Cartel│Mark Lee

We're leaving

The night of celebration for the cartel continued and people could not take their eyes off of me. After Mark let me out of his strong grasp from dancing the feeling of fullness for life turned into an empty pit in my stomach. My new so called 'boyfriend' was nowhere to be found. The events of tonight dawned on me and I groaned at the pressure I was feeling. Although being Marks new girlfriend was a title that gave me superiority I had to act like I deserved it. The pressure to live up to the standard of being his girlfriend was making me anxious. As if people hadn't already been talking about me before this, the new title would take the gossiping to another level. Women would envie me and people would want to find ways to tear me down. I needed to be stronger, more confident, more untouchable. I was afraid all the designer dresses and shoes in the world couldn't fuel me up enough to handle this amount of pressure. 

I browsed the big room filled with people in hopes of finding Mark. I felt an ominous feeling take over my body as I saw him on the second floor, leaning on the railing overlooking the bottom floor. He was talking to a woman in a tight black dress with long brown hair. She was gorgeous. The woman laughed at something he said and placed her hand on his shoulder in a flirtatious way. I scoffed at the sight, almost laughing. Mark was never funny enough to make someone laugh that hard. Women always fell to his feet whenever he was around. Either he was oblivious to this fact or liked the attention he got from it. Mark looked glorious above everyone on the second floor. Even a blind eye could really see that he was in control by the way he talked to the way he moved. It was distracting and that's what made him most attractive. The view of him with that woman was almost humorous to me. I sighed and felt the sudden urge to drink this feeling away. I made my way to the bar on the far side of the room.

"pinot grigio please." I said to the bar tender before taking a seat on a stool. "Can I recommend something?" A man sat beside me and cleared his throat. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and nodded. "She will have the Belvino bottle." The man spoke to the bartender and looked back to me. I smiled at him, resting my head on my hand. The man smiled back at me, showing off his dimples. He was quite tall with broad shoulders and had a smile I melted at . "Im Jaehyun." He took a sip out of his glass and set it down on the bar. "Vanessa." He raised his eyebrows at my response and let out a chuckle. "So you are the girl everyone's talking about theses days." My cheeks flushed at the sudden attention. I didn't know if his words were supposed to be up lifting or not. "Well, I hope I meet the expectations everyone's talking about." I sighed and looked at the man. He was handsome to say the least and I couldn't help the blush that creeped onto my face whenever he spoke to me. "I think you'll exceed them." He let his hand slowly slip through his brown hair. I gave him a side smile at his comment and swirled my glass around in my hand. "You're a permanent member of this business now im assuming?" He asked me and my mind wandered. The contract was only valid for a year but would Mark let me go once it was up? Would I still be power hungry and want to stay?

I was to be confident in every situation and not let my guard down. I was to lure every man in the industry I came in contact with. I needed them wrapped around my finger, that was my job. "Of course I am" I then seductively crossed my legs and turned toward him. "So, will I be seeing more of you?" He smirked and looked me up and down. I felt a pang of guilt rush through me but it disappeared when I looked up at Mark, who was still with that women. If he could talk and flirt with other people why couldn't I? It was a fake relationship anyways, it was only for status. With that thought in mind I placed my hand on the mans leg in a playful manner and giggled. "I hope so." He raised an eyebrow at me and called the bartender over to refill our drinks. "Cheers." He raised his glass and I did the same. The ringing sound that came from our glasses touching made me almost cringe but I kept a smile plastered on my face. I then proceeded to laugh at the mans stories and watched him slowly fall for me.

"Vanessa." A dark voice came from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a very angry Mark Lee. He looked at me and then to jaehyun and lightly shook his head. "We're leaving." His tone was menacing. I sat there dumbfounded by his sudden change in character. "Now." He was stern. I rolled my eyes at him. "Mark were celebrating today. How could you be so unpleasant?" I chuckled and the look on his face got even angrier. "I'm not playing around Vanessa. We are going." The look he gave me was frightening. I almost apologize for disobeying him at first. Because of my sudden terror I stood up from my seat fast, trying not to slip on my silver gown that trailed on the floor. "It was nice meeting you Jaehyun." I looked towards him apologetically because of my sudden rush to leave. He gave me a light smile, not wanting to intervene and said, "I hope to see you soon." I quickly threw back the remaining liquid in my glass and ran after Mark who was already making his way to the limo. "Mark what is going on?" I urged him to speak to me as I chased him from behind. Trying not to make a scene I shut my mouth and waited till we got into the limo. "What's wrong, did something happen?" I asked concerned. I got no response to my question and I let out a huff. He stayed silent the whole way home and didn't even look towards me once. I has having deja vu. This setting was so familiar that a sigh escaped my lips. My head rested on the window as I looked at the scenery passing by, wishing for him to let me in again.