Earrings Instead of a Glass Slipper
Ten years ago.
“Senior, I don’t like you. Please just forget what happened that day.”
There were tears pooled in Cha Ha-neul’s eyes as she said it.
Kang Ho-su stared at her for a long while before nodding.
“Okay. I understand. I’m sorry. I’m the one who got rejected, so why are you about to cry?”
“I’ll get going first,” Ha-neul said before rising from her seat and walking toward the café door.
Clink.
The ice in the glass holding the iced Americano melted away.
Watching Ha-neul’s retreating back, Ho-su squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists.
‘Why are you lying? You like me too.’
Come back. Come back and tell me you misspoke. Come take my hand. And smile at me.
Ho-su pleaded desperately in his heart.
But she never came back.
And ten years passed.
“Ha-neul, Mom’s getting married this time.”
It was Han Mi-ran’s voice over the phone. Ha-neul swallowed a sigh.
“This time? It’s already your fifth marriage.” ─ No. I really think it’ll work out this time. Yoon-ho is different from the others. “So?” ─ So, the thing is… Ha-neul, could you help me out just a little? “With what?” ─ The wedding expenses.
Ha-neul tightened her grip on the phone. Then she closed both eyes and held back the curse that was about to spill out.
“Why do I have to pay for your wedding, Mom?” ─ Can’t a daughter even take care of her mother’s wedding? You’re doing well these days. Can’t you just take one more ad? “…” ─ Ha-neul? Are you listening? “…Fine. I’m hanging up.”
Click. Ha-neul threw her phone onto the bed.
“Ugh. Should I call Dad?”
Park Jong-hyun. He had been Han Mi-ran’s second husband, but to Ha-neul, he was as good as her real father. But today, she didn’t even want to hear Dad’s voice. For some reason, she felt like she would start crying the moment she received any comfort.
Just then, her phone rang again. It was Kim Ji-yeon, the manager who handled Ha-neul’s work.
─ Ha-neul, you absolutely have to come to the brand event today. The CEO asked personally. “Sis, you know I don’t go to places like that.” ─ Please. Just this once. Okay?
Ha-neul closed her eyes.
“…Fine.”
This was all because of that damn, godforsaken phone call.
Gangnam club La Vie En. The after-party began after Brand Heritage’s new-line launch party ended.
Ha-neul drank more than usual. Each time the whiskey slid down her throat, it felt as though it erased her mother’s voice.
Living as the influencer model Yoonseul looked glamorous, but in the end, she was nothing more than her mother’s ATM.
“I’m just going to the bathroom for a minute…” “Oh, are you okay?”
A brand representative sitting beside Ha-neul caught her as she staggered to her feet.
Ha-neul said she was fine and started toward the bathroom. She was walking down the hall when she bumped into someone.
“I’m sor—”
Ha-neul bowed her head unsteadily to apologize, then looked up. A man she had never seen before was staring at her.
He was much taller than she was, with broad shoulders and long legs.
Dark eyes set within his sharp features fixed on Ha-neul.
The moment she saw him, Ha-neul’s heart suddenly ached, and she felt as if she might burst into tears.
“Ah, what’s wrong with me?” “Are you okay?”
The man’s voice resonated low.
Ha-neul nodded to say she was fine and headed back to the bathroom. Then she looked at herself in the mirror and washed her face with cold water.
“Get a grip. I just have to finish this and go home.”
Ha-neul returned to her table, said goodbye to the representative, and left the club.
She didn’t remember how she had made it to the bus stop near the club. When she came to her senses, she was sitting on a bench.
“Get a grip, Cha Ha-neul.”
The cold December wind brushed past her cheek.
Then a voice came from beside her.
“Are you okay?”
It was the man she had run into outside the club bathroom earlier.
“…Yes.” “Take a taxi home. The buses have stopped running anyway, and it’s dangerous to be alone at this hour.” “…I’m fine.”
Ha-neul lowered her head again and stared at the ground.
The man quietly listened to her before sitting down beside her.
“Then I’ll stay with you. Until the taxi comes.”
Ha-neul looked up at him.
It was a dark night, and she was drunk, so Ha-neul couldn’t make out his face clearly. But when she looked at him, a ripple passed through her heart.
A feeling she longed for—longed for desperately—surged up inside her.
Afraid she might start crying without realizing it, Ha-neul raised a hand and pressed it firmly against her eyes.
“Could you… hold me?”
The words slipped from Ha-neul’s lips before she knew it.
A brief silence passed.
The man hesitated for a moment, then carefully placed a hand on Ha-neul’s shoulder and pulled her into his arms.
His arms were broad and quite warm.
“I don’t want to go home.”
Ha-neul whispered.
“Then where would you like to go?” “Anywhere… I don’t want to be alone.”
A hotel suite in the heart of Gangnam.
It was just past midnight, and the streets were quiet in the unusually cold weather.
But regardless of the temperature outside, the air inside the room was heating up. The two people on the bed were too absorbed in each other to notice anything else.
“Haah. Cha Ha-neul. This is driving me crazy.”
The man’s voice resonated low, thick with desire.
“You were like this then, too. You really…” “Haah.” “Don’t tense up. You’re making it hard for me.” “Ah. Ahh. Please.”
The man’s breath, laced with the strong scent of whiskey, brushed against Ha-neul’s neck. Ha-neul bit her lip and tried to hold back, but it was useless. Before she knew it, her eyes were burning with desire.
The man’s hand stroked Ha-neul’s face, then slowly traveled downward. The nape of her neck, her collarbone, and the curve beneath it.
Red flowers bloomed wherever his hand brushed.
Ha-neul spoke to him in a voice that sounded as if she could barely breathe.
“St—stop. Please, stop now. I think I’m going to die.” “You’re the one who started this.” “Ahh. Ah. It’s too much.” “It took ten years. Don’t run away this time.”
The man continued moving for a long while after that.
The next morning. Ha-neul slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. Beside her lay a rumpled blanket, while clothes were scattered carelessly across the floor.
“Ugh. I must be out of my mind.”
Ha-neul was frowning as she clawed at her hair when she heard the sound of running water from the bathroom.
She quickly gathered her clothes and put them on. Her hands trembled violently as she dressed.
‘I have to get out. Right now.’
Unable to put on her coat, she draped it over one arm along with her bag and headed for the door.
Something glittered on the floor beside the bed. It was one of the earrings she had received as a gift from the brand representative yesterday. But she didn’t have time to pick it up. All she could think about was getting out of there as quickly as possible.
Ha-neul opened the door and bolted into the hallway. Then she frantically pressed the elevator button.
‘Please, please…’
Ding. The doors opened, and Ha-neul rushed inside. The moment she checked her reflection in the mirror beside her, she could only gape in shock.
Her hair was a mess, and almost all the lipstick had been wiped from her lips. On top of that, strange red marks covered her neck and collarbone.
“Idiot… I’m such an idiot…”
Ha-neul held back the tears threatening to spill over and rode the elevator down to the first floor.
Click.
The bathroom door opened.
Kang Ho-su stepped out, a towel wrapped around his waist, shaking out his hair. Water droplets ran down his broad shoulders, his skin unusually fair for a man and his muscles firm.
“Ha-neul, good morni—”
He stopped mid-sentence. The bed he was looking at was empty.
“Again.”
Ho-su walked over to the bed and collapsed onto its edge.
It had been exactly ten years. Ha-neul had disappeared like this back then, too. Ho-su clenched his fists.
“Not this time. I won’t let you get away.”
At that moment, his eyes caught the diamond earring lying on the floor. He picked it up.
“Earrings instead of a glass slipper…”
The corners of his lips lifted.
“I’ve ended up in the exact same situation with the exact same woman twice. Will I be able to find you this time?”
Ho-su stared at the earring for a long while.
Then his phone on the table rang.
It was Park Ji-hoon, his friend and the vice president at his company.
“Hello?” ─ Hey, where are you? You know you have to come into the office today, right? There’s an important meeting this afternoon. “I know. I’ll be there this afternoon.” ─ Don’t suddenly tell me you can’t make it like last time. You absolutely have to attend this time. “Don’t worry. See you later.”
Even after hurriedly hailing a taxi and getting in, Ha-neul couldn’t come to her senses. She stared blankly out the window, feeling as if her mind had been emptied completely.
─ Cha Ha-neul.
The man’s calm, low voice still lingered in her ears.
Ha-neul squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together.
Before she knew it, the taxi had arrived in front of her house.
Ha-neul paid the fare and staggered up the stairs. Then, the moment she opened the front door, she ran to the bedroom.
When she flung off her dress, her milky-white naked body was revealed.
The moment she saw herself in the mirror, Ha-neul froze in place.
Hickeys marked her neck, shoulders, and chest. There were also marks on her arms and waist, shaped as if someone had gripped her hard.
“Haah…”
Ha-neul ran to the bathroom and turned on the shower above the tub. The hot water soaked her body, but it wasn’t the marks on her skin that refused to disappear.
─ It took ten years.
The man’s voice had trembled. And there had been something desperate in his eyes.
That was all Ha-neul remembered about the man.
“He seemed to know me. Who was he? Haah, I really have no idea.”
Ha-neul submerged her face in the water.
And it wasn’t long before the two of them met again.