by Marian Tee
Her anxiety came back in full force without warning.
She knew the girls meant well. Common sense told her that, but everything else inside her couldn’t seem to understand it. Violet felt she had been shoved back to the past, and all the girls around her weren’t curious about Park. They were mad at her, like they always were.
The school bell rang, and she couldn’t escape the crowd of her girls fast enough.
The rest of the afternoon went downhill from there. When her classes ended, Violet did her best not to run out of the room. She was overreacting. She knew that. But the knowledge didn’t help. She walked aimlessly and when she found herself in an empty hall, her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground.
Violet took in deep gulps of fresh air, her head spinning.
It was over.
The first day of school was over.
Tomorrow would be different and it would be better.
A pair of black leather shoes suddenly stopped next to her. It made Violet stiffen because she hadn’t heard the slightest sound of footsteps. Her heart sped up to an alarming rate. Oh no! Could she have jinxed it? Was this the trouble she had been dreading?
Violet forced herself to look up.
A gorgeous guy with brown hair and green eyes dark with worry behind glasses was looking down at her. “Daijoubu ka?” Are you all right?
It took a while to get her dry throat to work. She had been so scared he was…that guy had liked to wear leather shoes exactly like what this stranger was wearing.
But it wasn’t him. Oh God, thank God it wasn’t him.
Violet forced a smile as she pushed herself off the floor, flushing when the stranger immediately cupped her elbow to help her up. She hated this feeling, having to be dependent on someone else. It reminded her of how weak she had been in the past.
Violet carefully pulled away when she was back on her feet. “Thanks,” she mumbled. Her heart was still beating a little faster than usual. It would probably take some more time before the terror inside her would finally abate.
The stranger gracefully let his arm drop to his side, a gentle smile on his face. “You are all right?”
Her cheeks turned a darker shade of red, realizing all she had been doing was stare at him. Violet wouldn’t blame the guy at all if he thought she was stupid. It was that or he’d think she was struck dumb by his looks.
“I’m fine,” she finally said. “I didn’t mean to…it’s…” Violet couldn’t remember being this frazzled and she ended with a weak smile.
He smiled back, but it was tinged with concern and not a little bit of puzzlement. “Are you sure? I could walk you to the clinic—”
“Violet?” a familiar voice called out in impatience.
Park emerged, bounding up from the stairs.
“I’m here!” She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Park. He still made her secretly breathless, with the way all his fashionable clothes fit him to a T, displaying his perfectly sculpted muscles to perfection, but at least it was a familiar kind of breathless.
With Park around, she slowly got her confidence back and when Violet turned back to her sort-of-rescuer, she was able to smile more naturally. “Thank you for helping me up. I’m sorry for worrying you. But I’m okay now and besides—” She gestured at Park, who was walking towards them with a scowl. “My friend’s here already.”
The guy didn’t turn to look at Park.
Okaaay.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked quietly.
She nodded again. Belatedly remembering her manners, Violet offered her hand. “I’m Violet by the way.”
He took it, his hand warm, firm, and dry as he shook hers, large enough to make her hand feel so incredibly small in his hold. “Lee,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “Chinese?” He didn’t look one at all.
“Half,” he answered with a brief smile.
Park finally reached her side, and she was embarrassed to see he was still scowling. It had been a while since she had seen his ogre look. She stepped on his toe none too subtly. “This is Park, by the way.” She turned to Park beaming, but her eyes were shooting sparks at him, warning him about what she’d do if he didn’t smile and play nice.
Wincing at the sharp stinging pain caused by the razor thin heel of Violet’s shoe, Park managed a smile. “Hey, man.”
The other man gave him a polite nod before looking back at Violet with another smile.
Asshole, Park thought, feeling a sudden urge to pull Violet to him and kiss her in front of the other man.
“I guess I’ll see you around then,” Lee told her softly. As he walked away, he gave Park another polite nod.
Violet was exasperated when all Park did was incline his head the slightest bit, as if Lee didn’t deserve any more effort than that. “God, you’re such an arrogant jerk,” she burst out the moment Lee was gone.
Park said dryly, “I have to hand it to you. You definitely attract boys like fleas.”
She batted her eyelashes at him. “Jealous?”
“Like I said, boys.” He gave her a slow, sexy, confident-as-hell smile. “And I’m no fucking boy, Violet.”
Violet almost shuddered at the way Park’s voice slithered over her skin. “Obnoxious blond gorilla,” she muttered under her breath.
Park was already walking away.
“Hey, wait!” She hurried after him.
“Try to keep up,” he told her. “I don’t want to be late for work because of you.” He waited her to get mad, to throw a tantrum like most other girls but Violet didn’t.
She only smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I just came here because I was…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
He frowned, the odd tone in her voice telling him that not everything was okay. As they walked to work briskly, Park subtly tried to slow down so Violet wouldn’t have a hard time catching up with him. He didn’t want her think he was so concerned about her. It might give Violet a bigger head, and she was already full enough as it is.
“How were the rest of your classes?” He tried to sound casual, but small talk wasn’t his forte and he ended up sounding gruff instead.
“As if you’d care.”
“You got an anxiety attack because I wasn’t with you, right?”
She missed a step.
Park laughingly caught Violet before she fell. “So I am right.”
She shoved him away. God, he could be so arrogant she just wanted to kill him. “No. You’re not.”
Park laughed harder. “I think you should say it again. Park, I need—”
Violet threw him a glare. “Ssshh! Remember your silent and brooding routine? Get back to it.”
Park still hadn’t lost his smug-looking smirk when they reached their workplace. Assigned to assist the cashier as bagger for today, Violet was able to observe mostly everyone working. More often than not, her gaze was drawn to Park.
It stunned her, the way he was so different when interacting with other people. It was like how he had been the first day they met–only several times worse. He acted normal with the rest of the guys and kids, too, but with women he was cold and unsmiling, acting like a prickly bear and totally clamming up. And when they persisted in showing their interest in him, Park did not hesitate to become rude—also exactly like how he had been with her the first day.
But he had changed with her, and Violet couldn’t figure out why that was so.
She could barely wait for their shift to end to ask that very question.
Park no longer tried pulling away when Violet automatically curled an arm around his as they made their way back to the dorm. There was no point pulling away since it just made her cling harder.
“So…”
He knew that tone. She was an incurable busybody and he cringed at the memories of all the times she had pestered him to tell her more about his background.
Park immediately tried breaking free, but Violet just tightened her hold on him. Park might be stronger, but he ha
ted being the center of everyone’s attention and the only way he could disentangle himself from her was to create a public spectacle.
She smiled up at him.
He glared down at her.
“So…”
“The answer is no, whatever it is.”
“But I haven’t said anything yet!”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s still no.”
Ignoring that, Violet asked, “Why are you so grumpy all the time with girls?”
“When we’re close enough, I’ll tell you.”
Violet snuggled as close to him as she could, pressing her breasts on his arm.
He stumbled.
She giggled.
Park’s eyes were dark with fury when he recovered his balance. “Stop flirting with me,” he hissed.
“Then answer my question,” she told him petulantly.
He asked exasperatedly, “Why do you even care to ask?”
“I just wanted to know what makes me different,” she answered simply.
He snorted. When Violet acted so confident like this, Park was torn between being turned on and being exasperated at the way she seemed to take for granted that she’d always have her way. “You really think highly of yourself, don’t you?”
“I think it’s safe to say that I think of myself as highly as you think of yourself,” she retorted.
Park had to laugh at that. “True.”
“Well?” she nagged. “Could you at least answer that one?”
He sighed, knowing that in this mood Violet wouldn’t let up until he gave her some kind of satisfactory answer. “Fine. I act different with you because I know you don’t like guys.”
Her jaw dropped. “But I’m not a lesbian, Park.” She had nothing against them, but she had always been straight.
Park rolled his eyes. “No, idiot, I meant that you don’t seem to be interested in having a relationship.” He raised a brow. “Are you?” It was a rhetorical question, though, because he already knew he was right.
Violet couldn’t answer fast enough. “Nope.”
“Then it’s safe to assume that you don’t plan to have a relationship with someone as wonderful and unattainable—” Park pretended not to notice the gagging sounds Violet was making. “—as me.” Park continued, “And as long as you think that, I’ll tolerate your friendship.” He promptly got his foot stomped on with that and Park yelped.
She frowned up at him. “You know what?”
“Obviously I don’t.”
Violet tried to stomp on his foot again, but Park was ready for it this time and he laughingly avoided her deadly attack.
Violet glared at him. “I won’t continue until you let me hit you.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “Who says I’m dying to know what you have to say?”
Violet let out a shriek. “Paaaaaaaaaaark!”
Park hurriedly looked around to see if anyone was looking at him like he had just attempted to rape Violet. God! What a little troublesome shrew Violet was! If he had the power to turn back time, he would have just covered his head with a pillow that first day, and his life would be as peaceful as it was, pre-Violet.
“Paaaaaaark!” She was still screaming.
He hastily covered her mouth. “Okay, okay, fine, you win.” He stuck out his foot, winced at the painful stomp he got, and immediately pulled back. He glared at her. “Satisfied?”
She blew him a kiss. “Super.” Then she curled her arm around his again and forced him to resume walking like nothing happened.
Damn little banshee, Park thought.
She stomped on his foot once more.
“What the—”
“I can practically hear what you’re thinking.”
He glared down at her. “You are seriously cra…”
Violet raised her foot threateningly, her steel heel gleaming in the moonlight.
“Crafty,” he ended instead.
“Good of you to notice,” she cooed at him.
If she cooed at him one more time like that, he wouldn’t be responsible for what would happen next. All he knew was that in five seconds she would cooing for herself, with the kind of fucking he’d give her.
Violet was already talking again, and he started when he realized what she was saying. “Excuse me?” he choked out. “Did you just—”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yes, I just did say that I am not looking to be in a relationship, and as long as you won’t be looking for one either with someone as beautiful, caring, sexy as I am—” Violet stopped when she realized he wasn’t going to do anything about what she said.
“You’re not going to react?” she demanded suspiciously.
“But everything you said was true,” Park said innocently while keeping his crossed fingers behind his back.
Violet was too smart though and peeked at his back.
He burst into laughter.
“Hmph!”
Park pinched her cheeks. “Go on. Just tell me what you have to say.”
“You already know what I have to say,” she grumbled but continued anyway, “Well, just as long as we’re both clear that we’ll stay as friends then I think we’ll get along famously.”
“Right,” Park said dryly, thinking about the various times they almost came to blows.
Violet tugged at his arm. “I’m serious.”
“Okay, okay, good. I’m happy about it.” He realized then it was true and Park gave Violet a rueful look. “It’s been a long time since I had a girl for a friend.” He paused. “It’s been a long time since I had any friend, actually.”
Inside the dorm, Park said bye to Violet over his shoulder, already busy unlocking his room. Thus, he was surprised when upon opening his door, Violet immediately sailed past him, acting like she had all the right to do so.
Park followed suit, shaking his head at Violet’s impudence and rolling his eyes when she even threw herself on his bed and turned on her stomach.
Violet propped her head on one hand while she absently moved her legs from the knees up forward and backward like a mermaid alternating with two tails. She studied Park as he moved around the room, cleaning his already his clean room. For a moment, she allowed herself to indulge.
Park was wearing the male version of tank top, a really sexy sleeveless cotton top that bared his arms and jeans that hung low on his hips. He looked like a living, breathing ad for an escort club, the kind that women would pay millions of dollars for the right to take him home.
She watched him move about efficiently, almost like a programmed machine. Every move was intensely sexual, and she couldn’t help wondering if he would be that focused when having sex, his thrusts increasing in tempo—
Park turned to her all of a sudden, surprising her so much she almost fell out of his bed. When she righted herself, he was frowning. “Go up if you’re sleepy. That’s my bed.”
Violet wrinkled her nose at Park’s unsurprisingly rude answer. “I’m not sleepy. I’m bored and that’s why I’m here.” Before he could shoot her down with another rude retort, she asked quickly, “You didn’t really have friends for a long time?”
Park seemed almost surprised at the question. He nodded reluctantly.
“Well, I’m only going to say this once, but I’m glad I’m your friend.”
He watched her move her legs up and down as she answered and almost grinned. “It doesn’t sound much of an honor when you’re acting like a kid there.”
Violet’s eyes twinkled. “But I don’t kiss like a kid, I promise.”
Park’s laughter died a quick death. He scowled at her. “If you want us to stay friends, you have to stop acting like a serial flirt.”
She pretended to ponder his words. “Mmm…serial flirt. I like the sound of that.”
Park sighed in exasperation. “I’m serious, Violet.”
She pouted. “What’s so wrong with harmless flirting?” Then she gave him a challenging look. “Unless you’re afraid to fall in love with me?”
He mad
e a scoffing sound. “It would take more than an ugly, vain idiot like you to make me fall in love.” Park quickly ducked right away to avoid the flying shoe that was aimed at him.
“If you don’t let me hit you…” She threw her other shoe at him and he successfully ducked that one as well.
Violet gritted her teeth. “Park…”
“Violet…”
Without warning, she stood on his bed and threw herself at him.
“What the—Violet—no!” Park’s breath was knocked out of him as he barely caught Violet in his arms, his back slamming hard against the wall. He glared down at her. “You little—” It was all he could say before Violet’s lips caught his.
He gasped against her lips, but that only made Violet kiss him more deeply, her deliciously sweet tongue entering his mouth and exploring it.
She pulled away just before he could kiss her back. “I may be an ugly, vain idiot,” she told him breathlessly, “but there’s no hiding the fact that you like how this ugly vain idiot kisses.”
Park’s eyes narrowed. If this was her way of proving she had some kind of control over him just because he was obsessed with her body, it was a doomed and futile move.
Violet tried to wriggle away from Park but froze when his hands suddenly tightened around her hips. She looked up. Oh, shit.
That was her last thought before Park’s lips slammed back down on hers.
Instant internal combustion: it was the only way to describe Park’s kiss. His breath was hot and sweet against her skin as his lips demanded her surrender. When her lips parted under the beautifully rough pressure, Violet couldn’t help moaning as his tongue entered her mouth and mated with his.
A part of her was barely aware of Park carrying her away until he threw her down on the bed.
She gasped as she bounced, her senses returning. But before she could do anything, Park was on the bed with her, moving towards her, climbing on top of her—Violet lost her train of thought, any plans of escaping dying at the first feel of Park’s long, lean, and hard body against hers.
Park was mindless with passion. Nothing mattered except finally making Violet his. This was not right. This was what he had been avoiding all along. This was why he knew it was trouble to be her “friend”. A part of his mind acknowledged all of those things, but the rest of his brain ignored the message. All it cared about—all his body wanted—was to join hers in the most wondrously primal way possible.
