Kyunghee went to grab a drink of water in the staff kitchen/lounge, running into a waitress and bartender who was taking their fifteen minute break. They looked up briefly when they saw her enter, but promptly resumed their conversation as if she wasn't there.
"I heard you brought the drinks up to VIP Room A," the bartender said excitedly. "So did you see what the guest looks like? I heard he's one of Jiwon unnie's really, really VIP guests. He's also very mysterious. Nobody's allowed near him except for Jiwon unnie."
Kyunghee normally minded her own business, but at the mention of the VIP guest, she couldn't help but perk her ears up in curiosity and anticipation. At the same time, she grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge and an energy bar from the cabinet and unwrapped it, so that it wouldn't be too obvious she was there to eavesdrop. Pulling the lace mask off, she set it on the island counter. Then she leaned against it, with her back facing the two girls.
The waitress explained in a grumble, "Before we went in to serve, Bongseok told us to keep our eyes and head down. We had to leave immediately."
"So you didn't see the guest?" The bartender asked, disappointed.
Lowering her voice a tad bit, but still making it audible, the waitress chuckled and said, "Luckily I managed to sneak a glance right before the doors closed and—oh!" She sighed with a dreamy, far away expression.
"Oh what?" The bartender urged impatiently. "What does he look like? Hwasun! Hurry and tell me!"
Kyunghee distractedly bit into the energy bar, chewing without much thoughts. She was also a bit impatient with Hwasun dragging the suspense.
"He's gorgeous! And even gorgeous is an understatement. His side profile is the kind you only find on celebrities."
"Really? Is he a celebrity?"
Hwasun shook her head. "No, I don't think he is. But oh Yuna, a man that gorgeous should be criminalized for simply existing. At first, I thought he'd be a fifty-something year old man with grey hair and wrinkles, but I was totally shocked by how young he is. He also looked…mixed. You know, a mixed baby."
Kyunghee's heart inexplicably jumped at the two words 'mixed baby'.
Hwasun sighed again as she lamented with envy, "How does Jiwon unnie have such a client? It's like she knows all the powerful and good-looking ones. Do you think she could introduce me to someone?"
Yuna knocked her knuckle lightly against Hwasun's forehead. "Stop dreaming! You're a cocktail server. Who do you think Jiwon unnie is? Do you think you can do that kind of work?" Yuna shot Kyunghee's back a glance before saying in a quieter voice, "Don't talk about this anymore, especially in front of Bongseok. He's going to give you an earful for talking about the VIP guest."
"Yeah, you're totally right." Hwasun nodded as she also casted a cautious glance Kyunghee's way. "Let's talk about something else. So did you watch that new airing drama with Lee Dongwook?"
Picking up on the intentional change of topic, Kyunghee knew she wasn't going to be getting anything else out of Hwasun and Yuna for the night. She quickly finished up the rest of the energy bar, washed it down with water, then headed out of the staff lounge. Stepping out into the corridor, the faint sound of a skirmish coming from the back exit area caught her attention. Before she knew it, Kyunghee had gravitated towards the noise.
"Ah! Ow! Ah! Hyung! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me this time!"
"How many times have I forgiven you? I don't see you repenting your past actions."
"Oppa! Stop it, please!"
"Jintae hyung, please! You're hurting me! Owiee!"
"Hey! What's going on?" Kyunghee raised her voice when she noticed Sangmin was pushed up against the wall face-first, his left cheek glued to it. Both of his arms were twisted painfully behind his back by a taller man, who also had another arm pressed up against Sangmin's neck. Sangmin's face was growing red from the pain. Kyunghee's heart raced as she hurried over towards the scene.
When the taller man turned his face towards her, Kyunghee nearly stopped dead in her tracks. Words couldn't describe the shock she experienced when she saw Detective Hothead's dark eyes staring straight back at her. Anyone could tell he was suppressing the fury underneath as he pressed Sangmin up against the wall with brute strength.
Unlike Kyunghee however, when Jintae's gaze landed on her, there was no sense of recognition. Even if she had taken off the lace mask, Kyunghee was still in her disguise with light purple hair, grey colored eye contacts and provocative clothes. It made sense he wouldn't recognize her.
Sangmin's eyes lit up when he saw a potential savior. "Stella! Help me!"
"What are you doing? Let him go. You're obviously hurting him," Kyunghee spoke up in Sangmin's defense.
Jintae's eyes roamed over the woman who was so scantily dressed that her voluptuous body was bare for all to see. She had superficial purple hair and an equally superficial pair of grey eyes. Just one look at her and he concluded she was one of the club's strippers. His veins twitched, indicating his displeasure about being interrupted.
"Violence isn't tolerated in the club. If you don't let him go, I'm going to call security," Kyunghee warned in a stricter voice again, glancing at Sangmin's expression. She was sincerely worried about him. She could only imagine how painful it was to be pinned by a six-feet tall giant of heavy weight muscles.
Jintae slowly released Sangmin, but it wasn't because of her meaningless threat. Something about this woman was foreign but also familiar. He regarded her with skepticism.
Freed, Sangmin immediately ran over to Kyunghee's side, somewhat hiding behind her. He whispered a few quick words of gratitude beside her ear. "I knew you'd be my savior, Stella."
Looking at him with concern, Kyunghee asked, "Are you ok?"
Sangmin nodded his head with eyes of a hurt puppy. "Even a stranger cares about me more than my family."
"Family?" Kyunghee arched an eyebrow in question.
"That's right. I was teaching my younger cousin a lesson. Who are you to poke your nose in our family affairs?" Jintae hardened his gaze like steel. At the same time, his mind was running a mile a second, trying to figure out what about this woman was giving him familiar vibes, like he had met her before somewhere.
Kyunghee shifted her eyes between Jintae and Sangmin. "He's your cousin?"
Sangmin nodded innocently.
Kyunghee stood still in disbelief. Now she felt almost foolish for being a busy body. Her gaze slowly shifted towards Detective Hothead, who was glowering at her. Well, what was she expecting when she was being too meddlesome for her own good? However, it wasn't as if she could stand by and watch Sangmin in pain either. It wouldn't sit right with her.
With a stubborn countenance, she rebutted, "Well, it doesn't matter if you guys are family. This is a place of business." With a firm, somewhat accusatory gaze on Jintae, she added, "Surely, you can respect the public and teach your cousin a lesson at home, can't you?" As the words left her mouth, an image of a broken streetlamp flashed into her mind's eyes. Respect the public? She highly doubted that of Detective Hothead. It didn't seem like he recognized her though, which was totally fine with her.
Her tone of voice, the way those eyes looked at him, it struck a suspicious chord in Jintae. "It's a good thing you remember this is a place of business. Your club has a minimum age requirement of twenty-one, doesn't it?" He took a big step forward, closing the gap between Kyunghee.
Meanwhile, Sangmin instinctively backed away from Kyunghee to create some safe distance, as if he was scared his human shield would also be bulldozed by his grim-faced older cousin and get to him.
Kyunghee remained rooted to the ground, unwilling to budge or show she was intimidated.
"Your business just broke the law it sets by letting in a twenty year old."
"What?" Kyunghee was startled at first, but as she looked past Jintae, to the girl in the red mini-skirt and black halter top with an embarrassed expression on her features, she realized what was truly going on. Kyunghee tossed Sangmin a look of disbelief and betrayal. "You brought her in?"
Sangmin gulped, caught between a rock and a hard place. "I…well…but…hey! Park Minji! Say something! You're the one who made me do this!" Sangmin promptly abandoned Kyunghee's side as he walked over to his twenty year old little sister instead. He stood behind his little sister, nudging her forward forcefully. "You should explain!"
Minji bit her lower lip, scared to look at Jintae. Aside from her cowardly brother selling her out, she knew she had to be accountable for her own actions. "Jintae oppa, it's—it's true. I asked Sangmin oppa to take me here. He…He was able to get me a fake ID so that I could enter the club." She lowered her head in shame. "I just…I just wanted to know what's so fun about this club that Sangmin oppa frequents all the time. Not to mention, he always spends so much money here." With her head lowered, she was able to hide the sly smile. It was one thing to be accountable for her own actions, but teaching her cowardly brother a small lesson was also something she wanted to do.
"Park Minji!" Saangmin gaped, horrified. He should've known that cunning sister of his wouldn't pass the chance to give him some trouble. If only they weren't related by blood, he thought bitterly. He made a gesture to raise his fist, wanting to hit her, but of course didn't, letting his fist fall back to his side begrudgingly.
Upon hearing Minji's words, Kyunghee felt as if she had been shot with an arrow, making her uncomfortable when she thought about the two 50,000 won bills hiding in her pocket this moment.
Jintae was used to such sight of these two. Ignoring them, his attention was keenly focused on the grey eyes before him.
"I…didn't know," Kyunghee admitted, her obstinacy and antagonism softening. "Sorry," she apologized sincerely, meeting his scrutiny. "You're not planning to report this, are you?"
She waited with bated breaths for his response. Considering that he was the police and his underaged younger cousin slipped past security and got into a twenty-one plus club, Kyunghee wondered if he was going to blow this up and make it hell for everyone involved tonight. She remembered that hellish ride with him. It wouldn't be surprising if he did. To make matters worse, since Sangmin was one of her regulars, would Bongseok assumed this had anything to do with her? Would he make things difficult for her based on that assumption? Just thinking about the possibility gave Kyunghee a headache. It wasn't as if they never accidentally let one or two underaged people slip through, but this time the person in question was related to a tenacious cop. They were really out of luck.
Right this moment, as if sensing Kyunghee's dilemma, Minji grabbed a hold of Jintae's left arm and looked at him pleadingly. "Oppa, can we just go home? I'm sorry I shouldn't have come here. I promise I won't do this again. We've learned our lesson already. Let's not make this a big deal, ok? Sangmin oppa, isn't that right?"
Sangmin immediately picked up on his sister's cue. "Jintae hyung, I've really learned my lesson. I shouldn't have brought Minji with me no matter how much she begged." Worried that Jintae might misdirect his anger onto Kyunghee, Sangmin added, "Hyung, it's not Stella's fault. It was our fault for skating the law."
"Yet you want to be a prosecutor?" Jintae snapped back with the harsh truth.
Sangmin had no good comeback. He could only fall back in the background with shame. At the same time he was signaling Minji with his eyes to aid Kyunghee.
Minji was a clever girl and picked up on it immediately. "See! Everything is Sangmin oppa's fault." Minji glanced at Kyunghee. "It's not this unnie's fault."
After what seemed like forever, Jintae warned, "If I catch you—"
"I swear I won't!" Minji held a hand over her heart with a determined and honest expression.
"Me too!" Sangmin chimed in, wanting some credit in assuaging Jintae's anger. "I mean, bringing her here that is," he clarified after a moment.
Seeing that everything was settled, Kyunghee secretly exhaled in relief. She hesitated but nevertheless said, "Thank you." Whether she was willing or not, Kyunghee constantly found herself in a position where she had to say these two words to Detective Hothead. Words that were supposed to be said with gratitude didn't really feel grateful for some reason.
"Since hyung already gave his words, you can rest assure this will end here, Stella. We'll leave right away," Sangmin assured.
"I won't be seeing you out then." Kyunghee gave Sangmin one final hard look then she spun around and left.
As Jintae watched Kyunghee's disappearing figure, the corners of his mouth tugged downwards with a furrow between his brows. Those grey contact lenses were not pretty, he thought. It definitely wasn't anywhere near as alluring as her real hazel eyes.