"Hyunwon, won't you say something?" Kara pleaded, his icy demeanour making her more and more nervous by the second. She clutched onto the coffee cup in her hands, waiting for him to respond.

Across the table, Hyunwon was sitting with his arms folded across his chest, his mind a jumbled mess after listening to everything that Kara had to say. "What do you want me to say?" he said coldly. "Have you forgotten what you said to me before? You said that your career was more important than anything else, that's why you left for America without even telling me a single thing. You left, Seorin. Did you even spare a thought for me then?"

"I already said that I'm sorry! I didn't have a choice. My manager was rushing me to make a decision and I knew that you would say no because—" Kara couldn't bring herself to continue, because she knew that she was in the wrong no matter what she said. But Hyunwon had forgiven her when she had made mistakes before, he always did. "Won, I'm back now, aren't I? Can't we just forget everything that happened and move on?"

If it had been any other instance, perhaps he might have done just that—forgiven her and moved on. He couldn't even remember how many times he had already done that before. But this time it was not the same as all those other times. This time she had left him behind even though she knew that he was going to propose to her, that he wanted to ask her to marry him. He could still remember how the rain felt against his skin as he stood out there in front of the church, and she never showed up. That was when he finally realised exactly how much, or how little, he meant to her.

"No," he said resolutely. "No we can't." He turned away and looked out of the cafe window instead. "Seorin, I've already told you that it's over between us from the moment you boarded that plane. You made your choice, and I had to make mine too."

"It's not over, how could it ever be over?" Kara exclaimed, reaching over to grab hold of his hand. "Hyunwon, I know you're upset because I left like that, and I admit that it was all my fault. I promise you that I won't ever do something like that again. I'll stay by your side, isn't that what you always wanted? We could get married and get a house together—didn't you want to buy a house in the countryside with a vineyard? We can do all that!"

"So you're willing to give up your acting career now?"

Kara fell silent, biting her lower lip anxiously as she tried to think of an answer.

Extracting his hand from hers, Hyunwon said, "You're not, are you? So what's the point of telling me all this now? Do you know how much of a fool I feel every time I think about how I let you bury our relationship just so that you wouldn't have a blemish on your record? But when I think about it some more, it's partly my fault. I helped you become this way, so let's just call it even. I think it's best if we don't see each other anymore. I'll speak to Ryu about terminating the contract. There's still half a year left on it but I'll pay for all the damages."

Tears brimming in her eyes, Kara said, "You don't actually mean it. You told me before that you would never ever make me cry, so don't go back on your word, Kang Hyunwon. I already apologised! I said that I'm sorry, why are you still being like this? If you're unhappy because I wanted to keep our relationship under wraps, then let's not do that anymore. Let's just tell everyone that we're dating, it's alright with me!"

Hyunwon sighed, running his fingers through his hair in exasperation. If she had said this to him a few months ago, he would probably have been over the moon; now, he just didn't feel anything except irritation. In fact, seeing Seorin again after all this time didn't even make his heart skip a beat anymore—perhaps his heart had died back when she left him at the steps of the church.

The incessant vibrations of his phone in his pocket provided a temporary distraction from the awkward situation at hand. Digging it out, he realised that the salon's chat group had exploded with dozens of texts and photographs from the dinner that everyone else was at now.

"Is there a need to flaunt all this to the rest who couldn't come on the trip," he muttered to himself as he scrolled through the long list of messages. He was about to stuff the phone back into his pocket when a particular photo at the end of the thread caught his eye—it was a group shot taken of everyone around the table, except that one particular individual was comatose at the side with her head collapsed onto the table top.

He searched through his phone directory and dialled for Remington.

"What's going on over there?"

"Hey! Are you joining us? We're almost done with food, think we're all heading over to a karaoke—"

"I meant what's going on with her," Hyunwon interrupted impatiently.

"Who?" Remington paused for a moment, trying to figure out what Hyunwon was going on about. "Oh! You mean Hyejin! She's fine, she just had a bit too much to drink. Some of the others had a beer or two, but she's had... five now? Don't worry, I'll get someone to send your protege back to the hotel in one piece."

"Just text me the address of the restaurant." Hyunwon ended the call and got up on his feet, looking around for a waiter so that he could foot the bill.

"Hyunwon, where are you going?" Kara called out in alarm. Picking up her clutch, she quickly followed behind him as he headed towards the cashier. "Will you please stop being angry with me? Just tell me what you need me to do so that you'll stop being mad!"

"Seorin, I think I've already made myself very clear. Let's not make this even more ugly than it already is," Hyunwon replied curtly as he received his credit card back from the cashier. When he turned and saw the hurt that was reflected in her eyes, his expression softened slightly. Sighing, he said, "I think we just need some time apart so that we can both move on. Maybe after that, we could still be friends." After all, they had known each other for such a long time.

Walking out of the door, he quickly flagged a taxi and showed the driver the address that Remington had just sent him, leaving a distraught Kara behind.

When he arrived at the restaurant, the entire crew was gathered in front of the revolving doors, waiting for Ryu to join them after he was done paying the bill.

Remington waved when he saw Hyunwon, a bright smile plastered across his face. "Hey! Over here!" he called out. Raising his hand, he pointed to his left where Hyejin was being kept upright by Roxy, without whom she would probably be sprawled all over the street. "Are you sure you don't want to join us at the karaoke? Ryu's paying for everything."

Hyunwon shook his head. "You know I don't like those types of places," he said. Taking one of Hyejin's arms, he quickly swung it around his shoulders, grabbing hold of her by the waist so that she wouldn't fall over. "I'll take her back to the hotel so the rest of you can go on and have fun wherever it is you're going." Ignoring the curious looks from the others, he hauled Hyejin over to the roadside where his cab was still waiting.

Remington held the cab door open as Hyunwon tried to get Hyejin inside. "You sure you'll be fine on your own? I could come with you," he offered.

"Just go," Hyunwon replied dismissively. "And don't let me catch you with a hangover tomorrow morning. You're here to work, not to have a party." He gave the address to the cab driver and shut the door, waving to Remington as the car sped off into the night.

Hyejin was pretty much sound asleep for the entire journey back, her head lolling back and forth, occasionally muttering something unintelligible as she slept. Hyunwon glanced sideways in disdain, wondering how on earth he ended up with this babysitting role. He figured he probably volunteered so that he would have something to distract him from thinking about what had just happened with Seorin. "You're supposed to be drinking tea at a dimsumrestaurant, not beer," he muttered in annoyance. The car braked abruptly at a traffic light, and Hyunwon's hand reached out just in time to stop Hyejin from flying forwards and crashing against the back of the driver's seat.

He rested her head against his own shoulder, using his hand to keep it there. "Just stay put, we're almost back at the hotel," he said, although she obviously wasn't listening.

After much effort to get the drunk girl from the cab all the way up to her hotel room, Hyunwon rummaged through her bag to search for her room key. "Where on earth is it," he mumbled to himself, finding a whole lot of other stuff except a card key. "Song Hyejin, where's your room key?" he asked, trying to shake her awake.

"Doom key? What's a doom key?" Hyejin slurred, opening her eyes a notch. "Oh? It's Kang Hyunwon. Hyun key." She burst out into a loud fit of giggles in the middle of the hallway, pushing Hyunwon to one side and slumping against the wall.

Aware that they were creating somewhat of a disturbance in the hallway (and that reporters were prone to stalking hotel hallways when there were so many celebrities in town), he quickly ushered her towards his own room instead, fumbling to open the door with one hand while propping her up with the other. Once they were inside, he dropped her onto the bed, which she comfortably began tossing about on.

He crossed his arms and stared down at her, shaking his head in disbelief. He should have known she was a bad drinker from the way she conked out on the plane after just one glass of wine.

After searching through her bag for a little more and still not coming up with anything (he wasn't about to do a body search), he gave up. Yanking Hyejin's shoes off her feet, he pulled the sheets over her and was about to head to the shower when a hand suddenly grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Let go," he said, shaking his arm to loosen her grip on him. As if she wasn't being enough of a nuisance as it was.

Hyejin opened her eyes a crack, smiling when she saw a blurry figure standing before her. Not letting go of Hyunwon's hand, she suddenly gave a hard yank, pulling him down to eye level.

"Kang Hyunwon."

Hyunwon scowled. He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again when he decided it wasn't worth his energy to argue with her over anything right now.

"Kang Hyunwon," she repeated, "you're a horrible person."

"Wow, thanks. Is this something you should be saying to the person who dragged your drunken ass all the way back here?" He knew he should have just left her on the streets instead.

Hyejin reached out and sandwiched Hyunwon's face between the palms of her hand. She stared at the blurry image of his face in front of her and sighed.

"You're awful, Kang Hyunwon. But why do I still like you so much?"

#

Hyejin was rudely shaken awake the next morning by Hannah, who was yelling something about them being late for the bus. As she slowly opened her eyes, she felt a dull throb at the back of her head, a reminder of how much she had drunk yesterday.

"What time is it?" she murmured, sitting up on her bed.

"Ten to ten," Julya replied. "We're supposed to be down at the lobby in ten minutes or else the bus to the expo centre will leave without us."

"Someone's having a hangover from last night," Hannah snorted, glancing at Hyejin through the reflection in the mirror as she put on her eyeshadow. "Or who knows what else could have happened last night while the rest of us were out?"

Hyejin tried to recall what happened last night but her memories sort of faded out somewhere between her fourth and fifth bottle of beer. That explained her headache, in any case.

"What happened last night?" she asked.

Julya gave her a sympathetic look when she noticed the semi-confusion on Hyejin's face. "You were pretty much out cold by the end of the dinner, so Remington had to get Hyunwon escort you back to the hotel. The rest of us went to the karaoke after that. We didn't realise that the two hotel room keys were with us though, so I think Hyunwon had to keep you in his room until we got back, which was way past midnight."

"Hyunwon brought me back?" Hyejin blinked. But he wasn't even at the dinner!

"Stop yabbering and get a move on," Hannah said irritably, "or we're really going to be late."

Hyejin got up and got dressed in a record time of five minutes, although her hair was in a dreadful mess when she made it to the hotel lobby. Standing next to Hannah and Julya, she pretty much looked like something the dogs dragged in. And she was wearing mismatched socks.

She was in two minds about whether or not she wanted to see Hyunwon today, because part of her wanted to thank him and the other part of her was too embarrassed at what she could not remember. Regardless, he didn't appear anywhere in her vicinity for the entire day.

Assigned to assist another senior stylist named Wooji instead, Hyejin barely had time to breathe throughout the course of the day. When they were not rushing between appointments, she was kept busy helping get ready equipment and do simple things like hold hairbrushes, curlers and mirrors. By the time they finished their last job for the day (which happened to be a girl group with eight members—way too many in Hyejin's opinion), she was ready to return to the hotel to collapse into bed.

Lugging a heavy bag of straighteners and curlers over her shoulder, Hyejin followed the rest down to the back entrance of the expo centre where the bus was supposed to pick them from.

"Roxy's slightly delayed, her last appointment is taking longer than expected," Remington jogged over and said. "Since we have to wait for her anyway, do you guys want to go check out the red carpet action out front? It's not every day we get staff passes to a red carpet event."

Frankly, Hyejin would much rather have just boarded the bus and taken a nap, but the bus hadn't arrived and there didn't seem to be any chairs around that were suitable for napping.

"Hey pal," she heard Remington say to someone over the phone. "Are the two of you on your way to the red carpet? Tell Ryu I'm still upset that he's taking you and not me. Don't give me that 'I'm so miserable' crap, because you'll get to see Shin Minsoo up close and personal... No, we're still waiting because Roxy's been delayed. I sent the others out to catch a glimpse of the red carpet. Don't trip over your own feet as you walk down... Right, I'll see you back at the hotel later. Try to have fun and not let the paparazzi catch you looking too bored!"

"Was that Hyunwon?" Hyejin couldn't resist asking the moment Remington ended the call.

Nodding his head, the manager replied, "He's attending the event with Ryu tonight because he didn't make it for the previous one. That's why Ryu specially arranged for Hyunwon to have zero projects today, just so he wouldn't have an excuse to bail on tonight's event. He does have a track record of doing that."

"I see," Hyejin replied. She pondered upon things for a while, then ran to catch up with the others who were already on their way to the front of the building.

Out front, a long red carpet had been rolled out with reporters, photographers and fans excitedly lining both sides of it. Hyejin arrived just in time to catch some boyband enter the building, and the entire place was raucous with screams and cheers. She stood on tiptoe and strained her neck to get a better look at what was happening on the red carpet, although it wasn't easy to do so from behind a horde of fangirls.

So this is what it's like being a rabid fan, she thought to herself as she pushed her way through the crowd so that she could get a better spot. Thankfully the bunch of girls in front of her took off running to the front of the red carpet when their idols stepped out of their car, giving her a clearer view of everything that was going on. Next to her in the media pen, photographers were busy clicking away and reporters fielded a never ending stream of questions to all the celebrities.

"Everyone looks fabulous," she murmured as she watched the different celebrities arrive, waving to their adoring fans and posing for the hundreds of flashing cameras. She recognised a couple of the clients that Wooji had earlier styled for, beaming proudly to think that she had contributed to all that.

The next car to arrive at the red carpet was a white Mercedes and out stepped a gorgeous girl in a figure-hugging red dress. The "oohs" and "ahs" from the crowd came non-stop as Kara Jung slowly made her way down the red carpet.

"Kara, look this way please!" the photographers were shouting, pushing and shoving to get the best angle of a photo.

Kara politely obliged, flashing her megawatt smile at the cameras as she switched from one pose to another in quick succession.

"It's been a while since we've seen you in this part of the world, Kara. Are you only back for the awards?" one reporter asked, holding out his recorder in front of her.

"How long will you be staying in Hong Kong? Will you also be returning to Seoul?" asked another.

Kara smiled and said, "Yes, I'll be returning to Seoul after this. I will be resuming my schedules in Korea immediately after the awards season is over."

"What about your Hollywood film? Has filming already ended?"

"After some deliberation, I've decided not to participate in the film anymore."

That caught all the reporters by surprise. All of them began frantically scribbling in their notepads, jostling to ask her the next question.

"But that was your Hollywood break, why did you choose to give it up?"

"Were you dropped from the cast? We heard rumours that the director chose to cast a Korean-American actress for the role instead, is that true?"

Kara pursed her lips in mild agitation, though she replaced with a broad smile within seconds. Laughing, she said, "Of course that's not true. I chose to leave the project because of personal reasons." She turned and caught sight of Hyunwon and Ryu walking towards the entrance of the expo centre. They would have just passed her by, but she raised her hand and waved. "Hyunwon, over here!"

Hyunwon paused, frowning when he realised who it was that that had called out to him. He would have just pretended he hadn't heard anything and walked off, but before he could do so Ryu had already swung an arm around his shoulder to usher him towards Kara and the horde of reporters—Ryu would never pass up on an opportunity to generate some publicity.

In front of all the camera flashes, Kara linked her arm with Hyunwon's. "I've decided to return to Seoul because... I'm getting married."

#