Page 39 of Nine-Tenths

As we walk back to Beanevolence, I decide that it's a lovely day to set myself on fire.

Not because Dav and I have still got pinkies curled around one another—it’s disgustingly twee, and I freakinglove it, okay—but because when we get back, Hadi is standing at the window with her stupid phone out. The garage door-windows are open, so she has a clear and unobstructed sight-line when she snaps what I assume is going to be an embarrassing photo.

"Do you have to?" I ask her as Dav drops my hand to open the door. Like the gentleman he is. Not like a sneaky sneak friend stealing pics.

She wouldn't hold the door for me.

She wouldn't kiss my hand either.

I'm okay with that.

"What’d she do?" Dav asks, a puzzled look on his face putting a vertical line between his eyebrows. I just want to, like, kiss it away. But there are a dozen people in the café, and Hadi is grinning at us, and Dav, I'm figuring out, likes his privacy. So no PDAs.

"She's being a punk." I hold up two fingers at her when we get inside. "Rules One and Two, okay?"

"Okay," she says. "You look cute."

"Fuck off."

Hadi laughs and drops her phone into her hoodie pocket. "We're completely out of all the baked stuff, my nerds."

"I'll put in some trays," Dav agrees, rolling up his shirtsleeves.

I hand over the sandwiches Dav had suggested we bring back from the restaurant for Hadi and Min-soo—he'd paid for all of it, even though I told him he didn't have to—and relieve Min-soo at the till. It's not so busy now that I can't take orders and make coffee at the same time. We tend to taper off in the evenings, with no student study groups to fill the sofas and tables.

"That's thoughtful." Hadi peers into the take-away box at the roasted veggie sammie I knew she'd like. "Thanks Colin."

"Thank Dav."

He gives her a little wave as he disappears through the kitchen door.

As soon as he's gone, Min-soo crowds me up against the front counter.

"So?" Min-soo asks, lit up with intense delight. "Is he a good kisser? I bet he's a great kisser. Did he dip you? He looks so Hollywood!"

"I don't know?"

"Is that a question?"

"I don't know," I repeat. "He hasn't kissed me yet. I mean, my hand, but not my—"

"He kissed yourhand?" Min-soo squeals, and it's loud enough that I clamp my palm over her mouth.

"He can probably hear us!"

"No, I can't," Dav calls from behind the kitchen door, and my lungs constrict with mortification.

"Sorry!" I push Min-soo back so I can wash my hands.

"By all means—please keep flattering me. My ears are burning." His voice is tinged with embarrassment, and it knocks me for a loop that I can tell.

"I'll set the rest of you on fire, too, if you don't cut it out!"

Dav laughs in that beautiful baritone. I am so gone on this guy. This isridiculous.

Min-soo honest-to-god clutches her hands together over her heart. "It's likeDesires Aflame in a Time of War."

I know that's her favorite K-Drama because the little witch got me hooked on it too, and now it'smyfavorite K-Drama.

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