63

"Because you're the Sohla I grew up with. You're not different. You've returned to who you were. Before marriage, OLO, loss.... To me, it's finding the girl that was missing much longer than before the accident. The girl I already loved."

I wish I could argue with that logic, but I guess there's truth in it. I vaguely remember me of my youth as I seamlessly transitioned over the years. I don't know what I was like or how I felt before anything changed me. I guess I would be able to pinpoint the changes in Jyeon, though. Recite a timeline of how and when he changed. I remember him so vividly, and he's shown up a lot in this version of him since I returned. Maybe it's the same for him.

"Don't you think if I'm made to come back here and live this life again, I'll return to being the person no one liked? The environment which you say created me." I raise a brow at him, knowing that in itself should be a deterrent.

"No. I won't let that happen this time. I know where I went wrong in the past." Jyeon's tone is low and husky, and that attractive quality I always loved about his voice gives me butterflies with the way he softly says it. I blink away, refusing to be softened by him again, and push myself off the wardrobe to move further along and admire the pointless clothing in a bid to dodge him. Turning my chin down to avoid his gaze.

"You running away from me in case I try to finish what was started downstairs?" He follows me, dropping to a sexier tone, and my skin prickles all over. Sensing his heat right behind me, I take a turn at the end of the hanging space into the open dressing room where the security monitors are fitted into the wall. Stiffening all over and getting uptight with how close he seems. He has a way of invading my air and turning my body to mush without doing anything.

"If there are cameras here, how come you don't know who messed with the car?" I thumb towards the row of black screens and throw back a wary look, not liking the fact he's only one step behind me and homed in like I'm his prey. Deflecting his question. Jyeon sighs, smirking at my obvious avoidance, and nods at the screens.

"At the time, I didn't know I had to check them. Even if I looked now, I would have nothing of back then. And now it's too late. The footage gets wiped every few months. If someone tampered with it, then the footage is long gone."

Convenient.

"You really didn't want me out of the picture? An easy and clean goodbye?" I act like it's a joke with a half-smile and move to turn away, but he catches my wrist and tugs me back. Knocking me breathless with the way I'm spun and pushed up against the wall behind me, right next to those screens. Back hitting the drywall softly, my head is cushioned by his hand right behind it.

"I told you… I would never have hurt you like that." He leans in, caging me in and moving a flat palm to either side of my shoulders, my palms pressed to his chest to keep his distance, and I falter, swallowing hard. He has no issue with getting in my face nowadays anyway.

"What are you doing right now? Stop it." I make to push him away, my voice breaking, and I start to tremble visibly. My face flushes with noticeable heat, and my stupid heart flip flops. I press a little harder to keep him from moving in at me, but there's no real rejection behind it. As though my body stops listening to my brain every time that tall wall of muscle gets within a foot of me.

Jyeon gazes deep into my eyes with a blank expression as though he's thinking. Not having the same hormonal meltdown I am with being this intimately close. He seems relaxed like I'm exactly where he wants me. He would never have casually initiated this proximity before the accident unless something was going on that required physical contact and restraint.

"Come with me to something. OLO's fiftieth celebration event is in two days at our building. The public announcement goes live tomorrow that you're here and alive, and they will hound you until they see you in public. Let me take you there, and at least I can give them what they want in a controlled environment." He lifts one hand and brushes the hair from my cheek and behind my ear, so softly, so unexpectedly that I flinch and tear my gaze from his. Pushing his hand away impulsively.

"I don't know." I turn my face sideways to avoid him, but he follows with a head tilt to stay locked on my face.

"I'll protect you. I won't let anyone too close, but you know that this is going to be a media storm, and they won't rest until they get some footage and a few words from you." He leans in to follow as I try to turn away further, and the result is him getting close enough to kiss me again. Cornering me with his body and jamming his shoulder to the wall to block my escape route. He likes to keep sticking to me without breathing space nowadays.

By them, he means the media, the shareholders, the employees, and whoever else expects to have a piece of us when we are what we are. A Park, A Kim, a President…. an heiress. It's what made me hate showing them who I truly was inside.

"Greta…" I start to reject the offer thinking how much she will hate it, turning and sliding in the opposite direction to get away, but he cuts me off. Stopping me with another palm to the wall in front of my new escape route and moving to face me once again. He is not letting me out of his small circle.

"Is better kept out of sight. The media will be looking to dig, find out where you've been, and doing what. Greta is the key. Leave her in the shadow where she's safe, and so will your island be. You don't want the press delving into the last two years of your life any more than I do."

I hate how intrusive yet familiar this feels. I also hate that he's right, and I don't want that. Being the boy of my past and his scent and energy keeps pulling me to old memories of fonder times where I forget to hate him. Jyeon no longer remembers what personal space is between us, and I've given up fighting it.

"Fine. I'll go. I'm sure there's something in here that's appropriate to wear. It's just a formal one-day thing, right?" I give him a final shove with both hands to the chest and gesture behind him as though I need to find an outfit. Jyeon finally takes the hint and steps back, releasing me from his Park prison. Watching me as I push past him and pull the first garment bag forward and see one of my old favorite black pantsuits. It's a strange feeling to be faced with something so symbolic and it was a suit just like this I wore the night I crashed. It was like a uniform for me back then.

"Not that. None of these. How about I take you shopping for something more you, how you are now?" Jyeon pushes the bag back in, frowning at the old familiar clothing, and I get the sense he doesn't like it. Maybe it's too much of a reminder of the past me, or perhaps I imagine it. Thinking into it. I wonder if they ever recovered my clothes from the river, and maybe he connects it to my last outfit.

"It's a business-related event. I'm sure a suit will be fine. And there's a dozen or more here." I walk past him and stop on one I rarely ever used back then. It's a softer cut with a loose feminine jacket in a light pale grey. It's a wool mix, so it doesn't seem like a suit at all, even though it's a pair of pants and a jacket. Over a soft sweater, it'll be a less harsh style but still formal. I'm sure I bought it way back in the early days of our marriage, and it saw the light of day once because mother said it was not intimidating enough.

I Pull it out entirely and hold it in front of myself, turning to the long-length mirror mounted on the inner doorway and catching Jyeon watching me from a few steps back. Narrowing his eyes on it and he smiles softly as though in approval. Nodding that it's a complete contrast to the harsh, high fashion styles I wore for four years.

"You can pack up whatever you need from here to go with it. We should get back downstairs. I told mother you couldn't stay for dinner this time as you have plans. She'll start to think I'm lying if we linger too long." Jyeon walks over to the far end of the wardrobe and reaches up to the overhead cupboard, pulling out my old suitcase and laying it on the bench for me. Opening it and then gesturing around us.

My eyes stray to the case I took on every trip and overnight when working for OLO, and it's suddenly so oppressive. My life back then was nothing but work. We never took one vacation or day off to relax. We never hung out together like we seem to be doing now, and we never had reason to make time for one another either.

I observe him pick up the garment bag I laid on the bench and fold it up to put in the case. Focused on what he's doing and oblivious to my open staring. Side on, as handsome as he ever was, yet his entire aura is different.

I want to trust him so badly, but I can't. My heart's resisting and holding onto wounds, and too many things don't add up. I don't miss the life I left behind even if I missed the people, and I don't want to walk back into OLO and take what is rightfully mine anymore.

I exhale heavily, breaking my gaze on him, and look to the shoes instead for something to match.

"You okay?" Jyeon straightens up, tilting his head to me, and there's a sudden softness in his expression that winds me. A hint of teenage Jyeon. Eyes so dark and alluring, smooth tanned skin, defined jawline, and manicured black brows. He always had good genes and was lucky to be born so flawless. He could have been an idol, model, or actor in another life.

"Yeah, I want to leave. So, throw me those." I break my trance on his physical attributes and gesture to some black flats that will look fine with the outfit while turning away to find a sweater. I'm leaving him as soon as possible, so I should stop being so weak and confusing myself.