Yeongjae's POV
A few moments ago…
"Where the hell are you, Jiho? I've been standing here for thirty minutes!" I barked into the phone the moment I picked up. No greeting. No warmth. Just pure, simmering irritation.
We were supposed to meet at the plaza after the disaster of my meeting with our grandparents. I needed a drink, a punching bag, or at least the emotional support of someone who understood why my blood pressure was now higher than my standards.
[I'm really sorry, Yeongjae. Something came up at my company. I'm on my way. Just a few minutes. Promise.]
I let out a long, soul-draining sigh and dropped onto the bench behind me. "Yeah, 'a few minutes,'" I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Your 'few minutes' is at least thirty minutes or maybe even more."
I ended the call. My patience wasn't just thinning, it was evaporating.
I glanced around the plaza and scoffed.
Eight years.
Eight damn years, and this place was still the same. Same trees and plants. Same benches. Same awful stalls that sell the same old stuff.
The only difference? The decorations...
The locals apparently decided Halloween now required a full festival-level production.
"Well… at least they put effort," I murmured, pulling out my phone.
I hit record, panning the camera over the glowing pumpkins and floating fake ghosts. My sister would love this kitschy stuff. She'd probably force me to take a million more clips once she sees this one.
As I filmed, I felt the faintest curl of annoyance loosen in my chest.
Just a little.
But that peace lasted exactly three seconds, right until I heard shouting nearby.
Spoiled brats... Just like in the movies, bigger kids bullying smaller ones.
I was about to step in and help the poor kid when someone beat me to it.
So I kept recording, partly for my sister, partly for my entertainment, while waiting for my cousin, Jiho.
Honestly, I was just trying to distract myself. I'd been simmering in irritation all morning, and pointing my camera at strangers felt easier than thinking about my grandparents… or my shameless cousin.
But then my annoyance twisted into something else... curiosity, maybe? Because the moment she appeared, everything around her shifted. And then, like clockwork, chaos erupted.
I kept the camera rolling as the situation spiraled.
And then it got ugly.
"What the fuck?" I muttered when the boy's mother appeared and suddenly grabbed the hair of the woman who had just helped her son.
That did it. I couldn't just stand there anymore. My feet moved toward them, toward her. The phone stayed up, recording everything.
"Shit!" I broke into a run when the woman fell to the ground, and the crowd started kicking her like she was some trash littering on the ground.
"Stop!" I shouted, but no one even flinched. So I tried again, louder, stepping between her and the mob.
"Enough! This is assault. I have everything on video. Should I call the police?"
Silence. Finally.
Then someone squawked, "How dare you record us without our consent!"
That was it.
The last thread of patience I'd been clinging to snapped clean. All the anger I'd stuffed down toward my grandparents, my cousin, the entire universe, just exploded. And unfortunately for them, they were standing right in front of me. Right in the center of the receiving end.
I crouched to check on the woman—she looked stunned, disoriented, but conscious. Fine… enough.
Still breathing. Still beautiful, despite the mess.
Great. Just what I needed today, another chaos I didn't ask for.
And of course, someone had the guts to step up to me.
"Who are you, and why are you interfering? Step aside if you don't want to get hurt!"
Me? Get hurt? You've got to be kidding me!
I grabbed the idiot by the collar before he could blink. I almost punched him. I really wanted to, but I stopped myself at the last second and simply lifted him off his feet.
"It's the twenty-first century, and you still believe in curses? If you're that scared, go hide under your wife's stinky cunt, you useless man-child!"
I shoved him back before I actually rearranged his face. Then I held up my phone and reminded them I had the whole thing on record.
Thankfully, that was enough.
Because if they pushed me any further, the entire neighborhood would've felt everything I'd been holding in today. Or maybe not just today, they will taste the anger, disappointment, and fury that I have been holding for the last two years!
Somehow, miraculously, my anger had completely evaporated because of this woman.
Even after everything that just happened, even after being ganged up on and kicked like a stray dog, she smiled. As if the universe hadn't just tried to crush her spirit.
She even joked around, like today was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
God, I wish I am like that… that grounded, that optimistic, that joyful.
There's something about her, an energy, a presence, that pulls you in without warning. The moment she smiles or opens her mouth to speak, you just gravitate toward her. Like how I'm staring at her right now, unable to tear my eyes away.
Her eyes sparkle with this childlike brightness, untouched by bitterness.
Her wavy hair moves with the breeze like it's dancing just for her.
And her lips… the way they form words feels unreal, hypnotic, almost dangerous. Just like a siren who will leave you mesmerized.
She looks exactly the same woman I admired years ago. Time hasn't dimmed her at all.
This city hasn't changed, and apparently, neither has she. Still beautiful in that quiet, disarming way… still effortlessly lifting the mood of anyone who stands within her orbit. Like how she smiled when greeting her customers back then behind that counter full of pet treats.
"...If you have time, maybe I can repay you with something you'd like?" she asked suddenly, snapping me out of the haze of memory.
Oh God. Does she really have to say it like that?
She hasn't changed… but I have. Eight years is a long time, long enough to learn what people want, what they take, what trust costs.
"Men like me only want one thing from women like you," I murmured, letting the words come out low. "Are you willing to give it?"
I meant to scare her. To warn her. To teach her not to trust anyone too easily, especially not someone like me. I am just like those people who hurt her.
But then she blinked up at me, lashes fluttering, and asked, "What's your name?"
My jaw almost hit the floor.
Wait—was she flirting with me?
Seriously?
This is disappointing. I literally handed her my business card earlier.
Still, I held my cool, gave her the kind of smile that always gets me into trouble with women.
"…I'm Yeongjae. Yeongjae Young," I said, half expecting... no, wanting—her to continue flirting just so I could keep teaching her a lesson.
But she didn't. She didn't giggle or blush.
Instead, she smiled warmly, grabbed my wrist, and tugged me forward with surprising force, dragging me toward a dim, secluded corner of the plaza.
What. The. Hell?!
Where is she taking me?
What is she doing?
And why—WHY—does a part of me already know exactly what this looks like?
Is this what I think it is?
There's no way she's actually—
Right?