There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Sixty-Two

There was no lingering in the back of the car when it stopped outside of the apartment building; the driver was on the clock and neither Rose nor Tae-won wanted him to realise who he was and post about the date online. Rose felt the lingering sadness as she entered the building through the lobby, looking back and seeing the empty street behind her. Tae-won hadn't waited to see that she'd crossed the threshold safely, and Rose didn't think that he'd make any mention of their night the next time they saw one another lest they be overheard. She rode the elevator in silence, staring down at her shoes with a trio of cat soft toys in her arms, wondering how she was going to explain them away when she tried to give the prizes to Yuta and Hitomi.

As it happened, she wouldn't have to wait long to find out. Rose pushed the apartment door open as slowly and quietly as she could and was reassured when she found the living area in darkness that the others had already gone to bed thanks to the lateness of the hour. It was a false reassurance, she soon found, when the lamp snapped on and flooded the room with light. Rose squinted and brought a hand up to shield her eyes. Expecting Hitomi to be sat waiting for her – especially given Hitomi had figured out the relationship already – Rose hissed, 'What are you doing? You'll wake Yuta!'

'He's already awake,' Yuta replied, 'and he wants an explanation.'

Her eyes adjusting to the harsh artificial light, Rose dropped her arm and stared at the man who sat on the sofa with his arms crossed over his chest and the expression of a stern father. Yuta stood slowly, rising to his full height, and Rose felt like a child who'd just been caught sneaking through her bedroom window after breaking curfew. Having grown up with him, it was difficult sometimes for Rose to think of Yuta as an adult. She thought of him as a man, naturally, because she'd been in love with him for years. Thinking of him as an adult was an entirely different matter, especially when he so often spent time with her and Hitomi in game centres and at their homes. This Yuta wasn't the guy who was so easily pressured into buying them snacks and gifts, this was a Yuta who'd been given the task of protecting a girl who didn't want to be protected, and now had to scold her in the way he'd promised he wouldn't.

Rose searched her mind for a convincing lie – she felt like a professional with the amount she'd had to tell since she'd arrived in Korea – and came up empty. The last time Yuta had seen her she'd been running out of the karaoke room after Tae-won; it didn't take a genius to figure out she'd been with him, and she was wary of blaming Tae-won for their disappearance.

'Uh –'

'Don't lie to me!' Yuta snapped, pre-empting the hastily constructed story Rose had been about to spin. Rose jumped and looked down at her shoes shamefully. His eyes pinched and he let out a long, frustrated breath through his nose, attempting to calm his temper. 'How long?'

'How long what?' Rose asked as innocently as she could.

Her denial did nothing to improve Yuta's mood. 'How long have you been seeing Ji Tae-won?' he demanded.

'I'm not! I mean – you know – not seriously. Not for long.'

'Not seriously?' he scoffed. 'I know you, Rose. You don't have flings. What the hell are you thinking getting involved with him?'

Rose bristled. 'You think you know me so well? I might have flings! I don't tell you everything!'

'I've noticed that!' he retorted furiously.

'Why should I tell you, anyway?' she challenged. 'You have no right to know what I'm doing with my life, or who I love –'

'Love?' Yuta almost spat the word. 'Love? You think that someone like Tae-won cares about anyone enough to fall in love with them? He's a womaniser, everyone knows it! He's famous for playing women. Do you remember the way he treated you when you met him? The way he swore to make you fall in love with him? Are you so stupid and desperate that you've fallen for his games?'