New Start

Part 13

They exited the elevator into the chilly basement carpark. Alex was a little amazed when Junmyeon guided her over to one of the more expensive looking cars in the lot. All shiny and slick, the black sports car seemed devastatingly intimidating.

'We are driving?' she asked him tepidly. She was kind of relieved though, it meant she didn't have to tot around in the heels she wasn't used to wearing.

'It's a little far to walk,' he told her opening the door of the passenger side of the car for her to slide into.

She settled herself into the low leather seat as he walked around and slipped into the driver's side, putting the key into the ignition and starting the car. She had never been in a car this expensive, and everything about it screamed wealth. From the smell and feel of the subtly heated leather seats, to the slick air freshener handing off the rear-view mirror, giving off a faint smell of camomile.

Junmyeon glanced down at her as her eyes darted around what looked like an extravagant cockpit that was the dash of the car. He chuckled to himself handing her a small MP3 player and told her to chose anything she liked.

Her nimble fingers worked fast swiping through the thousands of songs he had saved in there, everything from Korean super stars she had never heard of, to the likes of Coldplay and Avril Lavigne.

She settled on something easy to listen to, something she knew, and tried to relax as he manoeuvred the car out into the dark Seoul streets. Junmyeon hummed along to the music lightly as they drove in a comfortable silence.

They pulled up a short while later into what looked to Alex like a very fancy hotel. Junmyeon hopped out first darting around to the passenger side to open the door and give Alex his hand to help her climb out.

'You're being such a gentleman' she commented comically cocking her eyebrows up at him with a smirk across her ruby red lips.

He returned her smirk with one of his own and whispered into her ear, 'I'm trying to make up for being a lush the first time we met.'

She pulled back from him, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

'I basically forced myself into your apartment to kiss you, I feel bad about the ulterior motive when I didn't even know you.' He clarified with a tight smile, though his eyes were light, warm.

She giggled up at him. 'Ok, but I let you in, and I kissed you back, so does that make me a lush?' she fluttered her eyelashes flirtatiously.

He grinned at her with the same devilish look he had in his eye the night he was in her apartment.

'No, it just means you couldn't resist me.' He threw the keys of the car at a valet and slipping his hand around hers as they made their way up the large stone steps into the hotel.

She could see why he told her dress 'nice'. The luxury of the hotel daunted her as he walked her through the lobby, past rows of plush velvet sofas hosting important looking people in suits and silk.

She felt like her heels clicking on the expansive stone floor was piercing the delicate silence of the hotel, but there was nothing she could do. Junmyeon was half a step ahead of her pulling her along in his strong masculine grip. She was so used to do things for herself, being independent, she had never really experienced a man who took the lead like this. It made her feel young, vulnerable, and she found she enjoyed being in his protective grip.

'Why are we at a hotel?' she whispered to him apprehensively.

He slowed his pace, so she fell in line besides him, 'The best sushi restaurant in Seoul is here.' He whispered back. They turned a corner at the end of the lobby and there was the restaurant gleaming at them. Junmyeon spoke to the host in Korean as the man bowed and motioned for them to follow him.