The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (7 page)

“That was a really nice story,” said Yoori, unable to hide her bittersweet smile.
 It would’ve been nice if she could actually have that fairytale story with someone. 

Tae Hyun nodded. A similar,
bittersweet gleam was present in his eyes. “Do you want things to happen like that? With some editing of my story, we could make it work.” 

Yoori shook her head, knowing better than to lie to Chae Young like that. She also knew better than to keep perpetuating that story and bringing it to life. It wasn’t true and she didn’t need to be reminded every time that it wasn’t true.
 

“It
’s best if you don’t bring me back to Chae Young. I’m honestly not good with keeping secrets and I’ll probably end up blabbing everything to her. If I see her, then I see her. But right now, if I can keep her out of it, I’ll do that.” She smiled appreciatively at Tae Hyun. “Thanks for the offer though. That was very considerate of you.” 

“Yeah, I do have my days,” Tae Hyun concurred, bending his elbow up and resting the side of his chin on the palm of his hand. He forged on with his remaining questions. “Where would you have gone to work after you left the diner?”

Relieved that they were moving on from the somber topic that dealt with Chae Young, Yoori eagerly answered. “A cellphone company. I think I might want to start there first. Plus, there’s one with my namesake…I probably would’ve wound up taking an entry-level job there. It’s called Ch—” 

“Choi Mobile,” Tae Hyun finished for her, a big smile plastered on his face.
 

Yoori giggled, taking note of the familiarity in his eyes. She was reminded of the 1
st
 layer and Tae Hyun’s vast connections. “Don’t tell me you know the heir...” 

Tae Hyun nodded proudly. “Choi Hyun Woo. He’s one of my best friends.”
 

Yoori, somewhat flustered that he had connection to a place she could’ve wound up, also
added, “Well, there’s still a chance I wouldn’t have met you. I would’ve applied to work for the competition too! Lee —” 

“Lee Quest? Yeah, my other best friend is the heir for that one too. Daniel Lee.”
 

Yoori gaped with rounded eyes. He really was that connected…

When her thoughts traveled back to her philosophical observation earlier in their conversation, Yoori let out a loud laugh. She beamed happily at him. “Y—You…
hehehehe
…you know what this means, right?” 

“What?” he asked, staring at her giggling self like she was high on
drugs. 

“It means that you’re like my boomerang.”
 

“It means that I’m like your boom…mer…rang?” he repeated, utterly baffled.
 

She nodded, very much entertained. “It means that even in an alternative world, you’d always find your way back to me. You can never get away from me.”
 

“
No,” Tae Hyun suddenly protested. 

A confused smile slapped on her face. She stopped laughing. “No?”
 

“No. It means that you’re
my
boomerang because you’re the one flying around. Everything that you do, you would always somehow find your way back to me.” 

Yoori snorted in disbelief. She was surprised that he played along. “So we’re
 both boomerangs now?” 

“Yes, we’re both boomerangs.”
 

“Augh. Boomerang is such an ugly word though,” Yoori admitted, shaking her head. She didn’t know how she came up with such weird metaphors.
 

“I guess you’re lucky to have a handsome one.”
 

Yoori made a rude noise at his cocky statement. Even though she agreed with the handsome part, she wasn’t sure if she would consider herself lucky.
 

“Anyway, I really like it here,” she added promptly, watching as a couple of geese flew above them. Yoori could become easily distracted, even when her
gorgeous boss was staring longingly at her. 

“Yeah, I like it here too,” Tae Hyun murmured, his eyes resting on a particular pair of pink lips. He found immense interest on the exquisite curves of her pout and the teasing suppleness of her parting lips.
 

Oblivious to what was happening, Yoori shifted her eyes back to him, ready to ask him a question about what else he did when he came here.
 

“So do you —” She stopped and gulped uneasily when she realized that he was staring at her lips. One would think that Yoori's awkward self would blurt out something that would scare him out of his longing. But
when she found herself lost in his gaze, she couldn’t help but stare at him and
his
lips. Her mind went entirely blank. The only thing that existed in her thoughts were Tae Hyun and how inviting his scrumptious lips looked…

Silence
hung over Yoori and Tae Hyun. They continued to lay frozen, Tae Hyun staring down at her and Yoori gazing up at him. Their chests heaved up and down in unison – in anticipation. Everything in the world slowed. The lake froze in a trance, the ducks quieted in awe, and the setting sun stopped to stare. The world around them stopped and stared as Tae Hyun and Yoori gazed unblinkingly at one another. 

Slow motion…that was how it happened.
 

The whole world waited and watched as movement began.
 

Tae Hyun began to descend his lips down to meet her awaiting ones.
 

The only thing in the breathing world that didn’t slow was Yoori’s heart.
 

Beating relentlessly against her chest, it waited in a frantic stupor. Her chest heaved up and down, every nerve in her body tingling in excitement every time Tae Hyun moved closer—every time their lips were closer to meeting.
 

Closer…
 

And closer…
 

And just as
their lips were about to meet… 

“Huh?”

Feeling something cold and wet entangle itself around the ends of her skirt and legs, Yoori distractedly averted her eyes. Shock rammed into her when she saw lake water seep into the boat.

The boat was leaking!

“Oh my God!
”
she cried, pushing Tae Hyun off of her just as their lips were about to form a union. She had completely forgotten about the strange stupor they found themselves in.
“
The boat is leaking!
”
 

“Wh – What?” Tae Hyun stammered, clearly disoriented that his lips never attained the quest they wanted. He looked at her incredulously before turning to see what the hell she was blabbing about. “Wha – no – no. Of course the boat isn’t leak–
holy shit
! The boat is leaking!” 

With quick instincts, Tae Hyun hastily grabbed the paddle and ran to the area of the boat where water seeped through. He pressed his knees against the leaky area and began to paddle. His obvious goal was getting them back to the foundations of mother earth as quickly as possible.
 

While he did this, Yoori made herself useful by cupping her hands together and throwing out all the water that made its way into the boat. A swell of indignation gathered over her. It made sense that her life was
this rotten that something terrible would happen to ruin her scenic bonding with nature. 

“I
 cannot believe you took me out on a faulty boat!” Yoori complained to Tae Hyun, shivering as she started throwing water out. The water splashed violently onto several ducks when she did this, causing them to quack in terror. 

“Who the hell sat here?” Tae Hyun argued, paddling faster. His clothes became moist from sitting across from Yoori and the splashing water.
 

Yoori flung him a dirty look. “
You
suggested that we lay down. And then! And then you distracted me by invading my space!” 

“
You
were the one who started the distraction with that weird boomerang shit!” 

“It’s not weird shit! It’s called being clever with words!”

“‘Clever’ wouldn’t be a word that I’d use!” 

She growled, her irritation rising through the roof. “Augh! I can’t even look at you right now!”

Tae Hyun scoffed, paddling faster. When it looked like he was about to say a retort, Tae Hyun's eyes grew huge. Something behind Yoori stole his attention.

He stood up slightly and pointed warningly behind her.
 “Y – Yoori! DUCK!”

Yoori blinked at him. Huh?

Too late. 

“Quack! Quack! Quack!”

And at that exact moment three things happened: A duck (that could be arguably viewed as the duck she shouted at earlier) attacked Yoori. Yoori lost her balance and was ready to fall into the lake…but not without Tae Hyun attempting to jump forward to save her. Unfortunately for both of them, the leak in the boat was the least of their problems, especially when both lost their balance and dove in, nearly crushing a couple of ducks as they plunged into the waiting water. 

Splash!

Like a vortex, a swarm of ripples and thunders of excess flying water surrounded the area where the lake swallowed them whole. When it appeared as if both would never rise again, a ring of bubbles floated to the surface, a prelude to their masters rising like whales from beneath.

Once they pulled their submerged heads out of the water, both began gasping for air as they coughed out lake water. Blades of cold water attacked Yoori’s face while her lips quivered uncontrollably. The lake was amazingly cold and the presence
of a cool breeze, no matter how small, caused her lungs to struggle for breath. 

Tae Hyun and Yoori glanced at one another to make sure the other was okay. When they were relieved to see that the other was alive and breathing, a dirty glare soon followed the relief. No doubt. They blamed each other for what took place.
 

Lips shaking relentlessly, they swam toward their leaky boat that now appeared like a chariot from heaven. Yoori found the closest side of the boat to cling onto and Tae Hyun swam a little further out and clung onto the opposite side. They rested their hands over the sides of the boat and gazed at each other in silence. Their dirty glares morphed into lethargic ones.
 

Yoori took a look around and returned her uneasy gaze back to Tae Hyun. It may have been the cold, or
the attack from the stupid duck, or the fact that Tae Hyun was considerate enough to jump after her, but Yoori was suddenly consumed with guilt. 

“You know,” she began n
ervously, clearing her throat. Water dripped down her pale face. “I’ve had a chance to cool down and now that I think about it, I may have overreacted. In the overall scheme of things…a leaky boat is really no big deal.” 

Tae Hyun blinked lethargically, sighing as his gesture of concurrence.
 

Yoori nodded apprehensively, more water dripping from her hair and into the lake. Things could’ve been worse. She mentally nodded to herself
. Yes
. There were definitely worse things than suffering on a leaky boat and falling into a freezing lake. 

For instance, she could’ve been wearing a white tank top as she fell into the water. That in and of itself would’ve been
 way worse because the concealment of her bra and skin would’ve been completely visible to Tae Hyun’s naked eye if and when they struggled to get back onto the boat. 

Yeah, things could’ve definitely been worse, especially minutes later when, as Tae Hyun began to stare awkwardly at the ducks, she looked down at her chest to find that she
 was indeed wearing a white tank top

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

As a downpour of humiliating horror bombarded her, Yoori frantically covered herself with her arms and turned her back to Tae Hyun. He was uncomfortably paddling their leaky boat, purposely looking every which way to avoid staring at her. Though that seemed very chivalrous of him, Yoori was certain that Tae Hyun got a two-second glance at her chest before she had a chance to cover it. It wouldn’t make sense that he would look 
that
 uncomfortable unless he saw something briefly and was mentally restraining himself from taking another quick glance. 

Yoori slammed the palm of her hand against her forehead in misery. She contemplated jumping into the lake to purposely drown
herself. 

Could this day get any worse for her
?

Little did Yoori know, the answer to her question would be
subjective. 

In the bigger scheme of things, the whole “falling in the lake” fiasco was going to do little to imprint itself in her memories. There were bigger and
 more eventful things awaiting both her and her handsome “boomerang.”

“Let’s disappear, Princess.”

04: Never Have I Ever