There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Twenty-Six

In different circumstances, Rose might not have minded being lost in one of the most interesting and densely packed cities in the world, but after realising the guy she was spending her evening with was even worse a person than she'd first thought, all she wanted was to be with her friends. After revealing his identity to his adoring fans, Rose had taken the opportunity to flee, but hadn't given much consideration to where she was headed. If they hadn't driven to Myeongdong then she'd have remembered the route back to the bar and found Yuta and Hitomi. Tae-won had thrown his car around the streets with such speed that she had no idea how to find her way back.

Music blared from shop doorways, groups of friends laughed and bumped her as she walked against the tide of pedestrians, all of them making their way to the night markets and bars, while she was determined to get away from them.

The longer she walked, the more lost she became. The only advantage to this was that there was less chance of Tae-won finding her. While that had been her initial goal – to be as far from him as physically possible without boarding a flight back to Tokyo – she began to understand that it would have been more sensible of her to demand that he take her back to the bar first, and then made her feelings about him and his stupid prank clear.

Rose knew that some people would go to extreme lengths to prove a point, win a bet, or to maintain their image – Keiji sprung to mind – but to trap her on a rooftop was ridiculous. It was cruel! Immediately she'd expressed her distress at their situation, and he'd let her sit by the door and cry for help knowing that they would be rescued in due course anyway. Rose had half a mind to drop out of the campaign to spite him, but she couldn't when she knew it would cause irrevocable damage to Yuta's image and the company.

Only when her feet began to ache did she stop outside of a convenience store. Plastic tables and chairs sat vacant on the concrete outside, and Rose bought a bottle of water just so she could take a break without feeling guilty about parking herself outside of the store. Swallowing down her pride, she hit dial and held the phone to her ear.

'Yuta?' she asked, her voice breaking as she fought to hold herself together. 'Can you come get me?'

In the background, music thumped loudly, and people continued to chatter and laugh. It sounded as if the staff from Silver Lilies weren't ready to call it a night just yet.

Over the din, he replied, 'Rose? I can hardly hear you. Let me just step outside.'

It wasn't much better outside the bar. Rose heard cars racing by, the soft thud of music, and passers by shouting to one another. The girl put her hand over her eyes and drew in a deep, slow breath, doing her utmost to force away the tears threatening to spill over.

'Okay, this is better. What's going on? Your text said you were on a date...?'

'I don't want to talk about it,' she sniffled. 'Please, can you send a car or pick me up? I don't know where I am.'

'Where's Tae-won? Did he run off and leave you by yourself?' he asked furiously. 'Bastard! I'll –'

'No,' Rose interrupted. She was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them. Not unless she was being pressured into it by her friends who wanted to pretend they were all related, that is. 'No, he didn't. We got separated and I don't have his number. If I turn on my GPS, can you find me? Please? I just wanna go back to the apartment.'

'All right. I'm on my way, now. Just stay where you are so it's easier for me to find you.'

That was fine by Rose, she had no intention of wandering off and risking bumping into Tae-won again.