THE LANDLORD (BBANGSAZ)

Chapter 7

HANNI

I quickly ran a brush through my hair and checked my teeth for lipstick stains before running out the door. I had to go into the city for a meeting with my editor this morning, which I was dreading. He'd already been on my case all week about finishing my column, and the last thing I needed was to be late. I'd been so distracted by moving and unpacking that I'd had a hard time sitting down to get work done. And if I was being honest, my attraction to Minji wasn't helping one bit.

After our kiss, I'd been so hot and bothered that I'd tossed and turned all night. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to throw caution to the wind and see where this attraction would take us. After last night, the idea of giving in to the temptation of Minji was too powerful to resist. Why not take a risk? She'd said so herself; it didn't have to lead to anything serious. We were both adults who had needs. And besides, I was never one to leave unfinished business.

Distracted, I weighed my options throughout my meeting. It was hard to focus on anything but Minji's proposition. Had she been serious? Would she really want a casual fling? But my meeting went smoothly, and I took it as a good omen.

That night, after I'd showered and changed, I decided to stop by Minji's place to talk to her for a few minutes. It had become part of my ritual, and one I looked forward to. As I swiped on some mascara, it occurred to me that she might have only made that comment about us casually hooking up because of the wine, or because she'd just been stood up. Maybe it sounded good in theory, but when it came down to it, she might decide she wasn't interested enough to muddy the waters of our relationship.

Annoyed at how my hand holding the mascara wand trembled, I put aside the mascara and took a deep breath. Calm down, I told myself.

This was so not like me. I never sat around wondering what a guy thought about me. In the past when things didn't work out with someone, I always knew it was for the best. Knew that I was moving on to the next chapter of my life, and did so with no regret.

In fact, I considered it a point of pride that I'd never had my heart broken. I'd never been the kind of woman who was afraid to say what she thought, or worried what a man thought about her, and I didn't intend to start now.

With new determination, I took a deep breath and pulled on my sandals. Pausing before I walked out the door, I hoped I was doing the right thing.

Minji opened on the first knock. I was still taken aback by how sexy she looked every time I saw her, and tonight was no exception.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"Hey, Hanni. What's up?"

I sucked in a breath as I looked into her sexy, dark eyes, and watched as a smile transformed her face. I was about to open my mouth and spill everything I'd been thinking, but then Jia's head popped around the door.

"Oh, it's her," she said, turning to go back inside with a frown.

"Jia," Minji said in a warning tone, but she'd already walked away. She turned back to me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Is everything okay?"

My smile faltered. I was such an idiot. Why did I think I could just barge in here and blurt out my feelings? Obviously, Jia was home. I needed to get it together; I was letting my desire for Minji cloud all rational thought.

"Hey." I grinned, changing gears. "I just wanted to come down and ask if you'd be in for an after-work drink later tonight."

"I would, but we're kind of in the middle of a dilemma over here," she said, gesturing inside.

"Is everything okay?" Horrified, I frowned. Not only had I made a mess of this whole thing, but now I'd interrupted some kind of family emergency. Awesome.