The words that left Hyunwon's lips were still echoing in Hyejin's mind even after he finally got rid of Kara (read: left her standing helplessly out on the corridor) and they were back in his car on the way to the salon.

"Because I like her."

What was that supposed to mean? Hyejin couldn't quite believe her ears.

After that, her mind collapsed into a huge pile of goo that could no longer comprehend any form of logical thought. She sat quietly in the passenger seat, hands wringing the sides of Hyunwon's shirt, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened.

Whatever she had just witnessed was far from anything she had previously imagined. After all, Hyunwon and Kara were supposed to be engaged—or at least that was what the media reported. Now that she thought about things a little more carefully, something seemed off. Even when they had attended the gala dinner together, there had been minimal interaction between the two of them and Hyunwon seemed as standoffish as he always was. There was no sign of the smile that she had seen in the photo frame lying on his bedside table.

"I'm sorry," Hyunwon suddenly said.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry for what just happened. I didn't expect her to show up like that."

Hyejin tried her best to squeeze out an awkward smile. "It's alright," was all she could muster. There were a dozen questions she wanted to ask him but all the words were stuck down her throat. Glancing at his stormy countenance out of the corner of her eye, she decided to swallow all her questions altogether.

"Kara and I... It's all an act. We're not actually engaged," Hyunwon said, as if predicting the questions in her mind. "It ended between us the moment she got on that plane to America."

Is he explaining himself to me right now? Hyejin wondered, although her heart skipped a beat when she heard what he had to say. She waited with bated breath for him to continue.

"Kara was dropped from her Hollywood film so she needed a reason to account for why she was returning to Seoul. I just happened to be that convenient excuse."

There was a bitterness in his tone of voice that made Hyejin wonder if he was still upset about what Kara was doing because he still cared—and once again he anticipated the thought that was running through her mind.

"I don't feel anything for her anymore, in case you were wondering," he said. "If I still did then I must be the biggest idiot on this planet. Which I'm not."

"I wasn't wondering," Hyejin replied, a little unconvincingly. "Why are you telling me all of this? Aren't you afraid that I'll spill all of this to someone?" All these revelations about Kara, her failed attempt at breaking into Hollywood and the cover-up engagement would be more than enough to spark off yet another media frenzy—yet Hyunwon was openly telling her the entire truth. A part of her wondered what she had done to deserve this.

"To who? Ares?" Hyunwon snorted. The thought of Ares just made his mood even worse for no good reason. "Forget everything that happened back there. If I said things that... Well just forget everything. I was just pissed off with Kara and wanted to get her out of my hair. I'm sorry you had to get involved."

"Oh," Hyejin said, turning to look out the window so that Hyunwon wouldn't notice the disappointment in her eyes. So he didn't mean what he said after all. He just wanted to get Kara to back off. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about what happened. It's none of my business anyway."

They spent the rest of the journey in silence—him thinking about how he should end this charade once and for all, and her thinking about how silly she was for even entertaining the thought that what he said back at the apartment could have been real. Hyunwon had enough emotional baggage to clean up without needing to add a schoolgirl crush into the fray. And even if there was no Kara Jung around, there were plenty of women with far better qualities that were waiting in line to throw themselves at him.

Ares was right—it was impossible between the two of them, and the sooner she realised this the better.

#

When they returned to the salon, business was already as per usual and the place was bustling with activity. Hardly anyone looked up from their work and noticed the two figures walking sullenly out of the lift.

Hyejin quickly headed for the changing room so that she could change out of Hyunwon's shirt and into her spare set of clothes.

"Where've you been?" Yeseul asked when she saw Hyejin enter.

Surprised to find her friend in the room, Hyejin stammered, "Uh, I went to see a doctor."

"Doctor? Are you not feeling well?" A look of concern appeared on Yeseul's face. As she scanned her friend from head to toe, her gaze lingered on the T-shirt that Hyejin was wearing. It was obviously oversized and was in a guy's cut—definitely not something that seemed like it came out of Hyejin's wardrobe. "Were you with Ares?" she added.

Hyejin shook her head vehemently. "No, I was really at the doctor's," she replied. "I accidentally hurt myself yesterday so I went to get the bruises checked."

That wasn't a lie. Except that getting hurt was hardly an accident.

"Oh. In that case you should have taken the day off," Yeseul remarked. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead she pursed her lips together and headed out of the changing room.

Hyejin felt a little twinge of guilt as she watched Yeseul leave. The latter was pretty much her first and only friend in this place, yet there were so many things that she was hiding from her because circumstances didn't permit her to tell. The entire situation with Ares, and everything she had just found out about Hyunwon and Kara—she wished she had someone to share all of these with so that she didn't need to bear the burden alone, but she knew that it was impossible. One more person finding out was one more chance that things would be blown wide in the open.

It didn't take long for trouble to find its way to the door, because after two days of relative peace and quiet, Kara showed up at the Cutting Edge.

"Hyejin, there's a customer in the VIP room that has asked for you," the receptionist said as she popped her head into the training room, where Hyejin was practising her fringe cuts.

"For me?" Hyejin looked up from her mannequin in puzzlement. There was no reason why any customer would request for her, much less someone who was a VIP.

The receptionist nodded. "Ryu said for you to go over to attend to her immediately."

"Who is it?"

"Kara Jung."

A sinking feeling appeared at the pits of Hyejin's stomach the minute she heard that name. Kara showing up and specially requesting for her could only mean trouble, and she didn't want any trouble. All she wanted to do was to finish her final assessment as a trainee and find out whether or not she had what it took to be a professional hairstylist.

Taking a deep breath, she set her scissors down on the table and dusted the loose strands of hair off her top, heading for the VIP room.

Hyunwon was out of the office today handling the styling for one of Director Min Dongjoo's latest films, so there wasn't going to be anyone to help her out if Kara decided to give her a hard time.

No worries. Just be professional and take whatever comes your way. If you survived Mina and those mean girls, then what's another Kara Jung?

Kara was seated in the black leather chair, twirling the ends of her hair as she admired her own reflection in the mirror. Through the reflection, she spotted Hyejin enter the room, and a scowl immediately marred her perfect face.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you today?" Hyejin said quietly.

Kara stood up and turned around to face her, not disguising the disgust in her eyes in the slightest. In a haughty tone, she said, "I'm here to have a word with you. If you know your place, then I don't think you need me to tell you what you should do."

"Excuse me?" Hyejin blinked, trying her best not to sound rude even though she wanted to smack the girl's smug face. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you trying to test my patience right now?" Kara raised her voice a notch. "I don't know what the hell you did but since you've already seduced Ares then you should just be goddamn contented with what you have instead of wagging your pathetic tail in front of Hyunwon as well!"

Hyejin could feel her blood pressure rising as she listened to the accusation being flung her way. Firstly, she never seduced Ares. In fact she never even asked for him to walk into the barbershop with that awful white poodle on his head—which was no doubt the start of all her misery. Secondly, her tail was not pathetic. Sure, she wasn't as pretty nor petite nor charming as Kara was, but never had she ever felt like she was a lesser being because of it.

"If you have problems with Hyunwon maybe you should talk to him instead of wasting your breath on me," she replied.

Of course, they both knew that if talking to Hyunwon would work then Kara wouldn't even need to be here in the first place. He already made it pretty clear back at his apartment that he no longer wanted to have any part to play in Kara's self-directed show.

"Just stay away from him you bitch!" Kara shrieked, her pitch skyrocketing out of control. "I want you to quit the salon now. I'm going to tell Ryu to fire you so that you can't get anywhere near Hyunwon."

"How childish," Hyejin mumbled under her breath, turning to leave the room. This VIP customer obviously hadn't come here for anything other than to hurl abuse, so there wasn't any need for her to hang around.

She doubted that Ryu would fire her just because Kara asked him to. Gina would probably throw a fit (and actual daggers) if anyone did anything to stir up shit that could implicate Ares's reputation, and having reporters ask questions about why Ares's "girlfriend" was fired by the salon seemed like just the sort of unsolicited publicity that Gina would clamp down immediately.

"Come back here, I'm not done with you yet!" Kara grabbed her by the arm, stopping her from leaving.

"Is something going on in here?" The door to the VIP room creaked open and Yeseul's head popped in. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Kara clutching on to Hyejin's arm, face reddening as if she was about to explode in a rage.

Hyejin pried the girl's fingers from her forearm, frowning when she saw the red marks that had appeared on her skin thanks to how tightly Kara had been holding on to her. "Nothing's the matter. I think Ms Jung was just about to leave," Hyejin replied, continuing on her way out of the room. The longer she dragged this on the worse the scene was going to get, and it wouldn't do anyone any good if the entire salon got wind of this.

By the time Yeseul turned her attention away from the door and back towards Kara, the anger that had once been simmering in the latter's eyes had suddenly vanished. It was as if someone had flipped a switch, and all at once the smiling, charming star had returned.

"C-c-can I help you with anything?" Yeseul asked timidly, her mind still trying to figure out whether or not the scene she had witnessed when she walked into the room was just a figment of her imagination.

Kara smoothed down her hair, smiling as she walked over to Yeseul. "You're Ryu's niece, aren't you? I've seen you around the salon before." Glancing down at the nametag pinned on Yeseul's shirt, she said, "You're still a trainee? I would have thought you should have been formally hired by now! What on earth is Ryu doing?"

"It's better if I complete the training programme just like everyone else and get a place fair and square. If Uncle Ryu hired me just because I'm his niece, people might not be happy about that," Yeseul replied, pleasantly surprised that someone like Kara actually remembered her.

"That's very thoughtful of you! I've heard many good things about you, so I'm sure you'll get through the training programme with flying colours, although..." Kara bit her bottom lip, looking as if she was hesitating about something.

"Although?"

"Not everyone thinks the way you do. Some people will do anything in order to be on top, even if that means making use of the people around them. I'm sure you know of my engagement with Hyunwon, right?" When she saw Yeseul nod her head, Kara continued, "I've known Hyunwon for many years and although he appears stern and prickly on the outside, deep down he actually has a soft heart. He always tries his best to look after those around him, which is why it becomes easy for people to make use of that to get what they want. Song Hyejin... You and I both know where she came from. If she were to compete against you and the other trainees on a level playing field, there's no way she'll be able to secure a place at the Cutting Edge. If she wants to hook on to Ares and use that publicity to increase her chances of being retained then it's really not my business to say anything, but when I see her trying to make use of the fact that Hyunwon is her mentor to gain an unfair advantage, I really couldn't stop myself from coming here to try to talk some sense into her."

Yeseul stood there quietly listening to Kara's words, shifting her weight from side to side as she tried to process what she was being told.

"I don't think Hyejin is that sort of a person," she finally said after a while.

Kara patted Yeseul gently on the shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look. "Darling, you can't judge a book by its cover. I've been in this industry long enough to know that in this world, it's every man for himself. If you don't believe me, use your own eyes and see for yourself—does Hyunwon treat her differently from the way he treats the rest of you? Given Hyunwon's position, if he decides to back her, do you honestly think he won't be able to give her the permanent spot in the salon even if she's not as good as the rest of you?" She sighed, picking up her handbag from the chair. "I'd best be going now. If Hyunwon sees me here he won't be happy. He doesn't like me interfering with his work, but I really couldn't just sit by and watch while that girl continues to take everyone for a fool. All the best with the rest of your training programme, I'm sure you'll do a great job."

Just before she stepped out of the room, Kara took a final backwards glance at the mousy-looking girl who was deep in thought and the right corner of her red lips tilted upwards ever so slightly in satisfaction.

#

Later that day, Hyejin received a call from the filming set where Hyunwon and the other senior stylists were at, with a distraught Roxy on the other end of the line asking for her to bring down a box of accessories that had been accidentally left behind. It was already close to seven in the evening but filming was due to continue till late into the night, so Hyejin had no choice but to carry the box and make her way down to set even though almost time for her to knock off work.

The moment she stepped foot into the massive warehouse where filming was taking place, her jaw almost dropped to the floor. If not for the huge camera and lighting rigs that had been set up all over the place, she might have thought that she had been transported into an entirely different world. The main set was that of a casino floor, with roulette, blackjack and poker tables all around, manned by extras dressed as dealers in their sharp black and white suits—although it was only a temporary set-up, it looked almost as real as any of the casinos in Las Vegas.

"Hyejin, over here!" Roxy shouted from the hair and make-up area when she caught sight of Hyejin by the door. "Hurry up!"

Hyejin quickly ran over, handing the precious box of accessories over to Roxy. "Here you go," she said. "Do you need help with anything?"

Roxy shook her head. "Thanks. We're already into the final hair and make-up change. After this we'll be done for the day, although filming will still go on for another couple of hours." Spraying a final layer of hairspray on her actress, she sent the girl on to set, hopping over to the next person that she needed to work on. "I swear I asked someone to put that box of accessories into the car along with the rest of the stuff. Idiot made me get a scolding from Hyunwon for nothing," she grumbled as she stuck pins into the next person's hair with lightning speed. "I would have asked Yeseul to bring the box over for me, but her phone was off. Probably ran out of battery or something."

"It's not a problem, I was available anyway," Hyejin replied.

She peered around the hair and make-up area, spotting Hyunwon some distance away putting silver highlights into the hair of a handsome actor that she should recognise but didn't. Probably the lead actor, she figured, if he was having his hair personally done by Hyunwon. She stood there for a while just watching how Hyunwon went about styling the actor's hair—she had always thought that there was something particularly attractive about him whenever he was concentrating on his work.

She didn't realise how intently she had been staring until Roxy tapped her on the shoulder.

"What are you dreaming about? I've been trying to get your attention for the past minute!" Roxy demanded with a frown. Pointing at a couple of cardboard boxes sitting beneath the table, she said, "Could you bring these to the storeroom? It's the equipment we'll need for tomorrow but we can't leave them lying here overnight in case something goes missing. Since you haven't got anything to do now you might as well make yourself useful. The storeroom is round the back of the warehouse."

Hyejin carried one box and made her way out of the warehouse towards the back. Squinting in the dark, she located the red metal door of the storeroom and shoved the key that Roxy had passed to her into the lock. Kicking the door open while she balanced the cardboard box in her hands, she walked into the dark room and searched around for the light switch—not that it mattered, because the lights weren't working anyway.

She had made three trips to and from the storeroom and was about to pick up the fourth box when someone grabbed it out of her hands. Puzzled, she looked up and found Hyunwon standing there, frowning as usual.

"If you drop any of these I don't think you can afford to pay for them. Grab the last one," he said, gesturing towards the smaller box that was remaining. Turning on his heels he headed out of the warehouse and towards the storeroom, with Hyejin trailing behind.

"They still haven't repaired the lights," Hyunwon grumbled as he walked in. "Where did you leave the other boxes?"

Hyejin led them towards the spot where she had put everything else and Hyunwon quickly set the heavy box down on the ground. The box hit the floor with a thud that sent reverberations through the entire room. Behind them, the metal door suddenly swung shut with a loud bang.

Walking in the dark back towards the door, Hyejin placed her hand on the door handle and gave it a push.

The door didn't budge.

#