Owning You - A Na Jaemin Fanfic

47. The Lady in Red

The windows are rinsed with rain.

"What time is it?" I hitch one leg over his thigh.

"No idea."

"We should get up."

"We should. But first, let me - " He buries his face in my hair. Inhales. "Lemons."

He scoops a handful of my hair, rakes his fingers through it.

"It was the first thing I noticed about you."

I stare at him questioningly.

"That day. The first day I saw you."

A pause.

His voice is low, soft. "It was spring. Early May. The Minister of Education visited our school. And I saw you." A beat.

I remember that day: a pulpy sunset, the dregs of dusk, buildings paper-cut against the glow. A bird circling nearby. Rain. A steady drizzle, the branches bent, shuddering against the wind. I was cold and tired and angry; my parents were in Paris, my limo was late.

"It was raining, and you were standing under an awning, frowning at the sky. Your skirt was billowing at the knees."

His fingers dance across my belly, his mouth glosses my neck.

"Your hair was the first thing I saw, long and black. You pushed a strand off your face with the back of your wrist. You lifted your head back, raised your chin to the sky. You looked - defiant. You were so tiny and pale, but you looked invincible, standing there, your shoulders flung back. Like you couldn't give a shit what the whole world thought." A pause. I can hear him breathe. "I thought you were just about the most beautiful thing I had ever seen."

His mouth grazes my ear.

"I wanted to touch your hair. I wondered what it felt like." His eyes are very intense. "And then I wondered what it would be like to hold you. I wondered what your mouth would taste like. I wanted to kiss you. I wanted you."

My heart is pounding.

"But I told myself I was insane. I couldn't, I didn't know you, and I wasn't free, I was with - " Carol. "I saw you a few times after that, but I always looked away. I made sure I looked away." He breathes quietly. "And then, out of the blue, I came home one day, my father called me to his study, sat me down, gave me that catalogue, asked me to pick one girl, and I was so mad, so fucking angry, and I flipped the pages, and that's when I saw you. Your picture. So, I picked you. I decided there and then. I'd pick my forbidden fruit, and they would never even know. It was my little secret, my revenge, in a way, that I had picked a girl I was lusting for. I never hesitated. I wanted you. And now I had got you. I couldn't believe it. I was angry and disgusted and excited. I was a mess."

I exhale.

"I thought you were indifferent to me."

It's that moment all over again. I'm standing, and he's surrounded by a bunch of long-legged girls, his hands in his pockets. As he turns, the light catches his jaw and he holds my gaze for an instant. And then he looks away.

"I was not indifferent," he says. "Never indifferent." A beat. "So, now, you know. You - bothered me a lot." There is a smile in his voice.

I swallow.

He flips me on my back so suddenly I squeal.

"The thing about you is," he drags a finger over my mouth,"you're a craving. Like an addiction." He swallows. "The more I have you, the more I want you." He kisses me deep, slow. "I can't get enough of you."