CH2- The Beginning

The Beginning

************************

Dara decided to go to the buffet table first since all she’s had were 2 glasses of champagne. She found her way to where the finger food area is and sampled some canapés and fruits and cheeses. The salmon caviar canapé was the best and she has just bitten her second one when she was interrupted by a gentleman who tried to get her attention. She heard the voice coming from behind her. “Hi, I’m Nick” he said, extending his hand. “May I have the pleasure of knowing the name of such a wonderful looking goddess?” he flirtatiously continued.

Dara kept herself from rolling her eyes. She just looked at his right hand and gestured at the canapé she’s holding on one hand and cheese on the other. He understood and smiled. “Would you like some wine?” he asked but didn’t bother to wait for her reply and motioned for a waiter and got her a glass of red wine. 

Dara smiled appreciatively as a sign of thanks and leisurely finished chewing her food, finishing the cheese and accepted the wine. She surreptitiously glanced at the guy standing next to her and she’s deciding if he’s worth her time. He’s too much of a pretty boy and everything about him screamed rich. She definitely doesn’t think that he’ll need her services anytime soon or in the near future. And she’s not one to flirt either because she’s not looking for any relationship with the opposite sex whether it’s romantic or otherwise, unless, of course, there’s some profit to be gained.

Nick, however, was patiently waiting for the beautiful girl to turn her attention on him. But she looked like she’s more interested in the food in front of them. He cleared his throat. “It’s good to see that someone is enjoying the food here. Which ones do you recommend?” he asked, glancing at the table. 

Dara has just finished what she’s eating and pointed at the salmon caviar. “I see you have expensive taste” Nick said. Dara gave a small smile.

“Mmmm...Delicious” he tasted all the while looking at Dara.

She was about to move to the little pastries area when she felt Nick following her. “Hey! I still didn’t get your name” he pouted.

Dara found him really cute so she relented and offered her hand. “Sandy”. That’s the name that she goes by when she’s at work. 

Nick turned all the charms and kissed her hand. “A beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” he winked.

Now, Dara started to regret indulging the guy for he’s obviously a player. She pulled back her hand gently. 

“How come I’ve never seen you before?” Nick asked.

“Well, I’ve never seen you before, either” Dara replied.

“Darn. And I thought I’ve met all of the beautiful girls in South Korea. Did you just arrive in Seoul?” At first, Dara didn’t follow his train of thought but then she got his drift. 

“Well, I’ve been travelling …” she bluffed. 

“That explains it.” Nick nodded. “So, where did you travel? Europe? America?”

“Around” she answered vaguely. “Well, it was nice meeting you” she said, turning her back on him. 

“Wait!” she felt him touch her arm just above her elbow. “Um, did you come with someone? I mean, are you with someone? If not, you can join us…” Nick was flustered. Sandy is obviously playing hard to get. Girls don’t play hard to get when it comes to Nickhun.

Dara weighed her options. She saw some older men earlier who may potentially be interested in their agency but there may be some opportunity with the younger market. Besides, it’s not all the time that she gets to mingle with the society’s “IT” crowd. Her jerk of a date boasted that many rich people will be attending the engagement ceremony and that there would even be celebrities. She was thinking of the commission she’ll get from referrals if she gets to recruit new clients and thought of the drama Coffee Prince and Kim Sam Soon. She chuckled to herself. What are the chances that a chaebol will need help and hire a pretend boyfriend/girlfriend to escape a marriage arrangement? 

“Actually, my date had to leave early. You know, emergency with his company...”

Nick couldn’t hide his pleasure when he heard what she said. “Then, Miss Sandy, care to spend some time and grace me and my friends with your presence? This party was heading to boredom until I met you.” He said with a slight bow.

Dara can’t believe that this guy is so cheesy. Good thing he’s cute or she would be puking by now. “My pleasure” she replied in equal formality and they both chuckled.

He guided her to a table with 5 equally gorgeous guys and started the introductions. Dara was right. These are all chaebols and she’s not so sure if it’s a good idea to hang out with them. They kept on flirting and vie for her attention and asked her of the famous places she’s been to and she was afraid to get caught in her lies. Thankfully, two girls approached their table after around 15 minutes.

“Nickhun-oppa!” cried one with a lot of aegyo. 

Dara remembered that voice.

“Taecyon-oppa, you didn’t call me like you promised” said the other one with a pout.

“Sulli. Victoria” Nick said, acknowledging their presence. 

Ah, so he’s the Nickhun she heard the girls gossiping about in the ladies room, Dara realized. Now that she can see the girls real up close, she can see that they must also come from rich families. They look absolutely flawless. In a rare moment, Dara felt inferior. It took her years to build up her confidence and being with these kinds of people makes her feel lacking in many ways. She tried not to think about her insecurities and kept the smile on her face.

“Who’s she?” Victoria noticed, glancing at Dara.

Dara smiled to herself. Well, they may look classy but their personalities definitely are not.

“Vi, don’t be rude” Nick admonished. “Sandy, meet Victoria and Sulli.”

“Hello” Dara said but the 2 girls barely acknowledged her.

“Oppa” I heard that JYP Club will have David Guetta as the guest tonight, Victoria said. “Why don’t we go after this?”

The rest of the guys were already saying yes excitedly but then Sulli interrupted them. “We just have to help Krystal ditch her date.”

“Who is she with?” the one named Jun asked.

“Youngbae”

“Ohh..” there was a definite air of understanding all around like they know him.

“Seriously, I don’t understand why T.O.P.N.G.D. hangs out with Y.B” Jun said.

Dara wondered why he’s spelling out the alphabet.

“Yeah” Taecyon agreed. “He’s lame.” He added with a smirk.

“He’s not that bad”, that one came from Wooyong.

“C’mon look at him…” Jun gestured to where Krystal and Youngbae are sitting.

I followed their gazes and saw a pretty girl looking bored and a guy coming near her with a plate of food. After the guy put the plate in front of the girl, she must have said something because the guy scratched his head and took back what he brought and went back to the buffet table. 

“Poor guy” I said to myself. She’s ordering him around like a slave. I guess she wants him to feel bad enough to leave her alone. I took a sip of my red wine and sighed.

“Will you join us after the party?” Nick asked, claiming my attention, looking hopeful.

“I don’t know…” I answered, noncommittally.

“C’mon it’ll be fun…”

“I’ll think about it.”

I noticed the 2 girls are glaring at me. I was tempted to say yes just to piss them off. But I won’t gain any profit from it and I did not want to waste my energy on them. They then turned to Jun and Taecyon and asked for their help to lose Krystal’s date. 

I made up my mind that I’m just wasting my time in their table so I excused myself and planned to mingle around the party. Nick offered to accompany me when I said that I’ll go to the ladies room. I don’t want him to know that I have no plans to join them again later so I declined.

“I can find my way” I said.

“Okay” he gave me a smile. “We’ll wait for you okay? Come to the club with us?” He really seems like a nice guy. Too bad his friends are cocky and seemed so full of themselves based on the stories they regaled me earlier.

“We’ll see…” I said and made my way to the ladies room when I passed by Krystal’s table. I noticed that she intentionally spilled her glass of wine on the shirt of the guy. I heard her say sorry but it didn’t sound sincere to my ears. The guy, meanwhile, kept saying that it was okay and kept on smiling. I remember him now. He was the one who lent me his handkerchief.

***************************

So there I was, doing my business inside the cubicle when I heard 3 voices enter the ladies room. I rolled my eyes. Why do I always meet them in this place? I asked myself. I heard them planning their escape with the rest of Nick’s friends without alerting their parents. I figured their families are also in attendance. They also talked about Krystal’s date and that the guys will take care of him and how a loser he is, with laughter that forebodes unpleasant things. I didn’t come out until I heard them leave.

Aish! I opened my purse and saw the damp hanky. I can’t give this back to him now that it’s wet. I felt a little something in my chest. Maybe…pity? A plan formulated in my head. “Dara, are you sure about this?” I asked myself. “Tsk. Might as well” I answered aloud. I usually do this and talk to myself. It has become a habit that I can’t break. I’m weird that way.

I checked myself in the mirror before going out. I arranged my hair to make it look more seductive and re-applied my red lipstick. Now that’s done, I need to find him first. And just like fate is on our side, I saw him coming out from the gent’s rooms.

“Hi”, I called him. 

He stopped and looked at me. “Hey” there goes his smile again. 

“So, I wanna thank you for lending me your handkerchief earlier. Seems like we’re in the same predicament” I glanced at his white, now stained, long sleeved shirt that his suit couldn’t fully conceal.

He gave a slight chuckle but didn’t say anything.

“What’s your name?”

“Y-Youngbae”, he seemed surprised. “Dong Youngbae” offering his hand.

“Sandy” I just said, shaking his hand.

“Well, Youngbae”, I started, sounding conspirational, “I believe that this is your lucky day.”

 “I believe that you need my help” I continued.

“I do?” he looked confused.

“Don’t worry, just follow my lead and you’ll be fine” I assured him.

“I don’t understand...” he started “you’ll help me with what?”

“Your reputation” I declared. “So why don’t you…” I looked around the function hall and saw Nick’s group and the three girls standing together in one corner near the ice sculptures, “join your friends and whatever I do, Just go with the flow. Okay?”

“O- Okay” he reluctantly agreed. I’m sure he’s confused as hell but I didn’t want to explain any further. It’ll lessen the fun for me.

I made a shooing motion and a wink. “Trust me.”

********************

I waited 3 full minutes before I made my move. This is very uncharacteristic of me and I felt magnanimous all of a sudden. Anticipating the mischief that will happen, I made my way over to where they are.

“Sandy” Nick offered his hand, motioning me to stand beside him. I did. Then I was all smiles as I surveyed them when my eyes landed on Youngbae, looking surprised.

“Youngbae? Wow! This is a pleasant surprise” I acted and seductively walked over to him. “Missed me?” I teased as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and then I snaked my right hand at the back of his head and pulled him in with our faces just inches away. “Coz I missed you” I said before crashing my lips to his.

***************************

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, modify, create derivative works, or in any way exploit any content of this story without a written consent from the author.

All rights reserved by Ms/Mzbookworm4life. © April 2013.