Connected

One Last Time

Lee Know was already opening the door as I walked into the foyer. Jisung was standing on the other side and I could feel myself smile wide.

"Pizza Delivery." He said proudly holding up a bag. His smile mirrored mine. He had a green jacket thrown over plain clothes and he wore a matching green baseball cap.

"Oh, good." Lee Know looked back my way. "Here he comes with the money." He took a step back slightly.

My smile dropped, but I stood still as the Captain brushed past me, going straight for the door. Jisung opened the bag.

"This everything?" The Captain asked.

Jisung nodded. "Absolutely everything that you asked for." He began handing a couple things to the Captain. "And if you are missing anything, you can contact my manager, Mr. Seo."

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling again. They exchanged a few whispers. Jisung's eyes flicked over to me once but they moved back to the Captain's face quickly. This was definitely more than what we originally agreed on ordering.

Once all 5 of the boxes sat in the Captain's hands, he handed him some paper that didn't look like money. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. And have a great rest of your evening." Jisung tipped the baseball cap.

"We'll try."

Jisung turned and began walking back to a car I hadn't noticed originally in the driveway. The Captain went ahead and shut the door then handed all of the boxes to Lee Know. Then he took two boxes off the top of the pile, working around a smaller box. Then he leaned over and whispered something to Lee Know.

Lee Know nodded and smiled at me, then he held out the pizza boxes to me. "You take the cheesy bread on top and let's go eat."

He came towards me and stopped so I could grab the top box, then I followed behind him back to the kitchen.

I sat back down in the chair at the island and watched as Lee Know opened the other two boxes of pizza. The air still felt tense from several minutes ago.

He grabbed a slice and took a bite, chewing slowly. I looked down at the cheesy bread box.

"So things didn't go well?"

I shrugged. "Well enough."

Lee Know took another bite and I went ahead and tossed the lid up on the cheesy bread. I picked a few pieces off from the sides.

"So the yelling was just really good and clear communication?"

I closed the box back up. "Just say it Lee Know. I'm tired, aggravated, and hungry. I know you want to help and I don't want to bite your head off if it's not warranted."

He scoffed and set his piece of pizza back onto the box. "You told him everything."

"I told him about here." I pointed into the island.

"Then that's not everything. Why do you keep holding things back?"

I moved the cheesy bread down onto the counter in between the pizzas. "Minho..." I said quietly. "He is only in my life for another day at max. He doesn't need me to dump any more trauma onto him when it doesn't concern him."

I folded my arms. "He knows what he needs to know. Plus, anything that I may say to him might make its way into his Police Report. Nobody needs to be stuck reading a tragedy like that. It's my past and even I'm not a fan of the drama."

"So the self-sabotage was really necessary then?"

I rolled my eyes. "He has the information to get him through the rest of this stupid extension. Then we part ways and become strangers all over again. And we move on with our separate lives."