I snort. “Status? I work in the entertainment industry. I don’t have any status.”
“I see you socializing with celebrities enough to know that’s not true,” she says with a frown. “I have seen plenty of stories about her out and about. You don’t need to date an inssa.”
Social butterflywould be a generous term for Chaeji’s party girl persona. We moved in the same circles enough that a date had seemed inevitable at some point. But one was enough.
“I know, eomma. I think I’m past that period of my life and I’m not looking for someone to take me back there.” I’m honest about that, I know that scene has no appeal for me anymore.
“Good.” She gives me a firm nod of her head, approving.
Jase comes bursting through the door then, setting Noel down to scurry across the floor. She immediately runs toward me, skidding to a stop to start gnawing at my slippers. Again.
“Hello, Jase!” my mom calls, startling him with the sound of her voice.
He whips around to bow to her image on the screen. “Oh, hello! So nice to see you! Sorry to interrupt your call.”
“I was just about to go. You boys have a good evening.” She blows me a kiss and gives me a little wave before she disconnects the call.
“Good day?” I ask, looking at the near-blinding smile on his face.
“So good,” he tells me, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt. “Look what I got.”
I think my jaw drops as he reveals the black ink on his arm. Leaning closer, I can see that it says “naekkeo” and there’s a small heart next to it. I can’t believeJasehas a tattoo. “Wow.”
“I know, right? Nikko wrote it for me. He also drew the heart a while ago.” He’s still beaming at me. “I’ve been thinking about it and it just felt right. I wanted to do it, something that was big. For me. For him. For us.”
“You moved across the world for him,” I remind him, teasing. But I love this—how happy he looks. It makes me hopeful that one day I can feel the same about someone. “Did Nikko get one, too? I promise I’ll pretend to be shocked when the company freaks out about it.”
He chuckles. “No, he didn’t. He got a new piercing in his ear, so I doubt anyone will notice…”
“Oh, they’ll notice.” Obviously he still has a lot to learn about VOX. The RYSING fans don’t miss anything. Ever.
“The jewel in the earring is a diamond. My birthstone,” he tells me proudly.
I have to admit, “Okay, that’s clever.”
“We thought so.” He sinks into the couch, everything about him looking pleased. Satisfied with his life and his decisions.
It’s a good look on him.
There’s a twinge of something I can’t identify, somewhere in the back of my mind. I keep wanting to say it’s not envy.
But maybe it is.
?
LUX
“Hi, hyung,” I finally say as Lalo and I continue to stare at each other after an awkward near-collision in the lobby trying to sneak back into the building.
I know he’s trying to decide if he should chastise me for having snuck out after midnight or not, but he’s clearly done the same. It’s a ridiculous situation for two grown men, but given the lives we live, basically having a curfew isn’t all that unusual.
“Hey.” He gives me a subtle nod back, but he’s eyeing the black shopping bag in my hand. He’s still trying to catch his breath, like he’d been running or something, which makes sense given the way we narrowly avoided crashing.
I don’t say anything else as we walk to the elevator together and neither does he, but I can hear the rattle and clunk of the contents of his backpack shifting as he moves. With his hair tucked up under his black ball cap and a mask pulled over his face, he looks even younger than twenty-five somehow, and would easily be able to go unnoticed outside on the dark streets.
I’m sure he wants to ask where I’ve been. Why I’m wearing light contacts and a hoodie with some American store logo on it that I stole from Nikko but is probably Jase’s since it’s about three sizes too big for me.
But he doesn’t. Just swipes his key card to open the elevatordoors and steps inside, pushing the number to our floor without a word. There are a lot of things that I appreciate about all of the other members and the way they take care of me and watch out for me. I’m glad it’s him that I ran into. Chita, Ryo, and Tang would have asked way too many questions. Nikko would likely have grabbed my bag out of curiosity and then immediately regretted it as soon as he saw what was inside.
