This is an INTERESTING development. Considering CoBOLT’s contract is expiring this year, and Minji hasa 1% share in Damask and is collecting friends like Infinity Stones?
THIRTEEN
HURRICANES - RIA SAWAYAMA
Steam rosein the air of the busy marketplace, filling the little space that remained between the noise, the bright lights, the colorful signage, and the market stalls that had been wedged and stuffed into every possible corner of the market. There were advertisements everywhere, from hotteok to yukhoe, from kimchi boggeumbap to pajeon of all kinds. Teddy and Lia squeezed next to each other on a slim bench in front of one of the stalls and examined the laminated menu. Between the siblings’ terribly inadequate Korean and the helpful photos, they managed to order kalguksu, seafood pancake, suyuk to share, and soondae.
They were hungry, obviously. It was one of those rare afternoons where Teddy didn’t need to be in the studio, which was happening more often now that Soobin’s drama was starting their pre-production meetings, Siwan was guest judging for a cooking show, and Cal was…well, Cal was just as busy as ever. Lia never really got to speak to him, especially after his conversation with (who she eventually gleaned was) Seo Minji, the morning they broke up.
Well, not broke up, just…stopped having sex. Which wasn’t the same.
So, yeah. Lunch at Gwangjang market. Lia remembered that Cafe Onion also had a branch here, somewhere near the Chonggyecheon stream, and made a mental note to go there after this. It didn’t even hurt that much to remember him talking about it, how he loved the concept, how it would be nice at sunset.
Anyway.
“I’m surprised you got away from the studio today,” Lia said, handing her brother a pair of chopsticks that she’d wiped down with tissue paper.
“I haven’t been workingthatmuch.”
“I can hear your laptop fan whirring at 2am. That poor machine was begging for its life,” Lia said dryly, waiting for Teddy to outstretch his cupped hands to her so she could dispense hand sanitizer.
“I’m surprised you could hear from Cal’s room.”
“Hey,” she snapped, tossing her sanitizer back in her bag. “I never slept in his bedroom. And he always left, after. We didn’t…it wasn’t that kind of relationship. In fact, we apparently have absolutely no relationship, at all, thanks to me. So yeah. I could hear your laptop loud and clear because I couldn’t sleep anyway.”
If her brother looked genuinely surprised, then she let him sit with it. She knew this was one of those conversations where they could snipe at each other all they wanted, skirt around issues all day until one of them cracked (or Frankie made them talk). Neither of them said anything for a while.
“I just want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself,” Lia finally said with a huff. “Just tell me if you need something. Alaxan, ibuprofen, melatonin. I have a magnesium spray that helps you fall asleep faster.”
“What happened?” Teddy asked, his voice gentle, much more than she had anticipated. It was such a simple question. Two words that encompass so much. But apparently, it was everything Lia needed to hear, because she told him everything. Her breath caught in her throat at every sentence, and tears threatened to fall. But she held it back, held it in, and just started to talk. What he’d asked, why she’d said no. How she felt, and how much it hurt. How in the end, she’d been the one to tell him no, and make the healthier, smarter choice.
“Yun. So we’re done. I don’t sleep, and…yeah.”
“But you’re not happy.”
“Doesn’t being healthy come with a little bit of suffering or whatever?” She tried to deflect by oohing and ahhing over the food that arrived, but Teddy wasn’t having it.
“But you like him.”
“Worse, Teddy. I think I love him,” she said, and her shoulders slumped just thinking about it. “But I could never, ever ask him to give up his dream to stay in Manila with me. And I don’t want to give up what I have in Manila either. Not when it sounds like Damask wants them. Not when he recorded this album that he clearly loves. Maybe I am still scared of rejection, but I can’t let him not do this.”
“Oh,” Teddy said, chewing thoughtfully on his tteokbokki. “Okay.”
“That’s all?” Oh that was despair in her voice. She did not like that. “Teddy, I’m miserable.”
“Yeah. And it sounds like you know exactly what you need to do to be un-miserable.”
“But—”
“But what?” Teddy asked, slurping at his kalguksu. “You’ve thought about this, clearly. And you made a decision. I’m not going to talk you out of it. And anyway, you don’t want to date acelebrity. I’ve seen Mon and Olivia, it’s messy. Cal might not be able to give you what you need.”
“And how do you know what I need?” Lia arched a brow at him as she stabbed her chopsticks into the pajeon.
