The favor || ROSÉ ft Vsoo

Two

Had it not been for the static female voice of her GPS feeding her turn-by-turn directions, Rosé would have thought herself lost. She'd left the city limits behind her fifteen minutes earlier and now she was driving through a wooded wilderness that seemed impossibly isolated. It was beautiful though. Sometimes the road would open up into a vast, treeless area and it seemed as though the hills and valleys were heaving waves on a moonlit ocean. But, just as quickly, she would enter the trees once more and the road would wind and turn this way and that until she was utterly confused.

"I should have left earlier," she murmured as she glanced at the clock. She hoped she'd arrive soon, otherwise she'd be late. It was already after 6:50 and she had no idea how much road still lay ahead.

But, that wasn't Rosé's only concern. She wondered if Lisa had bothered to follow through on her promise to call the family. What had she said about their names? Oh, yeah, the last name was Kim. That was it. Jisoo and Taehyung Kim. The little girl's name was Lillian.

"Sounds pretty highbrow," Rosé mused as she turned another corner. It was 6:55. She'd probably just make it.

As if on cue, the GPS instructed her to make a left turn through a metal gateway. The long lane was lined with trees and hanging lanterns. Rosé marveled at the effect; it was both charming and strangely eerie. Maybe because of the mist rolling off of the lake nearby? Rosé had no way of knowing. She was totally out of her element. She'd known there were enormous houses located on the outskirts of town, but she'd never seen any of them, mostly because the vast majority were locked away from curious on-lookers in gated communities. The Kims didn't live in one of those, but they were located so far away from the regular folks of seoul that they didn't need to concern themselves with trespassers. The only visitors they encountered on a day-to-day basis were the occasional raccoon or heron.

The laneway wound around the wooded lot, until, slowly, the house came into view by degrees. Even in the dark, its beauty was impossible to ignore. It was done in a modern Tudor style with a series of pitched gables accented by stonework. Beveled glass windows reflected the light of a series of lanterns lining the sidewalk, and the rich green ivy making its way up the stone surfaces seemed to twinkle in the moonlight. Everything was perfectly manicured, impossibly neat. Indeed, Rosé was so impressed by the house that, even after parking, she found it difficult to pull her eyes away from the lavish exterior long enough to make her way to the front door.

She would have stayed in her car even longer, but the home's front door suddenly opened to reveal a man dressed in a tuxedo. Rosé instinctively glanced at her car clock. It was 6:58.

"Crap, I gotta get moving," she hissed as she grabbed her purse and her car keys.

She all but jogged up to the front door.

"I'm so sorry," she began, apologetically, "I meant to get here on time, but the drive took longer than I thought it would. I hope you won't be late on account of me."

"You're not Lisa."

Rosé stopped her forward movement immediately. She hadn't called. That irresponsible, no good, double crossing Lisa had failed to follow through... again. To be fair, she had stopped by Rosé's house to drop off the twenty dollars, and thank heavens she had. Otherwise, Rosé would have had no way to fill up her gas tank and drive out to the middle of nowhere, as needed. But, the other part of the deal? Rosé figured her friend must have decided it just wouldn't be worth all of the drama it would create. Better to just throw poor Rosé into the lion's den. That's the ticket, Lisa. Throw your friend into the fray face first...

"No..." Rosé looked away helplessly. She was ashamed, although she wasn't sure why. It wasn't as though she'd done anything wrong.

"What's the matter, Taehyung?" a feminine voice called out from inside the house, "Is something wrong?"