. He had bloodshot eyes, his speech was slurred and actions were those of an impaired individual; he was beyond intoxicated. To her right was a table of two other men who were sober, compared to the left table. They had soju bottles around their table as well and a slightly flushed face however, even then they were engaged in a leisurely conversation. 

"Eunjae has been on my lately," one of the two young men said. He was wearing dark blue--almost black, denim jeans and a dark gray button-up shirt. His sleeves were folded up to his elbows and had a black watch on his left wrist. "She thinks she's mine," he continued to say, heavily emphasizing on the word 'mine', "because we had once." 

The other young man sitting across from him was leaning forward on the table with all his weight on his right forearm. He was wearing light denim jeans and a white button-up shirt that was neatly tucked into his pants. He chuckled and slightly moved his head in disapproval. "At least she's good in bed," he grinned, taking a shot of soju proceeded with a loud and satisfying "ahhhh". 

"Here is your order," the waiter casually said as he placed the plate of rice and vegetables on the table. The two young men's conversation soon became all mumbles when her attention shifted to the man in front of her. She looked down at the food and despite its horrible presentation and odor, looked up and smiled. "Thank you," she said before he walked off. 

Perhaps it was due to traveling all day that she has no appetite or the poor presentation of her food. There was a cup of rice sloppily slapped on the left side of the plate with steamed vegetables and some sort of dark brown sauce drizzled on the top. She was never the one to complain about the presentation of food because all that mattered was the taste to her but this time it matched its odor--it was horrible. She picked up her chopsticks and began to examine her food. 

A few minutes later, she slightly pushed the plate away from her sight and screamed, "Check please!" It wasn't necessarily a scream but a loud and annoyed tone of voice, considering she had been traveling the entire day and her first official meal was trash. The waiter who had helped her previously sluggishly walked over and placed the receipt on the table then proceeded back to his post. The young girl scrunched her nose a bit, noticing the food (that she had not touched) costed $18. I could have gone to a fancier place and gotten myself an entree and dessert, she thought to herself as she reached into her backpack.

Her slender fingers moved left and right, checking every compartment her backpack had. She scrambled through her things and placed them on the table: map, passport, cellphone, and a ziploc bag filled with her daily necessities. None of the items she pulled out of her backpack was her wallet. It did not take long for her to realize that her wallet had been lost and she had no way of paying for this meal.

"," she said under her breath as she looked around, frustrated and unsure of what to do. She placed all her belongings back in her backpack and zipped it up, making sure that none of these were to get lost or stolen again. She figured that maybe--just maybe, the waiter will let her off in the meantime.

She slowly walked up to the waiter and cutely smiled, "Excuse me, sir" she began. "I'm new in town...and I just got here...." In between every couple of words she would have slight pauses or more of hesitation because she wasn't sure what to say but she continued: "I lost my wallet and I can't pay right now." 

Upon hearing that, the waiter slammed his hands on the table and screamed at the young girl in front of him. "What do you mean you can't pay, ?!"

"Calm down, please," she said in a quiet and calm manner. "I can give you my phone number. I'll be back tomorrow, I promise!" But nothing. None of her words seemed to have persuaded him. 

"I'll have to call the cops on you, you broke ," he continued, "why eat if you can't afford it?" He reached into his pocket for his phone but was immediately interrupted before he could dial anything. "I can pay for her," a voice had said behind the young girl. 

I remember this voice...she thought to herself, trying to remember where she had heard it before..

"But of course, this pretty lady will have to pay me back," the same voice continued before a hand was placed over her right shoulder. She quickly jerked her head over to the left and was hit with realization that this was the young man who had talked about Eunjae earlier.

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▮author's note