“I guess I’m coming in too.” Dongwoon mumbled behind Jinhee, who shoved her way in.

“What are you guys doing here?” Haneul tried to cover herself from Jinhee’s scrutinizing eyes.

“Answer my question. Who did this to you? When did this happen? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You’re one to talk! You were witnessed being bullied and still you deny it all!” Haneul argues back.

“I do that because if it got too serious I can take care of myself! I got shoved around and called names, not beaten up.”

“I’m not that weak! Those girls are suffering worse damages than me!”

“Give me names. I’ll kick their and make sure their family is homeless while I’m at it.” Jinhee said seriously. “Hell, I’ll get them kicked out of Korea too.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“As if I would just forget about it. We’ll talk about this again later.” Jinhee sighed and rolled her eyes. “How are you feeling? Did you go to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t serious?”

“I’m fine. I’m not going to waste money on some minor injuries.” Haneul scoffed.

“I take that as a no. Dongwoon?” Jinhee turned to the guy waiting patiently on the side.

“Sure I can.” He understood.

“Can what?”

“Take us to the hospital. Don’t worry, it’s free. My family practically owns it.”

“I don’t need your charity. I feel fine.”

“Then do this for me. This is because I punished you and let Hyunseung join the club to bother you. I didn’t try to help you at all.”

“He doesn’t really bother me anymore…”

Jinhee cocked an eyebrow at her, quickly understanding what was implied. Dongwoon chuckled quietly in the background. His friend would be very happy to hear this.

Haneul liked Hyunseung back.

“Still, let’s go.”

“Don’t try to fight her. She’ll make me carry you if she has to.” Dongwoon sighed.

Haneul finally complied and left with them.

“How did you know?” Haneul asked when they were in the car.

“Something wasn’t right. I should have realized it sooner. I’m sorry I failed as your club president.” Jinhee apologized earnestly.

“This isn’t part of the job description as the Small Critters Club president.” Haneul smiled, and winced as her lip split open.

“Hyunseung would be so sad to see the pretty Haneul like this.”

“Yeah. That’s why I didn’t go to school today.”

Jinhee nodded in understanding. But then she quickly whipped her head around to look at the younger girl again. “Last night we had the tutoring session. You were with me all day and night yesterday. But if you didn’t go to school today… When did they get you?”

“They waited in front of my apartment all night…”

Jinhee sighed heavily. “Which grades were they?”

“Mostly third years.”

“Those girls must think they’re untouchable because they’re older.” Jinhee smiled wryly.

“I guess.”

-The next day-

The preparation crew for Jinhee’s blind date came early in the morning. Regardless of that, Jinhee had her assistant get video footage of any and all security cameras the night of Haneul’s attack around the area. Then she was to pull up the files for any girl found in the footage from their school.

“Young Mistress, she has arrived.” A maid came in to announce Jinhee’s assistant’s arrival to her bedroom.

“I have the requested information. Would you like to watch the security video footage?”

“Do you have footage of the attack?”

“…Yes.”

“Was it bad?”

“I… Yes.”

“Show it to me.” Jinhee ordered.

Throughout the entire thing, Jinhee wanted to jump up and throw things, but her hair was being meticulously cared for, as well as her nails, so she had to remain seated and absolutely still. The girls around her tried not to watch, but couldn’t help but be horrified by the attack on the lone girl in the video by other girls.

“Well that’s not at all how Haneul said it was.” Jinhee said through gritted teeth. “I knew she was lying when she said she did more damage to them than they to her.”

“What would you like me to do with these girls?”

“What do their families do?”

All the workers around her gasped, understanding what Jinhee intended to do. Her assistant nodded, seeing this coming, and pointed out each family business or occupation of the girls and their family.

“Oh? Three of them work for us?” Jinhee’s grin was feral as she thought about that.

“Shall I have arrangements to buy out the businesses and fire the family members?”

“Not yet. I want to do a little psychological warfare first.”

“I expect no less.” Her assistant chuckled. “What shall I do for the time being?”

“Set things in motion of course. Whether or not I WILL hurt them is still to be determined. Of course, whether or not I beat them with my bare hands is an even bigger worry. Needless to say, it’ll be an interesting couple of weeks.”

“You’re really scary.” Her manicurist shivered.

“Clearly being nice and patient is not going to work.” Jinhee smiled wryly. “Since you’re already here, we might as well discuss regular business. Do you have the reports for my personal investments? And have my summer break plans already been established?”

“Here they are, and I’m just waiting for confirmation from your father. Then I’ll have your schedule emailed to you.”

Jinhee flipped through the report carelessly. “It seems like they’re doing good for now. Sell these stocks in the next two days. I don’t feel good about them. Are these residential complaints?”

“For the condominium? Yes they are.”

“There’s a security issue?”

“I had it taken care of. It was found on camera that he was harassing the residents to back up the claims. He has been dealt with; a new security guard is in place, as well as sincere apologies and compensation to those involved.”

“That’s good. Alright, that’s all for now.”

Jinhee and her assistant rarely ever needed to meet up face to face. Her assistant was usually busy managing her investments and businesses for Jinhee while Jinhee checked in from time to time. But for Jinhee to call for such a task, pulling strings and favors for an assault, she knew it was serious. And while Jinhee and her assistant weren’t close, her assistant always admired Jinhee’s business instincts and ruthlessness in her professional life. However, her assistant did wonder about her ability to connect to people outside of her home, or if Jinhee cared about people at all, until last night when she got a call in the wee hours of the morning.

-The date-

Jinhee arrived to the date ten minutes late due to traffic. She barely made it to the restaurant when another guy pulled up, rushing and throwing his keys to the valet, not looking back and sped around her to get to the door. He opened the door, saw her, and looked back at the door, then back at her and to the door again. He stopped and held it open for her.

Jinhee was amused and entered the door bowing to him to show her thanks.

After she was in, she quickly made her way over to the hostess station that had the reservations.

“Hi, I’m here for –”

“Reservation for Lee Jong Hyun!” The guy huffed breathlessly. Jinhee looked up, startled by the much taller guy. It was the same guy who held the door open for her.

“Ah, I’m here for Lee Jong Hyun as well.” She turned and smiled to him.

“You’re Ahn Jin Hee?”

“Yes. And I assume you are Lee Jong Hyun?”

“Yes! You’re very pretty!” He grinned.

Jinhee was startled, but smiled and thanked him nonetheless. They were led to their table by the hostess as they talked comfortably to each other.

“I’m sorry if I came off too strong earlier when I said you were pretty—are pretty I mean.” He said after they ordered their drinks.

“Oh no it’s fine. You’re very good looking as well.”
 

“Ah! Thank you! You’re really nice too!”

“I’m sorry, but why are you so surprised? Have you heard bad things about me?”

“No! It’s not that! On TV you see the guys who are told to go on blind dates being set up with annoying or not pretty girls. You’re pretty and not annoying!”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” She chuckled. “So, Lee Jong Hyun, please tell me something about yourself. All I really know is that you graduated college, and you’re in the process of taking over the business.”

“My name is Lee Jong Hyun. I graduated with a degree in business management last year. I’m the oldest of two sons and one daughter. I’m 182cm tall, my blood type is O, and I’m 24 years old. My hobbies are Judo, but more importantly, is magic tricks. I really like magic tricks – that’s not too dorky is it? My mom told me I needed to make a good impression. I hope I didn’t say something bad!”

“Is this your first blind date?” Jinhee tried not to laugh at him.

“This is my first date ever.”

“Why?!” She gaped at him.

“Because I wasn’t very popular in high school – I guess it was because of the magic… I was the president of the Magic Club. Wow, I’m just telling you a bunch of really cool things about me now… I should have stopped at Judo.”

“But magic is fun! You have to practice and study it a lot!” She reassured him. “It’s good to really like something like that!”

“What are your interests? I only know your name and age – and my mom kept telling me you’re the heiress to AFA.”

“Yes, I am the heiress to AFA. My name is Ahn Jin Hee, I am 18 years old, I am only 156cm tall and my blood type is also O. I am still in High School, a second year. I’m an only child.”

“What about your interests?”

“Ah, it’s a taboo topic…” She grimaced.

“It’s okay! I told you about magic!”

“I really like bugs and that stuff.”

“Like spiders and flies and stuff?”

“Yes…”

“That’s really interesting! Aren’t most girls scared of those things?”

“Yeah, but the majority of my club at school is girls – then again, there’re only 7 of us…”

“There were only five people in my club!” He laughed. “Why is this ‘taboo topic’?”

“This is your first date, but you’re my third blind date in the past six months.” She sighed. “I say I like bugs as a disclaimer, and instantly, they try to end the date as soon as possible and never want to meet again.”

“But it’s just your interests. It’s not like you want them to be interested. I’ll never expect you to be interested in magic!”

“But I am! It’s really cool! Do you do card tricks and make things appear and disappear?”

“Yes!”

“That’s great! Maybe one day you could show me?”

“Definitely! And you can teach me about bugs!”

“You want to learn about bugs?”

“Well, if they interest you, there must be a reason! Do you have a favorite bug?”

“That’s like asking do you love your mother or your father more! I love all of them!”

“Do you collect them too?”

“I kind of keep some as pets. Sometimes I just watch them. If it’s one I’ve never seen or watched before, I observe or study them.”

“Like a research scientist?”

“Like that, but more like a hobby than a profession.”

“That’s really cool! How do you have time for that? You’re in high school and I heard you’re learning the business at the same time! You’re even dating!”

“Well, school work is easy, and since I’ve been learning the business since I was ten, I’ve gotten to the point where it’s easy for me to watch over my assistant as she does the grunt work for me now. Dating is a process, but like I said, I never make it to the second date because of my interests anyway.”

The two ordered their food and continued chatting about themselves. While Jinhee was very comfortable on these dates, and meeting new people in general, it was clear he was nervous but trying his best.

“So, what’s your family business?” She asked, trying to figure out why he wasn’t more comfortable meeting people – aside from the fact this was his first date ever.

“We’re an export/import company based in Busan. We’re nowhere near the size or influence as AFA, but we’re up and coming!”

“How long has your family been doing this?”

“It started with my grandfather, my father made it grow, and with the start of this year, I’ve been implementing new things and we’ve been expanding a lot since then.”

“That’s great! Do you like what you do?”

“Yes! It’s really nice to do something like this and see it grow from what it was when I was a kid.”

“Then that’s amazing! Keep up the great work!”

“I can’t help but ask this, so I apologize if this is rude. You’re only 18 and you’re still in high school, why are you going on these dates?”

“It’s because I’m the heiress of AFA.” She sighed. “If I hold off meeting a potential husband, it’ll become too late because I’ll be too engrossed in my work later on. Then I’ll never marry, and then I’ll have to figure out who takes over the business if I don’t have any immediate family – especially since I’m an only child. And my parents definitely want grandchildren.”

“Oh okay. I understand that. But… I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding someone to marry even if you wait a few years to start the blind dating. You kind of have it all…”

“That’s really sweet of you to say. And I honestly agree. But my mother is a worrier; she doesn’t want me to end up alone or have to suddenly start worrying about babies.”

“Your mom just really cares about you is all!” He grinned.

“You have a really nice smile. It’s good that you smile a lot.”

“Ah! Thank you! Your smile also… I think your everything is really pretty actually…” He smiled. She couldn’t help but liken him to a bumpkin…

“You’re really sweet! Seriously, how did you never date? Not even in college?”

“I was fat.” He said finally. “And I used to wear these huge glasses. And until recently I had really bad skin…”

“Oh! That makes sense then.”

“Yeah. But I’m sure the magic tricks weren’t helping. You can’t magically make yourself cooler. You’re lucky; you’re really pretty and smart, even if your interests don’t get you a second date from most guys.”

“I have to be honest and tell you that I don’t look like this every day. The bug thing keeps me up in trees or crawling around in the dirt. This took all morning to do.” Jinhee admitted.

“Well, that makes me feel a LOT better about myself!”

“Why? Did you sit through a whole makeover process too?” She giggled.

“Kind of. Yesterday I had to get contacts and a haircut. Since last week I’ve been getting facials. I didn’t know guys needed to take care of themselves this much.” He sighed.

She laughed, “Welcome to the new age, here everyone must be groomed.”

“It’s a scary world we live in.” He shivered.

“Would you like desserts?”

“Yes! What’s good?”

“Hmm, what kind of desserts do you like?”

“Chocolate! What do you like?”

“Not chocolate.” She laughed.

“More for me!” He grinned. “So do you like everything else?”

“Essentially.” She nodded. “I like chocolate too, but if I had an option, I would eat something else.”

“I’m the opposite!” He nodded.

They ordered separate desserts and talked about life spans of various bugs as well as different magic tricks and the main components of every illusion. They left the restaurant, after having eaten and talked for two hours. Her driver pulled up, and the valet came with his car.

“Uh…” Jong Hyun stopped her awkwardly.

She turned around and looked at him patiently. “Yes?”

“Tomorrow there’s a banquet thing I’m going to…”

“Do you mean the annual Yoon banquet?”

“Yes! Are you going?”

“Yes. A member of my family always has to go. It’s an absolute must. Why are you going? It’s definitely not your scene.”

“Ah, it’s the first time our family got invited, so I have to go.”

“Is that so? Well, I hope you have a good time then! Maybe we’ll see each other?”

Jinhee was not naïve; she knew why he brought up the banquet, but she was going to make him say it, even if it took a little coaxing.

“Yes! Maybe… we could…?”

“Hmm?”

“Go together? Maybe we could go together? If that’s not too soon or too forward that is!”

“If we arrived to such an event together, the papers will have us married by the end of the night. I suggest, for the time being, we arrive separately, and then meet up inside.”

“Is it really that big of an event?”

She looked up at him skeptically, “It’s huge, especially for gossip mongrels and socialites. Unfortunately, because of that, my family is the center of attention for the latest gossip news.”

“I see. Then yes, we should arrive separately. So… I’ll see you then? And…”

“Yes?”

“Do they dance at the banquet?”

“Yes.”

“Oh no. Well, okay. I should have expected it.”

“I take it you don’t do ballroom dancing?”

“Not even a little.”

“I’ll help you tomorrow then.”

“You will?”

“Of course I will.”

“Thank you!”

“See you tomorrow. Dress to the nines. Trust me. It’s that huge, you need to look your absolute best, okay?”

“I will!”

They separated and Jinhee entered the car, where her assistant was waiting. Jinhee was surprised to see her, but said nothing nonetheless about it.

“Here’s the list of guests for the banquet tomorrow. Your mother requested you memorize the faces and names the best you can. I’ve gone through them and found that you know many of them already.”

“I see.” Jinhee yawned.

“Your mother also picked out the dress for you already.”

“I expected as much.” Jinhee nodded, flipping through the book of people. “Is it a nice dress at least?”

“Yes it is.”

“Then that’s good.” Jinhee nodded and rested her eyes, leaning her head against the window, tired.

“Was the meeting exhausting?”

“Strange, I didn’t take you for one to enjoy girl talk after a date.” Jinhee teased. “It was, and it wasn’t.  He’s nice, good looking, hardworking, smart, has his own interests that he’s very passionate about. He’s from relatively new money, but not the trashy way. He doesn’t know what to do now that his status rose so dramatically so suddenly. I think it’s charming. We even talked about my interest in the crawlies and he was very accepting and even interested in the topic. I think of all the dates I’ve been on, and any potential dates my mother has looked into, he’s my favorite. I kind of like him, I would be open to liking him at least.”

“Strange, I didn’t take you for one to settle.” The assistant back.

“It’s not really settling. He’s great. I’m just not terribly passionate about him – then again, who on a blind date feels passionate? He’s more down to earth, so that’s good for someone like me.” She nodded. “And I have to admit – he’s really attractive, so I’m sure I can appreciate that eventually.”

“Do you like him then?”

“I do. It’s just barely budding though. I’ll make it grow.”

“Does he like you?”

“Yes. That, I’m certain about. I’m also his first date. It’s adorable.”

“Wow.” Her assistant couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yeah. But he was trying really hard to do well on the date.” They smiled and rode in silence.

Sorry for the crazy long wait. My finals and papers were killer. I have one final left, but I figured posting up the chapter I already finished writing would be fine.

Not much to say, not much time ot say anything.

Random Question:

What are your study methods, if you have any?

Thanks for reading, please subscribe and comment. It makes me happy.