Genre: Comedy, Crack, Fluff

Summary: One of the worst things that could happen in your life. Being catfished. Hyewon has to bring a real girlfriend home, but the girl she was talking to isn't even real. Luckily, she came up with the best idea.

Word Count: 4561

Hashtag: #IntoTheKangBiVerse_GirlfriendForHire

Girlfriend for Hire

Hyewon lets out an exasperated sigh as she ends the call she just had with her mom. Rolling her eyes, she sits on the nearest chair she could find, her hands landing on her face right away. So, how exactly can she not react like this when her own mom expects her to bring a “girlfriend” home for the holidays? Out of all the times she had a girlfriend, it really had to be now, just when she doesn’t have one. Great! Thoughts flood her mind, and it’s about to overflow soon. “Why?!”, she bursts out, throwing her phone away but very carefully, then proceeds to throw a mini tantrum just like a 4-year-old when her mom didn’t buy her the candies she so wanted.

“I’m doomed.”, she muffles through her hands, barely even audible for the normal human ears. She stays in that position for a while, until she grabs her phone once again and bolts herself up from her seat. Pacing around the room, she dials a number, her subconscious mind making her bite her nails as she waits for a response.

“Hey, my best friend!”, the phone recipient shouts on the other line, trying to find a quiet spot for her to be heard, and to hear properly. Grimace being evident on Hyewon’s face, “Did you drink again?”, she shouts through the phone, loud enough for the person on the line to hear her clearly.  “Yena isn’t allowed to drink anymore!”, Yena justifies herself, “I just happened to miss my best friend!”, she adds. Hyewon just laughs it off, mainly of disbelief.

The two spent almost 30 minutes on the phone, for Yena always brings up a new topic every time Hyewon finishes one sentence. It wasn’t anything out of the norm though, the duck always seems to have something to talk about, and it looks like she isn’t gonna run out of them soon. As soon as Hyewon got the chance, she summarized how her previous phone call with her mom went. As expected, Yena had a good laugh about it for about a minute, she even called her other friend, Yujin to gang up on Hyewon. The verbatim being “Poor Hyewon, no job, no girlfriend, and she’s about to have no hair soon too.”

Disappointed, but not surprised, Hyewon sits back down on the wide sofa, scrolling through her phone. You name it, she’s scrolled through it. Messaging apps, Twitter, Facebook, basically all of them. Sighing once again, she rests herself like a ragdoll, with her phone still intact. “God, if you’re real, please give me hope.”, the girl mutters lifelessly, at this point, she’d be willing to do anything, she’d even sacrifice her friends if needed.

Staring at the emptiness of her apartment room, a ding! visits her. Meaning, an idea has come. It’s either the best or the worst one, there’s no in-between when it comes to Miss Kang Hyewon. Delighted by the idea, she jolts herself up and fixes her previously messy hair. The idea was simple, really. It was just to download dating apps. How hard could that be, right? Just simple clicks and swipes here and there, and she’s all set.

After spending hours setting her profile on all of the apps, it was now time to play; undeniably the most awaited segment of this whole internal turmoil of the great Kang Hyewon, the “Swipe right on everyone and see if I like their attitude” game. Spoiler alert: she ends up saving ONE dating app and deleting the rest of them. A busy woman like her doesn’t have enough energy to talk to more girls, apparently.

Now that she ran out of swipes, what’s there left to do? Is she really going to play the waiting game now? Ever since she left her job as a Food Assistant at IKEA, she’s never wanted to get a job this badly, all because she’s bored waiting to get a match. Not to mention how Hyewon is probably going to scare most of them off after she tells the chosen one her plan; using her as a faux girlfriend, and maybe they’ll fall in love! But that only happens in movies, and fictional stories on the internet, right? Maybe her life will turn out to be a Wattpad story, but who knows?

The poor girl’s been staring at the ceiling for God knows how long. She probably fell asleep but actually forgot about it, or maybe she unconsciously traveled to the future. But finally, oh finally, the long-awaited sound has come. The notification fills the entirety of her room, considering she left the ringtone volume at its maximum, scared to potentially miss one when it does happen. 

Hyewon takes a glance at her phone, and oh boy, she got a match! She gets up right away and throws a mini celebration for well, herself only. For her, it was an instant serotonin boost.

“Jo Yuri, hmm?” It feels like she’s seen that name before, maybe a celebrity just has the same name as her. Nevertheless, she found the girl was very cute, and she was exactly her type. Plus some additional points, as soon as Hyewon read the girl’s profile, she knew she had to be the one, if not, then she’s gonna go and shave her head.

The instant serotonin boost made her go all jumpy, she was in a very good mood in general. Thoughts like “Why didn’t I think of this before?”, and such flooded her overworked mind. “Hi :)”, was the first chat THE Yuri sent her. Now, this just sent her way into oblivion, making her let out a squeal. Kang Hyewon, squealing? The world must be ending.

Hyewon took a screenshot of the message of the girl, asking for advice from her friends; Yena and Yujin. It was rather useless, she only got more teasing, and was brought into an impromptu interrogation as to why she suddenly is on a dating app. As she was revealing her plan to the duo, she got praises such as ‘You’re insane for this!’, ‘I hate your brain sometimes’, ‘And if this doesn’t work you’re treating us to one year worth of lunch.’. She sure has the bestest friends.

Now, back to the Yuri girl. Their conversation went smoothly, and the two really hit it off, which was very unexpected. Their talks went on for days and days, and it looked like it was going really well! Both Yujin and Yena were skeptical from the start, since according to the great, great Hyewon, “She refused to send any more photos, maybe she’s not comfortable with it.”. But you know, being Hyewon’s only friends, there was nothing else they could do aside from supporting their lonely friend.

Usually, after talking to a person you matched with on a dating app, you’d go meet up with them, right? Well, that’s what Hyewon would exactly do with her new girl, Yuri. After talking and getting to know each other for almost a month, they finally got to agree on a day where they’ll meet at a vegan restaurant. Apparently, Yuri is a vegan. Hyewon, being one of the biggest fans of beef, almost ghosted Yuri solely because of it. It was one hell of a childish reason, but she couldn’t really let go of the girl, since the family gathering is only a few weeks away. She didn’t want to show up there empty-handed, not in front of her gay little sister Minjoo, and her even gayer little girlfriend Chaewon.

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The anticipated day has finally arrived, the meeting day of the soon-to-be brides-

Wait, no. Again,

The anticipated day has finally arrived, the meeting day of Hyewon, and the girl she met on a dating app, Jo Yuri, 18 and from Busan. She still can’t believe how her new crush ended up being a vegan. Maybe opposites do attract.

Hyewon grabs her car keys on the kitchen counters, and off she goes. She chose a plain white shirt, wearing a light grey blazer on top with denim shorts, plus a Prada purse that she’s wearing on her shoulder. And a high ponytail showing her bangs to complete the look. The perfect outfit for a first date, she totally doesn’t look like the daughter of the executive of a big snacks company.

On her way to their meeting place, there’s this feeling of … excitement, that she’s never really felt before, like that one time she went bungee jumping with Yena and Yujin. She’s just very happy she managed to meet up with someone without the help of her friends, it brings a strong sense of achievement, you know? 

As she drives along the congested roads of Seoul, a phone call startles her. Expectedly, it’s from Yena. She swipes the screen of her phone which was attached to a high-tech phone mount just right on the CD player to answer it. “I just want to say, I wish you good luck on your date, and I hope you don’t get catfished,” Yena exclaims in a rapid succession of words, “Bye!”, then ends the call abruptly. It happened so fast, Hyewon couldn’t even process it all properly. First of all, what? Second of all, why? Lastly, what?

Knowing how Yena is usually like that when Hyewon goes off on endeavors on her own, she shouldn’t be this shocked. Just dumbfounded, that’s all.

It didn’t take long for Hyewon to finally arrive at the place, it was pretty near her, but what she was worried about was how Yuri lives all the way in Busan, though she’s staying in Seoul for a while, that’s how they managed to agree on a final date. If Yuri wasn’t staying in this city, Hyewon would still find all ways possible just to meet the younger, that’s how determined she was.

Hyewon was quite surprised by how the restaurant didn’t seem to be as busy as she expected, considering it’s a Saturday too. Maybe the food isn’t nice? But the ratings are nice. Maybe there aren’t many vegans in her country? Plausible, it’s the first time she’s met a vegan, so it all makes sense. Probably.

She approaches the closest waiter she could see, and there she informs him about the reservations she’s made. The waiter was nice and accommodating, and she got to their table in no time. Now, all she needs to do is wait for her date. She never really feels this nervous whenever she goes on dates, causing her lips to go dry.

Reaching for the pitcher of cold water already prepared on the table, a woman approaches her, “Hi, you must be Hyewon.”, she utters nervously after clearing . Puzzled, Hyewon answers the woman’s question with a simple Yes, followed by ‘Why?’.

“It’s me, Yuri.”, the woman answers Hyewon’s question. Her answer was loud and clear, but the latter’s face says otherwise. Confusion being very evident on her face, “Jo Yuri?”, she retorts with yet another question. The woman could only nod, with her head slowly facing the floor. 

Hyewon lets out a hysterical laugh. Assuming she’s being pranked or something. Maybe she’s gonna make it on a variety show, and she’s going to go viral. Maybe she’s going to appear on a huge ‘prankster’ channel and de-

“I’m so sorry!”, were the last words Hyewon ever heard from that woman before she stormed out of the restaurant. Thankfully there weren’t many people there, but that sure did bring everyone’s attention to them.

Hyewon grabbed her purse before she went out of the restaurant to try to come after the woman. But it was too late, she looked around every corner, basically the vicinity of almost the whole of the neighborhood. Dumbfounded once again, she finds herself dragging her feet to go back to her car, kicking every pebble that comes her way.

Should she blame Yena for this? Maybe Yena was the one who traveled to the future? Maybe she should’ve listened to them how the girl was acting sketchy. Now, everything that’s on her mind is how she’ll handle this year’s Christmas gathering with her family. Last year, she couldn’t bring one, and she even promised how she’s going to return with ‘the prettiest girl on this planet’. She hates how she set herself up unknowingly.

“Freaking catfish