❛❛Love? I wasn't in love. I never had feelings for you. All of that is merely a set of delusions you've built in your mind, Y/N.❞
This is the story of an arranged marriage that became a love marriage when the gap between them was filled with a tiny...
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04.
CHAPTER FOUR
IHAD BARELY SLEPT FOR AN HOUR OR TWO when the shrill sound of my alarm dragged me out of a restless slumber at six in the morning. My head throbbed, a dull reminder of the poor decisions I made the night before. What had I expected, really? It was already two in the morning when Adrielle had shown up at my apartment, dragging me along to a bar for a night out. By the time we stumbled back home, it was close to four.
The hours that followed felt like a blur. I spent most of them trapped in my thoughts, replaying everything that had happened like a bad movie on repeat: meeting Jeon Jungkook, the absolute humiliation of throwing up on him, and wondering endlessly what on earth he must have thought of me now. Did he find me repulsive? And what about the others—were they whispering about me behind my back? What would people say? What would he say? The thoughts just wouldn't stop.
Shaking off the overwhelming anxiety, I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. The hot water did little to erase the cloud of grogginess hanging over me.
I work as a waitress at Echelon Prime Steakhouse, one of the most exclusive steakhouses in all of Seoul. My shift begins promptly at eight in the morning—a brutal start after so little sleep—and ends at four in the afternoon. Landing a job as a waitress there had been nothing short of a miracle. I couldn't say the pay was extravagant, but it was enough to cover my rent and bills as someone living on her own in a city that never truly slept.
The glitzy world outside the restaurant was one I wasn't quite a part of—not anymore—but the steakhouse allowed me to witness it up close, in a strange, detached sort of way. The fast-paced atmosphere, the clinking of glasses, the sizzling sounds from the kitchen—it was all I knew.
After a quick shower and throwing on my casual clothes, I grabbed my bag and left my apartment. The brisk morning air hit my face as I boarded the bus heading toward work. It was a gray, cloudy morning, the kind that felt like a long sigh from the heavens.
When I arrived at the restaurant, the familiar scent of sizzling steaks greeted me. I spotted Somi, one of my closest coworkers, in the midst of her shift. Her bright, easy smile always managed to lighten the mood, even on the roughest mornings.
"Oh, you're here early, Y/N?" She said, tilting her head slightly as she approached me. Her eyes sparkled with an energy that seemed to contrast the exhaustion written on her face. She had an empty tray in her hands, a sign she'd just finished a round.
