Chapter 70. Hunger

She folded her hands on her lap while her eyes unconsciously remained on her phone that she rested on the table in front of her minutes ago. A smile drew on her lips recalling their flirty banter and surprisingly, he managed to keep it awkward for her when he painted this visual of her which she was actually reflexively doing.

That very moment, Seohyun uncrossed her legs but she only felt the tingling inside as she shifted on her seat, so had no choice but to keep them together again.

And that, somehow, irritated her.

But he easily mellowed her down with a remarkably cunning play of words that left her speechless.

The wait for him made her inexplicably stoked and Seohyun decided not to face the entrance since she would only get even antsier looking at every person that came in. Perhaps that little they did over the phone made her body aware that a release would be in sight. But she knew it shouldn’t really happen. Seohyun could feel the heat that thought caused her and the moment she felt a presence behind her, she was ignited and might as well burst into flames.

“Expecting someone?”

His voice was low, almost breathy, it tickled her nerves— her flame bursting even warmer. The chuckle that followed his voice told her he was aware how her body reacted on knowing he was close. His hands ran along her arms as if soothing her flames without knowing that he was fueling her fire. And the last was a soft kiss on her head telling her how sorry he was for making her wait.

Seohyun swallowed her discomfort as she looked up at him with a grin, “It seemed that you really took a while.” He thanked her with a playful wink and claimed that he had a good one making her laugh. She nodded, then her eyes narrowed almost doubtful that he was only kidding so she spoke softly, “You really did....”

“I really did,” he replied as he sat then smirked, “Besides, you don’t want me walking around with it, would you?”

She couldn’t help the laughter that rushed through her but this kind of discussion would only cause weird things to happen in their bodies while they were out in the open. Hence, Seohyun shook her head and mumbled almost out of the blue, “I left Euna with Ajumma.”

“Why are you suddenly here?”

The waiter appeared and handed him the menu book. “I think I just needed an adult time with you?” She casually revealed while he checked the menu but his eyes darted back to her after she spoke with that cocky smirk that she had to add, “You know, sometimes all we talk about is Euna…”

Yonghwa placed his order then the waiter turned to her for any additional order and she politely declined. When the waiter left, the teasing came back. Part of her wanted it, another wanted so much to hit pause because after her conversation with Jonghyun she realized that, there was indeed someone.

Although his friend, perhaps for her sake, said that he thought it wasn’t that serious, Seohyun had this mixed feeling with what she heard. It definitely twisted this jealous knot inside her especially since some devil in her head told her that was the reason why he could not give her his heart because it already belonged to someone else.

Then, knowing that the woman was no longer in his life at this moment, gave her that sense of positivity that he was capable of loving.

That he might—

Seohyun brushed off his tease only to touch her hand that was laid on the table. He mapped her veins that made her shiver but she tried her best to control her reaction. Ignoring the sensation, she asked, “So, what’s with the gift?”

“It’s a warning that I’m about to burn all your horrendous pajamas,” he eyed her playfully that she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Well, that’s a very interesting way to do it,” she managed to reply when the amusement trickled down. Seohyun took a sip from her glass while a small silence settled between them after a short nod from him. The lingerie that she got was four sets— red, gray, brown and green. She couldn’t help but smile, except the red, the other three were the colors of the pajamas he was taking about.

As if reading her thoughts, Yonghwa grinned at her, “And you’d definitely look better on those…”

Seohyun rolled her eyes lightheartedly but fell quite until she spoke softly, “Must have been easy to…” she couldn’t continue; the words that she wanted to say were the very prick induced in her heart.

He smirked at her declaring, “You, Seohyun-ssi, you are a tough one…”

She understood what he meant. Those women gave in to him as easily as he wanted them. But she didn’t— she sneered back, “It took you this long, huh?” He nodded again instead of giving her a concrete response. Perhaps she was given this chance to take a peek inside the man— to see the heart inside that man. “Uhm,” Seohyun hesitated for a moment but she gathered her courage and looked back at him, “No one could probably be tougher than that first love…”

A trace of uncertainty tinted his face for a fraction of seconds until he fixed that same amusement as he asked, “First love?”

“You know?” Seohyun shrugged acting like this conversation didn’t affect her at all. But inside her, her guts were twisting, her heart was on overdrive, “They say we all have that one…”

She could feel the weight of his stare, the way his eyes studied her, those lips moved hesitantly into a small smile.

She wanted this— she needed to hear this from those very lips.

“There was no one…” Yonghwa spoke after a deep breath.

His eyes didn’t falter making her believe he was telling the truth and the way he stressed his word made her shiver. Seohyun repeatedly told herself not to read too much on everything that she was hearing. She sighed dropping her eyes on the table, praying silently that the waiter would come with their food.

She needed the distraction.

Yonghwa coughed that brought her attention back, “And you? First love…”

She found herself smiling.

Of course, that was a good diversion from his own story.

But she didn’t have a story to tell, not really.

He chuckled as if putting a bit of water on the fire, and asked playfully yet careful enough, “Come on, tell me…”

Seohyun smiled shaking her head and reminding herself that it would probably only now that she was experiencing her so-called first love. “No one…” she finally said but he groaned at her so she narrowed her eyes, “You’re not telling me anything, why should I?”

“Because I’ve got nothing to tell!” Yonghwa responded with a dramatic reaction and thankfully, for her, their food arrived.

After that, their conversation leaned to mundane and they were both amused when they realized they could not really help themselves but talk about Euna.

Euna this and Euna that.

“That’s because you are dodging,” Yonghwa pointed out in between bites of his steak.

She raised her brows telling him that he started the dodging but when he argued again that there really wasn’t anyone for him, she conceded. If she wanted to squeeze something from him, maybe she should try to open up herself.

And it wouldn’t hurt if she did tell him about her apparent first love.

Seohyun set aside her fork and wiped the sides of her lips with the napkin. After taking a small sip from her glass, she started, “Actually, there’s this one man…”

Her eyes lingered to him for a moment and noticed the way he perked up almost too curious with what she was about to reveal. It would be weird telling him this especially since she was still conflicted if she wanted the consequences in case he realized her real meaning. She took a deep breath, smiled then spoke softly, “It wasn’t my intention to fall in love with him. But I did…”

Yonghwas eyes dropped on his almost empty plate as he nodded, “I see…”

Silence suddenly engulfed them. Seohyun fidgeted steering away from looking at him until he cleared his thro