My Summer in Seoul

“Why wouldn’t you be able to leave?”

My breathing stalled for a few heartbeats. She could not be that dumb or innocent. She was lying up on one elbow, her svelte body just begging for another touch.

I drank my fill, groaned, then wiped a palm down my face, refusing to look at her. “Because I can’t exactly have sex with the intern in the dorms with my bandmates next door without getting caught, that’s why.”

“Who said I’d let you?” she fired back.

“Oh, it’s like that?” I nodded. “All right, see if I ever kiss you again.”

“I wonder who could hold off longer…” She tapped her chin.

“Me!” we said in unison.

“A wager?” she offered next.

“Name your terms.” I crossed my arms. This should be good.

She sat up. “No kissing until after the comeback stage—and I’m gonna need two creative dates before more kissing of any kind.”

“Hmmmm…” I settled my hands on my hips. “You know it will be basically impossible for us to go outside and date during our comeback, right?”

“You’ll figure it out.” She got up and walked toward her bathroom. “Get creative—hey wait, didn’t you write a song about that? Somewhere? Dating during quarantine or something…”

I glared. “Fine. But you have to say yes.”

“Like I would say no.”

“Well…” I shrugged. “You could.”

“I wouldn’t.” Her face was anything but teasing now.

I shook my head and looked away, feeling vulnerable and yet oddly okay with being that way as long as it was with her. “How the hell did this happen?”

Her expression completely closed off, like she was afraid that I would judge her, reject her, who knows, something. “Are you mad it did?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I just wasn’t ready.”

She leaned against the door frame. I studied her pretty blond hair that was growing out, showing her dark roots. I’d noticed the darker roots before, but I’d missed just how they brought out her eyes and complexion. It was hard to look away, so damn hard.

“Neither was I,” she whispered in a stricken voice. “Neither was I…”

I don’t know who moved first, her or me, but suddenly I was hugging her, wrapping my arms around her, and resting my chin on top of her head.

She fit in my arms the way I’d always imagined it was supposed to be when you found your person.

It was wrong, sneaking around, making her lie to everyone, bringing her down with me, but I couldn’t stop it any more than I could stop breathing. I didn’t realize how much I was drawn to her until that moment. I wouldn’t be able to do this soon—we’d have cameras in the dorm documenting our every move for our comeback. We’d be basically filming our own reality show for a few hours a day.

Which meant that I couldn’t just waltz into her room and hold her whenever I wanted. I’d never been pissed about having this crazy life until I realized how much I craved a normal that I’d never experienced, like hugging a girl I liked tight in my arms.

“You’re still a complete asshole.” Her voice was muffled against my chest.

My body shook with silent laughter as I pulled away and looked down. “You just had to kill our moment?”

“That was a moment?” she teased, standing up on her tiptoes and kissing my chin. “Sorry, hope there’s more where that came from.”

“Many more,” I vowed. A thousand more. A million more. Head spinning, I finally let her go, putting much-needed space between us. “I’m going to try to sneak back into my own room now.”

“You do that.” She grinned. “Relax, you did great today.”

My body instantly did exactly that. “Thanks.”

“The guys will be looking for you. Want me to make sure the coast is clear before you go waltzing out of my room?”

I hadn’t even thought of that; I had been so caught up that I was going to just walk out of her room.

I winced. “Good thinking.”

With a small laugh, she walked over to the door, my eyes following her ass without apology. She cracked the door open and poked her head out, looking left, then right, then left again. She motioned for me to hurry.

I quickly slipped by her and literally ran directly into Jay.

Who had appeared out of fucking nowhere like he was spying on my every move. He crossed his arms and smirked. “You guys in there playing chess or…”

“Not a word,” I snapped.

“Never.” He held his hands up and winked at Grace. “You know you guys should be more careful. Not that I’m judging… get yours and all that.”

I groaned. “Nobody was getting anything.”

“Yeah, that’s why doom and gloom over here has a smile on his face.” He pointed at my chest. “Guy’s been depressed as hell for a year and—”

“We gotta go!” I interrupted him and steered him toward our room while he laughed like he’d revealed something she didn’t already know.