“Nice.” She stubs the smoke out in a dish set on the railing. “So you and Yujun are a real thing? You think it’s going to last?”

I think of our trip to the top of Namsan Tower and how he had me look through the viewfinder at the people in Busan. I’d spun up dreams that maybe we could write and he would visit me and I would visit him and perhaps something lasting might form. That night seems another lifetime ago.

“No.”

“How was he?”

I arch an eyebrow.

“I can tell you slept with him. You have that look. That and you have a small bruise on your neck.”

I clap a hand around my throat. “You’re kidding.” I sat in front of Wansu with a hickey? Is that why she said we had soft feelings for each other?

“Nah.” Jules smirks. “But your response tells me everything I need to know.”

“You’re evil.” I drop my hand away.

“I have a shitty job and a nonexistent love life. I have to get my thrills in where I can. So how was he?”

“If he was a tourist attraction, the national debt would be retired,” I admit.

“That good? I’m going to have to shoot my shot after you leave.”

“The hell you will. Try it and I’ll murder you.”

Jules’s eyes drop to my hands, which I realize I’ve fisted at my sides.

“Not going to try to make it last but you’re ready to go to prison at the thought of him being with another woman. Make it make sense.” Jules makes a tsking sound.

“Maybe I’ll just murder you for being annoying.”

“They hated her for she spoke the truth,” Jules says, her chin in the air. She pushes away from the deck and heads toward the house. I make a booing sound as I follow her inside. My plans to make my trip to Seoul into a beautiful memory are going to take a lot of work.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“There you are,” Sangki cries when I climb out of the subway. He rips the bouquet out of Yujun’s hands and runs forward to embrace me. “Are you taking a picture of us?” he calls over his shoulder to Yujun, who is standing a few feet away with an endearing smile playing around his lips.

Yujun, who always looks delicious, is wearing a fairly form-fitting white T-shirt with interlocking Cs across his chest tucked into a pair of flat-front black slacks. His brown eyes are covered in big tinted shades and I’d like to go over and lick the column of his neck where his vein sits prominently. Will I ever be able to forget him? I avert my gaze in an effort to hide my reaction, but when Sangki starts laughing, I know I’ve been caught.

“Are you happy to see me?” he says between bursts.

“Of course.” I try to keep my eyes on the man in front of me and not the one waiting patiently ten feet away. I’m so glad I bought a new outfit. Down in the underground shopping centers, clothes are cheap and plentiful. It was easy to find a short black miniskirt and an oversize off-white cotton top with black trim. The wide neck shows off my collarbones, and despite the volume, the cut makes me look slender. I even have a pair of new flats I purchased for the criminally low price of twenty thousand won. They might fall apart tomorrow, but they’re perfect for now. I guess that’s my new life motto. Tomorrow may be miserable, but this moment is great.