It was finally Friday, which meant that you had time off from school, where everyone had treated you like an outcast. But most importantly, it meant that you could finally find some time to spend with your boyfriend, Alen. You guys had started dating after he confessed to you a month ago. You were getting ready for your date with him, and were taking a long time than you normally would, since it was your first date with him. After all, he was your boyfriend now, and it was perfectly normal for you to want to look the most appealing to him.

“Hurry up, Dabin! It’s not nice to keep a guy waiting for this long, you know!” You heard your mom yell from the living room downstairs.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming!” You shouted back, “I still want to make myself presentable to him, too,” you muttered the last part under your breath. As you finished putting on your hoodie and wrapping the thick red scarf you had knitted for yourself around your neck, you bounced off your bed and down the stairs, eager to see Alen. Without second thought, though, you tripped over your own feet and fell flat on your face on the floor. You turned your head and let out a sheepish smile at your mom and Alen, who just stared back at you.

“Ow…” you crawled back to your feet and rubbed your cheek, which was now reddening, not only because of the fall, but also because of the embarrassment that you had just brought on by yourself. *Aish. It’s our first official date and I'm making a freaking fool out of myself.*

“Hey, baby. That was some fall, huh?” Alen let out an amused laugh as he walked over to help you up.

You just glared at him with those brown orbs of yours as he smiled back. “But it’s okay, because you’re still my cute girlfriend,” he pinched your cheeks and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile. *Okay, he makes fun of me one second and then the next, he’s complimenting me? But I’m not complaining about the complimenting part.* The heat rose to your reddened cheeks again and you slightly elbowed him playfully with pout on your face.

You turned away from him and looked at your mom, acting as if you had never embarrassed yourself by falling down the stairs. “Well, anyways, we should get going now, so bye mom! I’ll see you later.” You waved to her as you and Alen stepped out the front door. Alen gave your mom a reassuring smile that he would take care of you as he walked you out. He led you to the car and fastened your seat belt for you after you got in.

“So where are we going for our date?” You asked, curiosity building up inside of you.

“Remember how I told you it was going to be a surprise?” He smirked at you and drove off with a mischievous glint in his eyes. You just giggled at his secretive nature and didn’t probe him for any more answers.

After awhile, you guys finally reached a destination. You looked around you and felt uneasy. He had taken you to the South side of Seoul, and the weather over here didn’t look so great. The sky had darkened and the clouds faded away. There weren’t a lot of stores or shops here, and it looked pretty deserted if you asked me. You turned back to Alen. “What are we doing here?” You gulped nervously.

“Well, I was actually looking for some time to be alone with you, in the outskirts of town, where no one would find us. I thought it would be romantic, since all of our previous ‘dates’ involved eating ice cream together and having casual conversations. I wanted to try something new, so I brought you to a place where we could spend some alone time.” He answered back, this time sounding happy about his plans.

You nodded at him and gave him a sheepish smile. Scratching your head, you looked around outside a car and spotted a club not far from where you were and also a motel on the opposite side of the street. You pulled your scarf closer to you and tucked your chin under it.

“I don’t know about this, and I’m not even old enough to go to a club!” You defensively said to Alen.

“I guess you saw the club already, huh? You’re mind works fast, Dabin-ah,” he said as he let out a small laugh. “But don’t worry, I got us fake ID’s and everything, so it’s okay. And besides, I think you need to get away for one night and just let yourself go. I think this will be fun tonight,” Alen said, but deep down, he knew he brought you here because he needed to tell you something.

Before you knew it, you were walking with Alen into the club—surprisingly, the guards had let you guys in without any suspicion—and feeling uncomfortable with all the bodies squishing you in the middle as Alen led you further in to the bar.

“Two fruit cocktails, please,” he told the bar owner. He looked at you with a reassuring smile, but you just glanced around nervously.

“A-Alen, I want to go home. I don’t want to drink, I’m not even supposed to, and all of this that you are doing is illegal!” You whispered the last part loudly in his ear. Before Alen could say anything, though, the person behind the counter had interrupted him by serving the two cocktails to you guys.

“Don’t be such a prude, Dabin. It’s okay to have a little fun once in a while,” Alen said as he downed the drink in front of him. Before you could say anything to him, he got up and went to the dance floor. He invited you with him, but you had refused, knowing that you could not—no, did not—want to dance in such a place where everyone was grinding up on each other. It was just disgusting and thinking about it made you sick to the stomach.

After half an hour, you grew tired and bored. You just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. You looked back over to the dance floor and saw Alen dancing with another girl. Looking closer, you saw Mihyun, the queenka from your high school, who was always clinging onto Alen like a leech, even when he rejected her in front of you. But now, you felt absolutely humiliated and tears had started to well up in your eyes. You weren’t sure if it was the music in the club that was playing and all the noise that added to the emotional build up in you, but you were on the verge of crying.

You walked over to the dance floor slowly, being pushed left and right by people around you. But you didn’t care for the drunken odor from men’s mouth nor the insults thrown to you from the women around. You just wanted to get an answer out of your boyfriend, or your supposed boyfriend.

“Urgh, watch it, will you?!”

“What is this little kid doing here in a club like this?”
“Stop bumping into me, aish! This little . Who does she think she is?”

“Hey baby, you wanna to come dance with oppas? We’ll treat you well.”

Shying away from them, and approaching Alen, you finally built up the courage and confronted him with the girl he was openly grinding on in front of you, his own girlfriend. Anger or embarrassment could not describe what you were feeling right now. This was beyond humiliation. It was just cruel.

“Oh, hey baby. Dabin, I thought you said you didn’t want to dance?” Alen slurred his words at you, and you knew by his actions and bad breath that he was drunk to the max already.

“Meet my girlfriend… Mihyun.” He smirked at you. “Didn’t I already tell you today that I brought you here cause I needed to tell you something? Well, I want to break up with you.”

“What?...”