Page 109 of A World Apart
“Well, either Jihoon is a complete saint, or he’s blind, because those babydolls would have tempted an angel to fall off his fluffy cloud.” Becka slumped back down onto the sofa, pouting.
I gave her a sideways glance before saying, “I didn’t say they had no effect.”
Becka jolted back upright as if a bolt of electricity had shocked her in the arse.
“Bish, don’t you play with me!” she cried, pointing a finger at me, “I only just came round to this relationship. I deserve a pay off!”
I rolled my eyes. And then obliged her, but only with the very minimum of information, but seemingly enough that she grabbed my laptop and pretended to fan herself with it.
“Give that back here, you tech savage.” I wrestled my laptop back from her, tucking it protectively under my arm. “This costs more than your annualSephora spend.”
“Pfft, it does not.” And I silently conceded that point.
I was just stroking my closed laptop, when Becka suddenly shrieked, again pointing her finger at me, but this time her eyes were fixed on the hand comforting my laptop.
“Whatthefuckisthat?” she garbled at me.
“What?” I said innocently.
“Youfuckingknowwhat!”
“Use your big girl words,” I crooned, standing up and taking my laptop with me − just in case. I walked towards my bedroom, but Becka jumped up and hounded my heels like a yappy dog, following me inside my room as I put my laptop safely on my bed.
Becka raised her hands in a placating manner and took a deep, sonorous breath in a visible effort to chill the eff out as I folded myself to sit on the bed.
“I’m only going to ask you this once,” she said, still holding those hands up, but now looking more like the dog whisperer. “Are you, or are you not, engaged to the idol?”
I laughed. I laughed long, I laughed hard, and then I giggled, tears running down my face all the while Becka stood there, frozen like a supplicating statue.
“Babes,” I got out in between giggles, “calm the fuck down. We’ve only known each other five months.”
“You’re wearing a ring!” she hissed at me.
“Yeah,” I said in the same tone as one might say, ‘duh,’ “but it’s a couple’s ring. Don’t you know anything about Korean culture?” The joke being, of course, I myself had not until Jihoon had told me.
“Bish,” Becka said with forced calmness, “I will end you.” Which only started another round of giggles.
“Yeah, yeah,” I waved my hand at her dismissively. “So, apparently it really is a thing for Korean couples to give each other rings, kind of like promise rings, I guess?”
Becka put her hands on her hips, mulling over this information. “Does he have to wear one, too?”
“I don’t think hehasto do anything,” I pushed back, “but he did get one for himself, yes,”
“Isn’t that going to be a little… obvious to anyone who sees it then?” Becka frowned. She had a point, but I replied, a little uneasily.
“Well, I mean, he can take it off whenever he wants.”
“Hmm.” Becka quirked her lips, but otherwise kept her silence.
“Okay,” I finally relented, “out, I’m going to have a nap, I’m hella tired.
Becka made a harrumphing noise as she turned and walked out the door, saying over her shoulder loud enough for me to hear, “I’d be tired too, if I’d had the task of pleasing an international superstar.”
“Oh my god,” I groaned, throwing a pillow at the door and slamming it closed.
Because I was feeling lazy, I hadn’t bothered unpacking my bags immediately, which is why I hadn’t found the strip of photos straight away.
Setting down the bikini I’d been about to put away, I picked up the two photos and looked at them, my eyes beginning to mist. Jihoon must have slipped these into my bag this morning when I wasn’t looking. It was half of the strip − he must have kept the other two. The photos in my hand were the only physical pictures I had of us, and they felt like our rings: a quiet confirmation that we were real.
