"Sophie would be here in a few minutes, I suggest we wait in the living room till she comes back," I heard Josh's soft voice and then footsteps fading into the distance while I stayed with my back pressed against the door as I struggled to get my clothes off. With multiple huffs and puffs, I managed to push my legs into the fuzzy shorts and the matching top I had bought just for sleeping since it's so comfortable.
I unlocked my door and walked into the hall plus living room of my apartment to find both of them on opposite sides of the kitchen counter; Josh preparing lasagna while Mr. Kim watched him do it. I walked past his back to join Josh in the kitchen who immediately warmed a smile at me. It all felt so homely to have the two of them here right then but it didn't feel foreign like it was supposed to. Was I perhaps going crazy as I imagined domestic Nathan, him, and me, just living l
"Are you okay, Mr. Kim? You've been awfully upset over small things for the past few days. Is there something you'd like to tell me?", I asked with a deep frown. Something was off about him, not just today but for the past few days. In fact, ever since Teressa left, he's been acting weird. Too sensitive, too worried, and too anxious over everything. It all became a little more prevalent with his lost match. I wondered if it took that big a toll on his mind for Nathan to just completely lose himself in his worries. "I'm just tired," I nod softly, not wanting to push, and led him to the couch. Perhaps, it was the after-effect of a heartbreak. He wasn't the type to be so expressive and emotional. He was almost always angry at me or at least somebody.
"I didn't mean harm Soph, all I meant was that you don't seem like the type of girls I thought Mr. Kim would be into," he said stepping forward to embrace me in a hug but a single sentence stopped him from doing so."Don't touch her."Jimin immediately stepped away, at least two feet between us, and cleared his throat while my eyes stung with hot tears. I didn't even know why I was crying. I already knew this was the truth."C'mere," Nathan whispered softly before yanking me towards him by my palm and he secretly rubbed my back up and down to calm me down. I turned around, hiding my face in his arm."As for you Jimin, I don't think you know what my type is. Sophie is a gorgeous woman, If I had the heart to do it I would drop everything and run for her hand in marriage. Don't you ever disrespect her like that again," I pulled away to look at his face to find his jaw clenched while he fisted the material of my sweater by my waist to keep himself from doing
"I'm not blaming you," I clarified, sitting back up. "Let's leave it white then? It'll still match your room," he nodded and managed to open one of the blue boxes, spilling all its photographs onto the bed next to me. "What are you doing?" "I'm just taking all the pictures out so we can select the best ones." I put all my weight on my right elbow so now we both half laid on the bed facing each other with the pictures between us. He passed me a bunch and I shuffled through it, only to find them to be pictures of animals he found cute during his trips. "Oh look at this one!", he squeaked out, pushing closer to me with a picture of two of us in his hand. It was from four years ago, I was still shy and too quiet but Mr. Kim had always been an ambivert, quickly adapting to everybody around him and their personalities. "We look so different, it's not even that old," I giggled, unintentionally scooting closer while trying to get more comfortable.
"Of course not! I told you I didn't even like her anymore," he furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side as if I was the dumbest person ever. "What are you getting at?""What I'm trying to say is that if you don't love her, don't want her back, and are also aware that she had spiked Mr. Min's drink for the purpose of sleeping with him then why are you blaming Mr. Min still? What are you afraid of?", His eyes lowered to the bedsheets and I sighed again."I'm afraid that what if all my girlfriends have actually always wanted him and not me," he sighed, turning over to bury his nose into his white pillow pile."No," I stated, simply wiping the frown on my face and moved forward to sit closer to him. "No, none of your previous girlfriends or the ones coming in the future will want Mr. Min. They will be your girlfriend or girlfriends because ofyouand because they likeyounot Mr. Min.""But Teressa,"
"You don't want anything?", I questioned, sliding my palm down his abdomen and stopping at his hipbone with a teasing grin. Nathan chuckled, drawing me closer to his bare chest but didn't stop the movements of my hands."I do but do you have the energy? I could just jerk off in the bathroom," I shook my head, shifting to a more accessible and comfortable position, a little up on the bed."With me in the room next to you? Yeah no," he giggled, rubbing my waist up and down in a comforting motion before moving the same hand under his jersey and snapping the back of my bra open. I gasped, eyes wide in surprise as he tugged it off from under the fabric."Continue," he said in one breath, dipping his head low in between the valley of my breasts with a sly grin. I giggled at the ticklish feelings of his very light stubble and he cupped the flesh on my chest before rolling the hardened beads between his thumb causing me to arch my back further into his
"Mr. Kim, how can you say it so easily?", I scoffed in disbelief, arms crossed across my chest as I stood two stairs above him, almost eyes level. "Just like that? You'll forget it?""Sophie, you're misunderstanding me. My point is clear, I'm not ready for a serious relationship yet and I've told you before too. You can label this as whatever but I don't want to give you any hope at all. If you want me to stop touching you, I will stop."I stared at him, right through the blur that my tears caused under my lashes and Mr. Kim moved forward before cupping my face in his hands. I sobbed silently, nausea running up my toes and right into my head but at the same time, the abstract pain was so bitter-sweet with his warm palms and eyes that spoke a different truth to me.He wiped my tears with the pads of his thumb and I gave in, stumbling forward into his chest even after knowing that my giving in was what got me here. "You're looking for love in the
I got onto a bus that'd take me nearest to his place and farthest from Mr. Kim's place."Could you please scoot over?", I tossed a graceful smile to the lady sitting in the last seat of the bus by the window and when she nodded, I slid onto the leather seats with a tired sigh. Her fingers were slightly wrinkled and skinny but beautiful, to say the least along with the dreamy glow in her eyes that almost closed with her smile."Long day dear?", her voice was gentle and comforting and a small pat was delivered to my denim-clad thigh before I softly smiled at her and nodded as confirmation."Nothing I'm not used to," she then proceeded to smile softly with a chuckle and I felt a little lighter with the stranger accompanying me."You look like you could use a good listener darling," I smiled at that and watched her wiser eyes lift up in a smile that mirrored mine."Lover's quarrel Ma'am, just not used to them," I laughed and she gently pushed my
"Yeah, I always have. You need to pick a side. Either you go back to him, get tossed around or you stay with me and I'll keep you happy forever," he chuckled, running a hand through my hair as he shifted comfortably into the soft cushioned couch.I sighed, mouth dry as I thought of all the possibilities that I could see in my future. Maybe I could stay back here with Sam, find another job or work with him, learn to fall in love with him or maybe I could go back to Nathan, confess, ask him to stay, and make him fall in love.The first one was a certainty, I could definitely fall for a man as beautiful as Sam. I'm sure a lot of people must've done it before too, dated their friends and ended up having a pretty life and the second one was risky, there was no assurance and it most probably could end up in a lot of chaos.Whatever it was and no matter how good Sam could treat me, he could never behim.Nobody could be him."I don't t
I watch Sophie fix her hair in the mirror for the millionth time and feel myself smile even through the nervousness that pumped in my blood both because of how beautiful she looked and also because of what was about to happen.It wasn't the first time but I couldn't bring myself to not worry about going up to the stage and speak in front of at least hundred people that were invited to the summit I had willingly asked to be a part of. She sighs and stomps her feet before draping herself over the royal blue couch next to my similarly designed seat. "Just leave it alone, you look perfect just like that."She picks her head back up from where it was lolling at the back of the couch and scowls directly at me. "Easy for you to say, you just have to comb yours once and you're good to be. God! I'm so jealous of men sometimes," Sophie complains even though I knew she didn't mean it."Well, sweetheart, I think you're forgetting that women too can get the
"You guys are really all going to sleep here?", my mouth was wide agape in bewilderment of my friends' weird request as they all nodded, not bothering to look away from the screen. "Well then, two of you can take the room upstairs, I'll sleep down here," I shrug and settle down on the round chair in front of Mrs. Kim and Kate."No, you sleep in your room and we take the living room," Mr. Min states in a no-nonsense tone, completely ridding me of any excuses. "It's your birthday, go have some 'me' time or whatever.""First of all, it's Nathan's room and my birthday is tomorrow," I dead-pan, picking at the hem of Nathan's shirt to busy myself and keep my thoughts away. "I'll have a whole lot of me time tomorrow, don't worry.""But what's the difference? What's his is yours and what's yours is his," Kate shrugged, nonchalantly throwing me a smile as she leaned back in her seat on the couch."Oh he's definitely not worrying and your bi
"Good morning Sophie," Kate hums softly from the other side of the room and I hum back, not having enough energy and still half asleep to reply to her greeting. "I'll be on the lawn if you need me.""Okay," I mumble, finally, and then her footsteps faded into the distance. Once again, the room felt too quiet and solemn without Nathan's warm presence in it. Gathering all my energy, I get up and stop in a sitting position on the bed, smiling softly at the drawn curtains.Who would've known, Nathan's habit of keeping the curtains drawn originated from Kate? I yawn and stretch my arms up to feel the satisfying pop of my muscles after a tiring night with all the guys and then having to drive back, completely exhausted. My head thrummed with a slight headache and I wondered if it was some sort of handover.Nah, maybe just lack of sleep.I find myself slipping down the bed and towards the bathroom in haste to brush the weird morning breat
My fingers tightened around the warm cup of coffee, it's temperature already helping with the shriveling cold outside even through my knitted gloves. They were a gift from Kate, she had been into knitting a few weeks back and made a cute couple on the back of them.The coffee shop was newly opened next to the Yongsan Seoul Hospital. I often came around to grab a cup of coffee for myself when I was particularly lonely or stressed out. The doorbell that chimed whenever somebody entered the shop made it's signature sound again and I ignored it, picking up a packet of brown sugar to rip it open and added it to my coffee."Didn't you already put two?", Hearing Mr. Min's voice, I jump up in surprise before a smile causes my cheeks to hurt. He smiles back at me, pointing his finger between the two already empty packets of sugar lying on the table. "You shouldn't put in so much, it's like aiming for diabetes.""I don't do that always," I lie, rolling m
"Is that-" he tremors."Yes," I assure."Are they-" he begins again."Yup," I confirm, last letter popping.Seok-Min was star-struck. He couldn't take his eyes off the three men huddled on the couch together for a whole minute. It wasn't like this was the first time Nathan had bumped into a fan or have somebody struck like that but there was a certain rawness to Seok-Min that made him shy.Maybe it was the fact that the past few days had been so rough on him that he didn't expect anybody to care about him anymore. He probably didn't expect the news announcer to be that whipped for him but it wasn't news to the rest of us. The man had literally defended Nathan on national television and risked his job trying to protect his name."Hey," Nathan chirps out, quietly and shyly rubbing the back of his head. I watch as Seok-Min smiles happily and I gesture for him to sit down once he had returned all their greetings."
It's five in the morning, my head rests back against Nathan's chest, we both have been talking for the whole night now, three hours washed away in love and unresolved matters. His back is against the headboard of my bed and the window is open ajar to let the chilly wind it.It seems like it might rain in the next few hours and I want nothing than to just lie down for one more day, waste a few more hours talking to him before we need to get up and face reality. Reality that there were lot of untangled ropes in our lives that were swirled around."Hey, Nat?", he hums, tightening his arm around my front. "Can I take up a nursing job or something? You know, I'll have to get my license and work," I trail off, feeling smaller with every silent second that passed by."What made you think you needed permission for that?", he asks, voice sharp and seemingly offended. "Do you think I have autonomy over your life? I can't believe you sometimes Soph."
Nathan's head was soundly placed in Kate's lap. She was sitting on the couch across me and it was pitch dark when I gazed out of my window. All four of us were unaware when time had ticked by so as soon as Nathan's eyes drooped shut in exhaustion of how big a day this had been, Jo went to bed too."So, how did you two meet?", Kate questions, drawing my blue cardigan closer around her shoulders with a soft sigh. "You know, you and Nat are two very different people. How did it- how did this happen?", she emphasizes on the word 'this' and I could only laugh softly in response."I have no idea either," I perk up, bouncing my feet against the carpeted floor of my living room. "Should I start from the beginning or?", Kate sits up a little more comfortably as I quirk my brow at her curiosity but it was understandable. She hadn't met her little boy in what must be two decades."From the start, tell me everything," she smiles and I couldn't help but ret
A week later me and Nathan sat on the freshly white painted benches of the park nearest to his mansion with his arms draped over the back of it in exhaustion after our run. I smile at the look of sheer bliss on his face and the glow that emitted due to his constant lifted moods.Mrs. Lee had explained Nathan's disorder to him and he had taken almost a day off to accept it but he later mentioned that a lot of things were starting to make sense for him and that he felt better knowing the cause behind it instead of being confused all the time.Kate was yet to meet him, especially after Mrs. Lee's clear instructions that he must be told before the two met and now that he knew, I guessed what would be the right time for them to meet?"Quit staring," he laughs, chest heaving up and down and I feel the vibrations rake down my own body. Shaking my head playfully, I reach over to my opposite side and throw him a baby blue towel so he could wipe his swea
"Don't you think this will be too shocking for him right now?", Mr. Min suggests, chewing on his lower lip with a concerned expression as he pulls his car into my apartment complex's parking lot."Yeah but she's staying with me and I'll make sure that the two of us don't end up coming back here later or atleast for a few days till Mrs. lee figures out the whole deal," I sigh and Kate's ears perk up at the suggestion as she shuffles closer to me from the back seat. "Hey, Kate, do you- would you mind me staying over at Nathan's since you know, we basically stay over at each other's all the time?""Of course not, why would I have a problem with that? You both are grown-ups," she chuckles. "I'm just excited to see him again, hear his voice again without the television screen."I smile back at the woman and nod softly. It was heartwarming to see how much she loved him and how accepting she was, of the two of us. What made me even happier was to know