I just watched her there, standing in the middle of the hallway, waiting to get noticed.

As if sensing someone watching her, she whipped her head and met my gaze. Almost instantly, she stood up from the bench and strode towards me. Instead of getting scared or curious or something else, I found myself finally walking towards her as well, deciding to meet her halfway.

As we met in the middle, she stared at me, hard. She then grabbed something on her purse and threw it on my face.

“Take that!” she shouted.

I stared at the things she threw to me as they lay helplessly on the floor. They were money, lots of it, crumpled and scattered everywhere. I just stared at them as if they were some kind of interesting things. After that I raised my gaze to meet her eyes.

“Isn’t that enough?” she asked as she grabbed more in her bag. “Okay, fine, here!” she shouted, continuously throwing them on my face. “It’s enough for you to finally leave my grandson right?” she asked, STILL throwing money on my face. “It costs more than your life! Now leave!”

When she finished and was panting hard, I stared at her. Her eyes were red and puffy, probably from crying, mixed with her anger right now.

“What? Aren’t you go—“

She cut herself off when I bent my knees and picked the money from the floor. I heard her scoff and I could almost imagine her rolling her eyes.

I was finishing picking the money up when a pair of shoes appeared beside Madam Kwon.

“What happened?” it was Teddy.

I stood up when I finally picked them all.

Madam Kwon scoffed again. “Obviously, this girl needed something like this to happen to finally accept the money I offered,” she said. She stared at me as I just stood in front of her, not moving an inch. “What? Isn’t that enough? Let me get more then.”

She started grabbing more from her bag but I caught her wrist. She looked shocked as she stared back at me. I then handed the money back to her.

She had her face in a frown, unable to comprehend what I was doing.

“I don’t need this,” I said.

As if realizing something, she shook her head. “Don’t give me that reason once again, young lady.”

“I’m glad to know you know my reason, Madam Kwon.”

“What else do you want?!” she burst out. “What shall I do to get rid of you?!”

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said, as calmly as possible. But a lump was starting to form in my throat as I tried to suppress the tears from falling. “I’m leaving.”

There was a look of surprise at first, which turned to a sarcastic expression. “Finally! So are you leaving for good?”

As much as I didn’t want to do it, I nodded in approval. I dropped my gaze as tears already wanted to escape my lids.

“Dara…” Teddy’s voice made me look up, but I immediately looked away as I saw a hint of shock in his eyes. I switched my gaze to Madam Kwon instead.

“So, tell me,” Madam Kwon started, crossing her arms over her chest. “What made you decide this suddenly?”

I found myself in silence. I didn’t want to tell her the reason. I didn’t want to be looked down upon. I didn’t want it to admit to myself even, but too late, I already accepted defeat. It was in my face right now.

“Is it because you felt responsible for what happened to Jiyong?” she said. And with her words, I felt a hot tear rolling down my cheek. “You felt guilty right? That you just wanted to disappear in his life right now?” she shook her head. “I never thought you were that weak, Dara. I’m disappointed.”

I clenched my fists to stop them from trembling.

“Well, you made the right choice.”

I dropped my gaze as I didn’t want to admit that she was right. Every word she said was right. And I hated myself for being this weak and pathetic right now. I just wanted a hole to magically appear beneath me and swallow me whole for me to escape this humiliation.

“Either way, I hope you’re happy,” I said, starting to turn around when a hand circled my wrist.

“Don’t leave,” it was Teddy again.

I shook his hand off. “Do me a favor and don’t tell Jiyong I left him,” I said, choking back on a sob. “Tell him I’m… dead or something. Just not that I left him.”

As I took the step that will forever be giving a gap between us, tears didn’t stop falling.

I took a step inside of his office, determination apparent in my face. But inside, I was slowly crumbling.

“Dara…” he said, weakly standing up from behind his desk. “What brought you here?”

I stood before his desk, trying to suppress more tears to fall. This would be it. I was already doing it. No backing out.

“You want me to forgive you?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

There was a look of hope in his eyes as he nodded and smiled.

“Two conditions then,” I said, flashing two of my fingers. “First, do not meddle with my business, meaning let me take the course I want in college and I will not be taking the business after you.”

His smile faltered as he was weighing the condition I gave him. And I thought he was going to refuse already by the look of doubt on his face but then he nodded to my relief.

“Second condition,” I said and breathed in. This is it. “Let us not come back to Seoul ever again.”

[ 7 YEARS LATER ]

“It was yet another spectacular fashion week as the supermodels strut their ways on the runway decked in the newest fashion brought to you by Miss Dee’s Miss Stranger Autumn Collection. The mysterious Miss Dee didn’t disappoint us as she brought shocking yet awesome fashion sense to the fashion world. Now, we’re asking the question everyone has been asking since three years ago, who is the person behind this success? Who is the person behind the pseudonym Miss Dee?”

“Kyaaaa~” Bom cooed beside me as we watched the news. “You amazed the world yet again!”

“Yes, and they have been asking the same question since three years ago, unnie,” Minzy said.

“Yeah! When are you going to reveal yourself to the world and show them that a simple petite girl like you can amaze the soul out of them with your creative ideas?” CL asked.

I stood up from the couch and got myself a glass of water. After I finished drinking it, I turned to them. “Wouldn’t it be more exciting for them to keep on guessing the identity behind Miss Dee? I love hiding behind Miss Dee’s shadow. It helps me keep a low profile,” I said as I made my way out.

“Where are you going?” CL asked.

“There will be a photo shoot featuring the designs I made this season. I’m going to take a look at it,” I said as I waved them goodbye.

I went towards my car and started the engine. I turned my iPod on to listen to some J-Pop songs I learned to love since staying here. I bobbed my head up and down as I sang along the music.

After a while, I arrived at the studio where the magazine shoot was being held.

As I was already inside, the staffs were busy because the shooting was currently ongoing with the models decked out in my latest designs and the photographer instructing them how and what to pose with each clothes on.

I smiled to myself as I realized how far I had gone.

Miss Stranger. The clothing brand I made up the moment I graduated from Fashion School in Tokyo. The moment I stepped out of college, I was out venturing to reach for my dreams. And it wasn’t that long before it came true as the opportunity came faster than I thought it would.

Accordingly, a clothing brand in Tokyo, In Style, had been eyeing me since I was still at college when they found out about me and my designs while we were having those annual fashion shows at school which are actually held by the students themselves.

That was how I started – as a fashion expert at their company. My work was kind of simple, really. I would just be attending fashion shows or photo shoots and I would be the one to advise them what to wear and sometimes, I write articles too. I also contribute ideas on what to show the world next, but I never got the chance to design an actual one.

As I realized that I didn’t want to be somebody else’s pawn and wanted to make my own clothing brand, I resigned after a year and went on to a different path.

That was when Miss Dee was born. Before, I didn’t really get the chance to take the credits to myself as they were all reserved to the company I was working on. Now, creating my own clothing brand, I realized I need to be known also. And depending whether it would be successful or not, I would also be known globally.

And I didn’t want that.

That was why I went under the pseudonym, Miss Dee. Outside of the fashion world, no one really knew who Miss Dee was. It was only those who I collaborated with to form a new product or something, those who were on the same field as mine, those who I met along the way while working, the photographers I worked with, the writers of magazines where I occasionally contribute some fashion tips and such, a few supermodels and models. Except for a select few, no one knew me.

I was still smiling by myself when one of the models approached me.

“Um, excuse me?” she asked, her brows arched. “I want some coffee.”

I stared at her, incredulous. “Excuse me?”

“I said I want some coffee,” she repeated with a look on her face that said something like, ‘is this lady deaf or something? Maybe she’s just stupid.’

I smiled and nodded to myself. She might be a new model. And besides, as I looked down on what I was wearing – a black shirt and jeans, I finally realized why she had mistaken me as one of their personal assistants.

See, I don’t really like to wear what I design. As I said, I wanted to keep a low profile as much as possible.

A smirk formed on my lips. So much for being the famous designer behind the clothes they were modeling, Dara. You were even mistaken as a PA.