“don’t leave me, okay! you’re the only person i know here so you have to stick with me.” the last words hyerin’s friend said to her before they entered the masquerade ball.
"so much for not knowing anyone.” hyerin mutters to herself, a drink in hand and standing alone by the crowd of people. an hour into the ball, and she’s already been abandoned by said friend, the one who was so adamant about hyerin not leaving her. she sighs, shaking her head as she watches the crowd mingle and dance.
hyerin continues to watch, occasionally taking a sip from her glass and seeing if her friend will resurface at some point, until a man’s figure appears in front of her and blocks her view. looking up, she realizes that this man is quite tall, clad in a simple black suit with a simple black mask on his face, covering up his features except his eyes and his sleazy smile, the one that just sends this aura of cockiness only brought out by how many glasses of alcohol. the bitter and musty smell of alcohol reaches hyerin’s senses as he slides up to her as well, clearly showing that the man is drunk off his mind. she crinkles her nose in disgust. it hasn’t been that long since the ball started, and this man seems like he’s already drank more than half of his body weight in alcohol. she doesn’t know why the man would want to get so drunk so early, and she didn’t want to find out why, but could she even escape the conversation? she isn’t one to be rude and to leave someone when they seemed like they wanted to talk (even as drunk as he is). she musters up the friendliest smile she could have and looks up at him, a soft greeting coming out from her lips. he greets her back with a sleazy and slurred “hello beautiful.”, and hyerin wonders, and is also slightly scared, of what she’s gotten herself into.
it’s been approximately two minutes since the man has approached her and started talking to her, and she doesn’t know what to do. the man has been bragging about himself, about his unlimited loads of cash, about his awesome six-pack and body, and all these “great” things about himself that he thinks hyerin wants to hear, but really, hyerin just wants to bolt out of the conversation. the only problem is that hyerin doesn’t know how to get out and leave him, so she just settles for half-hearted nods and hums of agreement, waiting and hoping something or someone would help.
