The Manipulated Villainess

"Is this the quiet place that you mentioned?" Aston observed the nightclub before him with a nonchalant face. Quiet place! What a joke! He was completely fooled!

Glancing at the two top celebrities standing next to him, Liam scowled. "Let just get in fast. You won\'t want to have your pictures taken!"

"Liam is right." Samuel Yoo chimed in and pushed Aston inside.

Letting out a heavy sighed, Aston let himself be dragged around. After walking through several hallways, they finally stopped before the private room which was located at the very end.

As soon as they took a seat inside the private room, Liam leaned to Aston who was sitting just a feet away from him, still maintaining a nonchalant face. "Come on! I fulfilled your condition. This room is the quietest one here. Even if you try to listen to the music on the dance floor, you won\'t hear a thing." 

Aston tilted his head to Liam and observed the man\'s expression. "Don\'t tell me that you plan to call over some girls here." He bluntly stated.

"Of course not." Liam awkwardly laughed out loud. "You don\'t feel well, so I know that you won\'t like to be bothered. I don\'t want to call some girls here only for you to chase them out. It will be so humiliating!" He exclaimed.

Liam knew Aston too well! The latter had always maintained a friendly attitude but if he ever becomes moody, he always becomes very unpredictable!

"What?! No girls?!" Samuel complained but as soon as he noticed Aston\'s cold gaze, he awkwardly rubbed his chin and let out a laughter. "Who needs girls? We can have fun just the three of us."

The atmosphere in the room becomes more tense and tense with Aston who was not entertained by his two friends joke at all. Once in a while, he would pour himself a glass of whiskey with ice cubes on it. One glass after another and it goes on that way for a while.

Liam figured that it won\'t be good if the actor keeps on drinking. Though Aston had a high alcohol tolerance, drinking too much was not good for his health and his career. "Dude, what\'s wrong? We are your friends and you can tell us anything." He calmly said to Aston while placing his left hand on his back.

Samuel also darted his eyes to Aston, curious about what made his friend behaved this way! He didn\'t know much about Aston\'s past but he had a feeling that it won\'t be that smooth. Aston was always so friendly, maybe that\'s why it\'s very strange to see him in this state!

Aston halted his hand along with the glass of whiskey. For a split second, he recalled what happened the other night. He didn\'t even want to get started. "I\'m fine." He simply said and drank the alcohol again.

Samuel sighed. His friend was always so stubborn but he realized that his detective friend was equally adamant as the actor! Just as expected, Liam doesn\'t plan to let Aston off the hook easily!

"You should tell us what made you like this. If not, then what are friends for?" Liam firmly stated, showing no signs of backing down.

Friends. The beautiful word warmed up Aston\'s heart. He may not be blessed with a great family but he indeed was blessed when it comes to friends!

Michael Lee, his deceased best friend who was loyal to him until his last breath. Liam Ryu, his childhood friend who didn\'t turn his back on him despite his dirty past; the man was a police officer, so Aston understood that it would not be easy to befriend someone like him. Finally, Samuel Yoo, his only friend from the entertainment industry who always filled his life with fun. He had amazing friends!

If his precious friend confronted him with those words, how could he possibly brush him off?! He let out a deep breath and put down the glass of whiskey. For a few seconds, he wondered how to start. "I think I\'m in love." That\'s the only thing he could say!

Samuel\'s eyes widened at the shocking news! Did he hear it wrong? Aston Kang and love? How funny! He even thought that his friend was joking! However, Liam was not that surprised. Maybe he already figured it out yesterday on the cemetery. The anxious face of Aston for a woman; that\'s one of the rarest sights to witness!

"Tell us the details," Liam said to Aston.

Aston lifted his hand and rubbed his forehead. "Nothing much happened. She rejected me quite fast." He was embarrassed to say such a thing!

"You\'re rejected?!" Samuel gasped and then burst out into a laughter. "Is it finally your turn to get broken-hearted?" He still remembered how his super-famous friend broke the hearts of many girls! He was never once serious with them!

Aston quickly turned his head to Samuel and gave him a sharp glare which immediately made the latter stop laughing. Samuel sat straight with a seemingly serious face and deliberately cleared his throat.

"Who is this woman?" It was Liam who behaved like the most normal one. He indeed was! He was really curious to know who the woman was! Who made the nation\'s heartthrob behave this way? Most importantly, what kind of silly woman rejected this great of a man?!

Well, Liam admitted that his friend was not that great when it comes to dating and love! But in other aspects, he was someone who was worthy of admiration.

Aston propped up both his elbows on his thighs and narrowed his eyes on the floor. He debated hard inside his mind before he finally muttered, "Nicole Yang."

"Nicole Yang?" Samuel thought of the familiar name before his eyes grew wide again. "Isn\'t she the Chairwoman of Yang Group? The one with a fiance?" He blurted out.

Finally, the shocking revelation was enough to make Liam lose his composure. "That young woman? The daughter of the Minister of Justice?"

"The fiancee of the Prime Minister\'s son," Samuel added.

Aston only nodded his head. Though he hated to admit all the titles Nicole bear, it was still the truth. A sad truth.

"But she has a fiance. They are very famous as the perfect couple. Don\'t you know that people call them a match made in heaven? Besides, what we are talking about is the future daughter-in-law of the Prime Minister!" Samuel stated the messed up situation to his friend who seemed to be very downhearted.

"I never thought that I would say this but Samuel is right. Aston, she is a woman with a fiance. Why would you waste your time on her?" Liam calmly said to his friend.

"She doesn\'t love her fiance," Aston muttered. He wanted to tell the truth to his friends. But how could he tell them that the woman he deeply cared, considered love as a weakness? Right at his face, she said that love was a useless thing!

"That doesn\'t look like it. From what I saw, she is happy with her fiance." Samuel recalled the only time he saw the Chairwoman in person. It was at that party and she seemed to be happy with her fiance, a world-renowned potter.

Liam wondered if his friend was sure of what he said. Or was he just blinded by his feelings for the taken woman?

Yet Aston thought differently. Nicole looked happy? He was the one who knows the best that things were not always what it seemed to be and he was one perfect example.....