A few hours after storming out of his office, Sehun let out a low groan, rolled off of Stacey's sweaty, body and lay on his back in the tangled sheets on her bed. For a moment, their panting breaths were the only sound in the darkened bedroom.

They'd gone to a movie after their $40-a-plate dinners at the Blue Room, and the second the theater lights went down Stacey had started kissing him. Even though his mind wasn't really in it, he'd just been glad he finally didn't have to talk to her anymore. She was cute, yeah, but conversation-wise, he might as well have been talking directly to her s. 

So, an hour into the movie, when she'd leaned over and whispered, "Let's get out of here," Sehun was pretty damn sure that was the most interesting thing she'd said all night. 

And, the way he was feeling, he hadn't been about to resist. 

Truth was, he was a little drunk. The combination of that scene with Soojung and trying to get through a boring as hell dinner with Stacey had gotten to him and he'd drank too much. But even that hadn't dulled his senses enough for him not to admit that this date had been a bad idea.

Well, besides the —that, he'd needed. 

Or he'd thought he had. Truthfully, he still felt like hell.

And now, lying next to Stacey, he couldn't think of a damn thing to say. So he got up. Rolling out of the bed, he pulled off his used and walked, , into her bathroom and shut the door. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. 

Okay, he told himself, so he and Stacey didn't have much—or anything—in common, but he kind of liked it that way. With women like her, you got exactly what you saw. She knew what she wanted and didn't have any problem letting a man know it. No game-playing or ulterior motives. Didn't leave you guessing or wondering. And a woman like her wouldn't ing blindside you out of nowhere.

Unlike Soojung.

Growling, he splashed water on his face and glanced at the closed bathroom door. 

He was trying, real hard, to want to go back out there for another round with Stacey. But his didn't seem too excited about the idea. Even when they'd stumbled through her apartment door on the way to her bedroom, and she'd been squeezing his and rocking her hips into him, he couldn't concentrate. 

The whole damn night, Soojung had kept popping into his head, which was bothering the hell out of him. She had this way of saying stuff that, at the time, just pissed him off and then, afterward, wouldn't ing leave him alone.

Like that competition in Chicago. 

With everything else he had going on, that competition was just one more thing he didn't want to worry about yet. And Soojung should know that. But because of her, he couldn't quit thinking about it now. With the competition less than a month away, and Soojung's goddamn voice stuck in his head, he knew he should be working on his entries, tweaking the recipes. Practicing.

And if he was honest with himself, that's what he wanted to be doing right now.

Swearing under his breath, he ran both hands through his hair. He couldn't believe this.

There was a woman out there waiting for him, and he wanted to leave. So he could bake. For a competition that, until just now, he hadn't even been sure he wanted to go to. 

. This was all Soojung's fault.

Walking out of the bathroom, he locked eyes with Stacey who was only half-covered by the bed sheet. 

"I was getting lonely out here," she said with a slow, y smile. 

Her large, pale s were bared like twin homing beacons—and right then, Sehun knew he'd lost his goddamn mind. Because he still wanted to leave. 

"I've gotta go," he said, before he could think about it.

He didn't even care that irritation with himself, and Soojung, had wiped away his usual charm. 

Stacey's smile slipped a little, but she caught it. Getting out of the bed, she walked up to him and boldly rubbed a hand along the length of his softened . Then she came up on her tiptoes and his earlobe.

"Are you sure?" she whispered in his ear. "I was hoping you'd stay the night."

Her hot, damp breath on his skin made him shiver, but he stepped back, forcing out a strained smile. "Sorry, I have to get up early tomorrow." It was a lame excuse, but he didn't really care. He just wanted to go. 

Walking past her, he found his pants and pulled them on. When he turned around after putting on his shirt, she was just standing there watching him.

. He usually had more skill than this, but he wanted to get the hell out of here. 

"So…I'll call you," he said, though they both knew that was a lie. 

"Sure," Stacey said with a too-bright smile.

"Alright then," he said, edging toward the door, "have a good night." 

Then he escaped.

Outside, as he started up his car and pulled into traffic, he silently berated himself. What the hell was that? He could not believe he'd just walked out on those s. 

Driving around aimlessly for a few minutes, he tried to decide if he wanted to head home or drop by Sugar. Most of the time, he loved being in the middle of Sugar's loud, often drunk, weekend crowds but at the moment, the idea wasn't appealing. Whatever. It wasn't like he'd enjoy himself, anyway. 

Not after the way he'd left things with Soojung. 

An image of her face, just before he'd stormed out of his office, flicked through his mind and his grip tightened on the steering wheel. He was sobering up and feeling like an for some of the stuff he'd said, but God, what had she expected? For him to high-five her and wish her well when she was basically walking out on him?

that, he fiercely thought, but quickly let out a frustrated sigh.

All he really wanted was for everything to go back to the way it'd been before her freak-out on Tuesday. But, after their argument, he knew that wasn't happening anytime soon.

So, right now, he needed to handle his life. Get his together. Without her.

He grimaced. That'd probably be a helluva lot easier if he could get her voice out of his head, though. But it wouldn't budge. And what made it worse was that he knew she was right about the competition. If he didn't follow through with that, he'd regret the hell out of it. 

"Goddammit," he muttered into the silence of his car as he headed home. 

Even when he was mad as hell at her, she still knew him better than he knew himself sometimes.

*********************

It'd been almost a week since that last fight with Sehun and Soojung was numb. She had to be. She knew that if she let herself really think about everything, she'd break down. That first weekend, all she wanted to do was sleep so she wouldn't have to think about Sehun, but her bruised heart wouldn't listen and the same question kept circling through her head.

How could he be like this? 

For the first time in all the years they'd known each other, when she decided to do something for herself, he couldn't accept that. Wouldn't even try to be happy for her. She knew him. She knew he hated change and, like Keera said, he probably hated the idea of her quitting but, God, how could he not see that she needed a life of her own? 

By Sunday, she'd decided that she had to let him go. If she didn't she'd spend the rest of her life wanting someone who not only didn't want her but who, apparently, didn't even want the best for her. As the new week crawled by, though, the numb ache in her heart had turned into a constant, throbbing pain. With a huge, Jason-shaped hole in her life, she was lost. Especially considering the fact that she was jobless, aimless and bored.

Not to mention best friendless.

She had enough money saved up to last her five or six months, so finding a job wasn't really a pressing concern right now. Instead, she shifted her focus to getting signed up for those summer classes at the community college. The only problem was