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"because this is not the first time this has happened seol."

the look on seol's eyes changed in realization. hyungwon's warns at the begining seemed out of place, she didn't understand why he wanted to warn her. but as she grew to know the ceo, she started to question everything. 

now it was more than obvious why he wanted to warn her, not only to protect her but because it had happened before. that meant, there had been others before her. 

"i didn't want to come to this point... but you're not the first one and you'll probably won't be the last." hyungwon kept saying as he stared at her, eagerly wishing he would slap some sense into her.

"you need to know this seol... kihyun doesn't give a shit about you and he never will." seol's eyes widened in shock. even if the ceo broke the contract and ended whatever relationship they had. deep but very very deep inside, she hoped it was all a nightmare and that next day she'd wake up in his arms.

but hyungwon was talking nothing but the truth. "i just wanted to help you but you didn't listen." he finally said, shaking his head in disapproval and taking the last shot of soju. 

she felt her chest hurting as reality hit her. "how many?"

hyungwon looked at her confused, his head tilted. "how many what?"

"how many before me?" 

his clouded expression softened as his lips pressed in a thin line. "i don't think you'd like to know-

"please." she begged, her eyes clouding with tears. hyungwon knew she probably wouldn't like to hear the answer to this question, or any she had. 

"i need to know, so i can hate him and move on." she added, leaning closer on the table, bringing her fist down to the wooden surface. 

hyungwon glanced at her fist and then returned to her hurt eyes. "13... that i know. with you, that'd make 14." 

seol took her hands to her mouth as the tears ran down her cheeks. she couldn't believe her ears. "when!?"

hyungwon swallowed hard. "the last one was 2 months ago-

"that's not possible- he... he told me he hadn't dated in years-

"that was a fucking lie seol, that's what he does... he lies all the time." she stood from the ground and took a few steps back. hyungwon followed with his worried eyes. 

"i am sorry you had to go through this- he started but stopped once he noticed she wasn't really listening to her. 

"this is all my fault." he heard her mumbling. he stood quickly from the ground and followed her.

"it's not your fault... or well, not entirely." she shook her head as she tried to wip the tears away.

"it was always the same, he'd hire some random girl to have sex with and when he got bored, he'd end the contract and hunt another one." 

seol looked at him with big eyes, somehow hating what was coming out of hyungwon's mouth but longing to hear more. something had triggered inside her and she passionately needed to hate him right now. 

"the girl was always left behind, he wouldn't care about her. some of them took it fine, but others didn't." 

he was tired. tired of cleaning up after kihyun's messes. he was literally ashamed of being related to him.  but just as if seol could read minds, he noticed how her expression hardened. 

"then why would you let this happen? why are you still working for him? why are you even friends with him at all!?" she didn't mean to shout the last question but she couldn't help but feel it that way. 

hyungwon looked down as a heavy sigh left his mouth. the only thought of confessing it just made his blood boil. he couldn't hide his shame.

"he... he actually helped me when i was going through a rough time, a few years ago. my little sister was really sick and we didn't have any money to cover her medical expenses..." he started as he took a hand to massage his neck. 

just the thought of revealling this to seol hurt his heart and covered his face with shame. but he didn't want her to think he was just as evil as him. 

"we... we had attended school together and we were kind of friends back in the day... but my family went bankrupt and... we just needed money and he had tons, he gladly offered to pay for everything and at first i thought "wow what a wonderful friend, who offers to pay for my sister's treatment in exchange of nothing"... but i was a fool."

seol was horrified, she almost couldn't believe her own ears. this was her first time listening to this story but it wasn't hard to imagine what came next. 

"we were able to pay for my sister's treatment with his generous paycheck but then once she got fully recovered, he called me a few months later and asked me to pay him back." 

she felt her blood boiling and her chest burning with anger. "h-how could he?" 

hyungwon looked at her with a sad smile. "that's him, that's what he does... he called me and asked me to pay him back, i said i didn't have any money and he told me he didn't want money, he just needed someone to work for him."

"at the moment i had left university because i couldn't pay it and i a part time job that did not generate major incomes so... i accepted it. not even knowing in what i was getting into. i just accepted because after he called me and asked me for that, i felt i kind of owed him." he shook his head closing his eyes.

"i can't believe it." seol said covering her mouth. never in a million of years she could have imagined someone would tell her these things about the ceo. 

but right now, she believed it all. it was obvious he was that type of person. 

"i am so sorry... for what you've been through." she said taking a step towards him. her eyes red and puffy from all the crying. 

hyungwon stayed still, frozen on his spot, not daring to move. "i am glad that money helped your sister but i am sorry for what he made you do. he had no right." seol added. 

he flashed a sad smile as he lifted his hand to take a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "it's okay, like you said... this helped my sister's situation so for that i am grateful."

seol blinked twice as she gave him a ressuring nod. "but still... i am ashamed i am even related to him. it hurts to admit it."

"you shouldn't. this is not your fault, you're just a victim-

"just like you." he said but seol shook her head. "aniyo. i am not a victim, i agreed to all this in the first place because i was a fool. i liked him the second i saw him and the whole idea of being in a relationship with him, even if it was only for sex sounded exciting to me." hyungwon swallowed hard at her frank words.

"i agreed because i was bored and wanted something different in my life... because he seemed like a nice and well mannered man... but now i realized that no man that offers you sex for money is nice nor well mannered. i was just a fool." 

hyungwon hated to agree, but it was true. she had been a fool, just like him. 

"it's okay. it's in the past now... you won't have to deal with him ever again-

"but what about you? for how long are you going to sacrifice your life like this? for him?" 

hyungwon tilted his head, confussed at her words. "hyungwon-ssi! it's been how long?"

"8 years." he painfully admitted. 

her eyes widened in horror. "8 years!? seriously? for how long do you plan to stay around? don't you think 8 years is more than enough?" 

hyungwon blinked twice, his eyes looking surprised as if realizating hit him for the first time in 8 years. he looked down at his hands thinking that maybe she was true. 

but then the look of her sister, smiling last night as she waved him bye before going to sleep, made his chest burn. the look on his mother's face three years in the past before she passed away, happiness, as she prepared dinner for her children was something that made him believe he was still in debt with him.

"i... i can't." he simply said shaking his head and looking away. 

seol sighed, disappointed. she didn't know what to say at this point. she just wanted hyungwon to be free as well. "i just... i hope you can free yourself one day. because i am sure you've worked hard these past years and you deserve better." 

she couldn't believe she was the one now, saying the cheerful words to him. even if she was still hurt over what the ceo did to her, her situation now seemed less significant that hyungwon's. 

he gave her a sad smile and a head nod. "alright... we should get some sleep." somehow she felt disappointed, she wanted to keep talking but apparently he didn't, and she couldn't blame him at all. 

he turned around to go to the kitchen but she grabbed his arm, stopping him. he almost jumped in surprise over seol's bold actions. "thank you." she simply said.

hyungwon stared down at her. her small frame almost trembling next to him. he understood what her desperate eyes wanted to say but imagined her mouth couldn't. 

she wanted to thank him for everything. for trying to warn her, for worrying about her, for helping her today, for bring her here, away from everything and anyone so she could heal and clear her thoughts away and just thank him for being him, it was enough. 

he nodded reassuringly and her grip softened, eventually letting him go. hyungwon sighed and turned around looking for the dirty dishes to take them to the kitchen. she insisted into helping him but he refused and sent her to sleep. 

a few seconds later she appeared on the kitchen, leaning against the door. "hyungwon-ssi- she called his name. he looked up from the sink, his hands immersed on doing the dishes, she smiled sweetly at him and nodded - have a good night." 

he didn't say anything. he didn't feel like talking sometimes, especially if he thought it wasn't needed. but the endearing look on his face was more than enough for seol to realize he wished her good night as well. she nodded and walked back to her assigned room. 

once she got inside, she closed the door behind her and threw herself on the bed. 

thinking about all the stuff that happened today almost provided her a headache. she closed her eyes and recalled all the frustating moments but opened her eyes to make them go away. 

she wanted to curse herself for being so stupid, for trusting the ceo and for almost fall in love with him. she was just grateful that somehow everything ended before romatic feelings were deeply developed. 

seol rolled in the bed as she tried to find a comfortable position. not that the bed wasn't comfortable, it surely was, but she felt so restless. there was discomfort in her mind and soul. 

she sat straight in bed and notice almost an hour had passed since she laid in bed so she decided to get up and walk around the room. 

she noticed there were girly stuff around, like some dolls stacked in a shelf. children books and a vanity with a comb and a jewelry box. next to it was a framed picture of hyungwon, probably in his teenage years with a small girl in a hospital bed, who she assumed was his little sister. 

the look on his face was so endearing as he posed in the picture with a teddy bear and two adults who she assumed were their parents. 

she felt her heart twitching at the view. they seemed like a happy family and she couldn't belive the sacrifice hyungwon did for the family and his sister. 

it was already obvious the kind of person he was, different from the ceo.

recalling all the stuff he had done for her made something inside her chest burn. she felt wrapped in a warm sensation as her heart raced at the thought of him being behind the door. 

there were more framed pictures of him with his sister and what seemed a whole family gathering. 

he looked handsome in all of them. he had different ages and differed hair styles. in some of them his hair was shorter and in others long as he had it right now. 

she couldn't help but think he wasn't only a nice guy but also a very handsome one. but that wasn't all, she thought about how she felt uneasy the first time she met him, thinking he was mysterious, cold and distant. she didn't know how wrong she was.

she glanced at the closed door, imagined him behind, probably laying down in the living room and her heart raced. 

taking a few steps she reached the door and sighed. she could feel her whole body throbbing with anticipation. she wanted to open the door so badly just to peek so she took her hand to the latch and laid her hand there, in the cold metal. 

she could almost hear her temples throbbing loudly as her feet rested bare on the cold wooden floor. 

would he be asleep already? would she get caught? 

what she really wanted to do? 

she bit her lip as she hesitated her next actions. why? 

she just wanted to look at him. 

so gathering all her strength and with a swift move, she opened the door. 

her heart stopped for a second when the door releaved hyungwon's towering figure, extending his hand reaching for the latch at the same time has her. 

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