Ga Eul found herself wondering along the streets of Seoul. She did not have a clear sense of where she was going, she was just heading to where her feet would bring her to. The city has really changed since the last time she was here, and that was 7 years ago! The city now offers an exciting nightlife, and the night scene is just as vibrant as Seoul in the morning. Towering skyscrapers pave her way, and the beautiful night lights lead her on. Despite being rather late in the evening, the streets were still bustling with people. She could hear the familiar exchange and conversations in Korean all around her, a language that she missed dearly when residing in America. Despite being "home", a place where she should feel at ease and relaxed, she feels a sense of isolation. Standing in the middle of a busy, bustling street, with people walking and pushing pass her, and yet she felt alone. This is the worse form of loneliness. She feels like an outsider. These 7 years abroad, made her feel like a foreigner even though she was on the soil of her own heritage. The bright lights and the big billboards gave her a big headache. She started to feel a little tipsy and rather dizzy. The loud noises and chatter around her did not help; instead it worsened the pounding in her head. Her outburst at the F4 lounge caused her to be plagued with guilt, now she just wants the ground to swallow her up and take her away. Take her away for the mistake she made at the lounge, take her away from the misunderstanding she caused and take her away from her fate of the arranged marriage. She continued walking around aimlessly, just letting the flow of the people around her push her feet to her next destination, like the rocks on the sea bed, being pushed to the shore by the waves.

In her haziness, what she did not realise was that she had stumbled upon Itaewon. You may think that Itaewon is a great tourist attraction, and has a lot of shops selling interesting trinkets, so it would not bring Ga Eul any danger. But you are very wrong. The danger depends on which part of Itaewon she is on, and she so happened to have stumbled upon the portion of Itaewon known as the "Hooker Hill". The sweet and innocent Ga Eul has found herself on the red-light district of Itaewon, where danger lurks in her every step.

Suddenly a large burly man grabbed her and attempted to pull her into his arms. He was double her size and reeked of alcohol. Ga Eul attempted to struggle against his strong hold. She elbowed his chin and kicked his shin causing him to release his hold on her. She then attempted to run to her freedom. Unfortunately for her, a bunch of other men appeared out from the shadows. They were sinister looking and moved like the shadows. They walked towards her. Their long shadows casted on the ground sent chills and shivers down her spine.

"Ohhhhh aren't you a feisty one. I bet you will be amazing in bed," the head of the gang slurred. They encircled her, a heard of lion to their prey, and Ga Eul was unfortunately the prey, the deer caught in the headlights. With nowhere else to run to, she closed her eyes anticipating her fate.

Just then a strong blinding light shone towards the group, forcing Ga Eul to open her eyes. What happened next was a blur. She only managed to hear sounds of punches and kicks being thrown here and there. The memory of her past flashed across her mind. His shadow impending, his outstretched hand…The trauma and the fear got to her, and darkness clouded her view and vision. She started swaying and fell into...

(Back to the F4, excluding Jun Pyo, about 15 minutes ago)

Ji Hoo, while making his desperate call to Woo Bin for back-up has lost sight of Ga Eul. "Shit," he cursed silently, under his breath. He got out of his car and turned around, desperately looking for the girl, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl in the turquoise dress, but in the sea of people walking all around, in every direction possible, his efforts were in vain. Just then a flashy Orange Lotus pulled up beside his White Lotus, followed closely by an equally flahy Yellow Lotus. The guys exchanged a glance and a nod, and Ji Hoo hurriedly jumped into his car. They began their desperate search for the heiress, afraid and worried about the dangerous situations that she might have gotten herself into.

Back in his car, Yi Jung slammed his hands on the steering wheel in anger. He knew that deep in his heart he was still angry at Ga Eul, the words out of her mouth had hurt his best friend's girl for god's sake, but at a deeper level, those very words were what made Eun Jae turn away and run away from him. However, Ga Eul was his charge that day. He was the one who brought her to the F4 lounge, and he should therefore, by extension of logic, bring her back. Instead, he left the longue in a fit of anger, and left the girl there, in an unknown and foreign place, alone, without any form of transport back. If anything happened to Ga Eul, he would personally slaughter and skin the person who inflicted it on her.

The three cars pulled up in a dark alley on "Hooker Hill". The scene that awaited their eyes made Yi Jung's blood boil. Ga Eul was being cornered by a bunch a bastards, with hungry looks in their eyes. She is helpless and they know it. The guys jumped out their car and advanced upon the gang. Woo Bin cracked his knuckles menacingly. Woo Bin took on two guys at once, smoothly delivering kicks and punches to their chest and faces, without suffering any blows. He was truly the Prince Song of the Underground Mafia. These small hooligans were no match for him. Ji Hoo, despite being the gentleman of the F4, also managed to hold his ground quite well. He moved with such a flourish, his white coat fluttering in the wind. He really resembled an angel. Yi Jung was no different. He punched on guy in the face, and kicked another in the gut. Just then from the corner of his eyes, he saw Ga Eul swaying, her feet no longer keeping the strong hold on the ground.

"Ga Eul…" he shouted as he ran forward, catching her in his arms as she fell.

(At the Se Young Group Hospital that Ji Hoo's family owns)

A group of four waited anxiously outside the room. Yi Jung was pacing up and down the hallway, rubbing his hands nervously. Many thoughts were racing in his head. How was he going to answer to the CEO of GN Media? How could he answer to his Harabeoji, his parents? Most importantly, how could he answer to the girl currently lying on the bed?

"Why should we all be here? Its 2am for god's sake. I need my beauty sleep. Who the heck is she to disturb the Great Gu Jun Pyo's sleep? She is nothing special, just the usual shallow heiress dressed in some plastic dress. She even disregarded my Jan Di. Someone tell me why I am here…" A disgruntled Jun Pyo grumbled unhappily. Jan Di hurriedly smacked his mouth to get him to shut up. She could feel the tension in the hallway. It was really tense and everyone was on their toes, yet her immature and insensitive boyfriend just had to say what he said. She knew that Yi Jung was berating himself for not taking care of G Eul enough, but she for one knew that it was definitely not his fault. Her heart went out to him.

Just then Ji Hoo walked out from the room to the hallway. With his hands in his coat pocket, and his eyebrows creased in worry, he reported Ga Eul's condition to his anxiously waiting friends, "There seems to be no issues with her. Thank goodness she was not hurt physically…"

"Then why did she faint?" Yi Jung cut him off hurriedly.

"She fainted from the trauma that she experienced. It is evident to me that something of a similar situation must have occurred before. What happened today caused her to trigger a flashback of a memory she fought hard to hide and that caused her immense trauma. Her body just activated her own "self-defense mechanism" to shut herself away from the possible pain that she would get. We put her on a drip. Don't worry too much, she will wake up soon. You can go in to see her now. But I think we should give her a chance. She seems to have quite a past. That could be what shaped her thoughts," Ji Hoo explained patiently. The others nod their heads in agreement, each brooding with their own thoughts.

Ga Eul opened her eyes to unfamiliar surroundings, white curtains, white bed sheets and white walls. Everything was clinically white! It occurred to her that she was in a hospital! She moved her arms around, attempting to get a good stretch. Instead, she accidentally hit something… HAIRY?!

Jan Di awoke to a large rock hitting her head (or so she dreamed. In truth it was just Ga Eul accidentally hitting her head while trying to stretch.) She sat up abruptly and saw Ga Eul staring back at her with her big, round eyes, clearly in shock. Jan Di smiled happily. Ga Eul was finally awake! Jan Di, in her tiredness, had taken a snooze on the corner of Ga Eul's hospital bed. Jan Di jumped up from her spot and looked around the room. The F4 had hilariously each occupied a couch in the hospital room, trying very hard to squeeze their long bodies in the small one-seater couch , trying to get into the best position to sleep, all except Jun Pyo who had found himself the gigantic four-seater couch and slept comfortably. Yi Jung, Woo Bin and Ji Hoo looked so uncomfortable, with their long legs sticking out. Even though it was quite an adorable sight, Jan Di still woke them up.

She ran around clapping loudly and exclaiming, "Up! Up! Up, guys! Ga Eul is awake!" She turned back to face Ga Eul and gave her an adorable grin, "Are you thirsty? I will get you a drink! Come on Gu Jun Pyo! YAH! You are such a lazy pig! Get off that couch NOW!"

Ji Hoo walked towards Ga Eul and started checking her vital signs and checking the health monitor next to her.

"Do you want anything to eat? I will get you something better than that disgusting grub they serve here at the hospital." Woo Bin said mischievously, while sticking his tongue out at Ji Hoo for criticizing his hospital.

Yi Jung walked up to her and flashed his adorable dimpled smile, with both hands in his pocket he said, "Welcome back, F4's Sleeping Beauty. Did you have a good nap?"

Ga Eul felt her tears cloud her vision. She is very much touched by all the care that everyone is showering her with, especially from Jan Di. That girl was so nice to her, and yet she had hurt her and decimated against her for being a comer. She really was a bitch. The guilt was eating up her heart and her conscience.

"Wait guys! Please don't go. I owe everyone my deepest gratitude, an explanation as well as an apology. Especially Jan Di… I am sorry for causing you so much pain and for mocking you for being a commoner. I am really sorry. I know these words will not be enough of a bandage on the bullet holes that my words have previously punctured on your heart. I did not mean to be so terrible to you. The reason I feel that commoners cannot be with chaebols….. it is a stupid reason….. the reason is… the reason is…." Ga Eul hesitated. She knew that once she started baring her heart, the words will come out, one after another, like a waterfall and she won't even be able to stop. She knew that this was a wager that she was taking, baring her heart to the people that she has just met, but she knows that she owes them an explanation. That's the least she can do to repay their kindness. She knew full well what they could do to her with this information that it would make her vulnerable in their eyes. But we was willing to take the jump.

(Flashback to 12 years ago when she was just a 7 years old girl)

Her parents got married because of an arranged marriage. However, unlike Yi Jung's parents, they did not fall in love in the end. It was a form of unrequited love, one sided love on the part of her father. Her father, Chu Suk Jae, loved her mother, Kang Hee Jung, deeply and was willing to do anything and everything for her. Her mother on the other hand, was just performing her duty as a wife. Everything was an act, just a mere performance for her. Everything was for show. The first time she saw them fight was on the morning of her seventh birthday. She was hiding in their closet, wanting to surprise them, but the scene that followed was something that was scalded in her memory forever. They were shouting at each other. Her father held on to a bunch of pictures while her mother attempted to grab it back from him. What they didn't know was that Ga Eul was there the whole time and she saw everything. She even saw that when her mother left the room later, her father crushed his soju cup in his hands. Ga Eul bit on to the sleeve of her mother's woolly sweater, in an attempt to muffle her cries, as she watched the pool of red increase in size and she heard her father's heartbreaking cries.

Since then, the once innocent girl felt as though her blindfold has been lifted, and that she now sees the world in a clearer light. She starts to notice little details. Like how her parents only hold hands in front of an audience, and they immediately let go of each other's' hands when the "audience" leaves. Her father's hands always lingers. She sees her father's lingering glance on her mother's retreating back, and every time she would pray that her mother would turn back and look at her father, but her mother never did. Ever since then, Ga Eul also started noticing her father's growing state of depression. Her heart ached for her father, and she blamed herself for her mother's coldness towards the family. Every birthday since her seventh, the birthday wish she made was the same one. She wished, with all her heart, for a perfect and happy family.

So when she turned 10 and her mother suggested a family outing to the zoo, she was ecstatic. She thought that this was her mother's turning point, that her mother would finally love her father and that they would finally be a happy family just like Jae Kyung's. (Author's explanation: Jae Kyung and Ga Eul were playdates since young) They had a great time at the zoo. They fed many animals, and even took a family photo with a snake wrapped around their shoulders. This was the first proper family photo that Ga Eul remembered taking. That was a very happy day for her family. Her father was smiling happily and laughing carefreely. She was in the middle, her right hand holding her father's hand, while her left hand held on tightly to her mother. They were the happy family that she dreamed to be. Her dream was finally coming true! What she did not realise was that that day was the first of her happy day and also the last. That night was a stormy chilly night. She remembers clearly her mother packing her bag and hurriedly leaving the house. As her mother was making her way down the stairs, she remembers her father running after her and pleading even begging for her to stay. But she shrugged off his hands. Ga Eul watched from her bedroom window, as her mother walked in the the embrace of another man and got into his car. She vaguely remembers seeing another girl in the car, but she wasn't very sure. That was the day Kang Hee Jung walked out of the lives of the Chu Family. That was the day that changed Ga Eul. That was the day that officially pushed Chu Suk Jae off his rocker.

From that day onwards, Chu Suk Jae liked to drink Soju and any other forms of alcohol excessively. He would then, in his drunken state, beat Ga Eul up. Ga Eul was a splitting image of Kang Hee Jung and seeing her in his house reminded Suk Jae what it felt like to be abandoned by the one you love so dearly. It was as though Hee Jung had dug his heart out and trampled all over it. He started venting his anger on his only daughter. Ga Eul was only 10 then. The once innocent, carefree, sweet, and happy child now became reserved and redrawn in her shell. In his drunken stupor, he would start to rant about how much he had to endure. From her father's drunken rants, Ga Eul learnt a lot, about the frightening truth of her parent's marriage. Shortly after Ga Eul was born, her mother had begun an affair with a commoner. That commoner was also the reason why Ga Eul and her father were abandoned. This knowledge fueled her hatred towards commoners. Commoners and Chaebols do not belong together. They should not and they cannot. If they come together, they will break families up, like her own.

The housekeeper of their home, Ajumma Han could not take it anymore and reported the happenings of the house to Ga Eul's harabeoji. Ajumma Han has been working in the Chu household since Ga Eul was five and treated Ga Eul like her own flesh and blood. She could not stand for such treatment to the poor child anymore. Chu Jong Shik took control of the situation and moved Ga Eul to the Chu family's holiday villa in Jeju Island and placed her under the care of Ajumma Han, while he settled some stuff.

In her 2 years starying the villa, Ga Eul spent a lot of time brooding about her past. Her grandfather managed to settle everything, the divorce of her parents as well as the the custody of Ga Eul. He then made sure that everything that happened to their family was kept under wraps, away from the media and the prying eyes of the media. When Ga Eul was 12, the family immigrated to America, leaving Ajumma Han to take fcare of their family mansion in Seoul, where Ga Eul spent the happier days of her childhood. In America, Chu Suk Jae was sent to the Mental Institute there to receive treatment.

This was why she hated commoners. They took away her mother, took away her father, took away her childhood friend Jae Kyung and took her away from her homeland. They basically took her apart…

(End of Flashback)

"Of course I know that I should not place a blanket statement on all commoners. Jan Di I am so sorry… Will you forgive me?" Ga Eul said nervously. She did not dare to look up, worried about what she may see. The looks of pity in their eyes? Ga Eul did not want to be pitied. She fingered the necklace that hung around her neck. This necklace is her prized possession. The pendant of the necklace was half of a puzzle piece. As far as she remembers (her memory is rather hazy from the trauma), this is the last and only gift left to her b her mother. As much as she hates to admit it, the Kang Hee Jung that walked out of her life, still meant a lot a lot to her.

To her greatest surprise, Jan Di embraced her. Stoking her back Jan Di tearfully comforted Ga Eul. While the F4 stood around her, the weight of what she has shared with them slowly sinking. Ga Eul smiled, she can see the start of a beautiful friendship. Maybe commoners are not that bad after all….

The door of the hospital room was threw open with a bang and in entered a very very angry ….

Author's Note:

Hi guys, this is my longest chapter yet. Once again, I am very very thankful to all the reads and the reviews. Please keep leaving reviews, I would really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy the story about Ga Eul's past. Am I moving too fast or revealing secrets too early? XD Well… I am not sure… It is my first try at fanfiction writing so be kind please(: Just some explanation on the timeline of the story:

Ga Eul is currently 19 years old. The F4 and Eun Jae are 21 years old. Jan Di and Jae Kyung are 20 years old.

Are you readers dying for some Monkey humor? Don't worry, she will officially appear soon!

I hope you enjoy the story and do continue to give your support!

Love,

Littlemissdiehardfan