If you are a new reader in this book and haven't read my other work called The Girl At The Last of which this work resulted in a spin off, some aspect will be less on feels than the one who has read it. It's fine. It won't make much difference in story. With that said - enjoy.ð
LEE
Last night presumably was the first in the week where I was awake as shin slept. I fought to not skim through her visage while she was at it. Losing, as I compiled to side with my arm cushioning my head. The most comfortable position I could find to browse her- it wedged the room into a state of tranquility. Her peaceful stature, the one that wasn't so keen on stealing her expressive gaze away from me whenever they caught me staring at her.
Why had I been fascinated by her tonight? It had been a lingering thought that has been contributing to my brisk awakeness was constant. I had a counterclaim to justify my actions.
That would be my lack of relationships during past years that had deprive me of-
She fits so perfectly in my embrace.
As i thought I was wrestling for an essence of artificially colored and morbidly preserved pack of candy. I realized I was paving a way to my doom because Soon the smarties didn't appear as delicious as her soft pink lips that contorted into a pout.
To put it this way- I had been impressed by the details she cloaked while she dressed or walked or the way she carried herself despite the hundreds of distractions she embroils in a moment- but I had been too diligent to accept that I was slowly, but surely getting attracted to her.
Like the pieces of the jigsaw, every single image of her fixes into a finished product. The mental pictures that I didn't even know I had- clubbed together to remind me that- I was messing this up.
The cold shower in the morning didn't aid either. My head wasn't empty of her. Her ash brown hair that she seldom styled in a wave ignited with a golden spectrum whenever the sunlight touched her as she moved, It was an imagery that was vivid as a day. Also something I didn't know I had observed about her, I was yearning to know how it will be like to have my hand buried in them. She had a thin waist, I know because I had held her by it last night. They were on repeat. Every feel of it despite the way I had held her did not even had an intention behind it.
I just wanted the stupid candy. But here I was-
There were more than a couple of ideas that latched into my undignified aspirations. I had always been show and not tell kind of man. I could show her- but the ethical and moral part of me was so disgusted by what I was contemplating to offer a girl who was classically off-limits for such an absurd proposal.
I can't taint someone so pure just because I can't have control over my physical needs. It was pathetic. So shameful-
So I shove a spoonful of cereal into my mouth- chewing on it roughly as she sat opposite to me by the kitchen counter- a skipped seat in front so I could see through the side. She woke up earlier than me- she did have a good night's sleep. Unlike me.
It explains why she was done with her breakfast ages ago and now had some kind of notes scrawled all across. Her mac book was open, her newly delivered goldfish swarm around in a jar- that too was present by the top. she had a scented candle lit among them. Why does she even need that when she herself smells so divine?
I must drown myself in the fishbowl.
"What are you doing?" slicing the soggy broth into half I ask. A conversation does disperse the brewing awkwardness.
"I am editing" she heaves a sigh and her hair does that fluttering thing again. But I keep my phase.
"You are an editor?" there was an unrequired surprise in my tone, I wasn't perspective of her to have a job. Let alone an editor. She spins the pencil, weaving it in and out of her sleek fingers. Her eyes were hesitant before she nods in short.
"I write articles and stuffs" she drawls out as I give her an easy smile. It looked like she wasn't fond of whatever she had been up to. It was evident as she kept scattering her concentration from the pages to the lone fish. Every damn time with a sad sigh.
Soon I was joining her in liberation. With stacks of documents piled in, I was emulating her. They were sent by my father- it came in this morning. Apparently I was only allotted a week's day off to enjoy the bliss of my married life with the girl who sat across.
The very girl who was watched with an astonishment and amusement combined.
"Your family owns a casino here?"
I don't bother to hide my vanity, flipping the file close I lean back.
"I am breaking it down though. An affluent hotel sounds much more reputable for the family's reputation" I shrug as if it wasn't a big deal. But it was- I had been working my ass off to get this project done.
"So- you are like an heir or something?" she cracks her knuckles in detective fashion, for the moment I forgot where we are and where I should be looking at so I stared at the fish. "Since your older sister chose a different career"
"Yeah- yeah, something like that" scratching my brow, which was a habit that frictions when I was nervous- which was rare in regular. But I was doing it today, regardless of wanting to or not "I would dump it on Aaron any day- but he takes half a day to decide if he wants to have peanut butter or chocolate spread on his bread. So Dad has to do with the best shot he got"
It was silent then, unwillingly I lift my defeated gaze to look at her. she had her lips mashed and an intellectual contemplative impression going on as she peered at her memos.
"I understand" she separates her thumb and index- gathering the tress of hair by her shoulder. She grows them up, revealing her porcelain neck â her off-shoulder top was a bonus. She tied her hair in a bun- I hooked my thumb and undid the top two buttons of my polo to hydrate.
"It's hot" she exclaims fanning her exposed skin with a frown, her eyes glancing at the sunny morning from the ceiling window.
I look down at the stocks report, biting the inside of my cheeks.
"It is. It unbearably is"
It wasn't the sole thing that kept driving me crazy, the one aspect that wasn't hot- but still was making me go nuts was her deliberation. If it wasn't for her suggestion, Dad would have never let me come back to this city- and neither would have I been able to heal the forgotten wounds with the traitors roaming free without a conscience. If they could do it to me- it could happen to anyone, I am privileged. But not everyone is. To abuse power for the one who had done it in the past is a dish served on the same platter.
And shin doesn't even know that she is preparing the cuisine with me.
So I cannot let her be.
"Don't celebrate that I have given up on what you said last night," I say, striking off the useless spectators with a red highlighter, "You will tell me the tasks and I will share it with you"
When she received my attention- there was not much to be differentiated between the fish and herself. Though there was an additive scowl with the gaping mouth-Â she was about to say something when the bell rang. I motion her to sit tight as I got up to receive the door. The penthouse was vast and had an immense decorative interior, more than I would like. When I quote sera outdid herself, I mean every single word. It doesn't feel like I am walking in my own house. With a large chandelier to the indoor pool room, it now hosted a gym room and a subdivided gaming parlour. Even as reach the door- I still was inches deep into recollecting the changes done here, too preoccupied to notice the person on the other end until I had entirely torn the door open.
Was it late to shut it on his face?
"Who is it?" the soft, curious voice of shin reaches me from behind. but the warning bell shrills as I backed a step away. My heart didn't hammer- but bones sure we're worried.
"Edmund?"
It comes off sloppy- and rightfully horrified. Neat but terrified.
"Lee!" he takes a step inside- I retreat one more.
"Edmund" this echoed as if I was scrapping at a negotiation. We can take buddy.
"Lee?" he did not want to talk.
An approximative of ten-second passed. And then we were all over-
"We are adults now. we can sit and talk through this" I scream running as he chased me down the hall.
"We are talking through" he jumps through the couch nearing, as I circled the chaise lounge- he looked bigger than before, also probably because I hadn't seen him in person for two years. He has changed so muc- " I prefer to talk with my fist"
Nope- he hasn't changed.
He was a fatheristic anomaly, but the industry screwed with his saintliness and little by little, he became this- this inked dude with the patience of an apple. He turns sour in minutes if left open.
I left him clueless for a week. So when I was tackled into the sofa with his fingers crushing my collars, I croaked.
"You weigh like a cow" he lifts me up with my shirt as I grab at his wrist, it was of no use- but I was acting out.
"You had a cow on top of you?" he wheezed tiredly after the active hunt.
"No" I whisper grinning "But if I had, I bet It'll be as heavy as you"
He did punch me then. A temporarily bruising one which I know there was no escape from because it's when Edmund resumed to behave In likes of a normal citizen. And a friend. Massaging my cheekbone I sat up once he got off me. His tattoo sleeve was veiled by his black leather jacket and his checkered shirt was as creased as mine.
"You could have avoided this?" he says, gaining his breaths. Running a hand through his brunette cluster. His shadowed beard may intimidate others. But I know he has it because Hailey hates it on him. He was still the golden president of Stuart beneath the rugged outlook. "I am probably the most forgiving one. Elzina wanted me to carry a baseball bat along so I could-
He swallows his sentence as his gaze lands on shin. The poor girl who had to witness this on a blissful Sunday morning for no reason, she stood cemented by the floor near where we were a while ago. Edmunds's neck snaps at my direction and I snuggle into the fuzzy couch with a smile.
He gradually seems to realize that with news of marriage printed across tabloids comes a wife.
"Did I just scarred my first impression?" he mouths, its barely a whisper. I nod as he got on his feet immediately. Shin forces an uncertain smile- slowly walking to us when Edmund dusted his jacket , scooping the last pride into a bucket as shin bowed.
Internally I groan at how courteous she was.
Edmund who had his hand extended- copies her right when she brings her out to reach him. They do this twice before they got a hold of it.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Shin Young" Edmund's intonation had been the deepest among us all, while mine falls more on the intense side and Alex to the cold and passive ones. So to watch the six feet two inches of him look down so tenderly at the small shin little shin and then at me was like getting an approval from a mother.
Even my mother doesn't do that.
"You know my name?" it morphes into a genuine happiness as Edmund shrugs.
"Of course I do. I memorized the name and face the day I found out about the wedding through the fan page of Lee on Instagram"
"You follow my fan page?"
"You have a fan page?"
We three were not on the same page. Wait- we weren't on the same book either. So I was flashing out my commercially acclaimed teeth after Shin's alter ego emerged at a crucial moment.
"Wait-" she inspects Edmunds's face, her nervousness vanishing in strips, "I think I know you"
Edmund flexes his posture, throwing a smug smile at me. he doesn't know Shin yet- so as he turned to her, she was there with the conspiracy plot twist.
"You are Hailey Howards Ex aren't you?"
She makes me so proud.
Bewildered Edmund merely blinks politely as I doubled over a fit of silent laughter. Shin softly gasp,
"I am so sorry. That's so disrespectful of me" she angles her head in guilt " Ex or not- I know you are a famous director. It's just I love her movies and- I shouldn't even be saying this and i-
"It's okay" the way Edmund tried to calm her down only cause my mirth to reciprocate. With my fist to mouth, I let my gaze stay crinkled at them "I like to be reminded of my past mistakes. It grounds me"
After he got innocently roasted by shin, he offered us that we sit and have a chat. Shin was quiet as usual- after she had confessed of her social phobia, it was the first wise I saw her interact with someone else other than me. A person she did not know or met. Yet she sat there so strong and composed- probably too busy tracking her thoughts. I wish I could help her, If only she was as transparent as Edmunds's punch to tell me exactly how it feels or just what she needs.
As for Edmund- he was here because of work. Had been since three days- he filled me in with everything that had taken place in Orlando so far- and It made me comprehend how terribly I miss them all. In the middle of the narration, another bell tings- cutting his words as Edmund got up. Shin was sipping on a carton of Australian hazelnut and choco milk that Edmund had brought for us. we finished it a while ago- but since shin looks like a slow drinker, she still had the straw preached between her lips. She wasn't even drinking.
"You don't like it?" I ask in the absence of Edmund "You can give it to me if you don't"
She releases the straw and looks at me, her lidded eyes wide like a doll. She was a doll.
Shut up Lee!
"It's not that" she bites her lower lip in all seriousness "It's just that, I am lactose intolerant and i-
Two footsteps ascends and we both look at its owner- the person who was tailing with multiple luggage bags behind Edmund wasn't a stranger. it was me who fetched Aldo Fischer his job- how or why, was a difficult question to answer. But I had nothing against this harmless dude. Contrary to it I pity at how harsh Edmund is to him.
Mr. Fischers face lights up as soon as he sees me, but when it falls on the shin, a loud shuffle of bags tackling down his shoulders fills the void. He points at shin, unhurriedly with susceptible gaze and utters one acknowledging word-
"You"
For her answer- shin chokes. She wasn't even drinking but lifts her index asking for a minute. We give her that. She uses it to clear her throat- her eyes rigid on Mr. Fischer.
"You both know each other?" a confused Edmund trades his gaze by both of them. I do too- what was it that we are not seeing?
I had never seen shin volunteer to reply so fast. She picks herself up with an unyielding smile and grabbed Mr.Fischers hand as if in welcome. Mr. Fischer still stood there- his eyes held the melancholy that wasn't adding up with shins chirpy addressing.
"We- actually met at a church nearby"
To which I had to ask with a suspicious arc of the brow.
"You went to a church?"
To which Edmund had to know-
"There is a church nearby?"
Nope- we certainly aren't on the same page are we?
So...
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