Wick | 민윤기

Thirteen

23 December 2016

Yoongi returned a couple hours later with a duffle bag and a puppy in his arms. Victoria fawned over the small creature that he introduced proudly as Min Holly. He spoke animatedly and excitedly about him, informing her that he was trained so she didn't have to worry about any accidents. Holly took to Victoria right away and she especially enjoyed the way Yoongi melted into a puddle of a man around the dog.

They spent the rest of the day playing with Holly and talking in the back. Victoria had officially closed the shop that day. She didn't want any distractions—she wanted to be able to give Yoongi her full attention. He, of course, loved it. It occurred to her that the blunt standoffish man she met three months ago was not the same person when in love.

Not saying she thought he was in love with her, but she definitely noticed a change. Especially that night when she yawned and he suggested they go to bed. They took turns changing into sleepwear in the bathroom and settled onto her mattress. Yoongi laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling while she was on her side facing away from him.

He fidgeted a bit before huffing. "It's hot," he complained, yet he pushed his side of the blanket off minutes ago.

"Yoongi, it's winter."

"It's probably just that I usually don't sleep with clothes on."

Victoria was silent at that because she was blushing. "Well, I don't care what you wear. Night."

There was some rustling before she felt something warm pressed against her back. It only took a moment for her to realize that it was Yoongi's bare chest. He was wearing nothing but loose-fitting boxers. She could feel everything.

She sucked in a breath as his hot breath tickled her ear. "Do you care what I wear now?"

"Are you trying to seduce me?" she asked quietly, trying hard not to make her voice shake.

He slipped an arm around her waist, pressing himself closer. "If you let me kiss you then yes."

"If your lip was healed I would let you kiss me."

Yoongi smirked at her confession. "So my lip is cock-blocking me..." He snickered. "Life."

Victoria sighed contently and laced her fingers through his. He still smelled faintly of cigarettes, but it didn't bother her. She loved it, in fact. The smell of cigarettes had never bothered her as she once smoked them. But now they reminded her of Yoongi and she loved the smell of cigarettes because of him.

-

"You're not going to do anything?"

Victoria's voice flowed from the front shop room, waking Yoongi from his slumber. "You have to go to that apartment and get him back!"

She definitely sounded angry and he wondered groggily who she was talking to. It was silent for a moment and he suspected that the other person on the line was speaking. He sat up just as she yelled, "Oh, I know how it works. I was thrown into boarding school so fast I still had shampoo in my hair!"

Yoongi tilted his head. She never mentioned that she attended boarding school. "The minute a child is inconvenient to you, you kick them out!"

Holly trotted through the curtain that separated the two rooms and jumped into Yoongi's lap. He gave the dog a gummy smile and scratched behind his ears before kissing his head and then whimpering from the pressure to the scab on his lip.

"Because you kicked me out!" she screamed. "And now you're doing the same thing to Jackson!" Yoongi raised his eyebrows. He would not want to be on the receiving end of Victoria's fury. "Right now, he's sitting in his apartment with his Cable TV and stack of video games...miserable!"

He stood up and grabbed his basketball shorts while Holly panted at his feet, jumping this way and that. His collar jingled, sending the noise throughout the room and probably the shop. "Oh, so what's this, like, the tenth time he's 'brought it on himself'?"

Yoongi slipped into the shorts, not bothering to wear a shirt. He wanted to get her flustered anyway. "And let's see, Vernon's 'brought it on himself' six times. So with my twenty-eight times that makes..." He pulled the curtains back with his large hands and stepped onto the plush carpet of the shop room. "Forty kick-outs, three different kids, and the only constant drawl of this is you and Bob."

Victoria was standing by the tea candles, dusting furiously and pausing every few seconds to wave her hands around or furrow her eyebrows. "Maybe you just don't like sharing your house with your children! When's Georgie gonna 'bring it on himself'? When's Jimmy?"

She looked up and noticed Yoongi standing by the counter. He scratched his toned stomach and waved. He saw her check him out head-to-toe before clearing her throat. "Yeah, whatever. I have to go." She ended the call and stood up straight as she gazed across the room at him. "Morning."

"Hey."

Yoongi found her eyes wandering again and smirked. She gave her head a quick shake and ventured to where he was standing and placed the duster on the counter. She only pressed her lips together when she looked at him again. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah."

She recoiled a bit at his distant, one-worded answers. He didn't even know why he was doing it. He could just be a bit serious or cold at times. What he wanted to do was scoop her up in a big hug and give her a big kiss, but he couldn't help the way he was.

Victoria looked down as Holly came scampering out of her room and jumped at her feet. "Well good morning to you!" she exclaimed in her puppy voice and crouched down to scratch him behind the ears. Holly placed both forepaws on her knees and barked as she continued to scratch him. "I bet you're just dying to go on a walk, huh?" He barked again and a fond smile tugged at Yoongi's lips as he watched them. She looked up at him and shrugged. "Wanna?"

"Sure."

"But you should probably put a shirt on," she said with a smile as she stood. "Don't want other people checking out my man."

That pulled him almost completely out of his mood. He smiled that big gummy smile and looked away shyly. Even with the cuts and bruises on his face, she thought he was so handsome. Especially when he smiled. That gummy smiled was not something she had seen very much until now. Almost as if it was reserved for the people he wanted to show it to.

It changed into a smirk, however, when his eyes landed on her once again. "Once this lip heals, you're in trouble."

"What are you gonna do?" she teased. "Punish me?"

"Oh, yeah." Lust took over his gaze for a moment as he stared at her. "You'll be a fucked-out mess when I'm done with you, babe."

Victoria's face turned actually red. She wasn't trying to start anything or pull those dirty words from his mouth, but dammit she liked it. Yet her heart also began to pound. It had been a while. She was afraid that Yoongi would have high expectations.

He yawned, his previous disposition gone. "Alright, just give me a second to slip a shirt on and then we'll go." He turned to enter her room again, but not before throwing a, "Will you attach Holly's leash?" over his shoulder.

She took in a deep breath before following him into the room.

They left through the back door so nobody would see them, as Yoongi was convinced that someone was watching them. Victoria didn't mind. She liked the back alley behind her shop and how it led to many different streets around them. Yoongi held her hand tightly the entire time, though he still didn't say much. She was okay with that, though. She loved it. She loved all of it.