Nineteen-year-old Rose Porter-Abe had everything a teen could want, except for a life of her own.
The daughter of a fashion designer and an actor, Rose finds herself lost in the long shadow cast by her parents' achievements and expectations, and una...
'No,' Rose said stubbornly as the engine ticked over, clutching the seatbelt over her chest so tightly that it cut into her palms, leaving deep red welts in her skin.
Si-woo turned in his seat to face her. 'If you don't try, you'll regret it.'
'No, I won't,' she claimed. 'Besides, it's not like he'll want to talk to me.'
'If you go up and ring the intercom and he sends you away, then at least you'll have attempted to talk to him instead of running away.'
'Why do you want me to talk to him, anyway?' Rose demanded. 'You hate him!'
'I do, but you don't.'
Rose turned to him in shock. 'Did you hear what he said to me in Jeju?'
'Everyone heard what he said to you in Jeju.'
Rose flailed a hand toward the building. 'So why are you making me go in there?'
Si-woo pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration. Rose watched him, chewing her lip, her heart pounding painfully in her chest. Everything in her expression and the tension she carried in her body and posture was screaming at him to turn the car around and take her back to the apartment where she could explain to Yuta why she'd defied his orders and escaped from the building in the first place.
Rather than succumb to her desperate gaze, Si-woo offered, 'I'll wait here for you. If he lets you in, I'll wait here, and I'll take you straight back to the apartment afterwards. Maybe with ice cream along the way if he's cruel.'
It was clear that no matter how much she argued, Si-woo wasn't going to budge on his offer. Rose considered asking him to come in with her, but the presence of someone like Si-woo would only provoke Tae-won further. Besides, there was no guarantee that she'd get any further than the front steps of the building. Their argument had seemed rather final, and if his fans were baying for her blood and Tae-won wasn't doing anything to try to stop them, she doubted that she'd be able to achieve any manner of peace with him before her inevitable departure.
'Fine, but this was your idea,' Rose reminded him. 'I was okay with running away and never speaking to him again.'
Si-woo placed a hand against his chest. 'I take full responsibility.'
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As Rose walked apprehensively to the front of the building, she found herself wishing that Si-woo would take the abuse that Tae-won would inevitably hurl at her along with the responsibility.
The intercom was silent, waiting for her to reach out and dial through to Tae-won's apartment. Given the events of the past couple of days, she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd muted it. He must have been inundated with calls from his manager, Deok-su, reporters, and obsessed fans.
The door to her left opened and Rose jumped as a gentleman exited the building. Noticing her, he held the door open and gestured for her to walk through politely, no doubt mistaking her for a resident who'd been locked out. Rose cast a glance back over her shoulder to the car where Si-woo was waiting. Rather than inviting her back, he waved her off in encouragement, and Rose found herself passing through the door and into the lobby before she'd had a chance to think about the insanity of her actions.
