Chapter 1


Quaintrelle

(n.) A woman who emphasizes a life of passion, expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm, and cultivation of life's pleasures


"What is this place..." Park Miyoung groaned as she struggled to sit up with her aching back and the pulsing throb that was pressing against her brain. She clutched her head as she looked around the room and tried to process the sight that was in front of her.

The room that she was currently in was beyond luxurious. She would be certain that she was in heaven if it weren't for her body that seemed to be screaming at her to go back to sleep.

"How did I end up here?!" Miyoung stressed as she rolled out of the king sized bed with her hand lingering on the silk sheets. The girl tried to desperately remember anything which lead her to this place but resulted in nothing. A frustrated growl slipped through her lips as she scratched her head in hope that it would help her regain her memory.

Miyoung's eyes were busy, darting from side to side to observe her surroundings. She found her old, worn out trainers beside the bed and her white shoulder bag resting on the sofa.

Actually, to say that her bag was white was kind of an insult to it, if it ever had any feelings, even Miyoung couldn't remember when she had first brought it, but now it was a dull grey colour with an insane amount of weird stains. To be honest, she was glad that it the bag didn't have any feelings because she was sure that it would have ran away a long time ago cause girl, if you could actually see it, you would too.

"Could it be that I was kidnapped cause they saw how cute I am and decided to sell me away to some rich ass millionaire as some kind of sex slave?! Or maybe they're gonna keep me locked up in this room to torture me for years and years just for their own pleasure?!" She panicked and rambled on, her breathe cutting short as she forced the sentences out without taking any breaks. Her mind began to run wild with different - impossible - scenarios. "Shit- I gotta find some way to escape..." Miyoung nodded as she quickly composed herself and gathered her things. Reluctantly, holding onto her disgusting sneakers as she didn't want to ruin the lovely, stain free, carpet with her knock-off branded shoes by tracking mud all over it.

Miyoung had her fair amount of one night stands but she was absolutely sure that nothing of that sort had happened last night. Sure, she couldn't remember how she had ended up there but the fact that she wasn't limping or anything either meant that she didn't score, which was preposterous or that the guy was just shit at the horizontal tango.

It wasn't the first time that she had woken up with no recollection of the previous night and furthermore, in a room that she didn't recognise. But although, it was a first to wake up in a huge, posh-ass room, fully clothed and with no stranger beside her.

She looked over to the wall clock which read that it was almost noon.

"Shit shit shit- My part-time starts in like 20 minutes!" Another sense of fear flooded her body as an image of her boss flashed into her mind, sending shivers down her back.

"But damn, this room is amazing..." Miyoung stood grounded, in the middle of the room and twisted her body when she decided to take one long, last look at it. Considering that it was a once in a lifetime chance to see or even sleep in a room as elegant as this, she couldn't let the opportunity fly away. The design of the room was very traditional, it left a feeling of high class though there were some touch of modern additions like the 72" flat screen tv installed in the wall and the mini fridge over at the corner of the room.

Miyoung let out a deep sigh as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, it was horrifying to see her disheveled, dark brown hair that clearly needed re-dying as her black roots could be seen a mile away. It was at times like this where the girl had wished that she could have at least picked something better to wear, because her 'I heart Paris' t-shirt and camo jacket definitely showed that she did not belong there. 'And I never will... Clearly two different classes...' She gave herself a small smile as she, at least, tried to fix her bed hair before gathering her few belongings.

"This room is almost bigger than my apartment..." She gulped as she concentrated hard on thinking a way out of this place without getting caught. "Of course, I'm bound to get caught if I just simply walk out of this room, so the only other way is..."

The girl made heavy steps towards the window and looked outside to discover that the room that she was currently situated in was on the second floor. "Geez, my witch of a boss would never believe me when I try to explain this to her..." Miyoung groaned as she opened up the window as wide as she could before chucking her shoes and bag out the window, abusing them even more.

As she watched the objects fall, time seemed to have slowed down drastically as the drop took much longer than she had expected. "Ah, fuck it." She cussed as she proceeded to sit on the window ledge and maneuvered one of her leg outside. She mentally prepared herself and was about to push herself off the ledge before a knock interrupted her.

"Oh no..." Miyoung whipped her head back to look at the mahogany door before managing to gather her courage once more to jump down.

"GERONIMO!" She shouted as she shoved herself off of the platform to experience gravity at it's full force. The brunette forced her eyes open to ensure to land on her feet before rolling forwards to lessen the impact. "Parkour bitches!" A surge of adrenaline ran through her veins as she looked up to the place that she had jumped from with a smile of triumph. Then she quickly slipped on her shoes, crushing the back of the soles as she forcefully tried to put them on, she then grabbed her bag and started to leg it.

"I think I just levelled up~" Miyoung laughed to herself as she jogged around whilst trying to look for a way out, hoping that there was a miracle to show her the exit sign. "I'll just have to climb over the wall then I guess..." There was no way that she could just walk out through the giant gates undetected, but she had a less of a chance of being spotted if she somehow make it over the wall.

She secured her bag by putting the strap over her head, making it go diagonally across her torso, to make sure that it wouldn't fall off when she found a tree that she considered closest to the wall. Then, somehow managing to find a good enough grip, she began her way up the tree trunk. "Wow this isn't as hard as it seems, surprisingly~" Miyoung hummed a happy tune when she reached to a branch which seemed sturdy enough to support her weight and was about to pull herself up on the branch but a sharp and stern, cold voice stopped the girl dead in her tracks.

"What are you doing? You trespassing herbivore."

The said 'trespassing herbivore' turned her head to look at the person who had spotted her and was surprised to see a handsome fellow, resting on the branch that she was just about to climb up. He wore a sleek black suit and tie with a purple dress shirt which was fitted perfectly to the males lean body. The guy shifted his position slightly to show the weapon that he seemed to have made to appear out of nowhere. Miyoung's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at it, studying it intensely as she had never seen a weapon like that before.

"Well, I'm awfully sorry for intruding." Miyoung changed her tone of voice 180 degrees to a completely formal one out of kindness, and also, to refrain from pissing the guy off even more. "I am about to take my leave now." She answered his question as best as she could with all honesty, despite the fact that even she didn't know where the fuck she was or what she was doing.

"For disturbing my nap," The man tilted his head up to stare down at the girl with a sadistic glint in his eyes. "You shall be bitten to death." He snarled as he moved down with elegance to attack the intruder.

"Woah! Hold up there cowboy! But we've just met! I'm sure you can leave the biting until our fifth date-" Miyoung barely managed to finish her sentence when the person swung his tonfa, aiming to hit her with full force. She tried her best to dodge his fast attacks because, that guy was certainly not holding back and she was just less than centimetres from being struck.

"Wait! This ain't right! You aren't allowed to hit a woman until they've made the first move! It's like a rule!"

The bloodthirsty monster in front of her eyes would not listen to any of her excuses. He raised his metal weapon and finally landed a hit on the girl which instantly knocked her out cold. Her body became limp and her grip around the tree loosened, making her fall ungracefully onto the ground. Though thankfully, she didn't climb up as far as she had thought she did so her fall wasn't particularly hard.

The man jumped down effortlessly from the branch to stare at the unmoving body at his feet. "Tch, weak herbivore." He said, unimpressed before one of his lacky quickly appeared before him and acted immediately without needing to be ordered. It was as if the man had telepathically called him out and instructed him to pick up the female to bring to his boss.

The subordinate made no complains as he proceeded to drag the girl back into the mansion, giving her a sympathetic look when his leader wasn't watching.


When Miyoung woke up, she found herself in a completely different room.

She focused her eyes on the beautiful chandelier that was hanging above her, shivering when she remember the violent guy that had KO-ed her in one shot. "I can't believe he actually did that... Talk about a critical hit though."

"I'm sorry, Kyoya just loves to fight. I'll apologise on his behalf for mistreating our guest." A soft voice replied from a far distance.

"Kyoya? Guest?" She repeated, confused, before bolting straight up from the sofa that she was lying on. "Okay I'm not dead yet but... Who are you?" She asked again when she saw a male with large brown eyes and incredible bed hair dressed in a familiar outfit to the previous guy but with a orange dress shirt.

"Oh yes, how rude of me. I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi." He introduced himself with a warm smile.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi? Are you perhaps Japanese?" Miyoung asked with interest she guessed that he was the boss of this place considering the room that was was in now was much more exquisite. Also she noted that he was sitting in front of a antique work desk with piles of paperwork and a giant plaque which had his name engraved in it in english. She then wondered as to how a youthful looking foreigner owns this large ass mansion in Italy of all places.

"Yes, you are correct. You collapsed outside my house the day before yesterday night, don't you remember?" The guy answered and shot back another question. Hearing this, Miyoung gave him an expression of disbelief. "What? You mean I've been asleep for an entire day?!"

"Yes. You had one hell of a fever, I must say. I was surprised to hear that you were wondering around so late at night with a temperature of 38.6 degrees." She could hear the concern in his voice. As she tried again to think back to last night, all she could recall was that she had just finished her job at the restaurant and was beginning to head home before everything went black.

"Well I guess that would make sense to why I felt shittier than normal," She nodded her head when everything seemed to fit perfectly. "To be honest, I thought you kidnapped me and was planning on selling me as a sex slave."

A frown replaced the worried expression of the male's face. "Oh no, I try my best to stop anything of that sort to happen while I'm in charge."

His sudden change of seriousness sent another wave of shivers down the girl's spine.

"Well, I got a doctor to examine you and you seem to be fully recovered now but I really do advise you to get some-"

"Oh my god. I've been out for another 20 minutes?!Ah fuck- I've already missed out a day without saying anything! Mrs. Acerbi is gonna roast me for sure!" She panicked when she realised that she had her phone in her trousers pocket the entire time. Luckily she had just 1% to check her notifications but then saw that she had 49 missed calls which were mostly from her boss.

"Thank you so much for helping me, but I've really got to go!" Miyoung screamed as she flew out the door in order to run as quickly as possible to find her way back to her wicked witch before she gets fired.

"Rest..." Sawada Tsunayoshi finished his sentence as he watched the frantic girl running faster than he had ever seen someone ran before.


After a further 10 minutes, Miyoung finally managed to find her way out of the maze of the endless hallways and garden outside the front gate. She stared, speechless at the sign of the front entrance which said 'Vongola'.

"There is no way... That I have just spent the night in the property of one of the biggest organisations on Earth... and spoke to the owner of it..." She raised her hand to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. With an aching cheek, she let out a shaky 'oh my god' and slowly walked towards the direction of her recently acquired job.

Park Miyoung moved to Italy as she managed to get a scholarship in one of the most prestigious universities for her exceptional talent in languages. The girl had lost count of how many she learnt but studying in Italy definitely increased the numbers.

As she prefered life in Italy more than the one she had in Korea, she had lied to her parents to stay in the country for longer. Though the living expenses for the boarding school was all paid for, ever since she left, she had to somehow make enough money to survive on her own. Sure, she had friends which helped Miyoung out now and again but Miyoung always felt bad since she could never pay any of them back.

Bouncing from job to job, it was always unfortunate as she could never keep a job for more than 2 month. She called it the 'Curse'. Though all the customers loved her, it was always the complete opposite with her bosses.

However, Miyoung had managed to develop new skills and talents with every job she could find. She learnt the roads of the city, the neighbouring ones and as well as the ones next to those, thanks to her time of being a cab driver. Meeting drag queens at ungodly hours at night was always one of her highlights of the job. She also learnt how to cook one hell of a Carbonara from her time in the kitchen which was a massive improvement as before she managed to set the pizza on fire just by microwaving it.

Zipping through the alleyways, taking the less known shortcuts, Miyoung arrived at the place which she had been helping out for the past month.

She bit down harshly on her lower lip as an attempt to stay quiet whilst sneaking in through the back door. The girl had hoped that she would be able to get changed into her waitress uniform and just appear as if she had been there all along. The door made that annoying creaky sound as it always did when she opened it, turning her head from side to side, she looked around for a woman in her mid-thirties with sharp black glasses that were always hung around her neck by its chain if she wasn't engrossed into reading bills.

Miyoung snickered when she didn't spot anyone that fitted her description and quickly ran towards the changing rooms. As she grabbed the handle, a high toned voice with a thick italian accent stopped her in her tracks. "Miss. Park." The woman spat out as if saying the girl's last name left a horrible taste in her mouth. "You do realise that you are a day, an hour and 32 minutes late to work, don't you?"

The said girl could only force out a laugh as she made eye contact with her boss, Mrs. Acerbi. "Ahaha... I'm so sorry- I was ill and was unable to inform you about it. I promise it won't happen again!" She pressed her hands together in front of her face like she was making a prayer, or maybe begging was a better description, to Mrs Acrebi.

"Excuses, excuses! You do realised how irresponsible this is, don't you?" Her nose crinkled, disgusted at the the girl's actions. "You do not realise how lucky you are to be working in one of the most refined restaurants in this country. Many, many, important guests dine here in my restaurant. You do not realise how many people would die to be you right now."

'I wish I could die.' Miyoung thought with a blank expression as she folded her hand in front of her as a polite gesture.

"You do realised that I only hired you because Sir Benigno spoke highly of you. You really don't realise how lucky you are."

A happy glint was caught in Miyoung's eyes as she hear a familiar name of her last boss. She was sure that she would have been able to break the 'Curse' if Benigno didn't close down his well-known coffee shop. Benigno only closed down his shop when he had made enough money to chase after his dream of traveling across the world. The girl inward sighed, imaging what it would be like if she could travel the world. Of course there's no doubt that wherever Miyoung went, she would be guaranteed to cause some kind of trouble. Her lips stretched into a light smile as she whispered a "If only...".

"Excuse me?!"

Miyoung's head snapped up as the images of her sunbathing whilst chatting up with a hot hipster surfer vanished before it had gotten to the good part. "Huh?"

"Miss. Park. Did you just talk back to me? That is unacceptable! I've had it up to here!" Mrs. Acerbi raised her hand above her head. "Here! With you!"

"Wa- No! I didn't say any-" Miyoung tried to explain herself but Mrs. Acerbi cut her off. "I've tolerated enough of your behavior! Pack your things now! I want you out of my restaurant." She didn't even give the girl a chance to excuse herself. "I- I understand..." Miyoung sighed as she knew how hot-headed her - now - ex-boss was. "What about my paycheck?"

Mrs. Acerbi glared down at Miyoung with a scowl. "With your attitude, I don't think you deserve it."

"Hold up!" Miyoung strongly disagreed with that statement. "I've been working here for nearly a month! I helped cover all the shifts you needed me to and even worked overtime!" Miyoung frowned at the unreasonable treatment she was receiving but Mrs. Acerbi simply just pretended that she didn't hear a word that she had just said and turned her back to the girl and began walking away. "You have 5 minutes before I force you out."

Miyoung gasped as she could not believe what had just happened. That was her fifth job in the past 3 months which she had lost. "Fuck my life. Fuck that witch. Fuck everything!" She grumbled as she slammed the door to the changing rooms open to collect the very few items she had in her locker. "How the fuck am I gonna pay my rent now? Stupid whore and her 'best restaurant in town'." Miyoung quoted the woman with a mockingly high-pitched voice.

"When Benigno comes back, I'm sooo gonna rat her ass out." She huffed before slapping the door shut and making her way out of the place which she vowed never to step into again.

"Mi? Where you going?" A tall male with well defined biceps carrying a crate of potatoes and tomatoes in a casual white apron asked with confusion in his light blue eyes.

Miyoung looked at the guy with short sandy blonde hair who called out to her. "Oh. Hey Kris! Guess what? I got fired!" She smiled as she laughed off her anger lightly. Her mother always warned her that she would get wrinkles if she frowned too much so Miyoung never gets super angry at anything unless it's gravely serious.

"What?! Seriously? But you've just started working here!" Kris jutted out his bottom lip into a pout, putting down the crates to cling onto the shorter female.

"I know! It's the 'Curse' I tell you! Mrs. 'You-do-realise' didn't even give me my paycheck!" Miyoung ruffled his hair before flicking him on the forehead. The guy was awfully clingy for someone with quite impressive muscles. Although they met only not so long ago, the pair of them managed to form a strange bond.

"Woah that's just discrimination. I'll go have a word with her." Kris suddenly grew serious, wrapping his arms around the girl tighter. Miyoung was shocked as she had never seen the guy gotten mad before. Immediately, shaking her head, she threw a light punch at his head. "No. You can't. I don't want to cause anymore trouble, or stay here for another second in fact," She crinkled her nose. "Oh and I haven't showered in like 2 days so you should get off me."

Kris hid his irritation with a smile, though he really wanted to go stir up some shit with that so-called boss of his but Miyoung would get upset with him if he didn't listen to her so he stopped himself.

"But you're nice to hug~" He teased as he nudged his head against her breasts.

"Tch, you little fucker." Miyoung chuckled before pushing him away and jokingly blowing him a kiss. "Well, it was nice getting to know you this past few weeks. Call me for coffee sometimes alright?"

The blonde sulked as he watched Miyoung skipping away out of the restaurant back door whilst mumbling out a 'sure'.

He didn't move until the girl was fully out of sight. "Wait a sec... This girl doesn't even bother saying goodbye to the others?" Kris huffed with a raised eyebrow before picking up the crates once again to head back to his original destination. "This is gonna spice things up in the kitchen~" He snickered to himself, rushing back quickly to gossip. "She said I couldn't but she never said anything about the others~"


Despite having slept for more than 24 hours, Miyoung couldn't stop yawning as she dragged herself back to her tiny apartment of which she called home. The growling of her stomach snapped her out of her tiredness, making her walk faster. "I'll just make myself a cup of ramen before I go to find another job." She promised herself as she finally reached to the darker side of the neighbourhood.

The girl pulled up her hood and endured any illegal businesses what were occurring around her as she climb up the metal stair to her place. It wasn't that she didn't want to move but rather she couldn't. Though who could blame her, the rent was cheap and it was a fairly close walk to nearby convenient stores and different shops were in an appropriate distance.

No one really bother her as long as she didn't interfered or interacted with anybody. It was almost a bonus considering that during her life, she had encounters with uncountable stalkers and lovers which would always bother her. And, since they just follow her and loiter around the area, most of the time, gangs think that they're part of another gang and beat them up to a pulp. But from time to time, some brave ones come back. However, then end up the same, if not worse.

Miyoung tried not to make herself noticeable during the time that she's live in the area but it's been increasing difficult. 'Damn my parent's amazing genes!' The girl tried not to be too big headed about it but she knew herself that she was beautiful. With her long silky brown locks, big doe eyes, plump lips and slim but curvy figure. Park Miyoung could turn heads just by simply walking down the street with a plain white tee and blue skinny jeans.

Growing up, she would be surrounded by people who only liked her because of her looks so she was dragged into all sorts of different friendship groups. Her optimistic and quirky personality only added to her attractiveness. This lead to the girl being invited to all sorts of parties but she never did anything that she didn't want to do but neither did she mind that her friends that were doing all sorts of stuff that would get them into trouble with the police. Neither did she mind that the 'friends' she had were using her for her beauty. Because since they were using her, she began to use them. Though Miyoung wasn't proud of it, she would sometimes use her looks to get what she wanted.

Miyoung froze when she arrived at her front door to see that it was wide open. The girl started to freak out and looked around for something she could find as a weapon. In the end, using a piece of flattened out cardboard as a shield, she cautiously tiptoeing in. Peering behind the piece of material, which could just about block a weak punch, her heart thumped against her chest as she expected the worse but only to find the landlord in the middle of her living room-slash-bedroom with a guy in his mid-twenties or so.

"Erm... Hello?" Miyoung spoke up to announce her arrival, hesitantly putting down the piece of cardboard that gave her a odd sense of security.

"Huh?" The landlord turned around to glare at whoever was behind him but his glare instantly turned into a look of surprise when he recognised the girl. "Miyoung! What happened to you?"

"Nothing?" Miyoung replied with uncertainty as her eyes flicked between the man and the landlord. "Hey~ It's nice to meet you! I live here." She gave the stranger a smile and offered her hand when she took a step closer. The noticeable harsh scar on his neck almost made Miyoung jump when he turned around to just simply stare at her hand that was hovering in the air. "Not anymore." His low voice sent chills down her spine.

"What?"

"This room is mine now. Get out."

"Wait- What?" Her voice when up an octave as she could only stand there with a blank expression and her hand that was still frozen in the air.

"Ahahahaahaha! Funny story Miyoung! You're gonna love this!" Miyoung turned her head to look at the landlord when he finally felt it was time to clear thing up. "You know how bad this neighbourhood is~ I just naturally thought you got killed, if not kidnapped, since you didn't come home yesterday. Not to say but you're rent deadline has passed a long time ago... So I put this place up for sale again and within the first 10 minutes, this lovely fellow," He gestured to the bulky man next to him. "Happily rented it out for a higher price!"

"What the hell- You didn't even bother to call me or anything?!" She cried out as she unfroze from her spot to find that the man with the neck scar began rummaging through all her drawers and picking some stuff out. "Erm... Excuse me?" The guy ignored her as he proceeded to find a small box and selected stuff that he didn't want in his new room and shoved the box into Miyoung's chest. "Okay, goodbye."

The brunette blinked dumbly as she gaped at the man with her jaw slacked. "Uh... Erm..." There was no resistance as the guy continued to push the petite girl out the door.

Miyoung had never felt more lost in her life as she just stood there with the very worryingly light box in her arms.

She could truthfully say that today was the worst day ever.

To get fired from her job and kicked out her shabby apartment with barely any money. But she did managed to leave with one pair of jeans, two shirts, one sock - just the one - and some weird russian candy that her friend gave her.

"What the fuck."

'Well at least I got my last good sleep in a mansion before I end up in the streets.' She thought as she stared down at the other 'I heart Paris' t-shirt that the neck scar guy picked out.

"I fucking knew I shouldn't have brought the fucking shirt! Stupid buy one get one free scam."