Crushin on you.

Chapter 13

"Oh, hey you two." Adel said to Florence and Kyung as they stepped onto the elevator. It was nine in the morning the next day, and though it didn't have to be awkward, it was. But only because Kyung and Adel had plans to meet at noon.

  Her and Devin held hands, making Flo give Adel a knowing look as she asked, "Hey, Adel, who's your friend?" While she spoke, she looked at Kyung, only because he looked at their hands intently. She wasn't sure if he wanted her to let go of his hand, but she had no intention of doing so.

"Devin, this is Florence and Kyung. He's Jane's older brother." When she said his name he looked up into her brown eyes, and as he spoke to Devin, he felt Flo reach for his hand that rested at his side.

"Nice to meet you. You live on this floor, right?" He asked, while completely ignoring Flo's hand. Adel noticed it, and she glanced back up at his eyes, only to see that he had been looking at her too. "Yeah, I think I've seen you a few times. I'm a freshman though so I never said anything."

Ky laughed a little while looking away from Adel as the doors dinged open, "Don't worry, Devin, he doesn't bite." Flo said with a short giggle, making Adel laugh too. "I'll keep that in mind, Florence." She smiled as they were just about to walk their separate ways, "We'll see you guys later? Bye Flo, bye Kyung."

Adel said to both of them, "Bye, Sweetie."
Flo said with a smile, while Ky just waved as they walked toward her apartment.
"They were nice." Devin commented, making Adel nod in agreement. "Yeah, they're the sweetest." As she changed the subject, Florence and Kyung talked about it the rest of the walk to her place.

"What was that?" Honestly not sure what she was referring to, he asked, "What are you talking about?" She sighed too, "When I reached for your hand you just shrugged me off."

"Oh, did I? I'm sorry." He apologized sincerely, while taking hold of her hand and interlocking their fingers. A part of her wanted to let it go, but another part wanted to address what had been eating her alive for the past few hours. Sighing deeply, she pulled her hand away and said, "Okay, stop. I just want to talk to you." He nodded, and stopped walking to hear her out. "What's wrong?"

"Something is off, and we keep acting like it's fine." Grasping her shoulders gently to move her out of the way of someone cycling through campus, he told her, "Tell me what's on your mind." She nodded, "I don't want you to get mad." He chuckled, "I won't."

Biting her bottom lip with anticipation, she finally came out and said it. Unlike she expected, he didn't get upset or anything, and seemed to be telling her the truth. "I'm not sleeping with her. Was that why you've been stressing out? Come to me next time, okay? I have no reason to lie to you."

A large part of her knew that he was lying to her, "If anything changes you'll tell me, right? After the last time I really just need some warning, because since Labor Day you've just been love bombing me, and I didn't want to say anything. A large part of me feels like you don't even realize that you're doing it."

Kyung nodded, "You know, you're not the first person to mention that to me, and I want you to tell me what I can do to change that. The woman I talked to told me that it was toxic for me to treat our relationship the way I had before, because I was asking for too much from you, while simultaneously denying you the actual title of being my girlfriend."

"Both of them aren't fair to you at all, Florence, and I'm so sorry." Though he was offering her a sincere apology, and desired a real answer, she was amazed for a moment. She had known him for years, and not once had he been self-aware enough to fix his toxic behavior.

The larger part of herself loved the fact that he wanted to change, while the other, smaller part wondered what woman told him that, and why she was important enough for him to do the work to change.