AN: Four for you if you get the references, Glen Coco ; )
Later when Rachel would look back, she'd conclude that they were both to blame. Did he make the move? Or did she? Or was it mutual? It didn't matter.
Rachel was getting ready. Another fundraiser. Another evening wasted. Another opportunity to see Tan and Eun Sang. Another night of disenchantment.
The only good thing was her dress and her shoes. She'd picked out a short white dress, made of lace. It made her look demure, but to offset the dress, she'd picked out her new spiked Louboutin Pigalles. She hadn't broken them in. But she'd worn heels since she was 14. She could handle physical pain.
Rachel was angry. She was being forced to go by her mother. If she wasn't going to get her way, she was going to dress her way. Her mood was bordering on murderous, and she wanted to match her mood. The coup de grace was Tom Ford's Rouge Fatal on her lips—a creamy red, which almost resembled blood. She wished she could spill Kim Tan's blood. But that was neither here nor there. She shook off her crazy thoughts; she'd been watching Kill Bill out of boredom. She wasn't Gogo Yubari. She was top of her class. She was an heiress. She was better than this. Although she wished she could screw Tan as badly as he'd screwed her.
Rachel put on the finishing touches and stared at her reflection. She was her own worst critic, but she looked good tonight.
Her mother only raised her eyebrows when she saw her outfit, but did not say anything. Except—she brought up boys in the car. Boys that Rachel should meet. Consider as new fiancés. Boys that would no doubt prove to be as useless as Tan or Hyo-Shin.
Sometimes Rachel scared even herself with the things that came out of her mouth, "RS International Heiress involved in Cocaine Scandal." Her mother stopped talking, confused, "What?"
"Underage Heiress Caught with Drugs" Rachel turned to look at her mother, who now understood what Rachel was implying, disbelief written on her face.
"I won't do anything I don't want to do, Mother. Especially after tonight. And if you make me, those headlines will greet you very soon…I've always wanted to try cocaine. I'll even have it filmed, like Kate Moss."
To her credit, her mother only rolled her eyes and scoffed. She was used to Rachel's antics and dramatics. "Sooner or later, you'll have to do it."
Rachel turned away, muttering, "I'd rather try cocaine first."
It was always the same. Stolid people. Repetitive conversations. Bored to tears had never rung truer.
She was bored. And furious. Her mother had tried to steer how towards some boys. Rachel had then told her mother she would grab that boy and have sex with him on videotape and have it distributed all over Korea. Her mother had been disgusted and allowed her to stomp away.
Kim Tan was there. Hyo-Shin was there. They were all there. Rachel didn't want to interact with them. Lee Bo Na in a tight dress that was made for a size 0, not a size 4. Eun Sang. Oh, the audacity. In some red dress. Clearly dressed by Tan. Young Do was there too. Lounging with Myung Soo, who kept hovering near some odd bowl of punch. Who catered this event? Who would put punch there?
Rachel checked her phone. An hour before she could leave. She was attracting looks, because while Bo Na's dress was tighter, Rachel's was shorter. Her shoes more dangerous. Her lips more striking. She knew who was checking her out, and it gave her no pleasure. She wasn't here to distract someone's boyfriend. That was Eun Sang's job. Rachel scoffed at her own sick joke.
The irony. Oh, the irony. Rachel could tell Kim Tan was looking at her too. And she'd made eye contact with him a few times, forcing him to look away quickly. His family was also hovering around. Too scared to approach Rachel. At least she hoped. The Kim family had too many wives in the attic for her to deal with, maybe fortune had smiled down upon her: there was the creepy principal ahjumma, who had an affinity for bows and no skill with walking in heels. There was the dead wife, who apparently haunted the Chairman. There was the decrepit old Chairman himself. And then one crazy lady, who may or may not have tried to burn the house down.
No, that was a novel. But if she'd given birth to Kim Tan, she could be capable of anything. Rachel shuddered.
It was irritating her though. She didn't appreciate being stared. Especially by Kim Tan.
She sighed. 45 minutes to go. A passing waiter stopped in front of her, offering a flute of some…drink. Rachel grabbed it, and downed it one gulp. She set the glass down and noticed she'd left her lipstick mark on it. She smiled slightly. What else could she leave her mark on? Rachel glanced around, and noticed Young Do looking at her. She nodded her head in acknowledgment, and he rose out of his sprawl, and strolled over to her.
"All alone on your own?" he drawled. Rachel blatantly rolled her eyes at him and gave him a withering look. He laughed, and lazily played with the rim of the glass she'd just emptied. "You know they can make music with this." She had no response for that, and looked away, her gaze settling on Eun Sang and Kim Tan. Why was she even here, but that question didn't even warrant an answer. The Eun Sangs of the world got everything they wanted simply on the basis of being good, simple girls. Hyo-Shin's Han Ji, or Hyun Ji, or whatever her name was, had been exactly the same.
Rachel turned back to Young Do, who'd been watching her with his head tilted to the side, still toying with the glass. She met his eyes, and felt a jolt.
He looked unnecessarily handsome. He was one of the few boys who could carry a suit. Even Kim Tan, with his height and stature, looked like a baby in a suit. Young Do, with his jawline and cheekbones carried off the sleekness of a suit, with so much ease that it was unfair. His hair had been swept back in his usual coif. Setting him apart from all the other boys, as it had always done. He always looked crisp, clean, and sexy. Especially his hair. She found herself saying, "Your hair looks sexy pushed back." He stopped playing with the glass, and slowly straightened up. Although she wanted to, Rachel refused to feel embarrassment. He'd called her sexy enough times, that he should've felt embarrassment. Irregardless, she felt her cheeks turn warm. He grabbed a glass of water from the table, chugged it, and stood up. "Let's go outside. It's too stuffy in here."
She had nothing better to do, and nothing to lose. So she followed him outside.