"Bang Chan, what have you done?" Park Jinyoung, the head of the JYP Entertainment company, asked Chan in disbelief. 

"I'm sorry..." embarrassed, Chan had no definite answer. 

Jinyoung exhaled sharply, leaning back on his chair, averting his eyes from the sorry figure of Chan sitting across the table in his office. The head of the company ran his hand on his lower jaw, exasperated by the goddamn audacity of the leader of the group he had created. Meanwhile, Chan sat with his head hung low, blaming his own self because of the mess he had voluntarily walked into. He hadn't regretted anything more than this in his entire lifetime. 

"So? What do we do now?" Jinyoung spat, furious, "What did you do after she found out who you were?" 

"I-I gave her some money and told her not to tell anyone..." 

"Wow!" Jinyoung lashed out at the leader of Stray Kids, "And do you think a fucking prostitute would not tell anyone about it? Chan, what were you thinking?" 

Chan reminisced about the night he had accidentally revealed himself to Soojin; her eyes were wide with shock, and her mouth wide open at the sight of him ruthlessly fucking her. Her eyes -- they had this latent innocence that was just baring itself to him. With that apologetic look on her face upon getting snapped at by him, he had known that she wasn't just a prostitute; she was a woman, who probably valued her dignity and self-respect as well. He couldn't think of her as a girl who would gladly sell her body. She was an individual he respected, despite everything he had done to her. 

"You do realize that your entire career is at risk, right?" Jinyoung calmly spoke, "We have to keep her mouth shut before she discloses your identity to the world. For all we know, she could stamp a case of harassment against you if she feels hungry for money from you." 

"She won't, sir." 

"How can you be so sure? She's a prostitute! And prostitutes don't care about their reputation or dignity. All they crave is money!" 

Chan inhaled; he felt guilty to be letting someone call a woman a prostitute. However, he had no courage to correct his boss, considering that he was burning mad, and that he himself was the one at fault. 

"What should we do the-" Chan couldn't complete when Jinyoung's phone rang. He answered it, and spoke, "Yeah?... What! Don't send them in... What's her name, again?... Oh, Soojin." 

Chan's head snapped upwards at the mention of her name. Why was her name been recited here? Didn't he give her enough money already? 

"Send them in," Jinyoung huffed in irritation, and as he hung up, he declared, "She's here. With a friend." 

"W-What is she doing here?" Chan felt uneasy and anxious. 

Jinyoung sighed, "Let's just meet them and persuade them not to open their mouths." 

A minute later, the door to his office swung open, and in walked Soojin and Ae Ra, with the latter leading Soojin in. Soojin's eyes were pointed to the ground, and upon walking inside, she realized that he was sitting in the office as well. Gazing at him for about three seconds, her eyes met his, and as soon as she realized that they had locked eyes, she averted her gaze back to the shining, marbled floor. 

"Hi," Ae Ra confidently spoke, "I'm Ae Ra, and she's Soojin, my friend. It's nice to meet you both." 

"Please have a seat," Jinyoung faked politeness. As Soojin sat in the middle, having Chan on her left and Ae Ra on her right, she awkwardly stared at the pen stand on Jinyoung's table. Knowing that Chan was present in the room, looking grave and solemn, she was sure of two facts -- one, that he had already told his boss about what had happened; and two, trying to convince him into getting into a relationship with her was going to be harder than she had expected it to be. 

Chan's heart was throbbing in his chest. He conspicuously stole a glance at Soojin's direction, and noticed how modestly she was dressed; wearing a peach-colored blouse on barely-ripped jeans, her hair in a ponytail and a black scarf around her neck. He could barely tell her apart from the version of hers he had encountered back then. 

She couldn't be a prostitute, as Jinyoung had disrespectfully spoken about a few minutes ago. She was innocent and naive to have gotten into the business she was currently in.   

She knew self-respect, as per him. 

And that's when Ae Ra spoke up, 

"We're here with a proposal." 

(a/n: ayeee my first chapter after having turned 19 yesterday!! also, im probably going to write the next chapter right away?

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thanks for reading! i love you!)