I never thought I would, and could, enjoy any other company beside my 4 like-true-siblings friends: Youngbae, Seunghyun hyung, Daesung and Seungri. We met at the age of teenagers, quickly became friends and good brothers, and ever since then, we’d been like true family. With Youngbae, maybe he had a more special role, just slightly different, just a very tiny bit, since I considered him as my best friend, we’re the two in a same age in our “group” after all.

Yet, here I was finding myself drinking comfortably with Kim Jae Sung - Naeyeon’s brother, like the countless time I hung out with him ever since the 1st time I met him.

“Hyung.” I signalized my arrival with a light tap on the shoulder, waited for him to turn back and bowed.

“My bro!” Jaesung hyung greeted me loudly and clapped my shoulders. He’s always like that, noisy, carefree and out-going. Sometimes he reminded me of Seungri.

“Have you had dinner hyung?” I asked while hopping on the bar, motioned for T - our dear bartender to give me my usual drink.

“Yeah, angel fed me. Ah, I told her to drop by later when Heaven closes for the day.” He grinned bashfully, fully showed his charming teeth. I chuckled. He never hid and always showed how much he enjoyed spoiling Nayeon - his beloved sister. He always called her as “angel”, and even though he always loved to whenever she was around, I just knew that he loved her a lot. “Damn, my angel’s restaurant is really something. The food there is addictive!”

“I agree hyung.” I chuckled again. “It might have the best chefs in this world.”

“I heard that the Japanese chef was from your hotel?” Jaesung hyung asked in an amused voice. “Care to share the reason why you gave your chef to that spoiled kid?”

I laughed. “You made it sound so wrong hyung.” Shaking my head slightly, I thanked T for the drink and took a sip. “That happened long before we started our relationship hyung.”

“You’re that stupid over girls, seriously?” He asked me incredulously. “Do you know how amazing that chef is?”

“I know.” I rolled my eyes at him. “But Nayeon is more amazing.” I mumbled and grinned shyly.

Jaesung took a long look at me and sighed. “Angel, what did you do to him.” He sighed again so dramatically. “You look kinda like an idiot right now, if you wanna ask me.” Casting me a judging look, he shrugged and went on with his beer.

Despite how embarrassing and shameful my first encounter with Jaesung hyung was, I was glad it turned out that we could be good friends instead. I still remembered the words he said to me on that day.

“If you cannot befriend with me, you can’t be with Nayeon, I promise you that.”

Kim Nayeon and Kim Jaesung were really much alike, more in personalities than appearance, even though both were handsome and beautiful in manly and girly way. Those what Nayeon told me not long ago about “relationship is about putting efforts for each other from both sides” was also what Jaesung hyung told me straightly in our very first deep talk. He always talked carefreely and seemed to be nonchalant, but when it was about my relationship with Nayeon, he turned to this typical scary big-brother-of-your-girlfriend.

“It’s not because she’s my sister, but I know how precious that girl is. Unless she acts like a spoiled kid, which I know she doesn’t, she should be treated with all respect and love.”

Kim Jaesung’s affection to Kim Nayeon always amused me to no end.

“I heard the kid came to your house often?” Jaesung hyung asked me after knocking another shot. His drinking ability was awesome too, I must say. In fact, everything about Kim Jaesung was awesome, from head to toes, inside and outside. Being friends with him, I learned a lot.

I chuckled. “Yes.” Smirking, I toasted my glass with his. “Though I am not sure what was she doing there. Most of the time I wasn’t there.” Shaking my head, I smiled. “But my mom seems very affectionate with her. While we’re having dinner, she talks about Nayeon more than me, which is a surprise.”

“The reason why I and my father spoil Nayeon is…..” Jaesung said suddenly. “....she was lack of mother’s love since she was born.”

I was startled with this information. Gulped down quietly, I asked him tentatively. “Did something happen, may I ask?”

“Our mom died when she was giving birth to Nayeon.” Jaesung smiled sadly, played with his glass. “She lost too much blood, and there was nothing we could do to save her in time.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I tried my best to sounded sincere. “It must have been tough for your family.”

“Yeah….” Maybe this was the first time I saw Jaesung this quiet. “It doesn’t help when Nayeon is just like her copy. The kid looks just like our mother.” He chuckled softly. “She’s such an angel, really. All her friends’ mom love her, for some odd reason. She has this magic when it comes to mothers it seems. Sometimes, I think, because mom wasn’t here, God gave her this gift, to be easily loved by older ladies.”

Come to think of that, it was true that it’s so weird when my mom could easily get along with Nayeon like that. To be honest, even though mom spoiled me too, I just knew that she was a pretty strict woman. But as I witnessed myself, Nayeon easily disarmed mom’s strictness towards her (if there was any) the moment she eagerly and excitedly joined her in the kitchen.

I told you, Kim Nayeon was amazing.

“But I always wondered but forgot to ask….” Jaesung turned to me. “How did you two meet? I heard Seungri said that you guys weren’t dating when first met?”

“It was a bit…..disturbing...to think about that day.” I frowned. As much as I was glad that that day happened, since I met Nayeon for the first time on that day, that day was still one of the most annoying and hurtful memories which I didn’t really wanna recall, and I believed Nayeon felt the same. “Nayeon never told you how we met?”

“No.” Jaesung shrugged. “She said since it seemed I was closer to you recently, I should go asking myself.”

This caught my attention. “Eh? Jealous?” I smirked.

“You bet.” He scoffed. “She will never admit that.”

I was about to reply but someone’s shout behind my back stopped me. “Eun Seo! Eun Seo! Wait!”

I stopped the wine I was about to drink, frowning. That voice sounded familiar to me. “Eun Seo! No, you cannot do that to her!”

“And why is that, Sang Joo?” Eun Seo’s voice retorted with anger. “Do you still have feelings for that precious Kim Nayeon of yours? You still love her, don’t you?”

I saw at the corner of my eyes Jae Sung hyung raised his eyebrows. “That bastard Jiyong left me, and now they’re even dating, and you are still here thinking she would come back to you?” Eun Seo shouted enough for a whole Seoul city to hear.

“Stop yelling, you’re making a scene.” I heard that Sang Joo guy said quietly. “Let’s leave.”

“Kim Nayeon, she set up all this!” I frowned when there was a drunken craziness hint in Eun Seo’s voice. “She wanna steal Jiyong from me, she set up what happened that day, to dump you and then seduced my man.”

I saw Jae Sung hyung was about to turn around but I quickly signalized for him to stop. “Don’t, hyung.” I said quietly.

“Yah Lee Eun Seo!” Sang Joo said sternly. “You’re too drunk, Eun Seo. Stop.”

“I will make them both suffer.” Eun Seo snarled with hiccups. “Both of them, Kwon Jiyong and Kim Nayeon. We didn’t do anything wrong, they’re the one who ignored us first.” And now she was crying.

With some more struggles, some protests, they left the bar a moment later. I sighed and knocked down whatever left in my glass and ordered one more.

“Well…..” I heard Jaesung hyung spoke up after a while. “Is any chance, that Kim Nayeon and Kwon Jiyong in their conversation not my angel and you, Jiyong-ssi?”

This wasn’t good. Jaesung hyung never used “-ssi” to me. I nervously turned to him, to see he was looking at me with wonder and suspicion.

“That was my ex-girlfriend and Nayeon’s ex-boyfriend.” I explained.

“How interesting……” Jaesung mused. “But what exactly were they talking about? I cannot quite understand anything.”

“They cheated on us.” Nayeon’s voice suddenly rang next to my side. She pecked my cheek quickly before settling herself next to me, placing her belongings on the stool bar. “That was how we met. They were caught red-hand by us both at Jiyong’s hotel.” She smiled sadly at me, at that old memories. “Hello oppa.” Nayeon made a face as a greeting at her brother.

“How long have you been here?” I whispered, brushing my lips on her cheek in return while snaking my arm around to pull her closer to my side. Her presence put me at ease instantly, released the nervous feeling I had ever since I realized Eun Seo and Sang Joo were here, too.

“Just now.” She shrugged and called for a drink. “I saw them existing the entrance.”

“So….” Jae Sung spoke up. “As far as I got, they cheated on you guys, so you guys broke up with them, and then you two started dating instead?” It was hard to tell if he was amused or serious with that tone.

“Nearly 6 months later oppa.” Nayeon replied nonchalantly. “It wasn’t that easy for both of us to be in relationship again.”

“How long you and that guy dated? How come I never heard of him?” I somehow felt a bit uncomfortable since it was like I was stuck in the middle of siblings’ talk.

“Jiyong’s here, I don’t wanna talk about that.” She said simply. “Plus, it was in the past already, it doesn’t matter anymore to me.” I felt her hand squeezing mine, and she smiled at me reassuringly.

“Me too.” I said, squeezing her hand back. “We shouldn’t dwell on the sad memories anymore, because we’re having a happier one to cherish.” Smiling at her, I affectionately set aside some baby hairs messing around her forehead. “Tired?” I noticed her frown. “How about a gin with some lemon?”

“Sounds good.” She mumbled before turning to face her brother. “Forget about that. When will dad return oppa?”

_________

“Nayeon, can you please come here a minute?”

Looking up from the magazine I was reading, I saw our restaurant manager was looking at me with an annoying look. Frowning, I asked. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s this lady.” He started when I walked out of my desk and followed him coming out of my office. “She ordered a lot, then kept pointing out the faults in our dishes, it’s been driving us crazy.” He complained through clenched teeth. “And I give you my word that there was absolutely nothing wrong with our dishes. She’s such a pain in the .” This must be really trouble, since my manager was trained very professionally, especially he never once showed his attitude with the customers, no matter how demanding they might be. “And now she requested to see you.”

I narrowed my eyes to see the demanding customer my manager was talking about. She was a young woman, maybe just around my age, with an appearance screaming out “I’m a chaebol”. Okay, so today was one of those day when I had to deal with a spoiled princess? Fine.

“Hello, Miss.” I came to her table and politely bowed down. “I’m Heaven’s owner, Kim Nayeon. I heard you were displeased with our services? May I know the details?”

And it happened so quickly, too fast that I could not even fathom what was happening. Cold water was thrown into my face in a flash, and I heard collective gasps from tables around us as well from my staffs, especially my manager who was standing right next to me.

“Excuse me, Miss!” My restaurant manager shouted angrily.

“Quiet, Manager Park.” I recollected myself and ignored the way the cold water dripped down to my neck, wetting my shirt and even further down. Setting aside my wet bang, I breathed in deeply before opening my eyes to face the customer again.

“What kind of horrible service like this?” She spoke with a mix of angry and mocking voice, and I thought her voice sounded really familiar to me. “Not even a single thing in this place is decent, you call this is a restaurant?” She sat there, arms crossing and looked at me with pure hatred.

I frowned inwardly. Do I know this girl?

“The food is terrible. The staffs are rude. Even the knife and fork are dirty! Look at this glass.” She held the glass containing those cold water she just threw to my face. “I even saw an aunt in it! This is such an insult! You should just close the place.”

I heard chatterings around, other customers started to discuss noisily. I even heard some disapprovals towards the girl’s comments, saying that our restaurant was indeed very good.  

I took a closer look at the girl. And then I was like being slapped in the face with cold water again.

“Eun Seo-ssi?” I asked coldly, narrowed my eyes at her. I never really looked at her in a close distance or in daily light this before. She looked more….I didn’t know she looked this classy outside a bed or a night bar.

“What kind of restaurant owner like you? How dare you talk to a customer with that rude tone?”

Now I was one hundred percent sure that, this girl was Kwon Jiyong’s ex-girlfriend. Sang Joo’s lover. She looked so much different from the almost girl I saw nearly a year ago.

“I can’t believe this.” I mumbled under my breath, chuckling softly. Turning to Manager Park, I told him. “You go inside, no need to bother anymore. I’ll handle this.”

“Are you sure?” He asked with doubt.

“Take care of other customers, don’t let them be disturbed by this mess.” I turned back and looked at that girl with a scoff. “Give them free dessert, saying it’s our apology.”

“Don’t think I’m gonna pay…”

“Are you done?” I had enough of this stupid cat fight. “Honestly, Eun Seo-ssi, I thought you’re much classier than this. “You can go. For the sake of my restaurant, I won’t charge whatever you ordered. Now if you have any dignity left, please, leave.” I crossed my arms and glared at her, keeping my voice as low as possible.

“Who do you think you are?” She raised her voice. “I will tell reporters to…”

“God damn it!” I cursed loudly and slammed my hands to the table. “Don’t make me sue you for harassment and false insult. I can testify to prove each and every single accusation you said just now about my restaurant was deadly wrong, and not to mention those icy water you just threw to my face.” I growled at her. “If you’re that bitter about Jiyong, or Sangjoo, or whoever out there, take a seat and look back at yourself first! Do your parents know you’re acting stupid and uncivilized like this?”  

“HOW DARE YOU DATE JIYONG NOW?” She stood up, screaming and ready to land her palm at my face. Oh , so this was really a cat fight, one I had no desire to join. “ THE TWO OF YOU!”

But I was quicker, I stopped her hand before it could reach my cheek. “I gave my warn a moment ago, Miss Lee.” I spoke with finality before I turned her arm backward.

Oh yes, I knew Taekwondo, hadn’t I told you?

She yelped upon being hurt, and I was sure she was, even though I didn’t practice Taekwondo for a very long time. Sensing it’s enough for the threat, I started loosening my arms but forcefully pulled her out of my restaurant. Once we were outside, I let her go with a strong shove.

“KIM NAYEON I SWEAR…”

“Lee Eun Seo-ssi.” I stood there, arms crossing and distanced myself good enough from her. “I will tell you this only once. Whatever me and Jiyong are now is none of your business. He ended things with you, you two parted, for good or not, I don’t care. But Kwon Jiyong is my man now. And I refuse to involve in any kind of your dramatic breakouts, whatever they are. Please, I’m kindly asking you here, leave us alone.”

All I could think in my mind at that moment was, how did Jiyong end up being in a serious relationship with her for 3 years?

__

A/N: 

Hi lovelies :)

Sorry for the wait. This story wasn't updated since....21 Dec, 2013 *gasp* it's been...6 months? OMG I AM SO SORRY after closing If You Were Not A Dream, I took "a break", also some personal issues, and also need to re-read what I wrote and feel the plot again, then edited some parts. I realized, I may write a little bit better in this story, I don't know, I just have that feeling, do you? :D And I, personally like this story a lot :D:D:D /shameless_self-promotion

anyway, just an uneventful update :) but be ready, the drama is coming ;) 

thank you for still staying here with me, and thank you those who just start reading this story. i hope you'll have another pleasant journey with me and Shelter :) you guys are the reason for my writing, that is the truest thing in this world, really <3

Much love from Rosie.

p/s: did i make Nayeon so violent here >.< i just wanna portrait how such a strong woman she was :/ physically and mentally