by Con Template
“She ate a lot more when she was with you.”
He choked back a laugh. He nodded as if in concurrence and patted his stomach. There was no fat, just solid muscle when he tapped on it.
“Yes,” he concurred blithely. “We’re fat pigs to say the least.”
She had no idea if he was trying to subtly seduce her by bringing attention to the abs that she worshipped so much. Perhaps it was an innocent action or perhaps it wasn’t. Regardless, it took all of Soo Jin’s willpower to not lick her lips and stare at the seductive area.
She was doing a valiant job of staring at the pond behind him when a sudden sound infiltrated her ears. Her eyes bloomed in watchfulness. Soo Jin snapped her head around the park.
She turned back to Tae Hyun, who was staring at her blankly.
“Did you hear that?” she hissed quietly.
He tilted his head in curiosity. There was a tint of unease in his eyes when he processed her reaction. It was clear that her bizarre behavior was disconcerting him. “Hear what?”
“No, seriously,” Soo Jin insisted earnestly. Her eyes vigilantly surveyed the quiet and dark park. “I know you heard it too.”
“Wait, what the hell are you talking about?” he asked, his eyes sharing in the alertness. “Hear what? Is someone else here?”
“No! Shhhh!” she shushed in her now drunken state. “Just listen!”
Tae Hyun examined the park.
Wind was blowing the leaves of trees, running over the grass, and howling over the quiet pond, yet no other sound accompanied it.
He faced her again. This time, the watchfulness of his eyes was set on her, not the supposed noise in the park. He evaluated the paleness of her face and how outrageous she sounded.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked a second later, holding up three fingers.
He clearly thought she had gone bonkers.
“Oh, give me a break, you dumb Snob!” she dismissed, holding up three fingers of her own. “Read between the lines, and stop lying to me. You’re trying to make me look crazy. You know you heard a duck!”
Tae Hyun choked back a round of laughter before taking a shot to ease his nerves.
“First of all,” he launched, finding amusement in her anxiety, “I really didn’t hear anything. Secondly, I knew Yoori wasn’t fond of ducks, but I didn’t realize that the dislike transcended to you too.” He stopped for a moment’s pause before saying, “Do you have your gun?”
Soo Jin’s eyes expanded further. She could feel the effects of the alcohol in her system. “You must be drunk if you want to shoot a duck,” she concluded prematurely. A wave of exhilaration coursed over her. The existence of the duck in question faded from her thoughts. Another prevailing realization entered her mind. “This means I win. You have to leave me alone and use all your strength to fight me to the death in five days.”
Tae Hyun shook his head, holding up a single index finger to rain on her parade.
“Nice try, Brat. Although I’m amused with your belief that we have a duck around us, I insist you’re very drunk. With that said, I’ve thought of a nice tie-breaker so we can end this challenge and get on to the more . . . exciting . . . parts of the night.”
“So, we’re going to shoot each other?” she asked with hope. She surveyed the area. There were so many trees around them that it acted as the perfect camouflage. They could shoot as if they were playing laser tag—only with actual guns.
He gave her an unimpressed look. “As flattered as I am about your excitement to shoot me, I actually have another thing planned . . .”
“I must say, you’re quite the tease, Tae Hyun,” Soo Jin murmured moments later, holding her gun in amusement. She observed the ten empty alcohol bottles that Tae Hyun had placed in the far distance. They were all lined up, waiting for them across the park’s pond like targets for a firing squad.
“Ten bottles,” Tae Hyun launched, standing close behind her as he stated the terms, “and we’ll alternate shooting.” He whipped out one of his silver guns. “Whoever hits the most targets wins. Sounds fair?”
Soo Jin smirked.
Boom!
Without warning, she aimed her gun and obliterated the first alcohol bottle. As the gunshot boom died in the air, she regarded Tae Hyun with challenge in her eyes.
“Don’t fuck up,” she told him, eager to pilfer his concentration.
Unfazed by her efforts to sabotage him, Tae Hyun simply favored her with a smile before he fired his gun. The bullet sprang out with precision, annihilating the alcohol bottle beside Soo Jin’s demolished one.
He gazed back at her, the smile still solidified on his beautiful face. “Good luck.”
For the next few minutes, they took turns firing their guns until there were only two bottles left.
“Don’t screw up,” Tae Hyun whispered into Soo Jin’s ear as she aimed at her final bottle.
She laughed, knowing that they would probably have to put out more alcohol bottles if she got this one and if Tae Hyun got his last bottle.
Fixing her aim as the wind came at full force, Soo Jin was prepared to pull the trigger when—
Quaaack!
“Holy fuck!”
Thunderstruck by the devilish duck’s scream, Soo Jin instinctively pulled the trigger of her gun. The bullet was unleashed, unsteadily shooting at the alcohol bottle. The bullet missed the glass bottle by an inch and flew into a tree trunk instead.
Quack. Quack.
A chubby white duck, which looked suspiciously similar to the one her human counterpart had kicked in this very park, emerged from the darkness. It shook its feathery butt as it trotted onto the scene, circling Soo Jin as though to taunt her.
She stared angrily at it, abhorred that this stupid feathery creature had ruined everything.
Quack. Quack.
Its little webbed feet stepped over her Uggs. If she didn’t know better, she would have said that it was wordlessly urging her to kick it. Beside her, Tae Hyun smiled adoringly at the duck, loving how pissed off it was making Soo Jin.
She restrained herself from kicking the stupid duck and sending it flying to the moon. Yoori had no control, but Soo Jin would remain civilized—at least in front of the King she was scheduled to battle. She lightly nudged the duck away with her shoe. She struggled to maintain her poise in the face of this embarrassing scene.
Quack. Quack.
“You seriously didn’t hear it?” she asked, watching as the duck changed course. It began to waddle around Tae Hyun and trot over his leather shoes instead.
Tae Hyun shook his head, his smiling eyes trailing after the playful animal. “We both have different strengths. My sense of hearing is not as developed as yours.”
He chuckled lightly, gently herding the duck into the pond with his shoe. Once the duck was safely swimming in the water, Tae Hyun got back to business. He assumed his position in front of the pond, fixed his aim on the final alcohol bottles, and prepared to eject his last remaining bullets.
Soo Jin’s heart raced as she stood behind him. She peered at the bottles and nervously looked back at Tae Hyun. It horrified her that she was reduced to this vulnerable position. She hated that she had no control over her own fate.
“You’re going to miss,” she told him, expelling her last effort to stay alive in this game.
In lieu of retorting, he merely raised a hand up and began to caress her cheek. Tae Hyun never once wavered his gaze from hers as he began to shoot at the remaining alcohol bottles with accuracy, thereby sealing his fate as the champion of their game.
With all the glass bottles destroyed, his tempting lips curved into a slow and seductive smile. He was more than happy to share the specifics of her fate now that he had won.
“You’re going home with me for a week, Princess.”
“It is the one human aspect that is strong enough to break Gods . . .”
14: Home
“Go home with you for a week?” Soo Jin breathed out. She gaped at him with
wide eyes. She did not make an effort to conceal her incredulity. “Are you that drunk?”
“Even if I’m drunk out of my mind,” Tae Hyun said with effortless charm, “you’re the one who has to abide by my wishes.”
He eyed the demolished alcohol bottles in the distance. A satisfied look came over his face before he took out his phone. It took one ring for the recipient on the other line to answer his call.
“Yes, boss?”
“Come to Mint Park,” Tae Hyun commanded without preamble. “I want the area around the pond to be cleaned up within an hour.”
“No problem, boss.”
“Thank you.” As he hung up, Tae Hyun turned back to Soo Jin with an expectant smile. He was ready to move this interaction to the next stage. “Shall we?”
Soo Jin did not move an inch. Defiance burned in her eyes, strengthening the already rigid expression on her face. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Twelve of my Serpents are on their way here as we speak,” he shared in a matter-of-fact tone. His pleasant demeanor remained as he spoke to her. “They are my most prompt men, the very best to call whenever I need something done under a time constraint. They will be here within two minutes. Would you like them to witness us together? To be privy to the fact that you lost a challenge to me?”
Soo Jin muttered a curse. Her defiance bled away as she mulled over her dilemma. He got her there. She may have dreaded prolonging her alone time with him, but she dreaded having witnesses to her embarrassing state even more.
Accepting her silence as her confirmation, he wrapped his hand with hers and guided her out of the park. Soo Jin had assumed that they would be taking their cars home. When he walked past the Jaguar and the Lamborghini, a swarm of confusion bombarded her mind.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re too drunk to drive,” he answered, looking both ways before crossing the street with Soo Jin in tow.
Soo Jin nearly tripped over the curb when they reached the other side of the street. “You’re serious?”
“Come on, Soo Jin,” he cajoled in a patient voice. His hand tightened its affectionate hold on hers. “Be a team player.”
“Isn’t your apartment within walking distance from here?” she inquired with growing confusion. She peered over her shoulder to assess the path they should be on. The wind whipped her hair when she turned back to face him. “Why are we walking in the opposite direction?”
He pursed his lips blithely. His focus remained on the dimly lit path ahead. Apart from the cars and bikes parked on the street, they were the only two in the immediate vicinity. “Who says we’re going to my apartment?”
Panic set off inside her. Her eyes broadened like baseballs. “Where the hell are you planning on taking me for a week then?”
“You will find out when we get there,” he said coyly, glancing further ahead. After he spotted the headlights of a cab, he stepped into the street. “In the meantime, since we’ve both been drinking, I don’t think it’s a good idea to drive. At least not until morning.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” retorted Soo Jin, refusing to admit that she was intoxicated.
Tae Hyun chuckled and raised his hand to hail the cab.
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,” he whispered adoringly.
Soo Jin ignored the familiarity of that saying as the cab came to a slow pause beside them.
“This is the strangest night of my life,” she grumbled under her breath, unable to grasp the strange turn of events. She felt like she was ending a date night with Tae Hyun rather than a challenging battle. First she got drunk with him, and now he was hailing a cab for her? What was next? Were they going to kiss goodnight and meet up for a coffee date tomorrow?
“Go home and get some rest, Soo Jin,” Tae Hyun urged, leaning in to press his forehead against hers. When it looked like he was tempted to give her a goodnight kiss, he controlled himself. Instead, he moved backward to open the cab door for her. “I’ll meet you back here tomorrow morning,” he finished with a sense of longing in his voice. “We can jumpstart our fun then.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she snarled, refusing to get into the cab.
He laughed and placed his hand over the opened cab door. He leaned in, causing Soo Jin to catch her breath. She wondered if he could hear her heart pounding as he whispered into her ear.
“If I don’t see you here tomorrow morning, I will go to the Siberian Tigers’ estate and pick you up myself. You may choose your poison. Either you meet me back here and maintain your privacy or I show up at your home and flaunt my relationship with you in front of your soldiers.”
Soo Jin shot him a look that was rife with venom. Being attracted to him aside, she felt this unbearable need to beat the shit out of him. There were few people in the world who could beat her—much less outwit her. Unfortunately for Soo Jin, she had met her match. She had not only lost the challenge, but the favored King had also outwitted her. This was not her night. She might as well end it by getting as far away from him as possible.
“You have no idea how much I want to skull-bash you right now,” she stated bluntly, pushing past him and getting into the cab.
His playful laughter trailed after her hostile words. “I will make sure you have a wonderful week, Soo Jin.” He flashed her a heart-stopping smile that promised nothing but fun times. He waved goodbye as the cab took off. “See you tomorrow, Princess.”
■ ■ ■
Soo Jin could not sleep a wink when she got home. At the offset, she debated about whether or not she should meet him. Given that the last thing she wanted was for him to make a scene in front of her Siberian Tigers—and thereby undermine her authority as their Queen—she chose to meet him back at the park the following morning. Now that the alcohol was out of their systems, she hoped she could knock some sense into him.
She waited on the sidewalk with a blue carry-on bag on the ground near her boots. She stood across from Mint Park with her arms folded and her eyes locked on the joggers sprinting through the park. After having the park to herself, it felt odd to see other people occupying the very spot where she had a drinking and shooting contest. What transpired the night before felt like a dream. She wondered how she allowed herself to get roped into this situation. Did she lose because of luck, because of the alcohol, or because of something else?
The sound of an oncoming car assailed her senses, steering her out of her reverie.
She glanced in the direction of the sound and nearly did a double take. Her chest tightened when she saw the black Mercedes convertible—the very car that Yoori and Tae Hyun adored like no other—drive up to the curb. It was like a ghost was approaching her.
Soo Jin released a breath, mentally shaking herself out of her stupor. She could not allow herself to be distracted. She had to convince a certain King that it was a very bad idea for them to spend a whole week together. She did away with the host of unsettling emotions and tentatively approached the car.
Tae Hyun, who was wearing a gray leather jacket and black pants, got out of the car as she reached it. He approached her with a beaming expression.
“I’m glad you made it.”
She appraised his appearance and immediately resented him. He really was a gorgeous bastard. He looked far too handsome for a guy who drank too much the night prior. There she was, feeling like shit from a hangover that was splitting her head. He, on the other hand, could not look more easygoing. She doubted he knew what a hangover was. Was there anything he wasn’t blessed with in this life?
Oblivious to her morning resentment, he helped pick up her bag and opened the door for her.
“We can’t do this,” Soo Jin declared at once, refusing to get in.
His patient smile remained.
“We’re the King and Queen of this world,” he coaxed gently. “We can do anything we want.”
“I was hoping you’d be more clearheaded today.”
“I am,” he stated confidently. “I�
��ve never been more excited to go somewhere.” He cocked his head and observed her with a tread of disappointment in his expression. “Are you backing out on your word?”
“I—”
“Because I’d be disappointed if you were,” he interjected, a frown troubling his handsome face. “You lost fair and square. It’d be fucked up if you went back on your word, especially since I got up really early when I could’ve been sleeping in.”
“Oh God, you’re so dramatic,” Soo Jin groaned, relenting and finally getting in the car. It was clear that she was not going to win this argument. He was no longer intoxicated with alcohol, but he was still intoxicated by her. There was no way he was going to let her persuade him out of this.
He optimistically closed the door behind her. “We’re going to have fun. I promise.”
“Where are we going?” she asked after he settled into the driver’s seat.
“Away from the Underworld,” he said simply, pulling away from the curb.
“This is insane,” Soo Jin complained. Although it would be close to impossible to convince him to cancel this trip, she had to at least try. She twisted to the side to face him. Beside her, the city around them morphed into a line of blurs as the car picked up speed. “I can’t stay with you for a week. I have mentors to meet, soldiers to train, and a throne to prepare for!”
“You are the Queen of the Underworld,” he reminded nonchalantly, turning up the heat in the car. “The mentors will understand if you’re too busy to meet with them, your soldiers can train themselves, and as far as preparing for the throne . . .” He bequeathed her with a seductive smile. “I am the one you’re battling. Spending the week with me can only be used for your advantage.”
“Or yours.”
His smiling expression did not sympathize with her grievances. If anything, it amused him to no end that she was voicing any grievances at all. “You lost, An Soo Jin. Fair and square.”
“Won’t your people wonder where you are?”
“They will think I’m training, just like your people will think you’re doing.”