Is It?

Chapter 3

While you immediately went to your best friend's bedroom and spilled about the conversation and everything that led up to that point. Jihoon repeatedly tried to call you until it eventually sunk in that you weren't picking up.

That was a full month ago and he'd been left to face the repercussions of his decisions. He'd barely been back to the house he'd shared with you. Waking up alone in bed weighed too heavily on his conscience. It dawned on him a few days later that he'd left you in this position several times. A week after that he came home and realized that the scent of your perfume wasn't lingering in the room. He teared up that night. How had he let it come to this? How had he let you slip through his fingers? He was amazed at his own stupidity. How had he not immediately recognized the defeated resolve in your eyes? How had he not seen the determination in your shoulders?

Now, he sat in the studio looking at the woman that he allowed into enter the space in his life that was supposed to only be reserved for you. She was a good woman. She was smart, sweet, capable and sexy. She just wasn't you. She was going on about his schedule, giving the details of the day and upcoming events.

He tuned her out a while ago. He was really looking at her and analyzing her qualities. While she had good ones. She just wasn't what he needed. She was something that wanted but he knew from the jump that she wouldn't be a woman that he could be in a long-term relationship with. She'd be good for someone else but there was no way they would last. She was a good distraction for him.

'No, she would've been a good distraction if you'd been single.' He immediately corrected himself. She didn't rub his shoulders at the end of a long day because she couldn't read the stress on his face. She didn't know when to come up and wrap her arms around him because she couldn't see that he needed her touch. She didn't trace circles with her index finger in his palm while he wrote because she didn't realize it helped calm his mind. He was forced to admit that she didn't know him and didn't know what he needed.

No, you didn't know that in the beginning either but why would he bother teaching someone else these things when he had you at home? Because, he was an idiot and thought he could play you. You that knew him so well. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly while rubbing his hands over his face.

"I know it's a lot but I tried to leave some downtime where I could." He stopped and looked at her through his fingers. "Huh?" He asked slightly irritated.

"You weren't listening, were you?" She asked a little defensively. Her arms folded over her chest.

"No." Jihoon answered bluntly. "Look, this ain't workin. I need a minute." He let his head drop back and rest against his chair.

"Fine." She immediately stood up taking her phone and agenda with her. "You know how to find me." She didn't wait for a response and walked out the door.

Jihoon waited until she closed the door behind her and pulled his phone out. He had to have stared at your name for a full three minutes before finally mustering the courage to call you. You didn't answer that day and hadn't returned his calls or texts two weeks later.

________________________________________________________________________

You had been doing your best to stay busy. Your best friend had given you two weeks to mope around but that was all she would allow. It was on day 13 after you left that she'd barged into your room.

"I promise you if you don't turn this shit off!" She stalked over to the echo dot and commanded it to stop playing the music. "I mean damn, even Solange is tired of you claiming you tried to run it away. Girl, I haven't seen you run to the damn bathroom." She said snatching the covers off you.

"Leave me alone!" You protested pitifully from the bed. You tried to pull the cover back from her but she had a death grip on it.

"No, no the hell I will not leave you alone. I'm tired of you blasting Solange and I sure as hell don't want to hear Beyoncé praying for someone to catch her ol ear hustlin ass. Get up!" She said pulling on your leg. "You're going to work today." She plopped down on the bed next you and picked up a magazine. "You have clients that need you to save them from this big ass shoe trend."

You rolled towards her and caught the scowl on her face. You knew what picture she was looking at. You had to agree. "Seriously, why are his shoes so damn big?" She held the picture towards you.

You laughed a bit. "Fine, I will get up." You got up, got dressed, went to your studio and had done so every day since. Your assistant was so relieved to see you. There were artists with photo shoots and events that you needed to style and you'd let your work pile up to the last minute.

Work is how you were put back in touch with Jonathan Park known to the masses as Dumbfoundead. You'd styled him before when he'd come Korea and a few times that work had taken you to California. He'd been flirty but respectful of your relationship. By now word had gotten out that things ended between you and Jihoon. He was currently here promoting and had booked an appointment with you to pick out some pieces for him.

Your back was currently to him. He took advantage of this and took his time eyeing you while you looked through fabric swatches trying to decide what would work for him. He had made his mind up. He wasn't sure how far into the post break up process you were but he planned on finding out today.

"So, I heard about you and Jihoon." You heard him say from behind you. He saw your shoulders tighten and your spine straighten just a hair. If he hadn't been looking right at you when he did it he wouldn't have notice. You sucked your teeth and sighed nodding your head slowly. "Yep...we broke up." You said as you released the sigh. You slowly turned to face him. Your body language was sending mixed signals. Your arms were relaxed at your sides and your ankles were lightly crossed but there was a slight tightness to your mouth.

Jonathan's eyes squinted a bit. "So, are you ready to quit playin or are we going to be tip toeing around each other? I know you know I'm attracted to you. I think you're attracted to me. So, meet me tomorrow night at 7."

That caught you off guard. You had been gearing up to explain what happened with you and Jihoon without going into too much detail. You had been keeping a pretty tight lid on what exactly caused the break up. Not everybody needed to know everything. You hadn't been expecting to be asked out on a date.

Jonathan chuckled a bit at your shocked expression. Your mouth was flapping but no words were coming out. "I'm not asking you for anything serious. Just come have some drinks with me, relax a little bit and see if this..." He was closing the gap between you and made a motion with his index finger from him to you. "Is more than physical appreciation." He ended the suggestion by trailing his hand from your upper arm all the way down and grasped your hand giving it a gentle squeeze.

You weighed the decision. The last time Jihoon had taken you out was a good 3 months before you broke up and it was about 2 months before the break up that the two of you had been intimate. You were due for some male attention. You could use a little confidence booster of being flattered for the night and who could honestly say no to free drinks. Not to mention he was right. You were attracted to him. So yeah, a night of compliments and free drinks from a cute dude was something you could see yourself doing. With the decision made you nodded and squeezed his hand back. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

You two hashed out the details on the time and place. You somehow managed to finish picking out the pieces for the rest of his events while he ran not so subtle commentary on just how fine he thought you were.

By the time, you left work your shoulders weren't as hunched and you were smiling. Not the polite smile you had been sporting when forced to leave the house but a real one.