Much like my bedroom in the manor, my office is another shrine to my memory. Untouched and kept clean, I cast my eyes at his straight, strong back and follow him in silence. My heart throbbing, and my mind messy. Thinking of the importance of that detail when I know, unlike the house, Jyeon has complete control of what happens at OLO. Mother may have retained my bedroom, but this is all Jyeon.“In here.” Jyeon opens the familiar heavy wooden door, missing its stationed receptionist as all employees are downstairs enjoying free food. He pulls aside to let me wander in, and it’s a relief to see he’s updated this space. The uptight sense of déjà vu doesn’t happen because it no longer feels like Jyeon’s office in OLO HQ. It’s nothing like it used to be and doesn’t feel like walking into another time warp.I glance around at the grey décor, the new furnishings, the complete lack of memories of before. The

“Here, it’s hot. Drink slowly.” Jyeon hands me the warm mug of coffee carefully and moves the tissue box from my lap. Now I no longer need it and seem reasonably sane. He’s sitting on the coffee table opposite me now that I’m calm again, and yet his eyes are glued to my face while I stare at my milky brown beverage. It feels like it’s been hours since she left, although the reality is it’s been less than thirty minutes.“You should go downstairs and show face. The employees will notice your absence and wonder why. They saw us in the building, and word spreads fast.” I remind him softly, needing the breathing space now I’ve stopped acting like an emotional wreck. I’m embarrassed by how easily I fall apart around this man nowadays. I am exhausted and tired of how coming back here has been nothing but one tear fest after another and messes me up. Opening wounds I never wanted re-opened, and yet here we are, pullin

“I have a life where I ended up. Friends, a job, a make-shift family. I’m happy there, and I don’t want to come back here to pick up where I left off. I’m not the same Sohla anymore.”“But I’m your family. You have a life here, a job… friends. What about us, what about what we need?” Yoonha starts to protest, his brows lowering and that subtle hurt coming back. Pouting and reverting to kid. The spoiled little rich master of the family, Park was always given everything he wanted by all of us. He can’t comprehend that his feelings won’t and don’t factor into my choices.“And you have coped just fine for two years without me, Yoonie. You don’t need me here anymore.”“Yes, I do. Who said I coped? Were you here? Did you see? …You have no idea what it’s been like with you dead. Don’t tell me we coped without you because it’s not even fucking true.

“Maybe not my best idea. I didn’t think it through. Yeah… I get it. I’m not the clearest of thinkers when it comes to Sohla. I never have been. It was a dumb idea, and I apologize.” Jyeon looks down at the phone on the table, somewhat sheepish and awkward for a second, yet it gives me weird butterflies. The more I see him lately, the worse my stupid inner reactions to him are getting. And him admitting to being wrong. I should film it for prosperity as Jyeon of the past was never wrong.I kept expecting him to revert to the cold and heartless Jyeon of the past the longer we’re here, but instead, it feels like we are growing closer, and he’s warming up with every encounter. Losing his awkwardness around me and relaxing. Maybe I am too, and I never imagined I would freely accept an invitation like tonight from him without questioning it first. The truth is I wanted to see him. I’m getting used to his presence daily again, and I m

“What are you doing?” I accuse, widening my eyes at him, and am silenced by the complete lack of regret on his smiling face. Nose to nose, breathing combined air, and eyes locked on one another. Static in the air sizzling between us and my heart rate and breathing ups a gear in unison, making me so light-headed I fear I might actually pass out. Jyeon doesn’t seem fazed at all.“I really want to kiss you properly. Remember what that’s like. You have no idea how much I have held back from doing this for the past hour. You’re crazy sexy in this dress.” He utters it softly, so his words tickle my lips, and I instinctively suck in my bottom one to bite it. A nervous habit I picked up along the past two years, realizing a little too late that it’s a significant turn-on for him, and he leans in and kisses me again.I see it coming this time, and even though it gives me a chance to stop it or escape, I don’t move. Holding s