Chapter 3 #2
The high ceiling and large windows let in lots of natural light, although those windows could really do with a clean.
I somehow didn’t think that this space belonged to Wendy at all.
It was simply too macho for her. Knowing her fashion choices – rather radiant, feminine and creative – I didn’t think she would go for something so masculine and austere.
Even for an abandoned warehouse like this, it would have been really expensive to buy such a large building in New York. And to have bought it and not be fully utilizing it – it was almost a crime.
Kai came back to the lounge area after finishing up whatever he was doing with his team.
“Are you feeling better?” I had a feeling Kai didn’t know what else to say to me.
“Long time no see.” My sarcastic tone sounded more bitter than I had imagined, which wasn’t a bad thing. Bitter was good too.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. His eyes had the power to melt me, make my knees weak, and reduce all my logic to nothing.
“Yes, I just landed.” Kai volunteered that information. “I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. Things have been crazy back home.”
Needless to say. Because the truth was, things had been crazy for everyone for the last few years.
Every. Single. Person. On. This. Earth.
On that note, I really had no reason to be mad at him for disappearing. I didn’t know why I was being so harsh when it came to him.
Fine. If I really had to spit out a reason, it was because three years ago he was kind of leading me on.
And I thought we were going somewhere. Seriously.
I even bought some sexy lingerie that’s still sitting in my wardrobe, tags and the original wrapping still on.
I wanted to take them back to the shop, but I wasn’t going to let the shopkeeper think that I couldn’t keep a man.
That might be true. But nope. I wasn’t going to let people talk.
“How are you?” I still sounded bitter.
“I’m fine. I’ve missed you.” He smiled and my heart skipped a beat. Damn him. “I’ve missed Link, and I’ve missed New York.”
Fuck. Of course. He didn’t really miss me. That was just something he said to everyone.
Stop being so pathetic. I really should work on that when it comes to him.
This man in front of me was my first ever crush. His smile alone could cure cancer, my cancer anyway. I didn’t think he would still have that power over me today, not any more after all these years, but how wrong I was.
I didn’t know if this was true for everyone. But sometimes you come across someone in your life who has the power to make you crazy, to make you an unreasonable bitch. Simply because they would never see you the way you see them, love you back the way you love them. Life could be so unfair.
Oh well, I tried to knock some sense into myself and reminded myself that I was no longer a silly teen crushing hard for my brother’s bestie.
Wendy broke my train of thought as she walked into the living room with a tray of refreshments – a variety of cut up fruit and some cookies. Yum cookies. “Where are your bodyguards?”
“Downstairs,” Kai replied without thinking. I could have bodyguards too if I wanted, and Wendy could have been talking to me.
“Right.” Wendy adjusted her robe awkwardly – seemingly having just gotten out of bed not too long ago. “I’m helping Trev with his warehouse project and staying here from time to time.”
Trev as in Trevon Smith? Lincoln’s other best friend?
I thought that it was strange that Wendy tried to hide her whereabouts during our call earlier. What was that girl hiding? “So, you planned for Kai to come here?”
“Oh no, that wasn’t planned. He came uninvited.” Kai cleared his throat, and I wasn’t sure what he did that for. Part of me was glad that they weren’t meeting here privately, using their friend’s place as some kind of love nest.
“I called the police of course. I just needed you to lure him somewhere quiet so the police could get to work.” I nodded.
Sure. It made sense. But she still wasn’t telling me the whole truth, though it didn’t really bother me.
She would tell me when the time was right, or not, completely up to her.
It was never my right to nose in other people’s business.
Kai stood up and started wandering the hallway.
“Which bedroom should I take? I need somewhere to stay.” Wendy followed him around but didn’t say anything.
I couldn’t watch the two of them any longer, as much as I wanted to see Kai embarrass himself. “Mr. Li, a word please. In the kitchen.”
Explaining to Kai that Wendy and Trevon probably needed their space was tricky.
Kai would never understand why his bachelor best friend would be interested in a relationship after all these years.
Trevon was a gorgeous man, but he was interested in money, in making his business a success, more than women, and that was why he hadn’t been in a relationship for so long.
“I think Wendy and Trevon might want a little privacy.”
“What for?” Kai asked innocently.
“Hello…” I jerked my eyebrows up and down hoping Kai would finally get the hint.
“How sure are you that they’re seeing each other?” Kai wouldn’t budge on the idea of staying at the warehouse.
“Not a hundred percent. But would you want to mess it up for Trevon, even if there was only a one percent chance that they could be interested in each other?”
I felt a presence behind me and turned around to find Wendy lurking. The woman’s smile was strange, but if I had to guess, she was trying to say thank you. But then, that was just a wild guess.
“Just thirsty for some water.” Wendy tiptoed around us.
“Is there any reason why you aren’t staying at your own place?” Her voice a little timid.
Wendy was right. I knew that Kai and my brother had the habit of staying at each other’s properties, but that was only when they didn’t have a place of their own. A few years ago, Kai practically lived in one of Link’s apartments in Myrtle Beach for a year.
“Funny story,” Kai started to explain. He frowned a deep frown that was somehow…appealing.
“Not that funny actually. I showed up at my own place today and found my um–” he paused for a long second, “someone was living there. So, I need some place else to stay instead.”
Simultaneously, Wendy looked my way, and I gave her a glance back. I wanted to know who was staying with Kai so I could get jealous. Wendy though, probably just wanted the gossip.
“Who is it?” Wendy was much more eager than me.
I leaned in, in hopes that it would pressure him into talking. Because if he was seeing someone, I would want to know. Always.
“Did you do something? Is she mad at you?” Wendy pressed on.
“Maybe.” He swallowed so hard it practically echoed through the room. “I just need to leave her alone.”
Pride filled Wendy’s face. “Sure, leave her alone.”
Okay, right then I realized that Wendy just made Kai confirm that it was a woman. And he was probably trying to hide her, and she was possibly mad at him. “I think you should stay with June.”
Now that took me by surprise.
I couldn’t believe what Wendy just said and I wished that she’d choke on her water. “Thanks Wendy. I don’t need–”
“That’s a great idea actually.” Kai grinned at Wendy, then me.
“I think someone like you can afford a hotel.” Part of me wanted Kai to stay with me.
Since I had been dreaming about seeing him, waking up to the sight of him since I was eighteen.
But I really couldn’t risk having my world turned upside down anymore.
Not at this age. If I were to see someone now, it would be my forever , not Mr. Playboy Kai.
“Sure. I could ask your sister-in-law. I’m sure the James’ or the Thompsons would make one of their best suites available for me. But I really hate hotels.” He was right about that. He was one phone call away from the best hotel suite in New York.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you hate hotels?” I had met up with him in hotels before, but I had no idea that he hated them. And no, we weren’t meeting up for a screw.
“I can’t say.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “If you don’t tell, you can’t stay with me. You know I could make those phone calls myself, I’m sure the Thompsons would help me out as they would you.”
That much was true. I had met Chloe’s friends, Emily and her family. Their family had hotels in every corner of the world. There wasn’t a major city on Earth that they hadn’t built their hotels in. Okay, a slight exaggeration on my part, Pyongyang and a few others might be an exception.
I knew I shouldn’t tease him but still, it was fun. After what I had suffered through this morning, I would much prefer to see someone else in agony, and Kai was an obvious choice. “Because all hotel rooms are haunted, and I’m scared of ghosts.”
Wendy almost spit out her water and Kai smiled.
“Fine.” I tried not to laugh. I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I knew that a lot of Asians believed in ghosts, my mother included. “On second thought, you have bodyguards, right? What do you hire them for?”
I tried to keep a straight face. I tried really hard.
“Oh yes, they will need to stay with us,” he said shamelessly as if I had already promised to let him stay.
“What?”
“I think you need another tea.” Wendy excused herself from the now slightly heated conversation.
“You won’t even know they’re there. I promise.”
My idea of having Kai to myself had been shattered. I didn’t factor in his precious bodyguards who never left his side. How naive was I?
And suddenly, I remembered what Chloe told me years ago when Link’s life was in danger. Kai and his family always had security in plain sight, protecting him wherever he went, and ready to pounce on anyone who might cause him harm.
“Like ninjas.” I recalled saying the same words to Chloe.
“Exactly.”