"Careful, I scratch and bite." Her face inches from his, patiently waiting for him to give in.
But, he doesn't give in, not yet. He takes one step closer and bends down to whisper in her ear, "you'll beg and crawl too.... I promise."
______________...
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Jisoo takes a holiday. It's partly because she needs to rest and partly to get her out of the country until things die down. The Bianchi's are out for her, and the Lorenzos are panicking; she's humiliated them before, too, taken their key people and rendered them useless.
As she has come to expect, she's heard nothing from the Morettis.
You know what? She actually admires them and the way they handle their business. If she were in the mafia, she'd do things the way they do.
It's impressive, frankly. Impressive and effective - two of her very favourite things. And she's shallow enough to appreciate, now, the money and the status that comes with it. She's seen the way people react when Rome Moretti walks into a room. And now she's seen the way he is with his men. The power he wields and the way he uses it to his benefit.
She likes it. Very much.
She considers going back to Korea, but then remembers about Jennie getting a new boyfriend and moving in together. She just don't want to disturb them in their honeymoon phase and also she believes it'll make her feel more single than she already is. So, she marks out Korea from her holiday destination list.
She wants to go further away than just somewhere in Europe.
Then she remembers she's never been to New York City.
The flight is cheaper than she expected it to be, so she splurges on the Airbnb and gets a place in the middle of midtown, which she may regret later if it's too noisy. But then she walks Fifth Avenue on her first day and buys herself a necklace at Cartier's because why not? It's pretty and she wants it.
She follows her Airbnb host's instructions and goes to find the best pizza in the city. It takes her to Brooklyn, so she decides to walk over the bridge. Which is a lot longer than she thought it would be. But the view is pretty remarkable, if she's being honest.
The people inside the pizza place are all speaking a casual mix of English and Italian and she finds it makes her feel all lit up inside. The way it feels to speak Korean when she's in Italy.
So naturally, she flirts with the guy behind the counter even though she is decidedly not attracted to him. It's fun and reminds her of home. Of Milan. Except the man she's flirted with most frequently there would never look at her this way. Up and down and back up again like otherwise his motivations won't be clear. It's far too pedestrian for a man like the one currently occupying, annoyingly, many of her thoughts. Even the times he's checked her out and wanted her to know it, he was a hundred times more subtle about it.
And this American calls her 'baby', which she hates and wouldn't be able to stand.
Even so, it's sort of fun.
But the pizza is garbage compared to what she's used to.
She takes a cab back to Manhattan and gets drunk on cheap beer at a little hole in the wall bar, and pretends she can't speak English when a guy who looks about 22 offers to buy her a drink.
