The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (23 page)

Yoori nodded, wearing a grin that hid the true knowledge that she knew he was lying to her.
 

Yoori briefly wondered about Ji Hoon and his lying skills. She thought about the fact that if she hadn’t personally overheard his conversation on the phone, then she would’ve easily believed the lie he told her. She would’ve believed him because Ji Hoon was
 that good of a liar. He was able to look at her straight in the eye, with no bluff whatsoever, and he was able to lie to her. Undoubtedly, she was also reminded of the fact that she was An Soo Jin and the fact that Ji Hoon had been lying to her since she met him. Out of everyone, he alone had been telling her that she bore absolutely no resemblance to Soo Jin, when in fact he was actually the first one to call her Soo Jin. 

Yoori mentally scoffed at herself. Now that her denial had vacated, all the little things that didn’t make sense in the past were adding up perfectly.
 

“What are you doing here?” Ji Hoon asked, his warm eyes marked on her.
 

“Relaxing,” Yoori said blithely. She closed her book and placed it back into her purse. She’d rather talk to Ji Hoon than read anyway.
 

“How have you been since I last saw you?” There were treads of concern in his voice. He stared at the remnants of bruises around her lips.
 

“I’m doing a lot better,” Yoori reassured, flashing him an even bigger smile to prove her point. “How have you been?”
 

“A lot better now that I’ve seen you,” he said warmly. His eyes grew a bit more affectionate.
 

It took all of Yoori’s strength to keep that smile on her face. In the past, Ji Hoon’s charms managed to make her heart skip a beat. But for whatever reason, as she sat there with him, it didn’t offer the same effect. If anything, the only effect from being around him was despondence – which was no fault of his own.
 

Guilt clawed at her while she gazed at the one who used to be Soo Jin’s boyfriend –
her boyfriend
. Yoori suddenly regretted calling out his name. Her mind started swirling with endless questions. Yoori wondered why there was only guilt pelting over her and nothing else when she gazed at him. 

She should be jealous that he was talking to another girl on the phone. She should be telling him that she knew without a shadow of doubt that she was An Soo Jin. She should be telling him that she wanted to be with him again. She should be saying that but none of those urges existed within her. She cared about him
a lot, but not to a romantic degree. 

It may be that she dreaded being around him because he reminded her of a past that she had been fortunate enough to be made oblivious of.
 The answer could be that…or it could easily be because she couldn’t get her mind off a certain someone who would never fail to command her unyielding attention— 

“Where’s Tae Hyun?”
 

Yoori froze at the verbal reminder of the one person who affected her most in this world. The insistent quivering of her heart commenced and she fought for composure. She didn’t want Ji Hoon to know about Tae Hyun leaving her and the reason
 
why
 he left her. 

“Something came up...” She shrugged vaguely, her bluff going strong. The brightness of her smile overshadowed any doubt. “He had to leave for awhile.”
 

Ji Hoon nodded, satisfied with the answer. It didn’t seem that he truly cared about Tae Hyun’s whereabouts. He only cared that Tae Hyun was out of the picture – if only for the time being.
 

“You know, I was thinking about you the other day.” He smiled to himself. “But then again, I think about you all the time so that really doesn’t merit much of your attention. But I was thinking of you and something
 specific the other day.” 

Yoori raised a curious brow.
 

“I was thinking about that date you promised me.”
 

“Date?” She was thoroughly confounded. What was he talking about?
 

He nodded at her with amusement. “That night in my car,” he reminded good-naturedly. “You said you’d make it up to me by giving me another date.”
 

“
Oh!” Yoori cried, the contents of the night where she probed him for information about An Soo Jin flashing through her memories. “Oh yes,” Yoori said, smiling at him nervously. “I remember.”

Though it had only been about a week since she made that promise, it felt like it had been months ago. Yoori supposed that was the shelf life of events that occurred in the Underworld. Even if it had only been a few days, it still felt like it had been months.
 

“Are you proposing that we hang out today?” A part of her secretly hoped that they could do it another day. She wasn’t ready to face him in such an intimate setting. She wasn’t ready to be reminded of the fact that he was her boyfriend in another life.

“Are you busy?” His eyes were hopeful that she would say no. 

Yoori shook her head, not wanting to lie to him. “No, but are you? This is so last minute.”
 

Ji Hoon’s smile remained. “I’m never too busy for you.”
 

“But what about your business associate?” she continued to ask, hoping that she could find an excuse on his part to not hang out. She knew his lingerie-clad playmate was probably waiting for him.
 

“What business associate?”
 

Holding in a laugh, and knowing he had already forgotten about his lie, Yoori lifted her chin and indicated to the Blackberry in his hands.
 

Memory flew through his eyes.
 “Oh 
that
 associate.” He chuckled, tenseness present in his laughter. He put his phone on silent before putting it back into his pocket and standing up. “I’m sure they’ll be able to take care of themselves. It’s not a big deal. Anyway, have you had dinner yet?”

There were no more excuses she could plead out. He was determined to have his date with her and he was determined to have it at that very moment.
 

Yoori shook her head at his question. She threw her handbag over her shoulder and reluctantly stood up as well.
 

“I know a good place where we can eat,” shared Ji Hoon. “It’s a couple of blocks down. I think you’ll really like it there.”
 

“I’ll take your word for it.”
 

Deep down, for very obvious reasons, Yoori knew that it was a bad idea to continue to be in Ji Hoon’s company. Despite this, she also couldn’t deny that it was such an uplifting feeling when she was around him. Whether he saw her as Soo Jin or not, he cared about her immensely and there was no lie about that.
 Perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible if she kept her word and went on this one date with him…

Side by side, they began to walk as the winking sunset hid behind the gargantuan skyscrapers.
 

“Was there a reason why you chose to relax in this particular area?” Ji Hoon asked, shifting his eyes down to her.

Yoori smiled to herself and looked around. “I like to people watch in this area. I felt really lost when I first moved here. The only time I don’t feel so lost is when I’m sitting here, reminding myself of the future I want.” She pointed to the tallest building in the area. “For instance, it would be my dream to own that building.” She pointed at the second highest building beside it. “And that one.” She pointed at several others in the area. “And that, and that, and that, and I want that group of people leaving to work for me in the future.” She laughed to herself. “My problems seem smaller when I can sit around and bask in a world I want to turn into my future.” 

He laughed warmly at her actions. Curiosity then creased over his brows. He backtracked.
 “Wait a second, when you 
first
 moved here? Where did you move from?” 

An uneasy sensation rolled over her now that he was asking about her questionable past.

“Taecin,” she shared carefully.

“I didn’t know that you weren’t from Seoul.” A
mazement was embedded within his voice. “It seems that there are quite a few things I don’t know about you.” 

“Same to you,” replied Yoori.
 

Ji Hoon nodded with a determined look in his eyes. “We definitely need to fix that, don’t we? Let’s start getting to know each other.”
 

“Alright then,” said Yoori, though she was wary of talking about herself. It wasn’t like she knew too much about herself either. She would have to wing it as best as she could on parts where she wasn’t sure if the answer was accurate.
 

“You can move the topic along,” she suggested politely.
 

“How about we talk about what we were like growing up? Do you think we can start there?”
 

Yoori took a moment to deliberate as they walked down the sidewalk. She knew that this conversation would entail her lying about what her adoptive parents told her, but Yoori was ready to do what was needed to keep her secret intact. It would only have to be tonight where she’d have to lie to him about her questionable past…
 

Yoori nodded, knowing that this was going to be a long night since it was about to start off with such a big lie.
 “That sounds good. We’ll start there.”

“There is a downfall.”

11: Training of Royals

Several blocks later, Yoori and Ji Hoon arrived at
 Vertical VII, one of the most prestigious and glamorous hotels in Seoul. 

Their arrival brought a cautious impulse out of Yoori. When she bestowed him with a suspicious glare, Ji Hoon merely placed his hands up to mark his innocent intentions. He explaine
d to her that his favorite pastime was having dinner on the rooftop of this hotel. Though there was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, Ji Hoon assured her he didn’t bring her here with the intention of taking her anywhere 
but
 the rooftop. 

Her wariness dissipating, Yoori nodded in understanding and followed as Ji Hoon led her inside the affluent hotel.
 It was an understatement to say that Yoori was impressed when she walked onto the rooftop of Vertical VII. 

Glass walls that were at least five foot high embroidered the three sides of the rectangular shaped rooftop. Streams of running water pulsated through the three-inch glass. The little flickers of lights within it made it appear as if you were staring at captive stars. The only side of the building that lacked the embrace of the glass décor was the fourth
 corner of the infrastructure. Long and spread out, the empty space glowed with pride as it held the beauty of the busy city in its hands. 

The entirety of the rooftop was bare but marked with style as the décor of the streaming glass wall embraced them. The only object that inhabited the base of the rooftop was a table under the touch of the sun.
 Placed strategically on the center of the rooftop, a mahogany table long enough to seat at least ten people awaited Ji Hoon and Yoori. On it laid various dinner dishes that made Yoori’s mouth water. 

They ate while the sun descended and the moon rose. It would’ve been an ideal dinner date if Yoori weren’t consumed with thoughts of both Soo Jin and Tae Hyun. Both parties haunted her as the hours passed, their conversation never straying from getting to know one another. It was hard not to be reminded of all the things she wanted to escape from when she was sitting across from Ji Hoon. She was constantly reminded of her pain as they tried to continue along with their conversation.
 Yoori was transparent though. It was evident that Ji Hoon knew something was bothering her. He just chose not to point it out. 

The contents of the conversation sailed smoothly until they
travelled onto a touchy topic.

“You don’t have any siblings, right?” Ji Hoon asked, sipping his red wine. They had finished dinner and the last of the dessert.
 

Yoori shook h
er head, picking up her glass before the servers picked up her plates. “It was just my parents and I.” 

“
Was?” Though he attempted to hide his interest, Yoori could tell by the creasing of his brows that her answer caught him off guard. 

Yoori wanted to slap herself for not being more careful with her words. Why the hell was she letting him know that her adoptive parents died? A lump formed in her throat
and she nodded quietly. “A year and a half ago…” 

She didn’t feel the need to finish her sentence. Ji Hoon was smart enough to pick up on her reluctance.
 Yoori knew by the apprehension in his eyes that Ji Hoon regretted speaking out so fast.

He looked at her understandably. “I’m sorry.”
 

Yoori smiled uneasily, not wanting to stray onto that topic. She speedily moved it along.
 “Do you have any siblings?”