Park and Violet (8 page)

      She clenched her teeth harder. How could he know her so well in such a short span of time? “Yes, it’s killing me. I’d rather you go to hell but for now, I have to say this.” She took a deep breath, felt her face go green, and said, “Thank you.” And she immediately wanted to puke right after.

      Park laughed. He patted her head. “There, there,” he said with sham solemnity. “You know I always help weak damsels in distress like you.”

      Her cheeks reddened in anger. “Don’t. Push. It.”

      Park pointed to the door. “Oh. Look. There’s your class. Lots of strangers there.”

      Her face went back to green. “You. Bastard.”

      Park howled in laughter. “That’s the spirit.”

* * * *

      Violet’s first day in a Japanese university, which had given her nightmares the past few nights, was the best she had in recent years.

      Park figuratively and literally held her hand all throughout. He had no problems sitting in every class with her since he knew all her professors. If he was a little late in coming in, having stopped to talk with some of his friends in the hallway, he would only have to glare at whichever hapless guy had the misfortune of choosing a seat next to her, and the chair would be immediately vacated.

      Arrogant Asian Yeti. She thought of those moments with secret fondness.

      But then, it wasn’t perfect. There were also times Violet wished Park was somewhere else–like when he couldn’t stop laughing like mad every time she mispronounced a word. Those moments she didn’t remember too fondly.

      In every class they had been in, most of the other kids appeared star struck, the sight of Park rendering him speechless. At first, Violet had wondered if it was just because he was the hottest-looking guy in this side of the world–and he was. But as the day progressed, she realized it wasn’t just that. It was mostly because of how he acted…with her.

      By the time Park had to leave for his own class—advanced Japanese for business—Violet felt well enough to handle the rest of her classes alone.

      He stood outside the door of her next class, looking down at her with a frown. “You sure?”

      She nodded, blowing him a kiss. “Thanks to my ever-attractive hero!” Although Violet meant every word, she said them just because she knew it would make Park uncomfortable.

      Park’s cheeks stained with color. “Violet,” he threatened.

      She grinned, throwing her hands up in surrender. “That’s it, I promise. Ceasefire…” She grinned. “For now.”

      “For now,” Park echoed, his tone a bit resigned.

      Raising herself on her toes, she whispered in his ear, “But honestly, Park, thanks. You’re the best.”

      Park practically leapt away from her with a snarl.

      She laughed, having guessed right that even though Park liked to one-up her, he wouldn’t dare do so in public.

      His eyes narrowed at the sound of her laughter.

      Or so she thought.

      Violet gulped at the look in Park’s eyes. “Err…”

      “You just wait when we get back to the dorm,” he said very softly, his words only for her. His eyes caressed her head to toe, staying a little too long on her breasts, enough to have her nipples harden.

      Oh my God!

      Violet crossed her arms over her chest with a gasp.

      “Later,” he said with a mock salute.

      “No, wait, Park!”

      But he was already walking away.

      “I take it back!” she called after him weakly. “You’re not my hero.” But he was already gone.

Chapter Eight

      Violet was still worriedly gnawing on her lip, wondering what kind of evil revenge Park had in mind for her, when she found herself surrounded by a gaggle of girls the moment Park disappeared from view. It took her a while to understand that all those questions were about Park.

      How did she know him? Did she like him? Were they dating?

      Her anxiety came back in full force without warning.

      She knew the girls meant well. Common sense told her that, but everything else inside her couldn’t seem to understand it. Violet felt she had been shoved back to the past, and all the girls around her weren’t curious about Park. They were mad at her, like they always were.

      The school bell rang, and she couldn’t escape the crowd of her girls fast enough.

      The rest of the afternoon went downhill from there. When her classes ended, Violet did her best not to run out of the room. She was overreacting. She knew that. But the knowledge didn’t help. She walked aimlessly and when she found herself in an empty hall, her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground.

      Violet took in deep gulps of fresh air, her head spinning.

      It was over.

      The first day of school was over.

      Tomorrow would be different and it would be better.

      A pair of black leather shoes suddenly stopped next to her. It made Violet stiffen because she hadn’t heard the slightest sound of footsteps. Her heart sped up to an alarming rate. Oh no! Could she have jinxed it? Was this the trouble she had been dreading?

      Violet forced herself to look up.

      A gorgeous guy with brown hair and green eyes dark with worry behind glasses was looking down at her. “
Daijoubu ka?”
Are you all right?

      It took a while to get her dry throat to work. She had been so scared he was…that guy had liked to wear leather shoes exactly like what this stranger was wearing.

      But it wasn’t him. Oh God, thank God it wasn’t him.

      Violet forced a smile as she pushed herself off the floor, flushing when the stranger immediately cupped her elbow to help her up. She hated this feeling, having to be dependent on someone else. It reminded her of how weak she had been in the past.

      Violet carefully pulled away when she was back on her feet. “Thanks,” she mumbled. Her heart was still beating a little faster than usual. It would probably take some more time before the terror inside her would finally abate.

      The stranger gracefully let his arm drop to his side, a gentle smile on his face. “You are all right?”

      Her cheeks turned a darker shade of red, realizing all she had been doing was stare at him. Violet wouldn’t blame the guy at all if he thought she was stupid. It was that or he’d think she was struck dumb by his looks.

      “I’m fine,” she finally said. “I didn’t mean to…it’s…” Violet couldn’t remember being this frazzled and she ended with a weak smile.

      He smiled back, but it was tinged with concern and not a little bit of puzzlement. “Are you sure? I could walk you to the clinic—”

      “Violet?” a familiar voice called out in impatience.

      Park emerged, bounding up from the stairs.

      “I’m here!” She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Park. He still made her secretly breathless, with the way all his fashionable clothes fit him to a T, displaying his perfectly sculpted muscles to perfection, but at least it was a familiar kind of breathless.

      With Park around, she slowly got her confidence back and when Violet turned back to her sort-of-rescuer, she was able to smile more naturally. “Thank you for helping me up. I’m sorry for worrying you. But I’m okay now and besides—” She gestured at Park, who was walking towards them with a scowl. “My friend’s here already.”

      The guy didn’t turn to look at Park.

      Okaaay.

      “You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked quietly.

      She nodded again. Belatedly remembering her manners, Violet offered her hand. “I’m Violet by the way.”

      He took it, his hand warm, firm, and dry as he shook hers, large enough to make her hand feel so incredibly small in his hold. “Lee,” he said.

      Her eyes widened. “Chinese?” He didn’t look one at all.

      “Half,” he answered with a brief smile.

      Park finally reached her side, and she was embarrassed to see he was still scowling. It had been a while since she had seen his ogre look. She stepped on his toe none too subtly. “This is Park, by the way.” She turned to Park beaming, but her eyes were shooting sparks at him, warning him about what she’d do if he didn’t smile and play nice.

      Wincing at the sharp stinging pain caused by the razor thin heel of Violet’s shoe, Park managed a smile. “Hey, man.”

      The other man gave him a polite nod before looking back at Violet with another smile.

      Asshole, Park thought, feeling a sudden urge to pull Violet to him and kiss her in front of the other man.

      “I guess I’ll see you around then,” Lee told her softly. As he walked away, he gave Park another polite nod.

      Violet was exasperated when all Park did was incline his head the slightest bit, as if Lee didn’t deserve any more effort than that. “God, you’re such an arrogant jerk,” she burst out the moment Lee was gone.

      Park said dryly, “I have to hand it to you. You definitely attract boys like fleas.”

      She batted her eyelashes at him. “Jealous?”

      “Like I said, boys.” He gave her a slow, sexy, confident-as-hell smile. “And I’m no fucking boy, Violet.”

      Violet almost shuddered at the way Park’s voice slithered over her skin. “Obnoxious blond gorilla,” she muttered under her breath.

      Park was already walking away.

      “Hey, wait!” She hurried after him.

      “Try to keep up,” he told her. “I don’t want to be late for work because of you.” He waited her to get mad, to throw a tantrum like most other girls but Violet didn’t.

      She only smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I just came here because I was…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

      He frowned, the odd tone in her voice telling him that not everything was okay. As they walked to work briskly, Park subtly tried to slow down so Violet wouldn’t have a hard time catching up with him. He didn’t want her think he was so concerned about her. It might give Violet a bigger head, and she was already full enough as it is.

      “How were the rest of your classes?” He tried to sound casual, but small talk wasn’t his forte and he ended up sounding gruff instead.

      “As if you’d care.”

      “You got an anxiety attack because I wasn’t with you, right?”

      She missed a step.

      Park laughingly caught Violet before she fell. “So I am right.”

      She shoved him away. God, he could be so arrogant she just wanted to kill him. “No. You’re not.”

      Park laughed harder. “I think you should say it again. Park, I need—”

      Violet threw him a glare. “Ssshh! Remember your silent and brooding routine? Get back to it.”

      Park still hadn’t lost his smug-looking smirk when they reached their workplace. Assigned to assist the cashier as bagger for today, Violet was able to observe mostly everyone working. More often than not, her gaze was drawn to Park.

      It stunned her, the way he was so different when interacting with other people. It was like how he had been the first day they met–only several times worse. He acted normal with the rest of the guys and kids, too, but with women he was cold and unsmiling, acting like a prickly bear and totally clamming up. And when they persisted in showing their interest in him, Park did not hesitate to become rude—also exactly like how he had been with her the first day.

      But he had changed with her, and Violet couldn’t figure out why that was so.

      She could barely wait for their shift to end to ask that very question.

      Park no longer tried pulling away when Violet automatically curled an arm around his as they made their way back to the dorm. There was no point pulling away since it just made her cling harder.

      “So…”

      He knew that tone. She was an incurable busybody and he cringed at the memories of all the times she had pestered him to tell her more about his background.

      Park immediately tried breaking free, but Violet just tightened her hold on him. Park might be stronger, but he hated being the center of everyone’s attention and the only way he could disentangle himself from her was to create a public spectacle.

      She smiled up at him.

      He glared down at her.

      “So…”

      “The answer is no, whatever it is.”

      “But I haven’t said anything yet!”

      “It doesn’t matter. It’s still no.”

      Ignoring that, Violet asked, “Why are you so grumpy all the time with girls?”

      “When we’re close enough, I’ll tell you.”