02

It was comical how his mouth fell open, hand froze midway from his mouth. I took a celebratory sip of wine to hide my smug grin. It was fun to see his mask crack.

"I'm sorry." He finally put the fork down, without taking the bite. "But my father has nothing to do with this. He doesn't even know about the rumors, and he sure as hell doesn't know about me inviting you for dinner."

Either he is really good at acting or he is telling the truth. I wasn't really sure, so I kept my guard up. "Well, now you know why I accepted your invite."

He licked his lips, frowning at me. I didn't give a damn and downed the entire glass of wine.

"You really don't remember?" His large, puppy eyes searched into mine for a hint of recognition.

"Remember what, exactly?"

He sighed. My attention went to the pearl earring, dangling from his ear. It seemed familiar. It could be categorized as a very feminine piece of jewelry, but he was pulling it off perfectly. He pushed back his bangs and I paid more attention to his face. It was also familiar. Too familiar. And before I could shove them away, some blurred memories from the party came back to me.

I had puked three times and sat shivering in the bathroom, hugging my knees to chest; every glued piece fell apart, flushed into the gutter. The tears weren't stopping, the air wasn't getting into my lungs. I tried to breathe harder, but it felt like someone was smothering me.

There was a faint voice in the background saying something to me, but I couldn't comprehend a word. I kept focusing on breathing. My sweaty palms tightly held my body together. Breathe. In and out. In and out.

"Can you hear me?"
Yes.
My tongue refused to form words. I buried my head in between my knees. Breathe.

"You're safe here, alright?" It went on. "You can stay as long as you want. You don't have to go down there. You'll be safe here. Take your time and breathe."

This will pass. It will pass in a minute.

I didn't know how long it took for my body to stop trembling, but I know he sat there offering me assurance that I was going to get through. Once my breath returned to normal, I loosened my hands and lifted my head to see his face. There it was, a large pearl, the shape of a water drop, dangling from his ear.

Back on the hotel terrace, eyes about to pop out of my skull, "Shit." I muttered.

My mask was ripped off and I was naked.

I wanted to wipe that soft smile off his face but I had no comeback. He saw me at such a vulnerable moment, how do I recover from that? There was a turmoil inside of me, he could read it off my face. The way his smile faded to make way for concern. Or should I say pity? I was disgusted with myself.

"Sorry, I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He poured more wine in my glass. I didn't realize I'd chugged it down. "I really do admire you as an actress. Heechan, your character, in the movie, Stigma, was an inspiration for my artworks last year."

I could only frown. My lips opened and closed like a fish. No words come out. How do you talk to a handsome stranger who has seen you have an anxiety attack?

At the end, I knew I had to say something. "Thanks, I guess."

He licked his lips. I averted my eyes to the city. It was beautiful from my elevated seating, perfect buildings, perfect homes. There was no telling how broken the insides could be from up here, the cracks in their perfectly built life.

"I am really sorry. This was a terrible idea." He was deflated, nervous even. Oddly, it made me a tiny bit comfortable. "My friend suggested it because I have been such a fan. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't resist enough when he called your manager. I thought we were in a funny situation, because of the stupid dating news, you know, maybe we can share a laugh about it."

I raised one eyebrow at him. It was as if when he turned off the charming act, I wanted to make a point not to let him pity me. Since he had seen my crack, it was my time to minimize what he can see through it.

"What did your friend even tell my manager? The girl was crying thinking she was gonna loose her job."

He blinked. "Sorry, I-"

"She was literally crying." Sulli and I aren't friends. I even find her annoying at times but she shouldn't have to deal with threats.

He licked his lips again before answering. "I'm not sure. I'll ask him and we will apologize to her." I could feel his knee bouncing under the table. I found the nervous, fidgeting version of him a tiny bit cute. "I'm sorry."

"Yes, do that and just stop apologizing to me."

"Sorry." His eyes widened. "I mean I'll stop."

I couldn't bite back my smile. There was a certain innocence about him. He was getting so worked up about sitting across me when his father is rich enough to line up three more actresses around him.

"Great. Now, are we supposed to share a laugh?"

He chuckled, stroking the back of his neck. "I totally botched it, didn't I?"

"Well..." I squinted off into the distance.

"And to think I had the best ice-breaker planned." He pouted like a scolded child.

I bit back my smile. "Let's hear it then."

"Nooo." He sulked some more. "You're gonna think it's creepy. I completely blew it."

I laughed, teeth on full display. "Now, I wanna hear it. Come on, you got nothing to loose. Hit me."

He sighed, giving in. "Fine. It wasn't actually a line. I was going to give you this." He placed his fist on the table and gently opened his fingers. I leaned to get a better look only to feel a weird warmth in my stomach. There, looking tiny on his large palm, sat a golden hair pin with a single star attached at the end. It was my hair pin.

"That's—" I met his round dark chocolate eyes. "Really cute."

He placed it on the table. I noticed his ears had turned red, probably because of the cold.

Clearing his throat, he began, "Thanks for meeting me. I am actually the owner of that house. My name is Taehyung. And I found this after you left in the morning. I wanted to sell it, but I'm more of a rent it out guy."

I chuckled. "Do you even live in that giant ass house?"

"No, I live with my friend and rent it occasionally for extra cash." He shrugged cockily.

"Extra cash?" I shook my head at him, still smiling.

"Yeah I am a starving artist, you see." He chuckled.

"Now you're stretching it too far."

"Damn it. Should've kept my mouth shut." He stuffed a large piece of steak into his mouth. Not resembling the spoilt rich kid I presumed he was.

"So, are you gonna release a statement denying this rumor?" I was curious, because for a world famous artist he might not have much grasp of the bad publicity that follows scandals like this in Korea.

"Am I supposed to do that?" He scratched his eyebrow, a beautiful ring with a large maroon stone resting on his long slender finger. "I thought your company would handle it." His deep voice was captivating, so was his face. The more I observed him the more beautiful he became, as if he wasn't the artist but the art.

"Yeah, if you want to. I mean it may cause misunderstandings with people close to you." The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. I fiddled my fingers under the table not wanting him to think I was interested in him.

"Oh, that's alright." His hand flipped the air, "None of my friends believed it anyway." Thick eyebrows furrowed. "Now that I think about it, it is kinda insulting."

I chuckled, partly relieved by his innocent response.

"Don't laugh. They saw the rumors and were like:" He inhaled a long breath and started speaking in a high pitched voice. "No actress would ever date this looser. Issa Faaake newws."

I rolled my lips to stop the laughter but failed.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" He eyed my plate, the steak sitting there untouched.

"Erm," Anybody from the entertainment industry wouldn't even ask this question. "I'm a vegetarian." There were a variety of meat on the table, so that was the best response which, technically, wasn't even a lie.

"Oh, I didn't even think about that." He quickly motioned the waiter for menu. "Please order what you want." Salad it is!

Thankfully, we ended up talking about much simpler things than scandals, cheating boyfriends and anxiety attacks. It was refreshing, talking to someone who wasn't a co-star, my staff or my boyfriend.

As he was finishing dessert, he not so casually shifted the topic to his exhibitions and then invited me to the one in Seoul. I politely declined, since it'd only fuel the rumors.

"So what?" He puckered his wine tinted lips, sulking like a child. "Lots of people go to exhibitions."

"Yeah, but if I go my image will be ruined." I reasoned. "They've already declared I'm cheating on Jaesung."

"You do know that it was your boyfriend who cheated that night, right?" He pursed his lips, watching intently for my reaction. Little does he know that that night wasn't just one isolated incident. I've already lost count of how many times he has cheated on me.

"I know." I dismissed the topic, not wanting to discuss more on the matter.

"Fine, I will send you the passes in case you change your mind." He smiled.

"I won't." I shook my head, smiling in return.

***

I love you for reading this! Please vote and comment if you want. 💜💖