Hyuna was fully dressed and looking decent the next day, getting ready to check out of the motel. Carrying her 5000 won in her wallet, Hyuna walked out of the room in an oversized shirt and her Daisy Dukes, zipped up and buttoned this time, and her hair in a messy bun. She returned the key and paid for their stay using her allowance which her mother thought she used for lunch and other school-related expenses.

“Thank you for choosing the Motel, ma’am.” said the morning shift manager. Hyuna nodded her head and left hurriedly. Upon exiting, she hailed a taxi which stopped in front of her.

“The Daisy Apartments, please.” she directed the cab driver to her apartment where she resided. The driver was a fast, making Hyuna reach her destination quickly. The driver stopped and as Hyuna paid, winked at her.

“See ya!” Back in her decent self, Hyuna was automatically creeped out as she hurriedly left the taxicab before he could make any advances. Now in the front porch of the apartment, Hyuna dashed to get inside before any of the co-eds could see her. Up the stairs the young e went, with 5000 won in her wallet and a brand new ual encounter in her mind that she was sure to forget later on.

Upon reaching her room, Hyuna locked herself in and changed once more. She took the shirt that the playboy gave her off and replaced it with a brand new one, one that was hers.

RING! RING!

Hyuna jumped out of her skin at the sound of her cellphone ringing. The disorganized teenager dug for her phone amongst her clothes and other things in panic, not wanting to miss something that could be important.

Damn this could be mom! Hyuna bit her lip in anxiety when she couldn’t find her phone. Finally, she managed to get a hold of her LG Lollipop phone which she had owned for four years already. Hyuna pressed the accept call button and put it close to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hyuna, this is mom.” her mother said.

“I know. I kinda anticipated that.” she said.

“It’s a Saturday, you’re not coming home?” her mother sadly asked, expecting her daughter to be packing her things to visit her on the weekend. Hyuna, had other agendas however that she couldn’t reveal to her mother.

“No mom I can’t.” Hyuna said.

“Why not?” her mother asked. “You used to come every weekend.” Hyuna rubbed her forehead, desperately needing an excuse so as not to visit her mother.

“I have a club meeting this morning and I have work at night.” she said. What Hyuna told her mother was that she was working at a call center and had to work nights. What her mother didn’t know was that her daughter was selling herself to random strangers, looking for a good time, doing this to earn a hefty amount of money.

“Alright. I understand.” said Mrs. Kim. “Just don’t forget to call or tell me when you’re visiting, okay. Take care, I love you.”

“Right. Take care too , mom. I love you, too.” Hyuna hung up and massaged her temples. She knew it was wrong to lie to her mother about her true profession but this was what she needed to get big cash right away.

Well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. So I just gotta be careful... Hyuna thought to herself. She began to fix her things and put everything in their proper order before somebody came knocking in and saw what a mess she made.

[IN HYUNA’S HOMETOWN]

Hyuna’s mother Anastasia Kim lived alone. She was a woman of 45 who ran a business by herself ever since her husband-Hyuna’s father-left them. She had proven that she could do better even without Mr. Kim around and this was proof of it. Anastacia had earned a good sum of money from the business that she was running though it wasn’t enough to afford Hyuna’s lavish requests.

Throughout her divorced life, Anastasia, endearingly called Stacy by friends and family, had met a slew of guys attracted to her beauty queen looks. Stacy looked quite young for her age and with a height and body of a supermodel, she was sure to rope in the guys. As a matter of fact, Stacy roped in more suitors than her daughter had in the university. At least she did not need to e herself just to get men.

If Hyuna kept secrets from her mother while away, Stacy had the right to do so as well. In order not to mess up her supposedly ‘wholesome’ daughter’s mind, Stacy kept it a secret from Hyuna her affair and relationship with an American immigrant named Joseph Wordsworth. Wordsworth was a lawyer who decided to practice in Korea, having travelled to the country several times. He met Stacy when he stopped by her store to buy something and just so happened to have struck a conversation with the owner herself. Things became heavenly and lovely between the two after the first meeting. Joseph and Stacy had been living in since Hyuna moved out of the house and into the university. Stacy was meaning to introduce Joseph to Hyuna but felt that it would be such a huge inconvenience on her daughter’s part so she opted to keep him a secret.

“When am I going to meet your daughter?” asked Joseph. Stacy shrugged and shook her head.

“Oh I was meaning to introduce you to her but she just never seemed to be coming home.” Stacy apologetically said.

“That’s quite alright. You know how girls are with their gimmicks and parties. It’s college life. I’ve a sister and I know what that’s like for her. She was always away. Always.” he said as he put his arm around his girlfriend.

Things between Joseph and Stacy were quite normal, lovey dovey to say the very least. They were always sweet to each other and barely quarrelled. Joseph, as Stacy would claim, was the very ideal man that any girl would love to have. Tall, handsome, well-educated and well mannered, he would have made a good father figure to the young lady.

[IN HYUNA’S APARTMENT]

Hyuna was in bed, thinking. The sleep that she got last night with the playboy was unpleasant. She could still smell alcohol lingering in as well as the very strong men’s perfume that the playboy must’ve used.

“ing disgusting. Remind yourself to take a shower afterwards, .” Hyuna said to herself.

I don’t know why I can’t get any kind of satisfaction from the ing customers that I pick up! It’s like only the real bad and stupid ones are the ones that actually go for me! I mean, seriously now?!? Can’t I get someone who’ll give me a thrill! That’s the reason why I entered this profession in the first place! The thrill! Instead of getting thrilled I’m only boring myself to ing death! I needed a job that was exhilarating at the same time profitable. What’s that? ion! Then it turns out to be goddamn boring with all these tards I’m getting! When am I going to get a real customer? I want one that would turn me out! One that would make me scream and moan his name out loud in the dark...yeah that kind. One that would hurt me so bad it’s good. Will make me bathe in sweat and... Hyuna realized how dirty her thoughts were getting. She sat up and snapped out of her ual stupor.

“Damn. I gotta stop this.” Hyuna told herself. The was taking over her and she wanted it to stop. Hyuna stood up and grabbed some of her books and started reading on psychology, a subject she was highly interested in to keep her at bay.

Save it for tonight, . Hyuna told herself as she read on a topic that she hoped would steer her brain clear of ual thoughts. It, however, did the opposite.

The entire day, Hyuna went about not seeing nor talking to anyone, just studying her books and ing. Yes, ing was something Hyuna did to get her psyched up for her night job. All the while she thought of someone, an older man more preferably. Hyuna had no real bonding moments with her father, couldn’t remember any emotional attachment to her father. Since leaving them, Hyuna had been attracted to older, more powerful and charismatic men. Men like her professors, her tutor in piano class when she was younger, and now, she was looking for another old man to have with.

Hyuna’s ual services stretched past her job and even sneakily made its way into her academic life. When she had a grade below the grade requirement to get a dean’s list, Hyuna knew she had to beg her professor to up her grade a little bit.

[FLASHBACK]

“Sir, please! I really need to get a grade of 2. Please sir, it’s 2.5...please.” Hyuna begged in her professor’s room, down on her knees. The professor looked at her and felt slightly aroused, seeing that she was willing to give whatever for a grade just to be in the dean’s list.

“Alright, I’ll make it up to you,” said the professor.Hyuna’s  face lit up as she crawled closer to him. “It’s this or no grade.”

“What is it sir? Anything!” Hyuna was so close to humping her professor’s leg. She was clutching at the hems of his gray slacks.

“You have with me tonight for that grade, and a spot on the dean’s list. Don’t do it, no grade nor dean’s list for you.” said the professor. Hyuna, an secretly promiscuous student, got up from her kneeling position, undid her ponytail and let her long, wavy hair flow down, seducing her professor. She ed the first few buttons of her polo and ran a hand through her hair.

“Meet me at my apartment, sir. Room 1313. 8 don’t be late.” Hyuna winked and blew him a kiss as she ily walked out of his office.

That night, the professor did go to her apartment, she did entertain him and they did spend the night together, having and all.

It wasn’t limited to .

She blew him.

The next day, Hyuna saw her name on the dean’s list. At the very top.

And yes, it still was a secret, a well kept one. No one but the two of them knew.

And it still haunted Hyuna to this very day.

[END FLASHBACK]

Hyuna felt goosebumps run down her spine at the thought of performing on her professor and how disgusting it felt and looked right now. Figuring she could use some fresh air after all that dirt from men, Hyuna got up, stopped reading and walked to her door to go outside.  She exited her apartment, wearing a slightly loose baby tee and the same Daisy Dukes. With her hair untied and flowing in all its wavy glory, attracting attention from the passers by. Every guy that walked past her couldn’t help but notice her flowing, wavy black hair as she stood and leaned next to a post.

“Hi Hyuna!” came a familiar voice from her left. Hyuna closed her eyes and clenched her fists in distress. That voice could only come from one person...

“What do you want?” Hyuna replied without even turning her head. The guy who was bothering her kept a silly, blushing grin on his face.

“To spend some time with you, that’s what!” he said cheesily. When Hyuna heard this, she spun around and aimed to slap his face but something held her back when he blocked his face with his hands, fearfully anticipating Hyuna’s hard slap (yes, she was a hard slapper.)

“Forget it. I feel sorry for you.” she told him.

“Aw that’s okay. I just dropped by to say hi-“ Hyuna snapped and lost it.

“GET OUT OF HERE HYUNSEUNG!” she shrieked at him and pointed to her right. Hyunseung hurriedly jogged past her, still giddy over seeing her face.

Hyunseung was Hyuna’s suitor and perhaps number one fan. A guy from one of her classes, Hyunseung knew he loved Hyuna from the minute he saw her. He was a fellow of medium height, skinny with a pale face. Hyunseung was the least of attractive people, having a face only a mother could love but regardless of this, he was a fellow with good intentions and a good heart. Conventionally, Hyunseung was a good boy and a stellar student.

However, Hyuna did not have a thing for good boys.

Hyunseung went to great lengths to get Hyuna to notice him. Hyuna, on the other hand wasted no time in rejecting him. There was no animosity, he just wasn’t her type.

With Hyunseung gone, Hyuna finally felt free to enjoy the outside world, although it was heavily polluted and congested with the busy city rush and the surge of vehicles made that quite impossible. Frankly, she wasn’t getting any fresh air.

All of a sudden, a maroon Mercedes stopped before her, seemingly wanting to ask her for directions. Hyuna noticed this and looked suspiciously at it. She was deciding, no, debating in her head whether to entertain the driver or not. She decided, what the ?

The driver rolled his windows down, a sign to Hyuna that he needed her assistance. Hyuna looked closely, peering through to window to get a good look at the stranger who was calling on her.

“Yes sir, how may I help you?” Hyuna saw his arm extend through the window and motion her with a pair of fingers. This added mystery to his identity, luring Hyuna and partially attracting her without even seeing him yet. She walked over to the window of the Benz and bent over, giving him a little bit of a downblouse, enabling him to peer down underneath.

“What do you need, sir?” asked Hyuna. She was enchanted when she took a good look at his face. My God he was good looking! The man was an American, a Caucasian for that matter. He looked to be around 43-45, seemingly tall with salt and pepper (grey with lines of white) hair that reminded one of George Clooney or Richard Gere. The wrinkles on his face were placed so properly that they didn’t make him look old instead, wise. Hyuna felt her heart beating through her chest and though she was aware that her s were nearly visible, or her bra at least, now that she was bent down, she couldn’t care any less.

Oh. My. God...No. You don’t know this guy. Don’t fall in...Well, maybe I could fall in lust.  Hyuna decided in her mind and heart that she was totally attracted to this man.

“I’m looking for Dalbit Jewellery Store. I, uhh, need to buy something.” Hyuna’s heart jumped even higher and faster when she heard the name of her most favorite store in the world: Dalbit Jewellery Store. An antique accessories shop where the locket she had been ing for was being sold.

“Oh that’s easy. From here you take that route than turn left. If you see a store that looks like it’s been here since the 1920s or has a 20s feel to it, that’s the one. Don’t worry, its got its name in Romanized letters. You shouldn’t get lost.” Hyuna said energetically. Her face started to heat up and her legs were just as good as melting. The stranger winked at her and sped off. Hyuna’s heart was fluttering.

Little did she know that this man would have just as much of an influence in her life as she could ever imagine. He wasn’t just a passing stranger.