Chapter 9

To avoid adding fuel to the fire, Jun Pyo sent one of his personal chauffeurs to pick up Ga Eul, instead of sending Yi Jung like last time. Or at least that was what she presumed. She did feel a tad embarrassed that Jun Pyo had to resort to such means in order not to cause a fight. The chauffeur picked her up from a bus stop as requested by her. She didn't want anyone to come near her parents' house in order not to raise their curiosity. She doubted that her parents would bat an eye, but it was better to be cautious. Their arrangement made her life easier, and she didn't want to risk losing it by letting her parents know she was affiliated with people like the F4.

When she arrived at the resort, she met Jan Di in front of the reception. Only Jan Di had been waiting for her, and it wasn't hard to know why. Only after she realized that she didn't have to meet Yi Jung yet, did she allow herself to take in her surroundings. The resort was exhilarating from the inside. It was the perfect contrast to the numbing cold outside, being warm and homey, not to mention, lavish—too lavish. It held more of a classic atmosphere with a wooden interior and mahogany furniture.

With a place like that, Ga Eul knew the night here would cost a fortune. She did think about offering to pay for her stay, but that would cause a huge dent in her savings. A night in a place this extravagant would cost at least 6 months of her allowance. One of the advantages of being with the F4 was never having to reach for your wallet. It wasn't her fault that they tended to hang out in places far out of reach of her and Jan Di.

She was admiring the patterns on the rich red carpet under her feet when Jan Di woke her out of her daze. While Ga Eul was zoning out, Jan Di was getting her the key to her room.

"Here you go. It's the room farthest from Yi Jung by special request from Jun Pyo." Jan Di said.

"This is too extreme. It's not like he's my enemy." Ga Eul said.

"That's not how it looked to the rest of them."

"Is that why you're here alone? To avoid me?"

"No, don't worry. You're not that scary. They wanted to ski right away, so I decided to stay behind and wait for you." Jan Di said.

"You didn't have to. You're not responsible of me, Jan Di. You can go have fun with your boyfriend anytime you want. I can manage on own."

"I know that. I wanted to wait for you. Now, take those keys and get changed quickly."

"Okay. I won't be long." Ga Eul said.

After finding her room, she got inside and changed into her skiing clothes. Her room was of no less luxury than the rest of the resort. Her window looked out on the skiers on the snow, and even from afar, Ga Eul could tell the F4 apart from the rest of the skiers. It was astonishing really how much they stood out. Ji Hoo couldn't be seen from her window, and she wondered if she couldn't point him out.

Not wanting to waste more time, she left her room to join Jan Di downstairs. She was closing the door behind her when she saw Ji Hoo across the hall from her also leaving his room.

"Hello." Ga Eul greeted him. She didn't expect a reply from him. He'd been quiet ever since she'd met him. After greeting him she realized she never heard him speak.

"Oh, hi. You're also going downstairs?" He asked as he walked towards her. Ga Eul was a bit taken aback by him. She wasn't sure why he was talking to her. She only greeted him out of politeness, and a simple nod would've done like he usually did. She was confident that she left a bad impression on a guy as reserved as him.

"Yes. Aren't you going to ski with them?"

"I'm just going to observe today." He said with a polite smile on his face. "Do you mind if I join you down?"

"Not at all." Ga Eul said as they both walked down the hall to the elevator in silence.

His sudden friendliness unsettled her. Up until today, he never spared her a glance. If it were another person, she wouldn't have felt it unnatural, but it was Ji Hoo, and from what she'd seen of him, he never bothered to acknowledge anyone around him except the rest of the F4 and Jan Di. It was silent except for the elevator music in the background. Ga Eul didn't try to break the silence in respect for him, but he was the one to talk first.

"Are you close with Yi Jung?"

"Far from it."

"It didn't look like it."

"What happened was just a misunderstanding." She said as the elevator door opened and Jan Di was in front of them.

"I was just about to go up to you. What took you so long?" Jan Di said. Her eyes went to Ji Hoo next to her. "Why are you in normal clothes? You're not going to join us?" She asked Ji Hoo.

"Maybe another day. I'm going to leave you guys then." He said as he went out of the elevator with Ga Eul after him. He looked back at her and said. "It was a nice talk."

Ga Eul shot Jan Di a questioning look after Ji Hoo turned his back on them. "How was that a talk? We barely said two sentences."

"For Ji Hoo that's a whole conversation. What did he tell you? I'm curious. Ji Hoo never talks to anyone outside of the F4."

"Nothing. I saw him by chance in the hallway, and I greeted him. He asked me if I was close with Yi Jung, and I said I wasn't t. He didn't look convinced."

"Can't blame him."

"Okay, fine I messed up. I said I was going to apologize. You don't have hint at it every few seconds."

"I didn't say anything." Jan Di said, hooking her arm with Ga Eul. She didn't miss Jan Di's smug smile.

Ga Eul was suffering as she dragged her sticking poles through inches thick of snow. She was struggling to find her balance and was getting frustrated. She never liked the sport, but she had tried to give it another shot. That was, of course, failing miserably, so she decided to call it quits for the day. Jan Di was already occupied with Jun Pyo who was helping her slide over the snow as she tugged on his jacket with him taking the lead. It was heart warming, and Ga Eul wished she had a camera on her to capture the sweet moment. It was one of the rare times they both weren't at each others' necks.

Woo Bin was flirting with a girl while Yi Jung was sking on his own. She couldn't tell if he was ignoring her or he was too immersed in skiing—not noticing anyone. She would've bet on the latter as she saw another skier, gliding ridiculously fast behind Yi Jung. She watched with troubled eyes waiting for him move aside, but he never did. At the last minute, Ga Eul ran across the snow, knowing that skiing was out of the question, and hauled off on Yi Jung, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushed him aside away from the reckless skier. They both fell on the snow with Ga Eul falling head on. Luckily, the snow softened their fall. She pulled herself from the snow, put her weight on her elbow as she looked over the side at Yi Jung beside her who looked dumbfounded.

"Hey, are you fine?" Ga Eul asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Ga Eul got up on her feet, and extended her hand to Yi Jung, helping him get up. They were soon surrounded by Jan Di and the others, worried for them. After making sure they were both free of injuries, Ga Eul excused herself, not wanting to stay any longer.

Late at night, Ga Eul was standing on the resort's deck for a breath of fresh air. It was freezing out, and she an extra padded jacket on her to fight the freeze. She looked over at the trees, and contemplated whether to apologize to Yi Jung or not. She did save him earlier today, and that ought to count for something. Her thoughts were cut short by the sound of foot steps on the wooden floor. She looked behind her and saw Yi Jung holding two cups of coffee. Speak of the devil, she thought. He joined her and gave her the cup of coffee.

"What's this?" She asked.

"A peace offering." Yi Jung said with a grin.

"And I accept." She said smilingly. He made her job easier. Feeling guilty he approached first, Ga Eul decided to apologize.

"I'm sorry for what I said that day. It was out of line."

"You did save me from a brutal collision, so I think we're even now."

"You would still want that car, don't you?" Ga Eul asked.

"Definitely. I already bought it." Yi Jung answered.

"Do you have to? I still don't get what you're trying to do."

"I'm ridding you of a debt. I've thought long and hard about the favor you owe me, and I decided fixing the car would be it." Yi Jung said. Ga Eul grew speechless for a moment. He sure was stubborn. Ga Eul had already accepted her fate, but she was trying out her luck for the last time.

"We have a deal then." Ga Eul said as they both sipped on their coffee.

After finishing their coffee, and losing the effect of its after-warmth, they both headed inside the resort to take refuge from the cold. They found Woo Bin and Ji Hoo sitting at secluded table in the lobby. They both parted ways as Ga Eul went to the elevator to go up to her room while Yi Jung joined his friends. As she was waiting for the elevator to come, she changed her mind last minute and decided to also join their table. She had burst into their den without permission before and caused a scene. They were, after all, Jan Di's friends, and she didn't want any lingering tension between them.

Ga Eul came up to their table at the far end of the lobby. "Do you mind if I join you guys?" She said.

They all took confused glances at each other before Woo Bin said. "Take a seat then."

There were a few moments of tensed silence after she took the seat next to Yi Jung across from Woo Bin and Ji Hoo. She realized now that she hadn't thought this through as the table grew more silent by the second. She hadn't considered that she might've made them uncomfortable, and decided to leave after a while to not seem rude.

"So how long have you been friends with Jan Di?" It was Woo Bin who spoke first.

Ga Eul couldn't contain herself, and let out a little too loud of a laugh. She felt heads turning towards their table while casting disapproving looks. Everyone here was a bit too stiff and proper for her liking. Woo Bin looked a bit offended but mostly puzzled.

"I'm sorry, but this is the third time I've heard this question from one of you." She said while laughter was still evident in her eyes. "You don't have to fill in the awkward silence. I was just going to say hi, and leave you guys to it." She said, trying to save him and herself the trouble of suffering through meaningless small talk.

"No, it's okay. You can stay. I have an idea." He said as he got up and left them.

Her eyes followed him while he walked to the reception, not knowing what he had in mind. Only Yi Jung seemed to be entertained by the whole situation for she could see the corners of his mouth slightly curved. It looked like everything involving her or Jan Di was of his amusement. The way a king would look at one of his jesters for joviality. That was one of the reasons she could get edgy around him—he had a way of dehumanizing the people around him like they were all existing for the mere reason of his entertainment. A carbon copy of Chun Ja.

They were shortly joined again by Woo Bin who now had a deck of cards in his hands. He threw them on the table after taking seat in the comfortable chair next to Ji Hoo.

"I got this from the reception. Care to play?" Woo Bin said.

"I'm in." She said.

He started distributing the cards over them, and Ga Eul admired them. Even the cards looked fancy as they had the crest of the resort printed on its front. Her eyes didn't miss the Shinhwa's name plastered at the far corner of the cards in a small font.

They had been playing for, god knows how many hours, under the light of the low hanging chandelier, as they were all wrapped up in the game. Ga Eul had won two out of the six rounds, and she was feeling rather smug about it. Surprisingly, they weren't that hard of competitors. Ji Hoo had only played once, and won it, while Yi Jung had the rest of the wins. Ga Eul set her cards on the table after Yi Jung won the last round, her brain was barely functioning—defeated with exhaustion. But she was enjoying herself.

"Now that's three wins for me." Yi Jung said haughtily.

"Another round. I'm not backing down with defeat." Woo Bin said.

"Continue without me. I'm beat." Ga Eul said.

"I won't let anyone go without a win." Woo Bin said, clearly annoyed.

Taken by exhaustion, and a little bit conceit, she started tantalizing him a bit. "I would've thought the F4 better competitors than that, but losing two times in front of a regular girl is like a pin of shame in your records." She said.

"A shame to the Casanova and the Don Juan." Ji Hoo said, jumping on her wagon.

"The what?" Ga Eul said, not trusting her ears.

"Casanova and Don Juan." Ji Hoo replied with dead serious eyes.

"Is this a joke?" Ga Eul said while looking around her, and seeing pairs of confused eyes. It finally settled in that these were actual nicknames not just an attempt at humor from Ji Hoo. And Ga Eul burst into a fit of laughter, not believing the hilarity of the names. "And who's supposed to be who?" She said after calming down from her outbreak.

"Yi Jung's the Casanova and Woo Bin's the Don Juan." Ji Hoo clarified.

"That has to be the most pretentious and corny thing about you, yet." Ga Eul said, looking at the displeased Woo Bin and Yi Jung. "From what I believe Don Juan is a fictional character, but who do you think was the better womanizer?"

"Casanova, no doubt." Yi Jung said, smirking.

"Since Woo Bin is intent on holding us here until we get a win, I have an idea." Ga Eul said as she took a quick scan of the people around her till she found someone that caught her eye. "I'm going to pick someone from here, and the person who gets her number first before the end of this trip will win." She continued.

"Oh, I'll show you. And who'd be the lucky lady?" Woo Bin said, enthusiastic to prove her wrong.

"This one." Ga Eul said, looking at the woman on the other side of the lobby. She was an older woman in her early thirties. All her focus was on her laptop as her slender fingers moved across the keyboard. She had a regal type of beauty. Her long neck arched over the laptop, and her long hair was pulled to the side, revealing a graceful neckline. Ga Eul assumed she had both brains and the beauty because she was working hard ever since they came into the lobby. She was the best trade Ga Eul could find. A woman like her wouldn't entertain 18 year old boys no matter how rich they were. A girl their age would've been too easy to allure. Ga Eul felt that the woman looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't place her finger on it. Yi Jung and Woo Bin followed her eyes, and gave the woman a quick look over, but they didn't seem discouraged.

"Okay, we're in. I already have the highest number of wins between you two, so what would I gain out of this?" Yi Jung asked.

"I haven't thought about that, yet." Ga Eul answered.

"And I have. You have to tell the winner who your mysterious date that bailed was." Yi Jung said, mischief in his eyes.

"I second that." Woo Bin said.

Ga Eul got rattled by the mention of her fake date. Now Yi Jung wasn't playing for the fun anymore. He wanted to know why she lied to Jan Di. If Jan Di and Jun Pyo couldn't guess it, Yi Jung, and probably the rest of the F4, did. Why did he have to bring it up now? After forgetting her troubles, and getting caught up in games, Ga Eul's mood darkened at the reminder of Hong Joon. She had no reason to divert that request into something else. If she did, she would be confirming Yi Jung's suspicions even more, so her only chance was depending on that woman's choice.

"You got it."

"And what would you get if you won?" Ji Hoo said. For a moment she had forgotten he was there after being quiet for most of their conversation.

"I can't decide yet, but you would owe me one. Both Woo Bin and Yi Jung. But for now, I'm going up to my room. I can't open my eyes any longer. Goodnight." She said as she got up.

A/N: I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads my story. That means so much to me. And I especially want to thank Myrslayer and glorialopezgl534.03. Your reviews always bring a smile to my face and warm my heart.