Jieun’s POV

            I had just returned from my last meeting before my planned flight to Australia and I was loitering in the hotel’s parking lot, taking my time organizing a few files. The hotel usually functioned fine without my supervision babying everyone anyway so I wasn’t worried about being late. After shoving a stack of old receipts and business letters back into the storage compartment, I slipped out my plane ticket and held it up to my eyes.

            “Australia… My last getaway…” I sighed, knowing that I was using work as an excuse to get away. My occupancy in Vancouver all these years started out as an outlet for my own ambitions, yet somehow transitioned into a place of escape from my old life. In Vancouver I wasn’t treated like a chaebol, I was treated like a human. When Daehyun started visiting me in Canada more frequently it no longer felt like my perfect escape. I wanted so much to be free from my dad and his expectations, but he used the most cherished person in my life to tie me closer to them.

            My eyes scanned over the words written in English on the ticket. Why did the idea of going to Australia, even if for a few months, sound so sweet? It felt wrong, but I was excited to be free again—on my own without Daehyun. I felt the pressure of really savouring my time in Australia, because the chances of me ever being independent and free when I came back were so slim. After the business trip, I was sure that my dad would use anything in his power to commence with the planned marriage which I still had never agreed to. Before I could even cry about how unfair it was, my cell phone vibrated in my handbag.

            “Ne?” I picked up, holding the phone to my ear to hear heavy breathing. Was something going on?

            “J-Jieun-sshi… Forgive me for calling you but something bad has happened in the hotel…” A female voice stuttered as she spoke, as if she were quivering with fear. I couldn’t recognize the voice, but the fact that they were using a hotel phone to call me suggested they were a staff member.

            “Please tell me all you know.” I beckoned, not waiting an extra second before stepping out of my car and slamming the door shut. From the outside, the hotel looked completely normal. Even through the tinted windows I could see guests were enjoying themselves in the indoor water park.

            “There’s been severe vandalism found in one of the rooms in the same hallway as yours. A maid walked in to see glass shattered all over the floor, but nothing reported stolen.” By the time she finished explaining, I was already in through the main doors. A few maids bowed as I walked in and then went back to their usual duties. In a rush, I could only nod at them while speed-walking to the reported scene of the crime. A handful of staff were crowded outside the door of a single bed suite—room 18.

            “It’s Jieun,” One of them coughed, ushering the others to step aside. One maid with a phone in her hand—perhaps the one who phoned me—held the door open as I looked in. The room was untouched since discovered in such condition, but they were skeptical as to whether the authorities needed to be notified. My first instinct was to check the windows. This was a first floor room and breaking in through the window seemed reasonable, but when I pushed the drapes aside the windowpane bore not even a scratch.

            “Whoever did this came from inside the hotel. Have the security tapes been looked over?” I eyed one of the technicians by the door who nodded. I needed a better response than that.

            “When I checked the surveillance, the only people seen entering and exiting this hallway in the last two hours were Yongguk and Daehyun. It could’ve happened before then, but there was a large crowd of potential customers touring the hotel making it difficult to identify individual people.” He kept his head down as he spoke, but this information was enough to suffice for now. I wasn’t sure where Yongguk currently was, but the fact that Daehyun was here made things a little suspicious.

            “Does anything know why Daehyun came here today?” I questioned, not really wanting to deal with him right now. Most of the staff standing here just shook their head.

            “Alright, there’s no need to dawdle here any longer. Go back to your work.” I sighed, waiting for all of them to hesitantly leave. My eyes scanned the glass that was broken on the floor. The shards were of all sizes; sharp and threatening to slice anything that made contact with it. Surprisingly, or perhaps fortunately, there was no blood to be seen. I began walking towards the door when I noticed something else mixed in with the pieces of glass. Curiously, I knelt over to pick it up. It was a gold ring, plain in design but too large for a woman’s finger. These were the sort of objects tourists did not carry around with them.

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            In my office, I tried to relax a headache I’d developed after such a hectic day. I was debating whether to take a painkiller or to just tough it through when someone knocked on my door. I noticed a box of Hyosung’s things next to the bookshelf and assumed it was Hyosung coming back to pick it up.

            “Come in,” I called, just loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear me. The knob twisted and the door slowly opened. Originally I had my head half resting on my desk, but when I realized it wasn’t Hyosung at the door, I immediately straightened up.

            “Hey, I heard about the vandalized room,” Yongguk grabbed a seat across from me at my desk quite casually. It seemed that we were both getting quite comfortable around each other. When other staffs weren’t around, we didn’t even bother with honorific speech anymore.

            “Yeah…” I breathed,”Thinking about it gave me a headache.” Yongguk eyed the box of Advil next to my favourite fountain pen and then looked back at me.

            “That’s weird. Usually Advil works magic for me, but you still look like you’re suffering.” He tipped the box over with his pointer finger and chuckled. I shook my head, trying to hide my smile.

            “I didn’t take any Advil yet.” Even though I always had a box nearby, it was usually in case other people needed it. I personally was never fond of using painkillers.

            “You’re quite the fighter, then.” Yongguk half teased and half complimented. Amidst our joking around, I remembered what the surveillance technician had told me. Yongguk had been down that hallway sometime before, after, or during the vandalism. Maybe he knew something. My right hand was in my cardigan pocket, fiddling with the golden ring I had found at the scene.

            “Do you know why Daehyun came here today?” I asked, hoping not to ruin the casual conversational atmosphere. I couldn’t help but believe that this gold ring belonged to him, and if I was right, then the fact that it was in room 18 meant he had something to do with it. If I had just one witness, I’d know for sure. Yongguk didn’t answer me right away. Instead, it was preoccupying himself by spinning the globe on my desk and holding his pointer finger in one place to see which country it’d land on.

            “The usual, I’d assume,” He finally answered after spinning the globe a few times, “Another failed attempt at obtaining your hand in marriage.” Somehow, despite the serious conversation topic, he was able to turn this back into a playful discussion. It was believable though, because Daehyun’s past consecutive visits were for the same ulterior reason.

            “It’s just so frustrating…” I mumbled, fighting the urge to just vent everything out right now. It was always easiest to talk to Yongguk. Even though we were both from different worlds, he made me feel understood, or at least appreciated. Not a lot of people were able to do that anymore.

            “Why don’t you just marry the poor guy? It would take a lot more burdens off your back than add.” Yongguk wasn’t looking at me, but he had my full attention now. Something about the direction of this conversation made it uncomfortable for us to have eye contact. I, too, looked away.

            “I don’t love him.” I admitted again. It seemed like a fact that everyone hoped would change if they just kept asking, but I knew love didn’t work that way. I wasn’t just saying it to remind myself not to stumble; I honestly meant it.

            “Tch, since when were corporate marriages about love?” He spoke at the globe while I spoke at the window, as if those objects were relaying our messages back and forth with our voices. He had a point, though. Not many chaebol marriages happened because they genuinely loved each other. They happened because they love wealth. At that thought, I cringed.

            “I…” My eyes looked deeper into the night sky as if the stars would reassure me of the wish I was to make, “don’t want a corporate marriage.” In fact, I’d rather die lonely with a house full of dogs than to be tied down in marriage for the pursuit of riches and fabricated beliefs of what love is. I may not know what love is, but I know that it’s not like that. Families built upon businesses are cold and distant.

            “Then what do you want?” He asked quietly. In the background I could hear the globe spinning again. It felt strange for Yongguk to be asking me such a question, and it felt even weirder for me to give him an answer. To be honest, I can make a never ending list of things that I don’t want, but when it comes to what I do… I just don’t know. I couldn’t answer him.

            “You say you hate being a chaebol so much. Why not just leave?” I hadn’t noticed that my eyes trailed from looking at the dark horizon to focusing on Yongguk’s face in the window’s reflection. As if on signal, he looked up at me, and my eyes locked onto his even if just his reflection. My mind froze instantly.

            “Are you kidding?” I scoffed, turning to make eye contact with him for real. He flinched for a moment after I turned and looked right into his eyes. Perhaps he didn’t know we were already making eye contact through his reflection.

            “I’m serious. You’re suffering through so many unnecessary things just because of a status that was thrown onto you. It…” He stopped to think before continuing in a much slower pace, “hurts to see you always so depressed.” I could tell he was serious. The once joking atmosphere had completely dissolved and now we were face to face talking about something I’d never dare bring up with anyone else.

            “Why would you be the one hurting?” I thoughtlessly retorted, a little more rudely than I intended. I fought his sincere stare that seemed to drown me further in guilt the more I looked and closed my eyes. I didn’t even understand why tears were starting to form at my tear ducts. Why was I so weak?

            “Because I care about you,” Yongguk affirmed simply and confidently. There was nothing uncertain about the tone in which he said it. I’d never had anyone say that to me so sincerely before and somehow hearing it only made the tears trickle faster down my face.  I was so shocked and tongue tied, I couldn’t even lift my hands to wipe the tears away. Just when I thought I looked pathetic enough to just run and hide in a washroom stall, I felt a gentle thumb wipe the tears off my cheek, though it did more of smudging them across my face.

            “…Why… are you being like this? It’s not like it’s a confession.” I muttered, wishing it had just stayed in a thought bubble. There was no immediate response, so I believed that he hadn’t heard me. After a few extra seconds for safe measure, I let out a small sigh of relief and opened my eyes. Yongguk was staring right at me, with the warmest smile I’d ever seen.

            “It is if you want it to be.” His minute late reply to my rhetorical question finally came.

A/N: OH MY GOODNESS I AM SO SORRY FOR DISAPPEARING FOR LIKE THREE MONTHS!!! School is seriously such a killer (of my free time). I just finished my exams yesterday so I have a week or so of freedom. I promise you all that I will never abandon this fanfic (or ANY of my fanfics for that matter). I always finish what I start. Thank you everyone who waited patiently for the next chapter. I'm really excited to continue writing Wanderlust. Intense stuff happened int his chapter; let me know your thoughts in a comment? (: I reply each and every one of them because they're all important to me!