Page 80 of Signed, I'm Yours!
“I guess it’s fair. Only you’re out of luck.”
“Really? How so?” I raise an eyebrow and set my mug down, untouched.
“I don’t have any friends for you to lie to and put at risk.”
He sinks into the couch, and I make him take another sip of his cocoa before I put that on the coffee table too.
“That’s not true, is it? You do have friends.”
He scoffs and turns his head away from me. I put my hand on his chest, where I can feel his heart thumping, and lean my head on his shoulder.
“You do now. My friends are your friends.” He scoffs again. “Do you think they’d stick their necks out for just anyone? If they weren’t your friends too, they would have snuck out with us. But they stayed behind to try and salvage the situation, my colleagues, and your home.”
“Yeah. After I fucked it up.”
“We all fuck up, Seojun. Every single one of us. It’s how we learn to be better.”
He looks at my hand on his chest and bites his lip.
“And some of us keep fucking up and never learn. Nice try.”
I move my hand to his neck and from there to his face, gently so as not to scare him away, and lift my head so I can look at him.
“When did you fuck up before?”
He puffs up his cheeks and exhales with a pop.
“How much time do you have?” He glances at me, and I smile.
“All the time in the world.”
He shakes his head and budges up away from me.
“I don’t deserve to be treated like that. Not after what I’ve done to you. What I’ve done to everyone.”
I pull my hands away and give him his drink back.
“If you were anyone else, maybe that would be true, but you’re…you. So I’m here. And my eyes and ears and heart…they’re open.”
He hugs his mug and stares at the frothy top a little too intensely.
“You’d be saying that no matter who I am. Your power makes you susceptible?—”
“My power makes me see the positive side of any situation. It doesn’t make me a fool.”
He sighs.
“No, but I am. I’ve caused this. I’ve caused so much misery to everyone that’s ever been around me. Even my omma. My brother.”
I put my hand on his thigh and give it a squeeze.
“What happened?”
“What always happens. Ever since I was a kid, my omma always told me to watch where I put my signature and my dick. But since I discovered what I can do with my signature, I’ve been getting into trouble. At first, I used it to convince everyone I was a good student. But then I saw the opportunity to sign permission slips for trips my omma didn’t want me to go on. And then came checks when I was short on cash. It doesn’t take much of a leap to go from small inoffensive things to petty crime.” He takes a sip and some whipped cream sticks to hisnose, but he doesn’t notice. “Once I got the hang of it, I managed to get us things. Great things. A better house, a better car, better education. But that didn’t stop life from happening. Omma lost her job, Min was expelled, and no amount of signatures could get us our lives back. So, I started doing more dangerous things. I started testing my limits. I would find rich, older men and get them to sign me checks. That’s when I got into trouble.”
“I thought your signature made people forget what they did under its influence.”
He nods.
