Painful Love

Chapter Five (Part III)

"I'm not doing anything," he responded pretended to be defensive.

"You are staring."

"No, I'm just bewitched by you, that's all."

"Are you calling me a witch?"

"A very sexy hot witch, I might add," it was the way that he said it that got her laughing. He was always grateful that he could make her laugh. He was never a jokester growing up, he wasn't the funny one, and he always found himself awkward when he did attempt to tell a joke, but with Zarah, it felt like she only found him funny. He could make her laugh, which was the most important thing because he noticed how much she laughed when they first met. Every movie that they watched when they stayed together in Korea was a funny one. She would cry with actors in the movies and feel the anger as if she was right there next to them. He realized that she was a very sensitive person, and that was why she always kept her energy high. Still, since the shooting accident, she had changed a lot, and although she had already gotten her memories and wanted to make sure that nobody knew, at some point, she stopped acting it, and it became a reality. She had lost a part of herself when that happened, and he was determined to help her find it.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked casually as he resumed eating.

Zarah stopped the folk mid-air and looked at him. "Why are you asking?"

"I'm curious. I realized that I have never asked you about your family," he asked and watched as she put her folk down, and he noticed sorrow in her eyes but as soon as it came, it was gone in a second. "You can't keep hiding from me, Zarah!"

"How am I hiding Ha-Neul? I'm literally sitting right here, in front of you."

"You hide your emotions, and if I don't get to see them, then who are you going to show them to?" He asked politely, and she was left looking at him. No one had ever asked her such a question. Since she was a young girl, she learned to suck it up. She survived all that she has been through until that point in her life because she learned to keep people as far away as possible, which meant never show your emotions. Never show that you are weak because weak people don't survive. After all, once they can predict you, then you are dead. You always have to keep your guard up, and so for that reason, she had never been in a relationship. Whenever a guy approached her, it would only last a week before they gave up on her. Nobody likes to chase a wall because no matter how hard you push unless you are a hulk, the wall is not coming down. Only when you learn to climb over the fence, then and only then, would you move forward.

"I know that this is new to you, and trust me, it is for me too, and I want this to last forever, but the only way we can achieve that is if we both want the same thing. I can never do this alone, Zaraphinah," he spoke. She liked it when he called her full name. Her p***y seemed to clench involuntary when her name came through his lips, but she wasn't planning on telling him that. There was silence for the remainder of the meal, and when they got done, he grabbed the dishes and washed them. Cleaned up the table and asked her if she wanted to go and take a walk, and she gladly agreed. When they got back from their walk, a man was sitting by her apartment door, and all the blood rushed to her head and wobbled. Ha-Neul caught her before she fell. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned, and she started sweating. Something that she did whenever she was nervous. He looked at the man by the door that was getting up to his feet and instantly knew they probably knew each other. "Just how many toxic people does she have in her life?" he asked himself. "How about we go back outside? It seems to be a bit too hot in here?" he asked, and she nodded her head yes. When they stepped outside of the apartment building, he directed her to take deep breaths while he did it with her. "One breath in," they both sucked in air, "two breath out," they let out slowly, "three breath in and hold," and they both took another breath and held it for a few seconds before letting go.

"You know?! I was thinking, how about we go to Korea?" he asked cautiously.

"I am not running. I can't keep running." She answered angrily

"Exactly! You are the strongest, most courageous, and, I might add, a dangerous person I know. Even Popov doesn't scare me as much as you scare me." He said, and she smiled.

"Come on, don't give her false hope. She's nothing but a dirty nasty cunt," it was the man from upstairs. Ha-Neul was pissed. He saw red. It was a side of him that he intended to hide from Zarah for as long as they shall stay together. He hated that side of him. He could only imagine what Zarah would think of him.

"I suggest you choose your words wisely," Ha-Neul growled.

"Who is he?! Your boyfriend or something? Not that you are girlfriend material, of course." He went on.

"Yes, actually, I am her boyfriend. You got a problem with that?"

"Ah! I see you have eventually embraced your inner sluttiness. Your mother would be proud." Upon hearing this, Zarah turned around to walk away.

"You can run, but you can't hide. I'll be right here when you get back!" He shouted at her as she picked up her pace. Ha-Neul debated whether to punch the guy first or follow Zarah, and he chose the latter. They walked for a while, and none of them said a word to each other. 'Could it be that she had been kidnapped before? Does she owe him money? Could they be related? How come I never saw him before up till now? But he said mother, so that meant that they knew each other's parents' He was asking himself questions after questions and tried to come up with answers. She was more mysterious than he thought she was, but he wasn't sure if it was the sexy kind. He contemplated calling Alexei and having the man murdered, but that could cause trouble for Zarah, seeing that he didn't know the whole story. He was still there when they got back to her apartment, accurate to the stranger's words.

"What the f**k are you still doing here?" Ha-Neul asked angrily.

"Oh, she didn't tell you? I'm Bob, her big brother."