Cherry Blossom Winter~ To Lack, To Find

**The entirety of Part 2 will be from Bom’s perspective**

Bom awoke with a start. It was dark around her but she could hear soft breathing. Bom lifted her head to look around. She found a man in the bed sleeping next to her. She immediately panicked and scrambled to get out of the mess of blankets that surrounded her. The hasty and sudden movements awoke this companion Bom was sharing a bed with and he grabbed her shoulders. Bom was about to scream when a voice came.

“Shh…shh… its okay, its okay.” It was Kyung Soo’s voice. He started rubbing her back to calm her down. Immediately relieved, Bom fell backward into his arms. She stayed there for a moment and assessed the situation. He probably thought she was insane. At this moment she didn’t care, suddenly overcome by the fatigue of the night time. Bom adjusted her position and slid deeper under the warm covers of the bed, turning so that she was lying on her side, propped on Kyung Soo’s bare chest. He was warm and strong, and it was far more comforting to have him there with her in her bed than to sleep alone.

“I’m sorry,” she groggily said as she was falling back to sleep. She really was sorry. He didn’t have to deal with that. It had been about a month since Kyung Soo found out she was a hostess and a month since the two had found out how closely they lived to each other. That night they found out, they made a sort of unspoken agreement to keep each other company when they needed it or give each other peace when it was necessary. The more time went on, the closer they grew to one another.

“Mmm,” Kyung Soo murmured. “Its really okay.” I said running his fingers up and down Bom’s upper arm and shoulder. That and the fact that it was four in the morning made for a quick slip back into sleep for the both of them and soon, the room was once again silent besides some faint and soft breathing.

~~~

In the morning, Bom woke up to an empty bed. It was normal, though. Kyung Soo always woke up at five to get back to the dorms before his roommates or managers awoke. Bom emerged from her warm cocoon of blankets slowly and made her way to the kitchen. She walked over to the coffee maker and made herself some coffee which she enjoyed in silence and solitude. She grabbed some mixed fruit salad she had lifted from the last party she went to. The party goers hadn’t finished it, so she took it home. When she was done spooning the amount she wanted into a bowl, she placed the main bowl back into her otherwise empty fridge.

After she had finished eating, she started to get ready for the day. It was going to be very cold and there was even a chance of snow that day. She decided on a pair of black skinnies and a plain burgundy long sleeve crewneck, which she then layered a grey sweatshirt over and then her military green coat with a fuzzy-trimmed hood. Headed out the door, Bom slipped on her plain leather docs and grabbed her purse.

She was headed to the corner store to pick up some cat food and was going to make her rounds to the cats this morning. She usually fed the cats every three days but, she had to feed them earlier than that this week because she was busy tomorrow and for the rest of the week for that matter.

On her way down the hall of her apartment building, she searched her purse for her wallet. When she reached the elevator, she found it. Within, she found, only lie 8,000 won*. “Ughhh,” Bom exhaled in frustration. That would barely cover the cat food.

Lately, Bom had been avoiding work. She was taking many “sick days” and sometimes wouldn’t show up even when she was scheduled to. It started a month ago when her friend, Ji-ri was injured, or beaten, while working. Ji-ri was of the same crop that Bom was. She was pure and innocent, well, as much as one could be in the two girls’ profession. From what Ji-ri had told Bom in the hospital, Bom knew that there was no way Ji-ri could’ve avoided the incident. Ji-ri had this thing going woth Tae Woo sajangnim (Boss Tae Woo) and she had wanted to stop for a while. One day, she finally told him she didn’t want to be involved with him in that way anymore and whenever he called her late at night for her to come over, she declined the call. So, he had assigned Ji-ri the worst possible job, working the Cheongnyangni 588 location, as some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. It wasn’t fair. Because of him, Ji-ri was led into a dirty love hotel and gang raped by a guy she was assigned to and all his buddies.

Ji-ri was like a little sister to Bom. It sincerely broke her heart when she had heard what had happened. She wished she had never brought Ji-ri over. She wished that Ji-ri had met someone else at the border, someone honest. Bom still remembered the night she found out. She was so flooded with emotions and didn’t know what to do. She did the only thing she knew would make her feel better and if not that, at least calm her down. She went to feed the cats. After making her normal rounds in Gangnam she headed to Hongdae to feed Dol and the others that were there.

She was surprised when Kyung Soo showed up. She didn’t think she would ever see him again. She thought he was just a person that would float in and out of her life quickly, like everyone else did. It was nice to have him there when she cried. It was a complicated sort of comforting. With him there, at least she didn’t have to cry alone.

As quickly as Kyung Soo had entered, Bom had to leave. She was disappointed and dreading doing to the airport to pick up more girls. She was like Tae Woo sajangnim’s dog, doing all the leg work. Bom could never forgive Tae Woo for doing what he did to Ji-ri, but she had to still treat him well, so that he would in turn treat her well. Since Bom was a more executive figure in the business, she got the nice jobs in the Gangnam location, and was always assigned to nice men who treated her well, without having to be involved with Tae Woo in many other ways, unlike Ji-ri. Since Ji-ri was relatively new, Bom tried to help her out. She gave Ji-ri the only advice she knew would work, which was to become involved and therefore favored by the Boss. In hindsight, Bom wished she had never given that piece of advice out.

Because of the uproar and hype the incident with Ji-ri created, Tae Woo was obviously angry with Bom and how she was handling things. Since Ji-ri was Bom’s responsibility, Tae Woo sajangnim assigned Bom to the Cheongnyangni 588 location, again as some sort of bizarre punishment as well. Bom had only had to work the Cheongnyangni 588 location once in her life and had forgotten how horrid it was. All the men were stinky, all the men were dirty, and all the men were mean. It had been a good couple of years since her first and only time there and surely the area had gotten worse. She was so frightened, that she called the only person she though would help and not really ask for anything in return. She called Kyung Soo.

The ding of the elevator reaching her floor snapped Bom back to the present. The doors opened and she entered. She eyed her 8,000 won again. Bom needed money. Her funds were definitely running dry and she knew it was time to face her demons and return to work. She needed to talk with Tae Woo.

That’s why she was busy for the rest of the week. That night, Tae Woo was throwing a party. Bom was going to go and chat with Tae Woo there. She assumed she would be reassigned and then busy the rest of the week making up for lost time at work.

She reached the corner store, picked up the cat food and theft the corner store. She only had about 2,000 won left. Shit Shit Shit.

~~~

It was reaching eleven at night and Bom was on her way to the party. It was being held at Club Octagon in Gangnam. Bom was always conflicted about parties. Sometimes she liked then and sometimes she hated them. She would’ve definitely been excited for this particular party if it were not for the vents that had preceded it. Club Octagon was relatively new and she had not yet been there. She assumed Tae Woo would have a VIP table, and she recalled something about a third floor private room as well; and of course the dance floor would be open to everyone.

Bom’s day had been pretty uneventful. She simply fed the cats, took a long walk around Hongdae, returned home for a pre-emptive nap, and then woke up to prepare for the party. She decided on something warm and conservative, she was wearing a black wide yet high neck line dress with a skirt backed by tulle. It had jewel toned gems embroidered onto it in seasonal floral shapes that sparkled in every light. Since winter was upon them, Bom decided to top the dress with a very big and long mustard yellow cardigan which matched one of the tones of gem on her dress; and on top as a jacket, she picked a longer teal wool one which matched with another tone of gem on her dress. She barely wore any jewelry except for a plain gold cuff on her wrist.

Bom exited her building and was met with an arctic wind chill. She violently shivered. Kyung Soo had a performance that night, so Bom hadn’t even bothered to ask him to join her. He was always so busy, he really needed a break. It was actually a lot colder than Bom had originally thought, making it extremely unbearable to walk in, especially with the fact that Bom was only wearing sheer tights to cover her legs. She decided to walk anyways; it wasn’t that far to the club, maybe twelve blocks at most. Plus, Bom’s subway card had run out of money since she stopped working regularly. Walking was her only option at the moment.

A moment later Bom’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Kyung Soo asking her if she wanted to do something. He mentioned how the managers surprisingly allotted another free-night and that other group members had gone out already. Bom really wanted to hang out with Kyung Soo, it was always so comfortable and calming to have him around, but she really couldn’t at that moment. She didn’t want to tell him why, though, because even though he said her job didn’t affect the way he viewed her, she still had a strange feeling whenever she mentioned it or even thought about it around him. She was embarrassed.

“You’ve had a long day. You should go to sleep and catch up on your rest~~ Rest=healing” she replied. She put the phone back in her coat pocket and continued walking. She looked around as she walked and saw the bustling city of Seoul. She loved to be around people, not necessarily interacting with them, but being around them made her feel less lonely.

Just as Bom thought she was going to lose all feeling in her hands, she reached Club Octagon. There was a long line branching out form the entrance and there were bouncers in big black puffy coats guarding the doors. Bom walked up.

“Excuse me.” Bom said trying one of the bouncer’s attention.

“Back of the line please.”

“No, I—” Bom tried again.

“Club is full, honey,” the bouncer said, belittling Bom. Bom shuttered. She hated being talked down to, and especially called pet names like that. She exhaled sharply.

“There is a party occurring within this fine establishment and I am a fucking guest. Let me the fuck in, please.” People were starting to stare at her. She didn’t care. She was cold and was not in the mood for this.

The bouncer chuckled at Bom’s sudden attitude change. It was safe to say he was surprised at the complete 180 in no time at all. “Fine. Name?” he said grabbing the tablet that held the list of VIPs.

“Bang Soo Bom.”

“You’re not here.” Some girls in the front of the line scoffed and started talking.

Ugh. Bom thought to herself. Tae Woo wouldn’t dare put her on the list as her alias name would he? What a douche. Such a waste of time. She rolled her eyes. “How about Soo-Soo.”

The bouncer looked up from the tablet at Bom and then back to the tablet. “Soo-Soo?” He chuckled. There was a pause as if he didn’t really believe Bom, but Bom just stared back at him with no smile in her eyes. The bouncer looked down at the tablet discouraged. “Yeah you’re here. Head on in private room is on the 3rd floor and VIP table is on the second balcony, number 4.” The bouncer then stepped aside and allowed some space for Bom to pass. She could almost feel the jealousy of the other girls who had just scoffed at her and disparaged her radiating off her back. She loved the feeling.

Bom entered the club through this long and dimly lit tunnel of a hallway. As the distance between her and the dance floor decreased, the music became louder and louder. It reminded her slightly of the hostess bar. Dark halls and loud music, tons of people, high energy. Host clubs were better. Bom remembered a time when she used to love going to host clubs, especially when she lived and worked in Japan. Male hosts gave her such fine attention and never judged her for her profession, they couldn’t even if they wanted to, they did the same thing. Bom’s host hopping stopped when Tae Woo “promoted her lifestyle” as the man himself called it.

Tae Woo owned all the nicest elite hostess bars and host clubs in Seoul, even his worst ones were nice. He was a man of business and new how to treat women well. Of course Bom was attracted to him at first. It was all part of the fun. And yes the two were involved at one point, fore that’s how Bom rose in the ranks. That’s how Bom ended up only working the best shifts at the best clubs and with the best men. She had the best of everything because of Tae Woo. Her allegiance and loyalty to Tae Woo was vital, which is why, even after the incident with Ji-ri, Bom could not just retaliate or even walk away from him or this life he had created for her.

Bom hated the hold he had on her. She hated it all. But, she needed it. It was all she knew. Bom entered the main floor and made her way to the spiral staircase that she assumed led to the balcony overlooking the dance floor. She was bumped my many preoccupied dancers, but persistently continued. She finally made it to the stairs and then the balcony.

It was dark on the balcony, but not only that, it was oddly quiet. The dance floor was directly below, so you would expect it to be loud, but the loud music was severely muffled, giving the balcony this ominous as well as intimate feeling. As she walked along, Bom eyed the other VIPs. They were wealthy and well dressed, and to Bom they all looked the same. What table did the bouncer say? Bom thought to herself. Number 4 was it?

Bom couldn’t find the number four table and was beginning to grow frustrated. One, two, three… Those were all subsequent with each other. Five, six… There was no four.
She found the bar that was individually for the VIP section and no one else, and asked the bartender. “Table four is the special table. You get a separate room for your table,” the bartender stated. Then why did Tae Woo get another separate private room? So frivolous and wasteful.

“I can show you the way, just give me a second,” the bartender continued, quickly cleaning up what he was doing. The bartender then led bom to the end of the main balcony and down a short hall. He reached a door marked “4” and opened it, signaling for Bom to enter.

“Thank you,” Bom told the bartender as he closed the door. She turned back around to face the room. It was small, dimly lit, and completely filled with alcohol. The noise from the dance floor was completely silent in this room, but it seemed to have a speaker that played the dance floor music. Tae Woo was sitting on one of the benches, surrounded by women or course. There were a couple of Tae Woo’s friends and they also had their women, Bom recognized them from being introduced to them a long time back, back when she was one of the women wrapped around Tae Woo. There were a couple of people there that Bom did not quite recognize, but that wasn’t abnormal, Tae Woo was always making new “friends”.

As Bom approached the table, Tae Woo’s attention was drawn to her. They made eye contact. “Oh Soo-Soo! You’ve made it. I didn’t think youd come seeing as you’ve been so MIA lately.”
“That’s what I came to talk about. I wanted to apologize for being so careless and missing so much,” Bom said bowing. “Please accept my apology, I will work very diligently from now often, give me any job and I will do it. I work for you.” Bom bowed again, trying to be overtly polite to Tae Woo in hopes he would let her work the good jobs again.

“Stop bowing, Soo-Soo, this is a party. No need to be so polite,” He told her. Bom stood straight up and looked at him. “You know, I will say that I was mad at you initially. You’ve brought me so much grief recently, but I am willing to forgive you…” he said waving his hand nonchalantly. “Speaking of jobs, I have a very special job for you that is very important.”

Bom questioned him without words but with a glance. Tae Woo smiled mischievously. "We have a special guest with us today. He’s of high importance to me personally.” Bom scoffed in her mind. Ha. No one is highly important to Tae Woo personally except Tae Woo… and maybe his own mother, but even that is pushing it.

Tae Woo gestured to a man sitting half in shadow on the bench opposite him. At the moment, the man was leaning over a girl, and what looked like whispering in her ear. The girl made a surprised face and hit the man’s shoulder playfully. The man pulled away and grinned at the girl. He had another on his opposite side, too, but she was a bit preoccupied with her drink at that moment.

The man switched his attention to Bom as Tae Woo began to introduce them. “Bom this is your new client.” Tae Woo said almost chuckling to himself. “He will be your only client for the time being, so you need to show him a good time while he is here as a guest in our conglomerate.” So this mad wasn’t just a guest of the party, but a guest of Tae Woo’s ‘business’ group? Was he looking to join… he looks too young to join a business conglomerate…Bom thought to herself.

The girl on this new man’s side grabbed his attention again and he turned back to her. Tae Woo continued just to Bom, “If you do this right, your pay will be returned to normal, and maybe a promotion will come your way… no promises. Just do it right.” The last part was almost like a threat. "You will take him to the private room on the 3rd floor and show him a good time." From experience, Bom knew what Tae Woo meant by 'good time' and she also knew if she didnt do it right Tae Woo would become scary and he could be real scary when he wanted to. Tae Woo garnered the new client’s attention and the client soon stood up. He walked towards Bom and Bom watched him as he did so.

“Tae Woo tells me you’re my welcoming party,” the man said smirking at Bom. He was strange to Bom. Tall, very tall, lanky arms and legs, narrow shoulders, but looked phenomenal in the suit he was wearing. It was well-fitting to his slender and tall frame and had an almost shiny appearance that reflected off it's grey surface. He was extremely attractive too. And relatively young compared to the men Tae Woo usually bought in as third party consultants in the business. He looked about Bom’s age.

“Apparently I am…” Bom said, turning on the charm. She giggled playfully. “I’m Soo-Soo.”

“Yi Fan” The man said back to Bom. “Wu Yi Fan.”

Notes

*8,000 won is about $8.00