1.4 | If The Shoe Fits ✓

09 | the one with the morning after

  

0 9

the one with the morning after

SHE DID WAKE up alone.

As the sun's rays hit her through the curtains, Nala buried under the covers with a whimper. That awful migraine was over, but in its place was residue embarrassment. Had it...had it all been real? The memories of her babbling returned with a vengeance, and she let out a groan.

Shite.

Her heart sank as she slowly climbed out of bed. She could've sworn she'd slept on the sofa, with his jacket draped over her. He must've carried her to the bedroom during the night, and then he'd left.

Should've known this couldn't last.

A sudden knock on the door startled her out of her reverie. Had he returned...? Heart pounding, Nala rushed to open it, only to stop short when she saw Seung Jae on the front step. She blinked once, then blinked again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"You came back," she breathed.

His lips quirked as he raised a brown paper bag and two cups. "I just went to get breakfast," he said, but his smile quickly faded. "You didn't think I actually left, did you?"

Without thinking, she flung her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. His shirt was a little wrinkled, and his heart thrummed steadily, then erratically, against her cheek. One of his hands came up to rest on the small of her back, his fingers tracing delicate patterns on her spine. She shivered and shut her eyes. He did smell utterly divine, and she was—

Her eyes flew open. What did she smell like? Aspirin, old tea, and morning breath. Not to mention the fact that she had yesterday's makeup on.

"Oh, balls!"

She sprang away from him like he was an open flame and rushed to the bathroom. In her peripheral, she saw him start after her with an adorably befuddled expression on his face. But she slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it.

Just her luck to be caught out in yet another embarrassing situation.

She grabbed her toothbrush, squeezed some toothpaste on and began to brush. Surely, no other woman could've had such a humiliating track record with a man she fancied. It wasn't only this morning, too. The rest of it came back in flashes—each memory making her want to dig a deeper and deeper grave to lie in.

Possibly forever.

A knock came on the door as she rinsed her mouth. "Nala, are you alright?" Seung Jae sounded just as uncertain as his knock was. "Are you still sick?"

She stuck her toothbrush back in its holder and stared at her own reflection. Her mascara was smudged, her lips pale and she felt far worse than she looked.

"No, I'm not," she said in a small voice. But the door was thin, and she knew that he could hear her. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you earlier—I tend to do that a lot around you."

"It's alright, honestly—"

"It really isn't. I wish I could be like the rest of the girls in the office, or the girl that I'm supposed to be. Confident and independent and always put together. But I'm not any of those things. I get the worst acne even though I'm past my teenage years; and my hair frizzes like a rat's nest regardless of the weather. And even though I've had my period for years, I still can't keep stain-free. I'm frightfully clumsy, terrible at flirting, and obviously I can't spell either."

She paused to drag in a deep breath. Here—in the small confines of her bathroom—it felt like she could be painfully honest. Both with him, and with herself.

"The truth is—I'm not confident or independent or put together at all. I wake up doubting myself and go to sleep feeling desperately lonely. And, eventually, you'll find out that I'm high-maintenance, awful to live with, and even harder to love. I just wish you didn't have to find out any of those things because I really like you. And I wish I could make me easier to love, but I don't know how."

Silence remained in the wake of her rambling. Nala chanced a glance at the door, and her shoulders fell in disappointment. Either she'd scared him for good, or rendered him speechless with her confession—none of which were good signs.

Well, time to face the music.

With a sigh, she slowly unlocked the door. Then she stopped short when she found Seung Jae still standing right outside. His expression was unreadable, but his eyebrows rose when he saw her.

"Took you long enough," he said.

"What—"

He closed the gap between them and kissed her.