Doctor Kim

Chapter 12

I was moving before I realized it. Minji hurried me toward the kitchen, dragging me along on my sluggish, panicked legs. We had fifteen, maybe twenty seconds before Jay would come through the door to the garage. He'd know I was here, because my car was parked in the driveway. What the hell were we going to do?

I stared up at Minji, finding her face a calm, emotionless mask as she left me and scurried around to the other side of the island. "It's okay," she said quickly. "Let me do the talking when—"

No time. The door swung open, and Jay sauntered in. His gaze scanned the area in search of something, noticing his dad on one side of the kitchen, and finally he found me. "Hanni?" He looked confused. "What are you doing here?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but his dad's deep voice rang out first. "She left her hoodie in your bathroom and asked if she could stop by to pick it up." Minji nodded toward the sweatshirt resting on the countertop as proof. "You're home early," she added.

Jay didn't notice the strain buried in his dad's statement and shrugged. "The restaurant was dead, so they let me off." His attention returned to me. "Why didn't you text me?"

I blinked. Was he serious? Putting aside everything related to his dad and treating Jay solely as my ex, it was weird as hell seeing him. What was I supposed to say? That being in the same room with him made me uncomfortable, and this was easier?

Better was the more appropriate word, because I'd come over tonight with a bigger goal than just avoiding my ex or retrieving my favorite hoodie. When I glanced at Minji, I tried to tamp down my disappointment that we'd been interrupted.

Shit, what a selfish thing to be thinking about.

She must have thought I was looking to her for help, because she answered Jay for me. "I think Hanni felt more comfortable if you weren't here, since the break-up."

Jay went still. "The what?"

Breath halted painfully in my lungs.

Oh my God. He still didn't think we'd broken up? My focus flitted from Jay to his dad, and I could see the muscles flexed tight along Minji's jaw. She looked hurt, and maybe angry.

She thought I'd lied to her.

"We broke up." I said it too loudly because I was nervous, but also because I needed to make sure both of them heard me. "Like, several times."

Jay unbuttoned the white dress shirt of his uniform, shooting me a dubious look. "We had a fight. You were mad, and I told you to call me when you were over it." He stripped down to his white undershirt and tossed the uniform on the counter like he'd just thrown down a gauntlet.

"No, that's not what happened. I told you we were over."

Jay's confidence cracked, and there was a glimmer of the boy I'd fallen in love with. He went grave. "You're breaking up with me?"

The temperature in the kitchen fell so rapidly, I thought about grabbing my hoodie and putting it on, but then worried I'd pull the hood closed around my face and try to disappear. Was I about to break up with him a third time, and with his dad watching?

I was barely able to push the word out. "Yes."

As his face twisted with pain, I felt the same twisting in my heart. Minji was rooted in place, even though her expression said she'd rather be anywhere else. Perhaps she thought if she stayed motionless, we'd forget she was there.

Not fucking likely.

"Why?" Jay demanded. I'd practiced the answer so many times, but now my mind went blank. "Is there someone else?" he continued.