Page 14 of When Worlds Collide
“You’ve had boyfriends before me.”
“And you had lovers before me.”
“Those didn’t count.”
“Neither did mine.”
He reached out a hand and gently ran his thumb across my cheekbone. “I can’t believe you’re here. You really came all this way, just for me?”
“I also really wanted to try hotteok.”
Jihoon blinked at me and for a moment, I thought I’d said it wrong, but then he burst into surprised laughter. “Am I not better than a pancake?”
I pretended to give it some thought. “I don’t know. I’ve had you. I’ve never had hotteok.”
Jihoon choked on a laugh before reaching out and pulling me to him, locking his arms around me so tight it just about held in all the feelings that were so close to spilling out of me.
I blinked, momentarily confused by the view in front of me, trying to remember when or where I was as my brain tried to translate the image of a weak, grey sunlight bouncing off tall buildings in the distance. Just as my brain supplied the word ‘Seoul’ to me, a rustling behind me caught my attention.
I rolled over, expecting to find Jihoon beside me, warm and half-asleep, like I was.
But the bed was empty. He was already half-dressed.
“Well, that’s a nice sight to wake up to,” I said, making no effort to disguise the fact I was ogling the half-naked body in front of me as he pulled on a pair of jeans.
When he was fully dressed, it was easy to think he was slender, but underneath the baggy clothes he often favoured, Jihoon was solidly built, ridges of defined muscles under smooth skin. On top of the relentless dance practices he dedicated hours to every day, he also weight-trained several times a week. Somehow, he even managed to squeeze in regular Pilates sessions; though he claimed that was more to do with keeping limber than anything else.
Looking at the expanse of skin and muscles in front of me, it was so clear he was in peak physical condition. Honestly, it made me feel a little lazy, and I resolved, right there and then, to take up running. Or weight lifting. Or frankly anything that might help me to keep up with him.
Jihoon caught me staring and smirked, turning his body full-on to me, so that I now had the benefit of watching the way he buttoned those jeans up, with his deft fingers that had so recently done naughty, naughty things to me.
“You don’t need to get up; you can stay in bed.”
I frowned. “Where are you going?”
The smile slipped off his face. “I have to go back to the company. There’s another meeting.” He looked away from me, his hair falling into his face and partially obscuring it.
I was suddenly wide awake and I shimmied up the bed, leaning up on my elbows. “Again?” I raised my wrist to look at my watch. 07:32 am. “Now? Why?”
He dug around in a bag I hadn’t noticed until just now. He must have brought it up while I slept.
“To have a conference with LA. Our lawyers need to talk to their lawyers.”
His words were unexpectedly sharp, and suddenly, and without knowing why, I felt like I’d done something wrong.
“Lawyers?” I asked, trying to maintain composure.
Dozens of scenarios ran through my head, each of them as unlikely as the next. I was not awake enough for this. “Why?”
Jihoon yanked a t-shirt on over his head, barely sparing me a glance as he replied, “Same shit, different day.” The phrase sounded strange coming from him, especially with the venom in his voice that had me recoiling in surprise.
“Are you okay?” I sat up fully, pulling my knees to my chest, and adjusting the sheets so that I was covered. I was only wearing a thin t-shirt, and I felt a sudden chill dapple my skin.
Jihoon pushed his hands through his hair, artfully mussing it in a way that would have made my own hair look like I’d been dragged through a bush backwards. He dropped his hands heavily to his sides and looked over at me.
“I just don’t want to go. I’m sick of going over it, again and again.”
I’d never seen him so frustrated. His jaw was clenched so tight, I wondered if it hurt. He could only mean what had happened in the conference room back at Pisces. It had only been a couple days ago, but already it seemed like weeks. So much had happened since Trevor Kyle and Celine opened that door and caught us kissing. Such a simple action, with such wide-reaching consequences; apparently reaching all the way to Korea.
