Chapter Sixteen

The Ball II

Kai's face hardened as a certain woman began to approach him. 

His grip on the wine glass tightened as his features arranged themselves into a scowl.

She stopped a few inches in front of him, slowly craning her neck up to look at his face fulsomely. Almost as if she was forced, stretched into a stiff smile. "Hello Mr.Kim. I didn't expect to see you here." 

Those eyes. That smile. There was nothing but iciness in them.

He scoffed. "I could care less for your thoughts," he responded causticly in a low voice. Despite his annoyance at her presence, Kai's countenance conveyed no signs of bitterness because he knew others could be looking at them. The last thing he wanted was for nasty rumors to circulate anyways.

Li Wang's smile didn't falter at his comment. "Let's be civil, shall we? Even if you don't like me, we are still engaged." Her feline cat eyes narrowed slightly. "And whether or not you agree to it, your father has decided."

Kai bristled at the mention of that person. If there was anybody he hated more than her, it was his father.

"Not if I can help it," he replied with impertinence. His eyes were wandering everywhere around the room but on her face, because if the last incident indicated anything, it was that this lady's features were a catalyst for an inevitable explosion. And this place was not a good place to explode. 

"Stubborn and obstinate as always, aren't we? Did you perhaps forget the fact that my parents' corporation holds a lot of your shares? I would hate to imagine the alternative if you choose to pull out of this arrangement," she shrewdly accosted.

Kai almost broke the poor, delicate wine glass under his clenched fist. Feeling tempered, his eyes bore into her face harshly. "I said, not if I can help it." And he meant it with every word.

However, even as she looked at his darkening eyes and fearsome demeanor, Li Wang was unshaken. Twirling the glass of fancy wine in her immaculate fingers, she offered him a phlegmatic smile. "I don't see why you hate me so much, Kim Jongin. I have done nothing to you." In her tone, there were traces of unsuppressed irritation that she had not managed to hide. 

Kai smirked. He had plenty of answers for this one. He could count off the reasons right off every finger, too. 

I don't know you. I don't want to listen to my father. You're cold. You're unfriendly. You're inhuman. You're a robot.

And last of all, I don't love you. I will never, ever repeat what my father did. 

However, saying them would just make him laughable, so he kept all of these answers to himself and instead, scornfully said, "Because you're a . Should there be another reason?" 

Kai waited for a sudden indignant gasp or something of that nature, but Li Wang only rolled back her head and laughed like his insult was the funniest joke she had ever heard.  "You are so very interesting, indeed. While every other man would gladly fall at my feet, you choose to deny me. What is there not to like?"

Kai had to admit she was semi-correct in her statement. Li Wang, the heir of Wang Corporations, was the image of perfection. She was intelligent, beautiful, and mature beyond her years, which made her an apotheosis in the economic world. She could also speak multiple languages and play a variety of instruments to an advanced level. Naturally, as a consequence, every man that would come across her would fall in love with her, but not in Kai's case. When he had first seen her, instead of being awed and impressed, he was only turned off. She was too flawless, too uptight, and too cold. Even when he tried to dig for an imperfection, whether it was it in actions or words, something that would make her more human, he couldn't find it. There was no warmth, no innocence, and no flaws. And that was what turned Kai away. 

Maybe it was because he had grown up being expected of excellence by his family and close peers. He had gotten used to putting up a face of strictly business and being demanded of constant perfection by everyone, whether he knew them or not. As a result, his personality was cold and often rude, because mannerisms of kindness could be mistaken for a weak and gullible heart. No immaturity or playfulness was ever allowed in his house, so what could he do as a child if he was not permitted to play with other children? He studied. He tried to find other hobbies, like dancing, or watching his mother cook. He read, wrote, and read some more. He didn't watch dramas or go around to movie theaters. In truth, Kai didn't even know what being a child was like, or what they did for fun. Everything in his past was boring, uneventful, and easily forgettable. That was why he hated his life and his "home" so much. And that was probably why he had immediately rejected Li Wang. Her resemblance to him was shocking, and he knew, deep down inside, that he could never live with someone who he would only grow to hate as the days went by. 

He had seen this happen to his father. And he had seen the repercussions of it on his pitiful mother, who could never do anything to challenge her husband. The two had also been forced together into a marriage that only served for economic advantages, and unlike the typical, cliché movie plots, they never fell in love. No, worse, they fell into hate. As a result, only heartbreak and pain ensued. After Kai was born, his father came home less often, and it turned from days of absence into weeks and months of pure agony for his lonely mother. As a baby, his father was not a person, but only a name. It wasn't until he was a little older and actually capable of learning that he began to see the man more, as he came home to teach Kai business conducts and such, but that was also around the same time that something else happened...something that to this day, he would never, ever forgive his father for. And it was one of the biggest reasons as to why Kai would never agree to this engagement with Li Wang, because he didn't want to turn out like the man he hated. 

"Hello? Did you not hear me?" The woman's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Kai looked down at her and scowled. "I don't like you. That's the only explanation I'll give," he snarled, and turned to walk away when he felt her claws grip his arm. 

In a loud, lofty voice that brought others' attention onto them, she exclaimed, "Yes, I will dance with you!" 

Kai tried to hide his expression of shock as he leaned down and gratingly whispered, "What the hell are you doing?! I don't want to dance with you!" 

Li Wang coyly smiled in return, tugging him by the arm into the dancefloor. "Take this as my revenge for ditching me on our last encounter. Or have you forgotten?" Her eyes flashed with anger at this statement. 

Kai sighed. Even if she drove him to the edge, he had to admit he had done wrong. He would just have to hold his tongue this once for the sake of his image and go along with it. 

"F-Father?" 

There was no denial about who was standing in front of her right now. Her eyes bulged as she gaped in astonishment. "W-what are you doing here?" she stuttered. 

The old man's face seemed to mirror her own. "The better question is, what are you doing here at this ball, Sungmi? In a man's suit, much less?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow at the end. When he had come to look for the restrooms, he certainly hadn't expected to see his daughter come waltzing out of the men's lavatory, all done up in reverse attire. And even though he had almost passed the scene without a thought, thinking that he had confused her for somebody else, the shiny, commercial-black hair that Sungmi was known for couldn't be mistaken. And finally, when he had realized that his eyes weren't deceiving him, he almost reeled back in shock at the sight of her figure. 

Park Sungmi, his only daughter who had been fat for the entirety of her life, had managed to lose a lot of weight. She was still chubby, but unlike before, her cheekbones were now visible and her chin was much sharper than the last time he had seen her. He couldn't guaze too much difference in her body because she was in a freaking tuxedo, but even then, he could see that she had dropped a few sizes. 

Sungmi gulped uneasily. "Uh...Kai invited me. Because, you know, I live...with him." And to his second question, she didn't really know how exactly to answer it. What would she say? She definitely couldn't tell her father that Kai thought she was a dude, because Kai would find out about it sooner than she would be able to blink an eye. After all, she had no trust for this man. 

After a moment of awkward silence, she slowly mumbled, "I dressed as a guy...because I would make a fool of myself in a dress. I don't look like a woman." Saying this actually damaged her pride beyond words, but Sungmi knew that this was still much better than risking herself of getting caught. In fact, what she said wasn't even a lie. She owned no dresses, and even if she had one and had worn it (in the case that Kai knew), Sungmi would only be scorned and laughed at because she had not the shape nor the face for something so feminine. All the women that she had seen so far at the ball were graceful, elegant, and extremely ladylike. Kai mistaking Sungmi as a boy didn't seem so far-fetched after all, especially if he had grown up used to the image of women looking in this way. Sungmi was nowhere close to resembling them. 

"You still have a lot to explain, young lady," her father replied, narrowing his eyes. He motioned for her to follow him as he made his way back towards the ballroom, no longer feeling the need to use the restroom. 

Sungmi trailed behind him with halting steps, unsure of what to say. Her father's presence was unnerving her because he had not changed one