I got slapped.
So hard my head spun to the side.
“You like it when you hook up with someone else’s husband?”
The woman was crying with a face full of rage. Her eyes were all smeared, and she grabbed my arm. Her nails dug into my flesh. It hurts, damn it.
That bastard husband was standing behind her. It was a face I’d never seen before. The face that had always been full of confidence when he was with me was now twisted like he was the one who’d been wronged by the world.
“Honey, I’m really the one who’s been wronged. She kept following me.”
“Hah.”
I stared at the man, speechless. I didn’t even bother holding back the laugh that was spilling out. What the hell is this bastard saying right now?
“I pushed her away plenty of times, but she kept contacting me.”
It was ridiculous. Who was it that got my number at the club? I tilted my head and looked at him with my arms crossed. When the man’s wife saw my expression, she looked back at her husband. The man, who’d been hemming and hawing, strode over and smacked me on the top of the head with his palm.
“Ah, shit….”
His palm dragged roughly over my crown. For a man, he sure had some strength—my head was ringing like crazy.
That old bastard and the woman crying because she liked him, and that bastard hiding behind his wife and making me out to be some crazy bitch.
They matched perfectly.
“Ma’am, this guy got my number at the club.”
I pulled the woman’s hand away and pointed at him with my chin. Then I turned on my heel and walked off. A heavy string of curses came flying at me from behind. I didn’t bother answering. Since his wife had gone quiet, I figured it wouldn’t be long.
All of it happened on my university campus. I’d been caught in plenty of guy-vs-girl fights, but this was my first time getting dragged into a messy affair. The murmuring crowd didn’t even need to part; as soon as I approached, they opened a path for me on their own.
An old guy lies just so he can date a college student? He’s gotta pay for it. I’d already said in front of the woman that I didn’t know he had a wife. I had no intention of repeating myself to someone who wouldn’t believe me.
He was weirdly nice to me, that piece of trash. Well, I’m trash too, so I guess I don’t have room to talk.
I let out a sigh and headed toward the back stairwell of the engineering building, where no one was around. In front of a large full-length mirror, I fixed my swollen cheek and disheveled hair. I ran my tongue along the inside of my cheek. The spot where my teeth had bitten down stung.
I wasn’t in the mood for class, so I wandered aimlessly toward a dark-ish spot near the school. Then I stopped dead in my tracks.
Reset.
Against a black background, elegant gold serif letters were set into the sign. A bar? I’d been through this alley a few times while hopping from one drinking place to another, but I didn’t know there’d been a bar here. Drawn in by the atmosphere, or maybe by the name. I twisted my body and reached for the door. When I pushed open the heavy door, soft classical music, the loud voices of women in contrast to it, and the smell of alcohol all rushed out at once.
I sat in a corner of the bar and laid my phone face down. I didn’t check how many new messages there were.
“What can I get you?”
I lazily flipped through the menu with one long-nailed hand. Just from the names, I couldn’t tell what was what. Damn, one of my nails broke. I looked at the nail, clicked my tongue, and answered the clerk carelessly.
“Anything.”
Just as the staff member was about to look troubled, laughter burst from the other side of the bar. Three women were sitting side by side, surrounding one person.
At first I thought a celebrity had come in.
A man in a black shirt was standing in front of the women with a barstool between them. Every time he smiled with one corner of his mouth lifted, the women’s voices went up a notch. The way he lowered his head a little and listened to them was pretty damn gentle.
He is handsome, though. But they’re screeching like crazy.
I took my eyes off him and looked back at the menu. A moment later, the staff member standing in front of me stepped away. I closed my eyes and tried to calm the buzzing in my head, listening to the soft classical music, but instead the black shirt took his place.
“Is this your first time here?”
It was the same man who’d been laughing over there just a moment ago.
Seeing him up close, he was even better-looking. His eyes were neat, and the bridge of his nose was straight. Just from his face alone, there was nothing to complain about.
He was looking at me with that same smile on his face. I snorted. Was he trying to do business with me now?
“Well. Bars are all basically the same.”
“If it’s your first time and you’re having trouble, I can recommend something.”
The man ignored my tone and took the menu from me. Oh? Don’t people usually ask what I want, like, ‘Would you like a recommendation?’ He was pretty pushy. A long finger pointed to one cocktail.
“This is the house signature.”
My gaze passed over his smooth finger and stopped on the cocktail he was pointing at. I let out a small laugh. Even if I didn’t know much about alcohol, it was definitely on the pricey side.
“You’re recommending the most expensive thing to a first-time customer.”
“There’s something even more expensive.”
He said it so well with a smiling face. I crossed my arms and leaned back against the chair.
“Go on.”
“Pardon?”
“Your recommendation. Let’s see you sell it to me. I’ll buy it.”
The man looked down at me for a moment. Then he flipped to another page of the menu.
“Then I think this one would be better. I don’t think you like sweet drinks. It’s stronger, though.”
It was a cheaper cocktail than the one before.
“You’re not pushing the expensive one anymore?”
“I didn’t think you’d like it.”
“Based on what?”
“Just a guess.”
The man didn’t ask any more and took my order.
Why was I here alone, why was my face like this, what had happened? He didn’t ask a single question you’d normally expect.
Within seconds, he came back to me with the bottles. He’d put ice into the cocktail glass beforehand and stirred it to melt it, then he poured several spirits into the shaker and started shaking it quickly.
I stood there with my arms crossed, quietly watching him shake the drink with a straight posture. From over to the side, that screeching came again. This was my order—weren’t those bitches embarrassed?
“You’re gonna get tired.”
“I’m grateful you like it.”
“I said I’m tired.”
The man didn’t say anything. Before long, the finished cocktail was placed in front of me.
“Enjoy.”
The man smiled and left his spot. It was because the women were making a scene, saying they wanted to order too.
I took a sip of the cocktail. It was stronger than I’d expected. A faint sweetness lingered behind the scent of alcohol.
I lifted the glass and drank the rest of the liquor.
I was getting irritated because it looked like I was really going to finish it. This is me drinking because I’m having an expensive life experience today. I tried to comfort myself like that.
*
The next day, on the way to the lecture hall. I showed up with a pain patch on my face, and my friend started lecturing me in surprise. Ugh, so loud.
I looked down as I walked, and saw a pair of feet standing right in front of me. What the hell, move. When I lifted my head and looked at the face, it was that man from the bar yesterday. His brows were slightly drawn together. My expression, in turn, crumpled in much the same way.
“……”
“……”
Neither of us said anything, but we could roughly read each other’s thoughts with our eyes. Don’t get involved; it’ll be a pain, so don’t act like you know me.
Our glaring contest, like sparks were going to fly, was over in less than a minute. As we passed each other, my friend kept looking back and forth between me and the man and started talking. She was making a huge fuss too.
“What? Noh Yeoju, you know him?”
“Nope.”
Honestly, who did he think he was? I didn’t even want to know. I was about to give a half-hearted answer and leave when it seemed like a similar question came from the other side too. The friend standing next to the man turned toward me. Soon he grabbed Sangwon’s arm and lowered his voice.
“Hey, Isangwon. You know her?”
The friend next to me spoke first. The whisper in my ear was pretty funny.
“That guy is seriously trash…!”
I snorted with laughter. Of course. The way he was picking up women like that.
I said I wasn’t interested and went on my way. Maybe his friend—no, Sangwon’s friend—said something like that too.
It was the first meeting between trash and trash.