Chapter One

Good shoes, good places

Ga Eul sighed tiredly as she bowed to the last customer as they left the congee shop. She momentarily eyed the dirty dishes on the table, before grasping the back of a nearby chair to steady herself as she lifted her foot up and partially eased off one of her shoes on her aching feet.

She winced as she felt some skin come off along with the back of the black pump. She should have known better than to wear new shoes at work before she had broken them in. But her old shoes had finally given up the ghost, and she had had no choice but to wear her new ones. She sucked in a quick breath as a wave of blessedly cool air brushed the burning blisters on her ankle.

The weary waitress closed her eyes and savoured the relief, as she carefully raised herself up onto her toes, exposing her other ankle to the cool air. She stood unmoving, for a few moments – her head bowed and her mind blissfully blank, balanced on one foot as the burning heat gradually dulled. The pain was just fading away completely when she heard the shop door open, signalling the arrival of yet another hungry customer. Looking at the polished shoes of the customer by the door, she let out a mental groan at the thought of putting the shoe back on.

Or at least she thought it was a mental groan.

"Not the usual reaction that I get from women in my presence." Came an all too familiar voice. "I can think of far more pleasurable sounds I'd rather hear."

Ga Eul snapped her head up, only to freeze as her eyes fell on the dashing form of So Yi Jeong, rendering her momentarily speeches. He tilted his head to the side, flashing her a lopsided smile. It was then that his words penetrated and outrage surfaced, causing her to blush.

"Sunbae, how dare you!" She hissed in a scandalised whisper, forgetting her pain as waves of embarrassment washed through her. "How could you could you say such nonsense? What if people heard you? What would they say about me?"

Yi Jeong smiled roguishly as he glanced around the deserted porridge shop. "There isn't anyone here to hear anything. And even if there was," he paused and his smile became positively devilish. "They would just say that you are one very lucky woman to catch someone like me."

"Oh please." Ga Eul scoffed, as she settled tentatively back into her killer pumps. "I'm looking for a soul mate, not a playboy. Now what do you want?" She asked rudely, not caring if she offended him or not. Her brusqueness was a defensive tactic and she knew it. Yi Jeong had left her speechless the first time he met her and even now, he could still make her feel flustered. So she did the only thing she could to keep him from knowing his power over her – she acted as if she could barely stand him. Or at least she tried to – sometimes she believed that he saw right through her act.

Yi Jeong sighed. "The usual. Jun Pyo sent me."

"Again?" Ga Eul said grimacing slightly. "What does he want me for now?

"He wants your advice on what gift to get for Jan Di."

"What's the occasion?"

"I have no idea." He replied, shrugging. "Guess he just wants to spoil her."

Ga Eul narrowed her brown eyes. "Why did he send you?"

"I owe him a favour." He reached for her hand. "Now come with me, we've got to go."

Ga Eul quickly snatched her hand away from him before he could touch her. It was bad enough trying to keep her cool when she was with the exceptionally good looking potter, but she knew that if he held her hand, she would not be able to stop the blushes that his presence inspired. And when she was trying to pretend that his charm didn't work on her, she knew that the blushes would give her away.

"What about my manager?" Ga Eul blurted out, stalling in a desperate attempt to come up with some way to avoid being in Yi Jeong's unsettling presence.

"What about him?" Yi Jeong asked nonplussed.

"I can't just leave him without staff to help him and Jan Di isn't here either. I'm the only one here to help him."

Yi Jeong chuckled. "We've got it sorted. Jun Pyo has arranged some replacements which your manager will no doubt approve of."

Yi Jeong waited for a response as he watched her cling to the back of a chair as though it were the only thing was keeping her up, and considering that she stood poised on her toes, he had no doubt that it was.

Ga Eul, however, simply stared resolutely at a point over his shoulder, refusing to make eye contact with him. Realising that she had no more arguments, he smiled and grasped her hand, and begun pulling her out of the shop.

However, as Yi Jeong pulled her towards the door, Ga Eul's shoes slid back onto her feet and rubbed against her blisters, causing a cry of pain to rise unbidden to her lips. She instinctively tightened her grip on both Yi Jeong's hand and the chair she had been clutching, effectively dragging the chair along as she stumbled into Yi Jeong.

"Are you okay?" Yi Jeong asked, grabbing her upper arms as he stabilised her.

"I'm fine." Ga Eul said through clenched teeth, pulling away from him. "I just stepped strangely when you pulled me."

"Don't worry." She said hurriedly when he began to bend down to look at her feet. "It's nothing. I'll be fine. Just let me go get my bag and tell my boss that I'm leaving before he thinks I was abducted by aliens or something crazy like that."

He studied her for a moment causing her to fidget slightly, before nodding and glancing at his watch impatiently.

Ga Eul walked briskly into the back room, refusing to limp in front of Yi Jeong. To do so would be to show weakness and she refused to appear weak in front of him for some odd reason. Her mother had always said she was too stubborn for her own good.

Hurriedly untying her apron, she tore up a serviette and stuffed it into the backs of her shoes to act as a sort of barrier between her tender skin and the wretched shoe. Slinging her handbag over her shoulder, she stuck her head into the kitchen and said. "I've get to go. Sorry, it's the F4 again, but they are sending you replacements."

She couldn't help but frown worriedly, when the manager smiled broadly and started doing a very funky dance, waving of his arms to the ceiling, chanting "Andromeda. Andromeda."

Shaking her head worriedly, Ga Eul headed back to the front of the shop, torn between reluctance to be with the man who made her heart do strange things and a sort of gasping relief to get away from her crazy boss.

Yi Jeong turned from where he had been staring out of the window, and smiled as she returned, sending unwanted shivers down her spine.

"Come on, let's go." He said as he grabbed her hand once again.

"I won't run away, you know." She said, trying to pull her hand out of his.

"I know." Was his simple reply as he led her from the store. "But you have an adorable blush that I can't help wanting to prolong."

"My blush?" Ga Eul squeaked, horrified that he knew he had an effect on her.

He chuckled as he headed to his car, her hand still in his, and Ga Eul secretly relishing the warmth against her palm.

Three mind-warping hours later, Ga Eul sighed gratefully as she slid into the passenger seat of Yi Jeong's orange Lotus. Shopping with the rich elite had been an exhilarating experience. She still struggled to contemplate the fact that they had closed down an entire shopping centre, for just five people. Four people really, if she cared to think about it. She had no doubt that she would not get such treatment if she went there without the influence of the F4.

She shook her head somewhat dazedly. "These people live in a completely different world." She murmured, as Yi Jeong settled in the driver's seat, placing a shopping bag in her foot well.

"Different world?" He repeated, having only caught the end of her sentence.

"Is it always like that?" She asked bluntly as the car started with a soft purr.

"Is what always like that?"

"Shopping." She said exasperatedly. "The un-crowded stores? The bowing and scraping? The special treatment? Is it always like that for you?"

Yi Jeong was quiet for a moment as he steered them into traffic. "When we go out shopping – yes, it's always like this. But if I know what I'm looking for, I can usually get it delivered to my house by the store itself."

"Wow." Ga Eul whispered, as she stared numbly out the windscreen.

Silence descended upon the two, each caught up in their own thoughts, before Yi Jeong interrupted Ga Eul's musings. "How are your feet?"

"Killing me." She answered without thinking.

"You should have said something."

"I didn't want…" Ga Eul paused before turning slowly to look at him. "How did you know? I didn't say anything."

He threw her a smile before focusing on the road again. "I saw the tissues sticking out of your pumps, and you started limping about an hour ago."

"Oh. I was hoping you wouldn't notice." Ga Eul said in a small voice. "This is all Sunbae's fault anyway." She stated abruptly and somewhat defensively.

"What?" He asked stunned by her accusation. "How do you justify this as my fault?"

"It's because you were the one who dragged me around a shopping centre for three hours."

"Actually," Yi Jeong corrected. "Jun Pyo was the one who dragged you around. In fact I'm pretty sure that Woo Bin and I just followed the two of you around." He paused, glancing over at her. "And I'm not the one who choose to wear the wrong pair of shoes."

Ga Eul pouted. "They aren't the wrong pair of shoes. They're just new and I haven't worn them in yet. They will be fine once they have softened up a bit." She shifted slightly in her seat, as she turned to look at him. "But I'm still going to blame you for this." She waved a finger at him when he opened his mouth to retort. "You, So Yi Jeong, were the one who took me away from my work and into Jun Pyo Sunbae's clutches, so I am going to demand retribution for your part that you played in this."

Ga Eul smiled evilly to herself, pleased to have gotten one over the "Smooth Yi Jeong".

He sighed regretfully after a long moment of thoughtful silence. "Okay. How much do you want?" Yi Jeong couldn't keep the slight grimace from his face. He had always believed that despite her naivety and gullibility that she wasn't like typical commoners who were always out for every Won they could put their grubby hands on, but perhaps he had been mistaken after all.

Ga Eul reared back in the seat with a horrified look on her face. "I don't want your money!"

"You don't?" He asked slowly, re-evaluating his opinion of her once again. "Why not?"

Still looking at him strangely, she replied, "'Cause taking your money is hardly punishment. Besides you have so much already, you probably won't notice anything I could ask for." She shook her head. "No. What I want is your presence, for one evening. You can choose the day, as long as it doesn't interfere with my work again."

"Why thank you for thinking of me." He replied dryly, pulling to a stop at a red light. Suddenly he was leaning towards her, his voice dropping to a husky whisper. "And what exactly do you want to do with me?"

His proximity combined with the seductive smile and suggestive quality in his voice, temporarily wiped Ga Eul's mind blank, only to be replaced with thoughts of his warm lips on hers and her hands in his dark hair. Her heart raced and Ga Eul felt her face heat up as the blood rushed to her face.

The light turned green and Yi Jeong pulled away, breaking the spell that he cast on her. "Hmm what on earth were you thinking to cause such a fetching blush?" He chuckled. "Maybe one day, I should ask and we could try it out."

Gathering a hold of her errant thoughts, Ga Eul glared at him, her face darkening. "I'm not blushing. My face is red because I'm angry that you're trying your silly charmer's tricks on me again. I've told you before that they don't work on me."

Despite her harsh words, Yi Jeong's cocky smirk remained.

"Fine." She said folding her arms across her chest. "Believe what you will. But for trying your tricks on me, you don't get to choose the day of my revenge anymore. This Friday, I have the evening shift off. Meet me at the congee shop at five o'clock."

"This had better not be a date." He stated flatly. "I don't go for women like you."

"Don't worry." She snapped back. "I don't go for playboys like you anyway."

"Yes of course. How could I forget? You're waiting for your soul mate." He said snidely. Yi Jeong usually wasn't so unpleasant to women, but her naïve belief in soul mates annoyed him to no end.

"I'm not asking you to believe in soulmates."

"Good." He laughed bitterly. "It's just some foolish belief to make people feel better with their lot in life anyway." He shook his head disbelievingly. "As if their miserable lives will be better with someone to share it with. They will probably make it worse."

Yi Jeong drove Ga Eul home with an uncomfortable silence, that his bitter words had created, hanging heavily between them. She refused to look at him, and in fact stared out the window the entire way.

Turning off the car, Yi Jeong grabbed hold of Ga Eul's arm, just as she reached for the door handle.

"Wait." He half ordered, half pleaded. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I can't let myself believe in things like soul mates, but I should not have said what I said anyway." He swallowed heavily. "I apologise for saying such things to you. I had no right."

Ga Eul stared at him intently, looking for the truth behind his words, before nodding slowly. "I forgive you, Sunbae. We all say things that we wish we hadn't." She reached for the car door. "Thank you for taking me home, Sunbae."

Yi Jeong silently watched her climb out of the car, impressed by her willingness to forgive him so easily.

She took half a step away from the car, only to stumble as her shoes once more assaulted her blisters. The sound of her anguished cry had just reached his ears, and seconds later, he was out of the car and rushing to her side.

"Sunbae, I'm fine." She said as he reached her. "I'd just forgotten about my sore feet."

Nevertheless, he opened the car door and gently pushed her back to the passenger seat. "Just sit down for a moment."

"Really Sunbae," Ga Eul said exasperatedly. "I just need to get inside and take off these shoes. I can manage the last few steps."

"Just hold on." He said reaching down into the front passenger foot well for the bag that he had placed there earlier. "I actually meant to give these to you earlier but I forgot…" He thrust the bag at her awkwardly.

Reaching up, Ga Eul cautiously took the shopping bag from Yi Jeong. Reaching inside, she pulled out a pair of dainty blue high heels from underneath the silver tissue paper. She looked up at him with a rather stunned expression on her face. "When did you buy these?" She asked quietly.

"When I first noticed your limp." He smiled nervously. "I kept waiting for you to complain so I could give them to you." His eyes narrowed slightly. "But you were too stubborn to do even that."

"Thank you." She said sincerely, her smile lighting up her face.

Yi Jeong could have sworn that he felt his heart skip a beat when she had smiled up at him. As it was his breath caught in his throat. Thankfully she looked away and began putting on the shoes, giving him some much needed time to regain his cool. Staring over the roof of his car, he wondered just when he had become so bored with his life, that such a simple, straightforward girl could catch his attention so completely. Maybe it was her lack of sophistication and honesty, which she hid so poorly, that drew him to her. She was completely different women to the ones that he usually dallied with and could be discarded so easily.

Breathing deeply, he looked down in time to watch Ga Eul tie the ribbon-like bow around her ankle. An act, which for all its simplicity was one of the most provocative actions he had ever witnessed.

She rose carefully, sighing gratefully, as the soft satin of the strap-like ribbon caressed her ankles. "That's much better. You won't believe how amazing that feels." She bent down and picked up her pumps and purse. "Thanks again."

Clearing his throat, Yi Jeong nodded to the direction of her apartment block. "Let me escort you home properly."

"You don't have to." She said hastily, flustered by the intimacy that such an act suggested.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to." The potter said in a tone that allowed no argument.

Neither of them said anything as they walked to the entrance to the apartment block.

Fishing her key out of her bag, Ga Eul unlocked the door before turning and bowing to him. "Thank you for taking me home and giving me the shoes, Sunbae."

"You're welcome." He said formally as he stepped back from the door. He paused and smiled brightly. "Oh and Ga Eul," he called, causing her to halt in closing the door. "I'll see you on Friday, at five for your revenge. Don't disappoint me."

With a last dashing smile, he strode towards his car, leaving a very confused and breathless Ga Eul behind.