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I frown. “What about them?”
“I also know they can be very… um… territorial.”
“If they’re truly my fans, they’ll stand by me through every storm. Besides, I don’t belong to them.” I lift my free hand and gently press it against her chest, right over her heart. “I belong to this. To us.”
Her cheeks turn pink.
She lowers her gaze to our joined hands, still seeming a little surprised that I keep choosing her.
If only she knew.
I would walk through a thousand lifetimes and still find a way to meet her again.
After a moment of silence, we continue walking hand in hand through a quieter part of Seoul, away from the boutiques and towering advertisements. Snow drifts around us, settling over old buildings, faded signs, and the tiny cafés tucked between them.
“This is my favorite part of the city,” I tell her.
“Why?”
“Because nobody here cares who I am.”
She looks up at me with those eyes that have the power to undo me in every fucking way. “I care who you are.”
My steps falter.
“What?”
“I care,” she repeats. “Not Khaos. Not the man on billboards. You.”
I lift her hand to my lips.
“That’s a dangerous thing to say to a man like me, princess.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I might start believing you.”
“You better.”
God, I love her.
“So, is this where Khaos started?”
“No. This is where I found him.”
I tell her about my Korean mother and how she taught me the language, the food, the music, and the stories of her homeland. As soon as I was old enough, I came here with little money and no one waiting for me. I had nothing but a dream.
One that had died in the US, only to be reborn here.
“I had her stories of her time here as a little girl, though,” I tell Artemis. “That all inspired me to keep working hard in the land she loved so much and make it here.”
“I’m glad you did. I bet she’s so proud of everything you’ve accomplished.”
Crack.
Something that was completed broken since I was nine years old slowly starts to heal and its all because of this woman.
I pull her closer and kiss the side of her head. “Thank you.”
