Dara parked the car in front of the café where she’s supposed to meet Kwon Jiyong.  It’s weird.  Why does she feel nervous?  Or is it that she’s just afraid of him?  Afraid that he’ll shout at her for calling the police, and blame her for the gunshot?  Afraid that he has not had enough and will kidnap her once again?  It’s weird that she’s thinking of these things now that she’s arrived at the meeting place, when she didn’t even hesitate earlier when he called and asked her to meet him.  Unconsciously, she fixes herself, applies more powder, and puts on lipstick (again).  She finally gets off the car, and then brushes her hands over her dress, to remove some wrinkles on it.  The she crossed the street, and immediately scanned her eyes over the coffee shop once she entered.

Dara couldn’t find him so she just looked for a table.  She sat at the corner, near the window glass so she could see if he’s coming from outside.  She ordered for a cup of coffee while waiting.  Although she has been wondering what happened to them, and somehow felt bad that neither Chaerin nor Jiyong has made any attempts to contact her after the incident, she was still surprised when she heard his voice earlier.  Her heart was beating fast during the whole conversation, which was just less than two minutes by the way.

“Hello.  Is this Ms. Sandara Park?”

“Yes, who’s this please?”

“Uhm, this is Kwon Jiyong.  I don’t know if you remember me but I was the one who kidnapped you last week.”  He chuckled before he continued.  “Oh sorry, it must be scary to hear that.  I don’t know how else I’m gonna introduce myself, in a way that you would remember me.”

“Oh yes, it’s you.”  Dara took a deep breath before she continued.  “Definitely not expecting this, but I apologize for what happened to you last time.  You were still not well when I left the hospital, so I haven’t said my proper apologies.”

“Wow, you’re even apologizing.  Funny.”  He laughs a bit.  “Anyway, I don’t have much time now but can you meet me later?  There are some things I have to settle.  That is if you’re okay with that.  I mean, I won’t do anything bad you know.”

“Oh no no.”

“No, you can’t meet me?”

“No! I mean Yes, it’s okay, I can meet you later.  What time and where?”

“If it’s okay, meet me at Hongdae.  There’s a coffee shop there at the Seohyu Buiilding at Seogyo-dong.  I can meet you there at around 6:30.”

“Oh alright, I’ll just look for that place.  I’ll see you then.”  Then Dara was shocked because he just hung up the call just like that.  No proper goodbye or what.

____________________________

Dara has been waiting for thirty minutes now.  She’s on her third cup of coffee, and she’s wondering if that’s the reason why she’s feeling more nervous as the minutes pass.  She starts fidgeting with her phone, waiting for him to call.  She tried calling the number he used earlier but it seemed like the phone was turned off. 

Feeling a bit irritated that he made her wait for so long when he was the one who asked for a meeting, Dara let out a deep sigh and prepared to leave.  She was looking down, checking her bag as she stood up, when she heard him. 

“Leaving already?”  Jiyong was in front of her.  He was just in his plain white shirt and jeans.  He waved his hand in front of Dara, like waking her up from something, because she just stood there looking at him for a good ten seconds and said nothing.  When she finally realized it, Dara looked down and shook her head a little and bit her lip, feeling embarrassed.

After a few seconds, she managed to look back at him.  “Oh I thought you’re not coming anymore.  I’ve been waiting for thirty minutes.”

Jiyong just raised his eyebrows and just smiled with his lips pursed together.  He didn’t apologize or anything.  His expression was saying, “yeah I already know that.”  He instead walked past Dara and sat across the chair where Dara sat earlier.  He turned his back to Dara and moved his head pointing to the chair in front of him, telling Dara to take a seat.  As amazed as she was at what just happened, Dara could just laugh with an annoyed expression.  She thought of just walking out on him, but then she decided she’d give him his fair share of reprimands for being late.  So she walked back towards the table and took her seat.  “Oh you just wait; you’re definitely going to have it.”  Dara thought to herself.

But before she could start pointing at his rudeness, Jiyong went ahead of her and spoke first. 

“I’m sorry I was late, my place is far from here.  Anyway, I won’t keep you long; you’re probably busy and you already looked pissed off as it is.  I just want to be sure that we’re clear on things.  I know I owe you a lot for bailing me out on the kidnapping, and taking care of the hospital bills; but just know that I’m gonna return all those money to you as soon as I can.  I don’t know how and honestly, I don’t have anything right now, but I guarantee you I’ll get you back all those money.”

She definitely was not expecting him to say that.  She somehow thought of words like “thank you and I’m sorry,” but not in the way that Jiyong did.  However Dara didn’t let the surprise show on her face.  She cleared before speaking.

“Hello, my name is Sandara Park.  Nice meeting you Kwon Jiyong-ssi.”  Dara offered her hand for a handshake.  With an amused look on his face, Jiyong smiled and shook her hand.  That smile didn’t escape Dara’s eyes though; and as soon as she realized this, she had to divert her eyes quickly to the people behind, past Jiyong’s face.

“What are you doing?”  Jiyong asked.

“Nothing; I’m just looking at the people behind you.”  Dara quickly put on the poker face.

“I mean, what are you trying to get at, ignoring what I just said?”

“No, I’m not.  I totally get what you’re saying; it’s just that I thought it’s impolite not starting with a proper introduction.  Pointing a gun isn’t exactly the most proper way to introduce oneself; and neither is rudeness the best second meeting.”

“I’m not trying to get on your good side, you know.  I just want to make things clear; because I don’t want to have any debt of gratitude to your heroics back there.  Truth is, I would have preferred it if you just reported everything to the police and they send me to prison.”

“Why are you trying so hard to be rude?  You could’ve just said sorry you know and then we’re done.  I wasn’t even thinking of asking you to pay me.  I’m just relieved that no one got hurt.”

“But why did you do that?  Why didn’t you just tell the police that I kidnapped you and that I should be punished?  It would’ve have saved us all the time.”

“Because you looked like you didn’t have a choice.”

Jiyong fell silent when she said that.

“ You’re still young Jiyong, and so is Chaerin.  I feel sorry that you both had to go through such scary circumstances.  I’m not trying to be a heroine here.  I just feel that it’s such a waste if you give away all your youth for that.  Chaerin is a nice girl and she has so much ahead of her; and so do you.”

Wow, this girl is really more annoying than he has imagined her to be.  Rich girls like her, thinking they’re so perfect and admirable.  Jiyong is getting annoyed now, the fact that someone he barely knows is saying these things to him.

“I want to help you.  I’m just going to forget all the rudeness.  I like Chaerin and I feel sorry for her.  So please, if there’s anything more than I can help you with, just tell me.  I can find you a decent job, and I can ask my parents to look for available scholarships for Chaerin.”

Jiyong just got more irritated with her words.  She’s making him feel small.  So he just stood up and prepared to leave.  “I think we’re done here.  I’ll just get you your money back as soon as I can.  So just stay out of my radar.  If you can’t wait then just go and call the police.  And don’t bother Chaerin, either; I can take care of her.”  He took something out of his pocket and slammed it on the table, shocking Dara.  He then leaned over the table towards Dara and whispered something to her.  “That’s for those cups of coffee; thanks for the time.”  Then he immediately left the scene, causing the other people in the café to look at them.

Dara was still looking down, her fists balled tightly, restraining herself from crying.  The scene was just too much for her.  She didn’t expect that their conversation would turn out like this.  She was even looking forward to this earlier, thinking that she’d make new friends and she’d be able to help.  But it definitely turned out to be the opposite, and he looked like the scary person again that she first saw.  Just as she thought she would break down and embarrass herself on the spot, her phone rang.

“Babe, where are you?  Is everything okay?”  How can he manage to make her smile right away with just his voice?  Dara thought to herself as she heard TOP’s voice on the phone.

She wiped the tears that formed in her eyes, and tried her best not to let the disappointment earlier show in her voice.  She smiled again before she talked so that she would sound okay. 

“I just finished a meeting with a stylist.  I’m at a coffee shop here at Hongdae.  Honey, do you still have time to meet me tonight?”

“Yes of course babe.  Are you okay?  Is there anything wrong?  Your voice sounds sad.”  TOP can always see and hear right thru her.  He knows her too well.

“No I’m okay.  I just miss you.”

“I miss you more babe.  Which coffee shop is that?  I’m going there now.”

“Can I just go to your place?  I’ve been here for too long, I’ve had too much coffee.  Your place is just around here anyway.”

“Oh okay, I’ll wait for you then.  You must be hungry; I’ll cook for you then.  What do you want to eat?”

“Anything’s fine, Hon.  I just want to see you.”

“I can’t wait to see you too.  Take care on your way, alright?”

_________________________________

Jiyong was furious when he got out from the café.  He felt insulted, he felt so small.  All throughout his life, he had to depend only on himself.  Even though Chaerin’s father took her in and treated him like his son, Jiyong never once asked for any other help from him.  He had to work too and shared with some of the expenses in the household as much as he can.  He did not even bother to look for his parents because he didn’t want them to think that he was just asking for money.  So the fact that this girl, whom he barely knows, talks to him like he’s a charity project, he can’t help but get angrier.  He swore to himself that he will never ask the help of anyone.  With this thought, he also realized that he really doesn’t know anyone else he can trust aside from Chaerin and her father.

He’s now heading to his work in one of the bars in Hongdae.  It was just a ten-minute walk from the coffee shop.  Chaerin’s father was able to convince the owner to hire Jiyong, even though he was still a minor at that time.  Since Chaerin’s father had worked there as a musician for a long time, the owner trusted him.  Jiyong started there as a service guy, cleaning the floors and tables.  He really didn’t talk a lot so he couldn’t be given the waiter’s job at that time.  But after some time, the owner saw how hardworking he was.  He never came late for work and even stayed late to finish cleaning, often the last one to leave the place.  He never complained too and never asked for a pay raise.  So he gained the owner’s trust and soon he was able to get the waiter’s job and got along well with the other workers. 

However, the owner of the bar, who was an old man, died and his son took over the operations.  Since the new owner is young, a lot of changes were implemented; he wanted the bar to cater more to the younger generation.  This led to Chaerin’s father being discharged from his musician stint, and younger artists were taken in.  Jiyong protested this and thus, he was not at the good side of the new owner.  Still, he continued to work there because he needed the job.  He was not able to finish high school so he cannot really look for another work.

When he arrived at the bar, there were new faces who are working inside.  He went to the locker to change to his uniform, then he saw some of his co-workers fixing their things.

“Oh you came just about in time.  We have to pack our things Jiyong.”  One of his co-workers said.

“Why?  What happened?  Why are there a lot of new workers I see outside?”

“The good owner just decided to replace all of us.  Guess he’s turning this whole place into a club soon.”

“Just like that?  Without any notice?” 

“Well, consider yourself notified now.  Let’s go; we can’t stay here long.”

Jiyong definitely did not expect this.  Right after the incident, he thought of how he would earn the money to pay Sandara Park and how he would go back right on track.  He still has to support Chaerin too while her father has gone hiding.  He even thought of asking for extra hours so he could have additional income.  But being removed from the job was surely not part of his plans.

His co-workers invited him to go grab some drinks, and drown all their misfortunes away, but he decided to pass.  He just wants to head straight to his place and think about what he’s going to do from now on. 

_____________________________________

When he arrived, Chaerin was there waiting for him with a worried face.

“Oppa, you’re here.  We have a problem.  The landlady came earlier and said we have to give her a rental deposit again by next week.  Shilba and his men went here before and got the deposit from her, saying that Appa (Father) owed them money.  The landlady got scared so she had no choice but to give them the money.”

Jiyong went straight to his room and threw himself to the bed, lying face down.  Everything today is just so overwhelming.  How can all the bad luck come in just a day?  Did he betray the Republic of Korea in his previous life?  Here he was thinking he just had to agonize about losing his job, and now he hears of the possibility of having no place to stay.  He certainly wished that he was just having a bad dream.  He closed his eyes, still not saying anything.  His mind is blank and he can’t think of a way to get through the all the bad news from this day. 

Chaerin sat at the edge of the bed.  “Oppa, what should we do?  I’m so sorry you have to be involved in my family’s mess.  You can leave me here Oppa; I’ll figure out a way.”

“Just leave me alone for a while, Chaerin.  I need some time to think.  Let’s talk later.”  Jiyong said with his eyes still closed.  Chaerin stood up and said “I’m so sorry Oppa” before closing the door.

“What should I do?  What happens now?”  These thoughts kept repeating on Jiyong’s head for about ten minutes while he was lying there on the bed.  He then thought of how unfortunate it was that he hasn’t saved up much; he doesn’t even know how much money he has.  How irresponsible.  He cannot even remember hiding some money anywhere in his room.  While thinking of how much he has left, his hands went to his pocket.  He turned around, with his back now on the bed.  He felt something in his pocket and took it out.  It was a business card.

“.”

___________________________________________

A/N: Woah! Sorry it took long for me to update.

See a certain M/V entitled Monster came out so I was busy. hihihihi

Hello to my new subscribers and friends.  Thank you to everyone who

commented and sent me tweets too.  I really appreciate it guys. I'm not

even promoting this fic 'cause I'm shy and this baby of mine is still in the works.

Thanks for all the love. ^___^ Hope to hear from you all soon. <3

p.s. I do hope you understood the last part. ke! =)