Page 13 of Fallen Starboy

“I told her you were dead.”

Arista nearly rear-ended the car in front of her at the red light. My neck ached as my head snapped forward and then back, the brakes clearly working in this damn vehicle.

She threw it in park in the center of our turning lane and twisted in her seat, looking at me—no, lookingthroughme, as if she’d seen a ghost.

“Dead?” she said slowly, softly, like there was no fight in her anymore. “You told our daughter I wasdead?”

“Seemed like the best option at the time.”

And I didn’t plan to correct that misconception.

Not now, not ever.

To me, the woman I’d planned to give up everything for, shewasdead, in the truest sense of the word. She killed everything I ever felt for her when she disappeared, had my child, and then abandoned us both in Korea when she ran home with her tail between her legs.

For a few years, I hired a PI to watch her, keep tabs on her. I thought maybe she’d eventually see the error of her ways and reach out. I thought she might change her mind.

After the third year with no contact and no hint of change, I told him to drop the case and swore to myself that my memories of us were dead and buried. That my feelings were dead, too. I put it all in a little box in the back of my memory and locked it away, refusing to entertain my own delusions anymore.

But now . . .

Now, I wasn’t so sure I’d done a good enough job at locking all that away.

She shook her head and tried desperately to ignore me until we pulled up in front of a house bigger than anything I’d ever lived in when I was under my old label.

“What the hell is this place?”

The smug smile on her lips was a flashback to the past that I definitely didnotneed right now. “This is your new home,” she said sweetly, as if I were an idiot for not realizing it. “What did you expect?”

“Do all kNight talent acquisitions get houses this nice?” I whispered in awe, remembering the dorms we’d been smashed into when we signed as debut artists. “Or is the company showing off to impress their new client?”

“You should see the place they gave GirlCore. Fifteen bedrooms, and there’s only two of them.”

I shook my head and followed behind her as she led the way up the steps to the huge, modern-architectural dream home the company had seen fit to put me up in.

There was so much to take in.

Granite flagstones led up to the porch of the fancy A-frame, outfitted with a few plants and a single motion-activated light, just enough to give the sense that someone lived there and nothing more. The yard was freshly mowed, manicured pristinely, every tree trimmed and the bushes uniform and shaped in a neat little row. A privacy fence lined the property, which made me feel a little better about the whole thing, for Yejin’s sake.

And then she opened the door and stepped inside, and my jaw dropped.

The interior was worlds fancier than the exterior. Leather seating in the living room area, fancy artistry on the walls, and avant-garde statues on stands and shelves made of metal and glass. The carpet was white, the walls were white, andthe backyard was visible through a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass windows, which let in so much natural light it was insane.

Someone had been by recently, it looked like, because there was a fresh pot of coffee sitting on a warmer in the kitchen. I could smell it from the foyer.

But though my nose was in the kitchen, my eyes were on the open floor plan and the half-moon staircase leading to the second floor. I could see several doors from my vantage point, lined up on a half-hallway, half balcony design, and below the second floor was a set of double doors leading to a completely walled-off mystery room.

My curiosity was piqued.

Arista must’ve noticed, because she heaved a sigh and slipped her shoes off by the door, padding around the entryway barefoot. The second her toes hit the carpeted flooring, a smile crept over her face, and she hummed softly, breaking the silence.

“I’m going to grab a cup of joe. You go ahead and explore, if you’d like.” She waved her hand in my direction as a dismissal. “None of the rooms should be locked currently, but each bedroom has the capability to be locked, for personal privacy needs.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled, already halfway up the stairs.

The rooms were easy enough to pick out. Someone had already gone through the task of picking out basic furniture. The smallest room was outfitted with an obstacle course bed frame that Yejin would justadore,along with cute little rainbow cubbies and a window seat that would let her soak up the sunshine even on cold and rainy days. The floor was hardwood, but had a huge area rug in the center, filled with a fantasy scene that looked like it’d been plucked right out of a kid’s novel.

The room directly across the hall from it was slightly bigger, with very sparse decorating. A neutral toned futon couch sat along one wall, a desk outfitted with a printer, a computer, andsome other odds and ends to the left, and a chest of drawers on the right. The walls were empty, and there wasn’t much of a personal touch to the place. I assumed this would be either a spare room after Arista was gone, or an office space for myself, should I want one. Hell, maybe I could give it to Pujin, since he pretty much stayed with me on a permanent basis for Yejin’s safety.

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