by Con Template
He stilled at the trepidation emanating from her trembling body.
“Why are you so afraid?” he asked, pulling out of the kiss. His right hand caressed and held her cheek. His eyes swirled with questions. He was trying to understand why she was afraid and Yoori felt horrible because she didn’t know the reason herself.
With her arms still wrapped securely around his neck, Yoori just impulsively lied and said, “Because I like being friends with you.”
It was a horrible lie because that wasn’t the reason. If she knew, she would tell him. But that was the thing, she didn’t know what the answer was. She just knew it existed and it was coiling in the pit of her stomach.
Annoyance dimmed his gaze. He knew that wasn’t the reason why she was so afraid. However, he didn’t push her on it.
“No offense, but I’ve never considered you as a friend,” he instead bit out.
“But I considered you a friend,” she retorted before quietly muttering, “My BFF.”
“What do you want me to do about that, Yoori?” he asked impatiently. She could tell he was annoyed with her using the same old excuse. She didn’t blame him. She was annoying herself too. “Any chance of us going back to the way things were was pretty much shot to hell when you jumped on me last night.”
Yoori blushed. How was a girl supposed to respond to that?
His face softened at the sight of her blush. “You really know how to ruin the mood, don’t you?” He eased himself away from her slightly. “You’re killing me, Brat,” he persisted wearily. “I’ve never had to seduce a girl like this and I’ve never been this sappy with any girl. So just put me out of my misery and awkwardness. Just tell me what I need to do to convince you that it’ll all be worth it.”
Yoori admired his persistence. She wished she had his confidence and bravery. She had always been spineless. If things got too hard, she would run from them. It was a habit of hers and it was one that was still alive and well in her.
“Are you saying it’ll be easy?” If it was, then she would’ve agreed to it last night, but it wasn’t. She may have been drunk, but she knew she was on to something. No matter how much they both may want it, they didn’t belong together. They wouldn’t have a happy ending together.
“I only said it would be worth it,” he replied, disappointed with her penchant for the easier choice in life. “Nothing worth fighting for will ever be easy in this world.”
Yoori wallowed in the same disappointment. How would she even begin to explain to him that there was something that she was so afraid of? There was something scaring her, but she didn’t know what it was. What kind of crazy explanation could she give him? It was hopeless.
Heeding the uncertainty in her eyes, Tae Hyun stroked her cheek again and slowly lowered her back to the bed. Yoori sadly uncurled her arms from around his neck. He rested her head back on the pillow and laid on his elbow again. He framed her cheek with one hand, his thumb kissing over her sensitized lips.
“I wish you would tell me why you’re so afraid,” he murmured. “Why you’re always running away from this.”
His eyes held hers. Silent promises swam in those enchanting brown eyes. It was a gift, Yoori concluded as she stared up at him, her heart breathing faintly against her chest. A dangerous gift for a man to possess over her and Tae Hyun had that gift. He had that gift in his eyes that made her want to drown in his silent promises – promises that if she gave herself to him, then he would give her the world. And she wanted to give herself to him. She wanted to eradicate that gnawing feeling of fear in her stomach. She wanted to simply place her fears aside and drown in him. But wishful thinking wasn’t an option for her – not if she wanted to protect herself and protect the relationship they had. If they moved to a different level, then they could never go back to the way they were. Things would get harder and Yoori wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t strong enough for that.
Desperate to change the tone of the conversation, Yoori did what she did best: she changed the topic.
“I think your disillusionments about wanting to be with me has softened you,” Yoori noted with joking humor. “So does this mean you’re not going to pick on me anymore?”
Maybe there was a silver lining to this whole thing after all. Maybe Tae Hyun would only see her as a woman now and perhaps he would realize it was inappropriate to pick on a woman so much.
His next words crushed her surging hope. “Did you kick another duck today or something? Are you crazy? My joy in life is torturing you. Whether it be teasing you or charming the social awkwardness out of you.”
Her jaw dropped.
“I knew you weren’t the seductive prince charming you were trying to be!” she snapped, unknowing to herself how her plan of lightening the mood actually worked. Funny what short attention spans they both had.
“No,” he agreed. “But I’ll be your boyfriend before the week is over, you stubborn little Brat.”
She gave him an unladylike snort. “Don’t hold your breath, you overconfident Snob.”
“I’ll hold yours instead,” he whispered, dipping in and nipping his tempting nose with hers.
Danger!
Yoori instinctively closed her eyes when he did this, holding her breath in anticipation. She could’ve sworn she felt his lips brush against hers as well but she wasn’t too sure. She was probably too desperate to kiss him and was imagining a meeting of their lips.
“Honestly speaking,” he said, easing upward from her and allotting her the chance to open her eyes again. “Do you really think you’ll be able to survive my charms if I don’t offset it with playful teasing?”
“Words spoken by a true bully,” she retorted, unimpressed.
Tae Hyun opened his mouth, ready to impart words of witty retort until something crossed his mind. “Actually before I forget….just a reminder…I hope you haven’t forgotten, we have a busy night the day after tomorrow.”
“What are you talking about?”
He eyed her skeptically. “I didn’t tell you last night?”
She blinked at him blankly. “Um no. You were a bit too busy with walking around in a towel and seducing the hell out of me.”
“You recall a lot for someone who was too drunk to remember anything, huh my little prude?” he quipped with amusement.
Yoori moved uncomfortably at the remark.
“Okay, so what’s going on Friday?” she asked, bringing him back on topic.
“Apparently Hae Jin and Chae Young invited themselves, along with Kang Min and Jae Won, over for dinner.” An iota of annoyance bore into his eyes. “We’re providing the food.”
“Hae Jin and Chae Young?” Her interest perked up. “Wait, you’ve been talking to Chae Young? Since when?”
“Since you ran off last week and slept at her place. Remember? I told you I went to see Chae Young at the diner to try and find you. You weren’t at her place and then I went and found you at Vertical VII.” He smiled. “You really have bad memory, don’t you?”
Yeah, I have amnesia, buddy, she wanted to reply to him but held in the inclination. “Things got overshadowed when a certain someone decided to fall off the building of a luxury hotel,” she replied vacantly. “Okay, okay go on,” she prompted, interested in knowing how it came to be that she and Tae Hyun were hosting a dinner.
“Well, I went to visit Hae Jin a couple of days ago, when my ‘boss’ had the cravings for ice cream in the middle of winter.” Yoori smiled innocently as he narrowed his eyes on her before finishing. “Chae Young, Kang Min and Jae Won were there too. I was talking to them for a little bit and next thing I knew, those two short girls were standing in front of me and thanking me for dinner invitations that I never gave.”
Yoori laughed at the imagery of Tae Hyun, the feared King of Serpents, getting coerced into planning a dinner party by his baby sister and her best friend.
He smirked. “I thought I told you but I guess I was too exhausted with how much my ‘boss’ from last week overworked me.” He
sighed, weariness inhabiting his eyes. “Now close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“I’m naked. And now I’m getting out of bed. Surely you don’t want to catch a glimpse of anything when I get up, right?” There was a gleam of wickedness in his sultry eyes. It was like he was daring her to keep her eyes opened.
Of course I do.
“Of course not,” Yoori replied, lowering her eyelids. She squirmed suddenly, tightening her eyes even more when she felt Tae Hyun pinch her nose.
“Don’t pinch me when my eyes are closed!” she chastised, moving her nose away from his line of fire.
She heard him chuckle over her.
“Just making sure you’re closing them as tightly as possible,” Tae Hyun stated. She could hear the smile in his crafty voice. The guy could care less if her eyes were closed tightly. He just wanted an excuse to pinch her nose.
“What are you waiting for? Tomorrow? Hurry and get off,” she shouted impatiently.
Tae Hyun chuckled at her impatience. Yoori instantly felt the weight of the comforter fall onto her once Tae Hyun lifted himself up and crawled out of bed. As the darkness surrounded her, her eyes twitched in interest. Hmm… She knew it would be a horrible thing to sneak a peak but she was so curious. She was so curious to how amazing it would look. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if she just –
She lifted one eyelid.
Shock overcame her when instead of seeing his naked defined ass, she saw his cute butt veiled with blue and white plaid pajama pants.
“I thought you said you were naked under the comforter – ”
As soon as the words came out, Yoori covered her mouth with her hands.
Fuck.
This was the part where she wanted to find a hole to crawl into so she could die in it. Damn her and her unfiltered mouth.
“Really Choi Yoori, it had only been 10 seconds since I got out of bed.” He gave her a teasing wink before grabbing the towel off the chair. He threw it over his neck and allowed each side to hang off his shoulders. “I thought you would’ve restrained yourself from peeking for a little bit longer...”
He tugged on either ends of the towel and sauntered over to her with a devilish grin tugging his lips. Once he reached the bed, he crouched down on the floor and stared up at Yoori in hilarity.
“You asked me if I was naked under the comforter,” he explained coyly. “The brand of this pajama pant is ‘Comforter.’” He carefully pulled her hands away from her mouth. “Were you disappointed?”
“I – I was just curious about the male anatomy,” she whispered, the fires of hell warming her needy body. When she knew she was caught, she involuntarily added, “Oh I hate you. I really hate you. I can’t believe you lied to me. You know what I meant when I asked if you were naked. You’re such a…”
Tae Hyun cocked his brow in interest. “What?”
“Tease.”
He grinned. He peered up at the handcuffs on the bedpost with a mixture of boredom and disapproval. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re still the champion tease in this bedroom.”
She smirked bitterly. “I’m excited for the next couple of days since we’ll be apart. I get to hang out with other people and get away from all the hormones raging out of you, Kwon.”
“Say that again the next time your hormones rage out of control and you bite my shoulder while screaming out my name, Choi,” he replied slyly.
Before a caught-off-guard Yoori was able to give her own witty reply, Tae Hyun’s Blackberry sounded off from the bed counter beside them. The melodic ring tone blared through the bedroom, shaking both Yoori and Tae Hyun out of their blissful bubble.
Something in Yoori’s gut pulsed in worry as the music thundered through her senses. Don’t pick it up! she wanted to scream out to Tae Hyun once she felt a wave of chills pierce through her skin. She was too late. Tae Hyun picked up his Blackberry from the counter, looked at the unknown number on the screen, sat down on the side of the bed and answered.
“Hello?”
“Tae Hyun, my boy,” the familiar, senile voice swam through the receiver and into the room. It was clear to Tae Hyun and clearer to Yoori who it was: Ju Won.
The pit of fear increased in her stomach. She hated the sound of Ju Won’s voice and she hated it more that he called. Ju Won was her reminder of the Underworld. He was her reminder of why she was so hesitant with moving forward with Tae Hyun. The reasons for her were blurry earlier but it was all crystal clear now.
They didn’t belong together.
They couldn’t be together…especially when people like Ju Won were in their lives.
“What do you want?” Tae Hyun’s rough tone left nothing to the imagination. He was annoyed that Ju Won called and wasted no time sugar coating this feeling. The last time Tae Hyun saw Ju Won was after her five-minute initiation. Yoori had the feeling Tae Hyun gave Ju Won the same piece of mind he was giving him over the phone.
Yoori moved closer to Tae Hyun to listen. She ignored the look of warning he gave her to not eavesdrop. He made a move to walk away but Yoori’s nails dug into his shoulder, her silent promise that she would give him a world of hell if he dared to move away from her. He glared at Yoori for a brief second and settled back on the bed, permitting her full disclosure to the conversation at hand.
“We haven’t spoken since the night after Choi Yoori’s initiation,” Ju Won replied calmly, unaffected by the angry tone Tae Hyun directed at him. His voice was more amused than angry. “I heard about your altercation with Ji Hoon at Vertical VII. I wanted to see how you were. You’ve disappeared from the Underworld for quite some time now. People are starting to wonder about what had happened to their beloved King of Serpents.” A purposeful silence filled the other line. “We should meet today, Tae Hyun.”
“I’m busy,” Tae Hyun answered at once.
“Tae Hyun,” came another voice on the line. It was Dong Min’s voice. His tone matched none of the amusement Ju Won displayed. It thundered with gravity and concern. “There are many whispers rippling around our world right now. People are saying that you may not have what it takes to lead our world.”
Tae Hyun stiffened at the concern in his Advisor’s voice. He had little to no respect for Ju Won, but Yoori could see it in Tae Hyun’s demeanor that although he wasn’t afraid of Dong Min, he still respected him immensely.
“You’ve been distracted for too long and people are noticing – even your supporters. The Royals in the 1st layer are starting to ask questions. This is serious. Ju Won and I wouldn’t be calling if we didn’t think your standing has been compromised. Come meet with us so we can fix this before it gets any worse.”
Akin to Dong Min’s words being a splash of cold water for him, unease washed over Tae Hyun.
“When and where?” he asked. His voice, however controlled it was, was throbbing with strain. Tae Hyun, like Yoori, could tell that there was more to what Dong Min was letting on – more serious matters at hand.
Even though she saw it coming, Yoori couldn’t control the unscrupulous dread that formed in her heart after she heard Tae Hyun give into the demands of the Advisors as soon as he heard that his candidacy to be the Lord of the Underworld was in jeopardy.
She had always known that this candidacy was more important to Tae Hyun than anything else. She had always known this. It was just that, in the course of the recent weeks and all that had happened between them, she thought his priorities might have changed. It was a silly hope on a silly girl’s part, but as she watched him harden at the knowledge that his position was challenged in the Underworld, she knew that Tae Hyun was still eager for power in this world. It didn’t matter what occurred in this bedroom or the night before, power continued to prevail over Tae Hyun’s needs and this fact alone was enough for her to justify her actions in not giving into him.
They didn’t belong together. This very moment proved it.
“In an hour. The Stadium,” Dong Min stated before adding, “And Tae Hyun?”
“Yes?�
�
“Stop distracting yourself. It’ll do no good for you in the end.”
The line went dead.
Dong Min’s words were simple but it felt like scalding knives.
Yoori stared at Tae Hyun in worry when he hung up.
“What?” He feigned obliviousness, but she knew in his eyes that he knew why she was so concerned. Even then, she knew that Tae Hyun was just trying to ease the stress away from her. He never enjoyed it whenever she had fear spread on her face.
“They know that you’ve been too distracted with me?”
“They know that I haven’t been as active in the Underworld,” he corrected, still subtly attempting to ease the worry away from her.
“And they know it’s because of me,” she persisted, worry spreading through her like cancer.
She knew that the Advisors didn’t approve of her being with him. She doubted the entire Underworld would’ve approved of her being with him if and when everyone else found out. She knew all of this but she hadn’t realized what a big deal all of it was until now. Despite Tae Hyun’s nonchalance, Yoori knew the situation was graver than he was letting on.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“But – ”
“It’ll be okay, Yoori,” he insisted. “I can deal with them. I was born into this world. I know how to play the politics. Plus, everyone in this world knows that Ji Hoon will never do a better job than me. I’m the only one who could lead this world in the way that it needs to be led.”
“What if they find someone else for the position and pit them against you?” The question came out before she could stop it. It wasn’t the right time to ask, but it was undeniably appropriate.
“Who?” he inquired, his question coming out faster than he could catch it as well. “Who in this world has the power to challenge me? Who in this world has the power to bring me down?”
Yoori didn’t give Tae Hyun a name. She just stared at him, her eyes dark with storms of worry. While there were no words exchanged, Yoori knew that Tae Hyun could tell who she was thinking about. They were the only two who knew about her existence and knew who she was in a past life. Judging by her notoriety in this world, Yoori knew her past self was more than capable of being considered a candidate, especially with a fickle old man like Ju Won who seemed to constantly change his mind about who his favorite potential heir was.