In Love With My Rival

Farah's POV 3

The sun beats me awake. I'm tangled in sheets and immediately aware of Jaewook's arm around my waist and his breath on my shoulder. I almost push him away, but it would wake him up, and that would be counterproductive since I want to avoid him like the plague. So I slither out as quietly as possible.

I'm almost done putting on my clothes when he stirs. I pause in horror for a moment and almost run out barefoot, but he is already up.

‘Good morning,’ he says, his voice smug and hoarse. I try not to dwell on it. ‘Leaving already?’

‘I have regrets to face,’ I say as calmly as I can, trying not to betray my panic. He chuckles, making me throb again. Oh God.

‘You’ll need coffee.’ He is out of bed and smirking. I walk towards the door.

‘I need to leave. This never happened.’

‘Sure. You have evidence on your shoulder, though.’

I gasp and push my shirt off my shoulder to check in the mirror. Sure enough, there is a bruise, barely hidden by my shirt. I groan. He's still looking at me with his taunting eyes. I take a deep breath, fix my shirt, and walk out without a word.

I've almost calmed down after a cold shower and a change of clothes, when my phone lights up with his text.

‘You forgot your hair tie,’ it says.

‘Burn it.’

‘That’s not very environmentally friendly.’

‘Bury it then. Or give it to the next one you bring over.’

‘That would probably be you 😜’

‘The police will have to work overtime figuring out who offed you.’

‘Stop acting tough, Vanilla.’

‘Get lost.’

I shove the images of him ripping away the hair tie that my mind keeps playing in 4K and try to gather notes for today's session. No use. I can't make out simple words. I snap the laptop shut right before room service brings my breakfast.

The whole thing is so warped, it's funny. People might say I'm being dramatic, that it’s not as big a deal and I just take myself too seriously. They will be absolutely right. But it is a huge deal. It's Lee Jae-wook. I slept with Lee Jae-wook. The man who made it a point to meet me to ridicule my perspective. I'm not naive, I know he asked Aaliyah to introduce us. Everything about us is unaligned. We don't even believe in each other's definitions of love and relationships. I really don't want to ponder over what it says about me and my non-existent self-control to give in to a man who probably has a harem and treats my philosophy as a joke.

The agonizing part? Last night, he seemed genuinely affected. The way his eyes wandered and his hands trembled as he enveloped me in kisses almost made me believe he found me beautiful. Not in a superficial way, that's pretty obvious. No, on a soulful level. He kept saying things like he missed me, that he can't get enough of me; had anyone seen him in that moment, they would have thought he was in over his head. I'm glad no one did, I don't want to remember what I was jabbering about. I think I said something like, “I like how you feel,” at least once, but I don’t want to go there.

What makes it worse is not that it was good (which it was; it was insanely good), but how chill he is now. Everything about him from this morning infuriates me: the taunting eyes, the sly smirk, and the constant reminder of him all over me last night.

‘Are you ok?’ My unwelcome recollections are interrupted by Sam, a friend and fellow instructor.

‘Yeah, why?’ I hope I don't sound too breathy and clear my throat. She raises an eyebrow at me, smirking like she knows something.

‘Why is Jaewook looking at you like he wants to sneak off with you in a corner and rip your clothes off? Did something happen?’

My heart stops for a second and I can see my soul trying to float away.

‘Like what?’

‘You tell me,’ her smile grew wider.

‘Get your mind out of the gutter,’ I mumble, not as ferociously as I'd like and straighten my back before marching away.

She isn’t wrong, though. I can see his eyes following me the entire day and by evening, I’ve had enough. I corner him near a closet room in an isolated corner just as everyone files away for dinner.

‘Keep your eyes in check. Stop making it obvious,’ I hiss only for him to pull a clueless face.

‘Making what obvious?’

I close my eyes, trying to suppress the urge to kick him. ‘People are noticing. I swear, if you don’t behave yourself…’

‘You’ll?’

‘You are just impossible,’ I turn around to storm away.

‘Why do you want to hide it anyway?’

I look at him, bewildered at his stupidity. ‘You really want to announce a mistake?’

‘One you made for the second time and I’m pretty sure you want to again,’ he says, infuriatingly calm. ‘You wouldn’t have stopped me near a closet otherwise.’

I don’t answer. But my feet refuse to carry me away. He steps closer. ‘Tell me. What’s so wrong about it?’

‘You really need me to list it all down?’ I say incredulously. ‘Forget me, think about what a scandal it would be for you if something like this gets out.’

He doesn’t look like he wants to think about it because he is holding my hand, leading me to the closet already. Our lips are on each other as soon as I shut the door and his hands are just as warm as they were last night when they slide under my shirt. I shiver, my fingers fumbling with his belt. Just then, someone tries to open the door and I push him away. Fixing my shirt and hair, I warn him to stay away once again and slip out, feeling dizzy.

I manage to ignore him for the remainder of our time there, telling myself it’s a phase and will be over when I get home. He clearly doesn’t think so because he bumps his shoulder against mine, whispering “see you” as we walk out of the airport.