Chapter 14: All Exclusive

"So, have you ever been in love?" asked Hye Rim.

Woo Bin thought for a moment, then chuckled at a memory. "Not really love, but I did have a special person for awhile. It was one-sided apparently. She told me that my kindness was suffocating."

They were having an early dinner and were secluded in a booth. Today, Hye Rim was dressed in a simple dark green mini dress and 3 inch heeled snake skin sandals. Her hair was wavy and flowy, making the auburn color pop. The dress highlighted all of her attractive features, and it was a struggle for Woo Bin to control himself and keep from redirecting her to a hotel. Getting to know her was more important right now, especially with the increasing pressure of his father. Now, Hye Rim, her mother, and Woo Bin's mother were in talks for the wedding planning, and Woo Bin and she had been forced to go look at rings together. The engagement was real, and the wedding was happening in two months time, whether they were ready or not.

Hye Rim cackled, twisting one of her diamond rings. "Who says that? And what guy was she dating? You've never been nice to me."

"I'm being nice to you now," he pointed out, and she rolled her eyes. "She broke up with me the day before my birthday. I never even got to introduce her to my friends."

"Seems like you keep a lot of secrets from them."

Woo Bin sobered. "A lot of it is to protect them. I don't want my private life hurting anyone."

Truthfully, it took a lot of power to protect his friends from bribes, blackmail, and threats, all because of their connection with him. There were even times where he had to protect them against his own father, and he didn't want to be the source of any burdens or personal attacks on their characters. In the past, he had felt incredibly sorry to them. Sorry for being such a person and living such an unspeakable lifestyle. He chose to keep quiet about it, but the older they got, the more he realized that they had an idea of what he was doing. They were aware of his protection and his hardships but were determined to protect him from himself. They were determined to provide normalcy and friendship to him. As normal as the F4 could manage anyway.

"You sound like a superhero." Hye Rim said boredly.

"Mmm, but people like us, Hye Rim, and our families, we're not superheroes. We're the bad guys."

"You're different." She sighed. "It annoys me. Maybe that girl is right. Your kindness can be suffocating."

"I'll be back," said Woo Bin suddenly, rising from the booth.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. I said I'll be back."

He flattened down the front of his coat coolly and headed toward the bathrooms. When he was complete out of the line of sight from the booth, he approached the waiter.

"The date went so well, the young lady offered to pay the check."

The waiter bowed politely in understanding, and Woo Bin escorted himself out of the restaurant confidently.

Hye Rim wasn't so bad, he thought. In fact, he was beginning to like her humor, and he appreciated the effort she made to look scorching hot in everything she wore. But the more she brought up his friends, the more it made him uneasy. Would he ever be comfortable introducing them? How would she behave when the time came? He couldn't trust her with an introduction just yet.

It was too much to handle, too much to think about, but he felt bad for some reason. She was his fiancée by force, and instead of leaning on his friends in this difficult, confusing time, he was hiding her from them and them from her. There were so many times he encouraged his friends to share the burden with the entire group, but when it came to himself, it felt impossible. That's when he would drink too much, go days without sleeping, and recklessly race thugs on the city streets to pointlessly enforce his father's rule. It always reached the point when the burden became so heavy, that it wasn't enough to do those things, and he found himself being talked out of doing something stupid by one of the F4 members, mainly Yi Jeong.

When Yi Jeong was burdened, he indulged himself in misery. When Ji Hoo was burdened, he became painfully silent and withdrew from reality. When Jun Pyo was burdened, he became hardened and cruel. When Woo Bin was burdened, he became reckless and dangerous.

Hye Rim was a different kind of burden he was used to, and so far, he couldn't tell what it would drive him to do.

Hye Rim stormed out of the restaurant, her designer purse swinging wildly at her side. She spotted Woo Bin leaning up against his car sporting sunglasses with his arms crossed as if he was the coolest man on earth.

"You idiot!" she shouted, punching him hard in the arm. "It would've been a disaster if I didn't have any money!"

"You always have money, Princess Im," Woo Bin snickered. "Plus, I figured you could pay me back for your little shopping trip a few weeks ago. The meal cost about the same."

"Ugh, I thought we were done with the tricks."

"Just had to do one more," he smirked. "Come on, get in. I have somewhere to be."

"If you were anyone else, I'd have my father's thugs take care of you," she sneered, opening his car door roughly and climbing in. "And since your pathetic social life calls, you can drop me off at the salon."

"The salon? Why do you want to go there?"

"Why does one go to a salon? Oppa, are you always this stupid?"

Woo Bin rolled his eyes. "Don't make any drastic changes."

"We're not married yet. I'll do as I please. Drop me off."

Ten minutes later, a 20 miles over the speed limit, Woo Bin dropped her off at a posh salon. Hye Rim was well aware of where Woo Bin was going, and she planned on showing up too. Her bodyguard had gotten her all the information she had asked for, and tonight, when Hye Rim crashed Woo Bin's social circle, she would come face to face to what he was hiding from her.

She didn't plan on making a scene, although it sounded incredibly fun, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. She had to know who these people were. In order to do that, she needed a change. Something to disguise her from Woo Bin, who seemed able to spot her wherever she was.

Still, she was Im Hye Rim, and any old change would not work. She had to go with a shock factor, and there was a look she had been wanting to try since she arrived in Korea.

Her father would be shocked, her mother impatient, and her in-laws appalled. Most importantly, Woo Bin would despise it.

It was enough to let Hye Rim follow through with her plan of coloring her hair platinum blonde. Even the stylist at the salon tried to talk her out of it, telling her she would be mistaken for an idol and it would draw unnecessary attention, but Hye Rim wasn't the type to listen to others. She told the woman to be quiet and give her what she wanted.

Hours later, she was a blond bombshell sauntering out in sunglasses and a new dress with stylish leggings and new heelswith a limousine waiting. The color didn't look too bad on her and would make things interesting for awhile.

"Take me to the Art Exhibition Gala," she ordered her guard to tell the driver.

Hye Rim couldn't believe where she was. While she had known that she was coming to an art gallery wing opening, she hadn't expected to see anything worthy of her appreciation. She loved art, mostly painting, but the pottery pieces displayed before her eyes took her breath away. The artwork was exquisite and worth every penny. Hye Rim would've purchased something right away had she not been trying to keep a low profile.

She had come to spy on Woo Bin and see the part of his life he had hid from her so well. Her lieutenant and other bodyguards had also followed his friends all week and wanted to share their findings, but Hye Rim wanted to match faces with the information.

The party was in full swing, with everyone who was anyone in Seoul and other parts of the world. The champagne and hor d'oeurves were perfect, and the music was elegant. The artwork itself served as the decoration.

Then, she spotted him. Woo Bin strolling easily around the room, hand tucked in his pocket coolly, checking out girls whenever they walked past. He bowed to some and shook hands with foreigner guests, and drank champagne with nonchalance. A couple approached him, and Woo Bin relaxed and seemed to fall into easy conversation. And so it started.

She casually nudged her guard, who was trying to blend in with the crowd. "He is definitely the man of the hour. So Yi Jeong, right? Is he one of Woo Bin Oppa's F4 friends?"

"Correct. That's So Yi Jeong, he's a potter prodigy, and his credentials are off the map," the lieutenant told her in a low tone. "He's also a former Casanova. There's no telling how many women he's romanced in Seoul. Or internationally."

"With a face like that, no kidding. But if he's a former playboy, then who's that girl sticking so close to him?" she asked.

"That is his girlfriend of over a year, Chu Ga Eul. She's a school teacher."

So this was what Woo Bin's friend, Yi Jeong, was capable of. He was a world renown artist, a wealthy, handsome man… with a school teacher for a girlfriend?

Hye Rim blanched, unable to fathom that news. "How'd they meet? There's no way they run in the same circle."

"They met through—"

"Wait, who's that?" Hye Rim tilted her head subtly towards the small group forming.

"Ah, that's Yoon Ji Hoo. He's the grandson of one of Korea's former Presidents. He's an extremely wealthy young man, no family left. He currently works unnecessarily as a doctor."

"No man should look that perfect," Hye Rim gaped in the classiest way possible. "But no girlfriend I see."

"No, Princess Im, but he was spotted earlier today with a young homeless woman. They looked very close during their meal together."

"He's rich and handsome, yet he chooses to work and date homeless girls?"

No wonder Woo Bin was so embarrassed to talk about his friends. They all clearly had their priorities mixed up. Maybe their women were gold diggers. It was a possibility, but the Ga Eul girl looked too sweet and honest to be a leech, and Ji Hoo looked like a guy with ridiculously high standards. He didn't seem the type to be fooled easily.

"They must have other women they're seeing, right?" asked Hye Rim.

"No. If the F4 were dating anyone on the side, it wouldn't be a secret. These are their love choices. Figuratively speaking, since Yoon Ji Hoo has not officially made his relationship public."

Just then, the loudspeaker interrupted the procession.

"President Gu Jun Pyo and his wife, Geum Jan Di of Shinwa Group!" the loudspeaker announced.

All heads turned to the entrance of the gallery.

In waltzed a tall, handsome looking man with the air of more importance than anyone in the room. The way he moved, the stern look on his face, and his impeccable suit screamed extremely wealth. The oddity was the woman on his arm, plain and ugly, although she was dressed in the latest high-end fashion. No one seemed to care or think this was strange. In fact, everyone clapped and cheered. Yi Jeong didn't even mind the fact that this guy was stealing his spotlight. He strolled up and joined the group with ease.

Hye Rim squinted her eyes behind her sunglasses. "That man, he looks very familiar."

"That's Gu Jun Pyo, the leader of the F4. He's the wealthiest young man in the entire country and one of the youngest presidents of any companies."

"His face is everywhere, but that woman. She's terrible looking." The Ga Eul girl may have been plain looking, but at least she had some sort of look going for her. The woman on Gu Jun Pyo's arm had not one attractive physical quality.

"That would be President Gu's wife, Geum Jan Di. Hers is a Cinderella story. "

"Oppa is best friends with this man?"

"Indeed."

Hye Rim felt angry for some reason. She couldn't figure out why Woo Bin was embarrassed. Was he embarrassed that she would think his friends were a bunch of do-good rich people, or was he embarrassed of her? That she didn't fit in with his perfect little picture of innocence and frumpiness that the F4 seemed to love in women. The whole time she had felt like he was hiding them from her, but it felt like he was hiding her.

She watched as the four guys and the two girls interacted with one another. They were drinking flutes of expensive champagne, but the Jan Di girl had refused and chosen water. So they were too good to drink too?

Hye Rim moved carefully around the sculptures, watching them. Eventually they all went their separate ways, and Woo Bin initiated a conversation with a pretty foreigner who was more interested in him than the beautiful art surrounding her. After watching their flirty conversation for at least 5 or 10 minutes, Hye Rim was fed up. She took out her cellphone and dialed him.

Woo Bin surprisingly didn't ignore the call, but he did hesitate for a moment looking at the caller. He told the woman to hold on and answered.

"Oppa!" she said in the sickly sweet voice she knew he hated, watching him.

He looked around suspiciously. "Oh, Hye Rim. Why are you calling?"

"No reason. I just wanted to call. It sounds like you're at a party."

Woo Bin looked at the foreign girl, smiled kindly, and waved her off. He headed toward the exit. Probably to get away from the commotion of the party.

"Oh, it's just a small gathering," he blatantly lied. She rolled her eyes. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Just making sure you weren't talking to other girls. Since we called a truce, I think it would offend me. You're not flirting, are you, Oppa?"

"Hye Rim, don't worry about what I'm doing. We'll do something interesting tomorrow. I have to go."

"Ok, but stay away from other girls. If I can't be out with handsome men, you can't be out with women."

"Not a problem," She watched as he cracked a smile. "And Hye Rim?"

"Yes?"

"Don't ever speak to me in that awful voice ever again. It doesn't suit you."

He hung up and entered back into the party. She watched him find his friend, Ji Hoo, and felt content enough to leave the gallery, her bodyguard in tow.

She had an idea of what her something interesting was going to be when she spent time with him tomorrow. And it involved some of these art pieces and his wallet.

A/N: Some of you guys probably forgot all about this story, huh? Sorry that I haven't updated in literally forever. These past couple of months have NOT been fun for me, but I'm back, recharged, and will be more dedicated to writing this fic. I can't promise regular updates daily, or even weekly, but depending on how much trouble the chapters give me (like this one… which I've been writing off and on for months), I'll probably TRY updating once every week or every other week or so. I'm honestly sorry and I'll work harder.

If you guys watched the special F4 episodes that came after the drama, Woo Bin's storyline was about him giving flowers to a girl but she dumped him. When he and Hye Rim are talking at the restaurant at the beginning, I'm referring to that chick. Hye Rim was actually supposed to be that girl when I first came up with this story, but I decided that that storyline didn't fit with what I was trying to do.

Please forgive me for leaving you guys hanging for so long and please continue to read and critique my writing. Thank you :)