In Waves -Book 3

Chapter 50 - Gasp

Normally,the sight of his girlfriend would fill his chest with a warm, steady fire-the reassuring comfort that the one person he felt he didn't deserve actually adored him. But tonight was different. Tonight felt suffocating, like being trapped in a dark cave as the tide rushed in. He had known this conversation was coming, but Kat's sudden arrival at his door brought an unexpected pocket of air into his collapsing world.

"Kat... what are you doing here?" Hobi stammered, his eyes tracking her as she stepped deeper into his home.

"I don't recall giving you permission to ask," Kat said, her back still turned to him.

"Pardon? Baby, what's going on? Why are you-not that I'm not glad to see you, it's just late, and it's not sa-"

"I said," Kat interrupted, turning slowly to face him, a subtle half-grin playing on her lips, "I don't recall saying you could ask."

The words caught in his throat. It was as if every language he had ever studiously mastered had completely vanished, leaving him transfixed by the sight before him. The only sound in the apartment was his own strained, uneven breathing.

Kat let her long coat slide slowly from her shoulders, inch by inch, revealing glowing olive skin beneath the dim lights.

"Now that I have your undivided attention, Hoseok... you are going to do exactly as I say. And as your elder, I don't want any backtalk. Understood?" Her tone was sultry, lined with a razor-thin edge of ice.

"Kat... I-" Hobi tried to step forward, his pulse spiking as his body instinctively reacted to her gaze.

"No. That's not how this works. Maybe you need to sit down and learn a lesson." She took a slow step toward him, forcing him backwards until his leg clipped the edge of the armchair near the kitchen.

"Kat..." he gasped, looking her up and down. The anxieties of the night evaporated, replaced entirely by the intoxicating sight of the woman he loved taking control.

"It's about time you learned who really runs things here. Now... sit."

Her hands traced up his bare torso, teasing his chest before lacing delicately around his neck. For a fraction of a second, he thought she was going to kiss him-instead, she pushed him firmly down into the armchair.

A single gasp escaped his lips. He was going to have to learn how to bite his tongue.

Section II: Kat

This is going to be different, I thought. It was time to strip away the ghosts of the past-the memories of a life where this body was just a tool to keep myself fed and warm.

This man loved me. For only the second time in my life, I felt genuine peace. I knew I couldn't be hurt here; he would never lie to me, use me, or take from me. I caught my reflection briefly, hoping my forty-something body still had its magic, hoping he wouldn't mind the faint stretch marks left behind from carrying Aera. But then I remembered the way he had kissed those exact insecurities away.

I was rewriting my pain, and it started right here. He didn't own me, but tonight, I was going to own him and show him exactly what he meant to me.

"I need you to stay quiet and only speak when spoken to. Do you understand?" I said, setting my phone on the kitchen island and queuing up the playlist I had carefully crafted for tonight.

"Kat..." he breathed.

"That isn't following instructions, is it?" I replied, keeping my back to him as my fingers unbuckled the belt of my coat.

(Mood Music: ATEEZ - In My Fantasy)

Now or never, I told myself. I let my inhibitions drop alongside the heavy fabric, letting the coat pool at my feet with a soft clatter of buttons against the polished wood.