deeper

After the greetings, Minah took her assigned seat across from Daehyun (well, it was more implied than assigned, but considering the circumstances under which she was there in the first place, she was more than familiar with where it was she was expected to sit). With a small sigh and another forced smile, she turned to her fellow ‘prisoner,’ her next few words said so lightly that it even surprised herself. “Oh, no need to pull out the chair for me, Daehyun ssi,” she said. “You don’t look to be feeling too well.” With a light laugh, she pulled the chair out herself and took a seat.

She was doing perfectly fine drowning out the incessant chatter of bother her parents and Daehyun’s mother, but it was when Daehyun finally spoke up during a rare moment of silence that she was brought back to her cruel reality. She had long trained herself to react to every word of his with a smile, but with the mention of school, a crack showed in her visage with the slightest twitch of her lips. Gathering herself again, she let out a small chuckle.

“I’m in school for business,” she said, glancing at her parents and Daehyun’s mother to gauge their reactions. It seemed to be good; she at least noted approval on Daehyun’s mother’s face. She returned her gaze to the young man in front of her. “My father has taught me so much about the business world already, but the market changes constantly, so one should never stop learning.”

However, her well-rehearsed answer was a little too perfect, if anyone were asking him. His mother seemed to agree as she was practically swooning over her steak, eyes wide and glassy. Well, if she approved so much, she could marry the little witch instead of forcing Daehyun to do so. Daehyun couldn't help the sneer that pulled on his lips as Minah continued to speak and he had to hide it behind a generous gulp of the sparkling water he'd requested. It did little to help the pounding in  his head, but it would doubtful that would go away anyway with the situation at hand.

Her jab at him didn't shake him at all. One eyebrow raised as he continued to sip from his glass, refusing to let the girl get to him as he was so avidly trying to get to her. "Well," he finally said after setting the glass down gently, "it's my job to get close to others, isn't it? A business partnership is more of a relationship than anything else." A small, light chuckle managed to escape the tight confines of his throat and Minah's parents echoed it, his own mother adding an, "Of course, he's right!" into the amicable tittering. 

"And I'd have to say that it's certainly good to hear that you're having such an enriching experience at college. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there always seems to be so much temptation at those kinds of places; the drugs, the alcohol, parties, skipping classes, erm--extra-curricular activities--it must take a strong-willed woman to avoid all of that and focus on your studies, yes?"

Daehyun was sure that Minah was well aware of his reputation; one would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't know who Jung Daehyun, party-play-boy-extraordinaire, was, especially who he was once the cameras and the company eyes turned off of him. He was less sure that she knew exactly how much he knew about her life. It was hard not to hear little snippets of gossip when he had been to a number of parties who went to school with the girl. People always talk when there's a little bit of alcohol in their systems.