“Aera, what are you saying?”
Yoongi watched as his fiancé took her engagement ring off. Her face twisted in pain.
“I’m sorry, Yoongi. I know our appas arranged our engagement for their own purposes, but I never agreed to it. You are a very nice young man, and I don’t want to hurt you. But I am not in love with you. And I never will be. I love Eun. Last night, he asked me to marry him. He has enough money that he doesn’t need Appa’s favor or fortune, so neither do I. I’m eloping.” Her face was flowing with sympathetic emotions. “I hope you find a girl you truly love and are able to marry her. You and I would have made each other miserable.”
This was the most civil she’d ever been to him. They had fought like cats and dogs from day one of their relationship. She was usually so ill-tempered. Perhaps, this was why.
“Aera, how long have you been in love with Eun?”
“For nearly a year. Appa found out about him two months ago. Which is why he was in such a hurry to marry me off. He knew that Eun threatened his plans to use me for leverage in the business world.” Her mouth twisted bitterly. “But it turns out I’ve outwitted him after all.” She pierced him with her dark eyes. “As long as you wait two days to tell anyone I’ve left you. Will you do that for me?”
He would certainly do it for himself. He had absolutely no desire to marry this girl and make them both miserable. But the engagement had already been a done deal by the time he’d learned her true character. He hadn’t felt like he could honorably back out of it. But it appeared Aera was doing what he could not do.
“Thank you,” he breathed, with feeling. “Be happy, Aera!”
“You too, Yoongi. May you find a woman worthy of you.” With those parting words, she left him to stare out at the empty street.
They’d met at a little hole-in-the-wall diner at one o’clock in the morning. He hadn’t been able to sleep. He’d been nursing a glass of wine and attempting to rub away the resultant headache when she’d texted him. He discovered now that the headache had resolved on its own. Probably out of relief that she had left him. He would not be chained to her for life now. Today was the best day of his life.
He picked up his glass of wine and sipped it as he watched the rain suddenly cascade out of the heavens in a downpour that instantly drenched everything.
“Excuse me, sir?” A beautiful woman materialized before him.
Yoongi gazed up at her. He smiled. She was quite lovely.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we’re closing now. Can you head home alone?”
“Alone? Yes, I am completely alone now. Thank God. I didn’t think He dabbled in the affairs of men. But after tonight, I have to wonder. That was a crazy close-run thing. Almost had to marry the cranky chit. We would have been absolutely miserable together.”
Yoongi wasn’t usually so effusive. The alcohol had loosened his tongue.
Nari recognized a drunk when she saw one. The question was: how could she get him to head safely home?
“Sir, did you drive here tonight?”
He shook his head. “I just live two blocks away. I walked.”
She glanced out the window at the pouring rain. He’d be a soaked drunk in five minutes if he left now.
“Why don’t you sit here and enjoy your wine? I have to finish cleaning up. Then I’ll walk you home. I have an umbrella.”
He stared up at her gorgeous face. “You’re going to walk me home? What did I do to deserve such a wonderful offer from such a beautiful woman?”
“You got drunk,” she spoke frankly as her eyes traveled outside again, “and it’s pouring rain out there. Besides, I live just around the corner too. What’s the name of your apartment building?”
“Edmonds Commons.”
Her eyes widened. “No way. That’s where I live too.” She furrowed her brow. “Are you still in high school? You don’t look it.”
He nodded. “I graduate in two months. Then it’s off to the marriage gallows.” He frowned. “No, wait. I’m not getting married anymore. She broke it off.”
A grin the Cheshire Cat would have been jealous of suddenly broadened his face. “Wanna go out with me? I’m a free man now,” he chuckled with delight. “The cranky girl fell in love with a cranky guy and left me! Haha! I’m free!”
Nari shook her head. Why was it that all guys were the same when they were drunk?
But as she gazed down at him, she realized that wasn’t even remotely true. He was quite a happy drunk. And she hadn’t seen many of those in her time. Though, she was very experienced with drunks.
She’d graduated a year ago from high school. She’d insisted she wanted to work this job and live in her own apartment. It had taken some work to convince her parents, but here she was. Finally.
“Don’t you think you should let your heart heal before you ask another girl out?”
“I didn’t ask that girl out. Our appas arranged our wedding. But she left me for another guy, so I am freeeee!” His eyes slid over her face. “And you’re cute!”
He was definitely an improvement. The eyes of most guys in his state were not traveling across her face.
“Look, sweetie, I’m not in the market for a boyfriend. Especially not one who drinks to excess. I want babies someday soon. And a sober appa for them.”
His eyes widened. “I could give you babies, I could.”
She quirked a dark eyebrow at him and grinned. “Could you now? I’m betting you couldn’t even get yourself home in the state you’re in. Let alone find your way to making babies. But thanks for the offer. You’re cute too.”
She was chuckling as she walked away to begin setting the chairs up on the tables. She still had to mop before she could go home. She yawned. Today had been a long day. Her parents had taken her out for breakfast and pressed her about marrying one of their candidates. She was so tired of that game.
She always politely refused them. But it was wearing. Being foisted off on someone else for monetary gain. She glanced over at the cute guy nursing his glass of wine. She understood his pain. The only difference was…her parents loved her enough to give her a choice. Thank God for that. She shuddered as she thought about being in this guy’s shoes.
A moment later, as she was lifting a chair off the floor to flip it upside down on top of the table, she heard an odd sound. She glanced up to find the cute guy setting chairs on tables.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Helping you. So you can go home sooner.”
Puzzled, she froze and simply watched him. Had any guy ever helped her? Not like this one. That was for sure. She smiled at him.
What a sweetheart.
“Sweetie, you don’t have to do that. I get paid to do this.”
“Not very much, I’d wager,” he breathed as he set another chair on its table.
“But you’re not making anything.”
“Hopefully, I’m making an impression,” he murmured provocatively as his dark eyes probed hers from a few feet away.
Was he not as drunk as she’d first believed? He seemed oddly coherent right now. And his deep, dark eyes were making an impression.
“I’m not drunk. I’m just elated,” he murmured a moment later as he grabbed the mop from the bucket and began to slide it across the floor.
He was making a mess. He had clearly never mopped a floor in his life. He hadn’t wrung out the mop before he slid it across the floor.
“Hey! Let me do that! You have to wring it out first.” She crossed the room towards him and reached for the mop.
Her hand brushed his where it clung to the mop. His eyes collided with hers. But he still didn’t release the mop into her custody.
“Look, I’m tired. If you really want to help me, keep putting the chairs on the tables. I can’t leave until this floor is clean and dry.”
With a sigh, he released the mop and finished stacking chairs on the tables while she mopped.
When she was finished, she asked, “Do you want to finish your wine, or can I return that glass to the dishwasher?”
“I’m done. Are you really going to walk me home?”
She sized him up. He was a little tipsy but not as smashed as she’d first believed. Which might make him more of a threat. She did have that can of pepper spray in her purse if he tried anything. And walking with him might be safer than walking without him. She took a deep breath and inhaled.
“Just let me take your wine glass to the kitchen.”
“Okay,” he responded clearly.
A few moments later, they escaped through the front door which she turned back towards and locked. She could feel him standing right behind her. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Was she crazy to be walking home in the dark with a stranger? At two o’clock in the morning?
