There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Seventy-Nine

The gossip channels were abuzz with rumours about Tae-won and Rose, the heiress who'd lied to, apparently, the entire country by not disclosing everything about herself and her life before getting onto the plane.

The media storm was a million times more powerful than anything Rose had experienced in Tokyo, and Yuta had already given the girls orders to stay inside for the night while he'd left under cover of darkness to visit Lily at her hotel across the city. It was easier for her to find a decent room at short noticed when she stayed at a Belvedere – one of Ikuto's many buildings across the world – rather than moving into their apartment building. It was a less permanent residence, too, and it was clear that Lily hoped that she could conclude her business in Seoul quickly and then leave things to the trusted Korean employees in her stead.

After Hitomi had gone to bed, Rose slipped out of their room in her black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a pair of black trainers. Slowly, she zipped up her black hoodie as she crept toward the door, eager to make it out of the building before Yuta came back and figured out her plan.

The lights flipped on as she reached for the handle, and Rose spun on her heel.

'What are you doing?' Hitomi asked, her arms folded across her chest. 'You'd better not be sneaking out. There are photographers everywhere. They'll see you!'

'I can't just sit here while they're destroying me all over the media!' Rose hissed back at her. 'And, not just me, but you and Yuta and the company! If this carries on, Silver Lilies in Korea will never happen. All those people will be fired and it'll be my fault!'

'We can't do anything!' Hitomi snapped. 'If we go out there, they'll just shout at us, take our pictures, and maybe sacrifice us to some Korean Idol God for good fortune or something. Seriously, some Korean superfans are terrifying. You might actually die.'

Rose rolled her eyes. 'You're being ridiculous.'

'You don't know that! Neither of us know that! Rose, if you go out there, I'll call Yuta and your mother.'

'I'll go out through the back door. It'll be totally fine!'

'Fine,' Hitomi said, throwing her hands up in defeat. 'Fine, you go. You go out there and when they find what's left of your body nailed to the door of Silver Lilies and surrounded by pictures of Tae-won, I'll tell everyone that I tried to stop you, and that you overpowered me, and that none of this is my fault.'

'Are you done?' Rose asked.

Hitomi huffed. 'I'm done. But you'd better be back in time for us to get out of this country.'

'You could come with me,' Rose suggested. 'We could see if we can get into the women's university campus after hours and sneak around.'

'Don't even,' Hitomi warned. 'I'm still annoyed I'm not going to see it, especially now Jung-wook is being a total loser! A whole campus full of women? Sign me up. I don't even care what the courses are, I'll do anything.'

'After this they'll probably blacklist you from entering the country again.'

Hitomi took a moment to let this register as a possibility before she said, 'Okay, you should definitely sneak out.'

'Why the change of tune?'

'Because if you stay here, I'll kill you.'