OFTEN (BOOK 1)

That Piece of Cake

Hanni

The moment she opened the door and we came face-to-face with Rei, I froze.

"What exactly were you two doing in there?" she asked, her eyes moving between the two of us. A recap of all she could have heard flashed through my head, and I felt a burst of heat spread along my skin.

I chanced a look over to Ms. Kim as she did the same, then turned back to Rei and shook my head. "Nothing, we needed to talk. That's all." I tried to play it off, but knew the tremor in my voice gave me away.

"Oh, I heard something in there, but it certainly wasn't talking," she said, smirking.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rei. We were discussing an issue at work," she said, trying to move around her.

"In the bathroom?" she asked.

"Yes. You sent me up here to find her. This is where I found her."

She shifted in front of her, blocking her path. "Do you think I'm stupid? It's no secret that you two don't discuss anything; you yell. So, what? Are you two, like, dating now?"

"No!" We both yelled at once, our eyes meeting for a brief moment before quickly darting away.

"So . . . you're just fucking then," she said, and it seemed that neither of us could find the words to reply. The tension in that hallway was so heavy I briefly considered how much damage a jump from a third-story window could do. "For how long?"

"Rei . . ." she began, shaking her head, and for once I actually felt bad about her discomfort. I'd never seen her look like this before. It was as if all this time it really hadn't occurred to her that there could be consequences outside of our own turmoil.

"How long, Minji? Hanni?" she said, looking between us.

"I—we just—" I started, but just what? How could I explain any of this? "We—"

"We made a mistake. It was a mistake." Her voice cut through my thoughts and I looked over to her in shock. Why did it bother me so much that she said it? It was a mistake, and yet hearing her say that . . . hurt.

I couldn't tear my eyes away as she began to speak. "Mistake or not, it needs to stop now. What if I'd been mom? And Minji, you're her boss! Have you forgotten that?" She exhaled deeply. "Look, you two are adults, and I don't know what's going on here, but whatever you do, do not let Matthew find out."

A wave of nausea hit me at the idea of Matthew ever finding out about this, at how disappointed he'd be. I couldn't bear that. "That won't be a problem," I said, purposefully avoiding Minji's gaze. "I intend to learn from my mistake. Excuse me."

I moved past them and toward the stairs, anger and hurt settling like a lead weight deep in my stomach. The strength of my work ethic and motivation had always buoyed me through harder times in my life: breakups, the death of my mother, rough patches with friendships. My value as an employee at MMG was now tinged with self-doubt. Was I making her see me differently because I was fucking her? Now that she'd seemed to register—finally—that if others knew about us it could be bad for her, would she start to question my judgment more globally?

I was smarter than this. It was time I started acting like it.

I composed myself before stepping outside and returning to my seat beside Jake.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

I turned my head, letting myself look at him for a moment. He was really quite cute: neatly combed dark hair, a kind face. He was everything I should be looking for. My gaze shot up a moment later as Ms. Kim returned to the table with Rei, but I quickly looked away.