Yoon Se Ah returned to the bar counter only to see that Min Hyun was no longer there. The handsome bartender recognized her confusion and slid a small note along with a new drink. Se Ah thanked him and unfolded the note that was written in Min Hyun's clumsy handwriting:
"Miss Yoon, Oh Ma Ri invited me to check out the playrooms together. I will be back shortly, please don't leave without me.
Lee Min Hyun."
She looked around in a futile attempt to find the intern somewhere in the crowd but he was nowhere to be spotted. She called the bartender again and asked in a rather worried voice,
"Excuse me, how long has it been since the guy who was here with me left?"
"Thirty minutes or so, it hasn't been that long."
"Thank you."
Se Ah turned around and stared blankly at the opposite wall. Did he know why Ma Ri asked him to go with her? He could not be that naive, of course he knew, and he agreed. It should be fine, right? Oh Ma Ri is a professional, she wouldn't hurt him without his consent but most importantly... Why was she so worried?
'Is it because I brought him here? Do I feel some sense of responsibility now? Yoon Se Ah, you crazy bitch, what the hell is going on inside your head? Min Hyun is like a puppy surrounded by wolves here but still... It's not like me to care about him this much.'
Miss Yoon rubbed her forehead and sighed. There was nothing she could do, at least it was not Kang Da Hye. And just when the name of her friend crossed her tired mind, Da Hye emerged right in front of her with a somewhat frantic expression on her face.
"Se Ah! Come, I need you to come with me right now!"
She grabbed Se Ah by the hand and started pulling her toward one of the playrooms.
"Da Hye? What's wrong?"
"It's your boy toy, he fainted!"
"What?"
Da Hye opened the door to the playroom and almost shoved Se Ah inside it, locking the door behind them. Lee Min Hyun was lying naked on the floor completely unconscious; his body was covered in bruises that had already turned black, some of the wounds left by the leather whip were bleeding, and his pale neck had a thick necklace of red fingerprints left by a vigorous choking attempt.
Miss Yoon shifted her eyes to Oh Ma Ri who was pacing back and fro next to him and biting her thumb.
"Se Ah!"
The moment she noticed her, Ma Ri clung to her arm and started apologizing.
"I'm sorry, Se Ah, I had no idea he was like this! He kept asking me to be rougher with him, we agreed on a safe word but he never said it! And the next thing I know he is unconscious. I really did not know, he never asked me to stop!"
Se Ah knelt in front of the guy, put her fingers on the right side of his neck underneath the jaw, waited for a few seconds, and sighed in surprising relief.
"I guess it was just too much for him. He is still new to it, after all."
She stroked his chin with her fingers and noticed that his eyes began to slowly open.
"Lee Min Hyun? Are you awake now?"
The guy looked at Miss Yoon, then smiled, and closed his eyes again.
"Miss Yoon... I'm so ashamed... I don't want you to see me like this, I just... wanted to learn more..."
He tried to sit up and although the "injuries" he received were in fact not that bad, he pretended to groan in pain, and leaned over Miss Yoon's shoulder, panting and gasping for air. He could have made a great actor.
"Miss Yoon, are you mad at me? ...Did I cause too much trouble?"
Se Ah patted him on the head and replied in a quiet voice,
"It's fine, I'm not mad. Tell me, Lee Min Hyun, do you NEED to go to the hospital?"
Min Hyun shook his head and whispered,
"No, I just want to rest."
"Alright then."
She asked Da Hye to get her a blanket or a big towel to wrap around the intern, then packed his clothes into a paper bag, put him in the car with the help of a security guy, started the car, and took off.
"Min Hyun, I'm going to take you to your place. Is the "Home" destination in your navigator the place where you live?"
Although Min Hyun heard her perfectly well, he decided to act for a bit longer and pretended to be asleep. He did not want to go home just yet, after all, all that show was meant to make Miss Yoon feel guilty and pity him. He wanted to stay with her tonight, he wanted HER to want to stay with him.
Se Ah stared at the guy's face for a few moments, then sighed, and mumbled, while turning the car around,
"I can't fucking believe this."
When the car finally stopped, Min Hyun realized that he had dozed off for real and even got scared for a second, thinking that his plan might have actually failed and Miss Yoon did take him to his building, but when he turned his face around, his eyes met Se Ah's and he almost smiled at her genuinely worried expression.
"Min Hyun, we need to go up to my place, do you think you can get up?"
He nodded, then slowly lifted his body, while still groaning and wincing in imaginary pain which made Se Ah almost jump out of the car. She wrapped his arm around her shoulders and helped him get to the elevator. When they finally got into the apartment, she led him to the bathroom, took off the blanket that was still covering his body, and handed him a clean towel instead.
"Here, take a warm shower first, I'll go look if I have enough ointment and bandages."
She was about to leave but Min Hyun grabbed her hand, pressed his forehead to her shoulder, and whispered,
"Miss Yoon... Can you help me with that? I don't think I can do it."
His hot breath tickled her bare skin spreading a pleasant sense of warmth all over her body. For a moment, she found herself wanting to help him, after all, she was the reason he was hurt, but once she was able to catch that ludicrous feeling, she crushed it like a bug, pulled her hand away, gave Min Hyun a slight push on the chest, and started walking out.
"I'll be waiting in the living room, use whatever you want."
Se Ah closed the door behind her, leaving Min Hyun alone, in complete silence. He slowly got inside the shower, turned the freezingly cold water on, and watched it flow over his bruised body, making him shiver like a wet dog.
'It's fine. I'll do something else. I'll do anything.'