Gravity - a SeulKai novel ;

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In her dream rain was pouring down and a telephone was ringing without interruption, but it was dark and she couldn't find it... She opened her eyes. She realized she wasn't dreaming since somewhere a telephone was actually ringing while it was raining. A cold and wet weather had arrived in Seoul but fortunately, under her blankets, in her room, everything seemed warmer. Someone moved next to her. Light hair, sweet-looking. Her eyes flashed to the smartphone which was vibrating on the bedside table, but instead of answering her father she checked the time.

Hey, it's 10 a.m. - when are you leaving?

She put her feet on the heated floor and she quickly picked up the clothes, throwing them at the person still under the blankets. Rule number one: no one could stay after 9 a.m. and, whoever that stranger met the night before was, he had already taken an extra hour. The person mumbled turning in the bed. She grumbled opening a closet.

I'm about to do this the hard way - if you don't want me to try the teaser on what you have between your legs, go away.

She started the device in her hands, which began to do an electrical noise. The young man seemed to realize how real was the threat and opened his eyes jumping on his feet.

Now.

She mumbled throwing the teaser back in the closet.

I'm gonna take a shower, when I come back you'd better be gone.

Maybe he tried to tell her something, but she had already vanished towards her bathroom. It was just a one-night stand of sex, but way more often than she expected every man, or woman, who had slept with her had ended up asking her something more, whether it was breakfast, her number, or even just to thank her for the night. What everyone didn't understand was that she didn't want to have something to do with them anymore. Especially with men, she found them extremely more fragile, always in need of reassurance and compliments. With women everything was simpler, but she was in Korea after all and in more than one occasion she had had to face the self-righteous and homophobic opinions of the society. Everyone knew she was bisexual. Her coming out had been a scandal for months and months and even now, after four years, it was causing arguments. Only a few people really accepted it, but she was untouchable and far enough from people who could actually end her career for something like that. The only reason why women were rare in her apartment was that not all of them were willing to put up with the pressure of newscasts. Careers could end, but above all it was the life of each one of those people who could end up in a terrible media guillotine. Whoever decided to spend their night with her had to know very well what they would have to face by following her into her apartment. So it had become inevitable to look for male company in her free time, not to mention the fact that the chances of success were way higher.

She got out of her bathroom after 30 minutes, wearing only her underwear, her hair pulled under a towel. She usually spent her time at home naked or wearing as less clothes as possible, it made her feel free. She entered her room and noticed that the young man had left her apartment, she combed her hair and took her telephone: three missed calls from her father. A part of her was extremely curious to find out the reason of those insisting calls, but she preferred to wait: the word wouldn't have burned unless she wanted to. It could wait. Everything could wait. She put down her telephone while her attention was being captured by her handbag on the floor, all her stuff spilled around it. She was sure she was the one who had thrown it, too busy with her one-night stand to focus on anything else. She quickly started to pick everything up when she suddenly lingered on a small book. She vaguely remembered it from the evening before, it was Jongin's and he had forgotten it at Dinasty. She never read, except glossy magazines and Twitter, if that could be considered 'reading'. The title was written in English, as the words inside it, and it had to be a very old edition. 'The Little Prince' was written in big letters on its cover. She knew it, she knew it was a children's book, but she had never read it and the reason why someone as grown as Jongin could find that thing interesting was a complete mystery to her. The cover was creased, the pages could have come off at any moment. She sat down on the edge of her bed starting to leaf through them with her long and thin fingers.