Chapter 1: Hangovers Are Better.

Lie Blu’s Apartment.

Ae Ra’s POV.

Regret has always been inevitable, at some point in our lives we get hit with it and right now I’ve been hit with a heavy dose of it. I grabbed my head gently with a raspy cry. I could feel my veins pulsing and throbbing, it felt like my head was going to explode. 

The sunlight that streamed in through my curtains did nothing to help. My stomach had a painful and burning sensation gnawing at me and my throat was dry as the Sahara desert begging for water. I moaned in pain as I curled into a ball, my body ached starting from my waist up to my neck.

What happened last night? Why can’t I remember anything? 

After what felt like hours of rolling around, I forced myself out of bed. If my body hurts this much, I must have gone overboard drinking with Ha Na. Something must have possessed me to get wasted because I only have blackouts when I get wasted.

I dragged myself to the bathroom wincing and hissing from how unnaturally bright my pink room was. With an irritated grunt, I turned the tap on washed my face with cold water and brushed my teeth and tongue hard.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get rid of the rancid taste in my mouth. “I’m never drinking again.” I groaned at my hideous reflection in the mirror. 

My cheeks were flushed and dark circles along with its sidekick ‘eyebags’ had made a nest under my brown doe eyes. My pink lips had lost their colour, possibly from dehydration and my long brown hair was in a tangled mess.

Not wanting to see that version of myself any longer than I already have I undressed and hopped into the cold shower. Feeling the water cascade down my naked body helped relax my tensed-up body.

***

“You can’t recall anything?!” Ha Na yelled through the receiver. 

I shifted away from the phone with a grimace. “For the umpteenth time, Ha Na… Stop yelling! My head hurts so much right now.” I cried out.

“I can not believe you possibly hooked up with the hottest man to walk the earth and can’t remember a single thing about it.” She whined.

“That’s because we did not hook up, Ha Na.” I rolled my eyes at how disappointed she sounded.

“How would you know if you did or not?”

“I just know, okay?”

“I guess you’re right, a hunk like that would leave you bedridden for days, I just know it.” She replied dreamily.

I squeezed my eyes shut, “How are you so dirty-minded?”

“I’m just factual, love. You may not remember the details of what happened but doesn’t your body remember anything when you think of him?”

Heat crept up my cheeks as his face flashed through my mind. The last thing I remember was him leaning in for a kiss, but there was no way I was going to tell her that!

“W-what about you? Weren’t you with his friend?” I asked in an attempt to change the direction of the conversation.

She snickered.“I’ll pretend you didn’t just wave my question. I bailed on his friend, he just wasn’t doing it for me I guess.”

Poor guy, he seemed like he had the hots for her but then again, every man did. Ha Na was drop-dead gorgeous and she was very much aware of how attractive she was. 

“Ah, that’s why you’re so interested in what happened, isn’t it?”

“Not necessarily but it would be nice if the night wasn’t a total fail you know? Although it seems like it was.” She sighed dramatically. “This must’ve been what they meant when they said you can take a horse to the stream but can’t force it to drink”

“It wasn’t a total fail. I enjoyed drinking and dancing with you but I have a bunch of work to complete now because of that.” I groaned, staring at my Mac.

“Looks like that’s my cue to leave. Goodbye, my love.”

“Byee.” The phone line beeped.

I pulled out my boss’s schedule to see what the week would be like. My boss is the Chairman and founder of Jung Group. Jung Group had two minor subsidiaries known as Jung Natural and Jung Tech. 

But the first, major and largest subsidiary is Jung Goods– A large retail company that operates in discount stores, supercenters, and neighbourhood markets, as well as a robust online platform. 

Jung Natural specialises in everything herbs and supplies to a lot of healthcare clinics too. Jung Tech specialised in advanced technology that supported Jung Natural. It also has delivery agents and other digital devices that made Jung Goods even more prosperous than it already was.

The company was barely fifty years old and they had already made the top 5 biggest companies by revenue. 

You'd think with so much wealth he'd be a pretentious, snobby, haughty snoot. But he was quite the opposite. His charming and easygoing personality made it super easy to work with him and as time went by we developed a father-daughter-like relationship. 

I sincerely loved working with him, plus, the pay was high and being the Chairman’s secretary came with a lot of perks. I lived in one of the best apartments, had no student loans to pay and enjoyed life to the fullest. The sun was shining on me all year long!

Bringing the hottest news to your screens, anonymous person L confidently says that Mr X, Chairman of X Group is terminally ill, tap for more info. -Gossip MilV.

The blurred photo looked a little bit like Chairman Jung but they couldn’t possibly be talking about him. I ignored the incredulous article and scrolled into the comment section to see what people had to say and sure enough, they were talking about Jung Group.

Where did this news even come from? 

There was a drop in our stocks already, it's crazy how much something seemingly insignificant can have such a big effect on the company. I should have been there to curb the media the moment the rumour started but I wasn’t.

“All I did was miss one night of work!” I cried out as more articles popped up. I thought the worst that could happen after a crazy night was dealing with a hangover but I was wrong.

This is bad.

***

Ji Won’s Residence.

Ji Won’s POV.

“Rise and shine, sleepy head.” Baek Jin greeted cheerfully as he pulled the curtains open.

“I am not stepping foot in Inferno ever again,” I croaked as I sat up. “That was the worst night of my life,” I shuddered, still traumatised by what transpired between me and the woman from last night.

“Was it that bad?” His copper-brown eyes twinkled with amusement as he handed me a cup of water with a boyish grin. He was casually dressed in a white t-shirt and black parachute pants, his fluffy blonde hair was messy as always.

I looked him dead in the eyes and nodded ‘Yes’

Bad was an understatement. 

I sighed heavily, a hangover would have been better than remembering the events that happened so vividly.

He peered at me with curiosity. “What happened?”

“You happened!” I glared at him.

He arched his eyebrow as he pointed at himself in shock. “Me? Why? What did I do?”

“If you didn’t give me that dumb advice then maybe–” I slapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself. If I didn’t listen to his foolish advice about giving her a drink of my choice… which honestly happened to be what my eyes landed on first.

Better yet! If I didn’t call her a good girl, maybe I wouldn’t feel this way! How did I allow this guy to convince me that was a good idea in the first place?!

“W-what?” He stuttered a playful glint in his eyes. “You took my advice?!” He laughed and I couldn’t help but scowl. “I’d rather not talk about it” I replied and drank the water. 

“Matter of fact, I’d rather yesterday didn’t happen.” I dropped the cup by the bedside table. “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you when you brought the club up.”

He was intelligent and quick on his feet but his ideas of cheering me up aren’t always as witty. Can’t even blame him for this one, I walked into it all because I wanted to spite my father. A foolish decision on my part.

“Then you should have won the game. You agreed to do whatever I want whenever I want.” He teased with a cocky grin.

“And your best idea was the club?” I bored holes into his head, if looks could kill he’d be six feet under.

He raised his hands defensively. “I was just doing you a favour. What happened between you two was all you.” He shook his head dramatically.

Whatever the case may be, at the very least I can find peace in the fact that I’d never meet her again, if our paths were ever to cross again I’m not sure what I’d do.

“It didn’t go all that well for me either, but I have no regrets meeting Ha Na.” He grinned to himself like a fool… and perhaps he was. 

He fell in love quicker than you could blink, got his heart broken and repeated the same cycle all over again. Sometimes I worry for him, he was witty but he was also pretty… gullible. A child that needs to be protected from strangers offering candy.

“I’m sure you don’t. But for me, last night was the last time,” I declared firmly.

He looked away in defeat. “Alright, you’re too sophisticated for Inferno anyway.” Clearing his throat, he passed his iPad to me. “Have you seen this?”

I glanced at the iPad and then at him, the playfulness his eyes held had been replaced by that of worry. No one worries about articles that concern me more than this blonde idiot. No matter how many times I tried to deter him he never stopped.

“If it’s another article, I’m not interested.” I ignored the iPad as I got out of bed. “You should stop paying attention to them too,” I stated pointedly.

He sighed, “I’m your best friend and personal assistant, it’s sort of my job to handle these things.” 

“You should ignore the articles, Baek Jin,” I replied flatly. “...they’re all lies too,” I added quietly.

“I know they are. That's all the more reason why I try to get them to take them down. But they won’t listen.” He repeatedly tapped the iPad frustratedly.

He may be an idiot, but he was the most caring idiot I know. “It’s fine, Baek Jin. It doesn’t bother me.” I smiled at him. 

I know the truth behind them and that’s all that matters.

“You’re a great person, Ji Won.” He relaxed momentarily but got serious again. “But you must see this, it’s… different.”

“I’m not interested in whatever new way of criticising me they’ve come up with.” I tried to walk away but he blocked my path, “You must take a look.” He stared at me with concern, his arm still outstretched. 

I sighed as I collected the iPad from him, did I forget to mention that he could be very stubborn when worried? “What’s it about this time?” I asked as I unlocked it.

“Your father.”

I froze in place, my fingers hovered over the screen as my heart hardened. “Is it important?” I asked coldly.

He inhaled deeply. “It is.”

I contemplated between reading the article and handing the iPad back to him. Last night my father made it clear that he’d always be on the media’s side and now there’s a rumour about him.

How ironic.

I thought sarcastically as I handed the iPad back to him. “I’m not interested in it.”

I felt his worried eyes on me as I looked anywhere but at his face. “Are you sure? It’s more important than you think.”

“I don’t care what it is,” I brushed past him. “And you’re prohibited from mentioning whatever the article entails to me, understood?”

“Understood.”