Page 51 of Fallen Starboy

“I sent her with an escort, sir,” Pujin replied smoothly, refusing to tell me more.

Maybe he couldn’t. Maybe he didn’t know. Or maybe she’d sworn him to secrecy, wanting to make a clean break before I asked her to explain.

But I didn’t need an explanation. I’d worked it all out while I reduced our lives to a few bags of necessities. While I prepared to leave my own house because a crazed man tainted the halls where I walked, lived, ate, slept.

“Where did she go?”

Pujin shook his head forlornly. “I’m not at liberty to say, sir?—”

I lashed out, angry and afraid and emotionally wrecked. My hands gripped his collar and dragged him to me, our noses practically touching.“Where,Pujin?”

“She asked me not to say.” His eyes fell to the floor, shame rippling across their surface. “Sir?—”

“Whose man are you?” I spat, jealousy at his loyalty shift eating me from the inside out. “Where do you get off doing her bidding now? Did you forget who brought you to this country?”

I didn’t care if I was being irrational. The very real fear that she’d never come back again, the worry that while she was out there alone, they’d snatch her away and make good on their promises to kill her, boiled in my veins. It made me mad with worry, turned me into someone I wasn’t.

“You, sir,” Pujin replied, clearing his throat. “I follow you.”

“Then tell me where she went.”

Just then, one of his subordinates walked in holding a set of keys. “Sir, the car’s ready,” he reported, his tone inflectionless as he handed them over to his boss. “Should we move Miss Kim and her instructor now?”

“The tutor will be in the rooms across the hall from the Kims. Please see to it that he gets settled immediately.” He looked to me, his eyes sad and sympathetic, swimming with emotions I never wanted to see from my fuckingbodyguard.“I’ll bring the Kims along post haste. We have another stop to make before we check in.”

I released his collar and dusted him off, suddenly ashamed of myself. “Sorry, ole boy,” I muttered, feeling very much like the child who’d been silently scolded for acting out. “Should I take this to the car?”

Pujin reached out and took the bag from me with a shake of his head. “I’ll handle the bags, Jun. You just figure out what the hell you’re going to say to her to bring her back with you.”

Chapter

Twenty-One

ARISTA

Leaving again hurt just as muchas it did the first time, but it was for the best. For their safety. If I didn’t leave, and those assholes sent someone else after me, who was to say someone wouldn’t get hurt in the crossfire? I couldn’t put Yejin or Jun in that position again.

It would be better for everyone if I went back to living alone, closed ranks around them with new staff, and returned to my old position in the label.

Who are you kidding? Do you think the label will stop seeking him out just because you’re out of the picture?

He had Pujin. Pujin had a capable team of security detail personnel, all better equipped to deal with this situation than I could ever hope to be.

They’ll hunt you down regardless. You’re just running away to avoid the conversation you don’t wanna have with the man you’re still in love with.

And that right there was the crux of the matter. I didn’t want to explain myself. I didn’t want to rehash the old pain, go through the emotional roller coaster one more time. Jun would never trust me, never believe me, no matter what I told him.

He had an established life with Yejin. And a long time ago, I decided there was no place for me in it.

To change that would be selfish.

The plan had always been to get out as fast as I could.

So why was I filled with so much regret at my actions, when I was the one who made the decision?

I shuffled around my apartment, running the water to clear the pipes, opening curtains, even watering the plants the housekeeper had clearly neglected while I was away. Some of them might spring back, but others were long past their tipping point and would need replaced, or tossed out.

Rest in peace to my hydrangea, I guess.

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