Doctor Kim

Chapter 30

I slapped my palms on Minji's shoulders and tried to push her off me.

"Oh my God," I said again, only this time it was with shame and not enjoyment. As I scrambled backward and snaked my hands over my body to cover my bare breasts, she lifted her head, discovered what caused my panic, and turned to stone.

"Shit!" Minji spat out. She leapt off the couch and jerked her pants up, covering herself.

"What. The. Fuck?" Anger tensed Jay's shoulders as he glared at his dad.

Minji shrugged out of her suitcoat in an instant and draped it over me. I was beyond grateful and pressed the satiny lining of the coat to my naked skin, rising off the couch to stand beside her. My mind flooded with too many thoughts at once. What was Jay doing here? How had we not heard him come in? And how long had he been standing there, watching us?

In my fantasy, him catching us was erotic, but reality was icy cold and the furthest thing from sexy.

"What are you doing here?" Minji asked. It was confused, desperate, and maybe a little accusatory.

Whatever shock and hurt Jay had was pushed out of the way to make room for seething fury. "I forgot my bag. I thought I could sneak downstairs and get it without bothering you. I wasn't aware you were going to be out in the living room, fucking my girlfriend on the couch."

I sucked in a breath and choked back the urge to remind him we weren't a couple anymore. He was angry enough, I didn't need to provoke him further. At least this explained why we hadn't heard the garage door. I'd been too lost in my surprise to realize how strange it was Jay had come through the front door. He'd probably been hoping to get in and out of the house quietly and without disturbing his dad's date.

But Minji felt compelled to correct him. "Ex-girlfriend. You two were broken up before Hanni and I got together."

The statement seemed to knock Jay sideways. His eyes went enormous, then narrowed down to slits. "Together?"

Minji shifted, moving subtly in front of me like a shield. "We were going to tell you."

Jay sneered. "I should have known. I should have fucking expected it. You don't care about me, Minji."

It'd taken him more than a year of living with his dad before he'd come around to calling her Dad, and the step backward now was painful. The name was sharp and cutting. Minji reacted as if she'd been shoved, and Jay looked pleased the verbal blow had landed.

"You do whatever the fuck you want," he continued. He stood taller, full of righteousness. "Always have, and always will."

I pressed my hand harder to my chest, holding the coat in place, but more to try to stop the pain in my heart. Whether or not he was right, or whether it was fair, he'd probably always feel that way, no matter what his dad did to try to make up for it.

Minji's tone was defensive. "That's not true."

"You're so goddamn selfish."

"I used to be, yeah," Minji said. "I screwed up with you and your mom. There's not a day that goes by where I don't wish I could change what I did."

As far as I knew, they'd never talked about it, and I held my breath, wanting to fade into the background.

Jay's expression turned sour. "Bullshit, and I don't want to hear it."

"Yeah? Too fucking bad, because you're going to. Hanni and I didn't plan on this happening, it just . . . did. You've got to understand, we didn't do this to intentionally hurt you."

It was painful to watch the two most important person in my life fighting, and know I was the cause. All of Minji's hard work to make it right with her son, all undone in the blink of an eye. I dropped my gaze down to my feet as I struggled to rein in my emotions.