Darkness painted the streets a black river as the light rain fell that night.

She paced in front of the club a few times before deciding to go down the steps into the warm dry air tinted with music of the pop variety. The dark alley was left behind as she descended the metal stairs into a cozy space that was mostly made up of a large stage at the far end opposite the bar.

The grey interior around that half of the club gave it a cozy relaxed feeling that was swallowed up by the opulence of the white stage framed in black mirrors. The light that bounced off gave the bar more lighting but the polished look was a bit redundant in her opinion. Never the less Tony made it work and for sure it was a hit with the younger crowd on the weekends.

She glanced at the stage area now and almost rolled her eyes, then continued on her way to the black topped bar to take a seat on the chrome and leather stools.

The group on stage noticed her of course, in the dimly lit room her flowing white dress gleamed under the reflected light coming from behind them. One boy slightly lost his timing but quickly caught back up again.

The number of people in the place on a Wednesday night was less than spectacular and only a small group of dedicated fans clustered around the three foot tall stage to ogle the boys as they performed.

 

Hee Sun placed her clutch on the bars surface and folded her arms as she smiled at the bartender/owner of said club who was already there placing her preferred drink down on a napkin before her.

"Oppa, did you make a new acquisition?" she said gesturing behind her with a nod over her shoulder, her long black hair swinging from the motion.

Tony leaned over and grinned at her conspiratorially
"어. 어때? 귀엽지?" [eo. eottae? gwiyeobji? | Uh. What do you think? Cute right?]

She leaned closer as well and they looked over at the group of guys who were singing about cheating on their girlfriend with an older woman, dancing along in-sync with the music.

Hee Sun narrowed her eyes at her long time friend. "Oh yeah, that's cute all right."

Tony laughed and went back to wiping a drinking glass with a white cloth.

Hee Sun stirred her drink slowly, looking down  into its liquid amber depths with worry on her mind. In fact she was so absorbed in those thoughts that she didn't notice when the stools around her were claimed by the group of dancers that had just left the stage.
 

A hand slowly pushing a napkin with a phone number scrawled on it into view was what broke her from those morose ponderings and she blinked rapidly to re-water her eyes as she looked up to the man on her right.

A sandy blond sat next to her with a creepy little smile on his face. Hee Sun raised her eyebrow giving him a 'are you for real' glare that made the smile slip and eventually disappear.

"Aren't you too young to be in here?" She asked turning back to her drink, ignoring him.

A tap alerted her to the others sitting to the left. She sighed and looked over.

'Gods, this one looked even younger!' She quickly cut a fierce glare at the bartender.

"Oppa! Is this even legal? How old are these kids?"

Tony laughed at the look on the guys faces and gave Hee Sun a cute little smirk.
"Come on Hee Sun-ah, don't be so cruel."
He motioned to the boy on her left with a nod of his head and said "This is my nephew Danny Ahn."

She glanced over and caught the look of horror on the kids face. "Samchon!" [ 삼촌! | samchon! | Uncle! ]
The boy glanced at her and leaned forward a little, continuing in English "I told you not to call me Danny. It's Neil, just Neil, geez!"

Tony shot the boy a mocking pout and Hee Sun broke out into a laugh. All the males looked at her then and she continued the English conversation easily. "So you guys are related and you let your under aged nephew and his friends perform her for free?"

Tony pointed at her with a grin as if she'd won the prize and they laughed together.

The one with the pink hair leaned over to Neil and whispered into his ear as they both looked on in awe "Yah, she's even more beautiful when she laughes." Neil could only nod his head as he stared at the woman beside him who was now shaking her head at his uncle.

 

-  -  -

 

"Guys thanks for the hard work! I'll see you tomorrow, same time." Tony put his hand up in farewell to the group and went to clean up the bar where they had sat earlier from all the chicken delivery they had eaten as a late dinner.

Hee Sun had stayed at their insistence and told them stories of stuff she had seen and done while working in the US a few years back as a fashion photographer.
They all seemed pretty nice for the most part. The one that had first hit on her had traded his seat with the eldest guy and sat at the end pouting through most of it.

Hee Sun rolled her eyes remembering it. She stood up and grabbed her clutch, crossing the thin silver chain strap across her body and fixing her hair into place. She looked over at the owner and smiled watching him wipe at the counter top.

"Tony Oppa, I'll be going now." She waved a 20,000 won and stuffed it in the near empty tip jar that was really only there for looks instead of function. He grinned and waved her away.

She was almost to the stairs when someone grabbed her arm right above the elbow. She turned to face Tony.

"Listen Hee Sun-ah, be careful around Neil alright? Don't let his innocence fool you, he can be trouble."

She scrunched up her face in confusion, why was he telling her this? "Oppa, does that even make sense? Why would I hang around with a kid?" She started to laugh but he shook his head and the look on his face made the mirth die quickly.

"It won't matter how you feel about him, if he decides he wants you... just be careful okay? He's not what he seems."

Hee Sun nodded a bow and pulled her arm from his grasp gently.
"Arasseo Oppa." [알았어 오빠 | al--eo oppa | I understand oppa]
She quickly went up the stairs and looked back to see Tony scratching his head with a frustrated visage. She shook her head and continued out.

Just before she reached the exit at the end of a narrow hallway at the top of the stairs she was grabbed again above the elbow.
She swung around ready to tell Tony she got it already when she saw who it was.

She was shocked into silence when her eyes landed on a smirking Neil.

Her heart sunk and Tony's warning was blaring behind her ears. Her face heated and she in a breath.

"Neil, what are you doing? Didn't you guys leave already?" She was trying to stay calm but his grip tightened and she shut up.

"Is Noona worried?" He said it cutely in a sweet tone but there was a look behind his eyes that made her wary. She tried to pull away from him but he was pretty strong for such a skinny guy.

"What do you want?" She asked shortly ignoring the pain under his fingers.

Neil made a pouty face "Aww noona, don't be like that." Then he smirked and with his other hand he pulled out his hand phone. Looking back up at her he grinned. "Since you didn't give your number to Chunji hyung, give it to me huh?" His eyes glittered strangely under the fluorescent lighting and she was taken aback. She shook her head.

"No" she said flat out in a dead serious tone.

Neils face turned dark. "Wae?" [왜 | wae | Why]

It was delivered in such an icy tone that she shivered. "I have no interest in little kids." she said and wrenched her arm from his grasp, pushing past him and exited the club.

 

Once out on the street she inhaled deeply with a hand over her heart to calm its racing pace. It was crazy that she was feeling this way for someone so much younger than herself. He was only, what, seventeen? And he looked so effeminate and skinny, so how could she be so scared of him? Was it Tony's warning or some kind of intuition that was telling her to get away from him as quickly as possible?

She shook her head and walked tot he connecting street and flagged down a cab. Her heart didn't calm until she was halfway home, which made her feel stupid for being afraid of a kid.

Once she was in the elevator of her apartment building she laughed at herself, shaking her head. The doors slid shut and she rode up to the tenth floor in awe of how stupid she had acted back there.

 

-  -  -

Down stairs in the lobby a dark smirk formed on the face of a slim form, hidden by the shadow of a dark grey hoodie, their eyes glued to the floor number the elevator had stopped on.

No matter what, he was going to get what he wanted, and he wanted her so badly that he could taste it on his tongue like some tangible flavor of sweet berries and syrup.
The form turned and left the brightly lit building with his hands buried in the pockets of his skinny jeans. His stride was confident and long as he calculated the ways he could see her, slip into her life unnoticed. He was a patient man, he knew he could pull it off, and when he did, it would only be a matter of time before she was his... forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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