5

The warm air and the strong smell of paint welcomes you home to your apartment. You lock the door behind you and head straight to the bathroom where you take a shower. 

As the water run down your body, you remember what happened last night. 

"Fuck, Bel. You messed up this time," you scold yourself. "JB's gonna murder you now." 

But, damn, he was good. It was the first time you had an orgasm in years...not to mention two orgasms. 

"That's it, Bel. You won't go near him ever again." You try to tell yourself. 

You know how mad JB is going to be when he finds out. You just hope and pray Mark's not a kiss-and-tell. 

You step out of the shower feeling fresher, get in your most comfortable clothes and phone take out. Last night made you hungry and exhausted. You need to relax and rest a while before the workers would come and do the finishing touches in your house. 

After having a satisfying breakfast and taking an hour nap, you go out and  head to Han River with your camera, a tripod and a book you're in the middle of reading. 

You see a couple taking selfies by the river and making heart signs with their hands. 

"Pfft..." you scoff at them, "only their pictures are gonna last forever," you think to yourself. 

You see, you've lost all your hope in love and romance ever since you caught your ex-boyfriend sleeping with another girl. He promised you forever, but did the same thing to five other women. You looked at your father who had been married and divorced 3 times and think that there is no such thing as love. It only exists in fairy tales.

You set your tripod up just a few meters away from the water and secure your camera on top of it. The water sparkles as the sun hits it and you start taking pictures after pictures, moving from one place to another to get the best shot. 

Your phone goes off and see your stepbrother calling.

"Shit!" Your heart starts to race as you keep on thinking what you would say to him and how you would explain what went down with you and Mark last night. 

"Hello?" You answer, a little bit scared. 

You wait for him to shout at you as you put the phone up to your ear. 

But you hear a soft voice instead, "Hey, sisie...what are you up to today?"

A bit confused, "uhm...?" 

"Let's have a house warming party at your house. They'll be done fixing it today, right?"

"Oh...yeah.." your heart rate goes back to normal as you realize Mark didn't tell him. "Sure. Just you and me, right?"

"I'll call my friends over."

"Ok," then you think again, Mark is coming? "Oh..wait...Oppa..." but he already hang up. 

"Shit! Shit!", you curse aloud making the passers-by look at you. You pace back and forth thinking of how to get out of this. But your mind is blank. You're not ready to see Mark yet. 

You gather your things and head to a cafe in a building overlooking the beautiful river. You order coffee and try to think. 

"Think, Bel," you tell yourself. You take out your phone as you sip the hot coffee and start texting JB.

'Bro, sorry. Need to cancel the party. I need to be somewhere.' Send.

'Where? You don't start work until next Monday.'

Oh shit...where? ....

'A friend.'

'You don't have friends here, Bel.'

Fuck....

'Come on. We're bored. We don't have any activity tomorrow. We need a reason to party.'

'Ok. You buy. No food in the house.'

'Sure...gonna bring some booze, too. Be there at 6.'

You can't make your way out now. You  just have to meet it head on. 

You go back to the apartment hoping the workers are already done. And they are. The house is all good for the party. You just need to do a little bit of cleaning up. 

As you think of how to act later, in front of Mark, you remember how he was last night and it makes you want more of him. 

"No...you can't. You have to behave yourself now, Bel," you think.

You take a shower and change to a more decent garb - jeans and shirt. As you finish dabbing on some powder on your face, the doorbell goes off. 

"Damn..."

You jump out of your vanity and open the door to welcome a noisy group of seven guys. 

"Sis," your stepbrother hugs you as he enters the door. 

"Bel," Junior pats you on the back. 

"Let's party," Jackson shouts as he waves a bottle of tequila up in the air. 

The last one to enter is Mark. He looks at you and smirks. You look down at your feet as you hold the door open for him. He faces you and whispers, "you left me this morning." 

"Sorry. You didn't tell my brother, did you?" You still couldn't muster up the courage to look at him. 

"Of course not." He is about to say something more but JB comes and pulls you in the living room. 

"We got your favorite pizza, plus chicken and more. Where're your forks and plates?"

"Uhm...I'll get them," you say as you go to the kitchen counter and open drawers looking where they might be. 

"Avoiding me, are you?" That deep voice comes from behind and reaches out his hand in front of you to help you open a drawer that is stuck. 

"Thanks." You get some forks and chopsticks out, and turn around. 

You come face to face with him and he's looking down on you. 

"I'm sorry, Mark....about last night. I shouldn't have...I didn't mean to..."

"You didn't?" He looks disappointed at what you said. He raises one eyebrow and his hand moves to your sides, making you feel the electrical charge run up your spine. 

"Uhm...Mark," you say as you step sideways to get away from his hypnotizing gaze. You go to the rack and pull out some plates. 

"Hurry up, will you?" JB shouts from the living room below. 

"Coming," you glance at Mark one more time and go down 3 steps to where the other boys are.

The party went on comfortably, except for the captivating glances Mark throws at you. 

"Aren't you going home yet?" It's already after midnight and most of them are drunk. 

"We're gonna crash here. We don't need to be home tonight," JB says as he pours himself another shot of tequila. 

"What???? NO...." You stand up and force JB to do the same, tugging at his arm. 

He pulls you down to the floor and lets you sit beside him. 

"You crashed into our dorm and now we crash into yours. Fair enough?"

"Suit yourself," you stand up and head to your room, deciding to leave the boys to drink and party on their own. 

An hour has passed and you still couldn't sleep, knowing full well that the guy you just fucked last night is in your house. You stand up and put your ear on the door, you hear snoring in the living room. You go out the door to the kitchen to get something to drink, a beer, that could help you sleep. 

As you look for the bottle opener in one of the drawers, a hand caresses your arm. You turn and almost drop the bottle of beer you were holding as a pair of eyes stare at you. 

"Mark, Shit! You startled me," you move sideways and look in another drawer. You find the bottle opener and flip the cap off your beer. 

"Bel," he whispers, looking down through the railings and checking if the boys are still sleeping. 

"What?", you snap. You tip the bottle on your mouth and drink a gulp-ful.

"Last night..." he starts saying.

"Last night was nothing Mark. I was just drunk and it happened. I'm sorry." You still couldn't look at him.

"So, that's it?" He questions you.

"Yes, Mark. That's it." You take the bottle with you in your room and lock the door behind you.