A/N: Awwww thanks so much for all the sweet reviews! I'm so glad to be back and glad that you are glad I am back! Sorry this took a while to write. There's not really SoEul in here, but there is Ga Eul. Warning: This isn't exactly a happy chapter either. Don't worry, we will get back to our lovely couple, but first things first… Enjoy :)

Also, the first half of this chapter (that which is in italics) is a memory.

"Please."

"No."

"But it's my birthday. Come on. You said I can have anything I want."

"This isn't what I meant."

"But it's what I want. You didn't give me parameters."

"I said no dates."

"This isn't a date. We are two friends—"

"Acquaintances."

"Sorry…we are two unfriends on a road trip."

"A road trip? Then let's get back on the road." Madeleine tapped the steering wheel. "I'll even be nice and let you drive again. You can drive as far away from here as you want."

"Not until you get out of the car and take a walk with me."

"No thanks, I'm fine."

"Madeleine."

Crossing her arms, Madeleine kept her eyes stubbornly trained on a faint speck on the windshield of Woo Bin's car.

"Madeleine, you can't be scared forever."

She dug her freshly manicured nails into her bare arms.

"I'm not…scared…I just don't like the beach."

"They're not going to hurt you, you know that, right? Hey, if they so much as look at you wrong, I promise to kick all of their asses back up into the sky. It'll be raining feathers for days."

Madeleine scoffed but cracked a smile all the same.

"What are you even talking ab—Hey!"

Suddenly on the other side of the car, Woo Bin swung her car door wide open.

"Come on!" Woo Bin tugged at her arm. "You can't be scared of the birds forever."

"Yah! You tricked me! I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Come on, come on! Hurry up! The sun's already about to set!"

Woo Bin pulled her the rest of the way out of the car.

"Haven't you ever seen the movie The Birds?!" Madeleine protested as Woo Bin began pulling her down the sand dunes.

"You can't live forever without going to the beach. Come on, or I'm going to carry you the rest of the way and throw you in the ocean."

"I already went to the beach when I was little!"

"Did you make a sandcastle?"

"No."

"Did you get buried in the sand?"

"No."

"Did you ride waves back to the shore?"

"No."

"Do you even go in the water?"

"Not…exactly."

"What? How the hell do you go to beach without getting in the water?!"

"Why the hell does it matter?"

"You're kidding me...Wait, you're serious?"

"Can we please stop talking about this now?"

"But your father owns all those beach resorts."

"Yeah, well, I don't go to those. I can't possibly have visited every single hotel my dad owns. What type of time do you—aaahhhhh!" Madeleine shrieked and ran over to Woo Bin's other side, grabbing his arm and tugging him away from the seagull that had just landed practically on top of her.

"Whoa, you weren't kidding. You really are scared of them." Woo Bin chuckled as she clung on to him.

Slapping his arm, Madeleine shouted, "No shit, Woo Bin Song! Yah! Let's get out of here!"

"No, no, no, no. You need to face your fears." Forcing her in front of him, he made a few steps towards the bird that was now pecking at a clump of seaweed a short distance away.

"I'm not going over by that thing!"

"Come on, you baby."

"I'm not—yah, let go of me."

Twisting in his arms, Madeleine jabbed her elbow into his chest.

"You need to work on your fighting skills," Woo Bin murmured into her ear. "What if somebody tries to kidnap you?"

"Somebody already has!"

"All right, all right, all right. Now watch carefully. I'm gonna handle this."

"Hey! Hey you!" Woo Bin stepped around Madeleine and approached the bird. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"Yah, what are you doing?"

"That's right. You better eat stay over there and eat your seaweed. You wouldn't want to get strangled with that, now would you? I bet there's a special place in bird hell for seagulls who mess with pretty girls."

He taunted the bird until it flew off further down the beach and Madeleine had doubled over with laughter, kicking off her heels so she wouldn't topple over.

"Woo Bin-ah, stop, stop…stop…" Madeleine managed to choke out.

Eventually, he did stop and turned to look at her, and the way he looked at her suddenly made her feel shy. Brushing a few strands of windblown hair out of her face, she squinted at the sunset over the water.

"How did you live so long without going to the beach?"

Madeleine shrugged.

"I guess I never had anyone to go with," she answered truthfully. She swung her body around so that she was facing the ocean and tucked her hands into her pockets. Tracing a pattern in the wet sand with her toes, she thought about the last time she had been to the beach. She had been eight years old, and her mother hadn't let her go in the water with the other kids because she insisted the sun would ruin her delicate skin. Sitting under the shade with her mother and pouting, Madeleine thought her mother just didn't want to be left alone with her mother-in-law, Madeleine's grandmother on her father's side, who had insisted on joining them that day despite the heat.

There wasn't anybody at the stretch of beach they had come to today, nothing but more seagulls as far as her eyes could see.

"You know, I really didn't get to go in the water," Madeleine admitted. She looked up at Woo Bin, who took a few steps closer to her.

Undoing her jeans, she slid them off, then pulled her shirt off over her head and set them both down in a wad on the sand.

Stripped down to her underwear, she grinned impishly up at Woo Bin.

"You coming?" she asked.

Running past Woo Bin toward the ocean, she hit hit him lightly on the arm. When she reached the edge of the water, though, she pulled up short as a huge wave crashed against the shore. Bubbly water pooled around her ankles, then receded again.

She'd thought the ocean wouldn't seem as large now that she was older, but she was wrong. She still felt incredibly small compared to the vast expanse of sun-kissed water in front of her.

She hadn't felt so small in a long time.

Clenching the wet sand between her toes, she studied a few broken shells around her and watched them wash away as another wave arrived.

A second later, a pair of arms hoisted her up from behind and carried her out to the water.

Madeline could swim-at least, in a pool she could-and she almost demanded that Woo Bin put her down, but then he looked down at her and met her gaze, the expression on his face-there was no other word for it-tender, like her dad used to look at her when she was a little girl and had done something to make him proud, and instead she wrapped her arms around Woo Bin's neck and laid her head on his shoulders.

"I knew you would like the beach," Woo Bin announced when they reached a part where the water came up to his chest level.

Madeleine was about to retort something else about him kidnapping her, but at that moment another wave swept in, crashing over both of their heads, nearly knocking them over and filling Madeleine's mouth with salt water.

"Yah, I think you better stand up. If I keep holding you like this, we're both going to get knocked over."

He set Madeleine down, who was still sputtering and coughing up water.

"That tastes disgusting," she choked out.

Woo Bin chuckled.

"What did you think salt water tasted like?"

"A margarita?" she answered, half-joking.

"I—"

Woo Bin's reply got drowned out as another wave sent her sprawling back to shore. Her knees scraped against the gritty patch sand and broken shells, and she tried to stand up only to get knocked back down again.

And again.

And again.

"Hey!" Finally, Woo Bin reached her and picked her up. "Sorry, I forgot how light you are."

Madeleine stood up on wobbly legs, and salt water stung her eyes as she inspected a small scrape on her left knee.

"The waves are pretty rough today," Woo Bin continued. "Let's go back up here." Holding her in front of him, Woo Bin guided them both back to the spot where they had tossed their clothes.

Collapsing onto the sand, he patted the space next to him, and Madeleine sat down gingerly at first before stretching out on her back, the smooth sand's warmth soothing her bare skin.

They were lying pretty much even with each other but without touching, and there was something about the gorgeous panorama of sunset before them and the sand's heat and the slightly chilly breeze sweeping through her tangled, wet hair and the sound of the waves—so violent yet so peaceful—that made her want to reach over and grab his hand.

Another thing she'd never done before.

Holding hands was for children.

For girlfriends.

For lovers.

She was none of those things.

But she liked to pretend. She'd always liked to pretend.

When she was in the second grade, she had gotten in trouble at school for repeatedly signing her papers with the name Madeleine Deneuve.

Madeleine smiled, remembering how irritated her teacher had been at her refusal to write Yi on anything.

Madeleine Deneuve.

Deneuve. Abella's last name.

She liked to pretend.

Her fingers slowly drifted over to Woo Bin's hand and brushed his fingers. Opening his hand up, he interlocked their fingers and kissed her hand before bringing it back down to rest on the sand between them.

Madeleine wouldn't look at him though she could sense him gazing at her profile. Instead, she closed her eyes and focused on the crash of the waves again and on the places her mind always went to when she pretended, when she pretended a moment like this could last forever.

Groggily, Madeleine opened her eyes and shut them again when she saw daylight on the other side of her bedroom window.

Who the hell invented morning?

Now that she was back in Korea, life had been nothing but a series of unsavory social engagements—parties, dinners, dinner parties—with a bunch of creepy businessman and snobbish bitches.

Oh, wait. She was one of those snobbish bitches.

In her morning stupor, the thought made her giggle, which turned quickly into an acrid laugh.

"Stupid bitch," she whispered, reaching blindly for the box of cigarettes she always kept on her—

"You're up," an unfamiliar voice called out.

Abruptly, Madeleine flipped over on her back and sat up straight.

A man with a vaguely familiar build stood in the doorway to her bathroom with a towel around his waist.

"God, you scared me. What are you doing here?!"

"You were really drunk, I guess." He smirked at her. "We met at that club near—"

"I remember everything! But what are you still doing here?!"

"You told me I could spend the night. I used your shower. Hope you don't mind."

"I never tell anyone they can spend the night. Now get out!" Madeleine threw a pillow at him, followed by the pants he had left on the other side of the bed and then another pillow.

"Hey, hey, calm down." The guy grabbed his pants off the floor and took a step towards her, but she pulled out the pistol she kept hidden in her nightstand drawer and aimed it at him.

"Can't you hear?! This is my apartment. Now get out!"

"Whoa! Whoa, okay, okay. Let me just—"

"Get out! Get! Out!" she shouted, shaking the gun at him.

Still facing her, the guy stumbled backward towards her bedroom door, shock etched on his face, and made a quick dash for the exit.

"Crazy bitch," she could hear him yell right before the door slammed.

Idiot.

Madeleine tossed the gun onto the floor.

She'd never shot at anything in her life, except for the one time Woo Bin took her to a shooting range.

Besides, it was illegal to own a personal gun here. This one was a fake she'd bought in high school, and it had turned out to be quite effective over the years all the same.

Pulling the comforter back down from where she'd covered up her chest during the argument, she got the last cigarette out of her pack.

Lighting it, she muttered, "Madeleine Yi, you're going crazy." She took a drag off of her cigarette and closed her eyes.

"Crazy," she said to herself, "If you're going to be stupid bitch, at least be good at it."

She opened her eyes again.

Her cigarette was burning a hole in her sheets.

"Shit!"

On her nightstand, her phone began ringing, and Madeleine answered as she hastily brushed cigarette ashes off of her sheets.

"Yes?!"

"Good morning, Madeleine."

"Oh…good morning, Appa."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Just…I just woke up."

"Well don't forget we're having lunch with the chairman today. I'll come and pick you up around 11:30."

"Uh-huh. All right, yeah sure."

"I have to go now, but I'll see you. Secretary Kim, get my—"

Click.

Shit.

"What do you think about this one?" Jan Di held up a short-sleeve black-and-white polka-dot dress with a black bow around the waist.

"It's cute." Ga Eul smiled at her oldest and best friend over the rack of clothes separating them. "But Jan Di, shouldn't we be looking at the formal dresses over there? Isn't this supposed to be another one of those really fancy dinner parties?"

Yi Jeong had been back in Korea for a week already, and today, armed with their significant others' credit cards, she and Jan Di had gone to the mall under strict instructions to buy something nice for the engagement party this coming weekend.

"This isn't for the dinner this Sunday. It's for lunch with Jun Pyo's parents tomorrow."

Ga Eul mouthed an 'Oh.'

"He said I can pick anything I want. Besides, everything's so expensive over there."

"But Jan Di, it's not like you're paying for it."

"Yes, I know, but…it just feels wrong to take too much."

"Suit yourself." Ga Eul shoved a dress back on the rack. "I'm going to take a look anyway."

"I think Yi Jeong Sunbae's rubbing off on you."

"More like he told me I have to buy something really nice or he's going to do it for me. If he's going to spend the money anyway..." Ga Eul trailed off and shrugged. Then she laughed. "Yah, you have to admit it makes you feel kind of powerful, though, doesn't it?"

"Doesn't what?" Jan Di had pulled out a pale pink sundress and was inspecting the stitching on the hem.

"It's just that"—Ga Eul lowered her voice—"we could buy this entire store right now if we wanted to." She looked around. "Even the jewelry section."

"Yah, stop saying things like that. It's bad luck."

"I'm just kidding. Of course I wouldn't do that. It's just…well, it seems a bit surreal, don't you think?"

"I think I don't really like any of these dresses." Jan Di sighed.

"May I help you find anything?"

Madeleine nearly jumped at the sound of the saleslady's voice. In truth, she had been wondering about the shoes in the display, but she didn't appreciate the girl's proximity or the way she seemed to be sizing her up. Barely glancing over, she shook her head dismissively and resumed staring at the purses lined up along the wall. She breathed again only when she sensed that the girl had backed off.

Shopping usually calmed her, and after she had gotten out of that awkward lunch with the chairman, she'd run into the first shopping center she'd seen, never mind that it was the public shopping mall and didn't have many of the stores she was used to buying from. She didn't normally buy anything at regular department stores, but today she wanted to get lost in a crowd, not to get catered to and fawned over. She wanted to forget herself. She wanted to disappear.

Everywhere she went, though, she kept feeling like someone was watching her, and that was never good since she never paid for everything she got.

Stepping out of the small boutique, she headed for the large department store next to it, the one she remembered belonged to the Gu family.

Yi Jeong had gone back to Woo Bin's on Monday, leaving Ga Eul to cram in the class work she'd gotten way behind on, but he had driven her to school every morning for the past week and had picked her up at the end of each school day. His family knew he was home now, and today he was attending a rather long meeting with his grandfather and some of the museum staff. Tomorrow—Saturday—he would be moving permanently into his new apartment, and on Sunday there was to be a formal dinner party announcing Jun Pyo and Jan Di's engagement.

Speaking of engagements, Yi Jeong had already mentioned to her a couple of events he wanted her to attend with him in the next month. Ga Eul wasn't anti-social, but she had never been a social butterfly by any means, much preferring the comfort of her couch with a warm blanket and a good book on a Friday night, and just the thought of constantly mingling with a bunch of high-class socialites seriously unnerved her. She could imagine them all staring at her and whispering to each other, knowing she didn't really belong there, just like people had done at the club she went to on that horrible night before Yi Jeong left for Sweden.

Not that she cared what people thought, but…she also didn't want to embarrass Yi Jeong.

On top of that, Ga Eul had no idea how Yi Jeong's family was going to react to her—his brother aside, of course. At least she had that going for her. She did know Il Hyun and Eun Jae.

However, she also knew that Il Hyun had severed all ties with the family many years ago, save for keeping somewhat in touch with Yi Jeong, so she didn't figure her association with him would win her many points.

At least Jan Di had dealt with the witch in high school. She gotten the hardest part over with already.

Or had she?

Had they?

Would either of them ever really fit into the fairytale world they had cluelessly stumbled into?

Did Cinderella still feel like an outsider long after she had married her prince? Is that why that fairy tale always ended at the wedding and never actually showed the "happily ever after" part?

Ga Eul flipped rapidly through the formal gowns on the rack, looking for her size, the click-click-click of hangers hitting hangers mirroring her nervous frustration. She hadn't been around many truly rich people in her life, but she knew this wasn't a place where heiresses went shopping. Heiresses didn't count pennies and look at price tags. They didn't check the clearance rack first. They didn't critique a dress based on its ability to be worn again and again on different occasions. They didn't give up on something just because it wasn't on the rack in their size.

Why had she gotten in his car that day? Why had she gone out with him? Why had she agreed to his stupid proposal when she knew she was going to leave him forever? It wasn't like she liked him. She didn't like him at all, Madeleine reassured herself as she rummaged through a small bin of cheap costume jewelry.

Woo Bin was like this imitation gold necklace. He could never be the real thing.

He was not the real thing.

Metal clanged against metal as she tossed the jewelry around.

Not, not, not…

"May I help you find something?"

Slipping into one of the dressing room stalls, Ga Eul closed the door and hung up the three dresses she'd found on a hook. The first one was a flowing dark blue floor-length dress with a halter top and a split going up the front middle of the skirt. The second was an off-the-shoulder, floor-length lavender dress, fitted and fairly plain in design, but Ga Eul liked the soft material.

The third dress, if it fit her, was probably going to win out, though, simply because she thought Yi Jeong might like it the best. It was white with a gold sequin pattern on the strapless upper bodice and flecks of gold shimmering in the short, flowing white skirt.

She put the white dress on first, noting immediately that it was a bit shorter in actuality than it looked on the mannequin.

"May I help you find something?"

For the second time that day, Madeleine nearly jumped out of her skin, but she didn't need to turn around to know that it wasn't a salesperson who had just crept up on her.

It was him.

Woo Bin Song.

She could see his reflection in an overhead mirror. If she had looked sooner, she might have spotted him before he had a chance to get so close.

He had gotten visibly thinner, and dark circles had formed under his eyes. A brown leather jacket hung off of his leaner frame, the same jacket she used to steal from him and wrap herself up in when they were walking to his car from a club.

"Or maybe you could help me find something?" he continued. "Because I seem to have lost my mind."

"Woo Bin, what brings you here?" Madeleine asked, keeping her tone light. She didn't dare turn around. "Not shopping for women's jewelry in this place, I hope."

"I saw you."

Well, obviously.

"I saw you at the airport, and I know you saw me."

Oh.

Of course she'd seen him. He'd been making eyes at her like a lost puppy from across the baggage claim. Why the hell he hadn't called out to her when she ignored him, she had no idea.

"The airport?" Madeleine ripped the tag off of a gold-plated turquoise ring and slid it onto her finger. "Were you there? I didn't see you. My driver came to pick me up."

"Why didn't you answer any of my calls?"

"I was busy."

"You were busy?"

"Mmm."

"You were so damn busy for a month you couldn't return a single phone call?"

"What for?" Madeleine fiddled with a few more rings in the bin. "It's not like I could meet up with you or anything. Don't tell me you were going to fly to France just to fuck with me."

"That's not what I—"

"Listen, it's been fun and all, but, you know, I just think we should go our separate ways from now on."

"Bullshit."

Madeleine turned around and gave him a tight smile.

"Baby, I'm full of crazy shit. Half of everything that comes out of my mouth is total bullshit. You just never listened, and that is not my fault. Now if you'll excuse me." She started to walk past him.

Woo Bin grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.

"How about we talk about that ring you just stole?

"So what if I stole it? It's none of your business. I didn't steal it to wear for you. Now let go of me."

"It is my business, actually. This department store happens to be owned by Gu Jun Pyo, and if you're stealing from him, you're stealing from me."

"Oh, don't pretend to be so high and mighty, Prince Song. Like your family hasn't extorted millions of dollars from other people's businesses. You know what that is? It's called stealing."

"Careful, Princess. You're not on the right side of town to be talking so tough."

"And what are you gonna do about it? Don't tell me you beat up girls now."

"I always get what's mine."

"Then stay on your side of town with what's yours!"

Ugh, why hadn't Ga Eul dragged Jan Di off of that phone call so she could help her with these stupid dresses? Now the zipper of the second dress was stuck in the middle of Ga Eu'sl back—too low for her to reach easily one way and too high for her to reach easily the other way. As she strained to adjust the dress into a better position, she heard the door to the stall next to hers slam, and a pair of voices began bickering in hushed tones.

She recognized one of them.

Woo Bin shoved Madeleine into the nearest dressing room stall and slammed the door.

Backing her up against the wall so that she had no choice but to look at his face, he began, "You know, I think it's real funny that you're trying to break up with me because, according to you, we were never together."

"If we were never together, then why are you following me into the women's dressing room. I could scream right now and have you arrested."

"Okay, try. You think businessmen are the only people who take bribes?"

"Can I bribe you into letting me go then?"

"Maybe. If you tell me what I want to know, I'll let you go."

"Fine," Madeleine huffed.

"Why don't you start by telling me one thing?"

"And what one thing do you want to hear?"

"Whatever it is that you're not telling me."

"Don't flatter yourself, Woo Bin Song. There's a lot of things I don't tell guys I occasionally sleep with."

"Oh, we're going to go there, are we? I see. Well, why don't you start by telling me who you slept with last night?"

"How did you know I was with someone last night? Are you stalking me now?"

"Just a guess, but thanks for confirming it. So what was his name?"

"How should I know? I don't ask names, and if I do, I don't remember them."

"All the guys you've slept with, do you remember their birthdays?"

"Of course not. What—"

"Then why did you always remember mine?"

Madeleine came up short, momentarily unsure how to respond. She finally went with, "Because that's how you got me to go out with you the first time. It was your birthday, and I was supposed to feel sorry for you having to spend it alone. Well, congratulations, I've got that stupid date in my head forever! I went out with you one damn time, and ever since then, I can't get rid of you! Will you please tell me what the hell I have to do to get you to leave me the hell alone?!"

Clutching the crinoline underskirt of her dress, Ga Eul held her breath in the heavy silence that followed this pronouncement, afraid to move an inch for fear they would notice that they weren't alone in the dressing room after all. After a moment, she heard the latch on the stall door click open and heavy footsteps—Woo Bin's, she assumed—leaving the dressing room.

The woman didn't leave, though. Ga Eul heard her shift along the wall and slump down onto the chair.

A minute later, she started sniffling, and in a few more minutes, there emerged one of those painfully lovely, barely audible cries that actresses always lapse into when their lover has moved away or has gone to be with some other woman.

She certainly didn't sound like a woman who had meant her harsh words, anyway.

After setting her clothes down very quietly, Ga Eul rummaged through her purse for some tissues and, kneeling down on the floor, reached under the space between the stalls and deposited the tissues on the ground.

"Here you go," she said softly.

The voice startled Madeleine almost as much as Woo Bin's voice had earlier. She looked down at her feet to see a hand disappearing back into the stall next to hers and several sheets of tissue lying on the carpet in front of her feet.

"I could have you arrested for eavesdropping, you know," Madeleine said, sliding the tissues over with the toe of her shoe and picking them up. She blotted her eyes first, annoyed at how much mascara came off on the thin paper.

"Maybe you should go back and apologize," a small but soothing voice said from the stall next to hers.

"It's too late for that."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. It's always been too late. Too late for all of it." Madeleine stood up, leaving the crumpled tissues on the chair. "Thank you for the tissues." Opening the stall door, she stepped out and headed for the exit.

Ga Eul heard the door swing open, and she zipped her dress back up and opened up her own door, only to see the woman's profile just as she was walking out of the dressing room. She walked to the entrance herself, spotting the woman heading rapidly toward the department store exit, and thought briefly about running after her. They had crossed paths for a reason, she thought. It couldn't have been a coincidence that she overheard that conversation. She knew Woo Bin hadn't been himself for over a month, and Yi Jeong hadn't been able to get any information out of him, but now she knew who he had been heartbroken over.

Nevertheless, her feet wouldn't move. She didn't have the nerve to confront her after all, and instead she watched the nameless woman weave through the endless racks of clothing and displays until she disappeared into the perfumes section.

At least now Ga Eul knew what she looked like.

"Ga Eul!"

Ga Eul looked over to her right to see Jan Di coming towards her with an armful of clothes.

"Here. I'm going to try all these on, and you have to tell me what looks good." Leading the way back into the dressing room, Jan Di deposited the mountain of clothes on top of Ga Eul's jeans and blouse.

Deciding against telling Jan Di what she had overheard for the moment, Ga Eul locked them in the stall and turned her back to Jan Di.

"I'll help you with anything if you get me out of this dress," she said. "I'm surprised I haven't suffocated yet."