Trigger Warning: Have some scenes that might be uncomfortable for some readers as it has a bit of ual assault scenes.

Ahyeong sighed for the nth time as she once again glanced at the bottle of potion the shaman gave, which promised to erase all her dreams but was she actually going to do that. Sigh. If she drinks that every single memories with them will vanish like it never existed but if she don’t then those memories will haunt her until the day she gives up. One way or the other she have to consume it someday, but not now maybe later. Yes, not now at least she can spend the last moments with them without fear unlike earlier when she was unaware about the reasons behind the occurrence of her dreams. Who am I kidding? They didn’t come when I slept last night or when I was literally in the bed for the whole day. It’s gone forever. With another sigh she shook her head and grabbed the lipstick and started applying it on her lips.

Ahyeong as ordered reached the place 15 minutes prior without being a second late and now she has to wait which she can’t help but hate. The sudden dinner meeting that her parents informed her about last night for some reason made her shudder. It was undeniable fact that her parents were really shady and that was why it was so uncomfortable to meet them alone, like what if she goes to meet them and never comes back again. She sometimes hoped she had a sibling so that at least she had someone to rely on. I know it’s hard but you can still rely on me. The fragment of her dream that popped up out of nowhere strangely calmed her nerves. If only he was with her whenever she met her parents, will he hold her hands in assurance like he always did in her dreams? Will he whisper sweet words in her ear to suppress the bitterness her parents spewed? Will he stand up for her when they will curse and degrade her? Will he console her throughout the night when she will be exhausted from all dramas she witnessed for the day? She unconsciously smiled at the thought. He will do that if he exists and becomes a part of her life and she believes it without a single doubt, that he will.

The rustling behind the door signaled the arrival of her parents. She smiled at the thought that when she thought she will die from boredom while waiting for them, the thoughts about him saved her from that. She stood up to greet them.

Her parents entered and behind them was a man who seems to be in his late 40s. After bowing to him she waited for them to settle down in their respective seat and followed the suit.

“I guess you know about Cha Min Hyeon of MYC film studios.” Ahyeong nodded her head in agreement. Well why won’t she, when her parents made her to go through his whole profile last night. But what baffled her was the fact that Cha Min Hyeon is Cha Min Hyeok’s older brother. It didn’t take her long to connect the dots that maybe the playboy convinced his brother for setting this whole thing since his every effort to woo her failed big time. Why was he so hell-bent in pursuing her that he even reached a point of getting in matrimony? Like what will happen to his playboy life? But then if he was so desperate how come he wasn’t here yet. She controlled the urge to ask the man in front of her about the whereabouts of Cha Min Hyeok but isn’t it better to not have him around here because she would definitely die from his cringe pick up lines.

“Hello I am Shin Ahyeong.” She smiled at the man before adding, “I have heard a lot about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” The man smirked at her while ogling her with his dirty gaze which in turn succeeded in nauseating her.

“Hello Ahyeongie~” He cooed in his deep voice. Well how can she expect his brother any different from the playboy himself? They are brothers for a reason and ultimately sharing this trait doesn’t seem strange. She gulped down every remnant of saliva she could form and was almost tempted to drink the whole glass of water down but she can’t give away her façade and let him know that she was nervous. “I had heard about you too, especially your enchanting beauty that happens to be the talk of the town, but seems like they never did enough justice. You are very~ very~ pretty and it’s my pleasure to witness it with my own eyes.” He added with his smug smile. If not for her parent’s presence, she might have applied her jujitsu skills on him but for now she has to keep her cool unless she want to face the consequence of a simple slip of tongue let alone a violent attack. The brownie points she has collected in last 20 years will go down the drain if she let her temptations get over her rationality. So taking a deep breath she did what she was at least good at, that was playing along.

“Omo, you are way too kind to think that way.” She palmed while smiling meekly before adding in her fake excitement testing the waters because now she was unsure about her initial assumptions, “Anyways, when is Minhyeok coming. It has been such long time since I last saw him plus it seems like he doesn’t have enough time for us. One of the reason, I was so excited about this meet up today.” There was sudden silence in the room. Her mother’s eyes silently asking ‘what are you trying to pull’ while the man looked at her with his narrowed eyes before laughing it off and Ahyeong could clearly feel the sarcasm in it. Ahyeong internally cringed at it because just like him, even his laughter sounded dirty.

“I didn’t know you were acquainted with my dear brother. He always shares everything with me but he never once mentioned about you.” He smiled at her but his clenched jaw gave away his annoyance which he seems to be suppressing. Ahyeong let out a surprised face before speaking.

“Oh is that so, I thought you knew that we were college mates in Yonsei university. Actually he tried to pursue me during those times.” She giggled which further infuriated him but seems like he was good at controlling his anger, but not his expression. She internally smirked for having upper hand against him in a way giving away some reckless information.

“Shin Ahyeong I don’t think Mr. Cha needs to know that kind of info-”

“Don’t worry Mrs. Han, I think it’s refreshing to learn about this aspects of my future wife from her own mouth.” He smirked as he cut off her mother’s scolding in between while her mother tried to not shoot daggers at him because no one dared to interrupt her whenever she was speaking but seems like this man was an exception but that wasn’t what made Ahyeong freeze in her seat. It was the revelation that happened to crush her small victory. How can she not think about the possibility that if Minhyeok was not present here then definitely this man-. Even thinking about it made her head dizzy. She was almost tempted to look at her parents to confirm that whatever this man was saying is not true but then why will he be here in the first place. She was so indulged in winning those small banters that she didn’t considered the actual agenda behind this whole dinner.

“I assume your parents wanted to surprise you but seems like I spoiled it.”He chuckled mockingly. Ahyeong was disgusted at him for even thinking that she will marry someone like him and even more disgusted at her parents for thinking about marrying her off to this sleazy man. Were they this desperate to get rid of her that they didn’t even considered what kind of person they are giving her away to? But what was there to be surprised when in general they never cared about her. Ahyeong’s heart paced and her emotion started acting up. Sadness, anger and disappointment were what all she could feel at the moment but she still smiled trying not to give away her weakness because she can’t let this man in front of her, to have the satisfaction to see through her miserable state let alone use it for his own entertainment. Her mother awkwardly laughed to dissipate the tension that lingered in the room.

“You see, we are really open minded people when it comes to all this things so we thought it would be more appropriate to let her meet you before finalizing your marriage in a more comfortable environment.” Her mother spoke in her sweet voice while glancing at her husband who for some reason was unusually quite throughout the whole conversation. Ahyeong looked at him and she could see the distress in his forehead. Something was definitely off about this whole arrangement and her parent’s reaction was something she never thought she will ever witness in this lifetime and it somehow made her feel uneasy too. It’s unlikely for someone with not so good position in the industry to tame them down. Exactly what was he using as a leverage to have her parents wrapped around his little finger?

“I think it would be much better if you leave us two alone to know each other well.” The man suggested while her father looked at him with his stoic face eventually agreeing.

Once they were left alone, Ahyeong stressed every cell of her brain to come up with something that might help her in escaping the scene while the man who once sat opposite to her has now plopped beside her almost eating up her personal space. It was suffocating her and all she wanted was to get out from here but it wasn’t going to be an easy task as the man next to her was the hurdle.

“What will you like to drink, Champagne or Wine?”He whispered in her ears while blowing his breath on her nape. Ahyeong moved away from him not even sparing him a glance.

“Look at you getting all shy, what will happen when I exploit you altogether once you become mine.” His suggestive words made her feel want to slap him hard but at what cost. The possibility of him doing something harmful scared the out of her. When the man attempted to touch her, Ahyeong stood up abruptly while grabbing her belongings ready to leave. She can’t trust this man or his intentions; she can see the lust burning in his eyes and he could do something inappropriate so it was better to just run away before he actualizes her assumptions into reality.

“I-I am leaving.” He stood up too before blocking her from moving further.

“Why are you so much in hurry? I thought you were enjoying this equally as much as I did. Isn’t it the reason why you are so dressed up? To seduce me” He walked forward making Ahyeong take a step back and her back collided in the wall behind her. The fear she tried to control surfaced on her face, her vision clouded as she looked at the door behind the man. Only you can save yourself she repeated those words in her head, but how. The man chuckled before putting his hands on either side of her head. Taking a deep breath she looked up the man before her who was drooling shamelessly while eyeing her. She has to strong in order to take this man down but before that she has to let go of her fear.

“Move.” She ordered.

“What if I don’t?” He smirked.

“Then you won’t like whatever happens to you.” She challenged and at that he leaned forward to capture her lips but before he could, Ahyeong kneed him hard in his prideful possession and pushed him off her. The man groaned in pain and started cursing at her but right now she doesn’t give a about anything, as she ran towards the exit.

She ran aimlessly in the streets glancing behind her once in a while praying he was not actually chasing after her to take his revenge. Her lungs burned for air while her feet were bruised and she couldn’t help but curse at herself for wearing heels, but it’s not like she knew that she will be trapped with a molester tonight. She came to a halt when her body gave up; she looked around and sighed in relief that he wasn’t following her, yet. She tried to calm herself before she could another sprint but the urge to throw up suddenly sent her body in tremors. She rushed towards the nearest building which happened to be a restaurant.

Once every single drop of whatever her stomach once held was out, she took a deep breath. Her tears were streaming down her eyes while her heart was still racing. What if he follows her here? She might have stood for herself but she was scared that he will harm her once he gets hold of her. At the mere thought, more tears seeped out. With every single ounce of her strength she stood up before coming out of the toilet stall. Fortunately no on was in the washroom to witness the messy her. Her eyeliner was smudged and mixed with her tears. She pulled out wipes from her clutch before roughly wiping away every single traces of makeup that was mocking her for being a woman- a fragile one at that. Today her dignity was almost compromised, the only thing she thought was untouched but in the world full of hungry wolves it was a hard task when almost everyone was ready to pounce at her and rip apart everything just for satiating their pleasure. It’s not like she hated the idea about being a woman but incidents like such made her question the god, if he or she knew that one day something like this might happened he should have stopped producing woman or just have given them enough strength to prevent themselves from becoming a victim. One can’t always wait for someone to save them. She gritted her teeth as she looked down, unable to put up with her wrecked soul. She just can’t let him get away with what he did today. She must-.

“Shin Ahyeong what-”, Ahyeong looked up at the surprised woman who almost ran towards her before cupping her face in her hands. Just when Ahyeong thought she has cried enough, her tears seemed to have a different opinion. She hugged the woman who was still in shock trying to absorb the scene before her.

“I-Imo why does it hurt so much? W-Why am I feeling so d-dirty when I wasn’t even the one who did something wrong?” She sobbed as her arms tightened around the woman. Why was it that whenever she needed someone to console her; Dr. Hwang always appeared like an angel and gave Ahyeong her best hugs? She never failed, when it came to justifying her Godmother label.

“Ahyeong ah can you wait for me in the lobby while I get my purse.” Hwang Sihyun spoke after she was assured that the girl in her embrace has calmed down from her emotional outburst. Ahyeong nodded before parting away from the woman.

It wasn’t long when Sihyun joined her in the lobby as they headed out of the restaurant. After settling in Sihyun’s car they drove off towards Sihyun’s house as Ahyeong was too scared to even stay alone in her own home. What if her molester was lurking around her house? She still hasn’t got any call from her parents about the incident so she wasn’t sure if they have learned about it or not but she can’t let her guards down, yet. On the way she spilled every detail about what happened before she met Sihyun in the washroom. Even though Sihyun seemed calm throughout the drive, Ahyeong can still see how tense her every single muscles was. When they got home both females cleaned up before sitting in the couch with mug of hot chocolate.

“Sorry for ruining your dinner plans.” Ahyeong felt guilty for taking away Sihyun’s personal time when she learned that the older woman was having dinner with a friend who just came back to Korea after a long time.

“Don’t worry about it.” The older woman smiled at Ahyeong assuring her it was okay.

“You just met your friend after such a long time but here I happen stole you away from your dear friend.” She reprimanded herself for being so selfish when a part of her said that she needed her Imo more than anyone.

“He will understand and it’s not like he will leave Korea tomorrow. He has come back for good.” Sihyun smiled at the thought.

“He?” Ahyeong squealed at possibility of her Imo seeing a man, “don’t tell me he is your secret lover. I bet Dr. Lee’s heart will break once he learns that you were cooing about another man so openly.” Ahyeong teased the older woman who glared at Ahyeong before clearing .

“I and Dr. Lee are just friends and the friend I met is more like a son so stop assuming anything, understood?”

“How come I didn’t know about him? Is he older than me or younger than me? When were you going to tell me about him? Does he know about me?” Ahyeong bombarded the old woman with her curious questions.

“Well~”, the woman dragged before adding, “It’s a secret.” And with that she poked out her tongue teasing Ahyeong pouted and sulked at her Imo’s antic. Sihyun stopped in her actions before embracing and cooing at her.

“You are such a cute baby sometimes that I can’t help but tease you.” She paused as if thinking about something then continuing, “You will meet him soon and I guarantee you will really like him.” Ahyeong smiled at the woman. “What kind of person is he?”

“You will know once you meet him.”

A Sneak Peak of Author's Mind:

I know the title above sounds weird but I was just being creative. About the story so far, I don't know how I am faring as a writer because sometimes I feel I focus more on the OC and her friends than the male leads but honestly I don't regret it because I want my story to be holistic while trying to put every single details and hints so in the future I won't have to add loads of flashbacks and thing for the OC because in later chapters I will focus more on their present. I am trying to keep up with the suspense of the story about how it might unfold in the future but sometimes I feel like 'have I disclosed too much?' So I kind of expect you to express that you actually got the hint that I left but seems like it's either too early to express your views or maybe it's something I can't pinpoint. But there's one thing I want to tell you that it thrills me so much when someone comments on my story. Typing is seriously painful while fighting with autocorrect (which annoys the hell out of me) and then rereading it for errors is tiring but your expectations regarding future chapters fuel my desire to write. So if you have any words even if is a criticism even if it's bitter I will gladly take that into consideration because then only I will improve my writing skills and you will get well written chapters in the future. Huff. I know I spoke a lot but still Thank you for reading my stories and hope you will find solace through my stories.

Have a Good Day. XOXO