Chapter 14 #2
I blink. “Minji.” My hand stills on her hip. “You’re kicking me out? I told you I wasn’t going to fuck you unless we gave us a chance—”
She sits up, pulling the sheet around her body like armor. “I told you I couldn’t promise you anything beyond tonight.” I sit up as well, keeping some space between us. “I meant it, Aaron. Tonight was great, really. But it can’t be more than what it was.”
Her eyes meet mine. There’s no hesitation there, no doubt, just cool certainty. This isn’t the aftermath of passion speaking—this is the Minji Lee.
“You’re serious.” It’s not a question.
“Completely.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “I think you’re confusing who I am now with some idealized version from your past. The Minji you had a crush on, who slept in your bed, doesn’t exist anymore. That Minji was open, hopeful and she believed in possibilities. I’m not her.”
“I’m not looking for who you used to be,” I argue, feeling something important slipping through my fingers. “I want to know who you are now.”
She shakes her head. “No, you want to write a story where the cynical divorce attorney falls for the romantic writer and rediscovers love. That’s not my story, Aaron.”
“That’s not fair, you’re assuming things.” I reach for her hand, but she pulls away.
“It’s completely fair. You’ve been chasing the ghost of someone I outgrew years ago. Tonight was about sex—great sex—but that’s all it can be.”
The finality in her voice hits me like a physical blow. I stand up, suddenly feeling exposed in more ways than just my nakedness.
“So that’s it?” I ask, locating my boxers on the floor. “We fuck, I leave and tomorrow we pretend this never happened?”
Minji sighs, running a hand through her tousled hair. “Not exactly. We acknowledge it happened, but we don’t repeat it. We maintain professional boundaries until your shadowing is complete.”
I pull on my pants. “And if I can’t do that? What if I can’t just compartmentalize this—us—the way you can?”
“Then that’s your problem to solve, not mine.” Her voice softens slightly, but the message remains unchanged. “I was clear about what I could offer.”
“No, you weren’t,” I counter, buttoning my shirt. “You said you couldn’t promise anything beyond tonight. That’s different from saying tonight is all there would ever be.”
She stands, wrapping the sheet tighter around herself. “I’m sorry if I wasn’t explicit enough. But I’m being explicit now. I don’t want a relationship with you, Aaron. Not because you’re not wonderful—you are—but because I don’t want what you’re offering. With anyone.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s not my concern.” She disappears into the closet and comes back out with a robe on and the sheet in hand.
The way she executes the transition—from naked and vulnerable to fully covered and composed—is like watching her put her lawyer persona back on.
I finish buttoning my shirt, feeling like I’m being dismissed from court.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” I clarify. “Tonight wasn’t just physical for me.”
She crosses her arms, her expression softening slightly. “Aaron, I enjoyed tonight. But I need you to understand something fundamental about me. The Minji you knew in college—that idealistic, open-hearted girl—she’s gone. Life happened. Relationships failed. I changed.”
“People evolve; I get that—”
“No.” She cuts me off. “You don’t get it, because if we did we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You’re still holding onto some fantasy of who I was or who I could be. But this—” She gestures to herself “—is who I am. I don’t believe in happily ever after.”
“So, tonight was just scratching an itch?”
“It was amazing sex between two consenting adults,” she says. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
I search her face for any sign of conflict, any hint that she’s fighting the same attraction I am, but her expression remains resolute. That damn poker face of hers.
“I think you’re lying to yourself.”
Her jaw tightens. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
You think you know me better than I know myself.
You think beneath this exterior is still that girl from your memories, just waiting for the right man to bring her back to life.
” She shakes her head. “That’s not how it works, Aaron.
That girl is dead and buried. She’s not coming back. ”
I’ve spent years crafting stories where love conquers all, where people find their way back to each other despite all odds. But standing here in Minji’s bedroom, I’m confronted with a reality my books don’t prepare readers for—sometimes, people change too fundamentally to find their way back.
“I should go.” I locate my shoes by the bedroom door.
“That would be best.”
I pause at the doorway, turning back to look at her. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re selling yourself short.”
She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “And I think you’re confusing reality with fiction. That’s the difference between us, Aaron. You write stories where love transforms people. I deal with the aftermath when it doesn’t.”
I want to argue, to make her see what I see, that beneath all her armor is a woman capable of profound feeling. But the set of her shoulders, the look in her eyes, tells me it would be futile.
“I’ll see you at the office.”
“I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” I remind her.
“Right. Monday, then.”
I want to cross the room, to shake her, to make her admit there was something real between us. Instead, I nod and move toward the door.
“Aaron,” she calls just as my hand touches the knob.
I turn, hope flickering despite everything. “Yes?”
Her expression softens for a moment, so briefly I almost think I imagined it. “Tonight was… I enjoyed it. I just don’t want you to misunderstand what it meant. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”
“I get it,” I say, though I don’t. Not really. “You’ve made yourself very clear.”
The elevator ride down to the lobby feels eternal.
I lean against the wall, closing my eyes against the harsh lighting that suddenly seems to be drilling into my skull.
How did I misread things so badly? The way she responded to me, the way she called my name, the way she looked at me when she came… none of it felt like ‘just sex.’
Outside, the night air hits me like a splash of cold water. The city continues around me—taxis honking, late-night partiers laughing, street vendors closing up shop—completely indifferent to my inner turmoil. My phone buzzes with a notification that my car is approaching.
I spot Axel’s name on my screen too—three missed calls and a text asking where I disappeared to.
I should respond, but I can’t summon the energy to explain that I left his launch party to chase after a woman who just used me for sex and then kicked me out.
Maybe Minji is right, maybe I’ve been living in a fantasy world of my own creation for too long.