How Seulgi walked from the damned garden shed to Sooyoung's house at 2am in the dead of night was a surprise feat. Her feet dragged her to her best friend's place which was 40 mins away from Suho's house. 

The noisy and colorful neighborhood in the day had turned into the pitch-black silent area, accompanied by the faded streetlights as the brightest things one would see.

She stopped in front of the main door of Sooyoung's house, her hand itching to ring the doorbell just to find a shelter that she would be surrounded by people at this moment. 

Just until tomorrow. 

Which she didn't want to welcome.

But her logic mind knew it's best not to wake the sleeping people up.Her headache was also at the worst state right now, her body was also shivering from the cold air of the night, her mind and heart in utter chaos. 

Worst situation ever to get a heartbreak.

She texted Sooyoung, hoping the girl would see her message as soon as she woke up. She walked around to the back of Sooyoung's house where they had an open patio overlooking their small beautiful garden.

And the damned wooden bench greeted her as soon as she arrived. 

She slowly walked ahead, sitting down at the doorstep of the kitchen door instead. Her hands were shaking from the cold, her feet tired and her nose started to get stuffy. 

Yet, all she could feel and see was the last memory of Bae Joohyun leaving her alone cruelly and ruthlessly in the middle of the abandoned garden. 

What if she broke down in front of her dear boyfriend and friends, retelling of what had happened? What would be of her image? What would people at the school be saying about her?

She could already see people barely hiding their disgust at her once she stepped her foot at the school entrance.

Detest by classmates.

Revulsion by their parents.

Disdain by the teachers. 

And her family...her parents...

She started to feel her headache worsen, anxious and scared of what she would have to face tomorrow.It was heavy, dark and suffocating.

And Sunmi...

She just broke the hot, beautiful and courageous girl's heart and left her alone like that. It wouldn't be surprising if she's not going to talk to her anymore. 

She just lost her guiding light and her first love in one single night in the most brutal way possible. She had no more tears to shed, her heart had been broken into million little pieces.

Were all rejected confessions went down horribly like that?

She felt so numb, helpless and weak. 

She didn't even have the strength to breathe.

She looked up at the dark gloomy sky silently, her eyes pleading. 

Please don't bring me to tomorrow.

I don't want to welcome the new morning.

Please.



____



Sooyoung looked at her bed-ridden best friend in despair. She found the poor girl in the doorstep of her back kitchen door,cold, pale and shivering. 

The girl was also barely conscious, mumbling incoherent words, eyes swollen, lips dried and chapped. 

Ever athletic Kang Seulgi had to be hospitalized for a week with the potential risk of pneumonia. And her fever didn't cool down for a long time. 

Just what had happened at the party to bring the latter to this state?

 

___

"Kang Seugi, what the hell is going on with you?!"

Her mother threw her results across the table, her father silently brooding besides her. Her two brothers were also present, the youngest Jinho looking at her in pity. 

She didn't even have the energy to look back at him. 

She brought home her report card with 3 failed subjects for the first semester exams. Her grades had been dropping, she didn't submit her assignments. 

To be honest, she didn't even want to sit for the exams. But it was mandatory so she went there, let the time flew by while she slept.

Sleep. 

That's the only thing she's good at these days. 

She had been scolded, punished and her mother even had hit her in anger one time. But she was just silent as a mule, looking back at them silently and numbly. 

Nothing happened, no whispers, no gossips, no side glances. But why she's still scared of going to school? She no longer sat with her friends during lunch, just spent her time alone in the library.

Doing nothing. 

She didn't want to do anything. Sunmi had also entered the company, becoming a trainee. The last time they saw each other was that bedroom. 

Sunmi didn't contact her. She didn't even inform her when she left.

It also broke a piece of her soul, the source of her guiding light gone. 

She had no one. 

Sooyoung tried to be there for her but there's so much one can do and she understood. 

"Kang Seulgi."

The stern voice of her father interrupted her daydream. She looked up at him, eyes dull and void. Kang Dong-won looked at his lifeless daughter. 

His daughter seemed to be actually nonchalant to the severity of the situation.

Did she just hit puberty? he wondered. He's not that fixated on grades just like his wife does. But one should maintain a certain level of academic appraisal, especially for women.

Seulgi was on the verge of dropping a year from school. It wouldn't look good for his daughter, for them, for anybody. 

Their plan was to have their only daughter enrolled in medical school, get a good husband and settle down. But that plan seemed to be getting further and further.

"If you don't have plan to respect what they teach you or value your studies, quit school."

"Dong-won!"

He ignored his wife as he continued, "If you do something, respect the responsibility you're given and accomplish it. No matter what ty day can be or unlucky you are."

"We didn't raise you or your brothers or build our business like what you just did. We got kicked out, thrown to streets and yet, we're thriving." Dong-won huffed as he went on,"Understand and respect the work."

"If you're this misbehaved, quit school and quit your tuitions.Our money are getting wasted for nothing."

Kang Sora looked at her husband, horrified. She didn't bring her husband to get their daughter quit school. She brought him to drill some senses into her. 

"KANG DON-"

"Yes, Father. I will quit school."

Everyone looked at her shocked. Her mother, horrified, her brothers speechless. She would have laughed at their faces if not for the severity of the situation.

She's going to get kicked out of the house, thrown to the streets. Just like her parents by her stupid uncle.

What could she do if she got out penniless? Become a hooker? 

"KANG SEULGI.WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SAYING?!"

"Hold up, if you're not pursuing education, we don't need to provide anything for you. You gotta work on your own."

Seulgi smiled bitterly. She expected it anyway. She was mentally numbed and prepared. She didn't have anything to look forward to.

"You need to earn it."

What?

She looked up, bewildered. Her father was still glaring at him,his anger evident of her decision. But she didn't understand. 

"You will start working at our warehouse, start from the basics, carry stuffs, do the loading and any other errands.You need to learn since you have decided to become an uneducated woman. No one's gonna respect you or look at you."

She still didn't understand. She never expected to get roped into the family's business. 

"You will start next month. You apply yourself to quit the school. You won't have any meal if you don't go to work. Go to the streets if you don't want to."

"I HAVEN'T EVEN SAID MY DECISION ON THIS!" Her mother slapped the table in fury. No one except her makes the rules in this house. The audacity of her husband.

Her father slowly got up, smiled at his wife as he tried to pat her back, which she slapped away. 

"KANG SEULGI, YOU'RE NOT QUITTING SCHOOL. AS LONG AS I BREATHE AND YOU LIVE IN THIS HOUSE, YOU'RE NOT QUITTING ANYTHING."

"Mother, I-

"You have less than two weeks to prepare for the supplementary exams. Finish it first and we will talk."

Her father amended his decision immediately, seeing the fury on his wife. His wife can be scary when she's mad. And he could also get grounded.

"If you pass, I will put you at the warehouse as I have mentioned. Start there. See how it goes."

"Kang Dongwon."

"She's not appreciating the blessings, Sora. She needs to realize how lucky she is. There are so many kids who want to study but not given any chances. And she's wasting the chance she's given."

"..."

"You will find out how bitter and harsh the reality is. Finish the supply exams first.You won't even last a week there, Seulgi."

She nodded obediently. She expected the worst to happen.She's not looking forward to anything, except killing time. At least she didn't get kicked out. 

"Just a week."

"Yes, Father."
 

One month later, Kang Seulgi quit school, never going back for the second semester. 


 

_____

"Well-known nationally, Kang Logistics and Distribution has now ventured into new territory- Hotel & Tourism."

"International Motor-Giant Toyota has agreed to partner with Kang Logistics and Distribution for their new technology research plant in Seoul, Korea."


Seulgi played around her pen as she listened. She took a glance at the two men in suits sitting in front of her, heads close whispering as they looked at the papers.

She sighed, annoyingly looking at the empty seat besides him. 

She loves her father, very much so. If when she quit school, her father was the one who was open-minded and didn't punish her or banish her from home. 

But one thing that bugged her a lot during the year she started to work under him, his unprofessionalism.

Ever traditional, he didn't know certain etiquette. Now he decided to leave the meeting room because he had stated his demands and the rest would have to be wrapped up by herself alone with two middle-aged foreigners. 

The men had stopped talking and looked at her. She smiled at them, making sure her mono-lids crescent shape prominent. That's how she disarmed the clients. 

Her hidden charm to let the guard down, making them think they were just talking with a kid. 

People are easy to be manipulated somehow if they become comfortable.

"We are really keen to work with your family, Miss Kang. And we have started to known each other after you reaching out. But this proposal is made in our best effort to have win-win situation for both of us."

Seulgi smiled as she nodded, "I'm afraid my parents want to have chargeable incentive marked at 2% for 3 years straight, Mr. Juvasat.We fully understand and appreciate you for considering us for the partnership but this is also our best offer that we can give you."

The meeting went on, it took further an hour before they reached to an agreement. This meeting was a success.

"Mother, he should stop disappearing like this!"

"I know, sweetie but what can I do? I am also stuck in my own work here. Where did he go this time?"

"I don't know. He just gave me the figures he wanted and left me on my own."

"You should relax for the rest