There was a severe pounding in his head that didn't seem to be going away, no matter how Woo Bin tried to burrow into his bed in his seemingly futile attempts to escape it.

"-s' gway," he mumbled incoherently, not even bothering to open his eyes when he thought he heard someone enter his room and close the door behind him. The light hurt, even from behind closed lids, and somehow in his semi-inebriated state he knew his room was practically glowing with the morning sun. He could feel it drenching his sheets and skin, burning what was left of the dreams he was having, and not for the first time cursed where his room was situated, in this house.

He'd always hated mornings. Detested them with every fiber of his being.

Especially the mornings after particularly unpleasant nights.

Woo Bin could still detect the hint of vodka and bitter tang of blood on his tongue, the stings and scrapes on his knuckles, the aching of his limbs, and he twisted, coughed, tried to dislodge the feelings somehow.

They stubbornly remained.

Just like the pounding in his head that, he belatedly realized, wasn't pounding at all, but actually the almost mechanical and bored-sounding voice of his butler harping on his ears in his greetings and apologies and announcing of an event that might be of interest to Young Master Song.

He sighed.

Unlike Jun Pyo, Woo Bin had yet to fire anyone from having enough gall to actually do their job and wake him up when they're supposed to.

"Wha-?" he said ungracefully, finally giving leeway and opening one eye, then lifting his head a fraction of an inch off the warm sheets of his bed. He blinked, then blinked again, trying to clear the clouds in his vision until the form of his butler actually looked a bit human, not some blurred excuse for a thing.

"You have a guest, Young Master."

No. Two eyes now popped open. What...? The very concept was ridiculous. With the others gone, Prince Song found no reason to invite people in his home, nowadays. People rarely willingly wander into his home anyway, for all the implications the act brought. And during the day! When everyone could see it! The thought was so absurd Woo Bin had to chuckle, despite himself. He rubbed his face with his hands, trying to quell the urge to laugh harder. Well, this was certainly an inventive way to wake him up!

"...shall we do away with her, Young Master?"

Woo Bin then regarded him in silence, suddenly realizing two things.

One, his guest was apparently female.

Two, in his world, butlers 'doing away' with someone could mean exactly that.

"No," he said clearly. He rubbed his eyes, then threw the covers off his body so he could move to his feet. "I'll deal with her, myself." Stupid, naive, foolish girl. Were women so vehemently, decidedly clingy and needy nowadays that they'd want to enter a lion's den just for the chance to continue hanging out with the shadiest of the F4? Who was this woman anyway, and shouldn't she know better than act like this?

This was, admittedly, one of the ugly side-effects of being a so-called 'player'. While some women understood that their relationships would only go as far as the clock went, some others just... didn't.

Apparently, his current guest was among those in the latter group.

Woo Bin pulled his robe on. "Where is she? Did you let her in?"

A bow. "Yes, Young Master."

"-without confirming with me first?" He had to wonder if the staff were being too lax with women visitors - or any visitors in general.

Or perhaps they, too, were taken by surprise at the audacity of this woman?

His butler hesitated, before replying, "We are well aware of your acquaintance with Chu Ga Eul, Young Master. That was why she was let inside the house. Otherwise..." The words needed not to be said, for they were clear.

But that wasn't what fully bothered Woo Bin.

Chu Ga Eul?

Ga Eul was here?

In his house?

Woo Bin almost fled from his room.

Aish. Seemed that Yi Jung was right about this one.

Stupid, naive, foolish girl.

He found her in one of their larger living rooms, quietly wandering around and inspecting the varied paintings hanging about. Woo Bin watched her for a bit from where he stood, noting that she seemed to be enjoying what she was seeing. Not that he could blame her; for all the Song's seedy connections and unscrupulous activities, one could not deny that they - especially Woo Bin's father and late grandfather - had finer, gentler qualities to them, being great connoisseurs of art.

It was probably why, out of all his friends, they both liked Yi Jung best.

Both also found very early on that art was an interest Woo Bin decidedly did not share with any of them. A disappointment, truly, but his prowess and ease with using brute force more than made up for that slight now.

"Ga Eul," he said, and she turned to look at him with wide, wide eyes. She stepped away from a painting she was studying just as he purposely entered the room. He shoved his hands in his pockets, looked at her pointedly. He didn't smile at her in the least; there was no point to it anyway. "What are you doing here?" A loaded question, from his perspective.

"Woo Bin-sunbae," she mumbled, bowing her head slightly, now refusing to meet his gaze. She must have sensed a bit of his animosity. Good.

But instead of mumbling some sort of explanation as he'd expected her to, Ga Eul picked up a paper bag from the coffee table on her left and held it out for him to take. She was, as it turned out, content to stare at his shoes instead of directly at him. "-here."

He frowned at the paper bag. It had seen better days, that much was certain. Commoners. So different from the people who took pains to make sure that, when giving him things, the wrappings were as ornate as the useless baubles in them.

He took the bag anyway, peered at what's inside. His eyes rounded. "Oh? Isn't it too early to be giving me chocolates?"

That made her look at him. She practically sputtered, and was flustered and speechless for a moment. Woo Bin fought hard to keep his expression neutral; he reminded himself that he was annoyed with her. Remember, she had no business to be here! "N-No! I- it's porridge. From the shop. I wouldn't- it's not- Sunbae-"

Woo Bin raised a hand, making her pause. "I was kidding," he finally admitted with a small smile. Annoyance and animosity be damned, for now. "Ga Eul-yang, I know it's a bit early, but I'm disappointed your sense of humor is sorely lacking at this hour."

She exhaled, blinked rapidly - before returning his smile with a hesitant one of her own.

There. Now that wasn't too hard, was it? He couldn't explain it, but something about her made him want to try and make her smile, if he could.

...now where did that idea even come from? He imperceptibly shook his head. God. This is why I hate mornings.

There were still some things that weren't yet clear to him, though, and now was not the time to dwell on things as trivial as smiles. "You've come here just to bring me porridge?" he asked, the straps of the paper bag now dangling in two fingers. "As far as I knew, no one told me I was supposed to be sick today. Even my staff seem to be in the dark about it." Woo Bin paused. "Should I commence with coughing now?"

He could detect her pursing her lips ever so slightly. She seemed to be scrutinizing him, trying to decide for herself if he was still joking. He found out he didn't know the answer, himself.

Yet she stood her ground, with her back ramrod straight. When she spoke, there was no trace of shyness or uncertainty in them.

"I brought that here as a gift and as an apology." Her voice was clear. "My behavior yesterday was-" Ga Eul grimaced, "-improper, and I apologize." Here, she bowed before him.

Woo Bin blinked.

Then she was straightening herself, and stepping forward Ga Eul took his free hand, deposited something papery and cold. He found out later that she'd placed some money on his palm.

"You didn't wait for your change yesterday, too," she said simply, "so I brought it with me."

He couldn't think of anything to say, so he ended up with: "-it was supposed to be a tip."

Ga Eul looked at him incredulously. "A tip?" she repeated, with a short laugh. "Sunbae... it's not a tip when it's four times the amount of what you paid for! Don't you know you can't do that?"

And he felt smaller because Ga Eul was looking at him like he'd grown a second head, or that he'd grown stupid right before her very eyes. Woo Bin decided he didn't like that feeling. "I can if I want to," he insisted, even if it's such a petty thing to say, and he knew Ga Eul thought that too from the way she was raising her brows.

But then he smiled, because really, he had the upper hand here.

"I didn't have time to wait for my change, Ga Eul, because Yi Jung called. Said he had something important to tell me." Except that conversation ended very badly because Woo Bin brought up a topic that was a big no-no in Yi Jung's book, but he wasn't at all guilty about sharing news about his parents - Yi Jung had to know, and who was in a better position than Woo Bin to tell him?

Of course, Ga Eul didn't need to know all this.

And she barely reacted to what he'd just said.

Woo Bin took his time in placing the paper bag down. Then he himself perched on one of the chairs, crossed his arms, and looked up expectantly at her.

Still, nothing.

"Oh? Ga Eul-yang... don't you want to ask me what Yi Jung and I talked about? I can assure you it was a very... enlightening conversation. You'd be amused."

But she was pursing her lips again and shaking her head, and from where he sat Woo Bin could see she was clutching her purse a little too tightly. "No," she said softly, then repeated, "No. If Yi Jung-sunbae wanted me to know, then he'd have called me, himself. He would have contacted me somehow, in any way possible-"

Then she paused abruptly, as though realizing she'd said too much. "I have to go. Please enjoy your porridge. I'll let myself out." And she was gone from the room, as though hell itself was hot on her heels.

Woo Bin blinked, and turned in time to hear the door slam behind her.

...well.

What was that all about?

(3/?)