The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (5 page)

“You started it when you insinuated that I was fat!” Yoori argued, rushing to catch up after they descended down a slope of grassy hills.
  “I may have gained about six pounds since I’ve met you but that gives you no right to make fun of me, you in-shape person. No one asked you to carry me home. You could’ve just woken me up!”

“I didn’t insinuate that you were fat,” Tae Hyun argued back, his voice expressing his aggravation.
 “All I said was that my arms hurt. It was you who misunderstood and blew things out of proportion.”

Turning around, he mindlessly reached his hand out to help Yoori when he saw her struggling to race down the hills.
 She took his hand without a moment’s hesitation. 

A teasing grin overtook his face once Yoori was safely balanced on the flat grassland. “And
 only six pounds? Wow. That definitely means I have to feed you more.” 

Yoori scoffed at his last comment, thinking it was another one of his insults.
 

“Nice outdoor shoes by the way,” he added, glancing down at her flip-flops before releasing her from his grip and walking away.
 

“Thanks,” Yoori replied automatically. She paused when she registered that his comment was actually sarcastic. Before she had a chance to yell at him for being rude, he had already begun to disappear from her sight.
 

She ran after him. Her toes clasped onto her white flip-flops while her hands held up her long emerald prairie skirt. She struggled to keep up while her long black hair grazed over the fabric of her white tank top.

“Augh, what a jerk,” she muttered to herself, almost tripping over when her flip-flops flew off and landed in a small ditch. 

When the day began, Tae Hyun gave her something to look forward to when he mentioned a surprise he had planned for later. Since they spent so much time arguing at the restaurant, he was now in a rush to tend to his surprise. Evidently to Yoori, this surprise was time sensitive, hence the acceleration of their legs and the impending heart attack she was about to be doomed with because she was so exhausted.
 

“Tae Hyun!” she shouted while panting, her lungs begging for her out of shape self to stop overworking it.
 “Will you please slow down?”

A frustrated Tae Hyun stopped at the sound of her cry. He whirled around and ran back to her. His short-sleeved white shirt and khaki pants glowed in a modest gold tone in response to the setting sun.
 

Yoori stared wide-eyed when he came closer.
 “Eh, eh, eh! What are you doing? Not this again!” she shouted, backing away when she realized that Tae Hyun was running toward her with that look in his eyes. It was a look that said: “Well, if you can’t hurry up…”

“No, no, no,” she whispered. “I’m just kidding! I can walk fast. I can walk – ahh!”
 

Without uttering a word of warning, Tae Hyun’s arms had already slipped behind Yoori’s back and underneath her knees.
 In an instant, he was carrying her again. 

“This is fast becoming an annoying trend,” Yoori muttered, her eyes forming into annoyed slits.

He laughed and pulled her closer against his body. The scent of his cologne surrounded her. “Trust me, slowpoke. Before the day is over, you’re going to wish I never let you go.” He finished that statement with a wink and a laugh that tickled every fiber within Yoori’s body. 

Ignoring the warm current that electrified her, Yoori rolled her eyes at his words.
 She suddenly pushed at his chest and made an abrupt jump from his arms. As soon as her feet landed on the grass, she looked back at Tae Hyun, stuck her tongue out at him and ran ahead. 

“I don’t need you to always come to my rescue, Prince Charming,” she voiced playfully, pulling up the long hem of her skirt. She picked up speed. “Now hurry up, slowpoke! Show me the surprise before the sun sets!”
 

Though there was pain shooting up her legs, Yoori refused to show it. Tae Hyun had good intentions but she was sick of being babied. The stubborn feminist within her had had it. She could take care of herself; she didn’t need him coming to her rescue all the time.
 

Amused with her dramatic display of independence, Tae Hyun merely smiled and laughed. Placing both of his hands in his pockets, he caught up with her. If the expression on his face gave any indication, he was definitely pleased with her behavior.
 

“Eh, for what it’s worth,” he began, nudging her occupied arms. “After holding you for a bit, my arms aren’t hurting anymore. I think touching you may have healed my pain.”
 

Yoori snorted disbelievingly.
 Now she knew he was bullshitting her. “That’s surprising, seeing that I ate three big plates of lasagna for dinner.”

His smile persevered. “I guess my own three plates offset it.”
 

They smiled warmly at one another, the hatchet on their stupid argument burying instantaneously.
 Side by side, they continued to walk as they neared the bank of the lake. Tae Hyun had his hands in his pockets and Yoori’s hands were still holding up her skirt. In the distance, Yoori could hear the ducks splashing around in the water. She could also hear faint sounds of kids screaming in glee as they chased after one another. It was a euphoric sound to her. Everything was so carefree. She felt at peace.

“Tae Hyun…”
 

“Hmm?”
 

“Thanks for a really fun day,” she voiced quietly, the warm and appreciative tone in her voice as genuine as the sun shining above them.
 “I really enjoyed myself.”

Tae Hyun sighed at her words. “Don’t be in such a rush to say your thanks, Choi Yoori. The day is far from over.”
 

Just when Yoori was about to nod in agreement, a white wooden boat distracted her. It sat peacefully on the field of grass ahead of them, beckoning them to use it as the
magnificent sun illuminated the soft shine of its paint. 

Yoori smiled disbelievingly at Tae Hyun. He had already approached the boat. He began to pick it up and push it into the lake. In the middle of doing this, he grinned and extended his hand out to a mystified Yoori.

She was in love with his surprise.

She shifted her gaze from the boat to Tae Hyun. To her, he had never appeared more otherworldly. His features glowed under the gold/pink hues of the glorious sun, making it appear like the beauty of this world was created for him to inhabit.

Wonderment suspended over her. She assumed that his surprise would have something to do with eating ice cream at the dock or something crazy like shooting ducks with guns. She never anticipated 
this
. 

It was much more…romantic.

Not that she was complaining of course! It was a nice change to be treated like a princess—especially when her evil boss typically enjoyed spending his time torturing her.

Man oh man. She was a fan of company retreats now.

“I’ve never been on a boat,” she admitted, trying to hide her cheeky smile. She grabbed his hand and sat in the boat. She took a quick glance at her surroundings. She really regretted not bringing a camera to chronicle this moment. It was all so picturesque.

After
she was settled, Tae Hyun pushed the rest of the boat off the sleeping grass and onto the calm lake. He hopped in before it drifted off. He had a smirk on his face when he grabbed a wooden paddle. He penetrated the silky lake with his paddle, alternating between sides and stirring the water.

He gazed up at the sunset colored sky and laughed. “I knew I’d have you sailing off into the sunset with me sooner or later,” he commented playfully, raising his brows with interest.
 

“Hah!” she replied with warm sarcasm. “Oh yeah, your constant courting has
 finally paid off, my dear friend.” She took in a deep breath after she ended her spell of laughter.  She glanced around the rose colored lake, admiring everything within her circumference. “This is so nice.”

It was probably how the rays of the sunset favored him but when Yoori returned her focus to Tae Hyun (who was also staring off at the lake) she could’ve sworn she felt her heart skip a beat. She liked how the light, instead of layering over him, somehow radiated over his smooth skin. Yoori couldn’t deny it. Kwon Tae Hyun looked
 damn sexy paddling the boat as he stared off into the distance, his poignant gaze lost in a world of its own. 

Everything was okay for a stare-fest – that was until he broke her trance when he averted his eyes back onto her. Noting her awe-like stare on him, he gave her an awkward look.

“What are you thinking about?” 

“
You
,” she answered mindlessly. 

Her eyes bulged when she pried herself out of her unwarranted stupor.

Shit!

“I mean – you – you!” She struggled to find a plausible alternative for her blunt and unfiltered answer.
Ahhhh
, she thought. Her panicked mind ran in circles. 

She then caught sight of a duck waddling beside them.
 

A flickering light bulb turned on.

This was definitely not her best alternative but it was the only one she could think of in her state of panic. She was going to sound so effen stupid –

“You—You—You stupid duck! Go faster!
 You’re in our way!” 

“
Quack
…” was all the duck said as its big eyes gaped at a frenzied Yoori. Allowing a couple more soft quacks to escape its beak, it swam away in a panic, obviously terrified of Yoori. Not that she blamed it. 

And a stunned silence was all that
Tae Hyun said while he gawked at her in bewilderment. He was probably contemplating throwing her psychotic self off the boat. She didn’t blame him. She was contemplating it too. This was what she got for mentally admitting that the guy was sexy.

“What the hell was that?” he finally asked, watching the duck disappear into the distance.
 

“I—I—I was afraid we were going to hurt it,” Yoori lied, shaking in her seat. She could see the flickering light bulb self-destructing in her state of awkwardness.

“This isn’t a motorboat, assistant,” Tae Hyun deadpanned. “We’re going .7 miles per hour right now. I could’ve stopped the boat if you asked me to.” 

“I—I know…” Yoori responded
dimly, already contemplating suicide. She cursed her stupidity. 

When he took inventory of the burning humiliation on her cheeks, a sneaky Tae Hyun hid a knowing smile. He pulled the paddle into the boat and proceeded to lay it beside him. Shortly after, he laid himself across the boat.
 

Suspended in the center of the lake, where different groups of ducks and geese were playing and swimming in the near distance, he casually said, “I can’t believe you made yourself look like an idiot because you didn’t want me to know you were staring.” He smiled shrewdly at Yoori. “You’re a real class act, babe.”
 

Yoori clenched her teeth.
All this time, he allowed her to act idiotic when he knew? She tried her best to do damage control. 

“I—I was not staring,” she combated, her cheeks burning at the embarrassing dilemma she found herself in. She went on clumsily. “I was moving my eyes and I stopped on you for a little bit longer than I should. That’s not staring. That was just me being lazy with my eyes and— ”
 

Okay, I should stop now
, she thought to herself, feeling like a blubbering fool. Oh how she wanted to crawl into a hole and die right now… 

Luckily for her, it didn’t even appear as if Tae Hyun was really listening anymore.
 

Laying his head against the foundation of the boat, he gave a sigh of relief
after he fully situated himself across the boat. When he was done, he angled his head toward Yoori. 

“You’re blocking the view,” he noted bluntly.

“I’ll block your view with my fists if you don’t leave me alone,” Yoori muttered threateningly. She was resentful that he allowed her to behave like an idiot. She could feel it in her knuckles. She was ready to punch something—Tae Hyun being the primary candidate. Tae Hyun and maybe a couple of ducks. 

“Wow,” he responded coolly, nonchalantly patting the empty space beside him, a gesture for her to stop arguing and settle beside him.
 “My precious little assistant is such a thug. 
Scary
.”

Yoori rolled her eyes. “I’m glad we can find some humor in the success of my initiation.” She threw him a dirty look. “And why should
 I go to you?” 

“
‘Cause you’re not sitting in the right angle to get the best view. Now come here before I ask you what you were thinking about 
while
 you were staring at me.” 

No!
Under no circumstances was she going to share with him that she thought he looked sexy.

Acknowledging that she had been backed into a corner, Yoori gave in before she accidentally blurted out anything else.
 Throwing up her white flag, a very bitter Yoori carefully moved to the empty space beside Tae Hyun. With one leg outstretched, she sat beside him, her hair ruffling slightly when a gentle wind flew past them.