Wills’s talking…
What on earth was she doing around here…
I could not shake the question from my mind, genuinely wondering why she had shown up again after all this time.
We were done; it had been over for two years now.
Back when I had more patience.
And probably a lot more smiles.
Still annoyed by my friends, I wandered around the block, not wanting to go back to my room.
I would probably end up smashing something.
Eventually, not knowing where else to go, I drifted back to the same bench where I had run into Wanjan earlier.
Yeah… her name was Wanjan.
Odd name, right?
But I actually liked it.
It was unique enough that the moment I heard it, her face came to mind instantly.
Wanjan…
I sat on the bench, noticing a jacket left behind.
Picking it up, I caught the faint scent of her light perfume and could not help muttering a curse.
Wanjan, again.
She was always leaving things behind.
It was like her personal breadcrumb trail, telling me where she had been, leading me straight back to her.
I sighed and stood up, scanning the area until my eyes landed on her
—Wanjan’s petite body was curled up with her arms around a cardboard box, seemingly asleep.
Maybe I should just walk past her, pretend I did not see her.
But in the end, my conscience won out, and I found myself walking over to her.
I sat down next to Wanjan and called her.
“Hey!
What are you doing here?”
No response…
She did not even stir, so I gave her shoulder a little shake, only to realize she was burning up with fever.
Damn it…
she got a fever.
I smacked my own forehead in frustration, doing the right thing, even though I did not want to do it at all.
“I don’t want to see you, so why do you keep showing up like this?
Just when I was starting to forget about you.”
Reluctantly, I carried her back to the room, getting drenched in the light drizzle along the way.
I was soaked and could already feel a chill settling in, as if I might catch something myself.
I tossed her limp form onto the bed once we reached the bedroom, but she did not stir at all…
Unbelievable.
I shrugged off my shirt, leaving only my jeans on, and looked at Wanjan, lying there just as soaked as I was.
“Ugh…
this is so annoying,” I grumbled before walking back over to her.
I felt nothing as I reached to help her out of her wet clothes.
Of course not!
Yet deep down, I could not deny that thoughts of her still surfaced now and then
—no, more often than I would care to admit, enough to make me angry with myself.
“Mmm…”
My thoughts were interrupted as Wanjan turned over from her stomach to lie on her back.
“Am I dreaming?” she mumbled, her hand reaching up to graze my chin.
Her voice was weak and unsteady.
I had not realized how sick she was—she had to have been feverish since yesterday.
Wanjan…
you could always find new ways to irritate me.
“So now I’m seeing some naked guy in front of me,” she mumbled again, making me glance down at myself.
I was not even fully undressed—still had my jeans on.
“Wait, am I having an affair?”
Her next words made my eyes widen further.
“And what’s worse is this lover of mine is hotter than my actual boyfriend…”
And then, something unexpected happened, she pulled my face down into a kiss, sending me tumbling onto the bed and over her.
I tried to pull back, but she wrapped her arms around my neck, refusing to let me go.
“Pfft…” She giggled softly, amused by something I could not understand, before pressing her warm lips against my neck.
Damn it!
All those emotions surged back.
How could I hold myself back now?
I yanked her arms off me and locked my gaze on her, catching a glimmer of inviting tease in her fevered eyes.
“You’re going to regret provoking me like this, Wanjan…” I muttered, letting myself give in to her pull as she looped her arms around my neck and brought me down to kiss her again.
“Cough, cough.”
The next morning, the sound of coughing broke the silence, stirring me reluctantly from sleep.
Frustrated, I ran a hand through my hair, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.
I glanced over at Wanjan, who lay curled up with a feverish red face, clearly still unwell.
I could not resist touching her forehead to check if her temperature had dropped at all.
But, as expected, her fever was still high.
“Mmm…”
She mumbled something incoherent, and I could not make it out.
Why was not she waking up?
Did this mean all the planning I had put effort into would go to waste then?
“Cough, cough.”
Great.
Now she’s coughing even more…
For someone who knows how easily she gets sick, why on earth would she go out in the rain?
I sighed in frustration and got out of bed.
If I stayed near her too long, I would probably end up catching her cold.
Stretching and yawning, I headed to the bathroom, annoyed by her constant coughing and sneezing.
I was built like a machine—rarely got sick myself, maybe once in a blue moon.
But Wanjan, it seemed like she got sick every other week, and it was aggravating to see her lying there helpless.
It was seriously irritating.
When I came out, I saw her struggling to sit up, still groggy.
Her look made me wanted to shake her shoulder until her head bobble.
What was it about her that always irritated me, made me lose my cool every time I looked at her?
“Are you close to dying yet!”
But her unfocused, glassy eyes looked up at me with a vacant stare.
“Wills…”
The raspiness in her voice made my heart skipped as never before.
Her unique, sweet voice never failed to remind me of our kisses.
Damn it.
Stop thinking about that, Wills.
“You’re sick, you know that?
Do you realize why?” I asked, smirking a little.
My gaze wandered from her collarbone to her bare thighs poking out from beneath her shirt.
But she just looked at me blankly, like she did not understand, before attempting to get up.
She was wobbling around as if she had no bones, and I could not help but worry she would collapse at any second.
“Die, die…”
I frowned, catching bits of her mumbling.
“What did you say?
Hey!” I exclaimed, jumping forward as her body swayed, about to hit the floor.
I managed to catch her just in time.
“I’m starving… starving to death.”
“Dammit!!”
In the end, I had to drag myself to the kitchen and busy myself there.
Hmp, I could not believe this girl had this much of an effect on me.
I never knew that.
And that was what was driving me insane.
Her constant coughing kept floating into my ears, breaking my concentration.
“For God’s sake!
How long are you going to keep coughing,” I growled, tossing the chopped vegetables into the pan.
It seemed like she was trying to irritate me even more because her coughing grew louder.
Fighting the rising anger, I continued cooking in silence.
Once it was done, I went to get Wanjan, who was bundled up like a cocoon in her blanket, with only her small face visible.
As much as I hated to admit it, she was unbelievably cute.
I cursed myself for always feeling this way.
Ever since we met, it was her sweet, innocent charm that pulled me in, along with that adorable cluelessness I could not quite describe.
And because of that, I just could not look away from her.
“Eat,” I said, pressing her down so she would sit up properly, as she kept swaying in her chair.
“Sniffff…”
She responded by loudly sniffing her runny nose.
It was enough to drive me insane.
Seeing her somewhat steady, I took a seat across from her.
But as soon as I sat down, she slumped to the left.
I immediately got up and settled in the chair beside her instead.
How much energy had I wasted on this already?
God…
If I could just lose my mind.
After forcing Wanjan to finish her food, I had to shove some medicine down her throat too.
You would think I was making her drink poison with the way she fought back, but eventually, she wore herself out and passed out on my bed again.
I could not believe I had not lost it and kicked her out yet.
Not knowing what else to do with myself, I left the room before I ended up blowing up completely.
Damn it…
For two days straight, I had not been able to stop thinking about her.
This is such a mess.
We never should had run into each other again, damn it…
“What kind of wind blew you in!”
Vin…
my best friend—raised an eyebrow when I turned up at his place unannounced.
“Nothing much.
Just give me a smoke, would you?” I replied, making a quick hand gesture.
Vin, half-Korean and the guy who could turn every head he passed, always looked like he had the entire world captivated.
But oddly enough, he had never loved anyone.
Truth be told, he had never had a girlfriend, let alone a fling, which made no sense to the rest of us, since he could probably pick up women by the whole district if he wanted.
“Coming in here looking all intense—what’s up?” Vin asked, handing me a pack and a lighter.
Tapping the bottom of the pack, I let a cigarette pop up, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
“Nothing big,” I muttered, exhaling a smoky ring.
Vin chuckled, as if something about the whole thing amused him.
“Yeah?
Is something’s on your mind.” He asked again, as I ran a hand through my hair, feeling more agitated by the second.
“Maybe I just need to move.
I keep feeling like I’ll never escape.”
Yeah… I wondered I could never escape Wanjan, I should better bail out of there before I lose it.
“Move?
Why?
I thought your place is nice.
And did Pax not say you were looking for a roommate?
Was that for real?”
“Pax’s always spilling everything,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, typical of him.
But I don’t get it.
First, you’re looking for a roommate, and now you’re moving, what’s the deal?”
“I blew all my money on my car, so I was thinking about getting a roommate for a while.
I’m barely in the flat these days, but I don’t want to let go of the place because it’s nice and quiet.
Thought a temp roommate, like a foreign exchange student, might work out.”
Vin nodded thoughtfully at my explanation.
“So, you ended up with someone that’s all wrong?”
He asked.
I sighed, nodding.
“How about Ziff’s place?
It’s a bit far, but it’s pretty nice.”
“Huh?
Did Ziff move out or something?
I can’t imagine him letting anyone else stay his place.
“Nah, he moved in with his girlfriend.
Saw a glimpse of her—she’s pretty cute.
A little spacey, but really adorable.
Ziff’s crazy protective of her.”
“Ziff?
Has a girlfriend?” I asked, genuinely shocked.
“Yeah…
You should ask him.
He might give you the ok.”
I fell silent, not really answering, thinking instead about a certain someone currently lying on my bed.
“God!
This is driving me insane.”
After sitting and drinking with Vin for a bit, I headed back to my place.
I was not sure where else I should go, so here I was, wandering back in a haze of confusion.
Sure, I was worried about her… but it was not just that.
There were so many things that I could not even begin to put into words.
But as soon as I got there, I saw Wanjan being pulled by some stranger, with the landlord trying to mediate between them.
Without hesitating, I strode straight toward them.
The landlord noticed me and sighed in relief, while Wanjan looked at me with a pout before throwing her arms around me.
She clung so tightly, leaving me standing there, looking around in bewilderment.
“What’s going on here?”
“Wills…”
Wanjan’s scratchy, trembling voice sounded like something to laugh at, but there was nothing funny about it.
She held me so tightly I felt like I might pass out from lack of air.
What the hell was going on here?
“Oh, so it’s you, huh?”
said the stranger, shifting my attention to him.
Tall, pale, and strikingly handsome
—just as I had heard from others, that she had had been seeing someone.
“What do you want?” I asked, doing my best to ignore Wanjan’s arms wrapped around my waist.
Judging by how tightly she was holding on, she probably would had buried her face in my chest if she could.
“So you’re the one who left those marks on her…
How dare you?”
his initial pleasant expression turning to something furious.
Well, this just got interesting.
I wrapped an arm around Wanjan, just so he could see, and locked eyes with him.
As for those marks, I had left them on her last night, just messing around.
I had intended to shock her in the morning, but things had not gone as planned, and she ended up getting sick instead.
“How is that any of your business?” I asked, feeling Wanjan trembling against me.
What had happened in the past two years?
What was going on with her now…
“You messed with my girlfriend, that’s what!” the guy shouted, raising his fist to punch me.
I tightened my hold on Wanjan and angled slightly to the side, then drove my fist hard into his jaw, sending him crumpling to the floor.
Then, I turned to the landlord.
“Mind dragging this guy out of here?
I need to have a word with her,”
I said, guiding Wanjan’s shaky form back into the room, ignoring the curses and groans coming from that guy.
“Tell me what’s going on, Wanjan,” I said, pushing her back slightly, she collapsed onto the floor, crying like a child.
“Wanjan,” I shouted her name again, trying to snap her out of it.
If she kept crying like this, we were not going to get anywhere.
“Just say it, whatever it is.
Don’t you get how frustrating this is?”
“Wills…” she whispered, then threw herself into my arms, holding me tight.
“Hey, you idiot!”
I swear, she must have been feverish and delirious.
“…!”
But then she stunned me, her lips pressing against mine in an intense, desperate kiss.
Whoa!
Did she take something?
Some kind of love potion?
I tried to hold her soft body back, but she was in no mood to cooperate.
Wanjan’s slender arms clung to me like octopus tentacles, wrapping so tightly it was hard to breathe.
I wanted to pull her away, but I could not bring myself to risk hurting her.
In the end, I found myself unconsciously surrendering to her kiss, our breaths exchanging in close rhythm.
Before I knew it, her clumsy kiss made it impossible for me to resist any longer.
I responded instinctively, pushing her gently toward the long sofa in the corner of the room.
My hands, as if they had a will of their own, slipped beneath her shirt, and I could think of nothing but returning her kiss, pressing closer to her.
But I finally pulled back, forcing myself to breathe.
“Hey!
No, this isn’t right,” I said, doing my best to distance us.
Yet, tears welled in her eyes, leaving me more confused than ever.
What was going on?
“Wills… just this once, please just hold me.”
“You’ve lost it, haven’t you?
Do you even understand the situation!”
I was sure she had to be feverish, delirious from how sick she was.
“I’m not crazy; I’m fully aware.
Just this once, Wills, please hold me before, before I belong to someone else.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her words left me furious
—someone else?
Who…
The idiot I just dealt with outside?
“I don’t want anyone else touching me.
I swear just this one time, okay?” She leaned up, brushing her lips against mine.
All sense and logic abandoned me as I wrapped her in my arms once more.
I lifted her, carrying her to the bedroom, knowing this was a choice she cry over endlessly tomorrow.
“I, I…” she stammered, pulling me from her neck to meet her gaze.
“This is my first time, so…”
Before she could finish, I leaned close, whispering near her ear,
“Let me take care of everything…” Then I pulled back, lifting my shirt over my head.
The blush that swept over her cheeks, neck, and down to her shoulders softened her expression, making her look like she was draped in rose petals.
Something about her stirred a tenderness in me.
Still, I could not fully believe this was her first time.
If it were, she would not have come to me like this…
“Let’s see what else you might be hiding…”
End Wills talk…