THE CHARMER // KANG YEOSANG

CHAPTER 3

Yeosang twirled the wine glass in his hand as he stared at the scenery outside through the window. He didn't know how his life ended this way. One time he was living in a big house and suddenly he was now living inside a small rooftop house; even with the cheap rent he barely able to pay for it.

A sigh left his lips as he took a sip of the vodka that he had poured inside the wine glass. Suddenly, a pair of hands wrapped around his chest from behind. "Are you not staying?" Her breath tickled his ear as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

Yeosang looked up at the woman and smiled. She's in her late thirties but her face looked young for her age. Apparently, her husband was always away on a business trip so she sought company from those male escorts and Yeosang happened to be her favourite. "I need to go home."

"You never stay, don't you?" she pouted as she snaked her hands inside the bathrobe that he's wearing.

Yeosang stopped her hands before she could go further down. "I'll pay more for your extra time," she said to him.

Yeosang never stay after having sex with them. He preferred to go back home to his comfort. Sometimes he felt dirty for doing all this. It's not like he's doing something illegal but most of these women are someone's wife, if not someone's precious daughter, and sometimes he feels bad for the husbands though he doubted they care if their wife was having an affair.

The woman sighed and retreated her hands away from his body. She went and picked her dress that was thrown on the floor before she wore them again. "Do you want me to give you a ride home? My driver can drive you back home."

"That's fine. I don't want your husband to know." Some of them like to make a fuss when their wife favours Yeosang so much that it hurts their pride. It's not entirely his fault that their wife didn't love them. From what he learned after spending time with these rich women, most of them married because of business and not love.

The woman chuckled. "He never cares. I'm sure he has an affair with his young secretary."

"Well, that makes both of you even then."

"Right? Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow?"

"I don't think I can make it tomorrow."

She pouted. "You're a busy man. Being handsome must be nice, eh?"

Yeosang smiled and stepped closer towards her. He grabbed her chin and tugged it lightly towards him. "Don't worry. You're still one of my special clients," he said and gave her a quick kiss. The woman blushed and giggled at his words. Sometimes he's amazed by his fakeness.

Everything was fake: his smile, his sugary words, his kisses. He didn't feel anything when he did and said them. He treated it as his manners while doing his job; he needed to maintain his reputation with his clients after all.

~

Yeosang bid the woman goodbye as her driver picked her up at the lobby. He watched the car disappear into the night before he walked back home. The night breeze was quite chilly tonight as he ambled along the street. People walked past him at a fast pace and some women turned around to admire his beauty.

He wanted to go home and fall into a deep slumber. At the same time he didn't want to go home because sometimes it reminded him how his life had turned upside down. It's not like he can blame anyone for it. Maybe he should blame his late father's best friend who took all the money after his father died in an accident.

Yeosang was 15 years old when everything happened. His father died in an accident and shortly after, his father's best friend who was also his business partner took the share of money that was supposed to be his mother's. He was too young to understand at that time as he had been living his life in a comfort zone; he had more than enough food with a big and comfortable house to live in.