The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (36 page)

“Eh, Choi Yoori,” Tae Hyun said sternly, taking offense to her accusation. “Just because I don’t want you as a friend doesn’t mean I think I’m better than you.”
 

Yoori snorted and looked away. She thought about giving him the “read-between-the-lines” fingers but decided against it. It was one of those tricks that you could only use on someone once and she now regretted using it on him at the lake house. Surely he deserved the middle finger now more so than before.
 

“Come on Brat, don’t be like this,” he urged lightly, trying to get her attention. He sighed when she continued to avoid eye contact. He shook his head at her stubbornness. With a look of exasperation, he said,
 “Why would I cry if I won’t let you die in the first place?” 

“You
 
won’t
 let me die?” she parroted, turning back to face him with interest. She expected to see a mocking smile on his face but was surprised when no mockery marked his countenance. He looked serious. 

“I searched an
 entire city for you when I didn’t have to.” He shook his head at her like she was out of her mind when she assumed that he wouldn’t care. “I’m not going to let you die on me.”

Her heart lifted at his answer. She had no doubt she was going to die from a heart attack if he continued to play with her emotions like this.

She was prepared to bury the hatchet until he promptly added, “I mean if you die, who is going to entertain me?” 

Yet again, her heart was racing and it was not from being happy.

“Does it look like I have this big red ball on my nose?” she finally snapped, taking another drink out of her nearly empty alcohol bottle. 

“What?” he asked incredulously. His eyes noted the nearly empty alcohol bottle in her hand and his eyes twinkled. It seemed he was under the assumption that Yoori was one step closer to getting drunk.
 

She could feel the effects clouding her vision slightly. She went on, slurring a bit as she spoke. “A clooooooown! Do I look like a clooooown to you? Here for your own personal amusement? Is that why you’re always laughing at me and teasing meeeeee?”
 

Tae Hyun laughed heartily at her. His eyes spoke of nothing but adoration. He finished his bout of laughter with a sigh. “What am I going to do without you, babe?”
 

“You’ll probably die from boredom,” she remarked sarcastically, finishing the last drops of vodka. Once the bottle was empty, she tossed it to the side. The bottle clanked with the other empty alcohol bottles and fell to its place.
 

Just when Yoori was about to close her eyes and lay her head against the metal chain of the swing, Tae Hyun’s next question more than speared the sobriety back into her.
 

“Would you cry if
 
I
 died?” 

She narrowed her eyes onto him. Her gaze blazed with warning. “Kwon Tae Hyun...if you die on me, I’ll
 
kill
 you.” It was only after Yoori made that statement did she realize, as stupid as it sounded, the statement was more than true.

Logically, it didn’t make sense the threats Tae Hyun and Yoori made to each other because how would it be possible that they could kill each other if the other one was already dead? It would probably never make sense to anyone else who heard it, but it made sense to Yoori and she knew that it more than made sense to Tae Hyun. That was the connection they had. It made sense to them – even if they couldn’t explain why.
 

“What a stupid statement,” Tae Hyun quipped with a smile.
 

“Well
, don’t be stupid and die and I won’t make a stupid statement.” 

“What are you going to do without me, Yoori?” he asked, his riveting brown eyes holding her gaze. “Remember, clowns don’t cry...”
 

Noting that she was no longer drinking, he leaned forward and offered his vodka bottle. It was their last bottle and it seemed that with the contents left within it, it was hers to finish.
 

“I guess I’m the exception,” she
stated. She leaned out to grab the alcohol bottle. She sat back in her seat and added, “Plus, you can’t die. You haven’t found Paris yet.” 

He regarded her poignantly. “What makes you think I’ll find Paris at all?”
 

“You will,” she assured confidently.
 “I have faith.”

“Haven’t we established that I don’t want to find it?” The content of the question was stern, yet it didn’t match his gentle voice.
 

“That doesn’t mean you won’t.”
 

He smiled at her insistence. He took a second to wrap his mind around something and then said, “Out of the two of us,
who do you think will find it first?” 

She deliberated his question. The obvious answer would be her because she was the one seeking Paris. Yet, for whatever reason, Yoori felt it was fair game between them.

“I guess we’ll have to live long enough to see.” 

“Alright,” Tae Hyun concluded. “So I guess it’s a pact…we won’t let each other die...”

“Especially when we haven’t found Paris yet,” Yoori finished for him, raising her lone vodka bottle as an agreement of their pact.

Guzzling down the liquid contents, Yoori was surprised when she saw Tae Hyun
jump off his swing. 

“What are you doing?” she asked, pulling the bottle away from her mouth.

Tae Hyun had stopped her swing in place and hunched forward. He was staring down at her and she was staring upward at him.

“It’s getting colder,” he announced, his cool gaze on her. “We should get going.”
 

The visibility of warm air permeated from her cold lips. “I guess it
 is time to go home, huh?” she asked sadly, not wanting to leave their little playground.

Despite all the cryptic topics of conversation, this was actually one of the more heartwarming moments she had with Tae Hyun.
 

She sighed.
 

Damn the weather…

The weather always had a tendency to ruin things for them. 

He smiled, crouching down in front of her. His eyes reflected amusement. “Who says we’re going home?”
 

“But you said it’s getting—” She stopped. “Wait, what’s going on?”
 

He tilted his head. “You don’t want to see your
 surprise?” 

Her eyes rounded with intrigue. She surveyed the playground. “
This wasn’t the surprise?” 

He laughed. “Not even close.” He turned his head and pointed in the direction of the trees that led into the depths of the park.

“Your surprise is in there, I 
think
. I’m not too sure. We might have to do some exploring before we find it.” 

“What’s in there?” she asked, looking over in the direction he pointed her in. All she saw were trees.
 

He shrugged coyly. “You’ll have to come with me to see.”
 

“Tae Hyun, it’s getting colder,” she reminded him, though she didn’t see the problem in that.
 

“Exactly,” he said as though that was the reason why they had to leave at that precise moment. He eyed her challengingly. “Are you just going to stay here like a sitting duck or do you want to have your breath taken away?”
 

Yoori arched an inquiring brow. “A little overconfident with that statement, aren’t we?”
 

“Just confident,” Tae Hyun answered smoothly, charm emanating from his smirk. “Come on, if I’m wrong and you don’t like it, I’ll be your assistant for another week.”

He turned around and waited for her. She knew then he was ready to give her a piggyback ride while taking her to the “surprise.” 

“And if you’re right?” she asked, placing her alcohol bottle down and wrapping her arms around his neck with an excited beam.
 

His smirk grew slowly.

He placed his hands under her legs and made sure she was up and safe around him for the piggyback ride. Rising slowly to his feet, he begun toward the enveloping darkness with the cold wind whipping past them.

“Then it’d be a great night for us, babe.”

“You’re merely living on borrowed time. . .”

17: Winter Wonderland

The trip into the inner depths of the park was much longer than Yoori had anticipated. The first time she came to this particular park with Tae Hyun, she had only noticed the playground and the wide-open recreational grass area. She hadn't realized that there was a more extensive part to the park, which led into scenic gardens that were lined with countless trees (green and balding ones alike), bushes, and remnants of rose gardens that had since withered away under the veil of winter. 

Apart from the soft radiance of the stone lamps that littered along the pathway, the inner vicinity of the park area they were walking in was secluded with darkness. Normally, such a scene would send chills up Yoori's spine but the only thing running through her was excitement. It was hard to be afraid of anything when you were with someone like Tae Hyun. The last thing on Yoori's mind was fear. She was too busy thinking about all the possible things Tae Hyun could have planned for her.
 

Perhaps there was another gazebo in this secluded area?

Or maybe there was a really pretty rose garden he wanted to show her? 

The possibilities were endless.
 

Her sets of possibilities were thrown into a murky swamp when Tae Hyun pulled away from the dirt pathway they were on. Yoori held her breath when she realized he was taking her down a grassy hill. She instinctively tightened her hold around his neck.
 

Where on earth was he taking her?

"Ah!" she yelped once they reached the flat grassland. 

They cut across several bushes, swerved around various trees and stone lamps that stood around the park. They were still in the park vicinity but she suddenly felt like she was in a forest of sorts. This path was definitely not the regular pathway that other park-goers were accustomed to.
 

"Tae Hyun, this better be good." She ducked her head when she was near a tree branch. "Where are we going?"
 

"Choi Yoori, can you exercise a little patience?” Tae Hyun whispered before picking up speed. There was no doubt he was excited.
 “What fun would it be to tell you now?"

A disturbing paranoia invaded her mind when he jumped over a log. "Oh my God, you're not going to kill me for punishing you this week, are you? Is that what you meant by taking my breath away?"
 

Tae Hyun snorted at her unreasonable question. "
Yes
. I spent the entire week being obedient, nearly breaking my back to give you your stupid piggyback rides to throw it all away by killing you at the end of the week." 

She frowned. "Your sarcasm is not appreciated."
 

"Nor is your stubborn heart," he whispered, stepping onto broken tree branches.
 

"And what do you mean nearly breaking your back?" she asked, not hearing what he just whispered. "Are you insinuating that I'm fat?" Before even giving him a chance to answer, Yoori already said, "For your information, I'm
 
not
 fat. I'm deliciously plump." 

"I swear, I'm going to spank some sense into that deliciously plump little butt of yours if you don't stop assuming that I think you're fat."

He held onto her more tightly just when he jumped over a pair of twin bushes. 

She gaped. "You wouldn't
 dare spank me!" 

"
Dare me to do it. I dare you." 

"How
 dare you dare me to dare you? What kinda assistant are you?" 

A smug embellished his face. "One who, at the stroke of midnight, will turn back into your boss.
"

Yoori laughed at his clever response. She played along. "Oooh, you're just a modern day fairytale pumpkin, aren't you?"
 

"A deliciously plump pumpkin," Tae Hyun corrected lightheartedly. "You got that, my deliciously plump Cinderella?"
 

"I prefer Princess," Yoori mischievously corrected before casually turning to her side once she spotted a little black blob on her jacket.
 

"Eek!" Yoori screeched when she saw a big fat spider on the shoulder of her white faux fur jacket. She immediately flicked the spider off and shuddered in disgust. She wanted to be graceful and just smile while waltzing through this maze of plants and trees but she couldn't help but—

Ah! Another spider! 

She whipped it off her hand in disgust and finally let out her frustration. "How much longer is this going to take—"