Jeon Soyeon was a rather simple girl. Of course, her family wasn’t ordinary, they were far away from it actually, yet she never liked the attention and luxury that came with the name Jeon. Her parents were terrible show-offs and her brother was an exceptional case of a monster, he had many faces and she was certain she haven’t had the fortune to see all of them. Maybe it was for the better. She grew up admiring him like a God, always wanted to be like him and there were times she even begged for his attention, anything, just to get him to notice her, but that was in the past now. Back then, she was a stupid young girl who thought of her idolized big brother as a role model to follow, it was only natural as their parents worshipped him, not knowing about his dark businesses, or maybe just turned a blind eye intentionally. As soon as she finally got into his crew, she wished she would have stayed at home. The love for her big brother vanished ever since then, and perhaps it wasn’t even there, she was just too naive to realize this back then.

It was sad how she was forced into acting in a specific way when they were out, parading in expensive clothes, feeding everyone bulls like they were a good, loving family who always had each other’s back. She was a true daddy’s little girl yet she was fine with cheaper clothes and food, her posh friends irritated her, except for her gay best friend, Koo Junhoe, whose father worked with hers in the mayor’s office. Soyeon was grateful that the boy accompanied her tonight, because she couldn’t bear to spend time with her brother’s crew alone, they have never respected her and Seungyeon only made the situation worse as he usually just laughed at their rough words and he wasn’t any better when it came to treating a lady right. That’s why no girl lasted longer than a night by his side.

The reason she still stayed with them was pretty simple, just like her: she liked speed. It was her lifebelt she could always hold onto in this wicked, material world of hers when the waves clashed over her head, even just for a night, she could escape the rigid mood ruling at home. Unfortunately, it only came with his brother’s company, which, well, she could bear if she had to. Generally, Seungyeon didn’t care about her, let her drive a few cars, participate in small races without bets, but she always remained in the background, keeping the needed space between them.

Until now.

Soyeon was boiling with anger. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and clenched her fists so strong her knuckles almost turned white, fading out in the dark color of the night. She knew her brother couldn’t win this race. His mouth was big and his talent only worth something around the equally inexpert people with junk cars, and the one Seungyeon challenged tonight was not like them. His car might have been old, but he probably grew up on these streets, driving cars long before her brother got the idea of getting into the game.

She couldn’t tell what exactly she felt in those moments the Nissan passed the starting line first. She expected this. She wasn’t surprised. Yet, she wanted to cry, of course, only after she dealt with Seungyeon who was just getting out of his car after the miserable defeat that was his first.

Soyeon didn’t care about the other guy walking towards her nor their nosy audience, she brushed past him, shoulders touching lightly and quickly, and she arrived just in time to catch her brother. She slammed the car’s door shut with such vigour that it echoed through the silent night, making everyone turn around to watch them.

“What the hell?!” Seungyeon barely managed to get out of the door’s way and avoided getting hit just by a few inches. Shocked whispers flew around them, everyone waited for the outcome with restrained breaths. It was not every day the big Jeon Seungyeon was publicly treated like this, let alone by his own little sister.

“You come up with this bull and you have the nerve to lose?!” Soyeon pushed him, and since his legs were already wobbly from the impact of suddenly almost meeting the door with his body, he staggered back, but steadied himself right away, grabbing her hands that were about to strike again. He pulled her close by her wrists, earning a painful hiss only the two of them could hear.

“Easy there, little sister, we don’t want to cause a scene, now do we?” Seungyeon whispered right into her face, staring at her with that significant look of his that suggested her to keep shut if she didn’t want to get into any trouble. “Or father to know about your little trip to Japan with Junhoe when you were supposed to be in that uni camp in Jeju he thinks he paid for?”

Soyeon frowned. She hated when he had a leverage over her, because it meant he used her for anything and as long as he pleased. Seungyeon found out about that little mistake of hers by accident, she wasn’t careful enough, now she had to suffer the consequences.

After his sister had no resistance, he let go of her with a grin, turned around to spoke his - different, of course - answer to the onlookers too.

“I did it to give that poor boy a good night,” his tone was condescending, his face mimicking the same thing. “He looks kind of stressful, he could use some release, plus I doubt that he ever had a girl like you in his bed.”

Soyeon was sick seeing the crowd’s reaction. They enjoyed this. All of them did. She wanted to scream at them, to tell how disgusting they are for encouraging her brother to put on a good show and maintain his reputation. They didn’t care that he practically pushed her into his enemy’s arms, they didn’t care that the boy could do bad things to her once they stay alone.

The only ones who didn’t seem pleased were the people the said guy was with, though they didn’t interfere to step up against Seungyeon and that was a wise choice of them, he could have made this situation a hundred times worse for them.

“Rot in hell!” Soyeon spat to have the last word, but Seungyeon just chuckled at her pointless tryings to get back at him. It was a sound that hurt Soyeon’s ears.

“Don’t play the hard to get, we all know that you’re a little ,” Seungyeon hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her head a little, the touch gave her goosebumps, but certainly not in a good way. When he was finished, he even winked at his little sister to demonstrate what could he do if she kept undermining him.

“You know that’s not true, you liar!” Someone shouted from the crowd. Soyeon closed her eyes for a second, then low-key shook her head to signal the boy to stay out of this, the last thing she wanted was Junhoe to get hurt. She appreciated her best friend’s efforts to defend her, but it was useless, everyone was Seungyeon’s puppet, they believed what he wanted them to believe.

However, one look from Seungyeon was enough to silence Junhoe. Soyeon knew he wouldn’t do anything to him, since their father ran in the same campaign with Junhoe’s, still, it was upsetting to even think about the things he could harm Junhoe with.

When the chatter and the loud noises from the crowd died down, Soyeon took a deep breath and for the first time since the little fight with her brother, she acknowledged the winner’s presence too. She looked straight in his eyes, not being able to read anything from them, but she was sure hers resembled the same vibes too. Soyeon kept the eye contact with him as she walked over to his beaten car, stopping next to the passenger seat.

“Aren’t you coming?” She raised an eyebrow gracefully, voice smooth and firm, nowhere near to the tone she talked to her brother with. She didn’t wait for an answer though, she opened the door for herself and made herself comfortable in the stranger’s car. She couldn’t let her mask drop, not in front of these nasty people. He won her over a bet and she had to bear it with dignity.

“Have fun, Hanbin,” Soyeon could see from the mirror that someone patted the guy’s back, and she could perfectly catch his name thanks to the windows that were pulled down in the Summer’s heat raging outside.

The journey to Hanbin’s flat wasn’t long, but silent and awkward. No one said a word, after a while only the radio filled the air between them, it bothered Soyeon, but she also didn’t want to be the first to speak up. She didn’t know this guy, and even though she doubted that would be the case, he could easily have been a bad person. She wasn’t so keen to test his boundaries to find that out.

She glanced at him, trying not to be so obvious while checking him out, at first she was driven by pure curiosity, but after her eyes lingered a tad too long, it was to entertain herself with a very very pleasant sight. Hanbin was hot. He had manly features and strong muscles that could be seen on his arms as he held the steering wheel, Soyeon wondered for a passing moment what it felt like to be in his caring arms, but she shooed these thoughts away before she could have gone overboard.

She didn’t pay attention to the building Hanbin was living in, she didn’t expect it to be fancy like their house and it was perfectly fine by her, she wasn’t her brother who would have made malicious remarks about it.

Hanbin opened the door and went ahead, straight to the fridge, not looking back to see if she was following or not. Soyeon didn’t require royal treatment, but was it really that hard to show some kindness towards her? She was the lady out of the two of them after all.

“Want one?”

“Huh?” She was puzzled at first, mainly because he has finally spoken to her.

“Beer. Want one?” Hanbin lifted his own to show the beverage already waiting to be consumed in his hands. He wasn’t rich with words, Soyeon deemed, or maybe it just applied to her.

“No,” Soyeon immediately declined, beer was very much her thing too, but not tonight and not in the presence of a stranger. She wanted to be completely sober and aware of her surroundings, just in case.

Hanbin only shrugged and started walking further into the small apartment, leaving her behind again. Soyeon didn’t like this behaviour, but she couldn’t do anything else than following him until he was fenceless about what exactly he wanted. Normally, she wouldn’t bring up such topics by herself, but if she had no choice, she’d do it without hesitation, rather than dancing around it.

He went into a room and while Soyeon pondered over what she should do, should she go after him or should she wait out until he signalled her to move, he was back, carrying a blanket and pillow with him.

“It’s not like at home, princess, but that’s all you’ve got,” he threw the sheets at her and she barely caught them, standing there absolutely surprised. “Make yourself at home, I will take you back first thing in the morning,” he practically ordered with a nonchalant face before he vanished behind the bedroom door, the cracks on the wooden surface staring right at the stunned Soyeon who could only blink confused.

She gaped after him, thinking this was just some kind of cruel joke the other enjoyed to play, but no matter how long she stood there, legs cemented on the floor, the door didn’t open and Hanbin didn’t come back. She walked to the couch with careful steps as if it would burn her to do that, but not because the place wasn’t like home - any place was better than home in her opinion -, she just couldn’t believe absurd things like this could happen. Why the hell would a guy accept a bet with terms he didn’t wish to fulfill?

A sad smile appeared on her face. Of course she wasn’t everyone’s type! What was she thinking? That only because her brother threw her to the lions like a piece of delicious meat then it meant that this guy wanted her? That he found her eyes as mesmerizing as she found his? Or he liked the way her clothes showed enough to tease, yet not enough to reveal of her curvy lines? She looked down onto her body and felt nausea, her hands instinctively pulled each side of the jacket together to cover her chest. Soyeon closed her eyes and leaned forward to rest her head on her knees she pulled up in the meantime, curling up like a ball on the couch. She was a fool to think that a guy like Hanbin would want to be with her without hesitation.

On the other side, she was grateful. Hanbin could truly hurt him if he wanted to, force her into things she didn’t want to do, but he didn’t even look at her, let alone touched her, so at least she didn’t need to worry about being . Not that all of it would have been non consensual as the boy was totally her type. Still, the thought of him coming back and jumping on her while she was sleeping kept her awake all night. She could have easily snuck back home as she was pretty sure Hanbin didn’t lock the front door for some reason, but she didn’t want to give her brother the satisfaction to mock her with the ugly truth: no sober man wanted her.