LI JUN

Shower

Shin slid out of his chair away from Lin and pointed a finger down the hallway. "Go take a shower."

There's enough sharpness in his voice that let her know he was serious. Lin instinctively moved on her own, like a robot being given an instruction. Lin hopped out of the bar stool and carried herself down the hallway but not before pausing; defiance heating her blood suddenly.

"What're you going to do if I don't?" She contested.

He heaved a breath. "I really don't want to smell that old man in you all day. It is disgusting."

There was a pause. They stared at each other while Shin contemplated in his mind what he'd actually been planning.

"Besides, I want to take you out with me."

"What if I don't want to go anywhere? Have you thought about what I want Shin? Perhaps, I'll just stay home and watch tv until Li Jun comes home."

He knew she was making things up just to drag out an argument. She's trying to pick up a fight she should've started with his father instead. Shin is too annoyed for trivial things. "Watching tv is all you do, Lin."

"There's a show about a handsome prince trapped in the modern world I've been meaning to watch."

Shin rolled his eyes, he could care less about the cliche tv show. Janet has an obsession with these dramas as well. He had sat enough with her watching boring kdramas to turn his brain into goop. His head throbbed, an onset headache settling in. "Is that why you have the hots for my father? You like old farts from another century?"

Lin laughed. He wasn't joking but she found his irritation entertaining. She dropped the annoying attitude and just let herself be, just as she would back when they were in their teens.

"So where to?" She asked. Her voice plunging into softness.

Shin sensed the shift in her voice being reminded of how they used to be. The tenderness in her put him at ease somehow. "I don't know. I need to get out of the house but I don't want to go anywhere alone."

"I'll get ready." Answered Lin after a beat and stalked down the hallway, to the other side of the mansion where her room is located.

*****

The shower was refreshing no less. She was fixing to take a shower anyway before Shin lost his temper on her. She made sure she cleaned every crevices in her body just to make sure she's free of Li Jun's lingering smell. She didn't want to have to deal with Shin complaining about it the whole time they are together.

She made her way to the closet in her bedroom picking up an outfit when her door slid open. Shin stood casually by the edge waiting for an invitation to come in. He wore the same thing he was wearing, dark sweatshirt, black sweatpants, sneakers with addition of a baseball cap. He was a treat to the eyes, he'd always been, and even Lin was not afraid to admit it.

Shin on the other hand radiated with enough confidence that Lin would dare not compliment him no matter what.

"What's up with you and your father never knocking?" She said instead.

He shrugged. "Beats me. I don't have to sneak around to come to your door anymore."

Lin made a face. "Oh, so you're an adult now. I see."

Shin shrugged again. "Nope, just have nothing to hide like we did."

Lin sighed. The memory left a pang of pain somehow. "You're doing it on porpuse aren't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not..." Shin trained his eyes not to linger on ber bare skin. Lin has a lot of skin showing. Towel wrapped around her and the bathroom still steaming.

Shin has immaculate control over his face that no reaction dared betray him. But despite all of his control, tension began to brew and spread like a monster between them.

Sweat began sprouting out of Lin's arms, she's suddenly too hot, too aware of her nakedness. "I have to get dressed."

Shin groaned, the tension made him terrified; the position they found themselves in. Without a second thought, he stirred away and left, walking back to the hallway. "I'll wait for you in the great room."