She reclaimed her chair and ignored how warm it was and how she could smell his faint aftershave.
Taeyong popped his head around the corner and said, "Next time have a Snickers." And then he winked.
Nari stood, shutting the door firmly behind him.
Next time she'd have a mouse trap.

Lee Taeyong eased into the back of his car and directed the driver to his hotel. He needed a massage, a hot tub, and a drink, and then maybe this growing tension would ease.
He doubted it, but was always hopeful.
It was just he never knew how to handle ugly breakups. And his were always ugly. One day she was happy, the next day she was crying. He always seemed to miss the middle. The part where she realized he wasn't what she thought he was. The part where she decided that even if he wasn't quite as perfect as she'd thought, marriage would fix it. How would that fix anything?
It wouldn't. But she didn't really want to marry Taeyong. She wanted to marry Lee Taeyong.
Taeyong rolled his head, trying to loosen the knot in his neck.
Alyse had cried. Cried so hard he'd thought her heart must be breaking, and he hated that. Hated tears, hated her disappointment. He kept thinking she didn't really love him, she didn't really know him. She'd only loved the idea of him.
He could tell himself that all day long but he still hated himself.
He was a piranha, preying on women. He built up their dreams and then dashed them to pieces without ever realizing he was doing it.
Taeyong leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Tomorrow he'd find a way to fix the mess with Alyse. He just hoped he could do it without marrying her.

He was awoken early the next morning by alternating knocks and bangs on his hotel door. The massage had eased the stress in his neck and back, but the empty beer bottles had left his head fuzzy. He stumbled to the door, cursing whoever it was. And blinked a few times when he looked through the peephole.
"Mother? Grandma?"
He opened the door cautiously. His mother took one look at him and moved forward to hug him.
"Oh, Taeyong. Why didn't you tell us? I thought you and Alyse were getting along fine."
He groaned.
His grandmother handed him a tabloid and said, "This is a fine pickle you've landed in this time. I warned you about that girl; always had to have her own way."
His mother patted him on the back, frowning at the beer bottles. "It does seem you were right, Ellen. I'm sorry I was so friendly towards her."
His grandmother snorted. "You're nice to all the women your son brings home. You need to stop thinking about grandbabies and start thinking about the divorce rate in this country. He needs a woman who can handle him. He needs to stop dating these socialites and models. Worthless."
This was an argument he'd heard many times over and he ignored it to read the paper.

Prince Charming Really A Frog?
Lee Taeyong, the man voted most charming eligible bachelor four years in a row, is reportedly not all that charming behind closed doors. His girlfriend of nine months, model Alyse Park, told this reporter that he "is a workaholic and has commitment issues. We've been dating nine months now and let me tell you he isn't so pretty in the morning. It was time to take our relationship to the next level and he broke up with me instead. You can ask any of his old girlfriends and they'll tell you the same thing- as soon as a girl starts thinking he might be the one, he starts sabotaging the relationship. Late nights working, flimsy excuses about not moving in together, sit down talks where he tells you he's nowhere near ready to get married. Well, when is he going to be ready? I guess my mama was right, why buy the cow when you're getting the milk for free?" Or why commit to one model when there's another right around the corner?

It wasn't the first time he'd been in the gossip column, and it wasn't the worst article they'd ever written about him. It was the first time someone close to him had been quoted. The first time any of his ex-girlfriends had felt the need to go public.
But he had to admit, Alyce didn't sound all that heartbroken anymore. Angry, but not heartbroken.
He looked up at his anxious mother and disgruntled grandmother and smiled. "It could be worse."
The next day it was. Another quote from a former girlfriend, this time attacking his bedroom technique. It was a little harder to shrug that one off but he consoled himself with the thought that she hadn't complained while they were together.
It didn't help all that much.
His grandmother simply shrugged. "I doubt that'll stop all the women wanting to get in your bed from daydreaming about you. And at least it's the models spilling their guts. Everyone'll think they're high anyway."
Taeyong kept his smile on, and if he worked a little harder and a little later, no one thought anything of it. He was the boss, after all.
Friday morning dawned bright and early. He had a call overseas to make before the picnic and he hoped against hope his ex-girlfriends were done with him. It had been a rough week and all he wanted to do was play a little softball. He grinned at the thought of Nari in short shorts running the bases.
He joined his mother and grandmother for breakfast in the best mood since Monday.
"Ladies. Have you reconsidered going to the picnic? I don't think I'll need bodyguards."
His mother picked at her egg whites. "I think it sounds fun. I always like to watch you play the catcher."
He laughed. "You hate watching me catch. Although I don't think this is going to be that dangerous of a game."
He decided not to tell her that at least one person would be gunning for him. His poor mother had never wanted her only child to play any sports and had finally agreed to baseball, and specifically catcher, because of all the protective gear he would have to wear. She hadn't realized until too late that there was a reason catchers needed protection.
His grandmother, who never picked at her food and would never order egg whites, said, "You'll need someone to distract the paparazzi if they find you. Plus, I need some sun."
He ordered his own breakfast, keeping it light and lean. He'd be running bases this morning and didn't want to feel or look sluggish in front of his employees. At least one employee would take advantage of any weakness she saw and, he had no doubt, would constantly remind him of it.
He said, "I'm sure the paparazzi won't want to hang around taking pictures of a company picnic. I can't be the juiciest thing going on right now."
His mother threw a glance at his grandmother, who ignored it and kept her fork moving.
He looked between them for a few seconds, then went for the weaker link. "Mother?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Was there anything worse today?"
His grandmother said, "Not anything worse. You're still their soup du jour but I expect that won't last more than another week. Just ignore it."
"It will be better if I know what it is."
His mother put down her fork, abandoning the pretense that she was actually going to eat. "I don't think it will be better, dear. Ellen is right, just ignore it."
The only problem with that was his grandmother had never ignored anything in her life. She believed in facing problems head on.
He sighed and changed the subject. His good mood was vanishing fast but he kept a grip on it with iron control. He was going to have fun today, dammit. And maybe they just didn't want him seeing what kinds of things his ex-girlfriends were saying about him. An ex was never the most reliable judge of a man's character.

Not A Frog, A Toad!
Sarah Oh, one of Korea's leading socialites, was recently heard telling a friend that when she was dating Lee Taeyong he hit her so hard he broke her nose. Six years ago, Sarah Oh's nose job had been attributed to allergies, but now we know she was allergic to a fist! Does Prince Charming have a nasty temper hiding behind that pretty face?

Nari arrived at her first company picnic and instantly decided she shouldn't have come. She tried hard to keep her real life separate from her work and had never wanted to get caught up in the culture that everyone else seemed to buy into.
She had coworkers she liked but she didn't make friends. She never went out to lunch, never joined in for birthday celebrations, didn't get into office politics, and never, ever went to outside functions. In the sales department, competition was taken to a whole other level and she tried to keep her focus on work. And to leave that work at the door at the end of the day.
Yet here she was. And all because one pretty boy had asked her to beat him at softball. Lee Taeyong was a dangerous man.
But not as dangerous as the whispers being circulated about him. If anyone could have gotten him to lose his temper, it would have been her the last few years. He wasn't the kind of guy that hit women. He liked to persuade and charm people into doing what he wanted; using physical force would seem like an insult to his mental abilities.
Heachan from marketing wandered over to her, looking glum. "You guys are going to whip our . There's no way Taeyong is going to be in top form today."
She smirked at him. "That is just too bad. You shouldn't hav