Page 123 of Ugly Beautiful Scars

Breakfast is mostly just us eating in silence. The clink of forks against plates. The soft sounds of chewing. The low, distant hum of a city outside. The world feels so perfect.

And yet… I know our little bubble won't last forever.

His phone buzzes for the fifth time in ten minutes, rattling against the coffee table. Sean has been ignoring it, but he finally groans and glances at the device.

"Hold on," he mutters. "Someone's blowing up my phone."

I don't mean to look. I'm not trying to invade his privacy. But he's right next to me, the screen is in plain view, and curiosity is a powerful thing. I'm desperate to uncover everything about him, from his past and family to the experiences that shaped him. I'm eager for all those hidden pieces I've yet to discover.

The screen illuminates with a chat entirely in Korean, just lines and lines of character blocks that mean nothing to me. Sean scans them with ease. His thumbs tap out a response, the characters appearing like magic.

He closes that chat and opens another, and I catch a glimpse of an English name, Sienna, followed by messages I can't read before Sean shifts his position.

Sienna. A woman's name. It feels silly for me to have any spark of jealousy or worry at this point since he's completely confessed his feelings and he's not a liar. So I try to rationalize it—could be a cousin, a colleague, a friend. But the stupid insecurity creeps in anyway, wrapping its claws around my heart.

I focus on my pancakes, cutting them into smaller and smaller bites, suddenly not very hungry. There are so many things I don't know about the man I love. So many parts of his life that existed before me and continue to exist outside of me. It's normal. Healthy, even. But the fear lingers. What if there's someone else? Like he's one of those guys who is now BFFs with an ex.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with BFF exes.

Before I start toreallyremember how difficult dating and relationships are, Sean's arm slides around my shoulders, pulling me close. He smells like maple syrup and sleep and something uniquely him that I've come to crave.

"Thank you," he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"For what?"

"For waiting and looking so beautiful while doing it."

I blush but a question is burning through me and I'm unable to stop it. "Is Sienna your ex?"

A laugh explodes out of him, and then he gasps, "What?" before dissolving into more laughter. He laughs so long and hard that he holds his sides, tears spilling down his cheeks.

His laugh is contagious, so I smile and start to feel silly. "I guess not?"

"No. Wow. Definitely not." His laughter lightens as he starts to compose himself. He wipes his eyes. "Shit. That was funny. Sienna is not an ex and she's never been anything close to—" He laughs. "No, no. God, please tell that to her husband when you see him. He won't find it funny, but the look on his face will make me have a great day."

Meet Sienna's husband? It feels great that Sean wants me to meet the people in his life. "Sure," I say through a grin. "I'll do that."

He holds his phone out where I can see it clearly, then opens his contacts list and scrolls until he reaches 'S'.Sienna Conte.He shows me their text thread, which is mostly Sienna saying, "Hi! How's it going?" and Sean not giving many details before asking how she is. He pulls up a picture of a couple: a woman with vibrant red hair nestled against a man with deeply blue eyes. They're on some kind of beach.

"Declan and Sienna," Sean says. "Good friends of mine. Though they worry, especially Sienna, so she checks in a lot. I'm thankful for them, but they get nosy about what I'm up to."

The tension in my shoulders releases slowly, like air from a balloon.

"Declan used to be my boss," he adds. "Sienna's his wife. They travel a lot, but they come back to San Francisco every few months. They're good people."

His phone buzzes with another message in Korean. Sean sighs and pulls it up. "She's on a rampage today."

"Who?"

"My mom. She's blowing up my phone with family gossip." He scrolls to show me more of the conversation, though I can't read any of it. "Apparently, my cousin Jae-sung got engaged to awoman he only met three months ago at a club. Mom says it's scandalizing the family name because it's too fast and you don't find wives in a club."

I bite back a smile. "No one in a club is marriage material?"

"According to her, no. The only place you should ever meet your spouse is at work, or through family and friends. Everything else is a scandal."

I giggle. "Well, she sounds adorable."

He pulls up a picture of another smiling couple. The woman is petite with laughing eyes and the same warmth as Sean. The man beside her is tall and broad-shouldered, with a confidence that seems oddly familiar now.

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