I tried to focus on Jae’s question. I shifted my eyes to Konstantin. He was sitting behind his strangely arranged desk, like a king on his throne. As soon as my eyes collided with his, his tense expression eased a hint, and I felt warmth surge along my cold limbs.
“No, he was a perfect gentleman,” I muttered. Blood felt like it was rushing to my cheeks. The memory of last night was still so fresh, I couldn’t get it out of my head. The smell of him, and the feel of his hard, lithe body against mine. The feeling of him inside me, filling me up and making me wet and slippery. I shuddered, my eyes still on Kon’s. I knew by his expression that he could read everything that was flashing through my mind right now.
If Jae Han knew, he’d try and kill him right here.
Thankfully, no one seemed to notice the tension between Kon and I, because soon, we were free to go. This time, I couldn’t deny the disappointment. It was stupid. Konstantin would hardly risk his life, and those of his bratva to tell Jae he wanted to see me again. That kind of thing didn’t really happen. It was one night of passion, and now, I just had to get on with it like a big girl. I’d still gotten what I’d wanted from the whole encounter. A night of wild passion to balance the boring life my mother had assigned me. I could only hope it would be enough, as Jae ushered me out of the mall, with Kat gripping my hand and apologizing for her brother over and over.
“It’s fine. Nothing happened. Everything is fine,” I repeated to her, over and over again. The words sounded hollow, even to me. I wondered if I just said it often enough, would it come true?
* * *
Life returnedto a painfully dull normal, except for Dami’s paranoia. She was worried about my safety to the point where I was no longer allowed to attend my classes at Columbia without a chaperone. Seeing as Ho Jin wasn’t exactly a Math enthusiast, it was causing problems. The second problem I was facing was altogether more frightening.
I already knew Demi was planning to send me away. I’d overhear her speaking to my aunt on the phone. Apparently, there was already a ticket booked to Seoul in my name, for next month’s time. That news, plus the fact that I couldn’t get my mind off a certain green-eyed devil despite the fact that he’d made no effort to contact me, sent me to bed depressed. Well, that and an annoying tummy bug that made keeping food down tricky.
Three weeks after the ‘incident’, as Dami called it, I managed to drag myself out of bed and into classes. Which meant that Ho Jin had to come too. He was bored out of his mind, and scowling at the professor, as I drank up every word. Well, I tried to. The truth was I was still feeling wretched, and couldn’t drag my mind away from the man out there in the city who had rocked my world and forgotten me immediately after.
“How many classes to go after this?” Ho Jin muttered as we got up to leave. Outside in the hall, three more black-clad bodyguards followed us down the hall. I felt people looking at us, whispering. No doubt wondering why boring bookworm Hana Song needed so many men watching her.
“None, but I have to stop by the library and get a few things,” I told him, as we crossed the street outside toward the library. The library was a contentious point, seeing as the university didn’t let anyone in without a student ID. Therefore, I was alone inside the building. Ho Jin was working on getting a student ID, but it was taking a few days. In the meantime, I had one place to go where I was free. I wasn’t worried about Konstantin like my family was. I already knew he wouldn’t hurt me, so it felt silly to be worrying about him, but no one could know the truth about what had happened between us.
“Fine, and then the doctor’s office?” Ho Jin reminded me. Dami had caught me being sick and demanded I go to the doctor. She was right, my bug was dragging on and on. I suspected that it had more to do with my emotional turmoil over being sent away, at this point, but I couldn't tell her that. Instead, I’d trot along to the Song family doctor for a check-up like a good girl.
I left Ho Jin in the foyer of the library, grateful for the respite. At the turnstiles, I merrily swiped my ID and passed through without him, or the rest of my unwanted entourage. Heading to the elevator, I pressed the button for the top floor. My degree subject was the kind where the books were hidden in the most out-of-the-way area of the library, as I didn’t have that many fellow students, but that suited me just fine. I liked the quiet.
The only drawback to being up in the east corner of the rambling building, right up high on the fifteenth floor, was how dark it was. The automatic lighting for the stacks was motion activated, and when the elevator doors first opened, every time, blackness met me. I was always the first and only person up here. I stepped out into the darkness, and after a moment, lights blinked reluctantly on.
The earthy musk of old, decaying books filled my head, comforting as ever, as I laid my bag on a table, and went off in search of my latest recommended reading. It was so quiet, the sound of my flats on the tile was nearly deafening. I wandered along the stacks, checking the titles as I narrowed down my search. When I found the one I was looking for, I stopped and slid it from its space.
As I stood there with the book cradled against my chest for a little too long, the lights flickered off. The worst thing about the motion sensor for the fifteenth floor seemed to be that it was programmed far too short. Didn’t they know how advanced students like to wander and stare lovingly at their books?
Just before I started my usual waving routine, to jerk the lights back to life, I heard it.
The slow and steady creak of someone walking across the floor. Footsteps.
I could turn the lights on, but then, whoever it was would see me. Panic beat up my throat. The Ivanovs wasn’t the only family that wanted to hurt the Song jopok. Damn, I’d thought I was over being scared of things, but my parent’s fear seemed to have rubbed off on me. I took a step back, and then another until my back came up against the shelves behind me. My breath sounded unnaturally loud. I swallowed, and it sounded like a gunshot.
Suddenly, without warning, the lights flickered back on. Whoever was stalking the stacks must have triggered it. I found myself standing against the back wall, staring at the shelf opposite me, right at the space where my fat textbook had rested.
A face looked back. I stifled a scream as green eyes blinked at me.
“Now, Cinderella, is that any way to say hello afterweeks apart?”Kon’s deep, richly amused voice purred over the words. I blinked at him, barely able to believe it was him. It was as if thinking about him had conjured him.
His face disappeared from the gap, as he rounded the stack.
I watched as he approached, strolling lazily toward me. God, he looked even hotter than I remembered him being.
“Kon? How did you get in here? Are you a student?” I nearly squeaked the last. The image of the hard-as-nail rebel bratvapakhanattending classes like a regular student was just too difficult to picture.
“What can I say? You inspired me, Hana,” Kon said, only stopping when he was a little too close.
“Seriously?” I asked as he leaned against the wall beside me, his chest pressing against mine.
“Well, you inspired me to find a way to get a student ID so I could get you alone,” he smirked.
“What? Why?” I asked, even as my cheeks heated at his implied compliment. His pale eyes ran across my face as if he’d missed the sight of me. But that couldn’t be right, surely? Konstantin Ivanov had missed me?
“Because you haven’t left the house much lately. I was worried you were ill,” he said.