Kim Taeyeon
If I could break my leg somehow, maybe I could go home and flake out this stupid dinner party. Not even the world's most powerful leaders or the beautiful exotic women that surrounded me constantly could keep me grounded in this place.
I'm so close to just falling asleep and dying of boredom. I kept swirling the wine in my glass, looking at the spiral I caused in the crysta clear vessel. Looking at the crowd of people was the big ball room filled with tremendous chattering and people who conversed about irrelevant problems till no end. It's not like I cared.
The man in front of was talking about a business relation but everything around me seemed to be on mute as I kept looking at the vortex I caused in the glass in my hand. A waitress with appetizers on her tray walked by me and I grabbed a few off her tray before putting them in my mouth and spitting it out. Pigs in a Blanket at an event like this? Are you kidding me? What a fucking joke. I neve really had the tastebuds for greasy american inspired food although I don't mind a fatburger every now and then. But come on, thats such a sleazy cheap appetizer at a formal event.
I sighed, drinking my wine and contemplating in my big head whether or not I should create a law that bans those types of foods just because I was petty and downright ass. The side of my arm was caressed gently by a lady suggestively, and I wasn't in the mood tonight. I just nodded and gestured her to go fondle some other guy. She pouts and clings on closer to me till I pulled back and shot her a glare.
"Not today, please." I growled still feeling the remnants of hotdogs in my throat.
"Mr. Kim. . ." She whispers sultry in my ear. I rolled my eyes and let go of her arm. I turned of my heel and walked the other way, quickening my pace knowing that she's probably following me behind.
"Hey, lets book it man this fucking place is gross." I nudge Kris with my elbow but he continues talking to a group of girls all over him.
"Nah man, this place is great. These ladies are really something. Am I right ladies?" He asks slyly and they all giggle flirtatiously. I wanted to smack my head on a table, completely done with my ass of a friend.
"We even got the Princess of Spain here with us tonight! Can't leave yet without a little something something." He winks at me and points at a group of women walking towards me.
Welp, time to blast. I weave my way in and out of crowds avoiding that rampage of girls comnig my way. I grabbed another glass of whisky before choosing a seat in the corner of the room and sipping on it slowly still careful to make myself as invisible as I could. Each gulp was the taste of bitter guilt and regrets.
Being one of the worlds most successful business man and entrepreneur should be anyone's dream, but I didn't really find happiness. I hated these events, I hated attending any of these things. I don't need people to tell me constantly about how good of a job I was doing and I don't need to discuss world domination and the corruptness of shady deals and politics.
Maybe seeing through my glass pointed me into the direction of something worth looking at, and I was right. Through the blurry condensation of the glass and warped figure I could see her reflecting from the lights, through the glass and into my vision. I brought the glass down from my eyes and set it on the table.
In the corner of my eye, I see her sitting down at the table fiddling with her fingers as she was starring blankly at the crowd in front of her. She smiled as people passed her but her smile disappeared as they walked away. I was intrigued by this petite woman, she was confident and her smiles showed it. She wasn't like any of the other women in the gala, she didn't try to stand out from the crowd or draw attention to herself. Her petite frame complimented the white dress she wore that had a black bow tied around her waist, which was simple but elegant. Her brown locks overflowed her shoulders and her smile was a warm and kind smile, like a smile that was inviting and cozy. When she did smile though, her eyes would form a crescent shape; an eye smile that was cute and sincere, which made her even more attractive. What was she doing at this gala? Is she accompanied by someone? What does she do for a living? Is she single? Questions flowed into my mind the longer I stare at her. I give off a slight smirk approaching her. She looked up at me and immediately broke away from my gaze.
The wine glass she was holding fell from her hands and everyone's attention diverted to her. She looked around a little stunned and squatted down and was about to reach for the wines stem, but I place my hand gently over her soft nimble ones. She raises from the floor looking at me with concern, but I wrap my hands over here and pull her to the side, pushing aside everyone who's staring and gathering around her. Also leaving that mess to be attended by anyone but her.
From the back of my head I can feel her looking down on the floor embarrassed and blushing. Her hand clenched at mine and tried to pull away but I kept a firm grip on hers, silently loving the way it fit into mine. My heart pumped unexpectedly. It was weird, I don't know what made me sit up and walk to her, but I did.
She pries her hand off of mine and I pull a chair out for here, gesturing for her to sit. She hesitated at first but with another few nudges and a few good smirks she sits.
"Hello" I say extending my hand out giving my most charming smiles that were sure to win over an woman. She looks up at my a little taken back by my approach.
"Hi." she says with some hesitation.
One, two, three. In three seconds I fell in love. I swear to god.
"My names Taeyeon, Kim Taeyeon. Since you caused all that commotion back there I wondered what you were doing at a place like this. You don't seem familiar."
"Oh, um. My friend asked me to accompany her and her husband here." She says.
"Who's your friend?" I ask.
"Choi Sooyoung." She says, still fiddling with her hand. I'm being a little too pushy by the way she's giving me blunt answers, but she's so beautiful and I'm sure to take her home tonight. By taking her home tonight I mean, to get to know her better. You know, to be like her bestfriend or something/
"You're a little clumsy if I say so myself." I had to tease her just a little bit, I wanted to see if she'd kick me and slap me across the face.
"Yeah, I think so too." She whispers, her lips tugging upwards as she kept staring at her hand. Adorable, the cutest ever.
She plays with a ring on her finger spinning it as if it was a way for her to distract herself. I look closely to see if it's on her ring finger; and gratefully it wasn't.
"You look beautiful."
"Thank you." She gives a half smile, she seemed a little lost or broken by the way she looked at my eyes and quickly darted her eyes back at the ring.
"Are you okay? Something bothering you?" I ask putting a hand on her hand.
She quickly moves her hand away and looks at me."Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired and bored."
The action took me back a little. I hope I wasn't coming too strong on her.
"Haha yeah, these things can get a little boring, why don't you accompany me to the bar? Ms.." I say extending my hand to help her up.
"Hwang, Ms. Stephanie Hwang, or Tiffany." She says looking at me giving me a reassuring smile and taking my hand into hers.
She walked in front of me letting go of my hand and approaches the bar. Her hair swung loosely from side to side and her step looked like a waltz; she was beautiful and charming. But I know, she wasn't a fan of me from the start.
I scan the room not sure of what I'm looking for, but I walk to the bar and took a seat beside Stephanie.
"A whiskey." I say to the bartender. He nods his head while cleaning a glass and glances over at Stephanie starring at her and giving me a wink.
I can't stop looking at Stephanie and she plays with the stir stick in her cocktail. I want to ask her so many questions but I don't want to come off as a creep, yet I want her to be mine.
I take a sip from my glass and look at her. "So where are you from?"
"How about for every question I'm not comfortable answering, I get to you a question, and vice versa?" She says harshly, not looking up from her cocktail.
I was a little surprised by that, maybe I did come off as a little creepy. Damn it.
"Sure why not." I say taking a sip from my glass.
"Why are you interrogating me, even though you don't know me?" She says finally breaking contact with the glass and looking up.
"Because you interest me and I want to know you better."
She looks at my blankly with the most unimpressed 'are you fucking kidding me' face I have ever seen. "I've heard that many times."
"Because your smile caught my eye and I've never seen someone as normal as you before." I say putting the glass on the bar.
She looks at a little confused and smiles and her eyes form a crescent, "Are you implying I'm not normal?"
"No that's not what I said I meant like. . . you're not like the woman here, the same dolled up spoiled brats that are the typical girls you try to avoid and you seem like a cool person, you know the type to like dogs and sip coffee on like some winter day, um and I want to get to know you better and - "
"I know what you mean." She says with a giggle.
I just made a fool out of myself, I stuttered and rolled words off my tongue like a mad man. I've never felt like this before she gives me butterflies in my stomach. God she is adorable.
I give off a sigh and smile.
"You're known to be a playboy and if you're wondering if I would sleep with you the answer is no." She says straight out. I felt like my ego got dented.
I look at her, was I really coming off as wanting to sleep with her? "I just want to get to know you better, I'm not trying to sleep with you, you know."
"What's your favourite food." she asks suddenly.
"My favourite food? Uh." I wasn't expecting that question. "Pepperoni pizza." I finally say.
Stephanie smiles at me. "Me too."
"Thoughts on the appetizers served today at this banquet?" I said cocking my brow genuinely curious.
"They're really good, except I don't know why they served Pigs in a Blanket. Aren't they considered a little taboo since it isn't really a 'classy' type of food?" She's bestfriend material.
"Me too! I don't know why they did either holy fuck marry me." Shit that slipped. I mean, yeah marry me Stephanie is but I mean like, not right now. I wanna be your best friend first but, marry me holy shit.
She giggled and shook her head, thinking I was joking and I was. But I'm like 50% serious about that, I think.
"Want to play 20 questions?" I ask hoping she'd say yes because that's the only solution to not coming off as creepy yet gettign to ask her questons that I kind of wanted to know.
"How old are you again Mr. Kim?"
"I'm 28."
"And you want to play 20 questions?" She asks with a laugh.
Her laugh was like music to my ears, it was adorable and full of life, yet sounded a bit empty.
I laughed along with Stephanie. "Yeah why not? I'm never too old."
For the rest of the night we talked abut our favourite colour, music, and past times, and poked fun at each other. The night was filled with laughter and sincere gazes. I've felt like I've known her for years in this one night but yet I don't know her at all. No woman in my entire life had made me feel the way she has before. I've never really had a girlfriend, more like one night stands and friends with benefits and if I even had a relationship it lasted only a few weeks before things broke off. No woman really stood out as much as Stephanie did. All my thoughts of taking her home and having a one night stand with her were mercilessly shoved out the door and down into the abyss. She was different and I intend to treat he differently from any other girl I had met in my life.
"It's getting late, I should go home now." She places her glass on the bar table, glancing up to meet my gaze.
"Already ending the fun? We just started." I give a little pout hoping to score some cute points with Stephanie,
"Sorry, Mr. Pout I have work tomorrow." Stephanie pulls money out of her clutch as an attempt to pay for the drinks we had.
I push her hand back and take out my cash and put a stack on the bar. "It's fine I got it, it's on me tonight. I'll take you home too."
"Wow, Mr. Pout it's alright I can go home myself, thanks by the way." She says standing up fixing her dress.
"Hey, you made this night bearable for me it's the least I can do."
For the next 10 minutes, I couldn't stop bugging her about taking her home and they were indeed the most stressful 10 minutes of my life; She wouldn't let me take her home even though I insisted. But in the end she finally said yes, probably to my amazing charms and my pushy and persuasive self. Why is she so cute?
I smile to myself, not noticing her starring at me.
"What are you smiling about?" She questions as she looks straight up at me.
She's so small, like she's fun sized. A little walking button.
"Nothing, just happy that I won and you lost the argument."
She gives me a small hit on my arm and pouts a little.
"I've been shot. Ow. Ow. Ow. Someone call 911" I say acting like I was about to faint.
She touches my arm gently, getting my attentino as I brought my attention back to her from the fire juggling monkey on the stage right now. "Wait, I have to tell Sooyoung I'm leaving." I nod and I stand at the entrance of the ball room, eyeing the small dumpling walking towards her friend. saying something probably like a goodbye or something as her friend looks up and matches gaze with me. I felt like she kind of gave me a warning with her eyes, but I couldn't tell because I snapped that connection off, a bit afraid.
When I saw Steph turn around and walk back to me smiling lightly, I regained my posture, straighting my back and smiling right back at her.
"Miss me?" I asked. she shot me a smirk and walked past me, taking the lead.
"I should be asking you that, you were staring at me like some creep." I deadpanned and sighed. She turns around with a big smile on her face, she probably knows she just won that.
"I'll give you that win." I said in defeat.
"I deserve it." She says proudly. We both laugh before I open the door of my car for her. "You're very child-like for someone who's 28 and the CEO of a big corporation." She says as she steps in my car.
"I never said I was mature, now did I? Miss Hwang." I close the door, and quickly head to the drivers seat as to not lose a moment with Stephanie.
"Fair enough Mr. Kim"
"Oi, drop that. You're making me sound old." I cringed at the thought of myself 70 years from now old and wrinkly, being called Mr. Kim by my caretaker at some retirement home.
"Okay Kim Taeyeon."
"Taeng or Taengo. Have your pick." I announced, driving at a moderate speed so I could talk to her. The slower I drive, the more time I get to talk to her. Some will call my sly, but I like to think of it as me being smart, clingy and absolutely enticed by her.
"Taeng."
We arrive at this little town house that's built beside the shore line, which looked cozy and warm. I escort Stephanie out of the car and walk her up the stairs of her house. I feel like I've back in high school again, the cliche little move every guy did while ending the date. I wasn't expecting a kiss but I zoned back into reality when she poked me in the stomach. "Thank you for tonight." She says looking right into my eyes.
I rub the back of my neck with my hand and look down at the ground "I want to see you again, like you know to hang out or stuff, not to sleep with yo-" I couldn't finish my sentence as she put a hand over my mouth.
"You talk too much when you're nervous Taeyeon, just say it." Stephanie says with her eye smiles forming again.
I'm having thoughts run through my mind as I think of the outcomes that'll happen if I ask her for her number. It's either she rejects me. slaps me across the face calls me a creep and says no, or she says yes. I mean, I don't know. It's not like I've really done this before.
She kepts saying something but I just stared at her with sweat forming on my head, I coughed and nervously gulped the big lump in my throat.
Man up, just say it whats the worst that can happen right?
"Can I have your number?" I ask sheepishly.
"No you can't." Fucking hell. I was about to flip a table and drag her into the water when she started laughing hysterically. I stared at her like a confused pup.
"The look on your face is so funny, I'm just joking."
"You're so mean to me it hurts." I sigh out wiping my clammy hands on my trousers.
She takes the phone out of my pocket and puts her phone number in, then she proceeds to take a selfie and sets it as her contact photo.
Stephanie Young Hwang was the contact list.
The few seconds of silence felt like an eternity when she was busy on my phone. I looked at her with curiosity, and think about the things I could do with her if we were together. I'd take her out to every country in the world, buy her flowers every single day, ship her the most expensive wines and cheeses from France, go skinny dipping in the Caribbeans, the possibilities were endless really. I snap back into reality when she says good bye to me and closes the door. I was stunned in my spot. I didn't even get to say bye to her, she was really something. I don't know if she likes me or not, she's giving too many mixed signals.
Wait, I didn't even get a kiss.
I parked my car into the garage and head up to the stairs. My life was suddenly sparked by this fire called Stephanie Young Hwang. The drive back home I couldn't stop thinking about her. I open the door to my house and take off my suit jacket and plop down to the couch. I wanted to know so much more about her. Tonight I learnt the basics; she is of American-Korean descent, her favourite colour is pink, she has a dog named Prince, she has an older sister and brother, her favourite food is pizza, and she loves to sing, dance, and teach kids. Walking to my bed, I lay there thinking endlessly with a full mind and a heart full of emotions. I want her so bad, I want to make her mine and I want to make her happy and give her everything in the world. I've only met her for 3 hours and I feel like a prepubescent boy who's developing feelings for a girl. I felt giddy and extremely stupid. The night is sleepless and calm as I replayed her smile and laugh, and the stupid things I've done tonight. Sometimes when we laughed or when we smiled at each other, the look she gave me appeared to be broken or empty at times. The curious side of me wondered as to why they were broken at times as it gave off such a sad vibe. I'm going crazy over her and it still hasn't been a day; only a mere 3 hours. Stephanie Young Hwang will be mine, and I'll do whatever it takes to make her mine.
The next day I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, and the loud screeching sound of an alarm clock. I groan looking up; the time was 1:00 PM. Realizing what time it is, I smack the snooze button and quickly run to the bathroom, brushing my teeth frantically combing my hair and wearing a suit as fast as humanly possible. I practically sprint down to the kitchen grabbing a piece of bread and slathering an unhealthy amount of jam on it and then eat it like a famished monkey. I grab my satchel and pull it over my head when I forgot my phone on my nightstand. As I hastily grabbed my phone from the nightstand I stop, thinking about Stephanie.
Should I text her? Or should she text me?
Wait, is the guy supposed to make the first move?
I think I should text her. What should I text her?
How do relationships work. We're not even dating, we're more like acquaintances.
I should really grow a pair and text her at least. But wouldn't I be coming off as needy and desperate?
Crap I'm going to be late for work.
I arrive at the building as I park my car into the VIP stall. I'm greeted by many of my workers as I walk in the main entrance of the building. The hall was nicely decorated by posh tiles and luxurious decorations and unnecessary topiaries that weren't needed but why not, I have the money right? I take a deep breath, as I head into the elevator in which I was greeted by the lift man, who pressed the 36th floor of the building; my office.
I step out of the elevator and make my way to my office.
My secretary Sam, greets me with a smile and a little wave.
"Good morning Sam."
Sam nods and starts to type frantically on the keyboard. "Mr. Kim, you're coffee's on the desk with the schedule of today's meetings, a stack of documents you need to sign is on the left of you and the documents you need to read are on the right of you. If you need anything I'll be at my desk Mr. Kim." She doesn't even look up at me when she says that.
You gotta love efficiency.
"Oh, by the way you have a business meeting at Carnavorn at 7 PM sharp, don't be late or the man will throw a fit." She perks up from her desk. I nod curtly, still wanting to kick myself for having to attend a business meeting. I plop down on my chair staring at the mounds of paperwork sitting nearly on my desk.
One can not simply get through that pile of dead trees and go to a meeting when you met your potential soul mate less than 24 hours ago; one can not.
I walked out of my office after 3 hours of staring at a computer screen, distracted as hell.
"Yo, you. You're a girl. How do I talk to one of your species I met last night?" I asked, standing in front of her desk.
"What do you mean talk." Sam said, still not looking at me.
"I asked for her number but she hasn't said anything yet. I haven't said anything either but I'm itching to say something." I kept looking at the phone in my hand.
"Just say hello, whats wrong with you? I haven't seen you this nervous since the Capitals lost to the Panthers."
"I don't know stop being an ass, I just don't want to mess up yenno." I said, still looking back and forth from my phone to Sam.
"Mkay. Talk to me when you grow the balls to message her." She shoos me away and continues to work. I bet you she's playing The Sims on her computer right now.
I walk back into my office and sit down again, looking at the amount of work I still have to do before I can head home. I leave my phone on the side, still open on the messaging app on her profile.