Page 120 of Hamartia

His cheeks curve up even further. “You are high.”

“You are beautiful.”

He laughs and hides his face in my chest. The others arrive a few moments later and Su-jin leads the way into a very small–looking bar with the word ‘Dal’ in warm lighting above the door. It’s misleading though because the thing stretches out ahead of us through an inner courtyard with small tables and heaters all around and filled with people and trees wrapped in fairy lights.

At the end of the courtyard, there’s another door and through this is the club. It’s warm inside, a blast of hot air hitting us the moment we step inside. Su-jin waves ahead of us at someone and then we are being ushered into a corner table next to the DJ booth. It’s a low ceilinged space with a bar at one corner and a wall of paned windows looking out into the courtyard we just passed through. The vibes are good. Warm and funky with the faint scent of incense hanging in the air. Ada is hugging the DJ friend I assume is Dal, and then Kai and Xan do the same.

Beside me Jae is shirking out of his jacket and stuffing it on the back of the booth that runs the length of the wall. I take mine off and do the same. There are speakers above us so Jae has to lean in and speak close to my ear.

“I am going to say hello to Dal-hyung,” he says.

I nod. “I’ll go to the bar. You’re drinking soju?”

He shakes his head. “Drinks are coming,” he says and then moves off to where Kai and Xan and Ada are talking with the DJ.

Ada is first to come back, sliding into the booth and scooting next to me. She leans in.

“He seems happy.” She has a warm smile on her face.

I glance at Jae to see he’s laughing again, head thrown back and hand covering his mouth. Kai and Xan are gone.

“You have it very bad, my friend,” she says which drag my eyes back to her. Mischief lights up her contact-colored eyes.

My tongue wants to say a million things in response to that—partly because of the coke, partly because it’s true—but I shake my head and shrug. This makes her laugh. It’s only then that I notice Li isn’t here. That she never got out of the Uber with them.

“Is Li okay?” I ask her. “She didn’t fancy it?”

She shakes her head. “She has an early photoshoot. And her and Dal used to be together. It did not work out.” She makes a face that tells me it was a little more than that.

“Ah, got it.”

The music is a bass-heavy city beat, funky in a way that feels distinctly Korean. It fits the vibe of this place, which is all umber wood and pale orange walls. The people are mixed; stylishly-dressed students, mixing with guys in business suits, mixing with K-pop idols.

Jae slides back in beside me just as the drinks arrive via an exceptionally pretty server. Colored tattoos stretch up both their arms to the sides of their long graceful neck. Pale purple hair matches their lipstick and nails. There’s something distinctly feminine in the way they move but something masculine in the features. It takes me a full minute to look away and it’s only because I feel Jae’s hand on my thigh under the table, distracting me.

Two ice buckets filled with little bottles of soju have been set down, along with a bottle of Scottish malt whisky and seven glasses. A jug of ice water next to that. Jae thanks them in Korean and the server bows and moves off. He pours himself some water first, then fills the same glass with an inch of whisky, before asking me which I want. I point at the soju. He takes a long sip of his drink and settles in next to me.

“Now you will tell me what Kai said to you,” he says, settling comfortably.

Next to us, Su-jin has slid in next to Ada and the two of them are talking in Korean. They’re not listening in any case.

“Nothing really,” I shrug.

“Nothing, really?” He looks entirely unconvinced. “I will not stand for him being rude or mean to you. We have already talked about it.”

I smile at his cute, fierce, little angry face. “You think I can’t stand up for myself?”

“In America, perhaps. But not here.”

This makes me laugh. I reach out to touch his face, smoothing my thumb across his cheek. He leans into it.

“Listen, he’s very protective of you, I get it. I would be too. But you don’t have to worry about me, I can handle it.” I tuck his hair behind his ear as he slides a little closer. Beneath the table his hand moves higher up my thigh.

“Okay, but if he is mean to you again you will tell me.”

“Is this your feisty side?” I settle my hand on the back of his neck and pull his head close. He thinks about this a moment—the word, I think—and then he nods. “Well, I like it.”

I press our mouths together and Jae swipes his tongue past my lips to touch it against mine. Then bites my lip softly.