Chapter 17 #2
“How do you feel about this, Lux-ah?” Lalo asks him quietly as the others join in on Tang’s boycott.
“I hate it. I hate her,” he snarls. “But I don’t know what else to do either. I think if we tried to do something to stop her, it would turn into a much bigger problem for all of us.”
“She probably knows that,” I comment, the thought just now occurring to me.
I wonder if that was her actual intention all along.
“She may have figured out she doesn’t really have to do anything like release the photos, because there’s nothing we can do to stop her without causing a messier situation for ourselves.
Damn. She might be more clever than I originally gave her credit for. ”
“Keep us in the loop, please,” Chita requests. “I don’t know how we’d help, but, like Jase said, we’ll try to figure something out.”
“I appreciate all of you,” I say honestly.
Sun elbows me. “We appreciate all of you.”
??? ???
“Not aga-aa-in!” Nikko whines as he and Jase lose another round of the game we’re playing..
Sun practically collapses in a heap, laughing at Nikko’s distress and Jase’s complete cluelessness at what went wrong. “How are you so bad at everything?”
Jase looks offended for about three seconds before he seems to realize he can’t make any sort of argument against the accusation. The evidence is heavily stacked against him after a couple tense matches of yutnori and a decisive loss at cards earlier. “I’m American. That’s my excuse.”
Everyone cracks up, including Taeha and Mihyun, who have loosened up significantly over the course of the evening.
While they had been warned they’d need to keep the details of game night to themselves, they were still more than a little surprised to show up at Jase’s place and be greeted by two members of RYSING.
Mihyun had been especially stunned, as it turns out he is a Chita-biased fan of the group.
It had taken him more than a few moments to recover and speak freely, but then Sun had informed him that Chita was his roommate and was definitely at home, one floor up, and he would be happy to invite him down.
Mihyun had refused, saying that was not necessary and blushing an intense shade of red while Taeha begged him to please, please call him.
Sun had eventually taken mercy on Mihyun, but promised to arrange a casual run-in sometime in the future.
It was enough to break the ice, though, and make everybody pretty comfortable, even more so once the beer and soju came out.
Nikko in particular seemed to be living his best life, getting to play host to new friends in the home he shares with his boyfriend.
He barely sits down before popping up again to refill drinks or snacks.
Noticing Jase’s besotted smile as he watches Nikko enjoying himself makes me wonder how I look when I’ve got my eyes on Sun.
Probably like someone stumbling out of the dark and seeing daylight for the first time in weeks.
He’s got me so whipped and he knows it—everyone knows it.
Jase took one look at me and Sun when we showed up and bit his lip to keep from laughing as he said, “Nice outfits,” referring to the matching denim and designer t-shirts Sun had talked me into.
Despite my protest against couples clothes with Chaeji, I am very much powerless when it comes to saying ‘no’ to Sun.
“I know you’re trying your best,” Nikko says soothingly, patting at Jase’s cheek. “I just wish your best was a little bit better.”
“Oh my god, that was savage!” Sun loses it again, almost throwing himself off the couch as he cackles. Seeing him as happy as he has been all night is a welcome respite from the stress and anxiety of the last couple weeks of living with the Chaeji Situation.
Noel comes running in from the other room, where she’d retreated earlier after deciding we were not interesting enough for her to grace with her presence. She barks at Sun, takes a look in Jase’s direction and the aghast expression he’s got on his face, then prances over to lick Nikko.
“You traitor,” Jase grumbles as Nikko laughs.
While everyone else fusses over Noel, Taeha leans over and quietly asks, “So how’s the… predicament?”
“I don’t know how to answer that, to be honest. I think Sun would start a cat fight with her if given the opportunity, and I hate having it hang over my head.
But she hasn’t made it worse, I guess? She’s not upping the stakes or anything.
Just be seen with her and play along. I think she has an audition coming up?
” I shrug. “I don’t know; I’m just supposed to meet her tomorrow night at some party for another entertainment company. ”
“Don’t forget what I said about shady connections,” he murmurs. “Just in case.”
“I really hope it doesn’t come to that, but it is good to know,” I say.
“So, what’s next?” Jase questions, looking around at the stack of games piled up in the corner, a mix of Korean classics and ones he says are American favorites.
“How about something without teams?” Nikko suggests and Jase pokes him in the ribs.
Mihyun turns to Jase. “Are there any you might have a chance of being good at?”
I try not to laugh, but I’m not entirely successful as Jase throws his hands up in the air.
“I’m good at lots of things! Just none of these things you have to apparently play from birth to understand!” he complains, causing another round of snorts and chuckling. “I open up my home to you, and this is what I get in return!”
“You are very good at many things, and I’ll let you do all of them to me tonight after everyone goes home,” Nikko teases with a smirk.
“That’s it. Everyone out!” Jase says, loud enough that he startles Noel into scampering back to her haven in their bedroom.
We don’t leave immediately, but it doesn’t take too long for the feeling of overstaying our welcome to settle in with the way Nikko keeps winking at Jase and Jase getting awfully handsy in return.
There’s unanimous agreement that we’ll be doing this again—the six of us getting together—and I even volunteer my apartment for the next one.
I have never offered to host anything before, nor have I ever wanted to, but I can see this is a good thing—for all of us—and I want to do my part to cultivate it.
“Be careful down the hall, don’t talk to strangers, drive safe!” Jase calls as he shoos us out of the door, Nikko giggling behind him.
After Sun and I say our goodbyes to Taeha and Mihyun, he grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairwell. “This way.”
“You want me to walk you the long way home?” I joke, but follow anyway, the all-concrete-everything of the space a sharp contrast to the high-end finishes of the rest of the building.
Sun hops up a step so we’re eye-to-eye and leans in to kiss me, slow and tantalizing, until we both have to pull away to breathe. “I want you to come with me. Want you to fuck me in my own bed.”
I swallow hard enough I can hear it. We’ve never done that, and haven’t done anything at Sun’s place since that first blow job. “You said Chita was at home.”
“He is,” Sun says, all nonchalance. “We’ll just have to be quiet. Can you do that?”
“Can you?” I counter, because he’s definitely the louder of the two of us.
I love all the sounds he makes when he’s out of control and desperate to come.
But there’s something tempting about the idea of slow, silent sex, like I’m back in my dorm room at university, thinking I’m being sneaky with the girl I brought back and my roommate sleeping on the other side of a shared wall.
“Guess we’ll find out.” He turns and takes off up the steps.
I’m right behind him.