Page 5 of Baby Love

I can drive, but I don’t have a car.

“I’ve been riding the BTS mostly,” I say.

“You wish you could ride BTS,” Kiet says, referring to the Kpop group we both love.

I laugh with him. “Seriously, if I take the blue line tonight, I’ll be a rumpled mess by the time I get there. So, can you take me? Na, na, na?” I beg, giving him my best puppy-dog eyes.

“Yes, of course,” Kiet says. “Daw won’t be coming over tonight. She says her cheeks are swollen and numb from the dental work she had done this afternoon, so I have nothing else to do.”

“You’re the best.” I hug him again and hurry to shower.

Ten minutes later, I sit in my robe in front of the mirror while Kiet works his magic on my hair.

“You’d make a great stylist,” I tell him, not for the first time.

Kiet majored in engineering because his dad wanted him to, not because the subject interested him. The internship he did with a local company last year proved it isn’t for him. Yet now Daw has wheedled him into working for her father’s company. It infuriates me.

“You should do what you want to do,” I add when he doesn’t say anything.

“Just drop it, Baby,” he says so seriously, I do as he asks. When he’s finished with me, I get dressed and look at myself in the mirror.

Resting his hands on my shoulders, Kiet smiles at my reflection. “You look great.”

“Thanks to you.”

Taking a selfie with my phone, I send it with a text to P’Park.

Almost didn’t see the text to coordinate. This is what I’m wearing.

“So, you’re nervous?” Kiet asks me.

“Yeah. This is a big thing with all the production companies presenting their couples for the year. Our agent is adamant that P’Park and I have to look good together. She makes me nervous. It’s like she’s pinned all her career hopes on us.”

“You changed agents?”

“Yeah. Khun Lee is supposed to be really good, and she’s P’Park’s agent, too. She’s just kind of intense.”

“If she makes you uncomfortable—“ Kiet begins, and I hold up my hand to stop him.

“She’s fine. Really. I’m just nervous.”

Kiet pats my arm. “My advice is to treat this evening like it’s work. An acting job. That way you can push your nerves to the side.”

I nod. That might work. “I did this last year with Bang, but I’d had time to get used to having him as a partner, and we weren’t the main couple in a series like P’Park and I will be.”

“You’ll do great.” Kiet walks to the door, slips on his shoes, and grabs his keys. “What happened with Bang, anyway? Did you two have a falling out?” he asks as I lock the door behind us.

“No, nothing like that. They just put him with someone else.”

“And you were hurt.”

Damn him and his intuition.

“I just felt awkward,” I say, hoping he doesn’t push.

I’m relieved when he asks if I’ve eaten instead.

“No,” I admit, pressing the button for the elevator.

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