Love Again

One Constant

Anne stood outside of the door to the main room and tried to calm her breathing. It was taking all of her willpower not to have a panic induced meltdown. She took in a shaky breath and imagined herself putting the events of the last 30 minutes in her mental lockbox.

How JK had looked at her, in the box. How she felt when he touched her, in the box. The hurt on his face as she ran away from him, again. In. The. Fucking. Box.

It's okay. It's all fine.

Things are just peachy, she kept telling herself as she ran a hand down her dress, smoothing any wrinkles. Then she pasted a phony ass smile on her face before heading back into the room.

She had to regulate her breathing as she made her way through throngs of people congregating around tables and milling about, chatting with one another. Once she successfully made it back to her seat, she reached for her glass of water and gulped down the entire glass.

Where the hell was Dae? She needed to get the fuck out of there and go home where she could bury herself under her covers never come out again.

Looking around, she noticed that he wasn't anywhere in the room. Perhaps he went to the bathroom? She supposed it was lucky she didn't run into him as she was running from JK–that would've been a disaster. She glanced nervously at the Bangtan table and noticed a few members missing, one of them being JK.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she reached for Dae's half empty champagne glass and knocked back the lukewarm contents, hoping it would help to soothe her frazzled nerves.

The longer she sat there, the harder her mental lockbox rattled, begging her to examine the earlier encounter with JK.

The way he had looked deep into her eyes as he finger fucked her.

The way she panted for him.

The way she moaned his name.

NO!

She slammed the lid down tighter and clutched the now empty champagne flute with trembling fingers. Fuck it. She needed to get out of there, Dae or no Dae.

She got to her feet and went to find her uncle, making the excuse that she had a headache and bidding him farewell. Once that was done, she rushed out of the room and towards the elevator, praying that she wouldn't run into anyone else.

As she waited for it to arrive, she pulled out her phone and sent yet another text to Dae telling him that she was leaving. Hearing the ping, she looked up as the elevator doors opened, revealing none other than the man himself, who looked surprised, maybe even alarmed, to see her.

"Oh, Dae. Where are you coming from?" she asked with a confused frown.

"Ah, I got a little lonely after you left so I started wandering around," he explained smoothly. "Why? What's going on? Are we leaving?"

Anne had this tiny little feeling she was being lied to but she was too busy using all of her energy on keeping her mental lockbox closed to care, so she accepted his explanation with a tired nod.

"I tried texting you...I don't feel too well."

"Oh no! Well, let's get going then," he responded, holding the elevator door open for her.

She stepped in next to him and waited for him to hit down the button. They rode together in silence, with her shifting uncomfortably on her feet. She really shouldn't have run away from JK in stilettos...her feet were killing her.

When they arrived in the lobby, she strode out quickly, making a beeline for the rear entrance to the parking garage. Dae walked quietly alongside her, probably sensing her mood. When they got to the car, he held open the passenger door for her before going around to the driver's side and sliding in behind the wheel.