As her mother would to say, loving the wrong man leaves behind bitter scars, the older the love - more potent the poison and Yeon Hwa had held him in her heart for so long that, wrenching the feeling away would make her bleed rather profusely. Still her feelings are no longer those of a teenage girl, who would get her heart broken over the fact that her crush would rather entertain her penniless cousin than accompany her to a high end family event. No - that had been Yeon Hwa of yore. Instead, somewhere down the road his actions had pushed her across the thin line that they say separated love from its twin - hatred.

Sitting there waiting for the moment of retribution to pass, she thinks back to when things had begun to change. She had always believed he lied - when So would say that Ha Jin was his girlfriend. Although he sounded so sternly confident when he rejected her advances.

"I have a girl Yeon Hwa," he would say, firmly pushing her away. And his hand would not linger a second longer than is absolutely necessary to remove her from his personal space. "You can never replace her." Then he would leave, hands tucked in his pocket, brushing past her without a backwards glance, as if the most popular girl of their circle hadn't just thrown herself at him. 

There was nothing remarkable about the girl at least in Yeon Hwa’s eyes and after everything she had done for him - frankly she did not believe a nobody who shared a little family history with her would be up for the competition. She had wanted So ever since she had laid her eyes on him and he - well he had been breaking her heart ever since.

Ha Jin could not protect him - she had told herself. A foolish attempt to console her own intelligence into believing a lie a little longer. All she could do - she thinks reflecting back to a scene she had witnessed by chance - was to tend to his wounds. While she - Yeon Hwa, had avenged each cut that brute of a brother had made on him, by bruising his ego in turn, by ripping off all the glory he had snatched from her love. She had volunteered to bring Tae’s doom, when her uncle had been planning for something different. What they wanted was to make him unbeatable - a valuable asset to their business. It was the opportunity she had been waiting for, a few milligrams more it would appear on his test and the stain would never come off his record.

Even a slap and a few harsh words from her uncle would be worth it to watch the brute crumble. And she was to accompany So to the success party the Hwangs had organized for their two sons. Her uncle had arranged it, Yeon Hwa knows and she wishes the night would be beginning of more wonderful things to come. Their families wanted to associate closely and her cousin - the adopted daughter of her uncle would be engaged to the adopted son of the Hwangs soon. What she wished for was hardly impossible. And here she is sure, they will hear the first crack of Tae’s success. So would see how deep and real her feeling are once he realizes the lengths she would go for him. 

She is not unaware that Ha Jin is somewhere around - doing that despicable part time waitressing job of hers. Ignorant as she always is of whose event she had ended up in. Yeon Hwa knows and counts on it - on them coming face to face - on him finally seeing the standard of his so called girlfriend - on her finally realizing how unreachable is the man she had set her eyes on and how dazzling a couple he made with Yeon Hwa instead.

A miscalculation it turns out to be.

Ha Jin freezes the moment she sees them, the glasses she carry rattles when her hands tremble. Yeon Hwa watches keeping her smirk in check, how her features are shadowed by betrayal. Her heart is soaring the moment So follows her line of vision and rests his eyes on the loathsome sight - and goes rigid as the street rat her uncle feeds to honor his late father’s wishes scatters away.

But then he goes after her.

Without a word of explanation, apology or farewell wasted on the girl he was supposed to bring to the party - on expressed instructions of his father, he runs after her. And Yeon Hwa - the foolish girl that she is - follows him, knowing full well she will only end up breaking her heart even further.

“Ha Jin - ah!” She hears him call, somewhere far beyond in the well landscaped garden.

Ha Jin doesn’t turn to face him staring focused at the fountain playing in artificial moonlight , but So knows from her quivering shoulders that she is crying. She wraps her arms around herself and rocks on the balls of her feet, willing herself to stop, but failing as he watches in anguish. Paper lanterns swing in the air, hanging low and casting dancing strips of multicolored light around them. Some more, shaped like lotuses are artistically scattered around the pond.

“Ha Jin - ah…” He repeats softly.

“Go back to the party So -” her tone is cutting, and he flinches. “I’ll come in a bit.”

He makes up his mind the moment she tries to put distance between them. Reaching out to touch her shoulder, he steps around to face her. His hold on her is gentle yet unyielding as she fidgets to free herself. Her tears are icy in the night’s chill and he brushes them off with a flick of his thumb.

“You don’t have to be here,” she sounds so unlike herself. Her voice small and timid, her eyes refusing to meet his. ‘There are so many high profile people in there - taking time off their schedules to celebrate you - Hwang So, you shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

She doesn’t talk about how worthless she suddenly feels, in that plain black uniform of hers, having to tackle two jobs to make ends meet during the semester despite being supposedly schooled by her uncle. She doesn’t mention unlike her wealthy cousin on his arm a moment ago, she has no claim on the money or prestige of her mother’s aristocratic linage. She doesn’t say, because words are suddenly lost on her and the realization heavy. He might be a broken boy who cares a little for name and family - but the truth is as far from her fascinations, as he is in his branded clothes and titled inheritance.  

His arms comes around her unbidden, holding her against him as he nuzzles the crook of her neck, a hand running through her hair and just holding her close for a moment. Ha Jin bites her lip, tears pricking at her eyes anew. She wills him to leave, but knows he would not as his hold tightens around her.

“They are here now. But they weren’t there when I was hiding away bruised and broken. They weren’t there when I was contemplating if death would make me feel better. They weren’t there when I needed someone - when I craved for attention, affection - even scraps of love. They are here now - but I don’t need them.” His fingers curl around her chin and guides her to meet his gaze, to see the truth of his words reflected there. “You were there then - to hold me back, to wake me up. You are here now - and you are all I would ever need.”

“But So -”

He places a finger against her parted lips and dips his head to kiss the corner of her mouth.

“Nothing in your world or mine could ever make me look away from you.”

A long last he breaks through the cold walls of her insecurities and her arms come around him, drawing them closer. He follows her lead willingly when her fingers brush the nape of his neck, guiding his mouth back to hers. One of his hands runs long her spine, and the other digs into the supple flesh at her waist. Her fingers curl into his hair delightfully, at the sensations he seems to evoke, with his tongue running against the seam of her lips - parting them gently to deepen their kiss, with his hands tracing her curves, relishing at the softness that he finds. Her gasp of pleasure is sharp and loud in the stillness of night and his eyes glitter in dark triumph. She stumbles unsure of her own feet, drunk on the taste of him and her eyes flutter fearful of the intensity of her own longing - his touch however is sure against her skin, guiding her hand to his shoulder, he anchors her to himself, stroking her cheek with the back of his palm. Flush against him and her forehead pressed on his shoulder, she tries to catch her breath clutching and crumpling fistfuls of his designer suit. He brushes her hair over her shoulder and presses light kisses on the exposed skin, murmuring words that are only for her ears.

Burning in the acid of her own emotions, Yeon Hwa turns away, finally gathering enough sense to tear her eyes off the toxic vision. They weren’t friends - she thinks - despite popular belief. He had been speaking the truth when he said that he had a - but - defeat eats at her. He couldn't bear to be in the same room as her and here he was, holding that begger like she is something precious. So shouldn’t have done that. The humiliation rings in her ears, the vision of them branded behind her eyes, Yeon Hwa clutches at her heart, swallowing the scream building up in her chest as she recalled how ardently he had kissed that - that rat - making her crumble, melt against him. Disgust rises like bile in her throat. How could anyone touch that thing - let along -

Lost in her own thoughts, blinded by her own hatred she fails to notice the other shadow that lingers in the bushes before walking headlong into it.

With a shiver Yeon Hwa returns to her present, the memory of her first meeting with her uncle’s secret weapon still make chills run down her spine. However, that is a thing in the past now she has bigger fish to fry. One more move and the obstacle between her and the inheritance of her grandfather - which should be rightfully hers, would go away forever.

“Where exactly are you taking me, again?” His voice - she could recognize it anywhere, is cold and full of doubt. The driver catches her eye in the rear-view mirror and Yeon Hwa nods slowly. It would not be Hwang So if he didn’t sniff out the trap sooner.

“Too late Hwang So,” she tells him, disembarking. Her grip tightens on the tiny hand she had been holding all the while and she pulls the girl out along with her. “I don’t think the answer will change your choice now.”

“Uncle So!” The girl makes a move to run towards him, only to be jerked back by her.

“Kyeong Hwa?” Yeon Hwa holds her by the shoulders and raises her chin to meet So’s burning gaze. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” He demands her.

“You are going with them Oppa,” she says rather sweetly. “Or your niece meets her dad quicker than you think.”

“Look -”

The sound of metal against flesh cuts him off. Yeon Hwa flinches at the wet cracking of skull, before So collapses on the cobblestones, even in the dim light she could see the thick darkness that drips down his temples and drains along the line of his jaw to pool at the cold ground. The girl screams before she claps a shaking hand over her mouth, dragging both of them backwards just as the chilly realization of what she had contributed to takes hold of her.  

Behind the two men that had aided in their little act a third steps out of the shadows the bloody rod still in hand.

“Well -” he says quite cheerfully. “Time’s up.”