Page 67 of A World Apart (Between Worlds #1)

“ A nnyeonghaseyo, Youngsoo.” I inclined my head to him politely, trying to hide my smile at the way his eyes widened. Jihoon was on the other side of the lobby, talking to Celine and Trevor Kyle. I knew he hadn’t heard me.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Kaiya-ssi,” he muttered, reflexively bowing, but only a little.

I caught Jihoon’s eyes for a split-second before he looked back to Celine, who was speaking. I was probably crossing a line being down here at all, but I couldn’t help myself when Jihoon had texted me to say they were arriving.

Trevor Kyle was staring at me, his head tilted, one side of his mouth quirked up.

I didn’t like the way his attention made me feel; like I had bugs under my clothes, crawling around my skin like they owned the place.

I forced myself to tear my gaze away and headed back over to the stairwell, looking over my shoulder just once to look at Jihoon, to admire the way his hair fell down past his ears, the way he smiled slightly when he talked, the way he held himself.

He caught me looking again, and I could see the faint tug of a smile he was trying not to let show. It felt like we were sharing a secret, the kind that swells in your chest like a warm, fizzy bubble. The kind that’s part delight, part bittersweet ache, teetering on the edge of something more .

I shook my head, consciously grabbed the door handle, pulled it open and walked back upstairs, gaining more clarity with every step that took me further away from him.

It had been near unbearable these past few nights, knowing damn well where he was in the city, but being unable to do anything about it. I wondered if this would ever fade, it felt so acute now.

I headed to Jeremy’s office. He’d been dodging me lately, I think he felt bad that we both knew I was out of a job in a few months, but I’d made my peace with it.

I hoped that made it easier on him. I entered his office and he was exactly where he should be; sat in his chair, scowling at his laptop screen like it had offended three generations of his family.

“Sup, boss,” I said cheerfully. He flinched, like I’d shouted the words at him.

“Oh, hey Kaiya. What can I do for you?”

“That’s not how a job is supposed to work, boss. What can I do for you ?”

He sighed and looked up from the screen. “Kaiya, we both know damn well I got nothing for you. I ran out weeks ago.”

“I’m too efficient is what you’re saying?”

He groaned. “Tell ya what, why don’t you pick a department to hang out with today. Get some hands-on experience. It’ll be good for you.”

For when I have to update my CV, is what he doesn’t say, but we both know. Honestly, I could probably get away with taking a book down to the storage cave and just chilling out, but call me a glutton for punishment, that’s just not who I am.

“Ok, I’ll hang out with the office today, I’ve been wondering how they do all the marketing crap in-house.” Not strictly untrue. I’d had some thoughts about my blog recently, and Pisces had had some excellent viral marketing lately. Plus, you know, hanging out with Becka didn’t suck.

“You do that, kid. Go with my blessing.”

“Thank you, Godfather.” I saluted, grinning when he groaned.

“Hey babes,” Becka briefly looked up as I walked into her office before going back to typing away at her computer .

“Sup, delinquent.”

She just rolled her eyes at me. This was not the first joke I’d made about public indecency, defacing public property, etc. True to her word though, she had thoroughly cleaned the sofa.

“What do you need?”

“Somewhere to hang out today, Jeremy is starting to admit defeat. I’ve been too good at my job, Pisces is now so thoroughly ordered, tidied and otherwise catalogued into it’s correct place that I’ve made myself redundant.”

“Please, take a seat and welcome to the valley of broken toys,” Becka motioned to the chair opposite. “With AI on the near-horizon, we’ll all be obsolete in a few years anyway.”

“Don’t say that!” One of the other office girls cried, looking up from her own computer.

“I’m kidding, Clara-Beth, we all know the Government will implement labour laws to protect the jobs of office workers before that happens.

” Becka said with so much authority I looked at her in surprise.

The illusion shattered the moment she rolled her whole face back to look at me, and I had to muffle my sudden giggle as a sneeze.

“Gives me the creeps, that stuff does,” said Clara-Beth. “Machines thinking for themselves.”

“Don’t say it,” Becka muttered, giving me a hard side-eye.

Ignoring Becka, I turned to look across the office, meeting the eyes of the pretty blonde with the ceramic puppy figurines on her desk.

“Don’t worry Clara-Beth, ‘The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.’” My face was as dead pan as if I were delivering the news.

Clara-Beth nodded, albeit uncertainly, like she knew there was a joke in there somewhere, before she shrugged and turned back to her computer.

“Done, John Connor?” Becka leaned her head over to one side, one eyebrow raised.

“For now,” I grinned.

Despite my sass, I really was interested in the social side of things, so I spent the morning hanging out behind the desks, looking over Becka’s shoulder, mostly, but also sometimes Celine ? once I’d convinced her I wasn’t interested in any kind of espionage.

Then, sometime around midday, just before Becka and I were due to get lunch, Celine got a message on her laptop that made her click her tongue in annoyance.

“Mr Kyle wants one of us to clear out the conference room.” Becka and the other girls in the room groaned.

“God forbid he do it, with his own manly hands,” Becka sighed, pushing back her chair.

“I’ll do it,” I offered, “not like I’m doing anything useful right now.” No one objected, which was fair, but also… ouch.

“Thanks!” Celine trilled, giving me a wide view of her veneers before turning back to her computer.

“Be right back,” I said to Becka as I got up and walked out the office door.

The conference was a straight shot down the corridor from the main office, past the corridor on the right that led to Jeremy’s office, the lockers and the tech suites and the elevator on the left.

I walked past the tech corridor and the elevator and then the employee lounge on the right, briefly looking in, but it was empty.

I pushed open the door to the conference room, not bothering to check if it was empty before entering.

“Oh-” I pulled up short at seeing one of the chairs occupied. “Sorry, I-” The chair spun round and sat there was Jihoon, who grinned and stood up as he saw me.

“Hey, you.” I grinned as he approached. “I didn’t know if I’d see you before you left."

“I was waiting for you. I just sent you a message.” He reached out to run his hands up my arms, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake.

I patted my pockets. “I must have left my phone in the office.” I shrugged, even as I reached for him.

“I’m so happy to see you,” I leaned into him, inhaling deeply, just content to be in the circle of his strong arms.

“Me too. I have to fly back tonight.” He leaned his chin on my head as his arms tightened around me.

“So soon?” I grumbled.

“Yes. I wanted to ask if you’d come to my hotel tonight. Our flight isn’t until late.” He pulled back enough that he could look at me, his eyes crinkled at the side, a very slight blush on his cheekbones. When would the novelty wear off, I thought. I kind of hoped never.

“Are you asking me to sleep with you, Baek Jihoon?” I replied, scandalised.

“Yes.”

I laughed and ran my hands up his chest, delighting in the feel of his firm muscles, before I looped my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.

“I would be delighted to,” I murmured against his lips a moment before he claimed my mouth with his.

“What the hell is going on in here?”

I tore my mouth from Jihoon’s and leapt away from him like I’d been burnt.

Celine stood in the open doorway, one hand on her chest like she was having a heart attack. Beside her stood Trevor Kyle, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

“I’m sorry, are we interrupting something?” Trevor Kyle somehow made the question sound like an indictment.

Celine pointed at me, her long, red fingernail that she’d claimed only an hour ago was ‘festive,’ now might as well have been tipped in blood.

“You,” she seethed, “out, now.”

“Ky-” Jihoon reached for me, but I shrugged him off.

“It’s okay, I’ll call you later.” I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I felt the way it trembled; I was quite sure it wouldn’t reassure anyone.

I had to move past Celine and Trevor Kyle to exit, but while Celine jumped out of my way as though I was contagious, Trevor Kyle didn’t move an inch, forcing me to squeeze past him.

Every point of contact filled me with revulsion.

Once out the door, I saw Youngsoo heading towards the conference room, his face set in a mask of professional anger, the way his mouth pinched told me he knew what had occurred, which only begged the question, how did anyone at all know?

He glanced at me briefly as he passed, sparing me no expression or word, only heading into that conference room with the purpose I imagined he’d been hired as a manager for. The door closed and I didn’t dare linger.

I headed towards Jeremy’s office with a strange kind of detachment. A sort of certainty that made me almost giddy as the adrenaline pumped through me .

I didn’t bother knocking.

“The shit is about to hit the fan, boss,” I said by way of greeting.

To his credit, Jeremy only looked up at me and frowned. “Tell me.”

Internally shrugging, I said, “Celine and TK just caught me kissing an idol in the conference room.” No point beating around the bush.

Jeremy blinked. Once, twice, a third time before he put his head down on his desk with a thump. “For fuck’s saaaaaaaaaake.”

I laughed, only a slight edge of hysteria to the sound.

“They FIRED you!?” Becka screeched, and I winched.