Onyx: Truth

by J. S. Lee

  제 8 장

  Steal Your Heart

  I was still trying to process our conversation when we all met for dinner. Sungmin had texted us all to say that we had a table booked at a restaurant and that put a pause on my shopping plans. Given how distracted I was at dinner, it was probably a good thing. I would have gone out for a coat and returned with underwear.

  Well, shit. I also had a limited supply of underwear, and seventy-five percent of that could be classed as comfort panties – definitely not sexy and something I wanted any of those guys to see.

  Guys.

  What. The. Actual. Fuck?

  What I wanted, more than anything, right then, was to call my best friend and tell her all about it. I wanted her to tell me if I was insane or not, which she would, but then she’d also tell me how she’d always thought Damien was a dick and I should go for it.

  Of course, my best friend was the Vice Chairwoman of Atlantis Entertainment, and telling her that three members of one of her groups, members who had all signed a contract, were ready to date little ol’ me… that wasn’t going to end with a “go have fun”.

  “You seem distracted,” Sungmin said. “Or do you not like sushi?”

  I stared at him, then glanced down at my barely touched plate of deliciously fresh sushi. Distracted was an understatement. I scooped up a piece with my chopsticks and ate it, giving him a smile. “Just making a mental shopping list,” I told him after swallowing.

  “You need things?” he asked, surprised.

  I nodded. “I didn’t pack for the weather,” I said, vaguely. “I’m going to go out after dinner and spend the money I haven’t earned yet,” I added, only half joking.

  With his curiosity satisfied, I forced myself to pay more attention to my food and the table conversation. We had taken up a large booth at the back of the restaurant. Thankfully, either no one knew who Onyx were, or no one cared.

  The guys looked relaxed. Even CX seemed to be less on edge. Of course, that was relative. He’d gotten his first ever appearance as the new member of Onyx out of the way, and he’d received a lot of praise and welcoming comments online (I’d been curious and checked). He’d also received a fair few negative ones, aimed more at how he could never replace the infamous Oh Bohyun rather than his lack of talent. I chose to ignore them and focused on the positive.

  We still had the Shanghai and Hong Kong dates without Xiao to go though, so I doubted the stress had completely disappeared.

  Otherwise, everything seemed normal.

  Too normal.

  It was almost like the conversation I’d had earlier hadn’t happened.

  I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. They’d been quite clear that this was something to keep between the four of us, which I completely understood and had no intention of sharing. It made sense that they weren’t going to do anything to jeopardize that, but I guess I was expecting something to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing.

  After dinner, I wrapped myself up in my hoodie and braved the outdoors. It was warmer than it had been in Seoul, but there was still a chill to the air.

  My phone pinged at me and I pulled it out of my pocket to read the text message. It was from Holly: Weekly salary set up. Sorry, should have had this payment to you on Friday. Don’t spend it all at once.

  “I could kiss you,” I muttered as I quickly checked my online banking. Sure enough, there was a nice figure sitting there. I let out a sigh of relief as I slipped the phone back into my pocket. I wasn’t about to go and blow it all at once, but I really did need a jacket, and the idea of new underwear was tempting.

  Osaka wasn’t quite as crazy as Tokyo, but it was close. It was getting late, and the streets were just as busy as they had been earlier in the day. I wandered around, finally finding a store with a coat in the window I liked. Once that was purchased and I was wearing it, I went seeking new underwear.

  It was only then that I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickling. I glanced around, feeling like I was being watched. And not just from the store’s employee who was eagerly wanting to help me. I looked out of the window, but I couldn’t see anyone watching me.

  I shook the feeling off, moving deeper into the store. The front had the normal, but cute underwear. The further back you went, the more risqué it got. There were some really cute basques, but I was tall and in Japan, the women weren’t. I held one up to me, discovering, as I suspected, that it was too short in the length. Oh well, there were plenty of other garments to choose from.

  After trying on a few bras to make sure my Japanese / American sizing was correct, I piled my choices on the counter and waited while the assistant rang them up. So much for not blowing my first paycheck.

  I stepped back into the street, my arms laden with bags, and couldn’t help but giggle. I was buying a shit ton of underwear. I’d best damn well get my intended use out of some of them. I started walking back to the hotel, when that feeling of being watched was back.

  I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring the objections, and turned, trying to work out why my senses were telling me I was being followed. I was earning stares: I was tall, white and blonde. I was also causing an obstruction… but that wasn’t it.

  And then my eyes fell on Xiao on the other side of the street. I tilted my head, arching an eyebrow at him. He gave me a sheepish grin and crossed the road. “How long have you been following me?” I asked him.

  “Since we left the restaurant,” he admitted, like it was nothing.

  “Why?”

  “I wanted to make sure you were OK.”

  I guess to some that would seem a little over protective, but to me, it warmed my heart. Damien had never thought to do that. Hell, one time, I’d gone out and ended up with a flat tire. I’d texted him, asking for help, knowing he was back at our apartment and not at work, and he’d never replied. “You should have said, and you could have joined me. It probably would have been more interesting.”

  Xiao shook his head. “I enjoyed watching you.”

  I pulled out my phone to check the time. “Do you have to be back at a certain time? What did you tell the others?”

  “I told Manager Sungmin I need protein shakes and to walk off my sushi. I told JongB I would be with you.”

  “And they were fine with that?” I asked in surprise. I kind of expected that Sungmin would have an issue with him going off by himself.

  “JongB and Jiwon have come with me.”

  Confused, I looked behind him, down the street from where we had come from, looking from the pair. “Where are they?”

  Xiao shrugged. “I don’t know.” He pulled out his phone and hit the screen a few times. “Twitter puts them in Dōtonbori.” He turned the phone around and showed me the screen. JongB was hanging off a lamppost.

  “Will Sungmin not expect the photos to have you in them? And what about going back?”

  “We have to be back at the hotel by midnight. We are up early tomorrow to practice. For now, I’m all yours. What do you want to do?”

  Him.

  “How restricted are we?” I asked instead, glancing up and down the street once more. People didn’t seem to recognize him, but all it would take was one fan. Plus, I was currently holding six paper bags with a well-known underwear brand all over them.

  Xiao pulled a baseball cap and mask from his pocket and put them on. “I can do a little.”

  “Stay here,” I instructed him, before dashing into a store. I quickly picked out one of their largest backpacks, covered in one of the characters I recognized from Digimon, Veemon, and bought it. In the corner of the store, providing the entertainment of a few people in there, I emptied the contents of my shopping bag into the backpack. Thankfully, they had been individually wrapped in tissue paper, but I was still getting looks.

  With a full backpack, I flung it over my shoulder, passed the empty bags to the store assistant to dispose of – he looked mortified – then hurried back onto the street where Xiao was patiently
waiting. “It’s probably not a good idea to walk around with those bags,” I explained. He actually looked embarrassed at that.

  “Did you have something in mind?” he asked me.

  Chewing at my lip, I looked up and down the street for inspiration. Awkwardness was setting in. My gaze fell on a giant Ferris wheel. I quickly pointed at it. “How about that?”

  Xiao nodded.

  We walked in silence towards the illuminated attraction. Xiao seemed comfortable, but he always did. He was also wearing shorts still. The guy was crazy. What did he wear when it was hot? Booty shorts?

  The image of Xiao in booty shorts had me grinning to myself. I was willing to bet you could bounce a quarter off his ass. He would look hella good in booty shorts.

  “What are you smiling at?” he asked me.

  “Just trying to picture your clothing when the weather gets warmer,” I told him.

  “I guess you will find out in Thailand,” he shrugged, but I caught the smirk.

  “I wonder if it will be anything like mine,” I casually muttered. It was worth it to see the heat appear in his eyes.

  There was a queue for the Tempozan Ferris Wheel. It was one of Osaka’s major attractions, so I wasn’t surprised. It was also a clear night, so there were plenty of others who had the same idea.

  Needless to say, we didn’t get a carriage to ourselves. Thankfully, it was just two other couples in there who were both more interested in each other than us. It was still awkward though. I spent the entire seventeen minutes of the ride too on edge to relax. Xiao seemed to pick up on that, sitting calmly next to me, close enough for his thigh to be pressed up against mine.

  Honestly, I don’t remember much about the view outside of the carriage. I was too busy staring at the muscles in his legs. Xiao didn’t miss leg day.

  When we were back on the street, Xiao pulled me to one side. “What’s wrong?”

  I sent furtive glances up and down the street, before finally looking at him. “I feel like I’m creeping around.” I shrugged, hanging my head in defeat. “We are creeping around, Xiao. And I get it, I really do, but I am so hyper-aware of the fact that anyone could take a photo, or overhear our conversation, that I can’t relax.”

  “Then let’s go somewhere we can,” Xiao said, calmly. I nodded, feeling a fraction better at that, until I tried to work out where that would be. It wasn’t like we could pop into a coffee shop, although caffeine was probably not what I needed right now.

  Xiao led me to the last place I was expecting. I grabbed his wrist, stopping him from pushing a button. “Xiao!” I hissed at him in alarm, trying to keep my voice down and not attract any unnecessary attention. Which was a feat considering what we were outside of. “Do you know what this place is?”

  He nodded. And then he pushed a button. A lockbox door popped open and a key appeared. He took it before I could stop him.

  I’d seen these places in Tokyo but had never been in one: Love Motels. They were the kind of place you could hire for an hour and you didn’t need any ID to get the room. You also didn’t need to pay with a card. The whole process could be completely anonymous.

  They weren’t as sleezy as they sounded. OK, some could be, but most were well maintained and decorated, some even themed, where couples could go to get a few hours together.

  But if anyone saw us, Xiao was going to be in a lot of trouble.

  I gave the, thankfully empty, street a quick scan, then hurried after Xiao into the building. On the fourteenth floor, we found our room. I stood in the doorway, staring in disbelief. “Do you know any Japanese?” I asked him, slowly. He’d picked the room with so much certainty that I hadn’t bothered to read the description.

  Xiao shook his head. “I speak a little, but I can’t read any.”

  I stared at the room, unsure if I was horrified or amazed. It was like Hello Kitty had walked into the room and thrown up all her merchandise. The carpet was pink, the duvet was Hello Kitty – even the windows had Hello Kitty transparencies all over them. “I’m just going to check, but do you have a thing for Hello Kitty?”

  Xiao, in the process of taking his shoes off, looked up at me and arched an eyebrow. “No.”

  While I lingered in the entrance, taking forever to take my own shoes off because I was too busy staring at the chaos in the room, Xiao disappeared into the bathroom – jeez, there was even Hello Kitty toilet paper – and reappeared with a sealed item of clothing. He tore the cellophane off and held a brand-new robe up for me. Three guesses what was all over it…

  I arched an eyebrow at him.

  “Go put this on,” he instructed me.

  I took the thing from him, then walked to the bathroom, pausing in the doorway. “Do I need to worry?”

  “I’m not going to murder you in a Hello Kitty Love Motel,” Xiao shrugged.

  “Oh, good,” I muttered, going into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. The back of the door had a pricelist on it. It seemed that everything apart from the toilet paper had a charge to it. It wasn’t cheap. On the plus side, it did make me feel better. Before I could stop myself, I was examining the cleanliness of the bathroom. It was, thankfully, pristine.

  Letting out a long sigh, I gripped the side of the Hello Kitty shaped wash basin – apparently that was a thing – and stared at my reflection. My heart was pounding, this time from anticipation. What exactly did Xiao have planned?

  Nervous excitement thrummed through me as I stripped off, changing into the robe. I contemplated putting some of the new underwear on but decided against it. It felt somehow inappropriate with Hello Kitty staring at me from every single angle.

  Taking a deep breath, I stepped out. Xiao was in the process of lighting a whole bunch of candles around the bed. “Dude, do you know how much they’re charging for them?” I did: I’d seen the charge notice.

  Xiao shrugged and continued to light the candles. “Lie down,” he said, instead. When I started to get on the bed, he paused and shook his head. “Head at the bottom and lie on your front.”

  I did as instructed, bringing my hands under my chin so I could prop myself up slightly to watch Xiao move around the room. After switching off the main light and allowing the candlelight to create a softer setting. He pulled off his sweater, briefly revealing his pale, defined abs, before the muscle-T he was wearing slipped back down.

  “Now, you are going to relax,” he informed me.

  He climbed on the bed beside me… I wasn’t sure relaxing was going to happen.

  Especially not when he straddled me with a hand on either side of me, just under my armpit, and leaned forward. Gently, he brushed my hair to the side, exposing my neck. It sent a shiver down my spine. “You’re not relaxing,” he murmured against my neck before placing soft kisses along my shoulder.

  “I’m not sure how to,” I told him. My heart was pounding away in my chest.

  “Close your eyes,” he whispered.

  I did. The pressure on the bed changed and I sensed his arms moving lower before they were sliding under my stomach. “What are you doing?” I asked, trying to turn to him.

  “No,” he chided me. “Keep your eyes closed.”

  Once more, I did as he instructed, biting on my lower lip. His hands returned to under me, and then I felt him tugging the knot undone. “You could have just told me to take it off.”

  “Kate, let me say this nicely, but be quiet.”

  With a little bit of maneuvering, I felt the robe being pulled all the way up to my shoulders where, instead of trying to work it off, Xiao left it. Then his weight shifted again, and he was running kisses all over my back. “You have a tattoo,” he murmured against it. It was a few cherry blossoms. Nothing spectacular, and with hindsight, I probably wouldn’t get them again, but I’d had them done while I was studying in Japan. They lay on the small of my back, just above where my right kidney was.

  I could feel Xiao’s feather kisses on each one of the flowers.

  And then I was aware of something else.<
br />
  Something not quite as delicate.

  Something long, thick, and warm, resting just along the curve of my ass.

  제 9 장

  Love Me Right

  I knew, without a doubt, that Xiao was sitting on me, very, very naked.

  I wasn’t taking his full weight, but he was perched on my butt, still showering my back in kisses. I clutched at the bed, fighting with myself not to turn over, but to wait and see what he was planning.

  I jumped when his lips were replaced with his hands. Then his fingers started rubbing and massaging my back. There was no holding back the moan of pleasure as he worked at a knot just below my shoulder blade. I could feel myself melting under his touch and it was not an unpleasant experience.

  I’ll be honest, I had been expecting something completely different, but I was not disappointed with this. Xiao had the body of an adonis, but hands of a god. “Can I ask a question?” I said, mainly because I was sure I was going to fall asleep otherwise.

  “Want to know if I do this for the others?”

  I opened my eyes. “I didn’t, but I sure as hell do now.”

  Xiao chuckled. “Yes, but I keep my clothes on for them.” He readjusted his weight, the movement emphasizing the fact his dick was just casually lying on me. Like I needed reminding of that.

  “Tease,” I grumbled.

  Xiao started to move lower, dragging his penis along my ass until he came to a rest on my thighs. I could feel its tip gently prodding as his hands started massaging my ass.

  “This moved from relaxing to exciting,” I felt the need to point out.

  “This never wasn’t exciting,” Xiao returned.

  My hands clutched at the bed. “Was this idea yours?” I asked him, desperate to distract myself from how turned on I was getting.

  “I can’t say it was planned like this, but I like spontaneity.”

  I shook my head. “I mean this whole, you, me, JongB and Jiwon.”