Page 46 of A World Apart (Between Worlds #1)

“But then, when I was 18, I moved to London for university and I lived there for four years until I moved to LA this year. The rest is history.” I shrugged .

We lapsed into silence again, the jets of the tub being the only sound for so long I wondered if he’d fallen asleep.

But then I saw him reach for his bottle again, and I decided to ask the thing that had been in the back of my mind for a while, something that felt like it might shift our… ‘situationship’ one way or the other.

I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the way my pulse thumped against my throat.

“Joon?”

He turned to look at me and opened his mouth, and then closed it again, a line appearing between his eyebrows.

“It must be serious if you’re calling me ‘Joon,’” he quipped.

“I call you ‘Joon,’ sometimes,” I muttered, eyes downward.

Jihoon slid towards me until he was right in front of me, one elbow leaning on the edge of the tub, holding his head, his intense stare focused entirely on me.

“What is it?”

“It’s not a big deal…” I bit my lip.

“Kaiya.”

“I was just wondering… if you’d told the other members, you know, about me.

About… Us.” I couldn’t bring myself to look up at him, but with him being so close, that limited my options to either pointedly ignoring him by looking at the sky, or fixing my eyes on his pectorals.

Which were very nice and in any other circumstances…

So instead, I pretended to scan the sky for… birds? Planes? Courage, a heart or a brain?

Jihoon gently pinched my chin and brought my face back down until he was looking in my eyes.

“Is this what you’ve been worried about? If you’re my secret?”

Well, when he put it like that…

“I would understand if you hadn’t told them, I mean, it’s not like you can announce-”

“They know.” He cut me off. “They’ve known for a while.”

My heart skipped a beat, my chin trembled, and I wondered if he could feel it under his fingers.

He held my gaze for several more seconds before he nodded to himself, released my chin and unexpectedly stood, water sluicing off him as he climbed out of the tub while I sat there, cocking my head like a confused pigeon to see him exit the hot tub.

“Wait, where are you going?” I cried.

“Be right back,” he tossed over his shoulder before jogging towards the house. I watched him re-enter through the French windows, the gauzy curtain billowing around him before resettling.

I ran through our brief conversation, trying to find hints of what could have possibly just occurred, but I came up blank. He hadn’t seemed upset...

I didn’t have to sit there confused for long though, as barely a couple of minutes later, Jihoon re-emerged from the house, striding purposefully towards me. He climbed back into the tub, sitting so close to me that his slick skin brushed against mine, raising goosebumps in the wake.

“Where did you go?” I tried very hard not to sound as confused as I felt.

“I wanted to get this.” He held up a small, wooden box with a metal clasp, making sure to keep it above the bubbling water.

I stared at the box for a long moment, ice cubes slipping into my stomach just as my rational brain was panic-pressing the ‘do not panic’ klaxon.

It was a small box, but it wasn’t small enough. It’s absolutely not what it looks like.

“What’s this?” My voice was a breath above a whisper as I looked into his eyes, trying to gauge his expression, but he just smiled enigmatically at me.

“Open it.”

I lifted shaking hands to the tiny, silver clasp holding the two halves of the box together and flipped it open. I took a breath before I lifted the lid, almost flinching as it opened easily.

One half of my brain translated the image in front of me, while the other half tried to interpret the meaning of it.

Sitting on a purple velvet cushion, were two rings, one of which I immediately recognised from the jewellery stall we’d stopped at today in the market.

It was a braided band of silver holding an amethyst that sparkled with the reflected shine of the little lights in the trees.

Next to it was a plain band of twisted silver, a companion to the one with the gemstone.

I looked up at Jihoon, searching his face for answers .

“In Korea, it’s normal for couples to exchange rings,” he explained, shrugging one shoulder up like it was no big deal, but red spots appeared on his cheekbones as he spoke.

“We missed our 100-day anniversary, but I wanted to get you something…” He looked away and frowned.

“Couple?” I aimed for a teasing tone, but with my heart in my throat, it sounded as hopeful as it was.

His eyes collided with mine. “Isn’t that what we are?”

“It’s just… we’ve never talked about what we are.”

Jihoon looked… I didn’t know. His eyebrows were furrowed, his mouth a thin line, but he held my gaze.

“I don’t want you to think you’re not important to me, just because we can’t be open.

“When we signed our contracts, we all knew we wouldn’t be able to live normal lives, and even though we don’t have a dating ban anymore, it’s still…

difficult to have relationships.” He floundered, and even though I understood what he was trying to say, I could tell how difficult it was for him to say it.

“Hey,” I placed a hand on his cheek, gently turning him back to face me. “I may not understand your life, but I do understand it’s not the same as mine. I’m just happy to have the pieces of you that I can, however I can. This is enough. You are enough.”

His chin trembled under my palm and I watched as he blinked away the sudden shine in his eyes as I tried to swallow past the lump in my own throat.

He looked down at the box in his hands and plucked out the one with the amethyst, putting the box on the ridge of the hot tub.

“Did you know my birthstone was an amethyst?” I asked.

He looked up at me, eyes widening. “No.”

I nodded, dropping my hand from his jaw and holding it out for him. “Yup, my birthday is February 21st.”

He huffed a laugh, “a Pisces.”

“Yup,” I grinned .

“The universe has plans for us all.” He shook his head, ruefully, before reaching for my other hand, gently lowering the hand I held up for him. “Your left hand,” he murmured, “we put couple’s rings on our left ring fingers.”

My next breath caught in my throat as Jihoon gently slid the ring onto my finger. It fit as perfectly as if it’d been made for me. Jihoon brushed his thumbs across my hand, looking down at the ring now settled there, before raising my hand to his mouth and placing a kiss on the back of it.

I reached for the ring box and carefully pulled the twisted band free from the secure cushion.

“Your turn,” I tried to joke, but I could barely get the words past the lump in my throat. Compliantly, Jihoon held out his left hand, and I slid the ring onto his finger. It went on easily, the pale metal complimenting his skin tone so perfectly.

I held onto his hand, our rings a complementing set that glinted in the dusk, the physical presence of them a comforting thing.

Jihoon pulled me towards him, wrapping his arms around me as he held me. I rested my head in the crook of his neck, my arms tight around his waist and just breathed in the reassuring presence of him, somehow more solid than ever before.

“Just so you are certain about it,” he said, “you are my girlfriend. Yes?”

I could only nod, my words had been stolen away by the butterflies in my stomach.