Chapter 115 - A Rose with Thorns

Dr. Kim and Miss Nam's fingers briefly touched, but the doctor spun her in a swift move, bringing Ye Rim with him behind a column. At first Ye Rim didn't understand, but then it became clear that he was hiding. Kim Jun Yeon discreetly peeked from behind the column, and then went back into hiding.

"But what are you doing, Oppa?"

"Shall we stay here for a while, please?"

"Are you crazy? What are we going to do behind a column, in an event full of people?"

Kim Ju Hyeon sighed, glancing around and realizing the ridicule of the situation. He, an a.d.u.l.t man and not exactly small, hiding behind a column, and holding a girl's wrist, on top of that. Releasing Ye Rim, he said,

"So look for yourself, but be discreet."

Ye Rim thought there must be a good reason for that, and she quickly peeked what was going on. The singer soon spotted the friendly Mr. Go, escorted by an elegant lady of empowered posture. She was sure that this woman could only be Dr. Kim's mother. 

"Mr Go! Aigoo, I don't believe it! Why would we have to hide from Mr. Go? He's your grandpa! Is that ajumeoni your mother, Oppa?" it puzzled Ye Rim.

"Ye Rim ah! How can you not know why he can't see us together?! Is obvious! He wants us to date! And he will start to assume that we are secretly dating, if he gets to see us here together! He'll tell everyone we are a couple!"

"Uhn… Obviously you don't want to be seen with a woman like me," Ye Rim grunted, feeling offended and irritated at being offended. The doctor replied,

"No, of course not!"

"What did you say?!" her blood boiled at his honesty.

"Why so mad? You know I'm not the type for you! I am stingy and you are a gold-digger! Nothing against it, after all that is why my grandfather identifies with you so much. Gold-diggers can be very cool, though. And I like you, because you are fun. But you have your requirements and I have mine. Girls who only think about money don't stand a chance with me."

"Why, what a prick! You don't know me at all!"

"Don't be sad. I'm going to introduce you to some very generous friends. That's what friends are for."

"Thank you very much, but I'll pass. I will be busy making my own money, Dr. Kim. I won't have to take anyone's, or win the lottery," saying this Ye Rim pushed him to get out of there. She was furious and wouldn't waste any more time with that idiot. Whenever the singer thought Kim Jun Hyeon was proving to be a decent human being, he showed his stupid side.

"It would be nice, 'friend'. I got no offense by you rubbing in my face that I have money because my mom won the lottery. It was the worst thing that happened to us. I don't use that money anymore, although I had a privileged education thanks to it. And ..." the surgeon tapped his wallet, chuckling, "In case you don't know yet, 'easy comes, easy goes'."

"You are incredibly stupid, did you know? Whoever saw that smile back there doesn't know what kind of guy you are," Ye Rim said, feeling her head start to hurt and her eyes start to itch and water.

"I know who I am. That's enough for me," Dr. Kim replied, raising an eyebrow in contempt. "And do you, Ye Rim, know who you are? You compare yourself to a queen, but there you were, like a Cinderella in that booth. You treat me like an unworthy idiot, but you got tiny and meek around those women. I wonder what so valuable Queen Maeve offered back to the men who courted her. Well, she was a Queen to begin with, wasn't she? But Ye Rim ... You are not a queen. You just behave like a proud queen to me. To others, you act like a dazzled and innocent poor protagonist of a cheap drama. But if it's me, you show your thorns. A rose with thorns, as Exupery would say." 

Dr Kim's words, spoken gravely as he looked her straight in the eye, hurt. At the same time, Ye Rim was aware of the public environment they were in. With the doctor resting a hand on the column and she curled up in his shadow, vexed and resentful.

Ye Rim took a deep breath, refusing to cry. Kim Jun Hyeon had no right to make her cry.

"You're crazy!"

The doctor snorted, pulling his hand away for her to leave. Jun Hyeon seemed to have decided to abandon the discussion as well. People were staring at them.

"Crazy? I thought I could be sincere. See you soon, 'friend'," saying this, the doctor walked away, disappearing into the crowd that visited the charity fair.

Ye Rim smoothed her clothes, buying time to breathe.

' Aishhh! I'm so angry! So angry! Why didn't I kill him?! Who does he think he is to judge me like that?! He knows that I was selling the bags for… ' 

No, he didn't. She never considered telling him. Ye Rim noticed this as she headed for the public toilet in the event hall. She just wanted to leave and crash in her own bed. But the singer must do her part in the deal with Ms. Cha. 

Jun Hyeon's words seemed to reverberate in her head, though.

After a few minutes of looking in the restroom mirror, Ye Rim wondered why Dr. Kim's angry tone seemed to have any hurt. 'He treats me like a self-serving person, and he resents that I'm not fascinated by the condescending behavior ... Well, he's not condescending, to be honest! Bwa! He could be kinder! He knows how to be as gentle as he wants!' Several moments came to her mind, however. Like when Dr. Kim gave her his own shirt, took her to the drugstore... And even when the crazy doctor hugged her because he thought she was crying.

Sighing, Ye Rim decided to leave those thoughts for later, because she didn't want to sing when angry. For all intents and purposes, those bags had become something really useful. And as for her, there was only one possible way out: signing a contract with an agency and trying to get an advance to pay Pearl's debt.

°°°

"It's just a moment," said the sound technician while working frantically on a computer, "Within minutes the upload of new songs will be complete and the portable noraebang will be available for use."

Ye Rim nodded, waiting for more recent songs to be made available to anyone who would sing on the Noraebang Duet, or Karaoke Duet, as the imported equipment sign said. It was a booth where the user could either sing alone or choose to sing along with a professional singer. In this case, Ye Rim, who would be in a separate booth, would appear on the screen and sing with the person. It was the same system as a famous mobile app, but Ye Rim had never done that before. Taking a peek, the singer saw that a small line of people was waiting to sing in the booth, accepting up to three people each turn.

At least it looked like great fun. The first in line was a group of teenagers in school uniforms, who were already choosing the song from the catalog.

"That one?"

"No! Let's sing this one! It's so beautiful!"

"But isn't it very sad? It's so depressing!"

"It's a bit sad, but it's also deep! And Hani rocks singing this song! Don't you know?"

"I know, it's just that I think we should sing a happier song."

"Okay, fine. I'll sing this one alone later!" 

Ye Rim smiled listening to the girls chatting.

"Hey, what are you doing over there? You can't stay in there!" Said one of the event's security guards, and a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt escaped from the booth. Ye Rim only saw him from the back, but he looked young, very young, and strangely familiar. She felt a strange shiver. And when she glanced at the booth again, Ye Rim had a macabre foreboding.

"Hey. Student?!" She called to the figure who was dashing out of the crowd. It was funny because people seemed to dodge him. Ye Rim even followed him, taking a few steps towards him, but gave up, because there were too many people on the way.

The security guard went into the booth to check that everything was fine, and left with a positive sign.

"Girls, come in now, the freak did nothing dangerous or perverted here," Ye Rim heard him say. Why did she have all the hair on her body standing on end?

The girls replied to the security guard, "Ajuhssi, he wouldn't do anything perverted! He could even sing with us if he wanted to! He was so handsome!" They giggled among themselves, but the security guard wasn't amused at all, and just motioned for them to enter.

They bowed to him and entered, and Ye Rim, still looking for the boy whom she only saw his back, had to go to her booth. The singer just felt uncomfortable and a little tense, and did exercises by turning her neck and making faces to loosen her muscles.

' That idiot ruined my day, ' she had to blame, at least. Was it impression or was the air conditioner too cold?

In front of Ye Rim, the music catalog information screen flashed, showing the teenagers' options. They would sing the first song without help, but the second song, called Deep Dive, had selected the singer's help.

Despite the cold, it was a little suffocating in her small booth. Ye Rim pulled the collar away from her neck, wishing he had not accepted this service. It was getting a little claustrophobic there, even though she never had claustrophobia before.

The green light came on and the big screen turned on. The singer could see the girl who would sing. Ye Rim waved at her, who smiled and waved back.

"I'm going to sing 'Deep Dive', by Hani. Do you know him?" said the girl.

Ye Rim didn't know this song, but on her auxiliary screen the score appeared and she had the headset on, so she said yes.

Ye Rim felt a sudden lump in her throat, skimming the lyrics and the chorus, trying to find the tone:

"I went high, to fall down

On a deep dive, different from the one

in Jeju that summer ... "

When the music started, the screen in front of her went black suddenly. For some reason, Ye Rim knew that something had happened to that girl, in the other booth.