unfinished

chapter 6

She recalled every detail vividly.

There were several girls in the group, all vying for his attention, of course there were. She felt a foreign and perhaps unreasonable jealousy bloom as one then another tugged at his arm, begging him to "walk her home." For some reason that really irked her.

Then one stepped in front of him and put her arms around his neck.

"Hoseok! You promised I could buy you dinner tonight! I know you didn't forget! Let's go." Then turning to the others, she smiled a vicious smile and said, "We'll see you next week," before trying to lead him away.

To his credit he stopped her long enough to apologize to the others and make sure they could get home safely.

That sorted, he smiled at them, and Izzy lost her breath. He was absolutely beautiful, and, in that moment, she wanted to know everything about him.

Later she blamed her imagination, but she swore he caught her eye as he turned and included her in his circle of warmth.

"Hoseok" she whispered at his now retreating form being pulled away by his eager companion. "Hoseok" She knew then that she wanted him like she had never wanted anything in her life.

Her mind lost in that late summer haze, it took her several minutes to notice that Hobi's calm and assured voice had been replaced by the lighter tones of the woman who had been introduced as a lead designer. Lyra, the name came to her as she tried to concentrate.

She forced herself to listen to the latest sources for fabrication while pretending to be unaware Jung Hoseok sat across the table from her. Stolen glances at his profile, smiling and encouraging as his colleague presented made her heart ache all the more.

That was one of the things she remembered most vividly about him. He had an uncanny ability to encourage. He had pushed her past every limitation she had placed on herself in those early years.

Then he smiled, his plush lips stretching across his face, delight dancing in his eyes and she was forced to admit the truth, if only to herself.

The thing she remembered the most was tasting that smile as those soft lips captured hers in a kiss.

Hoseok sat and calmed his breathing, two thoughts at war in his brain. 

 One was that the presentation had gone perfectly, just as they had planned it. 

 The other was that Izzy, Isabelle, hell, Ms. Walker, had not been paying attention to it at all.

He frowned as he remembered stealing glances in her direction. Her head was down, and her pencil was moving furiously across the page. That might have fooled anyone else, but Hobi knew exactly what she was doing. He had covered for her in class too many times for zoning out this exact way. She was preoccupied, or stressed, or both and he did not have to see the pad now tucked under her arm to know it was filled with doodles. The cynical project manager in him wondered if it now included some ideas for this new project.

He watched Izzy as Lyra shared her textiles. Her hands had stilled, and she was apparently paying closer attention to Lyra. Once he thought he caught her looking at him, but he must have been mistaken.

Just now she seemed absorbed in Lyra's sample book that had been passed to her team. Hobi took the opportunity to openly watch her. She seemed at ease and engaged in the discussion. She was asking questions and even ventured a smile at the conversation.