rich [k.d.h fanfic]

prologue [3/4]

It was only after three hours that Donghyuk had dragged her away from Dani. Standing across each other in a balcony that silenced the chatters and soft music playing, all they could hear was each other's breathing and the soft rustle of trees against the wind. "Finally done being a jerk?" Youjung asks.

"Do you know how much you were damaging my image, not being by my side when I was socializing?" he harshly states, a cold look directed her way.

Guilt pools at the pit of her gut but she pushes it away. "Do I look like I care?" she retorts with a pointed look. "After everything you had done to Dani and to Miss Jung, I don't feel safe being with you."

The look on his face was indescribable. "You don't feel safe?" he asks in a meek manner, catching Youjung off guard and she nods hesitantly. "How?"

She runs her hand through her hair to get rid of the knots that were forming, sighing softly. "Seeing how you treat Dani after those incidents... it makes me wonder if I were to pull off a stunt like that, would you shun me like how you did to her? Even if you saw me, would you verbally hurt me with another girl and have that smirk of victory on your face the whole time?" she questions, voice slightly filled with hurt.

"Disrespecting an elder just shows that you aren't grounded in your own values, if I was being harsh, it just seem like you have no value. Along with your on and off actions, honestly, you don't make a girl feel secure."

He grimaces, showing off his quite defined jaw and his fists were clenched. "Do you know how big of a jerk you look like?" she continues in a gentle tone, wrapping herself with her arms, knowing that she had gone a bit too far. "I don't know if you know this yourself but if you want to be closer with someone like me, you have to change because you look like a monster."

"What happened to respect?" he retorts bitterly and she scoffs softly.

"It was all gone the moment you opened your mouth with Miss Jung," she replies dryly. "I'm treating you the way you treat others... It's like the old saying; treat others how you want to be treated."

Lifting her head slightly to look at the male, she sees the realization before his eyes hardens. "You don't understand," he states, anger at the edge of his words. "People like you don't understand."

"I don't understand?" she responds before scoffing once again. "Honey, you picked me. Now you're turning it against me?"

"You don't understand!" he exclaims, fists clenched tightly. "You don't bloody understand."

"Why don't you enlighten me?" she asks, giving a fake smile. "Maybe your real identity would help?"

After a few minutes of silence, a sigh of defeat was heard from Donghyuk. "I'm a CEO in one of the up and rising companies in the technology industry..." he trails off and she looks at him with wide eyes. "The reason why I didn't tell you was because I expected you to know me!"

We'll be discussing about the new but successful company in the technology industry and observe how it rose from nothing into something overnight.

Youjung, don't you think that the CEO looks dreamy?

The CEO of the company is a 20-year-old male, making him the youngest CEO in the whole of Korea. Even though with his young age, he has a mind of a veteran businessman. Don't be deceived by his sweet looks, he will turn the tables on you!

"Y-You're Kim Donghyuk... CEO of the overnight successful technology company..." she utters, surprised, staring at him. "B-But... how?"

He bit on his lower lip, seemingly conflicted and after glancing at her several times; he lets out another sigh of defeat. "R.I.C.H," he simply says and she looks at him dumbly. "Relations, importance, competition and harsh."

Looking at him with the same look, he almost regrets telling her. "When you are a CEO, the first thing that stands out the most is importance. Once you grasp what is important and what isn't, you focus on bringing the company to the top of the chain and to stay there. So obviously, competitiveness kicks in. With that, being soft-hearted is something to get rid of so the heart grows cold as time passes," he says, grimacing slightly. "But even with these three things, if you don't have relations, it is all redundant. Relations are your biggest friend and enemy. One relation could either bring you all the way up or drag you down to the pits of hell till the point where there is no revival."

Observing her face turning from curiosity to confusion before she says, "Why don't you show me instead?"

His eyes almost bulge out of his sockets. "How do you expect me to show you?!" he exclaims questioningly.

She shrugs before pushing her hair backwards and hears a sigh emitted from the other before looking up to make eye contact. "There may be a way..." he mutters, biting on his lower lip lightly. "You up for it?"

"Why not?" she replies.

"No backing out alright?" he says before his lips tugged into a small smile.

"No backing out."