“I didn’t know what changed. I thought you were using me, and when I was leaving, you didn’t need me anymore.”
This snaps my head up. “Never!”
“No?” His smile is twisted. “I’m surrounded by people who only want me for what they can get.”
“Jihoon, I didn’t even know you were in StarLune or rich until I’d already fallen for you.” My face heats. That was too much information.
He assesses me carefully across the table. “Would you have contacted me if I hadn’t seen you last night?”
“I don’t know.” I look down at the red thread twisted around my fingers. “I was psyching myself up to it. Started a few texts. Deleted them.”
He gives me a small seedling of a smile. “What do you see happening, Ari?”
Be honest, my inner lawyer tells her client, Ms. A. Hui. “You to forgive me, first. I know I need to earn your trust back. I want to try, really try. If you want.”
“We need to talk about all those things you kept bottled up.” I frown, and this makes him groan. “Emotional openness is the only way I’m willing to forgive you.”
“How much openness?” I ask cautiously.
“Ari. As much as is needed.”
“Okay,” I say. “We have different standards, though, if past history is an example.”
“I want the Ari I knew in Toronto before she got scared,” he says. “The one who talked to me about her life and listened to me talk about mine.”
That I can do. I think I can do it. I will definitely do my best to try to do it. “All right,” I say with more confidence than I feel. He looks at me, and I speak more firmly because I have to fix this with Jihoon. “Yes. I will, if I can get the Jihoon I knew before Min.”
“That man is always here.” Jihoon pinches his lip thoughtfully. “Kit hyeong will call me a fool and say you’ll break my heart again.”
I glance up. “You can break mine this time.”
“I’d prefer we didn’t break anyone’s anything.” He slides the decorative teacup back and forth across the table. “You hurt me, Ari. I need you to know that, although I probably deserved it after lying to you in Toronto.”
“I know.” I keep his gaze this time and let myself feel the crush of regret around my heart. “I handled it badly.”
He stands up and comes around the table to my side, where he drops on the arm of my seat to run his hand along my hair. “It’s a deal. Again.”
I blink at him uncertainly. “It is? You? Ah…with me.” How articulate. I can’t even think of the words because he’s so close and his hand has moved from my hair to clasp the back of my neck. I freeze for a moment because I didn’t think he’d say yes, even after all that negotiation.
He bends down, those unnaturally light eyes fixed on mine. “Yes. Shall we seal it with a kiss?”
I groan. “That’s so corny, oh my…”
Jihoon shuts me up with his mouth. My hands come up to brush the hard muscles of his chest and his heart races under my fingers through the thin shirt. It’s a sweet kiss, no more than a flutter against my lips. It’s also not enough because after that torture, I want more. I sit up and lean into him as his arms wrap around me.
“Jihoon-ah!” A woman’s sharp voice comes from the other side of the room, and Jihoon leaps away. Her face has a hugely infectious smile, and she waves two menus as she winks.
He bows, but she only laughs. They speak together for a moment before she turns to me.
“It is nice to meet you,” she says. “I am Eunyoo.”
Her English is halting but miles better than my Korean. “Annyeonghaseyo,” I say, remembering that Jihoon once said this was the more formal greeting. “Hello. I’m Ari.”
She looks affectionately at Jihoon, and whatever she says causes him to duck his head and go red. Then she lays the menus down and leaves.
“What did she say?” I demand.
“She says I need to eat well.” He picks up the menu and goes to his seat to peruse it with his full attention.
