1 Chapter 1

Minhee gasped for air as she slid down the wall, hiding just beyond the corner of the alleyway, having dashed down two blocks of shops at full speed, much to the annoyance of the several passersby along the way.

[What did I just see?]

It was merely a hypothetical question. She knew exactly what she had just seen, she just didn't want to admit it. It was her first day of college, and she didn't want to get involved in any kind of drama. Especially not this early in the year.

[It's fine, it's fine. I can just pretend I didn't see it, and I can move on and have a smooth and drama-free next four years. I doubt he saw me, anyway. The eye-contact must have just been coincidence-]

"Hey, you." a male voice interrupted her panicked thoughts, and she closed her eyes, willing it to go away, or even better, just be a figment of her imagination.

However, she had no such luck, since she felt his (very real) finger tap her shoulder, and she turned to stare up into the stern face of the exact man she had been running away from.

She let out a (somewhat undignified) squeak, and he raised an eyebrow, indicating he had heard the embarrassing noise.

Minhee cleared her throat, straightening up and crossing her arms in an attempt to appear casual, but no doubt failing miserably. "Sup." she bobbed her head, cringing at her own actions.

His sharp eyes just stared, and she felt her cheeks start to burn a little in embarrassment.

[Who even says "sup" anymore?!] She scolded herself.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase here, I know you saw us." He said, and she groaned inwardly.

[There goes my chance of pretending I hadn't seen them.]

He leaned in, his dark hair falling into his face a little, and opened his mouth to continue, Violet panicked and interrupted him, hands held up as if to protect herself. "I won't say anything!" she blurted, face turned away and eyes squeezed shut.

My first day of college and I'm already getting targeted by a thug! Why do I have such terrible luck...

She was met with silence once again, though, and when she opened her eyes again he had moved back. She was surprised to see he had a somewhat apologetic look on his face, and tilted her head, questioning whether she was seeing correctly.

The man cleared his throat, cheeks a little red and refusing to meet her eyes, obviously a little embarrassed. His previously intimidating aura and face now seemed almost...cute? She had a vivid image of a puppy scolded by his owner suddenly flash into her mind, almost snorting at the ridiculousness of her own imagination.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to scare you."

She winced again. She was such a bad owner! [Wait.] She shook her head, trying to snap herself out of it. [He's not your dog! He's a human!] She felt a little bad, but kept silent, reminding herself not to let her guard down just because he seemed to be cute now.

"I-it��s not what you think," he continued, still keeping his eyes trained steadfastly away from her. "But, um, if you could keep it quiet, I would really appreciate it…" he suddenly started fumbling around in his pockets, and Violet backed up once again, feeling uneasy.

[What is he looking for? A knife? To shut me up forever?!] She panicked internally.

She shut her eyes and flinched back again when he suddenly shoved something towards her, but upon feeling no sudden pain of a stab, opened her eyes once again to see him holding out a positively giant wad of cash towards her.

[…]

Minhee's brain stalled, not quite believing the sheer amount of money she was looking at. It was more than she had ever seen in her entire life.

Due to her silence, he finally looked at her again, wondering why she wasn't moving or saying anything, only to be met with her flabbergasted face, her mouth hanging wide open.

He wrinkled his brow in confusion. Why was she just staring like that? Why wasn't she taking it? Was it not enough?

He coughed a little, feeling awkward just holding the money in the air like that, which seemed to startle her back into action, and she jumped, straightening up and starting to talk rapidly, almost tripping over her own words. "Oh! Uh, it's okay, really! I wasn't going to say anything anyway...and this is...really too much. Like, it's so much that I'm really not sure that it's safe to carry around. I mean, aren't you scared of getting robbed? You know people would kill for that much money, right? You should only be carrying around like a tenth of that at most, probably even less, I mean-"

She paused to check his reaction, but the man was just staring, looking as confused as she felt when she saw him holding that ridiculous amount of cash. He obviously had no idea what she was talking about. She opened her mouth to continue her rambling, but was (thankfully?) interrupted by a derisive snort, and both she and the first man whipped their heads over to see yet another man leaning casually against the alley wall, about a few feet down from where they were.

Minhee momentarily wondered when he had gotten there and how she hadn't seen or heard him, but ultimately decided it had been because of the shock of the whole money situation. Upon thinking this, she suddenly remembered that said money was still hanging out in the open, and immediately stepped in front of it in a (somewhat useless) attempt to shield it from him, which just pulled another short laugh from the man.

[Right. He's already seen it anyway. ]

She glanced worriedly over at the first man, but was surprised to see that his face had relaxed. He obviously knew this newcomer.

She wasn't sure if she should be relieved or more worried because of that.

Minhee turned back to the first man, observing him a little more closely. He was tall, inarguably attractive, with lighter brown hair and bright eyes currently sparkling with humor. His clothing, like the first man's, although simple, screamed of wealth. He seemed a little familiar, and she stiffened when she realized he was the other man she had seen um, participating, a little earlier.

Man Number One sniffed a little, sounding pouty. "What are you doing here, Jun?"

Man Number Two raised his brow, much like Number One had previously done to Violet. "You were taking longer than expected. I thought you might have met some trouble?" His eyes drifted over to Minhee as he said this, and she couldn't help but feel a little offended, though she didn't exactly know why.

Number One pouted even more, seeming to shrink in on himself a little, and Violet glanced at him to see him looking even more like a scolded puppy than before, if that was even possible. "I didn't mean to scare her…'' he muttered quietly, cheeks turning red once again.

Number Two, or Jun, Minhee supposed, merely laughed indulgently, as if they were out on a walk in the park, instead of standing in a sketchy alley, trying to negotiate her silence. He got up and walked closer to the both of them, his eyes amused as he saw Minhee instinctually moving as if to protect Number One.

It wasn't her fault he seemed like he needed to be protected…

"Seoyun, you really do have to become more aware of the way you look. Most people think you're some kind of thug, with that cold face. Especially since you're so fond of dressing in all black. And since you tower over most of them as well." he spoke lightly as he made his way over.

Minhee couldn't argue there. She had thought the same thing. At least for the first five minutes.

Upon reaching the two of them, he approached Minhee, getting closer than she felt necessary, and she leaned away, wondering what the hell he was doing. However, Jun he ended up reaching past her, grabbing the ungodly amount of cash from Seoyun's hand and turning to plop it into hers.

Minhee blinked.

In her despondence, she allowed Jun to gently grab her by the shoulders, and move her aside to get to Seoyun. He then slung his arm around Seoyun's shoulders and began to guide him out of the alleyway.

"Thanks for keeping this under wraps! Hope we never meet again!" he called cheerily, casually throwing her a wave of goodbye as they strolled out. Seoyun merely threw her a wide eyed look, apparently as confused as she was at the moment.

"W-wait!" Minhee called, her brain kicking back into action. "I can't take this!"

They kept going though, and when she ran out, looking around wildly for them, they had already disappeared.

[How in the world do two people disappear that quickly?] She wondered.

She became suddenly aware of the suspicious glances she was receiving due to her visible desperation and the money in her hand, and so awkwardly turned, quickly stuffing the cash into her bag.

Upon finishing the task, she happened to glance at her watch, causing her eyes to widen in terror.

[Shit! I'm gonna be late!]

All thoughts of the weird duo flying out of her mind, Minhee took off down the sidewalk once again, her legs already starting to ache from the amount of exercise they had gotten this morning.

So much for a drama-free year.