The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (55 page)

“What is it?”

“It’s his birthday tomorrow.”

“
What?
” Yoori wanted to screech out, only to have Chae Young and Hae Jin cover her mouth.

“Shhhhh!” they whispered together, nearly causing her to fall backward.
 

She pulled their hands off her mouth and then craned her neck in Tae Hyun’s direction. He was still on the balcony, leaning against the wall and speaking to the brothers. As though sensing her eyes on him, he met her gaze briefly. Yoori panicked and turned back around to face Chae Young and Hae Jin.

“Why am I just finding out about this now? Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Oppa hates celebrating his birthday,” Hae Jin explained after a sigh.
 “Every time we try to do something for him, he either kicks us out or doesn’t go out to dinner with us.”

Chae Young nudged Yoori suggestively. “But I’m sure if it’s just the two of you, you can make something special out of it...”
 

Chae Young was right. Yoori had to do something special for it. There were no ifs, ands, or buts. Bad things happening aside, Tae Hyun’s birthday was still important.
 

“But
what am I going to do for him?” Yoori thought in horror. She felt like she was under pressure to throw the biggest party of all time. She focused her eyes on Chae Young. “Cake! I wanna bake him a cake. Will you help me bake him a cake?”

“I’ve never heard ‘cake’ and ‘bake’ so much in a request, but yeah! I’ll help you.”

“Great, thank you,” Yoori said efficiently before whipping her attention back to Hae Jin. “What’s his favorite cake?”

“Red Velvet,” Hae Jin answered at once.
 

Yoori looked at Hae Jin blankly. “What the eff
is a ‘Red Velvet’?”

“It’s a red cake,” Hae Jin explained. “Oppa loves them. If you give it to him, he’ll be putty in your hands.” Hae Jin paused. “Well
, more so than usual.”

“Will you help me bake it too?” Yoori asked, her eyes blossoming so wide that she felt like Bambi.
 

“Aww, I would but I’m hanging out with him during the day. I’ll have Kang Min come help. He knows how to do all that baking stuff better than me anyway.”

“He won’t be busy?”

“I can talk Jae Won into taking over some of his duties,” Chae Young assured. “Don’t worry, Yoori! Just tell Tae Hyun you want to hang out with me all day. You can shop for him with Kang Min and just come into the diner to bake the cake. Afterward, you can surprise him when you go home.”

“Ooooh, that sounds good,” Yoori voiced gratefully. An uneasy inkling settled within her. “But will your dad not kill me, since you know…I quit without giving a valid notice?”

Not that it was her fault, of course. It was Tae Hyun’s fault. And now she was going to bake him a birthday cake…in the very same diner he stole her from.
Go figure
. 

Chae Young waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, my dad’s mean to you, but he still loves you. I told him that you just had emergency stuff to take care of and he understood. Plus, he’s out of town so it won’t be an issue.”

Woot, woot
! Yoori cheered in her head. “Okay, that sounds good. We’ll reconvene tomorrow.”

“Aye
aye, Captain,” Hae Jin and Chae Young joked with a salute before the sound of the door opening caught all their attention. 

The boys were back.
 

“Is everything okay?” Yoori asked, seeing the boys pile back in.

Kang Min and Jae Won were shaking from the cold while Tae Hyun was as composed as ever. Yoori wondered if the guy ever got cold. It didn’t seem like it.

“We’re leaving a bit earlier than expected,” Tae Hyun shared, stuffing his Blackberry into his pocket.
 

“Aw, so dinner’s over?” Chae Young complained sadly.

“We’ll do it another time,” Tae Hyun assured her. Walking into the dining area with Jae Won and Kang Min, he stopped the brothers as each of them grabbed an empty plate to place in the sink. 

“I was kidding,” he told them amiably. “I’ll clean up myself. Just take the girls home and do what you need to do. I’ll see you guys there soon.”

The brothers smiled appreciatively at Tae Hyun and set the plates down.

“Thanks for dinner, boss,” the brothers chimed at the same time.

“Thanks for letting me know and thanks in advance for your help,” he responded to them just as Hae Jin walked over to give her brother a hug. Yoori wondered what it was they informed him of and what they were helping him with. 

“Aww, thanks for dinner, oppa.”
 

“I’m still seeing you tomorrow, right?” Tae Hyun asked while pulling his sister into an embrace.
 

Hae Jin laughed merrily and faked a careless shrug,
 

Tae Hyun pointed at Kang Min when she did this. “You’re her best friend.
 Remind her
to hang out with me tomorrow.” 

“I will,” Kang Min confirmed with an amused nod. It was evident that he was always the one Tae Hyun counted on to remind Hae Jin to keep her appointments.

“It’s going to be a long night, isn’t it?” Jae Won asked wearily, already looking tired. He rubbed his temples in woe. 

As Kang Min nodded, Hae Jin said, “After tonight, oppa will lead the single largest gang our society has ever known. So yes, it would be a busy night. We have our work cut out for us.”
 

Perching herself against a nearby wall, Yoori watched quietly
while the four official Serpents members grew lost in their conversation about how long the night ahead would be. Yoori watched in utter stillness, her attention focused exclusively on Tae Hyun. He was standing at the other side of the room, laughing while he perched himself against the wall. He was speaking and nodding intently with his sister, Kang Min, and Jae Won. It was a simple sight that was the catalyst for a landslide of emotions that inundated Yoori.

“He may love you now, but he won’t love you for long. Tae Hyun is just like any other man who has ever walked the earth. He only seeks things that are untainted. He only seeks things that aren’t damaged. He would
 never love you. He would never love Soo Jin…”

It was funny how life worked. For months now, she threw her attraction for Tae Hyun as mere lust – physical attraction if anything. She knew that she liked him, but she was sure the attraction didn’t go past anything physical. Yet as she watched Tae Hyun, realizing how easily he could be taken away from her due to circumstances she couldn’t control, she realized something she couldn’t deny to herself anymore.

She had fallen for him…
hard
.

Yoori swallowed tightly and fought against the impending sobs that threatened to escape from her dry throat. Realizing that you’ve fallen for someone shouldn’t have this effect on a girl. Yoori was aware of this. Still, she found it difficult to ignore the pain that ripped through her when it was clear that, despite all that was against her, she still cared about him
 with all her heart. 

The air stilled inside her and she acknowledged her stupidity. Out of everyone to fall for, out of all the times to fall out of denial, she chose
this
time to admit that she had fallen for Tae Hyun. Of all people, she had to fall for Tae Hyun…the one who was about to lead the Underworld and the one she was standing in the way of. 

“Yoori, are you okay?” Chae Young’s voice came over her delicately.
 

Chae Young stood in front of her and rested a worried hand on Yoori’s shoulder. From the angle the other group was in, if they had turned in their direction, it would seem like she was having an intimate conversation with Chae Young. It was a vantage point that she took advantage of. She was so consumed with emotions that she didn’t even answer Chae Young. She just continued to peek over in Tae Hyun’s direction.

Her eyes ran over his striking features. Her ears bathed in the sound of his laughter vibrating across the walls. He laughed a lot with her and she liked that. Whenever he laughed, he’d make her laugh too. Even when he was teasing her, deep down, she didn’t mind it at all if it made him happy. He had the most amazing laughter that would make anything in her world appear brighter. 

“I think…I’ve fallen for him.”
 

Yoori didn’t say anymore
while she stood there with Chae Young. She didn’t delve deeper because she knew Chae Young could read what was going on in her eyes. 

There were no more ifs, ands, or buts. After denying it for so long, the truth was finally there for her. There were no fireworks, trumpets, or stopping of worlds. It was just the simple realization that she had fallen for Kwon Tae Hyun. That simple realization was also the most complex thing she’d ever felt in her life. It was overwhelming and exhilarating for Yoori, who had never felt this way about any other man in her life. How ironic that it was only when she feared that he would be taken away from her did she realize how much she had fallen for him?

Life was cruel. 

Her heart clenched.

She realized now what he meant when he said, “I’m not giving 
it
 back to you.”

It was her heart.

He wasn’t giving her back her heart. 

Her breathing grew shallow.
 

There was so much working through her body…so much she wanted to cry about. The emotions were overpowering. She was standing in a dining room with her best friends in the world, never feeling happier and now, she felt the need to cry. All of this happiness, all of this love only existed for Tae Hyun’s Yoori. It didn’t exist for An Soo Jin. No matter how hard she tried to separate herself from Soo Jin, Yoori knew in the end, it was an impossible separation. Soo Jin would always haunt her. If not through memories of her past, then she would haunt her with the prospect of ruining her future. Tae Hyun loved Yoori,
not
Soo Jin. And when the time comes, he’ll leave Yoori 
because
 she’s An Soo Jin. 

And as Chae Young held her hands, her knowing eyes staring into Yoori’s tentative ones, it was then that Yoori knew that Chae Young saw what it was she was
 feeling. It was a girl thing so to speak, a non-biological sisterhood bond that they shared. She doubted that Chae Young knew exactly what was happening in her mind, but she knew that Chae Young knew enough. She knew that Yoori had just realized how important Tae Hyun was to her – how much she wanted to be with him. 

“We’ll make sure you bake the best cake for him,” Chae Young whispered, her voice dimmed so that only Yoori heard what she said.
 

There were countless fears running through Yoori as she nodded, countless fears running through her as her guests left, countless fears streaming through her as she helped Tae Hyun clean up, and countless fears tearing through her as Tae Hyun continued to sweep her off her feet while they spent an hour together before he left for the initiation. Despite the fears, she still wanted to give him a great birthday. She still had a few more moments of borrowed time with him and it would be silly to let the moment pass her by without making more good memories.
 

“What are you thinking about, Brat?” h
e asked, pressing his forehead against hers.

He stood in the doorway, preparing to leave for the initiation that would change the course of his life forever.

After this, he’d be one step closer to becoming the revered Lord of the Underworld. He would also be a step further from being with her. This was how “love” and “power” worked in the Underworld. It worked inversely…never moving in the same direction.

“How much you fail at life,” Yoori joked, smiling innocently at Tae Hyun.

He scoffed in disbelief at her unwarranted insult. She hoped that her stupid little insult would mask the pain that inhabited every nerve in her body. She had never felt so naked and so vulnerable in her life. 

“You know how to kill the mood, don’t you?” he asked playfully. Walking past her, he proceeded to the door. He gave her a smile before walking out. “Remember, I’m still firing you tomorrow. Better get the tissues out and ready.”

“Yes and I’m excited to kill the mood even more when I quit before you fire me tomorrow!” Yoori replied coyly, already excited about surprising him with the birthday cake. 

All pain coursing through her aside, Yoori knew his birthday would be a great night for them. She was determined for that. The world owed them that much. They deserved at least one more great night before the world stepped in and pulled them apart. Yoori was bound and determined to make the most out of all the borrowed time she had left with Tae Hyun because in her heart of hearts, she knew it would all be over soon.
 

It would all be over and everything occurring now would merely be a distant memory in the future.

“And become human again.”