INCOMING CALL: Jae Cho.
I press the green answer button.
“Hellooo, Riley!” Jae’s voice is a little slurred and slow.
I feel the warmth of relief spread through my chest. He’s not dead. Of course he’s not, you weirdo.“I’m so glad you called.”
“Of course. I told you I’d call.” Jae’s voice is an immediate comfort, even though I’d seen him only a few short hours ago.Anxiety will do that to a bitch, won’t it.
“How was drinks with Rishi?” I ask, a feeble attempt to make conversation.
“It was good to see him. I’ve been so busy with the restaurant. And you.” I can hear his smile through the phone.
“I missed you.” I tell him, my voice is honest and hardhearted.
“I missed you too,” I feel my heart lift and brighten the more he speaks. He’s alive and just fine.“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” I ask. Tears are visible in my voice.
“You’ve never told me you missed me before. You sound like you’re about to cry.”
I press myself to try to not cry. “I’m not crying,” I deny. “I just…” I trail off for a moment. I don’t want to scare him off with my crazy worries over this. “Just promise me you won’t die, Jae.” I say his name like a command.
“I won’t die, Riley.” Jae’s voice is a loving caress of my face through the phone. “I promise.”
“Thank you.” I inhale a great, big breath like I’m about to do a yoga pose. “I was just concerned that maybe something happened to you.”
“I promise nothing will happen to me. Don’t cry.” Jae reassures me.
“You can’t die on me.” Tears stream relatively silently down my face. I cry so damn much in front of this man.“I’m not crying.”
“I won’t die on you. I can hear you crying, you know.” Jae laughs lightly, but not at me. “Do you want me to come downstairs?”
“You would?” I didn’t even think to ask.
“Of course I would.”
Without me saying anything else, the phone hangs up.Within three minutes, I hear the lock click open, and the door gently closing. My house is whisper quiet, and I can hear him take off his shoes and align them in the doorway. He makes his way through my barebones kitchen and I hear him gently press my bedroom door open.
The only lights are a buzzing set of old string lights with several burnt-out bulbs draped across my window. I am in a tangled mess of bed covers and sheets, sitting up against my bed frame, my hair lazily tied up, a trail of tissues from my nightstand to my bedroom floor.
Jae stands in the doorway, wearing a crisp olive green linen shirt and black pants, looks dressed to kill. His black hair is combed half across his forehead and half to the side, and he looks like he could be straight out of any popular TV drama.
It takes everything in me not to get up and put my arms around him like some kind of leech even though I am a mess.
“Welcome to my home,” I say flatly, unsure of what to do. I suck up an ugly, disgusting sniffle.
“What happened to you?” Jae laughs painlessly and effortlessly. “I was only gone a few hours.” He walks to sit on the edge of my bed, patting Lily on his way.
“Anxiety got the better of me.”
“Happens to the best of us.” He puts his hands on his knees and looks at me sideways.
“I don’t know what came over me.” Actually, I do know what came over me. I was afraid he’d get sick and die. Why can’t I just tell him that? I really don’t want to scare him off. “I don’t want to scare you away.”
“Riley. Look at me.”
I do as I am told and look up at him sincerely.
