I wave my hands in front of my face in what I hope conveys dismissal. This conversation isn’t getting us anywhere, and Na Na now watches me with a little more interest than I would like. She smirks, and I’ve never wanted to punch someone so much in my entire life. I catch Sophie shooting me a pitying look, and my throat tightens.
“Look, I think it’s best I just leave.” Before I embarrass myself any more than I already have. “I’m sure I’ll be in bed before you get home tonight. I’ll see you when you get back from Busan.”
I storm out as dramatically as possible, but my epic exit is made much less impressive when Jason chases me into the stairwell. Doesn’t he know how this works? He’s supposed to stand in my wake, mouth hanging open, and realize how wonderful I am and how he’s totally blown his chances with me.
“Grace, wait.” He grabs my elbow, but I shake him off.
“Go back to the shoot. I’m sure Na Na is missing you.”
He hurries ahead of me until we’re face-to-face. “What is going on with you? This is really out of character.”
“Maybe I’m just sick of getting the shaft from you.”
His face screws up in confusion. “The shaft?”
“You were the one who invited me to Seoul, not Sophie. Usually when you have guests, you don’t ditch them.”
“But I’ve been working.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have invited me if you thought I’d get in your way.”
He stares at me blankly. “Do you … feel like I don’t want you here?” he guesses.
“Pretty much.”
“But I don’t feel that way at all,” he hurries to say. “I’m glad you’re here!”
“Then you have a weird way of showing it.”
I can hear myself, my words cringeworthy, especially echoing through the empty stairwell. But I can’t stop them. Watching him with her at the same time that he’s been ignoring me spurred something nasty inside me, and all I want is to let him know just how he’s made me feel.
“Then I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.”
Normally, his apology would strike something inside me. I would remember how I’ve probably only heard him apologize twice the entire time I’ve known him; I would know that when he says he’s sorry, he means it. But not this time.
“I don’t really care what you meant,” I say, now more tired than angry. “You’re giving me seriously mixed signals here. You asked me to help you with your song, you take me back to my dorm after we study, and you planned a Thanksgiving meal for me. You freaking held my hand on the ride back to school after the music video shoot, and I don’t care what you say—you do remember your birthday and dancing with me.”
Somehow, he pales under all that makeup, but I push forward. “You asked me to stay with you guys in Seoul, so I came. But now you’re ignoring me everywhere, like you’re ashamed of me or something. In the time I’ve been here, we’ve hung out one time. Once. And you’re all over Na Na like you’re best buddies or her real boyfriend or something. So why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Jason’s not a man of many words, but I’ve never seen him completely blank. At least his eyes normally give me a hint as to what’s going on inside his head, but now—nothing. Like he has no cognitive function.
I’m ready to leave him standing there when he stutters, “I—” He stops. “I don’t—”
I wave him off. “Whatever. I’m leaving.”
“No.”
He says it with such force, I pause. We lock eyes, and he deliberates. I steel myself for his verbal defense, but he surprises me instead by taking my face in his hands.
And then he kisses me.
Chapter Seventeen
Big Brother,
You know how the older brother is supposed to take care of his younger sisters? And tell them what types of boys to avoid, which ones are bad news, so they can keep from getting played?
Yeah, you’ve never been good at that.
From Korea, not so much with love,
Grace
For the first few seconds, I’m frozen in shock. One of Jason’s hands slides from my cheek to the back of my neck and his fingers slip through my hair. My own hands involuntarily latch onto his waist, and I’m suddenly standing so close our thighs touch.
“Grace,” he murmurs against my lips with such longing my heart twists.
But all thoughts empty from my head when he coaxes my mouth open, and I forget about Na Na, Jason going to Busan, and everything except how good it feels to have his lips on mine.
I pull away with a soft gasp, and all I can think to say is, “You don’t kiss like other Korean boys.”
His head jolts up, and his hands drop to his sides, leaving cold spaces on my skin. “What?” he says.
I fumble for an explanation, but all I can think about is grabbing that disheveled hair and yanking his mouth back toward mine. “In those dramas,” I say, “the couples always sort of smash faces, and the girl keeps her eyes open, and it’s awkward.”
“And that wasn’t awkward?”
No, it was glorious! “Umm…”
“You know those dramas aren’t real, right?” he says slowly, as if I’m mentally deficient. “It’s only for TV.”
“Right.” A thought jerks me out of my blissful haze. “You’re not going to kiss Na Na like that for your drama, are you?”
He stares at me in confusion.
Another thought forms, this one louder than the others. “Wait. You just kissed me.”
I gape at him.
“You just kissed me!”
He cringes, placing a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to announce it to everyone.”
My grin fades. “Are you embarrassed we kissed?”
“No, I just don’t think everyone needs to know.” He points back and forth between us. “About what just happened. Especially not the paparazzi, and if you keep screaming, I’m pretty sure everyone will hear you.”
All the excitement inside me from when our lips touched dissipates completely, and irritation swells to take its place. “You don’t want them to know because I’m not some famous Korean actress.”
“No.” He runs both hands through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Sure it is.”