One Free Week: Chapter One

She’d been planning this since the start of her last year in Seoul National University. She laid a cold hand on the golden doorknob of the mansion’s front door, unsurprised at the lack of warmth it offers.

I never knew escaping would be this easy. Did they think I’d be that tame? There’s no security anywhere.

She takes one last look at the cold, empty façade of grandeur that had surrounded her since birth and thinks about the people whose roof she lived under, who provided for her, but had never shown her an ounce of affection. She shifts her backpack to the other shoulder and exhales.

It’s only one week. They won’t miss me anyway.

Flinging the door open, she dashes through the open door and made a mad dash for the gates, cursing the length of the pristine driveway.

 “Miss! Young miss! Where are you running?” A shrill voice rings through the courtyard- the voice of her very own nanny, who had raised her since she learned to walk. That warm, affectionate, funny lady would be the only one she missed- maybe even her faithful driver, who’d been more of a father to her than her own.

She shakes the thoughts out of her head, ignores the voice and pumps even more energy into her legs, making a direct mental line to the gap in the gate, only just big enough to let her and the backpack through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sehun opens his coded door with a heavy sigh and takes a look around the barren wasteland that is his living room. Actually, that’s a lie. He’s living in a state of relative comfort. He makes his way to the kitchen bench, and slaps down a thick envelope filled with the payment for his most recent article. He turns on the TV, the screen dimly glowing in the darkness of his living room.

“The heiress to the Kwon Corporation, Kwon Aeri has been announced missing. Miss Kwon was last seen by a personal maid, who states that the young heiress had ducked through a break in the mansion’s fence and into the night.”

The newsreader’s voice is monotone. He chuckles as he turns on a light switch. What lengths will these girls go to just to go out and party? A picture of the missing girl displays itself on the screen, not that there’s any need to. She’s almost always on the news, what with her parents owning one of the most influential companies in South Korea.

“Mr Kwon and his wife are offering a handsome reward for the person who finds her and brings her back. They say that their daughter is the only precious thing in their lives and desperately want her back.”

Sehun turns his head sharply when he hears the sound of glass smashing outside. Walking out onto the balcony to investigate, he looks down and discovers a young girl being jumped by two burly men.

“Come on, sweetheart. We won’t hurt you, not someone of your status. We’ll have a little fun with each other,” The guy on the left says, his companion nodding in agreement.

The girl makes a ‘tch’ sound in . “You,” she says, punching Brute Number 1 in the solar plexus and following up with a swift kick where the sun doesn’t shine, “Do not ever call me sweetheart.”

He falls to his knees, clutching his abdomen in pain. The girl turns to the other guy. “And you,” she hisses, brandishing a broken glass bottle, “Should think twice right now before trying anything. I’m not as helpless as everyone thinks I am.”

She makes a motion to jab the man with the jagged edge of the glass bottle, but is stopped. A hand is wrapped tightly around her wrist, restricting her from following through with her movement. The man turns around so her back is touching his chest. The girl lets out an audible gasp and a glint of fear flashes through her eyes.

Sehun’s muscles tense slightly, ready to leap from his balcony window at any given moment. She’s in a tight spot. Should I..?

His train of thought is stopped when the girl elbows her captor in the neck with her non- incapacitated hand , using as much force as she can in that position. Once he is incapacitated, she turns around, grabs his head and bashes it onto her knee. She turns around to look at his companion, but he is already fleeing out into the darkness.

She focuses her attention back onto the man on the ground. “You should find yourself some more… capable buddies, buddy.” She kicks him hard in the stomach and walks in the direction of Sehun’s balcony, leaving the man who attempted to jump her on the ground groaning in pain again. “Well. I guess those self-defence lessons came in handy. I have to thank him again when I get the chance.” She mutters to herself.

Sehun swings himself over the balcony anyway and lands smoothly in front of the girl, stopping her in her tracks. “Say, what’s an heiress like you doing in the middle of Seoul’s downtown? Not that there’s a problem with it, rebels are pretty cool,” he adds when she gives him a look.

“Hm. It’s not exactly any of your business, why exactly are you asking?” She keeps a straight face. “Also, I’m not an heiress.”

“Sure. ‘Someone of your status,’” he retorts, quoting Brute Number 1. “ Love, you’re all over the news already. Don’t think I don’t recognise you.” He smirks as he sees her hand twitch in the dim light.

“If you’re not an heiress, then I’m not Oh Sehun. Come up to level three, Aeri. I’m not dangerous, plus you’re kind of bleeding.”

She gives him a once-over with narrowed eyes and crosses her arms. “Who?”

The man opposite her, clad in nothing but a dark jumper and even darker jeans, smiles and holds out his hand. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

-----

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Aeri says as she cools down her hot chocolate, resting her feet on top of her canvas backpack. “Also, did you spike my drink?”

“Ah. She is smarter than she looks,” Sehun mutters. He laughs lightly when she gives him a withering look. “No, I didn’t spike your drink. Also, I’ve already told you my name. Oh Sehun. Now, shall we address the elephant in the room?” He tilts his head.

“Sure.” She answers, steeling herself for the interrogation.

“Did you really think that you’d be able survive out there, though? This is downtown Seoul, not the snazzy part of the capital. Princess, I hate to break it to you, but you’re easy picking.”

“Why does everyone think I’m totally helpless? I assume you saw me in the alleyway, I know how to defend myself,” she protests.

“Say someone pulls a knife in that situation. What do you do? You can duck and dodge and run, but then again, knives can and will be thrown. Tell me, how will you protect yourself?”

For once, Aeri doesn’t have a comment on it. She decides to veer back to the original conversation. “Back on topic. Who exactly are you? Do you always bring girls up to your balcony, or am I just that special?”

He sits himself down on the armchair opposite, making himself comfortable. Aeri scoffs at his arrogant airs. “I am Oh Sehun, anonymous journalist and saviour of women. Nineteen years old. I also don’t do backstories.”

Aeri almost chokes on her hot chocolate. “A journalist, huh? I have every reason to get up and leave this place right now. You journalists are very… invasive, not to mention your intense love for exaggeration and twisting the facts to paint the good guys and the bad guys in stark black and white.”

“You are a cynical individual, princess.”

Silence settles over the two strangers.

“You… you know your way around Seoul, right?” Aeri asks, an unsettling stillness coming about her.

Sehun, who was staring out the window (to give the girl some space), looks across the living room to the heiress in his apartment. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Your scene should be common knowledge if you’re a journalist.”

Aeri is silent, contemplating her options again.

“Show me around all of…this,” she says, gesturing to the view outside his window, a subtle excitement in her eyes. One week of complete freedom, that’s all I ask of you.”

“Easier said than done. Your pretty face is all over the news. What’s in it for me?” he asks, sitting down opposite her.

“The honour of being in my company, and a new friend, I suppose,” she answers. “Oh, and a source for your stories. Seoul’s ‘elite’ never know when they’re being quietly observed. I know lots about people,” she adds with a wink.

“That is a valuable resource. I’ll cut you a deal. I’ll let you live here, and I’ll take care of you and all of that crap. In return for this lovely treatment, you share all of your secrets with me. Deal?” He proposes with a sly grin.

“Deal.” Aeri shakes hands with the journalist, excited at the prospect of freedom for the first time in her seventeen years of living.

The room looks incredibly cosy in dusk’s light. The bed, a white metal frame with a queen sized mattress and striped covers. An oval clock on the wall ticks, a thin layer of dust coating its glass. A chest of drawers serves as a closet and last of all, a sturdy bookcase on the opposite wall to the bed, filled with at least fifty volumes of action comics.

Aeri turns to Sehun, a small smile playing on her face. (Sehun immediately comes to his own defence, saying, “I’m still technically a teen, okay! Not that comics are only meant for teens, and-” He gives up when Aeri bursts out laughing.)

Aeri nods her approval, immensely happy with her new room. Sehun his chin. “You need more clothes. I already have a spare toothbrush, but you need to get bath stuff too… oh man, I hope you’re not too high maintenance. You also need pads or something for your time of month, tell me, do you get cranky or-”

He’s silenced by an irritated punch to the arm. “You talk a lot. Let’s just go.”

Sehun throws a hoodie to her. “Wear that and keep your head down, you can’t get recognised.”

Aeri shrugs into his hoodie. She walks out behind Sehun, stepping out of his way so he can lock the door. “I assume you’ve never been grocery shopping.”

-----

“Have you ever been on a motorbike before?”

Aeri opens the garage door, the sheet of metal creaking as it is being lifted. “No, I haven’t. But I’ve always been one to try new things.”

She smiles as she grabs a spare helmet from his hands, smug. Sehun returns her smugness with an equal amount of obnoxiousness and pulls out another helmet before swinging himself onto the bike’s leather seat- soft and familiar to his backside. Aeri straddles herself behind him while he turns the engine.

A rev. “You ready?” he asks, teasing in his tone.

“Well, I’ve been waiting for the past, oh I don’t know, ten seconds. I’m actually- Holy crap!” Aeri yells as Sehun takes off at top speed. She lightly hits his back, so as to not distract him from steering. “Are you out of your mind?! I could’ve died!”

“Well… you didn’t.” Aeri can practically hear him grinning under his black helmet.

She clings onto his waist tightly for the first few minutes, but eases when she takes in the sights of the downtown. There are gently lit alleys, paved with dark grey cobblestones and housing little boutiques and quaint cafes. Everything is somewhat gritty, and real, and it’s the Seoul that Aeri has never been allowed to see, and she decides that she likes it. One day, she thinks, One day I’ll explore.

They’re reaching the unofficial borders of uptown and downtown Seoul. Turns out that the convenience store is spread across the middle ground, and the motorcycle slows to a stop in a rather worn parking space. Aeri tugs her helmet off and her (Sehun’s) hoodie down until if covers half of her face. “Oh joy. Grocery shopping. You know, we could’ve ordered stuff from home and they could’ve delivered it to us in like, two hours.”

Sehun turns around to be greeted by the sight of Aeri giving him the best death glare she can from underneath a hoodie. “And you didn’t say before… why?” she asks through clenched teeth.

“I guess… Day One of the complete Seoul experience?” he shrugs and steps off of the motorbike, resting his helmet on the handlebars while reaching a hand out to Aeri in one smooth movement.

She turns her nose up and gets off by herself. She is determinedly striding up to the store when Sehun stops her. “The convenience store wouldn’t be as convenient if you were, say, holding a bulky helmet.” He nods to her hand.

She shoves it into his chest, somewhat embarrassed. It was the same weight as one of her favourite satchels- a feeling that had grown on her since she bought it.

They walk into the store together, the stale air conditioning hitting them like a blizzard. Chip packets are rustling in the aisle to their left. “Um, shouldn’t they turn down the air conditioning?”

Sehun nods. “Just a little bit too strong.”

Instead of doing anything, he tugs her further into the store, already wanting to leave the chilly place. “So, you know what you’re getting?”

Aeri nods. “Extra shower stuff and underwear. Also, as you so eloquently put it, feminine hygiene products.”

“I pride myself on being a gentleman.”

“Can we go clothes shopping tomorrow?” she asks as they walk to the register.

“Sure- but I have work tomorrow. Journalist stuff.” His voice is nonchalant as he places items onto the slightly wet conveyor belt, shuddering a little when his fingers make contact with the slippery surface.

“Oh, right.” She tilts her head down to hide her face and the middle-aged lady scanning the items squints at her. Sehun quickly dispels the situation by wrapping an arm around Aeri’s waist.

“Sorry, my girlfriend is very tired- she just came back from America.” He explains earnestly.

The lady just gives a slow nod. “That’s 30,000 won. How will you be paying?”

“Cash,” He says, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. He hands her the money, and winces when he takes a look at what remains in his wallet- about 50,000 won by the look of it. He’d been hoping that he could save this week’s pay check. He winces inwardly again when he remembers that Aeri has to buy clothes. This girl should get a job. But she can’t. Damn. This is going to harder than I thought.

----

 

They arrive back at Sehun’s apartment, silently climbing the stairs. “Sehun…”

“Yeah? Also, call me oppa- I’m two years older than you.” He says cheerfully.

“I never told you my age.”

“Sweetheart, you’re all over the news. Actually, should I call you sweetheart? You said to that guy not to call you sweetheart, sweetheart.”

“I just noticed that you’re doing that thing again, you know, talking? and I am never going to call you oppa. No.”

“Yes.” He retorts.

“Maybe.”

“Fine.” Sehun says as he keys in the code to open his door. A sudden question pops into Aeri’s head.

“What exactly does an anonymous journalist do?” she asks.

“Hmm… XX Magazine is a sort-of-not-really gossip slash economics magazine. I get a two page spread, and what I put on there are stories of corruption, illicit affairs, anything to get the elite in trouble or bring down their companies.”

“You sound like you’re holding a personal vendetta against them.” observes Aeri, stepping into the entrance hallway behind Sehun.

“Maybe I am. Most of it’s for fun really, they suddenly realise that they’re not untouchable. Some even clean up their act and become somewhat of a respectable citizen.” He chuckles and walks to the kitchen. “The best part about it is the ‘anonymous’ element. They can’t send their henchmen after the journalist because, well, they simply don’t know who I am. And they certainly cannot send their henchmen to the magazine because they’ll probably be sued by the magazine for destruction of property or something. I don’t know. We’ve thought of everything.”

Sehun disappears through another doorway while Aeri opens the door to her room. He’s an interesting character, isn’t he? An anonymous journalist…

----

Good thing I didn’t let anything too dangerous slip. Does she know who I am? Maybe she doesn’t, we met once when we were kids though. How is it that I can remember but she can’t? He thinks as he cuts up vegetables, pork strips sizzling in the wok to his right. Do our parents talk to each other? Wait. They were rivals, of course they wouldn’t.

He lets out a sigh as he stirs the meat around in the wok, adding a little bit of salt. He throws the vegetables in and starts to flip them in the pan, adding some soy sauce. Aeri comes into the kitchen, enticed by the fragrance that was floating into her room. “You can cook,” she deadpans.

Sehun sighs. “I kind of had to learn. Also, it’ll be done in five minutes. Go sit at the table.”

“Bossy. That’s what you are.” She says.

Sehun waves his knife in her direction. “Sorry, no room for elementary students here, please move along and sit your down. Got that?”

Aeri obliges him and sits down at round white table, Sehun following with a steaming serving plate of pork stir fry. “I hope you don’t die,” he says cheerfully, already putting some into his bowl. “This is only the second time I’ve made this, and I’m not that confident, so good luck. I guess.”

“That’s reassuring,” Aeri mutters, reaching for a particularly large strip of pork and some vegetables and sending them straight to .

“Is it okay?”

Aeri smiles and takes some more. “It’s good, but I can still cook better. Probably.”

“We need to keep you hidden, don’t we? Thing is, your face will be broadcasted all over South Korea- I don’t know how we’ll do it.”

Aeri washes the dishes after dinner, as a sign of goodwill.

“You know how to wash dishes?” Sehun asks, leaning on the doorframe.

“Like I said, I’m not helpless. Or useless for that matter.” Aeri says, concentrating on a particularly difficult soy sauce stain.

“Never said you were.” Sehun immediately grins a Cheshire grin and Aeri doesn’t turn around but rolls her eyes.

She turns around and flicks water at him. “Seriously though, you can have a shower. Not like someone’s going to find me here.”

Sehun shrugs and disappears down the hallway. Soon the sound of the showerhead can be heard and Aeri concentrates once again, the stain disappearing after her arduous efforts.

-----

Sehun is leaning on the doorframe again when Aeri has just finished rinsing the dishes. She senses him behind her again and turns around, letting out a sigh of somewhat evident annoyance when she turns around.

“Maybe a shirt, Sehun?” she asks.

“As the princess wishes.”

"I thought I told you already. Don't call me 'Princess'."

{AUTHOR’S CORNER}

Oh wow. Hi everyone, I’m back with yet another story, hopefully it’s not comprised of word vomit this time. The first chapter has been a month in the making, I’ve been criticising my writing style lolololol. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, don’t forget to subscribe and comment sweethearts.

…or should I not call you sweethearts?

xo_sammy