He was different now than four years ago. His hair had grown long, wavy and unkempt and nearly shoulder length. He wore it back, tied up and out of the way, and it made Ga Eul think that his face looked like a blade, like steel. His eyes were still the same, the same troubled look even as the corners would lift up when he winked. He was saying something now, but she wasn't listening. She narrowed her eyes and watched his mouth move. Yi Jeong had been away from Soeul for four years, and in those four years, Ga Eul had learned to live without him.

"Sunbae," she smiled, her lips peeling back to reveal her sweet mouth, "how does it feel to be back?"

He stretched like a lazy cat and she noticed how thin he had become. There wasn't the boyish softness that used to occupy his body-gone were the rich jackets, polished shirts, silky scarves and ties. Yi Jeong was a changed man. Here he was, sitting across from her at a smoky bar and looking for all the world like a cat that had finished sunning itself and was interested in her again. She could still see the corded tension in his neck.

"Not much has changed here." He rolled up the sleeves of the hoodie he was wearing. Ga Eul felt a strange jar of familiarity. Yi Jeong always worked in his studio with his sleeves rolled; years before, he preferred the turn of the century bartender looks; armband included. She smiled a little at the memory. They were stamping a giant pile of clay together with their feet, warming the cold mass with their bodies. She tripped and he caught her. She remembers catching her breath, his arms became rigid, and he leaned in close-

"What are you thinking about?" His slow lazy smile began unevenly. Ga Eul smiled back serenely.

"That night, in the studio. When you almost kissed me."

"I still regret that I didn't." He took a sip of his soju and continued to smirk from across the table.

Ga Eul looked down at her phone, Anders' name flashed across the screen. She turned the phone off. She smoothed down her skirt before she spoke again.

"It was probably best that you didn't, Sunbae." She leveled her eyes at him. She thought she saw a hint of surprise, but Yi Jeong was too good at this to reveal any of his cards.

"You liked me. You didn't want to kiss me?" He leaned forward.

Ga Eul was drawn in to his eyes. His eyes, she always felt, were bottomless pits of sorrow. Hungry for love, hungry for pleasure, and now they were hungry for her. She swallowed and gazed at her nail bed, which were flushed and pink.

"I did. But Yi Jeong-shi, I was such a kid then. My head was full of silly notions. I hope you can see that I've grown up now." She cheerily laughed, "Tell me about Sweden?"

Yi Jeong frowned, this time visible to everyone. This Ga Eul was so different than the one he remembered leaving four years ago. That girl was fiery and blunt, without a single pretense of feminine wiles. The girl in front of him was the same girl, but somehow washed out. Somehow, a little dimmer than his memory. His mouth twisted. Maybe loving him gives every woman the same side effects. A little less of themselves after he was through with them.

He was no angel in Sweden. There were women. Scores and scores of blondes and brunettes. They liked him. He was exotic and tall, something different than the line up of Alexander Skarsgaard look alikes to which they were accustomed. A different option on the buffet. Yi Jeong had never had trouble getting women. He spoke his soft, accented Swedish and Rika or Sonya would swoon into his car by the end of the night. Swedish men always waited until they were almost too plastered to talk. Yi Jeong knew it was language, not puerile interests that moved women from disinterested to enflamed in the space of a few minutes.

He shifted uncomfortably and settled his shoulders. His plan was going to absolute . He thought that by Ga Eul's armor might be up. After all, he had been away for four years with no contact. There was no reason to bring up the promise he had kept-that he would seek her out first when he returned. The fulfillment of that promise laid between them silently. He wanted to nudge it towards her, for her to acknowledge that he had done what he said all those years ago. Instead, Ga Eul smiled at him without happiness, asked him questions without listening, and she looked past him to where the entrance of the bar was.

"Ga Eul. When those children said that your boyfriend was in Sweden, what did that mean? Have you been telling them about me?" He saw a weakness and began drilling his gaze into her.

Ga Eul gave a short laugh. Not the reaction he was expecting.

"Oh, that's Anders. We met about a year ago when I was Sweden."

Yi Jeong felt like the floor had dropped out underneath his chair. His plan wasn't falling apart, it didn't even exist in the right universe.

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A/N: My main story is hosted at fanfiction. Please read the rest of the chapter and review at ff.net (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8663756/1/Love-and-Luck)