Pay With Your Heart

The sound of Hei-Ran's phone ringing roused her from sleep. Her head was banging, and she was feeling light-headed and both the sound of her ringing phone and white bleak light coming from God-knows-where was worsening her condition.

She groaned as she groggily tried to reach for the phone from the bedside table which she usually kept it so she could reject the call. She wanted more sleep, there was no way she was going to work.....sleep was what she needed. Her brows scrunched when she touched the bedside table but it felt different.

Her frown deepened when she also felt like the bed wasn't familiar too. It didn't feel like her bed. She tried using her other hand to feel the other side of the bed where Eun-sun normally lied, but it was empty and cold, like she didn't sleep on it.

Her eyes shot up and she hurriedly sprang up. The sudden motion made her head ache terribly. She slowly reached for her head with both her hands as she closed her eyes.

She slowly opened them and her eyes saw the white spacious room, which didn't look familiar to her. She jumped off the bed when she remembered Ji-Sang's party at the club last night, she couldn't remember going home, so where was she? She asked herself as she carefully looked around. She didn't know where this was.

Her eyes flew open immediately, almost popping her eyeballs from their sockets when her eyes fell on her exposed thigh.

Wh..what was she wearing? Why was she wearing a man's oversized tshirt? Was it Ji-Sang's? She doubted it, Ji-Sang didn't fill out that well to have this size of shirt. And this didn't look like his apartment either.

She almost died of an heart attack when something registered in her head. She hasn't done something stupid has she? Like drunkily hooking up with a man right? She gasped loudly at that thought.

She immediately began to rub her thighs together to feel if there was any discomfort down there. She narrowed her eyes while carrying out that action. When she didn't feel anything suspicious she let out a sigh, but that didn't release the uneasy feeling she had in heart.

She still didn't know who's house this was and who's shirt she was wearing. Speaking about clothes; 'were was her's?'

Hei-Ran looked around but she couldn't find it. She jolted in shock when her phone started ringing. She almost cussed out when she saw it was her mother calling her on a video call.

Why now?? She couldn't take the call now, she needed to know where she was and find a way to get out of there. She

pressed the power button and closed the screen to ignore the call. Just when she thought her mother was going to let her be, her phone began to ring again.

Hei-Ran sighed before answering the call. She had to else her mother would keep calling, and maybe alert who ever was responsible for bringing her here. She was praying and hoping she had left with Ji-Sang, and not someone else as her mind kept telling her.

"Goodmorning mother, please let me-" 'Call you back', were the other words she was about to say when her aunt showed up beside her mother.

Somebody kill her!

"Aunt?" She called out in a surprised tone.

Why was her aunt in her mother's place so early in the morning when she had a husband and kids at home. And why were they video calling her at this time?

This wasn't good! There was no way she was going to get away from the call now.

"Ah my baby girl, sorry we called so early. We decided it's best to call you now before you leave for work. Hope you don't mind" Her aunt said with an apologetic smile.

If she didn't mind? Of course she did. This was total wrong timing! They should have called some other time. It would have been easier to blow off her mom and the call with a promise to call back but definitely not her aunt. For some reason mothers are easier to convince.

"Of course not" She replied with a forced smile as she tried to lower her voice so she wouldn't be loud.

"I heard you now have a boyfriend, you didn't bother to tell me. Hei-Ran don't you love your aunt anymore? I thought we were closer than that?" Woo-Mi said with an accusing tone.

"Huh?" She asked in surprise. 'Oh please not her aunt too' Hei-Ran cried in her mind.

She looked at her mum who had a guilty look on her face.

'So much for promising not to trll' Hei-Ran surreptitiously eyed her mother. She just couldn't keep to her words. Now her aunt knows too.

Her lie was slowly spreading. How was she going to tell them it was a lie? She's slowly turning into a bad person who was lying to her mother and aunt. Hei-Ran was hung dry, she didn't know what to say. Was she to apologise or maybe just say the truth now before things got out of hand, like her aunt telling every other member of the family?

"Woo-Mi let's tell her why we called, you both can talk about that later. She still have to get ready for work" Hei-Ran's mother interrupted Woo-Mi, much to Hei-ran's delight. She knew she had promised Hei-Ran not to tell anyone about her relationship, but she didn't think Woo-Mi was part of the 'others' too.

"Yes, you guys should tell me" She said hurriedly even though she was trying not sound suspicious. She wanted the call to end before anybody walked in. She'd think about fixing this lie later.

"Yes, so we wanted you to invite your boyfriend for dinner with the whole family" Woo-Mi announced excitedly, making Hei-Ran react in a surprised manner.

"No!" Hei-Ran snapped.

"No?" Mother Su asked both in surprise and confusion.

"What do you mean by no? We already told the others about it and invited them"

"You did what?" Hei-Ran yelled. She cussed herself when she realized she had raised her voice unexpectedly. What was wrong with these women? What had they done?

"Yes we have. Didn't you see it on the family group chat? I already posted a picture of the both of you in the group chat. Don't worry I searched for a handsome picture of him online" Woo-mi giggled excitedly, while Hei-Ran looked at them a gape.

She was finished.

These women have killed her. What sort of lie was this? How did she even get to this point? Well she knows. It was that stupid man, Song Jinhai who had brought this upon her.

Cuss him!.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Mrs Su asked when she noticed how her daughter was reacting to this.

"I don't think she's surprised...she's happy" Woo-Mi gushed. "Right?" She turned to ask Hei-Ran with an expectant smile. But she continued without even waiting for her answer, "Hei-Ran everybody is looking forward to seeing you and your boyfriend. You've finally broken the siege of singleness, so we're all happy" She said excitedly.

Happy? They were all happy? Well she was not. She was far from being happy. She had just been drinking last night because of them who wouldn't stop haranguing her to get married. Now she was in a house which she doesn't know who it belongs to, and was currently dressed in the man's shirt and she can't even find her clothes.And now she has to deal with a lie, which that crazy guy had pulled her into.

So in this web of happiness, they were the only ones happy, not her.

She had to do something about this so called family gathering which she was supposed to bring her fake 'boyfriend'. Maybe she should just come clean and say the truth now.

Wait no! Her mother would be disappointed and embarrassed. She couldn't do that to her mother. She'd hate her.

No, she had to do something else, she thought. Her eyes lit up when a light bulb flicked in her head. She smiled in her head when she thought about it.

"Mom, Aunt" She called slowly, "I'm sorry but i don't think we'd be able to come" Hei-Ran said in a calm voice.

"Why?" Both women exclaimed simultaneously.

"Ermmm, because we broke up" She said in a nervous tone. Maybe this would work.

"What?"

"How?"

"Why?"

They asked one after the other. What do they mean by 'what, how, why?'.

"Because we wanted to, we aren't compatible and that's why we broke up" She lied. Hei-Ran was praying they should please buy her story.

Hei-Ran cocked a brow at the women when they remained mute and didn't say anything. They looked stunned.

"Mum? Aunt?" She called out.

"Hei-Ran who's that?" It was Woo-Mi who asked in a gentle tone, and a knowing look plastered on her face.

"Who?" Hei-Ran asked in confusion.

"Behind you. Isn't that-" Her mother said.

"Behind m-" Hei-Ran's heart skipped a beat when she heard her mother. Behind her? Someone was behind her? Hei-Ran could feel her heart began to pound really heavily as she slowly turned around.

Hei-Ran gasped in shock when she saw who was standing behind her with a cup of coffee or tea...or whatever he was holding.

"Bo....bo..osss" She called out in shock.