"Do you love him?"

This question triggers some suffering, and I shake my head but feel some tears escape my eyes. "But he will never accept that, right?" he knows everything, and I confirm, against my will. "Listen, I can help you, I can get you out of this, but we need to do this together, or I can't do anything, sweetheart, and you know how much I hate that."

I keep my head down, not knowing what to say. "If he ever hurt you again, you need to take pictures of the bruises. I know that the ones I saw on your arm and thighs aren't caused by some falls or accidents, I know it's him, and I know how this works, so you need to take pictures, try to record him when he is being violent towards you, and after having all those, you come up to me, and I'll take care of the rest. Alright?"

I shake my head, sobbing and hating what I hear. "I know you're going to try to send him to jail, but I don't want this to happen...I just want him to get help and change who he became because of me..."

"No. He did not become a bad person because of you. He was a bad person way before meeting you, but he only showed himself once you were deeply in love with him because he knew he would have all the control and be able to manipulate you into thinking that you're the one in the wrong, no matter what he does," he speaks what I am never capable of believing. "And I know that deep down, you're still attached to him, in a certain way, you still love him, and that's the reason why you wouldn't want anything wrong to happen to him, but he doesn't deserve your love or care anymore. He hurt you, so he doesn't deserve anything good from you anymore. A man or woman who truly loves someone will never hurt them in any way. And I don't want anyone to hurt you anymore...You mean the world to me."

He is right, but I wish he was not. I just want to be strong enough to leave him and take my baby to safety, but I feel so ashamed, and I do not know if he will not become like Sookyung in the future.

"How could I mean so much to you?" I glance up at him. "I'm nothing but a sort of toy that men pay—"

"You're a woman," he cuts me off. "You're a woman to me, and I care about you more than I care about anyone else in my life, and you can not believe me if you don't want to, but that won't change the truth," he lets me decide whether I trust his words or not. "And you know, I could tell you the same. Why did you miss me so much when I'm just a client among the others? Why do you want me to stay with you? I could ask you so many questions as well and believe the opposite of what you tell me, but I know you're honest, and I don't want to believe otherwise when you tell me that I make you feel good and that I am an amazing man."

I stay quiet, keeping to myself the fact that I like him. I cannot tell him that. He cannot know.

"I feel the exact same way about you. You make me feel good, you're a beautiful and amazing woman who deserves much better than what she gets," he causes even more tears to roll down my face, and I lower my eyes, but he wipes those beads of water off my skin, and his soft and warm lips press a gentle, genuine kiss full of care on my cheekbone. His arms embrace me, and he puts one hand behind my head. "I always want you close to me as well, and I did not leave because I didn't want to see you, because I didn't miss you, or didn't care, but I can't stand to witness all of this and not be able to do anything to save you. And I don't want you to feel like you're at fault, if I feel that way, it's only because of him and what he does to you, what all those men do to you."

He always finds the right words to say in order to reassure me.

"You know you can talk to me about what happened last night, hm?" he pats my head, his touches settling my body with some wonderful peacefulness. The thought of the texts I sent him after the incident comes back to my mind, and I gulp down, remembering all the things that happened and wishing that was nothing but a nightmare. "He was just upset. It's not bad..." I lie to him, not having the will to tell him Sookyung slapped me again and was much more brutal with me after getting drunk.

He slides his hands down to my arms, his cheek brushes mine, and he moves his head back to look down at me. So, I lift my chin up and set my eyes on his. "Can you promise me that wasn't bad?"

I do not let any sound go out of my mouth, I remain silent to not have to tell a lie while looking into his eyes.

Without even speaking, he understands what this means, and I see through his gaze how much wrath is running through his veins. "Can you spend some time at my house tonight? Tell him Cherry wants to see you one last time before the trip."

"I can't..." I do not answer with what I would want to. I have to be there for Jun, I do not want him to be alone with his father if this is not inevitable. "Alright," he does not insist like he used to do it, and I feel terribly affected by the consequences my decisions have.

Quietly, he takes his hands off me, and he glances up at the curtains behind me, but I refuse to watch him feel like that. "Are you mad?" my worry gets him to drop his eyes on me in an instant. "I'm not mad at you, sweetheart. I'll never be," he gives me his word. "Let's just enjoy this night together," he moves to the sofa and sits down, and I feel some emptiness gets carved deep into my heart. "Can you bring me another Martini, please? I'll wait for you here."

I nod and obey his demand, and I leave this small enclosure to walk up to the bar but pass my hands over my cheeks to make sure no tears are left on my skin. I do not ask Jae to make the drink but do it myself, and I take a few seconds to get it ready.

Once it is done, I head back towards him, and I properly close the curtains so that not a single person in here can see anything.

"Here," I lay it in front of him, and he smiles at me. "Thank you," he takes his suit jacket off but seems bothered by my behavior. "Come here, don't stay there," he stretches his hand out to me, so I step towards him and put mine over his larger one. I sit down next to him, and he holds my hand on my lap. Without telling me a word, he takes a sip of his new drink, and his thumb strokes my skin, making my heart beat unsteadily.

"You'll still be here after the trip, right?" I ask, hoping for him to not lie. He puts his glass down and intertwines our fingers. "Of course, I will. I won't leave you alone."

"I'm relieved," I sharply exhale out of alleviation, and he leans back. "How is our teddy bear doing?" he smiles, and I cannot help doing so at the way he framed this question. "Good. He's getting heavier."

"I'm happy to hear it," he expresses some gladness, and I lean closer to his tall body, wanting some more physical contact with him. I rest my face on his chest, and he wraps his arm around me, but leans to the side, pretty carefully as if he did not want to disturb me, and he grabs his jacket, comes back in his previous position to hold me close while taking some stuff out of his pockets.

Once he has his pack of cigarettes and lighter in his hand, he gets one out and throws the box on the table. His arm remaining around my neck, he keeps his cigarette between his lips and lights it up, leaves his lighter on the sofa, and he smokes.

The smell of burning tobacco not even bothering anymore, he slides his tattooed hand down my waist and hip, and he leans forth to take the ashtray and put it down next to him. None of us even speak, we do not need to, we only enjoy this moment by having one another close.

The smoke thickening the air, he strokes my waist when the only clothing I am wearing over my black tights is a silk nightie that Sookyung forced me to put on, which causes every small touch to affect me even more deeply since it is nearly skin to skin. I close my eyes out of pleasure, and he runs the tip of his fingers up and down my side, going up to my ribs, then down to my hip.

This is so unrighteously pleasurable.

•••

10:50 pm.

His fingers combing my hair, I do not open my eyes yet but keep on reveling in this moment, of which I do not want to know the end.

The vibration of my watch does the entire opposite of my wishes, and after the way Sookyung reacted last night, I do not wait before checking the text.

< Take care of Kangdae ]

[ okay >

I answer and straighten my back to not be against Mister Jeon anymore, and his hand tenderly moves down my back. "Do you have to take care of a VIP?"

"Yes, I'm sorry," I stand up, all the calmness, in which he put me, disappearing for the distress to overwhelm me. "Wait," he catches my hand before I could go. "Are you going back afterwards?"

"I'm not sure I'll be able to," I answer, with grief, and he rises from his spot as well. "Come up to me if somebody hurts or disrespects you, alright?"

I nod, my body and mind missing the peace I was in a few minutes ago with him. We both stare at each other without knowing what to say, and he leans in to press his lips on mine, taking me aback with a gesture I did not expect from him at all.

When he pulls away to break this warm contact between our skins, I look up into his eyes, my pulse throbbing in every corner of my body, I do not step back but gaze down at his lips, and I instinctively close my eyes once he holds the side of my face and kisses me again. This time, he does not make it short and brief, he only slightly takes his lips away from mine to come back and deepens this a little more.

No matter how wrong this seems, I kiss him back and feel all the butterflies and pleasure this gives me. I should not feel that way, but I love everything about this moment, this intimacy, from the softness of his lips, the sweetness of them, to how slow he is kissing me, how much he is making sure I truly want this too.

I cannot recall the last time Sookyung kissed me so passionately. This feels so genuine.

My breathing escaping my lungs at a faster pace, he moves forth but only brushes the tip of his lips up mine as if he was controlling himself to not keep going, he stops the exchange of tenderness, and we both remain still. Our nose pressing against one another's cheekbone, we both breathe into each other's mouth.

After a few seconds, I open my eyes and fall deep into his sparkling ones, realizing what happened for a split second. "I'll wait," he stares, profoundly, his thumb stroking my skin. Not finding the words to say, I smile at him, my entire body still experiencing severe thrills I forgot the feeling of, and he returns it. He pulls his hand away, but I refuse to think of the consequences and go forward to kiss his lips one more time.

His eyes not leaving mine, he bites his lips and gently touches my waist, cupping it with one of his tough hands, I lose my breath in this eye contact full of tension and desire, and I lay my hand over his torso once he leans in and locks lips with me.

This is what I have always hoped to feel inside of me again in my life. This stirring and tingling excitement that rushes everything inside, this one you cannot get enough of.

I embrace his soft lips with mine and kiss him, and he passionately gives me incredible amounts of love and tenderness. His body coming much nearer, he kindly grabs me by the waist and pulls me in to stick my body against his, and my veins throb with the rush of boiling blood, which is flooded with intense pleasure, that burns me from under my skin. His lips not drifting away from mine but covering them with his DNA, his grips on my waist slightly tighten and slide down to my hips, feeling him squeeze me against him as I can sense my heartbeat pound every spot of my body. I glide my hands up to his neck, forgetting all the things around us, all the worries and fears on my mind, his jawline moves to the rhythm of his kisses under my thumbs, and he pushes a little forward but skims my bottom lip with his tongue.

Under all the rush of emotions and feelings overwhelming me, I lower my hands down to his shirt and uncontrollably clench it. I feel way too good. I do not want this to stop, but my watch disturbs this strong moment.

"W—Wait..." I do this against my will, this vibration bringing me back to real life, he stops, but it takes me a few seconds to open my eyes and gaze into his. "I have to go," I speak against his lips, and his hold onto me loosens. "Yeah," he brushes his hands away from my body, and the heat that he spread through and on me with his, fades away.

We both stare at each other, he licks his lips, and I force myself to go and do as told.

•••

00:20 am.

"Hey," Cherry passes right behind me and inches closer, putting a smile on my face right away. "Did you see him?"

"Mister Jeon?" I ask to specify, and he nods, so I do the exact same. "I did. We were together earlier, but he's with Lily right now."

"Sweetie," he brings his red lips close to my ear. "He can't take his eyes off of you," he manages to brighten up my mood with a simple sentence, and he sets his eyes back on mine. "You have no idea how many times I caught him staring. This man is in love."

"That's not true," I rebuff this idea and glance down, shyly. "Oh, come on. He's not holding back at all tonight," he smiles, knowing how this makes me feel. He leans on the bar right next to him, and which I am facing. "And I even told him that he was very obvious, but he pretended not to know what I'm talking about. This sassy man."

I chuckle and raise my head up to look at him. "I wish some men would look at me the same way. You know," he brushes some strands of my hair to the side after it moved. "With love and not lust only."

"Someone will, you're an amazing person, so don't worry," I reassure him about what he seems to doubt, and his lips curve up. "You're the sweetest. I love you."

I give him a hug to show that I mean it, but he waves at someone then holds me too. "The best man is coming," he drifts all my attention towards this person, and I turn in the direction his eyes are looking.

My heart flutters once I feel Mister Jeon close to me, and he places his hand on my back. "Hey, how are you both doing?" he stubs his cigarette out in the ashtray near me, and all I can think of is the kiss. This one that left some softness on my lips, and some sweetness in my mouth. "We're doing good, how about you?" Cherry answers for us, and I feel Mister Jeon slide his fingers up my spine. "Good."

"Do you want something?" I gaze up at him so that I do not remain quiet, and he gives me a soft look and agrees. "Just one Jack and Coke, please," he asks for, but Cherry moves. "I'm taking care of it," he goes forth and passes by him but speaks in his ear. "I know," he takes his hand off of me, and I look up into his eyes. "Are you finally free?"

"I should be the one asking you this," he raises his eyebrows, and I cannot deny it. "True, but still, sometimes, I feel like you work here too."

He scoffs and sticks his hands in his pockets. "You'd be much more protected if I was," he watches Cherry's actions as he is making the drink right before us, sharing the bar with Jae, who is busy with the other clients.

Without warning, Mister Jeon approaches his soft lips from my ear. "I'm gonna go back in my car after this drink," he makes eye contact and disappoints me. "Why?"

He leans closer to speak in my ear and makes sure I can hear him in this loud room full of booming noise and music. "Someone already made me understand I wasn't very welcome."

"Who?" I ask for a name, and he smiles, bitterly. "One of the guards," he glances at Cherry who came back with the drink, and he grabs it to have a sip. "I gotta work, see you, honey," Cherry passes his fingers through Mister Jeon's fluffy hair, and he sends him a flying kiss. "See you," he consumes some more of the strong drink I have no idea how he is able to enjoy.

Once he swallows half of it and sets his eyes on me, he says something that I cannot hear because of the music, so I lean a little closer to make him repeat, and he speaks in my ear. "You can come in my car if you want," he glances into my eyes, then without moving, continues his sentence with his lips close to mine. "Do it when Cherry takes a break to smoke. It's a great excuse."

I nod and smile. "I will, but what if you're sleeping?"

"I won't, I'll stay awake until you leave," he lays his hand, which is not in his pocket, on the bar, his piercing eyes never leaving mine. He comes closer but only touches my ear with his lips. "I'll wait for you, but I don't want you to get into trouble because I can't stay away from you," he makes eye contact with me for the last time tonight, and I understand without protesting. He finishes his drink, puts the empty glass down, and holds the side of my face to press a comforting kiss on my temple.

I smile at him when he looks at me, and he shares the same emotion but leaves.