by Marian Tee
“Stop denying the truth.”
Park sighed. “Fine. We are friends, but remember that you got that admission under duress.”
They had already reached the street leading to their dorm when Park thought of asking, “How did you find your first day of work?”
“It was fun,” she said warmly. “Everyone at work was great.” It was true. At first she had been afraid that none of Park’s co-workers would like her. That would have been problematic since her work consisted of four-hour shifts five times a week, which meant she’d be spending a lot of time in their company.
But thankfully, everyone had been nice, even the girls, and that had been the most wonderful surprise.
“Jun-Yee seems to like you.” Park tried not to tense as he waited for Violet’s thoughts about the other Korean, whom Park knew was also a notorious flirt in uni.
She rolled her eyes. “He likes everyone.”
He wondered why the answer relieved him so much but still Park said slowly, “That’s true but I also think he could be having a serious crush on you.”
Violet waved a hand. “I don’t care. I’m not into dating.” Her eyes widened when Park stopped in front of his door.
He saw her look. “What?”
She demanded, “You won’t walk me to my door?”
“What are you, seven?”
Why…why had she thought Park would be different now that they were friends?
“You’re impossible,” she grouched even as she stomped her way up. Korean asshole gorilla. Asian freaking Yeti.
“Violet?”
She poked her head out just before she climbed another set of stairs. “What?” she growled.
Park gave her a mock salute. “Night, banshee.” Then he slammed the door shut.
Violet almost screeched. Impossible man! But as she climbed the stairs leading to her floor, she couldn’t prevent a little smile from playing on her lips. Impossible or not, he really was a good friend to have.
Chapter Seven
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Two weeks had already passed since Violet came literally knocking into his life, and most mornings he still wanted to kill her. Like now.
He threw the door open. “What the fuck, Violet?” He kept his eyes trained on her face. Even after two long weeks, his dick still couldn’t seem to understand that she was his friend and therefore off-limits. And lately, with Violet having the habit of dropping by in one of her silky contraptions, the kind that did more revealing than hiding, Park had also developed the habit of not looking at Violet below the neck.
She beamed at him.
That just made him more irritated. “Violet, I swear to God, if you only came here to fucking smile—”
She shook her head.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s my first day in uni.” She mumbled the words so low he had to make her repeat herself before he understood what she was saying.
Park reared back, incredulous. “So? What the fuck do you want then? That I say goodbye to you before you go to school or give you allowance or something? I’m not your dad.”
Violet winced at his tone even though she wasn’t hurt by it any longer. She had long come to the conclusion that Park was not a morning person at all. She lifted her chin. “It means as my friend you’re supposed to walk me to school.”
Park started choking. “Are you serious? My classes don’t start till noon. And just in case you don’t know how to read a watch, it’s still seven in the morning.” Then he smirked. “Your classes don’t start till nine. Does this mean the supposedly super confident Violet is…nervous?”
Violet tried not to look green even as she lied haughtily, “Of course not.”
He gave her a knowing look, now awake enough to get in the spirit of teasing Violet. “Yes, you are.”
She changed the subject. “You have to walk me to school.”
“Nope.”
“You will.” She shook his arm for effect, never mind if he was like an unmoving block of cement.
“A) I’m not your father. B) I’m not your brother. C) God forbid that I’m your boyfriend. D) I’m only your friend under coercion and E) I’m not paid to do that and even if you offered, I still wouldn’t take it.”
She gritted her teeth. One would have thought two weeks of friendship would have made Park less of a jerk but no. Sometimes, he was actually more of a jerk. “You could just say no,” she snapped.
“I did,” Park reminded her helpfully. “You didn’t seem to understand.”
She crossed her arms against her chest. “Well, I don’t care. You’re going to walk me to school.” She paused then grumbled out, “I’m afraid I’m going to lose my way.”
“Tough.”
“If you don’t walk me to school—”
“You’ll what? Kill me?”
His condescending tone irked her so much that Violet gave him a deadly look and she frowned hard, thinking of the one thing that could make him see things her way.
And then she realized what it was.
She smiled slowly.
Uh-oh. Park immediately started to close the door, but Violet was too quick for him and she wiggled her way inside his room.
Damn. “Out,” he barked.
She shook her head, still smiling that terrifyingly evil smile of hers. “If you don’t walk me to school…”
He gave her a hard look.
She walked to him slowly.
He tried not to show how wary he was.
She stood on her tiptoes and then blew on his ear.
Goosebumps popped out on his skin.
“I’m going to kiss you.”
Park pushed her away violently and although Violet almost fell to the floor, she burst into laughter.
“You think I like you?” he spat.
“Of course not.” She was completely honest in this score. “But you don’t have to like someone to be attracted.” Violet flashed Park a winning smile. “And whatever you say, I know when I’m attractive to someone.”
Shit. The all-woman confidence shining in Violet’s eyes should have turned him off, but all his body was urging him to do was to prove she was right. Park didn’t just want her. He was obsessed with her, spent more time than necessary imagining her naked and thinking of ways they could “accidentally” explore the explosive chemistry they shared.
“What’s it going to be, Park?” she purred.
He gnashed his teeth. He might be in lust with her, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t irritated with how smug the midget shrew sounded.
Well, two could play this game.
Park stalked forward, taking her by surprise, and satisfaction coursed through him as he watched Violet jump a step back.
Realizing that she had just let Park see how much his proximity unnerved her—when she was supposed to be unnerving him—Violet squared her shoulders and gave him a challenging look.
It was a challenge Park didn’t intend to resist. He bent down, forcing Violet to instinctively bend back. This close, he could feel the way she was breathing a little harder than usual even though she was doing her best not to let him know. This near, Park was able to enjoy the rapid rise and fall of her breasts. If there was a small part of him that had still been groggy earlier, everything about him was alert now–especially his dick down there, which throbbed heavily as the tension between the two of them heightened.
Violet bit back a moan as Park slowly trailed one finger on her face, unable to keep her body from shivering.
He smiled.
Violet wanted to scratch it off Park’s face. Nordic asshole ogre! She tried communicating the words to Park with a glare, unwilling to speak because she had a feeling her voice would fail her if she did. Ugh. This was so not how she pictured things would happen. When she had woken up in a panic, all she knew was that she had to go to Park. He would fix things, like he always did, and then it would be okay.
But this…this impossibly hot attraction between them? If they ended
up actually succumbing to it because of her dare…
Totally not okay!
“Mmm.” Park’s voice was throaty, underlined by arrogance. “I think I know someone who finds me attractive, too.” He slowly lowered his head, wanting her to think he was about to take her up on his dare and kiss her.
Violet reacted instinctively.
The sudden painful pressure on his head was enough to make Park yelp. “You little—” He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as Violet, her fingers gripping his hair, gave it another hard yank.
“—little what?” she asked sweetly, looking up at him.
He glared at her.
She yanked his hair harder.
“You little beautiful chick,” he snarled.
Violet let him go and immediately ran to the opposite side of the room before he could grab her. “So,” she said a little breathlessly, “we’ve proved our points. We know we’re both hotter than hot.” She deliberately kept her voice flippant even though she still couldn’t forget the dizzying sensation of his touch and the feelings his nearness created. If she had spent another moment in his arms, she had a feeling things between them would go beyond that so-called kiss she was threatening him about.
“But this—” Violet made a vague wave to her surroundings. “—also proves that we’re both not ready to ruin our friendship over…” Violet smirked and then waved to her body. “This.”
Before he could stop himself, Park’s eyes drifted low.
Shit, shit, he-so-fucking-wanted-her-shit!
He knew he shouldn’t have let her make him look at her body. As expected, it was in another one of those tiny silky things, the lacy neckline so low it bared half of her breasts, and the entire slip so short it barely covered her tiny but bountiful ass.
Not willing to suffer alone, he reached for her in one stride, captured her hand, and forced it down, down, down, making her fingers drift his chest before placing it just on top of his waistband. “And this,” he murmured silkily, feeling her hand tremble in his.
The temptation to look was impossible to resist. Her gaze dipped, and she gulped, seeing the way his dick nearly wanted to jump out of his boxers.
Trying not to wheeze, she snatched her hand away and took a step back. Ignoring the way he chuckled, she gritted out, “Can you please walk me to school now?”
“Say ‘Please Park, I need you’ first.”
Shooting him a dirty look, Violet forced the words out. “Please Park, I need you.”
He had her out of his room in a second.
As she gaped at him, Park said, “I’m going to take a shower. You should get one, too. You smell.”
He slammed the door shut just as she screeched.
Over an hour later, Park and Violet were on their way to uni and she still wasn’t talking to him.
“What the hell—are you really carrying a grudge?”
She shook her head, not looking at him.
Biting back an impatient curse, Park lifted her hair away to peek at her face. What he saw made him curse again, in astonishment this time. She was white as sheet, clearly more anxious and panicky than mad and sulking.
“Why are you so nervous? It’s just the first day of school.” Park couldn’t understand what was wrong. If she could face someone like him without blinking an eye, attending school for the first day should have been a breeze.
“I’m not nervous,” she snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“You mean lie, right?”
“Remember how you told me that you’re not the talkative kind of guy? I’d really appreciate it if you proved that true right now.”
“Nope, sorry.” Park’s tone was gratingly cheerful. “I can see that my curiosity and talkativeness are bothering you a lot, and you know how I like annoying you.”
That elicited a laugh from her. “You’re impossible.”
“And you still haven’t told me the reason you look like a ghost.”
“A beautiful ghost, though.”
“Watch out or your head might not fit through the door.”
“Look who’s talking, oh great god of blond gorillas.”
“Yep, definitely nervous,” he said even more cheerfully.
She growled.
He laughed. “Extremely nervous.”
Violet tried to hit him with her bag, but he deftly fielded the blow, turning it away. “Come on, you know I’m not going to stop until you tell me.”
She knew he wasn’t lying. “I’ve got this stupid phobia, okay? When I was in high school once, something terrible happened to me during the first day of school and ever since then, well, I’ve been like this. But it’s only on the first day. After that, I’m back to being my wonderful—” She ignored Park’s snort at the adjective. “—self.”
“What happened—”
“I’ll tell you when we’re close enough,” she said curtly, not bothering to let him finish.
He nodded. “Fair enough. So it only happens on the first day of school, huh?”
They continued to walk in silence after that. Minutes later, they reached school. “Thanks,” Violet managed to say without meeting his eyes.
“Sure.” But he continued walking next to her.
She came to a dead stop. “You can go now. You don’t need to walk me to my room.”
“Who says I’m going to do that?”
“You really have something to do here in school then?” Violet looked at Park suspiciously. “Nope.”
She was confused. “Then what—”
“I’m going with you to class. I’m here already. Might as well stay till my class starts.”
Violet blinked at him several times. “There’s no need—” she finally started to protest.
He cut her off with an impatient wave of his hand. “For better or worse, I did agree to be your friend and this is what friends do.” Then he grinned. “Besides, I’m enjoying the fact that you feel very vulnerable and dependent on me.”
“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath.
Park nodded without a qualm. “True.” He could feel her gritting her teeth next to him, and Park wanted to laugh because by now, he understood the way her mind worked. Violet hated feeling beholden to anyone. “Come on, say it. I know it’s killing you, but I also know you’re feeling like you have to say it.”
She clenched her teeth harder. How could he know her so well in such a short span of time? “Yes, it’s killing me. I’d rather you go to hell but for now, I have to say this.” She took a deep breath, felt her face go green, and said, “Thank you.” And she immediately wanted to puke right after.
Park laughed. He patted her head. “There, there,” he said with sham solemnity. “You know I always help weak damsels in distress like you.”
Her cheeks reddened in anger. “Don’t. Push. It.”
Park pointed to the door. “Oh. Look. There’s your class. Lots of strangers there.”
Her face went back to green. “You. Bastard.”
Park howled in laughter. “That’s the spirit.”
* * * *
Violet’s first day in a Japanese university, which had given her nightmares the past few nights, was the best she had in recent years.
Park figuratively and literally held her hand all throughout. He had no problems sitting in every class with her since he knew all her professors. If he was a little late in coming in, having stopped to talk with some of his friends in the hallway, he would only have to glare at whichever hapless guy had the misfortune of choosing a seat next to her, and the chair would be immediately vacated.
Arrogant Asian Yeti. She thought of those moments with secret fondness.
But then, it wasn’t perfect. There were also times Violet wished Park was somewhere else–like when he couldn’t stop laughing like mad every time she mispronounced a word. Those moments she didn’t remember too fondly.
In every class they had been in, most of the other kids appeared star struck, the sight of Park rendering h
im speechless. At first, Violet had wondered if it was just because he was the hottest-looking guy in this side of the world–and he was. But as the day progressed, she realized it wasn’t just that. It was mostly because of how he acted…with her.
By the time Park had to leave for his own class—advanced Japanese for business—Violet felt well enough to handle the rest of her classes alone.
He stood outside the door of her next class, looking down at her with a frown. “You sure?”
She nodded, blowing him a kiss. “Thanks to my ever-attractive hero!” Although Violet meant every word, she said them just because she knew it would make Park uncomfortable.
Park’s cheeks stained with color. “Violet,” he threatened.
She grinned, throwing her hands up in surrender. “That’s it, I promise. Ceasefire…” She grinned. “For now.”
“For now,” Park echoed, his tone a bit resigned.
Raising herself on her toes, she whispered in his ear, “But honestly, Park, thanks. You’re the best.”
Park practically leapt away from her with a snarl.
She laughed, having guessed right that even though Park liked to one-up her, he wouldn’t dare do so in public.
His eyes narrowed at the sound of her laughter.
Or so she thought.
Violet gulped at the look in Park’s eyes. “Err…”
“You just wait when we get back to the dorm,” he said very softly, his words only for her. His eyes caressed her head to toe, staying a little too long on her breasts, enough to have her nipples harden.
Oh my God!
Violet crossed her arms over her chest with a gasp.
“Later,” he said with a mock salute.
“No, wait, Park!”
But he was already walking away.
“I take it back!” she called after him weakly. “You’re not my hero.” But he was already gone.
Chapter Eight
Violet was still worriedly gnawing on her lip, wondering what kind of evil revenge Park had in mind for her, when she found herself surrounded by a gaggle of girls the moment Park disappeared from view. It took her a while to understand that all those questions were about Park.
How did she know him? Did she like him? Were they dating?