The chatter was loud. The eyes that she thought ran all over her were judging. The stares she imagined dared her not to look up from the ground as she walked down the school's hallway for the first time.

Chayoung was used to having people's eyes on her. Mostly men. Mostly when she wore little to no clothes. And mostly, she didn't feel uncomfortable by it.

Being a stripper for three years had made her accustomed to all the attention, especially from men. The girl was short, had beautiful chestnut brown hair with a few natural highlights, small lips but the lower one could be considered plumb. Her figure was perfectly build, and she knew that. She was curvy, but not too curvy. She had pale skin. She fit right into the beauty standards of her country.

But she never cared to appreciate it.

The only positive thing that came with her looks, was that becoming a stripper was easy and getting money stuffed into her little work attire was no problem. Men loved her ever since she started at the local strip club. She quickly became a favorite, which only came as an advantage for the otherwise poor girl.

Chayoung was poor in many ways. She didn't have money. She didn't have friends. She didn't have a family.

And before she knew it, she didn't have any self respect either.

Growing up, the girl was raised by her single mother. Her mother... god, she was the best mother she could've ever asked for — despite the lack of financial income.

Her mother and her had always been poor. Chayoung never knew her father, apparently she was a mistake and the father ran away as soon as her mother told him she was pregnant. What a twat.

But Chayoung never felt labelled as a mistake. She felt loved. Always.

Her mother was such a loving, caring, funny and strict, but nonetheless awesome mother. She always did everything in her power to make Chayoung's life the best it could be.

But it had cost on her mother's own life value. Chayoung didn't know if her mother ever liked it, but she never complained. She was a full-time stripper.

It was the only way of getting food on the table. Becoming a stripper was the only choice her mother had after becoming a mom, having to put a roof over herself and her child, pay for school and all other expenses coming with a little burden.

But she never made her daughter feel like a burden. Ms. Lee was an amazing woman.

Chayoung always knew of her mother's job. Her mother did the best to explain to her that she was only doing it to afford the rent, provide dinner, new clothes for her child and so on. And she consistently explained to Chayoung that she had the opportunity of becoming something better. She always believed in her daughter, wishing the best for her and hoping that she never would follow her in her faulty footsteps.

But in the face of her mother's countless of speeches, at the age of 16 only, Chayoung got her first job.

She became a servant at the local strip club.

Her mother worked at a strip club in the city. A club where more affluent people would come. She would never know of Chayoung's innocent part time job in their own town.

Chayoung only did it to help her mother with the expenses.

But as the new, young servant quickly caught a lot of glances from men, her boss offered her to get on the stage.

Even though she didn't like to admit it, Chayoung had only waited for the question and it took her no time to accept the offer.

After all, she never knew otherwise than putting herself on display for money. That's how her mother survived.

And the money came quick. She hid them from her mom most of the time. She told she got a part time job at a bakery near-by. Her mother never had time to step by and she was just happy for her daughter's accomplishment, so she never questioned it.

That way the soon to be 17 year old, helped her mother in the best way she knew she could — and the only way.

She was never proud of going against her mother's word, but she did what was necessary.

And her mother never found out, because when Chayoung turned 18, finally able to get a full on salary at the strip club, her mother died.

The doctors said it was a brain tumor, but Chayoung always thought otherwise.

It was her mother's low quality life. It was the stress of having to sell herself to provide for her child. The energy spent on never making Chayoung worried about their situation. The limited and small portions of meals. It was all of her constant stressing, draining, and poor life. It took the life out of her.

Chayoung was broken. She cried for weeks. Who wouldn't?

But the lack of a motherly figure was not the only thing she lost. She lost the apartment they lived in. She lost her place to stay. She lost the comfort.

Her mother had only a couple of ten thousand won that Chayoung would be given after her passing. It was not a lot, not even enough for a week's stay at the nearest hotel.

And the government wouldn't help her. She was 18, she was an adult. They couldn't bring her on some stay for orphans, because she was 'a grown adult' who simply lost her parent, as many other adults did.

She had to stay strong. She had no other choice than to stop crying, stop mourning and start working.

And that's why she became a full-time employee.

Chayoung was popular in her strip club. Or, Casey was popular there.

Casey had come to be her alias at the club. She didn't want to give her real name. No particular reason, other than privacy.

Almost a year went by as a full time stripper and Casey was good at what she was doing. She got her own apartment, a small and not really operational one, but it had four walls and a roof. That was enough for her.

But she never felt gratified with her life style. Now that her mother wasn't there anymore she felt guilty every single time she got home from a shift between the hours of 2 am and 6 am.

She felt disgusted with herself, to defy her mother's wish of her becoming successful, less slutty.

So the girl finally decided to start college. To get an education and hopefully escape the life she had entered. And maybe even, make her mother proud.

But college is a big expense. And Chayoung could barely afford her shitty apartment.

And she could only think of one thing that would pay her more money than stripping.

Prostitution, whoredom, whoring.

Oh how she hated those words.

Surviving, she would rather call it.

But there was no denying that she was selling herself. Selling her body with the yearning intention to escape it. And even lying to her boss about it. She would get fired if he knew what she was doing in that backroom of the club every single shift.

And worst of all, that was also her first time.

The girl never liked to say she lost her virginity. It was stolen. It was bought. It was her own choice, but sometimes she found herself questioning even that. Was it even a choice?

She liked to call herself a virgin nonetheless.

And it was courtesy of her secondary job that she was walking down the hallway of her new school in this right moment, six months after her first time.

First day of college.

As mentioned, Chayoung was used to eyes on her. But here, she felt anxious like hell. What if people knew what she was doing? What if people had seen her at the club before?

They would judge her immensely.

Chayoung's eyes were glued on the floor which led to her not noticing the guy walking towards her, his eyes focused on his friend next to him. And before any of them even had a chance of spotting each other, Chayoung's books were on the ground.

"Look where you're going!" Chayoung didn't look up at the guy, but instead crouched down and began picking up her books.

She wanted for him to go away. She didn't need unnecessary attention.

But the feet in front of her stood still. He didn't walk away.

His voice sounded, but Chayoung didn't hear what he was saying. Only the feet of the guy's friend left her sight.

The guy in front of her bent down, helping her pick up a few of her books.

Chayoung let out a sigh, now having to face whoever this person is.

"I'm sorry." She breathed, owing up to the fact that she may have not paid attention to where she was walking either. But the girl sucked her words right back in when she looked up and recognized the guy.

And the guy seemed to do the same thing.

He froze in his spot, his eyes widened and his head tilted to the side.

It was the guy from the club.

That night she had had too much, that night she ran away from her costumer for the first time. It might've been her own choice, but it never meant that it was easy to go through. It left scars. Often you don't feel scars. Give it a day, and the girl wouldn't remember the terrible night that was just one of many anyway. But this time had just seemed more real than the other times.

She was so scared that night and then she bumped into him.

"Wait, haven't I seen you before?" The guy across from her asked and Chayoung quickly looked away. She put a hand in front of her eyes, trying to shield her face.

Fuck.

This was exactly what she was scared of. Meeting people who'd seen her at work.

"Hey, no need to hide." The guy's chuckle was low but soft. His hand suddenly touched hers, removing it from her face. She shrugged his hand off quickly.

She noticed one of her books in one of his hands. When she did, she grabbed it and stood up, "Thanks for helping." She announced and was about to walk away when he spoke again.

"What's your name?"

Why? Did he want to seek her the next time he would visit her work place only so he could shove his parents' money down her panties?

She stood still for a while, contemplating on whether or not to answer.

"I'm Jungkook." He said without her asking. She could hear his footsteps getting closer.

She sighed before turning around.

"I'm Chayoung." She replied. Her name was differently known at the club anyway.

"Chayoung... You should look where you're going in the future." His mouth spread into a smile as he let out another chuckle.

"Ditto." The girl said before turning around and walking away. She couldn't be late for her first class of the semester.

She worked so hard... or... at least she worked for it.

She couldn't slag on it now, and especially not because some horny college boy recognized her from her strip club.

Jungkook shrugged at the girl, but started following her.

She was attractive. So very attractive. The way her hips swayed as she walked in front of him was breathtaking. Her hair was gathered in a high ponytail, exposing her back where her shirt reached far down. She didn't wear a bra he noticed.

When she stopped outside of a classroom, he stopped too.

"Are you following me?" Chayoung felt his presence behind her.

Jungkook was shocked by the girl as she still stood with her back facing him. He didn't mind though, she was attractive from behind as well as from the front.

Jungkook couldn't help but lean down to her level, placing his mouth dangerously close to her ear instead of just speaking normally.

"I think we're in the same class." He whispered into her ear.

A shiver traveled through the girl which didn't go unnoticed by Jungkook. A smirk grew on his face, knowing what she felt.

He knew girls. They loved when he would whisper into their ear. They loved the closeness, the raspiness in his voice.

But Chayoung's rapid breathing pace reached his ear and he withdrew from his position and stood up straight.

He almost forgot about the other night. Maybe it really was fear in her eyes.

But what happened?

A bad taste entered his mouth.

He didn't mean to scare her...

But before he got to say anything, the girl in front of him left him alone outside the classroom.

Jungkook's palm met his forehead in an impactful slap. Maybe a bit too harsh as he winced at the slap.

"Fuck Jungkook!" He whispered through gritted teeth.

He loved making girls nervous. But not in the way he just made her feel.

Maybe he was overthinking it. But if there was one thing Jungkook never wanted to do, it was to disrespect girls, make them feel scared or threatened. And he recognized the uneasy panting of the girl in front of him. He recognized it from home. And it was not the pleasurable kind of panting.

Fuck, he had to apologize.

Entering the classroom, he saw her seated on the second row. Her face was expressionless. Her lips were parted, her eyes fixed on the book in front of her. Some hair strands fell over her face. He almost wanted to tuck them behind her ear. Almost.

She seemed calm in her spot which made him feel a bit more content.

He contemplated on whether to sit next to her or not, but before he got the chance to decide, his friend called from the row in the back.

"Jungkook, over here." Jimin called, motioning to the empty seat next to him.

The girl looked up at the mention of his name and their eyes met for a short moment.

Holy hell her gaze was captivating.

But then she looked back down. Jungkook shook out of his stare and went to the back where his friend waited for him.

"Hey, what was that?" Jimin said with a chuckle.

"What?" Jungkook replied, throwing his back over his chair before sitting down.

"Her, the girl you bumped into. You stared at her like you wanted to fuck-"

"Shut up Jimin." Jungkook grunted, "I just thought I'd seen her somewhere before."

Jimin looked over at the girl a few rows ahead of them. She's almost in the front which made Jimin laugh internally at her choice of row when there was several empty seats in the back.

"From where?"

Jungkook looked at the girl for a while before looking back at his friend again, "Nowhere, I must've mistaken her for another girl." Jungkook explained.

"Sure, when are you not." Jimin laughed.

Jungkook rolled his eyes at his friend, even though he knew he deserved that. Jungkook was a girl loving guy after all.

❁₩❁

Standing in the doorway of the cafeteria Chayoung timidly observed as the guy in the front of the queue handed a banknote to the woman behind the cashier.

Maybe it was stupid, but she thought that the food would be free now that the scholarship had been so expensive.

Her stomach was rumbling, but she was used to skipping meals every now and then.

It wasn't exactly as though she couldn't afford a sandwich. But whenever she got the chance, the 19-year old liked to save the money. She still had her loan to pay off and hopefully someday she would have saved enough money to stop at least with the prostitution part of her job.

"Chayoung!" A voice called.

Said girl searched the cafeteria for the owner of the voice. At last, she found the girl from the same morning that appeared to be her new roommate. She waved her over to the table she was sitting at with a few other people.

Chayoung moved her feet over to the girl's table, sitting down.

"Hi Haneul." Chayoung greeted, not really knowing what else to say.

They only met this morning.

Chayoung's eyes peeked to the side of Haneul where a girl sat and next to herself where a guy sat. Both with a bit of a distance.

"Oh, I don't know them." Haneul leant in and whispered, "I just sat wherever there was a free spot."

She giggled slightly which was contagious and Chayoung smiled too.

"How's the first day?" The girl munched on some noodles she'd probably bought or brought with her.

"It's alright. Yours?"

Chayoung's eyes directed their attention from the girl in front of her and to the food. She mentally licked her lips, wishing it was her that was stuffing herself.

"It's been alright as well. Maybe, next week if you ask me again, it would be better. First days always suck, don't they?" She chuckled.

"Right." Chayoung mused, not really listening.

"Some of my friends started here too, but none of us got into the same classes. It sucks. But I bet we'll be getting along and become good friends quickly, given that we're roommates. Chayoung?"

Chayoung looked up from the food at the mention of her name. She didn't even realize she'd been drooling.

"Want some?" Haneul asked and pushed her noodles towards Chayoung.

Chayoung watched the gesture. She wondered why this girl was so nice to her. She never really had any kind friends.

In school when she was younger, people distanced themselves from her. It was obvious that she didn't have a lot of money. She was even told once by her 'friend' that 'her parents didn't allow her to play with Chayoung'.

"I'm alright." Chayoung smiled at the offer. She couldn't get herself to take her food.

"It's fine. I'm on a diet anyways. Summer had me snacking all the wrong foods." She laughs, "Just take it."

"Really?"

"Girl we're roommates. From now on what is mine is yours and vice versa. If you agree I mean..."

Chayoung couldn't help but smile widely. Haneul was so nice. Nothing like the girls from her elementary school.

"Even boys?" Chayoung said, jokingly.

"I mean I don't mind being dick sisters." Haneul laughed, "But if I catch feelings, you better stay away."

The finger that was pointed at Chayoung made her chuckle. She liked this girl. Sweet but feisty.

Haneul joined in on Chayoung's chuckle.

The roommates talked about everything you talk about with new friends — except Chayoung let a few things out of the conversation.

Before the two girls knew of it, lunch break was over and they both separated heading to their new classes, but promised to go straight back to their dorm after class so they could talk more.