Page 17 of Single Teddy
But I wasn’t giving up. I’d keep playing the game, keep losing until the odds changed in my favor. Bear needed me to keep trying no matter what, whether he knew it or not.
“Morning, Teddy,” Hwan chirped as soon as I walked into work on Friday.
“Morning, boss,” I answered and approached the counter, tying my apron on.
“Aren’t you looking dapper this morning?” he said and nudged me with his elbow.
I laughed.
“It’s the apron,” I tell him. “It’s freshly washed and ironed.”
Hwan blew raspberries and rolled his eyes.
“It’s not just the apron. But it does look good on you.”
I cast a glance at my blurry reflection in the metallic surface of the fridge and bit my lip. I was starting to like the pink. Not thatI’d ever had anything against it, but after wearing black and gray all my life, wearing something so…loud took some adjusting.
But Hwan was right. It did look good on me.
“What is this I’m hearing about other men looking good?” Parker, my old teammate and Hwan’s boyfriend, showed up behind me with his own pink apron on. He walked over to Hwan and planted a big smooch on his lips.
“I was just telling Teddy he looks good today!” Hwan said, and Parker’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I thought compliments were reserved just for me,” he grumbled in Hwan’s ear.
Hwan gasped in fake shock and patted Parker’s cheek a couple of times.
“Of course not, darling. It’s a privilege of all employees of Bubble Bubble.”
“Hmm,” Parker huffed. “Me no like.”
Hwan raised an eyebrow.
“What is this? Have we gone caveman again?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Not that I wasn’t, but Parker was a walking juxtaposition. Officer Grumpy-Pants was all kinds of tall, dark, and broody, and the last place anyone would expect to find him was working at a bubble tea shop while wearing a pink apron, but I’d be damned if it didn’t suit him. Not just the job and the uniform, but Hwan too.
When they were together, they…made the room sparkle. Sizzle even. I didn’t know what it was. Or more precisely, I knew what it was, but not what it felt like.
I’d never had any kind of relationship that had made me feel as…as alive as Parker looked spinning around Hwan’s orbit. It made me envious watching them, hearing them, being next to them.
Not because I wanted either of them. It was because I didn’t have anyone in my life who gave me that sparkle. That sizzle. No one I could turn to and lean on. Someone to hold me and listen to me and tell me it would all be okay.
I sighed and turned toward the refrigerated unit where we stored all our popping bobas and chocolate toppings and made a list of the ones that needed refilling.
“Okay, okay, Mr. Dorothy. Stop. I think we’re making Teddy uncomfortable,” Hwan said and pushed the doting Parker away from his lips and body.
“You-you’re not,” I mumbled, offering a smile to reassure them.
“There, see?” Parker said and grabbed Hwan by the waist, pulling him into his arms. “Teddy doesn’t mind. It’s not like he’s never been in love.”
Correction: I hadn’t ever been in love, but I wasn’t about to tellthemthat, so instead, I retreated to the back to grab the bags of boba we needed.
When I returned, they were both busy with orders, thankfully, and I got on with my task undisturbed.
I didn’t mind them being loving in front of me. I really didn’t. I just…I didn’t know what to do with myself when I saw them hugging or kissing. Not that the feeling was exclusive to thosetwo. I didn’t know what to do wheneveranycouple around me was being allcouple-y.
