The Price of Love

Chapter 1: The Luckiest Girl in the World

Bella

"For heaven's sake, Bella, why don't you just move in with him?" Cindy, my roommate, asked for the hundredth time after I entered our apartment. She was sitting at the table doing some work. "I think you're in the clear now."

I had spent the weekend--as I often did--with my boyfriend Seokjin at his apartment, which was in the same complex as ours. Every Sunday when I came back, Cindy would tell me to move in with him. Lots of people had warned me that Seokjin didn't do relationships, and that he never went out with the same girl for more than a few days. But we had been in a relationship since November, which was almost three months. Hence, Cindy's comment about being in the clear.

To be honest,  Kim Seokjin was probably the handsomest man anyone's ever seen. His looks were unreal. It was like staring at a painting. His face was beyond description, and anyone who saw him would never forget his sculpted face, his full lips, his razor-sharp jawline. His dark eyes were piercing, as if by looking at you, he could divine what was in your very soul. He had wide, strong shoulders and a ripped physique that could induce drooling, but his lines were long and lean rather than bulky and muscle-bound.

But his physical perfection came with quite an imperfect reputation. He was known for his womanizing around campus, around town, around the state...worldwide, who knew? I had witnessed first-hand how women flocked around him, shamelessly flirting, looking for any excuse to get him to notice them. They still did even when I was right next to him.

I closed the door and shrugged. "I don't know. Moving in together just doesn't feel...right."

My roommate rolled her eyes. "Huh. I'm sure it felt right when you walked into his super nice apartment and played house, right? You're his girlfriend, and you two act like a married couple already, cooking and studying and doing everything together. You're the luckiest girl in the world. How romantic is that?" She paused and her lips curled into a wide smile. "And I'm sure it feels right when you're in bed together."

"It's not about that," I replied. I put my overnight bag down on the coffee table and dropped down onto the couch. "I do love spending time with him, but I think that we both still need our space. We see each other almost every day, but we both have lots of other things to do. And we should take a breath away from each other to do our own things--classes, TV shows, my job...you know."

Cindy shook her head. "Sure," she said, not sounding convinced. "I hope it's not because you don't want to commit to the relationship because you're not sure about his feelings."

"Of course it's not that. I love Jin, and I know that he loves me. I am...we are committed to each other, but, like I said, we both have to study, and I have to work."

"That's another thing: why are you still working? Seokjin is, like, the richest guy we know. Can't he pretty much get you whatever you ask for?" She gestured at the Fendi overnight bag Jin had given me about a month after we started dating, when staying over at his apartment became a regular occurrence.

"That's why I don't ask," I said. "I don't want to be that kind of girlfriend. His crazy ex just saw him as a bank account, and I'd hate for him to think that's what's important to me. He does give me things, but I'm not with him for his money. Or his looks."

Cindy's expression turned salacious. "Of course not. You're with him for his big dick."

"Stop!" I exclaimed, half-outraged. "You did not just say that! No! I'm with him because he is a wonderful, honest, caring person. He would never hurt me, and I love him."

"And his big dick," she added with a mischievous smile. "It's okay to admit it."

"Ugh! As always, you don't surprise me with your insanity. I would never talk about my boyfriend like that. Is that the way you talk about Taehyung?" Cindy had started seeing Seokjin's cousin Taehyung around the time that Seokjin and I got together.