Author's Note: For the first time ever I am in an unique position of having more alerts on my story than reviews so I am assuming here that you all like this story. Thank you to everyone who is enjoying this fic at the moment, and special thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave me the confidence to continue.
Chapter Three – The Same World?
"Well this seems vaguely familiar." Came Yi Jeong's amused voice from behind the change room curtains. "I'm rather curious as to what the end result will look like."
Ga Eul rolled her eyes at his antics as she plucked at a fold in his jacket, straightening it out before it creased. "There should be a mirror in the change room, just take a look while you're in there."
'That's not really what I was referring to.' Yi Jeong thought disappointedly. He had, in fact, been wondering what Ga Eul would think of him dressed in more casual clothing. Would she find it as stunning as his designer suits? He certainly hoped so, or he would demand to wear his Armani suit regardless of what she said. He sighed slightly as he pulled on the white t-shirt over the dark jeans that Ga Eul had insisted he buy before they started his punishment. A punishment which had turned out to being a shopping experience – commoner's style. In order to ensure that they could shop like "normal" people, Ga Eul had insisted on a wardrobe change for the F4's master potter. She had not wanted him to be recognised and then receive special treatment, thereby ruining her punishment.
Ga Eul fidgeted as she waited for Yi Jeong to finish trying on the clothing she had picked out for him. A bout of nerves threatened to overwhelm her, as she wondered whether he would like the clothes or not. Having only ever seen him in designer suits and formal clothing she had no idea what style would suit him for a more casual look. While finding him new clothes seemed entirely necessary for her punishment plans, she couldn't help but feel that was perhaps a little too intimate for people whose relationship seemed to be that of a strained friendship.
Forcing her doubts and insecurities aside, she tried to calm herself by focusing on the feel of his jacket in her arms. She marvelled at it softness, certain that she owned nothing even remotely as soft as his jacket. It smelt of him, she realised as she shifted it in her arms. Raising it to her nose, she inhaled deeply, loving the smell of his intoxicating cologne that he wore. As the scent wrapped around her, every muscle in her body tensed delightfully as an image of being held in his arms filled her mind.
"Ga Eul-yang," he called startling her from her fantasies. She jerked the jacket away from her face, horrified that he had caught her sniffing his clothing.
Except he hadn't. A blush stained her cheeks when she realised that he was still in the change room. "This shirt is too small." He called out. "Can you get me the next size up?"
"Just a moment Sunbae," Ga Eul called back as she guiltily folded his jacket back over her arms. Hurrying away like a naughty child, she berated herself for being foolish. She should know better than to indulge in such pointless fantasies. Every time she thought she was making some headway with him, she would mistake an act of kindness or pity for caring and he would, in no uncertain terms, remind her that she was reading too much into his actions. After all he had already made it quite clear that the kiss that they had shared earlier had been an act and nothing more would come of it. Yi Jeong's unintentional cruelty was almost as hurtful as his intentional cruelty.
Even now, she knew that spending time with her was Yi Jeong's attempt at an apology. It could be nothing more than that. Try as she might she could not stop the painful longing that filled her as she wished that there was something more between them.
These emotions were quickly squelched as she reached the men's clothing section. She knew from experience that the playboy was just messing around with her. It had been that way ever since they had first met. He had barely known her and he had tried to charm her. She had realised then that it was an automatic response designed to help him get what he wanted, but somewhere along the lines she had forgotten that. Somewhere, somehow, his charm had started seeping through and she had started reading things into his actions. And try as she might, it was difficult to keep her heart from singing whenever he came near.
Flicking through hangers, Ga Eul quickly found the next size up of the shirt she had selected for Yi Jeong. She stared at the detailed black and red fire design that covered the front of the shirt, confident that he would be able to pull off such a style. She smiled in anticipation of finally seeing him in something besides his daunting suits which only served to remind her how different their backgrounds were.
Her smile fell momentarily, as she stared at the flames printed on the shirt. She knew she was playing with fire, by spending time with the F4's legendary Casanova, but like a moth she was helplessly drawn to the flames that he ignited in her. Even though she knew she stood a high chance of being burned when he threw her feelings back in her face, like he had done so many times before, she couldn't help but hope that this time might be different.
"Sunbae," she tentatively called out as she returned to the change rooms with the larger shirt. "I found the shirt for you."
"Thanks." He called back, slightly muffled by the curtains between them. "Just bring it in please."
Taking a deep breath and praying that her earlier blushes had disappeared, she pulled back the curtain separating them and stepped into the small change room. And froze.
The unexpected sight before her shocked her and sent a blush rushing to her face. Idly she wondered if she would ever stop blushing around him as her eyes drank in the sheer masculine sight that stood before her. Her dark eyes widened, taking in the low slung jeans, the flat and toned stomach, the bare chest, and incredibly seductive grin.
Yi Jeong was handsome, but like this he was breathtakingly so.
"Like what you see?" Yi Jeong said huskily, pulling the curtains closed before resting his hand on the wall by her head, effectively trapping her in the small room with him. He had seen the spark of female appreciation flash in her eyes and was interested to what she would do next. If she was like one of the women that he usually spent time with, she would wet her lips and reach out for him. However a small, unconscious part of him hoped that Ga Eul would react differently.
Ga Eul swallowed nervously, as she realised that he had just cut them off from everyone else. She was effectively alone in a room with a half-naked heartthrob. Her legs threatened to buckle as Yi Jeong slowly leaned in towards her. The air between them seemed to thicken, making it difficult to breathe as a spark of desire leapt between them. His gaze slid down slightly and she knew that he was staring at her lips. Self-conscious, Ga Eul fought the urge to lick them. It was at that very moment, when she wished to reach out and touch him and pull his lips to hers that her instincts of self-preservation kicked in. She would not let him toy with her again today! Thrusting the shirt at him, Ga Eul ducked underneath his out-stretched arm, and fled from the change room.
Feeling flustered by the conflicting feelings that he managed to create within her, Ga Eul stalked to the far end of the store, shaking slightly from the intense emotions that swirled within her. Silently she cursed Yi Jeong for making her want him, despite knowing that he was toying with her. It was criminal for one man to have so much sex appeal, and to know how to use it. Taking a few deep breaths and resolutely not thinking about what she had just seen, she managed to compose herself and returned to the change room to wait for Yi Jeong.
She didn't have to wait long for him to emerge. Ga Eul gasped in surprised pleasure, when Yi Jeong drew the curtains aside and stepped out. If she had thought he was handsome in a suit, she refused to think of him shirtless, she was blown away by him in a pair of jeans and t-shirt, with his hair slightly mussed from getting changed. He looked positively striking, and somehow, a lot more touchable. More approachable. It was less daunting to see him dressed like this, and somehow because in the change in style, he looked sexier for it.
Best of all he did not look like the famous F4 potter. While there could be no doubt that he was still good looking, he did not stand out as much as he did before. She had seen the stir that he generated, heard the screams of desperate women and had no desire to repeat the experience again. Instead he looked like he belonged in the less prosperous parts of Seoul that she called home. She was certain that they would not be noticed and tittered at by people on the street.
Remembering, how he had responded when he had arranged her own dramatic transformation, she folded her arms and pretended to judge what she already thought was a magnificent success.
Rolling his eyes at her antics, Yi Jeong smirked confident that she approved. He had heard her delighted gasp when he had left the change room. "Well?" He prompted. "Do I pass?"
Giggling, Ga Eul smiled brightly and gave him two thumbs up. "Whoever dressed you sure had good taste."
Yi Jeong smiled brightly at Ga Eul's positive reaction to his change in appearance, before beckoning a sales man over to him. "I'll take them." He said gesturing to his new clothes, expecting the man to make it possible for him to walk out in the clothes he had on.
He smiled brightly at Ga Eul as the sales man hurriedly cut off the tags from the clothing he had on. "Now that we are ready, let the punishment begin." He declared confident that he would be able to handle any form of punishment that she could throw at him.
…
Two hours later, Yi Jeong had decided that commoners were a tougher lot than he had ever given them credit for. He had shopped before but what he had experienced this evening could only be described as hell. The shopping centre that they had entered had resembled nothing short a riot waiting to happen. As far as he was concerned, everyone in Seoul was crammed into the centre, trying to make the best of the bargains that the store professed to be offering. Leaning against the checkout counter, he thanked his lucky stars that he had been born into a family of means, just because it meant that he could abuse his privilege and shop in peace.
Glancing over at his tormentor, he felt nothing but respect for her for being capable of handling such torture with confidence and dignity. Ga Eul was calmly paying for the goods that they had selected and in some cases fought for, as though this hellish experience had been a breeze.
Feeling his gaze, Ga Eul turned and met Yi Jeong's appraising eyes, smiling broadly at him. She was exceptionally proud of him for bearing with her punishment so well. After the first hour of shopping, his expression had turned sullen and he had started slouching round the store, with his hands in his pockets. But he hadn't complained once, which had surprised her. Men, she knew from experience, turned into pathetic whinny messes when they went shopping. While she could tell that he had definitely not enjoyed the experience (which had been the entire point), he had not tried to persuade her to allow him to clear the store.
"Why don't you go wait outside?" Ga Eul said, finally taking pity on him. She could see the tightness around his mouth and dark eyes indicating he had suffered enough at her hands. "There should be a waiting area near the door. I've just got one more thing to get for my mom. I won't be long."
Before Yi Jeong could protest, not that he wanted to anyway, Ga Eul handed him the trolley of purchased goods and disappeared, leaving him to navigate the horde of people swarming the store by himself.
Thankfully the exit wasn't far and once outside Yi Jeong was able to find a bench to collapse on. Nodding a polite greeting to the old man at the end of the bench, he glanced around, taking in the other men who, like him, appeared to be recovering from a shopping experience form hell.
"Is your girlfriend still inside?" The man next to Yi Jeong said, when he sighed gustily as he took pressure off his aching feet.
Nodding because it was simpler than explaining what Ga Eul meant to him, he said, "I don't know she does it. It was madness inside there."
The old man chuckled. "Women are a breed of their own, son. As men we can't be expected to keep up with them. Thankfully they know that and are gracious enough to give us a reprieve." He gestured to all the men waiting outside. "They can sense when we've had enough and will usually give us a break when we need it."
Yi Jeong frowned as he processed this new revelation. He clearly had not been hiding his discomfort as well as he thought if Ga Eul had realised that he was struggling to keep up with her. He had just started to wonder what he had done that had given him away, when his phone started ringing.
A quick glance at the screen told him that Woo Bin was calling. Knowing that his friend would no doubt be phoning to find out the details of his punishment, Yi Jeong sighed before answering the phone. "Hello."
"Yo. How's the punishment going, bro?" Woo Bin said, laughter evident in his voice. "You still alive?"
"Barely. It's been hell."
"Seriously? Was it that bad? What did she do?"
"She took me shopping." Was Yi Jeong's clipped reply.
"Oh that's not too bad." Woo Bin said unsympathetically. "Kinda disappointing though. I was hoping you would have had some story of some kinky punishment. After seeing some women fight over you, I figured she would have taken the chance to get her claws on you, if you know what I mean."
Yi Jeong squirmed uncomfortably at the sudden image that Woo Bin had created in his head. Images of Ga Eul digging her nails into his naked back in a moment of passion filled his mind. Shocked by the suddenness and intensity of the vision which he had never really considered the possibility of, he completely missed Woo Bin's next question.
"What was that?" He managed to choke out, still caught up in his wicked imaginings.
"I asked you what happened to make you say that you're barely surviving?'
Leaping onto the alternative topic in order to drive out the pleasant but unwelcome fantasy, Yi Jeong declared dramatically to his friend. "I nearly died! F4 nearly became F3."
"What happened?"
"Well I was just standing in an aisle, waiting for Ga Eul to get something off the shelf, when this mad woman came up behind me and rammed me with her trolley. It is one of the most painful things I have ever experienced in my entire life." Yi Jeong said seriously. "I swear she tried to cut me down, starting with my ankles. And the wretched woman didn't even apologise."
Woo Bin chuckled sympathetically. "Did you keep your cool at least?"
"I did. It was a close thing though."
"Well that's a relief." Woo Bin said earnestly. "It would have been embarrassing if she had seen you freak out, although," he said thoughtfully; "if you could have squeezed some sympathetic care out of her, maybe you should have done it."
"I don't know if she would have. I think she might have laughed at me if she had seen it." He paused as Woo Bin's laughter echoed through the phone. "Ah, I've got to go." Yi Jeong said spotting Ga Eul heading towards him with another shopping bag in her hand. "I'll see you at the shooting range tomorrow."
Snapping his phone shut, he stood up and shoved his phone into his denim pockets. As Ga Eul reached him, he took her package from her and placed it in the trolley. "All done?" He asked hopefully.
Grinning at the eagerness in his voice, Ga Eul nodded, satisfied that he had suffered enough at her hands. She had spent the better half of two hours watching Yi Jeong put up with the agony of shopping as a normal person. He had been accosted by salesmen trying desperately to sell him rice crackers and bags of prawns. Ga Eul had been forced to rescue him from their clutches both times when he appeared interested in listening to their speeches. She had watched with an amused smile as he was shoved out of the way, by an overeager family in their quest for discounted soaps. And she was pretty sure that someone had rammed into his ankles with a trolley, but, except for the slight grimace of pain, he had given nothing away.
A relieved silence carried them to the car park, where they quickly packed the groceries that Ga Eul's mother had wanted into the back of Yi Jeong's Cadillac Seville.
"Well that was fun," Ga Eul declared happily as Yi Jeong slid into the driver's seat. "We should do it again."
Yi Jeong shot her a horrified glance as he started his car.
She smiled, a look of amusement sparkling in her eyes. "Oh don't be like that. I am sure that I would not have been able to cope without you."
"There is no need to try make me feel better. You didn't need my help." He said dryly. "And anyway I am sure that you delighted in my misery. Wasn't that the plan if the whole thing?" He winked at her, releasing butterflies into her stomach. "Unless it was my delightful company that you wanted."
"So you'll come shopping with me again, then?" She asked, refusing to dignify his last statement with a comment that he would no doubt use against her.
"If you are going to shop like that…" He shook his head. "I'll stick to my more civilised and less chaotic way of shopping, thanks. That was my worst shopping experience of my life."
"Oh don't be such a baby. It wasn't that bad." Ga Eul replied sniggering slightly. "Although it wouldn't have been much of a punishment if you enjoyed it. I didn't think that you would be able to cope with this type of shopping, especially after you told me how you usually shop, but you did remarkably well for a spoilt rich guy." The harshness of her words was undermined by softness of her voice.
The rest of the car trip passed remarkably quickly, as the two listened to radio and passed comments on the music being played. Before long they had entered into a hot debate about what type of music could be considered good. They were arguing over the dubious value of boy-bands when they eventually arrived at Ga Eul's house.
"Just give it up Sunbae, boy-bands are as integral to Korean culture as barbeque is. They give our country character."
Yi Jeong sighed, ceding her point. "True but I still believe that there is no justification for combining five boy-bands together. Some things should just not be done. Ever."
Ga Eul laughed as she walked round to the boot of his car. "I don't know. Knock Out wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it."
"Then you have no musical taste." He declared pompously.
Dodging her playful slap, he popped open the boot and reached for some of the shopping bags. "Let me help you with these."
"Thanks." Ga Eul murmured. "It will save me from doing so many trips up and down the stairs."
"If we're lucky we might be able to get all of these bags up to your apartment in one go." Yi Jeong said as he began piling shopping bags into his arms.
Between the two of them they managed to gather all of the bags at once and staggered up to Ga Eul's family's apartment on the second floor.
"Sunbae, will you hold these bags for me?" Ga Eul said, when they reached the landing.
Handing over four of the bags to an already over-laden potter, Ga Eul managed to fish out her house keys and unlock the door to her family's apartment. "You can leave your bags here," she said nodding to the floor by the door. "I'll take mine in and come out and get them."
"Are you sure?" Yi Jeong said reluctantly. "Aren't you worried that someone might take them?"
Ga Eul laughed. "They'll be fine for two minutes. Don't worry. I'll be right out to get them."
"Very well, if you say so." Yi Jeong replied not making any move to put down the bags and step away. The two stared awkwardly at each other as an expectant silence fell between them.
Yi Jeong couldn't help but think that if he had been out with one of the women he usually spent time with, this would be the point in the evening when they kissed and she would invite him in for "a cup of coffee".
Somehow he had the feeling that with Ga Eul, he wouldn't be so "lucky". Ga Eul was likely to demand another session of punishment if he tried. Something that he planned to avoid at all costs.
Deciding that, as much as he wanted to, it was in his best interests not to tease her again, Yi Jeong decided to bid Ga Eul a goodnight.
"Ga Eul-shi." Yi Jeong began just as the door to Ga Eul's apartment swung open, revealing a middle aged woman.
"I knew it!" She exclaimed triumphantly.
Reflexively Yi Jeong and Ga Eul stepped back from each other at the accusation in the woman's voice.
The excitement on the woman's face slipped as she truly took in the scene before her. As she looked at the over-laden teenagers at her door, she realised that whatever she had expected to see, wasn't or hadn't happened.
"Omma." Ga Eul choked out as embarrassment tinged her face a bright red. She knew exactly what her mother had expected to find – the two of them kissing on her doorstep.
"Oh I am sorry." Ga Eul's mother said. "I couldn't hear your voices anymore and I thought…" She trailed off uncomfortably.
Ga Eul cringed as mortification swept through her. The agony of the moment was made worse when she caught Yi Jeong's amused smirk.
"I didn't mean to interrupt anything." Ga Eul's mother said catching the smile that Yi Jeong sent her daughter.
"You didn't interrupt anything." Yi Jeong assured her hastily, while Ga Eul spluttered next to him. "In fact I was just leaving."
"Oh nonsense." Ga Eul's mother said brushing his words aside. "Why don't you come in? Ga Eul never brings home any of her male friends." She shot Ga Eul an accusatory glance, before turning back to Yi Jeong with a brilliant smile. "It would be wonderful to get to know you. You can have supper with us."
"Thank you for the offer but there is no need to feed me." He murmured, bowing politely. "I don't want to inconvenience you and your family."
Ga Eul's mother laughed. "It won't be an inconvenience at all. Feeding four people is the same as feeding three people. You haven't eaten yet have you?"
"No, ma'am." He replied politely.
"Good." Ga Eul's mother said with a tone of finality. "Then it's decided. You will be eating with us. In fact I insist. And don't call me ma'am. My name is Lee Dam Bi. "
Before either Yi Jeong or Ga Eul could utter a squeak of protest, she had grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the apartment.
Yi Jeong permitted a faint smile to grace his face as he allowed himself to be pulled into the apartment. While he may not have planned on staying for dinner, and he could say that he had tried to make his excuses, he was slightly curious as to what type of new experience he might experience as a result of having Ga Eul in his life.
"Honey," Lee Dam Bi called out as she entered the home. "Look who our daughter has brought home."
Yi Jeong couldn't help but swallow apprehensively as Ga Eul caught his eye and mouthed "I'm sorry."
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always reviews are loved and enjoyed. Constructive crit is appreciated especially since I struggled with this fic.
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