Chapter Seven - Everywhere You Want

14 May — Venti HQ, Mi Yu’s OfficeD-DAY: Dragon Smoothie Collection Launch

My monitor is filled with real-time dashboards.Click-throughs. Comments. Sales graphs that look like rocket launches.My phone is vibrating like it’s trying to escape the desk.Venti Teaser? Viral.Brand Film? Trending worldwide.Dragon Smoothie? Selling out by the minute.

The air in my office smells like over-roasted coffee and burnt nerves.“That’s it.”I stand, arms stretched over my head like I just finished fighting in a war.

“I’m taking a leave!! I’ve worked non-stop!! I deserve peace!!”I shout dramatically into the air, at no one.

Claire peeks her head through the door like a nosy little meerkat.“You’re calling me?”“No. I’m taking leave. Starting tomorrow.”My voice is flat, final, borderline royal decree.

Claire nods solemnly. “Okay.”Then disappears again like she knows not to push me right now.

I glance back at my screen.Our revenue counter ticks upward again, ping, ping, ping, each one a number screaming “YOU DID IT.”

I sigh.Lean back in my chair.And whisper to myself“Thanks to me… and the damn Dragon.”My phone buzzes again. Another headline.

#DRAGONSMOOTHIE tops global launch charts#GDxVENTI

I smirk.Of course it is.

--

I toss the last of the launch files onto my desk.Close my laptop.And grab the shopping bag filled with soju bottles like I’m carrying salvation.I’m going to waste myself tonight. Absolutely and unapologetically.

No emails.No branding decks.No ambassadors.No dragons.

Just me… and poor life choices.I step into the building’s elevator, the heavy bottle bag bumping against my leg.I’m half-zoning out when the elevator doors open, and then I look up.Shit.

Kwon Ji Yong is standing there, already inside.Hands in the pockets of his tailored black pants.Leaning casually.Like he lives inside slow-motion music videos.

I freeze for a second too long, then force my face neutral.Bow. Get in. Don’t talk. Don’t feel.The doors close.Silence.

I stare straight ahead, gripping the soju bag like it’s a holy artifact.I can feel his eyes on me.But he says nothing.One floor passes.Two.

I steal a glance at the panel.He's pressed 8.I press 5. My floor.

His gaze is still there, burning like quiet fire, saying all the things he’s not.The elevator hums.My heart hammers in protest.

He shifts slightly, just enough to speak But the door dings.

Fifth floor. Mine.I take a step out.“Long day?” he finally says behind me.I pause.Back still facing him.“Aren’t they all,” I mutter.Then walk out.

--

GD’s POVMidnight

The lights are low.Studio lamp flickering warm on my desk.Music looping softly in the background. A beat still half-born.I’m scribbling lyrics.Or pretending to.Until

Ding-dong.

I freeze.

Who the hellI glance at the clock.00:12 AM.I drag myself toward the door.Then I see it on the camera screen.Mi Yu..?

My eyebrows shoot up.She’s swaying a little. Her hair messy.Her cheeks flushed red.Soju.Of course.I open the door slowly, confused.“Mi Yu...?”The door doesn’t even finish opening before she throws herself into me.Arms around my waist.Head on my chest.

“WAEEEEE?!” she yells.Loud. Sharp. Heartbroken.“What?” I blink.“WAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!” she cries again.

She smells like every bottle in the convenience store.She’s completely gone.Her voice shakes a little now.“Why… why didn’t you chase me harder…”“Wae… didn’t you… make me stay…”

Her eyes look up at me.Glass-like. Wet.Red-rimmed and burning.And suddenly, she’s not so elegant.She’s real. Raw. Beautiful in the way pain makes you honest.

I chuckle.Not because it’s funny.But because thisThis is the moment I’ve been waiting for.

“I got you now,” I whisper, arms tightening around her waist.“You think you trapped me, Mi Yu-ya?”I tilt her chin up, gently.“Nah… I’m trapping you now.”

I carry her carefully.She’s light, lighter than she looks when she walks around like she owns every room.I lower myself onto the couch, adjusting her in my lap.Her cheek presses against my shoulder, and I can feel her breath, warm and uneven.

“You’ll totally forget about this tomorrow, right?”I say it softly, brushing her hair back behind her ear.Her lashes flutter a bit.And thenShe suddenly grabs my face with both hands. Sloppy. Warm. Soft palms on my cheeks.

“Kiyowoooooo~” she giggles.That signature Mi Yu elegance? Gone.This version is drunk and dreamy and dangerous.“You’re cute, Nae Jiyong-ah…”She slurs it like she’s singing it.

I smile, despite myself.“I like this version of you,” I whisper.But thenShe blinks. And her face shifts.Suddenly still. Too still.

“You’ll leave me… right?”Her voice is quiet now. Small.“Just like my dad.”“…liar.”

And before I can say anything, she’s asleep.Face tucked into my neck.Tears drying on her cheek.

I just sit there.

Holding her like something fragile.

And for the first time in a very long time…I don’t know what to say.

--

Mi Yu’s POV

I groan as I sit up.Why is my head pounding like a bass drop?I stretch.My body aches like I’ve danced through a thunderstorm.I blink.Look around.

White walls. Warm wood. Big-ass windows. Designer furniture.This is not my apartment.I look down.I’m wearing my favorite silk pajama set.WaitWhat the hell?

“Where am I?” I mutter, patting my head like that’ll bring memory back.ThenClick.The bedroom door opens.I turn and freeze.

Kwon Ji Yong walks in, towel low on his hips, water dripping from his hair, abs carved by the Gods, and a damn white shirt casually slung over one shoulder.“Look who just woke up,” he teases.Voice low. Smirk illegal.

I look away immediately, like my eyes just committed a crime.“You... I... How...?!” I stammer like an actual broken AI.Oh. My. God.I’m going to bury myself.

I press my palm to my forehead.My pride is melting.Oh. My. God.

Am I going up to his house??

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

I try to act casually,“Did I… say anything weird?”

He pauses.Steps closer.Leans in.“You said…”“‘Why didn’t you chase me harder?’”

“I did?!”I blurt it out like a fool.

Why did I say that? Why did I even show up?“Did I… do something weird?”I lower my eyes, not sure if I’m asking for mercy or an execution.

He leans lazily against the doorframe, towel still tucked dangerously low, smirking like this is his concert encore.“Oh… nothing major.”“Just kept trying to kiss me. Hug me. Whispered something about how soft my lips looked.”He shrugs, devilishly calm.“You know. Innocent things.”

I bury my entire soul into my palms.I want to disappear. Spontaneously combust. Time travel. Anything.I shoot up, standing way too fast.“I’m sorry, I was drunk.”

“How will you compensate me then?”His voice dips low. He doesn’t even blink.I tilt my head up to the ceiling like it can give me an answer.Instead, I see stars.Because he’s walking toward me now, unhurried, deadly.

“You act like you don’t care,”He twirls a strand of my hair between his fingers.“But you’re desperate.”His words slice through me.He knows.Oh my God, he knows.I bolt. Well, I try. I turn on my heel, walk fast, straight to the door.

But then,He grabs my wrist.Not hard.But with certainty.And in one smooth pull, I tumble backward onto the bed.I land, sprawled and speechless.

He lies down beside me.One arm propped under his head.Looking at me like he’s just watching the weather change, and I am the forecast.

“Hmm?”His voice is deep, lazy. Waiting.I open my mouth.Close it.Open it again.Nothing.Absolutely nothing comes out.

My cheeks are on fire. My brain? Jammed. Rebooting.He watches with a little smile, the kind that knows exactly what he’s doing.

“Speechless? That’s new,” he says softly.I groan into the pillow.Somebody. Help. Me.

I’m frozen.His face is too close.His voice is still echoing in my head.“You act like you don’t care… but you’re desperate.”He replied it again.

My fingers twitch. My breath is caught somewhere between denial and something worse.He doesn't move for a second.Just watching me. Studying every line of my stunned, blushing, panicking face.Then...He exhales. Long. Slow.

The silence between us? Deafening.I can hear his breath, steady. Calm.I can feel the heat of him just beside me.

He doesn’t touch me.Not even once.But he doesn't have to.

He chuckles, so soft it tickles my neck.“Relax. I’m not gonna kiss you.”

My eyes shoot to him.“Unless you beg,” he adds, grinning.

I gasp.He laughs, hands up like he’s innocent.“I'm just saying... you were a lot braver last night.”I roll over to escape.But his arm comes around me, not to trap, but to rest. Loose. Warm. Casual. Pull the blanket to wrap me.“Stay still, Mi Yu-ya,” he says softly, almost… fond.My heart won’t stop pounding.I close my eyes.Just for a second.Just until the blush leaves my face.Just until I can breathe again.But with his breath steady beside me…

And the blanket cocooning us like a secret…

I know.

I’m in danger.

“You sure you won’t regret?”His voice is low.Velvet. Dangerous.

I swallow. Hard.His hand rests on the bed, holding up his head lazily,His eyes? They’re not lazy at all.They’re burning straight through me.

“You sure,” he leans closer,“you can stop yourself from falling for me?”

I blink.My mouth opens. Closes.Words? Gone.Language? Gone.Basic dignity? Disintegrated.

Somebody help me.Somebody sedate me.Or seduce me. Wait.. NO!

He’s watching me like I’m an unanswered riddle.His wet hair falls just slightly into his face, a single drop still trailing from his temple to his neck.Oh my God.He looks like sin.

“Then stop being stubborn,”He taps my forehead with his finger, gentle but smug.“And let yourself fall harder.”

Falling?! I already fell through the floor, through the earth’s core, into another dimension where I’m doomed and it’s his fault!He waits.“Hmm?”

I........I nod.I NOD.I NOD.SOMEONE TAKE ME TO CHURCH I’VE LOST CONTROL OF MY LIFE

And thenHe smiles. Like I just signed my soul away.

“Good girl.”He leans in.And kisses my forehead.Soft.Warm.Deadly.

I’m not breathing.I’m not moving.My heart just jumped off a building.He pulls back slowly.Eyes still locked on me.Like he knows exactly what he’s doing.AND HE DOES.THIS IS ILLEGAL.

"Okay," I whisper.Or maybe I think I whisper?Did I even say that out loud?I grab the blanket.Cover my face.Scream into it.Internally.I’M DOOMED.

He giggles.HE GIGGLES.

“Hey, don’t be shy,” he says, leaning down,“I fall harder.”I want to scream.I want to melt.I want to go back in time and slap my drunk self.InsteadI bury my face deeper into the blanket, basically suffocating myself in cotton and shame.Did I just eat my ego alive? I think I did. It’s gone. Eaten. Digested.

He sits up on the edge of the bed, looking ridiculously hot in a loose white shirt, and pinches my cheek.“C’mon, wake up. Let’s eat breakfast.”

“You better eat now,”he leans close, smirking like the villain he is,“or I’m not gonna hold myself again.”“Not when I see you like this on my bed.”

I STAND UP IMMEDIATELY.Like a robot.Full speed.Zero eye contact.Straight to the door.

He laughs behind me.Low. Warm. Deadly.

I swear to God, if I die right now, it’s from secondhand embarrassment.And maybe thirst.

“Do you like toast or rice?” he asks behind me.I don’t even turn around.“Toast,” I mumble.“Cute,” he says under his breath.OH MY GOD I HEARD THAT.

“What are you doing after this?” he asks casually, like he’s not standing there shirt half-tucked, hair slightly messy, making me breakfast in his kitchen.

GD spreads Nutella onto a piece of toast like he’s painting a masterpiece.

I just watch him.Mouth shut.Brain not working.Body still overheating from everything that happened before this toast even existed.“So you’re gonna stay silent all day?”He walks toward me.

Nope. I panic inside.Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare come closer“Or…”He turns my chair to face him, smooth and slow, until we’re face to face.“Should I make you sound, Mi Yu-ya?”

I. STOP. BREATHING.

I can feel the blood rushing to my ears.To my face.To my soul.Can this be worse? Yes.It just got worse.Please, someone unplug the simulation.He tilts his head, waiting.Challenging.

Finally, I manage to whisper, barely audible.“Nothing. I… I took a full week leave.”

He blinks.ThenThat smirk. That slow, satisfied, infuriating smirk.

“Ah… so I have your entire week,” he says, as if he just won the lottery.“W-What?”I hate how my voice cracks like I’m a broken violin string.

He leans down, putting the toast on a plate beside me.“Let’s make it unforgettable,” he says softly.“We’ll start with breakfast. And then…”He trails off, leaning a little closer.

“We’ll see how long you stay speechless.”

I grab the toast like it’s a weapon.No thinking. Just survival.

Eat. Run. Hide.

I shove the toast into my mouth like my life depends on it.Turn my face away.Eye contact? Never again.Self-respect? Already buried.

And thenI grab a second toast.I shove it into his mouth.

He chuckles.

OH GOD HE CHUCKLES.IS HE TRYING TO KILL ME?

“Go wash up after this,”he says casually, like we’re not in the middle of my emotional collapse.“I’ll take you everywhere you want.”

I nod.I. NOD.WHY AM I NODDING?!

I chew like a gremlin.Shove my plate into the sink.Speed walk to the door.

DON’T LOOK BACK. JUST RUN.

The elevator door closes behind me.And I can still hear him laughing.That sexy, smug, I-totally-own-your-soul laugh.

I AM NEVER GOING TO BE OKAY AGAIN.

---

Back at my apartment.

I SLAM the door.Drop everything.And DIVE into my bed.

Pillow?On my face.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOINGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!”

Scream.Muffled.Pillow absorbs it like it’s my therapist now.