CH8- The BRO Code

The BRO Code

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Seunghyun’s POV

Immediately after my phone conversation with Kush hyung, I changed my shirt, put on a black leather jacket, grabbed my wallet and hailed for a cab. I recalled Kush’s words and thought to myself, am I overreacting? I don’t know why but it bothered me to know that Jiyong is with Sandy. That girl is bad news. There’s something about her that makes me feel unsettled and I don’t like it. I ran my right hand through my hair and looked at my watch. I’ll reach the club in about five minutes. Wait for me.

I saw Kush hyung first with her new girlfriend on the dance floor as soon as I arrived. I scanned the other dancers and then recognized Jiyong. Seeing his back, I can see his hips grinding over a girl whose back was facing him. I have no doubt she’s Sandy. They were dancing and grinding like the other dancers but seeing how they move against each other makes it look indecent to me. What are you doing, Ji?

I decided to approach them while gingerly moving my way across the club to avoid the arms and feet of the people dancing. I can see Sandy now, dancing seductively against my friend. I suddenly remembered how she danced for me on my birthday. For a moment, I imagined myself dancing with her ... that I was Jiyong. I mentally slapped myself. I’d better stay away from this girl. She’s trouble. I just have to talk to Jiyong and them I’m out.

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

30 minutes earlier….

“Annyeong …” Jiyong gave his most charming smile.

Sandy looked behind Jiyong to see if he came with someone else but it’s just him. “Small world”, she quipped.

“Small world, indeed” says Jiyong. “Fancy seeing you here…”

Sandy just smiled.

Jiyong cleared his throat when it became apparent that Sandy will not introduce him to her friends. “Hi, Kwon Jiyong-imnida” 

The rest of the girls just said hello back but they all looked at Sandy expectantly. “He’s a close friend of Dongwook oppa” Sandy said in a way of explanation.

“Oh?” they said. The girls gave him their names in turn but they were noticeably quieter after. 

Sandy looked at Jiyong like she was expecting him to say his goodbyes but Jiyong has other plans. “I still owe you something …” he began. 

“I know” Sandy said.

“So how about we talk about it on the dance floor?”

“Or you can just hand over my money here …” Sandy countered.

This girl, Jiyong thought. She’s direct to the point alright. “Or … how about I give it to you after one dance?” he continued, undeterred.

“I’d rather not, thank you.”

“C’mon. Take pity on me … I don’t have a date tonight …”

“Well, I do. In case you failed to notice, we’re having a girl’s night out.”

“That’s not a date” Jiyong disagreed. “I’m free to be your escort tonight. Free of charge!” God, he belatedly realized what he said. I hope I didn’t offend her.

To his surprise, Sandy laughed. “Free of charge, huh? Sorry Blondie but we’re not looking for an escort tonight…”

Jiyong pouted. “I’ll just buy you girls’ drinks then” he declared. Before anyone can protest, he got the attention of the passing waiter and ordered a bottle of Patron and some fruits.

“What?” he said unaffected, upon noticing Sandy’s disapproving look. “It’s lonely with just Kush hyung. He’s up there with his girlfriend” pointing to Kush’s direction. “You don’t mind, right girls?”

The short haired Sunny shrugged while Suzy stayed silent. It was Sohee who said “We don’t mind.”

Sandy raised her eyebrows at her friend. 

“He obviously likes you” she whispered. “He might be the one, you know. Give him a chance ...”

“In case you didn’t notice, he’s obviously a player” Sandy whispered back.

“So? Go play” answered Sohee, with a mischievous wink. “When was the last time you got laid anyway?”

Sandy almost spit out her drink. “Ya!”

“Jiyong-shi” said Sohee. “Why don’t you take Sandy here and dance? She’s been dying to since earlier but we’re all tired” she sighed, including the 2 younger girls with her statement. 

Sandy couldn’t make her eyes rounder as she listened to her traitorous friend. “Bwoh?!”

Jiyong couldn’t help but smile. He knows what Sohee is doing and is amused by it.  He grabbed Sandy’s wrist and pulled her to her feet despite the girl trying to break free from his hold.

“You – you, traitor!” Sandy hissed at Sohee as she was being dragged away.

“Unnie…” Suzy said with a worried frown “do you think that’s a good idea? Dara unnie will surely get mad at you once she’s back”

“Don’t worry maknae. Unnie knows what she’s doing” Sohee said soothingly. “Dara needs to start loosening up and enjoy her living her life again.”

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

At the dance floor….

Jiyong, still not letting go of Sandy’s wrist, guided their way to the dance floor. Sandy was still trying to pull back her arm when Jiyong stopped and faced the pissed off looking girl.

He let go of her wrist and stood straight in front of her. 

Before he can say what he was about to say, Sandy beat him to it. “Do you always get what you want?!” sounding annoyed as she looked.

Jiyong thought for a second. “Yes … most of the time…”

“Figures” said the girl, massaging her wrist.

“My turn. Do you hate me that much?” 

Jiyong said the words in a light manner but something in his eyes made Sandy choose her words. “I don’t … hate you …” she began “it’s just that … you’re so confident that you’d always get your way, you know? You’re just coming on too strong for me.”

Jiyong made a side smile and raised his brows.

“And you’re too cocky” she continued. “You don’t take no for an answer and you think that you’re all that and …”

Jiyong held up his right hand, signalling for Sandy to stop. “Ouch” he said. “I didn’t realize you have a lot of beef against me” he teased. 

“Well, you asked”

“True” Jiyong nodded. “If it makes you feel better, I’ve heard all of those words before so don’t feel bad if you think you’ve offended my feelings” he graciously offered.

Sandy smirked good- naturedly. “See!? You’re doing it again. You don’t even have the grace to look embarrassed by all the things that I said, you pompous ass” she ended with a laugh, taking the sting out of her words away.

Seeing Sandy laugh made Jiyong smile. It was true what he said – that he’s heard all the criticisms from other girls before. 

But … they’re usually said after he broke their hearts. This early, Sandy can already read him too well. He realized that his Casanova moves won’t work on her.

“I lose” he declared.

“OH?” Sandy raised her brows. “I didn’t realize we’re in a competition.”

Jiyong just gave her a rueful smile. “How about we start over?” He held out his hand, “Friends?”

“I’m not really good with friendship with the opposite sex...”

“Are you just gonna reject everything I say?” Jiyong pouted, pretending to get hurt. “Treat me as you treat Dongwook hyung then ... I can be an Oppa, too ...”

Sandy laughed. “Oppa?” she said incredulously. “I’ll never call you Oppa.” Nevertheless, she gave her hand to Jiyong and he swirled her on the dancefloor.

They proceeded to dance and it didn’t take long before they let the music take over and they danced with wild abandon. 

Sandy let Jiyong set the groove and she didn’t protest when he guided her hips as they swayed to the rhythm. The boy is beginning to amuse her. 

She’ll let him entertain her tonight. It has been a long time since she enjoyed a night out with a male companion anyway where her escort job is not involved. She was just beginning to enjoy herself when she came face to face with a pair of black eyes. Eyes which seemed to pierce through her soul ... accusing ... judging her.

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

Sandara, Sohee, Sunny and Suzy are now all sitting with Jiyong, Seunghyun, Kush, Kush’s girl and her friend at one table. For some reason, Kush managed to persuade the girls to join them at the VIP section of the club.

Sandy can tell by the way her friends behave that they are now almost, if not totally wasted. She can’t believe how the three managed to consume the whole bottle of tequila all on their own in just a few minutes. Being the eldest and sober one, she figured that they have more or less an hour more before she’ll be forced to carry her friends to their homes. She already called Heechul to pick up his fiancée, Sohee. As soon as he arrives, she would take the other two girls home.

After a brief round of introductions, the three girls decided to go dance together with Kush and company. Jiyong after asking Sandy if she would like to go back to dance floor, which refused, followed her friends soon after. 

“Blondie” she called out “my girls are off limits okay?” Jiyong just gave her a playful salute and left.

Even though there was music blaring all around the club; an uncomfortable silence enveloped the two persons left at the table. 

Sandy was finding the Seunghyun guy creepy. “It’s rude to stare, you know” she said.

Seunghyun cleared his throat. “Who says I’m staring at you?” he said defensively.

Sandy just cocked an eyebrow at him. After a while, “Don’t you wanna join them?”

“I don’t dance”

“Jiyong is a great dancer” she said in a way of making conversation. 

He scowled. 

Omo, was he offended? She thought.

A few more minutes passed and they were still just silently watching the dancers from their view. Sandy caught Seunghyun taking a glance at her again. “How’s Youngbae?” she decided to ask him, to break the silence between them. “Why is he not with you guys?”

“He’s on a business trip” he said curtly.

Sandy nodded. She smiled thinking of Youngbae and his quiet and shy ways when they talked. “That’s too bad. It would have been good to see him again …”

“Why?” Seunghyun said, a little bit loudly. “Is Jiyong not enough for you? Listen; whatever game you’re playing … just know that I’m on to you …” he warned.

Sandy couldn’t believe his ears. WTF is this guy talking about? “What the hell is your problem?!” she confronted.

“You.”

“Me?” she gave a mirthless laugh. “Wow! I don’t believe you!” Shaking her head, she leaned closer to Seunghyun. “Do you find me that interesting enough to be considered a problem?”

Seunghyun gave her a smirk. “Don’t flatter yourself too much. I just don’t want to see my friends get hurt and used by you.”

Sandy gave him a dangerous tone. “Now you listen, I don’t care what you freaking think of me but know this – I am not going to let you ruin my night. Think whatever you want.”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

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

Once their friends came back from dancing and joined the two, Seunghyun offered to get them some drinks and asked Jiyong to help him. It wasn’t necessary since they can just call out a waiter but he needed to talk to Jiyong alone.

Sandy didn’t think it was a good idea for her friends to drink more but she couldn’t stop them when they told Seunghyun what poison they preferred. 

Seunghyun momentarily glanced at Sandy, waiting for her to tell him what she wants. “Bloody Mary for me” she reluctantly said. Seunghyun just nodded. He appeared to be charming to the rest of the group but cold towards her.

“Bloody Mary? Baby, you’re not even drunk yet” Jiyong said to Sandy as he got up, making Seunghyun stop on his tracks.

Sandy cocked one eyebrow at him. Baby? “Mind your own business, Blondie” she said.

Jiyong just made a duckface and tried to pinch Sandy’s cheek but she moved out of his reach. “Cute”, he muttered. “We’ll be back.”

The two best friends are now sitting at the bar. Seunghyun finished giving their orders and asked them to be delivered to their table. He also ordered a couple of beers for him and Jiyong and as soon as he took a gulp from his ice cold beer, he turned to one of his oldest friends. “You two seem to be close …” he began, not bothering to identify who he means by the word “two”.

Jiyong took a sip from his and in a way knew what this talk is all about. He sighed. “I’m just trying to make friends.”

Seunghyun smirked. “I know you Ji. You don’t make friends unless you want something …”

“Hyung, I can’t believe you think so low of me” Jiyong replied, pretending to be hurt.

“Cut the bullcrap” Seunghyun smirked. “You don’t want to offend Youngbae, right?” 

The younger guy stayed silent, drinking his beer. 

“I’m not happy that he’s interested with that girl but you should know better than to try to make a move. After all, Bae already invoked the Bro code. Bros before hoes, right?”

“I know” Ji finally said. He remembered what happened back in Lucky Seven after Sandy left them for the night.

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

Flashback….

“What was that about?” Dongwook asked Youngbae as soon as Sandy said her goodbyes and left the room.

Youngbae was all smiles that all you can see are the slits of his eyes. “Remember the girl I was telling you about? The one who kissed me at the engagement party?”

The rest of his friends nodded. 

“Don’t tell me …” Jiyong said, coming up with a guess.

YB began nodding excitedly. “It was her. It was Sandy!”

“Chincha?!” Teddy and Kush said at the same time.

“Amazing right?” Rubbing his hands together, Youngbae continued and leaned from the couch, “You know how I tried asking around for any information on her but couldn’t find any? I really thought that I’ll never get to see her again but man! Is this destiny or what?” he said, sounding giddy as a girl.

“Wait, wait, wait” Seunghyun spoke with his left hand in the air. “Before you start getting ideas, do you even know what she does? Her kind of work?”

Youngbae’s face turned serious. He was surprised by what Sandy revealed earlier but he quickly got over it. “Yeah … she told me …”

Flashback to Sandy and Youngbae’s conversation….

“So, tell me what happened to you that night?” Sandy said after Youngbae sat beside her. They were a little far away from the rest of the occupants of the room so they can’t really hear their conversation.

Aside from Nick and his friends asking him questions about his relationship with Sandy, Youngbae didn’t have much to tell. “Well, they invited me to a club after the party …”

Sandy, sipping on a martini, silently coaxed him to continue with her eyes.

“And then, I took Krystal home and … that’s it …” he shrugged, disappointed that he couldn’t make his story more exciting.

Sandy saw this and thought that Youngbae was disappointed because nothing happened between him and Krystal. “Tch” she made a sound while shaking her head. “That’s it? I can’t believe that’s all you got … even after our performance!”

Youngbae blushed, thinking back on their kiss. 

“Awww … Don’t be embarrassed” Sandy consoled. “You just need some practice.”

Youngbae blushed even deeper. Practice on kissing?

“Would you like me to help you?” 

Youngbae’s gaze landed on Sandy’s lips. Yes, please.

“Or… I can refer somebody from my agency and help you get the girl” she continued.

Wait, Youngbae thought. What agency and what girl?

“But I’m warning you, next time it won’t be for free” Sandy said with a wink.

“I’m sorry but I don’t understand…”

Sandy reached for her back pack and took out her wallet. She then gave Youngbae a calling card, all in red but with a black widow spider insignia in the middle. “That’s where I work. Call that number when you decide if you need a little help. Just tell them that I referred you, okay?”

Seeing confusion on Youngbae’s face, “I work as an escort” she said plainly. “My kisses don’t come for free, you know. You got lucky that night when I said that I’ll help you improve your reputation.”

Youngbae took a few seconds to process the information and looked from Sandy to the calling card that he’s holding.  Realization dawned on him and caused him to furrow his brows.

“Are you disappointed?” Sandy asked him in a straightforward way. “I always get that, you know? Misconceptions on my kind of job are normal” she shrugged. “Just to let you know, Spider is a reputable agency and we have very respectable ladies … strictly no sex with the clients.”

“Were you with a client that night we met?”

She nodded. “He was trying to shove his tongue down my throat so I bit him. That’s why you saw me all wet…”

Emotions surged through Youngbae. Feelings of anger for the man, whoever he was, pity for Sandy for what happened and … and feelings of protectiveness towards the lovely girl in front of him. He can’t believe that she does this work for a living. He wants to hug her and say that it was okay but he can see from Sandy that she is more than capable of taking care of herself. She looks like an innocent young girl until you talk to her and you’ll know that she has a spine of steel.

“I’m sorry …” was all that he could say.

“Don’t be” she waved away his concern. “I’ve had rougher nights.”

He didn’t want to think of what “rougher nights” mean, it makes him feeling sadder for Sandy’s situation. 

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

Back to the present time… at the bar…

“I remember” Jiyong said. 

He remembered Youngbae declaring that he’s interested in Sandy and would like to pursue her. Dongwook was concerned at first saying that they might end up getting hurt instead knowing the difference in their social status. He was very upfront about it and asked Youngbae and the rest of the guys to leave Sandy alone if they would just end up hurting her in the end. But Youngbae seemed to be genuinely infatuated with the girl and invoked their code that none of the other guys will try to make a move on another brother’s girl. 

So that’s where he stands. Sandy is off limits. He knows this but he was just trying to have some fun tonight. He knows now that she is indifferent to his charm and accepts it. He smiled. He’d like to see Youngbae make his move. If he, the Casanova of the group can’t break through Sandy’s wall, how much more his innocent friend?

“Good” Seunghyun nodded. “You know this is the first time that Bae showed such an interest to a girl. I don’t agree on his decision but as a friend … I won’t try to hinder his plan. If he thinks that she is the one for him, then we should just silently support him. Still” he faced Jiyong “I think that he’s making a big mistake. Nothing will come out good from this … I seriously think that Bae is too romantic for his own good” he smirked.

Jiyong could only nod in agreement. He too, knows this. Youngbae is a multi-millionaire’s one and only heir while Sandy is the poor girl in this story. Maybe Youngbae is still thinking about soulmate stuff and shit. If it were a fairytale ... but it's not.

He can’t see a happy ever after in their story …

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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.

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