“Are you sure you’re okay?”      For the umpteenth time, Oh Sehun had been trailing around his girlfriend and asking her the same question. Worry clouded his face, and he couldn’t separate from her in the slightest out of anxiety.      “Are you sure?”      With a sigh, the female rolled her eyes. “I’m fine,” she replied. “I’m fine. Can you leave me alone now?”      She did look fine. She appeared to be living an everyday life. But, he knew it was all an act of pretense. She wasn’t fine. In fact, he couldn’t even imagine the scale of pain that she was feeling. He knew that she was like a time bomb, ticking and ticking closer to explosion.      To stop her from walking any further away, he stood in front of her and said, “Why don’t you ask Dr. Han for a break? You already have the highest marks a student can have; I don’t see how taking a week or two off can hurt you.”      He instantly regretted his suggestion when she glared at him in response. “I need to graduate as fast as possible,” she stated. “Sehun, I’m coming to school with the money that I sold my mother for. I completely despise myself for not being able to refuse, I really do, but I have to get through this.”      “Jieun…” He tried to offer words of condolence, but he knew that none would work.      Suddenly, she laughed. “Isn’t it funny?”      “What is?”      “I’ve been stabbed in the back by the very thing I’ve been studying for years. I’ve been taught that the law was fair, just, and equal before all. That’s what I believed, too…” She let out an empty breath. “Everything I’ve believed in for such a long time was all a lie. Nothing is unjust when it comes to money and power—and it’s a shame that I realized so just recently.”      Deciding that she needed to cool down a little and relax, Sehun grabbed her by the hand and began dragging her behind him. “Let’s go!”      “What? Where are you taking me? I don’t want—”      He shook his head. “Oh, shut up. You’re coming with me, and that’s final.”      She pretended that she wasn’t happy with him, but deep down, Jieun knew that she was grateful and glad that someone was trying to get her mind off of her mom for a while.   <:>      The place that the two had arrived after riding two buses and a taxi was an immense, luxurious mansion. Jieun had never seen a house be so big before; it was more than twenty times bigger than hers. “Where is this?” she asked him after she was done gaping. “Why are we here?”      Sehun grinned in response. “I have a friend that’s taking economics with me, and he invited me and a bunch of other people to his party today. I wasn’t going to go, but considering that you need a major boost…”      “Is it okay if I’m here, though? I don’t even know who your friend is…”      He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t think he knows half the people that attend his parties. He’s popular, so a lot of people know him, but not the other way around. So it shouldn’t even matter.”      Just then, the front door of the mansion opened up, and a man came out. He was about to light a cigarette in his hands when he spotted Sehun. “Hey!” he said, running towards the two. “You made it! I thought you didn’t want to come!”      “I don’t like parties, but I guess they’re useful once in a while.”      The friend raised his eyebrows. Then, shifting his glance back and forth between him and Jieun, he grinned mischievously. “Is that your girlfriend?”      Jieun, feeling her face turn hot, avoided eye contact while Sehun nodded in affirmation.      “You didn’t tell me your girlfriend was such a beauty,” he commented, eyeing her up and down.      Sehun pushed his friend on the chest and slightly punched him on the shoulder. “I know what you’re up to, and I don’t like it one bit, alright? I don’t want you messing around and giving all sorts of crap.”      The other male raised his two hands in the hair defensively. “I’m not doing anything, man. Just get inside and have fun, okay?” With a pat on the shoulder, he went inside.      With a crumpled face, Sehun linked his arms with Jieun’s. “Don’t let him talk to you when you’re alone,” he muttered. In a quieter tone, he spat, “You can’t ever be sure of what Kai’s up to…”      Though she didn’t catch the last part, Jieun found him simply adorable. “You’re such a little kid, do you know that?”      “No. Let’s go inside.”      When she followed him to the interiors of the mansion, she found probably more than a couple of hundred people inside. The noise was at an extreme level, and the music was even louder. College students or not, everyone inside was either drinking, eating, dancing, or just being crazy.      “Is this the definition of a party?” Jieun asked skeptically, holding Sehun’s arm tightly.      He grinned. “I used to party like this at least twice a week,” he replied. However, when he felt his girlfriend’s glare penetrate the side of hi