Little Romantic *Second Book*

Chapter 9: His Assassin

It was after work when I finally got rid of T. After my conversation with Jihwan, I went back into Silver Platter. The boys looked at me with pity. I didn't want their pity. I wanted to figure out just what I needed from Jihwan.

I left Silver Platter immediately after that confrontation with Jihwan. For once, T kept his mouth shut on the ride back to the station. The two of us were completely silent as I sent an email to Sanchez and Richmond.

Once quitting time, T left once I got in my car. Instead of going back to my apartment, I went to Lance and Ethan's apartment. I needed to talk to Lance. Whenever I just needed to talk, Lance was the easiest one to talk to.

But when I knocked on the door, it wasn't Lance who answered the door. It was Ethan.

"Ana? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Is Lance here? I need to talk to someone," I said.

"He's not, he's out with some friends," Ethan said. "But I don't mind talking. You seem kinda upset."

"Thanks, Ethan," I said. I walked into the apartment.

"Want some tea? Coffee? Alcohol?" Ethan offered.

"Tea would be nice," I said and sat down at their table.

"So what's going on? What has the pretty face looking down?" Ethan asked as he got the tea ready.

"Jihwan, my boyfriend."

"Do you need a gang of gay men to scare him? Because I know people who could be here in ten minutes," Ethan said.

"No, please don't."

"What's up with him? Is it still the won't sleep with you?"

"He told me he wants to break up with me if I can't figure out what I want out of the relationship."

"What an ass." He handed me a mug of hot tea, keeping one for himself. He sat across from me at the table.

"So I was hoping Lance could help me find what I want out of this relationship," I said, taking a sip from my tea. "It's easy to talk to him."

"I can do that. I always seem to discover that in my friends' relationships," Ethan said. "So what does Jihwan want from you?"

"Commitment? That's the main thing he seems to want from me," I said.

"Now what about you? Start with the little things," Ethan said.

"Well I want to be around him," I said.

"Okay, now what do you want when you're around him?" Ethan asked.

"Attention, kisses, fun," I listed.

"Okay. This is your first relationship, right?" I nodded. "Well maybe since you were never in a relationship before, you're trying to push all the things done in a relationship into your first one."

"I don't think it's like that," I said. "Jihwan is a great guy. He cares about me and wants to protect me."

"That's great and all, but what about you? What do you do for him?" Ethan asked.

"What do you mean?"

"If he cares and protects you, he has to be getting something from you. And since it's not sex, it has to be something else."

I couldn't say that he's a mafia boss and I make him feel normal. I sometimes wished I could be honest with my family about Jihwan. But to keep them all safe, I had to lie to them about so much.

"I make him feel normal. Since he has so much money, I kind of bring him down to Earth. I remind him of so much of what he could have."

"That's really cute, actually. So you both get something out of this emotionally. But what do really want from him?"