by Con Template
She laughed at her own question until she caught a certain naughty sparkle in Tae Hyun’s once frowning eyes. It was as if she had just suggested something to him and he was considering it…
“What?” she asked nervously, her eyes suddenly glancing at his bare chest and tight abs. Was it natural that as soon as she saw some naughtiness in his eyes, she felt naughty too? Yoori shook her head inwardly at this question.
“You have been a bad girl,” Tae Hyun murmured more to himself than to her.
As Yoori stared at him in horror, Tae Hyun just smiled sheepishly, tightening his hold on her hand once they swept closer to the entrance of his apartment building.
“My offer still stands in terms of conserving water…boss,” Tae Hyun reminded sultrily when they neared the revolving door. His voice was filled with sensual promise and joking humor.
“We are not showering together!” Yoori shouted in blushing dismay.
As a joke, Tae Hyun had been offering to give her sponge baths ever since he became her assistant. Though Yoori knew he was only teasing her because he knew what a prude she was, she couldn’t help but blush and be tempted with the offer. She couldn’t deny that she wanted to give Tae Hyun a sponge bath too.
She restrained her eyes from venturing onto the tight abs she loved so much and ripped her hand from his grasp. She made a run through the revolving door by herself – or so she planned.
Tae Hyun was quick on her heels. His hands encircling around her stomach, he pulled her into a quick embrace as they walked through the revolving door together. Holding her closer, he delicately pushed her through the door and dipped his lips beside her ear.
“One of these days, you’ll give in and I’ll be more than happy to run soap over that pretty little back of yours…among other things…”
As if anticipating it, Tae Hyun untangled himself from behind her and ran off to the elevators just as Yoori was about to turn around to smack him.
“Stop whispering stuff into my ear!” she shouted after him, blushing uncontrollably. “It’s annoying!”
It was annoying because it gave her butterflies every time he did it. It seemed to be something he was doing a lot of and it was annoying the hell out of her. It was like he was purposely “flirting” with her just to tease her.
That jerk.
Yoori muttered a curse for her “assistant” and his inability to respect her authoritative role once she heard him laugh in amusement. The elevator doors dinged open. Chasing after Tae Hyun, who was waiting for her while he smugly held the elevator door open, Yoori knew that her final “punishment” would have to stand.
Oh yeah, the fool was definitely going to watch that movie with her now.
“Does not mean that you’re exempt from the cruelties of life. ”
16: Paris Pact
“I can’t believe I just let you do that to me,” Tae Hyun gritted through his teeth several hours later, his smooth skin glowing under the illumination of the street lamps beside the movie theater.
He tucked his hands into his black jacket and stood still. His black pants swayed under the gust of wind blowing in their direction. They had just finished watching the movie that Tae Hyun deemed as “the movie from hell” and it became clear early on that Tae Hyun wasn’t the only one bitter about a horrible movie experience.
“I can’t believe you just ruined that for me,” Yoori griped sourly. She wore a white faux fur jacket with dark jeans and black boots. Though she looked as innocent as could be, there was nothing but anger spewing out of her.
She had been dying to see this movie with Tae Hyun for ages and when it took place, the experience couldn’t have been more terrible for her. This night was supposed to be the pinnacle of her wonderful week. Now, all that she had to show for it was a surprise that ended in shambles because Tae Hyun always had a way of fucking things up even when he wasn’t directly doing it.
Surprised with the toxicity spearing through her voice, he turned to her in disbelief. He was flabbergasted as to why she was acting the way that she was.
“Why are you bitter? You got to watch your movie.”
“I got to watch the movie?” She narrowed her eyes. Her anger escalated at his obliviousness. “What did I get to watch? All that I could remember was you complaining, you getting up and leaving every so often, you whining, and you being fawned over by girls whose high-pitched voices were so loud that I couldn’t even hear what was happening in the movie.”
It was an unfortunately accurate statement.
Since Yoori chose the chick flick of all chick flicks, from the beginning to the end of the movie, all the eyes of the rabid fan girls were on Tae Hyun as opposed to the movie screen. It was so terrible. There were constant whispers of girls who had yet to hit puberty, giggling about how sexy Tae Hyun was and that he was going to be their future “hubby.”
“He’s so hot!” they exclaimed, completely forgetting about the male heartthrob that was supposed to be in the movie. Instead, they focused their undivided attention on Tae Hyun, who was cringing while he watched the movie. She was even sure one of those fan girls called her a bad name, but she couldn’t make out what it was they were calling her. All that she knew was that she hated that they were looking at him like he was a piece of meat. Not that she was jealous or anything.
“It’s not my fault they were staring at me,” he argued. It was evident that he was more than uncomfortable with the sleazy winks the fan girls were throwing his way.
Though it wasn’t his fault, she directed her anger toward him nonetheless. He should’ve done something to keep himself from being in that position.
“Well, you should’ve worn a hat or something!” It was a completely illogical argument but she had to say something. She didn’t know why she cared so much but she just did. She was so excited to watch the movie with him and now everything was shot to hell. What a horrible movie date…
“Well then maybe we shouldn’t watch a movie like that next time because I hate wearing hats.”
“I should’ve brought Kang Min and Jae Won instead. I’m sure they would’ve appreciated this movie more,” Yoori said bitterly, though she didn’t mean it.
Well, she was almost sure they’d enjoy the movie but she didn’t mean it when she said she should’ve brought the brothers instead. Tae Hyun would always be her first choice.
Tae Hyun scoffed at her statement. “Oh yeah, I’m sure those two would be the ideal candidates to appreciate a guy who sparkles in the sunlight.”
She frowned. “Stop being so insensitive,” she chastised, even though she thought the sparkling part was strange too.
“Whatever,” he dismissed tiredly, his eyes giving way to the fact that he wanted to forget about the terrible movie altogether. “Are you ready to end a hellish movie experience with a good night?”
Her ears perked up. Anything that could end her final night as his boss with a positive bang was music to her ears. “What do you have in mind?”
There was mischief in his eyes when he said, “Do you remember at the lake house when you told me that you can handle a lot of alcohol…probably more than me?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to take you up on that challenge,” he said with a wicked smirk.
Yoori rose a challenging brow. “You want to get your boss drunk?”
Tae Hyun shook his head, fabricating innocence. “I just want to see if my boss can really handle her alcohol as she led on.” His brow rose up challengingly as well. “But of course if you’re afraid of losing…”
“Where are we going?” Yoori interrupted immediately.
She refused to be seen as a wimp. She could take Tae Hyun. Of course there was a bigger chance he’d be able to withstand more alcohol than her but that didn’t intimidate her. She was up for any challenge, especially ones that could involve Tae Hyun losing his sense of control before she lost hers.
“Are we going to a bar?”
Tae Hyun shook his head again, amusement filling h
is eyes at her acceptance of his challenge. “We’re going to be drinking outside.”
Outside?
Yoori apprehensively cast her gaze at the dark sky. Judging by the looming black clouds and the wintry wind, she knew it was only a matter of time before snow accompanied them. At least that was what the weatherman said awaited the citizens of Seoul tonight.
“Where would we go to drink outside in the snow?”
He didn’t answer her right away. He merely allowed the silence to peruse between them as his amusement filled eyes stared at her with excitement. His emotions were blatant yet his intentions weren’t and she hated that. She hated that he made things so obvious yet he was also so good at hiding things.
“It’s a surprise,” he stated with allure embroidering his voice.
She had anticipated that this would be his answer and she wasn’t content in merely accepting it as such. Determined to at least get some knowledge of the surprise, Yoori decided to be stubborn and dig deeper for an answer.
“Give me a hint or I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You’re just a little Brat, aren’t you?” he asked in disbelief, his first sign that he was already giving in.
“I think that’s already been established, Snob,” she replied plainly, trying to remain tough and stubborn while keeping her eyes locked with his.
Tae Hyun had a thing with staring people down, measuring them and their bluffs before he gave anything away. Unfortunately for her, he knew her too well and knew that she was bluffing. She was dying to go with him and he damn well knew that. Fortunately for Yoori though, Tae Hyun also had a habit of giving her what she wanted, even if it was in the form of the smallest of hints.
“I have one word for you,” he shared with a knowing smile. It was one that already hinted to her that she was going to love this surprise. “Swings.”
Sounds of car doors slamming at full force was heard once Yoori received Tae Hyun’s answer. She didn’t even need time to think about where he was taking her.
The park.
The park they went to the night of her initiation.
The park that had the playground in which Tae Hyun said he’d take her to again…
Excitement pulsed in her veins as a myriad of streetlights streamed through her eyes. They were driving at full speed to hit a local alcohol shop and it didn’t seem like they were going fast enough for her excited nerves. The alcohol buying experience was so short that she felt like she just inhaled the experience rather than walking within it. Not that it mattered because the only thing she cared about was finally having her fun in that park.
Alcohol and a playground in a secluded park?
What more could a girl ask for?
The car ride to the park was long in length but short in occurrence in terms of Yoori’s awareness. Amidst the happy chattering of Yoori and Tae Hyun, the sounds of alcohol bottles clinking together, and the happy green lights of all the traffic lights, they were there before Yoori could even blink twice.
Once Tae Hyun parked his Mercedes, both got out of the car and happily stood with bags of bottles in each of their hands. Big smiles spread across their faces. The silence that embalmed them was shrouded with anticipation. It was one of those companionable silences where you could feel it in the air: something special was definitely going to go down tonight...
“Come on, boss,” said Tae Hyun, breaking the wintery silence. He casually intertwined his hand with hers, pulling her in the direction of the swings. “The night is young and we still need to get you drunk.”
“You’re going down, buddy!” she squealed, tightening her hold on Tae Hyun’s hand. They jumped onto the playground sand. Her competitive side sparked to life. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting me drunk before you.”
“We’ll see about that.” He then gazed at her warily just as they separated to their own swings. Something possibly alarming crossed his mind. “Uh, you’re not an emo drunk, are you?”
“No, of course not.” Though even as she said it, Yoori was almost sure she was going to have to eat her words later on.
A good two hours later on in fact...
“Ugh...I think I drank too much,” Yoori complained, her head resting against the metal chain holding up the swing.
They sat facing each other, Tae Hyun in one direction and Yoori in the other direction. The pace of the swings they were sitting on had since slowed as the alcohol began to resonate through their bodies. Allowing one leg to draw a line in the sand, Yoori brought up another big bottle of vodka to her lips even though she had just complained about drinking too much. Guzzling the contents like she was drinking water, she drank until she was fully quenched. The air was cold but it wasn’t cold enough to penetrate through the warm fort her alcohols of choice had formed over her body.
Her swing creaked when she cast a gaze over to Tae Hyun. He was still swinging back and forth slowly. He had just finished guzzling his fifth bottle of vodka and was already starting on his sixth.
For the past two hours or so, they had been drinking stubbornly with the sole intention of getting the other drunk. The first hour started off with rowdy jeering that consisted of Tae Hyun calling Yoori a "genetic freak" and Yoori calling Tae Hyun a “closet light weight”. Unfortunately, the rowdiness died down when they realized that both didn’t seem to even be remotely close to getting drunk. If anything, it appeared that both were closer to becoming “tipsy emos” – or Yoori anyway.
“What’s on your mind, assistant?” Tae Hyun asked, taking inventory of the fact that she had grown unusually quiet and despondent. “Are you still upset about the movie thing? If you’re that upset with it, I’ll take you to watch it again…”
“No, it’s not that,” she appeased slowly, finding it hard to keep her eyes opened. The cold wind continued to swim around them. She wished she was still hung up over that but she had since moved on to something a bit more depressing – something she had been trying to avoid talking about for quite some time now.
Yoori’s eyes turned into quick slits when she realized that he had just addressed her by the wrong name. Her week as his boss was ending but it hadn’t ended yet.
“Sorry, I meant, ‘boss,’” he amended, hiding back a smirk when he saw her playful glare. “Come on,” he urged her with that warm, encouraging voice of his. “You’re unusually quiet and I know you have a lot on your drunk mind right now. Whatever we talk about on this playground stays here.”
Now what girl with some emotionally pent up issues and more than enough to drink could say no to that offer? If it were anyone else, then she would’ve kept her mouth shut. But because it was Tae Hyun, the words that flowed out of her lips came as easily as water from rain clouds.
“I’m not drunk,” she quickly corrected before going further into any conversation with him. She just wanted to put up that disclaimer because she hadn’t lost to him yet.
He rolled his eyes at her perseverance and gave her a bitter nod as confirmation that she wasn’t drunk.
Satisfied with this, her eyes roamed around the creaking merry-go-round, the monkey bars, and the slide beside them. After gathering up her nerves to open up to him, she gave a sigh and began.
“I get jealous, you know?”
Her eyes were firmly solidified on the slide while she spoke. Her voice pulsed with raw emotions that she had kept pent up for the whole week, only to be released when she drank too much and was no longer able to control her inhibitions.
“When people talk about what they were like when they were kids, I get really jealous because I want to do the same.”
She momentarily closed her eyes. Another gust of wind blew past them. “In the past, I’ve often wondered what I was like when I was a kid. I always imagined that I pretty much just ran around the playground, swung on swings, slid down slides, and hung onto monkey bars when I was younger. But the past week, since everything became confirmed that I was Soo Jin in my past life, I’ve been thinking about all of this more and
more.” Her eyes moved onto the merry-go-round. “I wonder if I played with dolls after they trained me to kill someone. I wonder if I had ice cream as I watched people die. I wonder what they did to me to turn me into the person I hated the most. I wonder what they did to me to make my life so horrible that I ended up committing ‘suicide’ 3 years ago.”
Her words were met with a haunting silence that bothered her.
She flickered her gaze onto Tae Hyun, whose eyes were still gentle on her.
“What was your childhood like?”
“It was…busy,” he answered slowly.
She recalled what Ji Hoon shared with her in regards to the typical training of an Underworld Royal. “When did you start your training?”
“10.”
“What was that like?”
He sighed, taking a moment to stare up at the sky. His expression was stoic when he said, “It was agonizing.”
Yoori gazed at him surprisingly. She did not expect such a blunt answer.
He went on, his reminiscent eyes still on the sky. “My training was different from the rest of the Royals. Whereas many others were sent to a specific country to train, my father decided that he wanted his second born son to have a more well-rounded education. While Royals like Ji Hoon were getting comfortable in neighbor countries like China, I was never allowed to get comfortable. Once I was done learning the things I needed to learn from a specific mentor, I was to leave as soon as possible to become trained by another mentor. It was a cycle that seemed never ending.” He swallowed roughly. “I still remember my first night of training like it was yesterday. I was sent to a rural area in Laos and as my first initiation, my mentor decided that it was best to introduce me to the sight of death as soon as possible. As soon as I stepped on his estate, he threw me into a ditch filled with corpses and ordered me to sleep there for the night.”
As Yoori covered her mouth in horror, he went on. “Needless to say, that scared the shit out of me. After that, I trained endlessly. I was pitted against other kids, fully grown men and murderers alike. I can’t tell you how many times I was a breath away from death and how many lives I took during my training. There were some nights where I was tempted to put a bullet in my own mouth because I was so miserable.”