TOUGH ROMANCE || scoups || BOOK ONE

49

Seungcheol

"Stop looking at me like that." I ordered.

Kkuma looked more mournful than usual, which was saying something for a Coton De Tulear. He was also sitting in my lap, his paws on my chest, creepily staring at me.

Apparently my dog wasn't a fan of the fact that we were back at mine full time.

He didn't see it as sparing Hani from seeing me at the dinner table. He didn't care that it was the right fucking thing to do.

It was the right thing to do, I reminded myself.

"Fuck." I muttered to myself, swiping a hand over my face.

Dragging it out would have only made things more complicated, hurt more feelings.

She'd been so relaxed and happy, sitting across from me at the Pizzeria. So damn gorgeous I couldn't look directly at her or look away. Then the light had gone right out of her.

I'd done that. I'd extinguished it.

But it was the right fucking thing.

I'd feel better soon. I always did. The relief from ending a complication would come, and I wouldn't feel so...unsettled.

With nothing better to do, I popped the top on my third drink.

It was Monday. I'd put in a full afternoon at Diamond Clipper, moving into my office when clients and staff started shooting dirty looks at me. Word spread fast in Riperia. I'd planned on working tonight at the restaurant, but when I'd walked in the door at Lock's Glass, Yunjin and Kazuha had booed me.

Then Seungkwan flipped me the finger and told me to come back when I learned how to be less of an asshole.

They were rattlesnake mean when riled. So here I was. Home for the night. Enjoying my solitude.

It would all blow over soon. I'd stop feeling like shit. Hani would get over it. And everyone would move the fuck on.

Kkuma let out another grumble and shot a pointed, droopy look at his empty food dish.

"Fine."

He jumped down and I fed him, then returned to the living room where I flopped down on the couch and reached for the remote.

Instead, my fingers found the picture frame. Since I had nothing better to do, I picked it up and studied it. My parents had been happy, they didn't need me. I ran a finger over my mum's smiling face in the photo and wondered for just a moment what she'd think of Hani and Mimi.

What would she think of me? The boy she left at the center hoping for someone else to give me a better life, turned out to be the worst man on the planet.

After a long pull from the bottle, I shifted my attention to my father's face. He wasn't looking at the camera, at whoever had taken the picture. His attention was on my mother. She'd been the light and the glue. Everything that had made their relationship strong and happy.

She's dead now. She left my father on his own.

I put the photo down, angling it away so I wouldn't have to look into the past anymore.

The past and the future were two places I had no business being. The only thing that mattered was right now. And right now...well, I still felt like shit.

Ready to numb out for a night, I reached for the remote again when a loud knock sent Kkuma galloping to the front door.

I followed at a more dignified pace.