𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐗

𝘊𝘈𝘙𝘌𝘓𝘌𝘚𝘚 𝘋𝘙𝘐𝘝𝘌𝘙

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Time never flies when you're on the plane and a flight from Monaco to Seoul was not easy to overcome. It's been years since Yoon Hyeri left this country. Some things were just as she remembered. The others changed completely. She was only a child when she was sent to study abroad. To her, everything in this city appeared to be bigger than it actually was. Now that she grew up, she still found the architecture impressive and tall, but it wasn't as frightening as it used to be. Or maybe France shaped her into believing that.

Even though she landed a few hours ago, Hyeri was still affected by the jet lag. It would have been great if she could take the day off and sleep, but her schedule was already busy enough, she couldn't risk to oversleep and miss anything. Jogging out of the building with big but cautious steps in her red bottoms, she quickly made it to her vehicle and unlocked it. She got in the car and closed the door, then pressed the start button and connected her current phone call to the hands free option.

She had to stop by her father's office to say hello, sign some papers, check out some future strategies, sign some more papers, have breakfast with her father, then go shopping for tonight's gala. After that, she had to meet Jo Min at home so that they could get ready for the big event together. What was worse than that was that she had to get mentally ready to meet so many new people for the sake of making new contacts and friends.

"Yes, I'm on my way right now. I just left my apartment. I'm driving Min's car today, I asked him to take mine to the car wash." She fastened her seat belt and reached up to fix her review mirror with one hand. She adjusted it to her level, using the other hand to put the gear into Drive mode, pressing the brake pedal with her foot at the same time. Her head was a mess. She was trying to organize her schedule for today and get rid of that annoying dizziness she had, while she spoke on the phone and released the handbrakes.

There was a good reason why everybody recommended focusing exclusively on driving, not on anything else as well.

She was still looking in the review mirror when the car started to slowly move forward. Keeping just one hand on the wheel, she turned the vehicle to the left. The tip of her foot gently pressed the gas pedal, but it didn't take much until she was needed to hit the brakes. With the corner of her eye, Hyeri saw a car coming from the same direction. It was too close to avoid it and she wasn't fast enough to stop the car before it bumped into the other, even though she tried.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She raised her tone, her eyes widening when she realized she didn't even get to leave the parking lot and she already hit something. "Appa, I'll call you later." She quickly hung up the phone. When she looked outside her window, she saw the other driver was already out of his car. It was needless to say that he wasn't pleased.

She took one of her father's business cards and a pen, wrote her name below her father's and underlined a phone number. Then, she rolled down the window.

"Sir, I am terribly sorry, but I'm in a rush. Here," she said, handing him the business card. "Please call my father's secretary and tell her that I bumped into you while I was talking on the phone with him and they will cover all the expenses—"

The young man, however, didn't seem to buy what she just said. "Excuse me, Miss, but you're not fooling anyone. I won't let you lie to me and leave like that, not after you hit my car." His voice was low and raspy, he was clearly getting even more annoyed because of her attitude.

"Lying? I'm not lying and I'm not trying to fool you."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you really want me to believe your father is the Managing Director of BMW Group Asia and you're driving a brand new McLaren?" And even better, a P1, not just a regular McLaren. He scoffed. "You could have at least came up with a better excuse to flee."

Hyeri blinked twice, confused. "Oh! You mean this thing?" She pointed at the car as if it was nothing, then shook her head. "This is my boyfriend's car. I would never buy this. Look, if you don't believe me, you can search up my name online and look at the pictures. But if I look like the person I told you I am, you let me go. Deal?"

The man with the jet black hair took his phone out of his pocket, used his fingerprint to unlock it, then opened the browser and searched for the name she gave him. He clicked on the first photo, then he moved his phone closer to her face, as if to make sure his eyes weren't playing games on him. She was indeed Yoon Hyeri. He let out a sigh and put his phone back. "Okay, fine. I'll call the firm. My name is—"

He didn't get to say it though. "I'm really impolite right now, I know, but I'm already running late and I can't afford to do that, so please, move out of the way." As soon as she finished talking, she already pressed the gas pedal and turned the wheel to the right to avoid hitting him.

"—Kim... Taehyung," he muttered under his breath, finally finishing his sentence. He watched her turn the car around and before she left, she scratched his left side of the car too. Impossible. "Are you serious?! Who taught you how to drive?!"

"Sorry!" Hyeri raised her voice and shouted out of the window so that he could hear her apology, then turned right to get out of the parking lot and speeded forward.

Jo Min was going to kill her.

"Hey, Siri?" She said, turning on the voice option of her phone that was connected to her boyfriend's car. "Send a text message to Jo Min and tell him I scratched his car. And then send one to my father and tell him I scratched Min's car and a stranger's car as well." The girl sighed and rubbed her temples with one of her hands, keeping the other one on the steering wheel. Then, she scolded herself. "Aish, Hyeri, why is your head still in the clouds? How could you hit that car twice?"

"Ya, Jo Min!" Hyeri pouted, her hands both wrapping around her boyfriend's arm in an attempt to make him forgive her. "How many times do I need to say I'm sorry? It's not like I wanted to scratch your car, I didn't even see him coming." She lowered her voice and almost muttered to herself: "I wish I would have took my own car this morning."

A pre-race gala was not the type of event in which fighting with your lover was allowed, particularly not when you were named the Managing Director's Head Assistant. But Jo Min was still angry at his girlfriend. Not because she damaged his car, he could buy another one whenever he wanted, but because she was not paying attention to important things. She wasn't a cautious driver and he always worried about her when he knew she's behind the wheel.

"I just don't understand, Hyeri," Min finally voiced his thoughts, followed by a tired sigh. "How can you be so careless?" The girl was about to say something to defend herself, but he didn't give her the chance to do it. "Don't. I don't want to hear it. I'm really tired and my head feels like exploding because of this jet lag. I'll go ahead and go home."

"Are you seriously leaving me alone?" The whining girl loosened her grip and freed his arm. He knew how important this event was for her, she was supposed to stay by her father's side and socialize with the rest of the guests, particularly with drivers, but he chose to leave her nonetheless. "I can't believe you, Jo Min!" Her voice was a little sharper now, so that he could hear her loud and clear, even though his steps got him pretty far already. Then, she lowered her tone and clicked her tongue. "Aish, he really left."

She already felt guilty enough for what she did to his car, he didn't have to leave her alone.

From not-so-far behind, Hyeri heard a low, growly chuckle. She was quick to turn around, but when her eyes laid on the person who dared to laugh at her, she was shocked. For a few moments, she stood still, her lips parted, but with no words that came out.

"Y-You!"

"I'm just as surprised to see you, Miss Yoon Hyeri," the man said, lifting both of his hands up in defense. The slightly amused look on his face only fueled Hyeri's anger. But this was nothing compared to what he did with his next words: "Are you going to go back to driving a BMW now or will you two kiss and make up?" He tried to sound as serious as he could, but another chuckle escaped his lips.

"Are you following me? I thought I told you to call the firm and sort it out with them—"

"Relax, this is nothing but a pure coincidence. I didn't know I'd run into you here. I'm here because I'm a driver and I signed up for tomorrow's race."

"Then aren't you supposed to be looking for sponsors? I don't mean to be rude, but you're not going to get very far with that attitude."

"What if I already got a sponsor? Aren't you supposed to be looking for someone to sponsor?" Taehyung talked back, repeating her words and using them against her. "I don't mean to be rude, but you're not going to get very far with that attitude."

"You really got some nerve!" Hyeri scolded him, then pressed her lips together. "I don't know who you are, but I won't allow you to talk to me like that."

"Of course you don't know. I told you my name in the parking lot, but you were too busy scratching my car again to hear it—"

"Hey, watch it!"

"Don't worry, I won't say it a second time. But you'll hear it tomorrow when they call out the winner's name. Maybe your driver is going to come in second place, that would make it less humiliating for you." He didn't want to say it out loud or to admit it to himself either, but he enjoyed this bickering between the two of them more than he should. She was pretty cute when she was all worked up, and he knew all the right things to say to get on her nerves, which made it dangerously entertaining for him.

"Listen, you punk." Hyeri had never been good when it came to managing or hiding her emotions. Her face was like an open book that showed everything that went through her mind. "I grew up near racing cars, which means I've seen countless of people like you—so blinded by their arrogance that they didn't even believe in the concept of failure. But I'm gonna show you what second place means. We already have the best driver and it's obviously not you, so if I were you, I'd take back my words and feel sorry for prying into a private conversation too!"

A smile graced Taehyung's features as he listened to what the girl in front of him had to say. "You're a feisty one, aren't you?" He shook his head, trying to get rid of his smile, but failed. It was still there. He still found her funny. "I'm not going to hold you any longer, I'm sure you want to go back to your boyfriend, but I have to ask you this: how are you going to get there? Please tell me you're not driving."

"Have you lost your mind?" Hyeri waved the champagne flute she had in front of him. "I can't drink alcohol and drive, I'm not stupid."

"No, you're not, but it wouldn't surprise me at this point. You seem to exceed my expectations with every second that passes, Miss Yoon Hyeri. So please, let me be your driver tonight. I can assure you I've had nothing to drink other than sparkling water."

"My driver?" Hyeri scoffed. "I'd rather walk."

"At this late hour? I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how dangerous that would be."

"I'll take a cab then. Now that it would be any of your concern, Mr..." She made a small pause, trying to think of an insulting nickname. "Star driver." As soon as the words left her lips, she wanted to take them back and mentally slap herself. Was that the closest thing to an insult she could think of?

As a result, Taehyung flashed her a charming smile. "I actually am, thank you! That's what everybody's been saying for the past year anyway," he bragged, still having that champion smile on. And if she weren't so busy getting angry with him, she would have noticed he actually looked like a star. "All jokes aside now, let me drive you home. Your boyfriend shouldn't have let you here alone, no matter how mad he was."

But Hyeri didn't even want to hear it. "Are you having trouble hearing me? I said I'm taking a cab. For all I know, you could drop me off into the nearest forest because I bumped into you this morning and leave me there." She pouted.

"I would never do that, don't be this harsh on me."

"Just—Mind your own business, will you?" She snapped at him one final time, then turned on her heels and started to walk to the exit. Tonight couldn't get worse.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning at the racing tracks!" He shouted, making sure that she heard him loud and clear. Now, he was really looking forward for this race.

"Hopefully not!"

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the first chapter is officially released ! this story will (hopefully) be updated weekly. i'd like to thank you again for the insane love you guys gave to this story. all your comments are making me smile and they keep me going. i try to reply them all so i'm sorry if it takes me longer than usual to get to your comment, i am trying my best !

so we met hyeri, min and tae 👀 and i'd love to hear your opinions about them all

what was your favorite part of this chapter ? what about your least favorite part ? i'm a big fan of constructive criticism so please keep this in mind as well 🥰

until next time,
yours truly,
— vic 🤍