Falling From Grace

Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

A/N: This story contains EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT and is intended for mature audiences only.

This means depictions of adults in adult situations in varying degrees of detail, including depictions of kink and BDSM.

Be forewarned that I do not intend to warn readers about explicit content per chapter, as I believe this warning and the warning in the description of this story should suffice.

Reader discretion is advised.
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It's a balmy Sunday evening in Seoul, and Demie Kim, head bartender at Alice Cheongdam, is busy polishing glasses and tidying up at the bar.

Just as he was about to go out back to get more ice from the chest freezer, a man in a sharp steel grey suit—one of Alice's regulars—walks in and gives him a wry smile.

Demie knows that look, and like every good bartender, he knows just what this man needs.

"Long week?" Demie asks as he gathers up the ingredients for the man's drink. This particular regular always orders the same thing—Caol Ila 30, on the rocks.

"Yes, very," says the man as he unbuttons his suit jacket and sits on the far corner of the bar.

Demie places the drink in front of the man with a small smile and asks no further questions. He knows that this particular customer doesn't like small talk.

Ri Jeong Hyeok takes a sip of the drink in front of him, the bracing, almost medicinal whisky enveloping him with a warmth that he didn't even know he'd been longing for. Just what he needed after a long week.

As he takes another sip of his drink, he sees a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. A beautiful woman in a red dress has just entered, a red blazer artfully draped over her shoulders.

Much like almost every male patron in the bar—and even a couple of ladies, though most of them are not nearly as thrilled, he notes with amusement—he watches with growing fascination as the woman in red pauses for a second and scans the dimly lit room with her eyes.

Red dress, red blazer... Looks like somebody wants to stand out tonight, he says to himself as he watches the woman checks her phone again briefly before making her way towards the bar and settling onto a chair four seats away from where he was sitting.

She's now close enough for him to properly take her in. Her facial features are dainty and elegant, almost fairy-like. She wears very light make-up, which suits her delicate elfin features quite well in his opinion.

Her simple yet seductive red dress hugs her curves in a way that was both tasteful and sinful all at the same time, and Jeong Hyeok finds himself wondering what she would look like out of it.

As if she had read his mind, the woman in red then takes the blazer off of her shoulders before sweeping her long brown hair to the side, revealing to his delight an expanse of flawless, porcelain skin that seemed to glow in the dim lighting.

The long diamond drop earrings she's wearing leads his eye down the curve of her slender neck, and his eyes move slowly down her to her shoulder, drinking her in.

He looks up and down at the vision in front of him, and he finds himself wondering if her skin would feel as soft and as silky as it looks.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about this woman that seemed to call to him. It wasn't just the fact that she was strikingly beautiful and incredibly alluring.

It was much, much more than that, but Jeong Hyeok couldn't quite figure out what.

The woman smiles at Demie, who has just placed a menu in front of her. The smile turns her eyes into perfect little crescent moons, and Jeong Hyeok finds himself smiling at the sight.