She came back into the room, still wearing that dress which was, even now, distracting the hell out of him and told him that she'd made a reservation on the cruise.

Now, the sun was hanging low in the sky, the air warm and a little muggy. And Sehun, sipping an expensive glass of red wine, was doing his damnedest to take the edge off his preoccupation with Soojung's s. 

Their dinner plates were empty and Soojung had just been chatting away about how pretty the Chicago skyline was as the boat slowly drifted down the river. Sehun focused in on her warm, familiar eyes, hoping like hell that would help. 

But so far, no luck.

He'd had almost three glasses of wine over the last hour and was starting to feel all warm and languid, which was no good because he was having a harder and harder time keeping his eyes where they should be. Namely, anywhere above her neck.

"My big plans for what?" Soojung asked and, in his semi-drunkenness, he stared at her full lips. He'd always thought she had a nice mouth. 

...so much for above the neck being safe territory.

He cleared his throat. "Your plans for college and everything," he murmured. "You never told me exactly what classes you're taking this summer."

Soojung laughed. "Oh, you mean the ones you whored yourself for?"

Grimacing, he took a long swallow of his wine. "I thought we agreed to never talk about that again."

That only made Soojung laugh more. She leaned toward him over the table, giving him a damn good view down her dress. Oh, Jesus. 

"Do you realize," she teased, " that there are probably pictures of you on some middle-aged woman's MySpace page?" 

Blinking, Sehun dragged his eyes back to hers and grinned. "Hey, I can't help that I'm such eye-candy," he joked. "But stick to the subject—what classes are you taking?"

"One on non-profit leadership and another on child psychology," she replied.

Sehun nodded, not at all surprised. From what he remembered, she'd been really excited about her psychology and sociology classes at Syracuse. Which was also right round the time Charlie and Nate died. 

Just thinking about them made his chest tighten up; so did the memory of how devastated Soojung had been. But she was so damn strong. Stronger than he gave her credit for, sometimes. And, yeah, a much better person than his selfish would ever be. Sure, he made desserts and was successful at it—Anna, though, she was gonna change lives. She damn sure made him a better person. 

But not such a better person that he could stop eyeing her cleavage.

"You're quiet all of a sudden," Soojung said. 

Catching her questioning gaze, Sehun smiled. And even though he was disgusted with himself for thinking it, he couldn't help but want to sit here and bask in her uncomplicated, natural beauty. 

Most women he dated wore so much make-up he was half-afraid to touch them sometimes. But Soojung was all fresh-looking, with the same perfect, pale skin she'd had for all the years he'd known her.

Jesus, he was staring at her. Maybe he'd had more wine that he'd thought. She'd asked him a question...something about...

"I'm just thinking about how bad I'm about to make you look, college girl." He stood up, holding out his hand. He was so wired right now, he needed to move, get his mind off things it sure as hell shouldn't be thinking about. 

Soojung grasped his outstretched hand. For some reason, he liked how trustingly she placed her own, much smaller hand in his, letting him pull her to her feet. 

"Where're we going?" she asked as he started walking toward the front of the boat.

"To dance." When she laughed, he looked over his shoulder at her. "Why's that funny?"

"I just remember how much you hated all of those school dances when you and Nate were in middle school."

"Hell yeah," he laughed. "That crap was so awkward. All the hormones floating in the air. And I had the hugest crush on Jessica DeLillo, too. But I was so much taller than all the other guys, I felt like the Jolly Green Giant, so I never asked her to dance."

"And now half of the greater Puget Sound viewing audience is in love with you," Soojung pointed out as they stopped on the boat's small, wooden dance floor, and he pulled her into his arms. "My, my, how things change."

"Yeah...yeah they do," Sehun murmured. It took maybe two seconds for him to realize that dancing with Soojung hadn't exactly been the smartest idea right now. 

With one of her hands cupped in his and the other on his shoulder, he was spared the sight of her s. The only problem was that he'd traded the vision of her, for the feel of her. Namely, the feel of her pressed up against him, all warm and soft and, well, all Soojung. So incredibly familiar but...at the same time...an absolute surprise.

Slow jazz music, piped in over the boat's speakers, drifted between them as they swayed and he stared out over her head, taking in the beauty of Chicago's elegant urban sprawl while, simultaneously, trying to ignore the perfect dip of Soojung's waist beneath his hand.

"You know," she said, her voice drawing his eyes down to hers. "Dad would be really proud of you, Sehun."

Well, damn. That was the last thing he'd expected her to say. He felt his throat tighten up, but managed a gruff, "You think so?"

"Are you kidding?" She leaned back in his arms. "When you got accepted to the CIA, he was so sad to see you go, but at the same time, he couldn't stop talking about you." She chuckled. "For those first few months, anyone and everyone who came into the bakery got an up-to-the-minute update on you."

A small smile played on his lips. "God, that's embarrassing." He looked down at Soojung. "I'm glad I didn't know that at the time, though."

"Whatever you attention ," Soojung laughed. "You would've loved hearing Dad go on and on about you. I think he even showed people pictures of a vanilla soufflé you made."

The sound of her laughter and the brightness of her carefree eyes warmed Sehun, along with the wine he'd drank, and he found himself saying something he'd never told anyone. "You have no idea how freaked out I was when I started at the CIA."

Soojung's brow furrowed. "Seriously? You were always so cocky about the whole thing."

He shrugged. "I tend to do and say a lot of stupid when I'm under pressure."

"Really? I never noticed," Soojung quipped, her tone dry.

Her sarcastic disbelief made him laugh. "I know. It's a crazy thought. But, yeah, my first semester out there, I was so terrified I wasn't good enough. Like..." he stared out over her head. "Like, what if I choked? What if the instructors took one look at me and knew I was just..." he trailed off, but Soojung's soft voice urged him on.

"Just what?" she asked. 

He looked down at her and honestly felt like her dark eyes pulled the words from him. "What if they realized I was just some poor, white trash, small-town kid in way over his head?"

Abruptly, Soojung stopped dancing, her expression serious. "Sehun, that is not who you are. You know that. You're creative, talented and—"

"I know, I know." He murmured, tugging her back into motion. "At the time, I didn't, though. There I was, on scholarship, at the best culinary school in the country. The whole thing sort of messed with my head."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Soojung asked.

He studied her face. "You know what your dad said to me the day I left for school?" When Soojung shook her head, he went on. "It was right after Nate had finally told him that he wanted to go to art school instead of working in the bakery. And, at the airport, when I was leaving, your dad shook my hand and said, 'I'm happy for Nate, but I'm glad one of my sons decided to follow in my footsteps.'" 

Letting out a shaky laugh, Sehun bowed his head for a second. All these years later, that memory still got to him. Finally, he peered back up at Soojung. "I couldn't let him down. So I just pretende