Welcome to the Underworld (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 1)

by Con Template

  "Why are you so paranoid?"

  “I don't know. You get weird mood swings. One minute you're nice and the next, it's almost guaranteed that you'll snap." She shrugged. "Like I said, it's weird.”

  He scrutinized her harshly. "Haven't you ever considered that I only get angry when you make it hard for me to be civil? No, let me rephrase that, when you make it hard for me to be 'nice' to you?"

  She was baffled with what he was insinuating. "When have I done that?"

  "Oh look, see I'm getting goose bumps," he mocked in a falsetto tone, holding his arm up just like she did earlier.

  She stared at him dryly. "And you wonder why I'm being careful?"

  Stifling a smile at her comment, he lowered his arm with amusement. "I suppose you have a point."

  She smiled. "You think?"

  He laughed at her widening grin. "Come on, let's hurry up and finish up here. I'm tired."

  With their eyes scanning for anything and everything they were going to need for the apartment, Yoori couldn't help but sigh happily.

  "Do you know what we are?" she asked cheerily, gazing at the assortment of canned foods that lined the aisle.

  "What?" he responded, his voice bored but his eyes interested as he peered down at her.

  "We're friends," Yoori said proudly, her eyes on the various items lined up on the aisles.

  She kept walking, unaware that her statement caused Tae Hyun to stop dead in his tracks. She registered his action when her cuffed hand only allowed her to move so far.

  She whirled around. She came face to face with a confused looking Tae Hyun.

  "What?" she asked, stepping closer to him.

  What had gotten into him?

  The mystification on his face evolved into a somewhat thwarted one. His hand firmly gripped the railing of the shopping cart.

  "You see me as a friend?"

  "Uh, yeah," she replied, perplexed with his question. "Is there something wrong with that?"

  "I don't have girls who are friends," he replied sharply. His tone of voice made it seem as if he couldn't believe she said something like that.

  This! This was the prime example of the “abnormal” way Tae Hyun had been behaving as of late. He always seemed to get frustrated at her for the most stupid things. Why couldn’t they be friends? They might as well be friends. They were around each other enough.

  "I have girlfriends but not girls who are friends," he added upon seeing the bafflement on her face.

  "Well, I can be your first," Yoori replied adamantly, offended that he wouldn't even call her a friend. She knew she was the “assistant” and all, but come on! The guy could at least play along so she didn’t have to feel inferior.

  "My first girlfriend?"

  Her eyes swelled up. "What? No. No. The first girl who's your friend."

  Tae Hyun scoffed as if Yoori had posed the most ridiculous proposition he’d ever heard. "Why would I want you as a friend?"

  Her mouth fell open. How rude could this guy be?

  "Why can't we be friends?" she asked, trying to conceal the hurt she felt with how he was treating her.

  "Because guys and girls can't be friends."

  Now it was Yoori's turn to scoff as she glared at Tae Hyun. He still had a look of disbelief on his face. "Says who?"

  "Me," he answered without hesitation.

  It took all of Yoori’s self-control not to smack Tae Hyun right across the head for his arrogant reply. Biting her bottom lip as a gesture to remind herself to not get physically violent with him, she merely released the hold he held on her cuffed hand. She began to take huge strides down the aisle.

  "Oh yes, since you are the Almighty King of Serpents who knows and controls everything, right?"

  Tae Hyun followed closely behind her. Still pushing the cart, he leaned forward and placed his whole weight on the shopping vehicle. He was amused with her reaction to everything.

  "Choi Yoori, your sarcasm is not appreciated." He muttered something under his breath before saying, "You're such a hothead. Can't you take a joke?"

  Her blood simmered. Joke? Joke? How was she supposed to know that he was joking? His damn face was serious as hell when he talked to her. She cursed when she realized that he called her a hothead. Who was Kwon Tae Hyun to call anyone a hothead? He was the king of all hotheads.

  She couldn't let that insult go unanswered. She just couldn't.

  "Oh yeah," she launched grouchily. "You're definitely the right person to call someone a hothead. Let me tell you something, buddy. You are the king of all hothe – Ahhh!"

  Distracted by Tae Hyun, she didn’t pay attention to the spilled bottle of juice sprawled across the tile. With no suction in the bottom of her cheap flip-flops, Yoori's balance was compromised when her left leg went flying up in the air. Soon, both of her legs lost their hold on gravity and her butt was ready to meet the hard surface of the supermarket tiles.

  "Yoori!"

  In a flash, Tae Hyun strategically positioned himself behind her, allowing her to fall onto the cushion of his lap as opposed to the unforgiving tiles.

  She yelped in pain when they both fell to the floor. She probably should have saved the yelp for a split second later though, because right after she fell, a couple of canned food from the shelves above decided to join her and Tae Hyun on the floor.

  "Ow!" Yoori howled after five heavy cans tumbled onto her left leg.

  Tae Hyun groaned behind her.

  Yoori turned her head after hearing Tae Hyun's groan. Her eyes grew wide when she saw that he was in serious pain.

  "Tae Hyun?” she asked urgently, her anger subsiding as concern took its place. “Where are you hurt?"

  Turning a full circle, she only stopped to reposition herself when she noted that the cuffs prevented her from being able to properly face him. After readjusting in a position where they were face to face, she craned her neck over his shoulder. She winced in empathizing agony. It didn't take long for her to conclude that Tae Hyun must have hit his hip against the sharp edge of the metal aisle when he cushioned her fall.

  "Are you okay?" she asked again, touching the area of his hip that must've had the most impact from the collision.

  "Yoori don't – " he groaned hoarsely.

  She retracted her fingers. "I'm sorry!" she cried, watching him inhale sharply.

  "It's alright,” he tried to reassure her once he noticed the guilt on her face. “I'm fine.”

  Yoori mentally berated herself for touching him where it obviously hurt. Why do people have that bad habit of touching someone in the area where the pain is worst? Yoori shook her head. That was certainly not a question she wanted to dwell on.

  Determined to help make things right, she grabbed one of the shelves and used it to prop herself up. Standing up, she extended her hand out to Tae Hyun, who stared at her strangely.

  He looked determined to not appear helpless.

  As Yoori anticipated, Tae Hyun allowed his pride to get the best of him. He shook his head, rejecting her help.

  "No, I can get up myself," he replied, trying to sound strong when it was obvious he was in pain.

  He groaned when he fully sat upright.

  Yoori sighed at the pathetic scene before her. Boys and their stupid pride.

  Her eyes remained on Tae Hyun, who tried to grab hold onto one of the shelves to get up.

  She extended her hand further for him. "Come on, Tae Hyun," she coaxed, taking another step forward. "Stop being so stubborn – Ahhhh!"

  As it became apparent that there was still leftover juice attached to Yoori's flip-flops, she slipped face-forward. Falling down, her legs awkwardly spread across each side of Tae Hyun's stomach. She fell into a sitting position onto his hard abs. With no control of her stance, the impact of the fall caused her to lunge her upper body forward onto Tae Hyun, causing his head to slam against the tiles.

  Once again, his body broke her fall.

  "Fucking hell, Yoori," Tae Hyun uttered with frustration.

&n
bsp; "I'm so sorry," she whispered breathlessly. Yoori couldn't have felt crappier for causing him more physical pain. How clumsy could she be?

  Gently placing both of her hands on Tae Hyun's shoulders, she sat herself up, unbeknownst to herself how scandalous they looked. You know, with him lying beneath her and her legs spread apart while she sat on his abs and all...

  Being the first to notice the provocative position they were in, a happy grin spread across Tae Hyun's handsome face. Any shred of anguish was obliterated from his countenance. It was evident he had found the remedy for his pain.

  "What are you smiling about?" Yoori asked worriedly, afraid that this sudden attack on Tae Hyun's body had paralyzed his brain.

  "You know," he began silkily, staring at the lower half of her body that was still situated on his hard abs. “If you slid just a little further south, this would be the perfect position to make all my pain go away."

  Yoori gaped at him in dismay.

  She looked past her blue top and settled her eyes on her pajama pants – or more specifically, her legs. It took Yoori less than a millisecond to finally realize where she was actually sitting.

  Shit!

  She yelped and struggled to grab hold of the shopping cart to help prop her petrified self up.

  "Yoori, no!" Tae Hyun screamed when she rested her full body weight on one side of the shopping cart.

  Too late.

  Before Yoori could react, the shopping cart was already falling toward them. Collapsing back down in the same sitting position she was in moments before, the gargantuan weight of the shopping cart soon collided with Yoori's left leg and the right side of Tae Hyun's body. A monstrous thud thundered across the aisle as everything in the shopping cart came sprawling out.

  "Ow!" they both howled when the contents landed on them.

  Silence collapsed onto the aisle where the commotion once took place.

  With her hands reaching out to push the chicken thighs out of her way, Yoori immediately reached for the empty shopping cart. It laid on her leg and the right side of Tae Hyun's body.

  "I think," she groaned pathetically, picking up the shopping cart and pushing it off of them. "I think I need to be un-cuffed now."

  "Yeah," Tae Hyun replied breathlessly. He took in another sharp, painful breath and cursed to himself. "Definitely."

  “Even when you know for a fact that it’s not true.”

  25: Instincts and Distractions

  "Tae Hyun! Seriously just put me down!"

  "Just slide the damn card!"

  "Ugh!"

  After Yoori crankily slid the card through the reader, the metal door to Tae Hyun's apartment flew open. Running in like a racecar with Yoori in his arms, Tae Hyun kicked the door closed behind him and made a beeline for the bedroom.

  "Slow down!” Yoori screamed in a panic, feeling herself slip out of Tae Hyun's hold. “We're here, we're here!"

  His pace only quickened when he felt her sliding off. Upon entering his bedroom, he ran straight for his bed. Dropping Yoori on the bed with the utmost care, it was clear that Tae Hyun couldn't find the energy to stand up anymore. Spent, he threw himself onto the bed.

  "Shit," he whispered. He was visibly surprised with the amount of energy he had to exert to carry Yoori home, especially considering that his own body was in pain. "Shit, that was really painful.”

  Yoori watched Tae Hyun with guilt splashing over her. After the hazing affair they received at the supermarket, Tae Hyun was insistent, regardless of the fact that his own body suffered more damage than hers, that Yoori should not exert more pressure on her legs. Before she even had a chance to refute that proposition, Tae Hyun had already un-cuffed her and lifted her off the floor. The next thing she knew, he was zooming out of the supermarket like a speeding bullet.

  She reached for a water bottle on the bedside table. She unscrewed the cap and handed the bottle to Tae Hyun. He took it without hesitation.

  "I told you I could've walked.” She watched him lift his head up to drink the water. “Why did you run so fast?"

  "I..." He stopped midway and began to drink furiously from the water bottle. He wiped his mouth after he was done and handed the half-full bottle back to Yoori. "I was about to drop you."

  His face red from fatigue, he lowered his head back onto the mattress and continued to pant in exhaustion.

  Yoori freed the water bottle from his grasp. "I would have been fine if you dropped me," she said quietly, before drinking from the water bottle. Wanting to help ease Tae Hyun's bout of exhaustion, she lifted her free hand and began to wave it back and forth, hoping the fanning motion would help cool him down.

  I would have been fine if you dropped me? Her inner self asked critically upon further inspection. Okay sure, she would not have been fine, but she would have felt less guilty. That was for sure. How was it possible that the guy could be such a jerk one moment and be so considerate the next?

  She placed the water bottle back on the counter. The fanning motion of her hand accelerated. "How are you doing?"

  "I'm a crime lord who got hurt because of his assistant's clumsiness in a supermarket." He stifled a chuckle after he thought the situation over. He gently grabbed her wrist to stop her fanning motion. He regarded her with an entertained smirk on his face. "How do you think I'm doing?"

  She smiled ruefully, blushing at the feel of his warm hand around her wrist. "For what it's worth, I think you're a really good friend for propping yourself underneath me and carrying me home, even when you're in pain too."

  His smirk grew when he released his hold on her. He lifted himself up and leaned on both his elbows for support. His eyes locked on her with much interest. "Is that what friends do?"

  Yoori nodded, her blood growing hot at the sight of him staring at her like she was the most interesting thing on earth.

  "Good friends...yeah," she replied mindlessly, as if also trying to convince herself.

  Tae Hyun nodded.

  She wasn't too sure if he actually processed what she said though. His unusual silence made her think that he was distracted with something else.

  "Choi Yoori, I think it's time for us to renegotiate our terms."

  Yoori's eyes bulged. She sat closer to Tae Hyun in excitement.

  "Seriously, buddy?" she asked happily, emphasizing the word “buddy.” She knew calling Tae Hyun a “friend” to his face would merit her some points.

  Tae Hyun nodded to confirm, his eyes visibly pleased with the excitement exuding out of Yoori. Apparently, at that moment, neither of them felt the spasm of pain that their bodies should’ve been experiencing.

  Yoori squealed in delight. She clapped her hands together and cleared her throat, staring at him seriously. She was ready for the renegotiation exchange to begin. They would start with the most uncivilized of terms.

  "Handcuffs?" she prompted swiftly. Surely, she must get rid of the one thing that anchored her from actual freedom.

  He pondered the proposal.

  "Still necessary," he said slowly, his eyes on her apologetic.

  "What? Oh, come on!" This negotiation exchange was already starting to look pretty gloomy for Yoori. So much for being friends.

  "I'm not done," he supplied. "The cuffs will stay on, but only at night when we're sleeping. Anytime else, when we go out or do whatever, we won't be handcuffed."

  Though she was secretly happy that the severity of the punishment had been lessened, she knew she shouldn't settle. Yoori had to negotiate until she received the best deal she could get.

  "Do you realize how difficult it is for one of us to sleep on the floor with the cuffs on?" she asked, silently praying for the handcuffs to be gone – permanently.

  "Which brings me to my next point. Let's talk about the sleeping arrangements."

  Yoori folded her arms and stared at him suspiciously. "Okay..." She already had a bad feeling about this part of the negotiation.

  "We'll both have to compromise," he said suggestively, looking at her with a hin
t of a smile in his eyes.

  Her mouth dropped open.

  You know you've been around someone for too long if you know what he’s thinking just by looking at him. And in Yoori's case, she had been around Tae Hyun for too long. She already knew what he was suggesting.

  She shook her head, hoping she misunderstood his intentions. "You're not suggesting..."

  He eased himself up into a sitting position. He faced her with a virtuous expression on his perfectly crafted face. Casually, he said, "Let's be mature adults here and share the same bed.”

  By this time, Yoori had already backed to the further end of the bed in fear.

  "No, no, no,” she said frantically, shaking her head. "Isn't this like sexual harassment or something?" she found herself asking.

  "What?" He looked at her incredulously. "Sexual harassment is 'unwanted sexual advances.'" He regarded her with a smile of disbelief. "Are you insinuating that I'm making sexual advances on you?"

  "Maybe," she replied quickly, though she was completely unsure. At times, she couldn’t tell if Tae Hyun was teasing or if he was actually flirting. Players are like that. They sometimes flirt without even realizing it. It was in their nature.

  "Choi Yoori," he began, his twitching mouth holding back a round of laughter. "Trust me, if I was making sexual advances on you, you'd know." He inched closer to her. "Come on, what's the big deal? This compromise is supposed to be good for both of us.

  "Seriously, I can sleep on the floor or the couch,” she said, desperation present on her scarlet face. “I don't mind."

  "No, I'd feel bad," he said, his voice sincere. "I'll sleep on the further end of my side of the bed and you can sleep on the further end of yours. We'd never know that the other was there."

  Yoori continued to shake her head at his ridiculous suggestion. How could a guy and a girl not know that the other was in the same bed?

  Kwon Tae Hyun, you moron! Your reasoning has a big hole in it! She wanted to scream out at him as she moved further away.

  "Come on, buddy,” he coaxed. “I'm not going to do anything to you and you're not going to do anything to me. It's no big deal. We are friends?"