TOUGH ROMANCE || scoups || BOOK ONE

47

Seungcheol

A few hours later, Hani was sound asleep. We had slept in my old bedroom at Jennie's house, after the mess at the cottage.

I wanted a drink. A double of something strong enough to make me forget, to make me stop caring. And because I craved the numbness, I ignored it and filled a glass of water instead.

"Someone's dehydrated.."

I was rattled enough to let my own foster mother startle me.

"Gosh, Jennie. What are you doing sneaking around for?"

She flipped on the light switch, studying me behind her bifocals.

"It's been a long time since you snuck a girl into your bed here." She observed. She was wearing plaid pajama shorts and a matching short sleeved top.

"I never snuck a girl into my bed under your roof." I lied.

"Lies."

She bumped me out of the way so she could get her own glass of water. "I don't mind seeing you with them."

"Seeing me with who?"

Jennie shot me a "cut the bullshit" look. "Hani. Mimi too. You seem happy."

I wasn't. I was anything but happy. I was one step away from a downward spiral I'd never recover from. A spiral that would destroy everything I'd built.

"It's nothing serious." I said, feeling defensive.

"I saw the look on your face when you came here last night. When you saw how close trouble got to your girl."

"She's not my girl." I insisted, deliberately ignoring her point.

"She's not yours, she's bound to end up as someone else's. A pretty girl like that? Thoughtful. Sweet. Funny. Sooner or later, someone with an IQ higher than yours will be along."

"Good."

She'd find someone else. She deserved someone else. Someone far from here, where I wouldn't have to run into her in the produce aisle or see her across the restaurant or down the street. Lee Hani would just fade away into a ghost of a memory.

Except I knew it wasn't true. She wouldn't fade away. The hook was set. I'd taken the bait. There wouldn't be a day in the rest of my life that I didn't think of her. That I wouldn't say her name in my head a dozen times just to remind myself that I had her once.

I chugged the water, trying to fight off the tightness in my throat.

"Jeonghan looks at her like she's a pink cake." Jennie observed. "Maybe he'd be smart enough to know how lucky he is."

Some of the water missed my throat and hit my lungs. I choked, then coughed.

As I gasped for air, it played out in my head. Hani and Mimi sitting across the dinner table. Jeonghan's hand on her thigh, the two of them smiling at each other.

Someone else would get to hear their name from her mouth. Someone else would get to feel like the luckiest man alive. Someone else would bring her coffees and watch those hazel eyes light up.

Someone else would take her and Mimi back to school shopping.

And that someone else very well could be Jeonghan.

"You okay?" Jennie asked, dragging me out of my vision.

"I'm fine." I lied.

"You know what they say about fine. Fucked up. Insecure. Neurotic. And emotional." Jennie muttered. "Turn the lights off when you're done. Electricity don't grow on trees."