One More Time

Chapter 3: I Can't Get You Off My Mind

He hated to be here again, but Wonwoo had made a mistake and had chosen Soonyoung as his best friend. Which explained why he was standing in the middle of the PASSIONBAR crowd again, smelling of sweat and sex. Even though he'd said he wasn't coming. Thinking back to the last night he'd set foot in here, he wouldn't have thought of going back. But then again, Soonyoung was his best friend and he had to be his driver on the way here to see Jihoon. Otherwise he'd have to leave his dear friend, drunk, on the side of the road to be eaten by wolves.

Sighing as the glass was pushed in front of him, he turned his gaze to the barista girl in front of him. The fair-skinned girl had a smile on her beautiful face. A smile that looked inviting even to Wonwoo. "On the house," she giggled as she gestured to the shot glass. It was a gorgeous sound, Wonwoo couldn't deny it. If his focus hadn't been on the man on the other side of the bar, serving customers who were drooling, he might have found the beautiful barista's attention pleasant. But his focus was completely elsewhere.

"Thanks," he murmured to her as he pushed the glass back. "But there's no need. I can't accept a treat from your disgusting establishment."

The pouting girl's eyes flicked sideways for a moment to her coworker, who was being harassed by customers, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "I suppose you accept other kinds of treats."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Wonwoo defended himself, not understanding how he had stumbled into such a conversation while blushing up to his ears. It didn't mean much, though, because she was already grinning and back to making cocktails. He was torn between burying his head in the counter and running away, but when he looked at his friend in the corner of the bar, sipping his drink and laughing with Jihoon, he sighed and stayed seated. If it wasn't so cold outside, he would have preferred to sit in the car and wait, but in this weather he would probably freeze to death.

His gaze shifted once more to the man behind the bar counter. As he served drinks, customers' hands tugged at his collar, cupped his skin beneath his shirt, and their lips whispered who knew what dirty words into his ear. Just watching him was enough to make Wonwoo's blood boil with rage. He had fallen into an even dirtier part of this dirty world and he hated it with every fiber of his being. It broke his heart to look at the tired, emotionless look on the man's face. It wasn't fair to treat a person like that just because he was born with supernatural powers.

"Hey," he called out to the fair-skinned girl. When her attention turned from the glasses to him, he cleared his throat. "Night... Uh... How much a night?" He wanted to know how much Mingyu was worth without Jihoon's discount.

She looked at him and then at Mingyu. The huge grin that had been on her face a moment before appeared. "Ow. Sooner or later, everyone gives in to Kim Mingyu. I knew that." She raised and lowered her eyebrows.

Wonwoo looked away, and this time he locked eyes with Mingyu. He'd probably heard what they were saying. The thought was embarrassing, but he ignored it. "I asked a question."

"Oh," she snapped out of it. "Two hundred dollars an hour. One thousand dollars if you want to rent it overnight. We close at five."

One thousand dollars. The dark circles around Mingyu's eyes, the sleepless expression on his face, were worth a thousand dollars. It was hard to believe, but who cared if the person they paid for this job was okay, as long as they had a good night? Wonwoo, of course. That's why he wasn't interested in money in the first place. No one was willingly putting up with this life. The flat expression on Kim Mingyu's lipstick-covered face proved how much he hated this job. But he sounded pretty sure of himself. He was persistent in his enticement of Wonwoo to come to bed with him. He must have his own beliefs about getting his money's worth.