Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It all came down to today.

Vi reapplied her lip gloss, slid her glasses to the bridge of her nose, fluffed out her curly bob, and smoothed the pleats in her skirt one final time. In the company award showcase, she glanced at her ginger complexion dusted liberally with espresso freckles and took a deep breath.

You can do this, Vi. This is what you’ve been working toward for months.

Steeling herself, she turned the corner into Henry’s office. Her coworker looked up from his desk and beamed. “Hey, you. Looking cute today, I see.”

Normally, “cute” was Vi’s most feared word, but coming from Henry, she didn’t mind. “Thanks…”

“I was just thinking about you.”

“You were?” she asked giddily.

“Yeah. Want to go to lunch today?”

“That sounds awesome. When do you want to go?”

Henry glanced at the clock on his monitor and popped an eyebrow. “Five minutes?”

Vi bit her lip to cover her excessive smile. “Yeah, okay, I’ll just get my bag.”

“Meet you downstairs then.”

Despite the fact that Henry hadn’t walked her to her desk, he had asked her to lunch—for the first time ever. Chiseled, square-jawed Henry Williams. Broad, stacked Henry Williams. Tall, honey-voiced Henry Williams. Was. Taking. Viola Flowers. To lunch. She had gone to his office to ask him out, but, miracle of miracles, he had asked her instead. Nothing could touch her now.

Vi grabbed her crocheted cross-body and bounded down the steps to the lobby, where, true to form, Henry waited. His hands were stuffed in his suit pockets, and her brain turned to mush at the sight. She was lucky she remembered how to walk in her platforms because the moment he flashed his cool guy smile at her, the one that rounded out his stubbly jaw, her heart skipped as hard as her toe across the floor.

“You’re fast,” he observed.

“I’m excited.” When her words made it to her ears, heat flooded Vi’s body. “You know me. I love lunch.”

I love lunch? she lamented internally. Gross, Vi. Seriously gross. Ugh.

“Where do you want to go?” she pressed.

Henry craned his head to peer at the sky through the storefront and suggested, “Looks pretty nice out. Want to just walk to the taco truck around the corner?”

She did not. How on earth could she eat a taco and still look attractive? Besides, food trucks didn’t have tables, and she really wanted to share a table with him; staring straight into those deep-as-night eyes would be a dream come true. But Vi said none of that. She couldn’t risk turning him down and losing out on their first-ever lunch, not after investing nearly half a year into her fishing campaign.

“Okay,” she answered.

“Cool. Then we can just grab a seat under a tree or something. Looks like there’s some benches around.”

Vi smiled. Okay, this was better than she’d hoped. Side by side? She could find a way to brush her leg against his. Maybe he’d look down at her bare knee. Maybe he’d accidentally graze it. She was getting ahead of herself, but maybe he’d yank her into the supply closet and pin her up against the door…

Her throat was already closing up at the thought.

“You’re up. Whatever you want, I’m buying,” said Henry with a gentle bump to her shoulder.

Vi didn’t even remember walking to the truck, but it was already her turn to order. On the off chance that the supply closet was in her near future, she ordered a simple quesadilla, though Henry seemed totally unconcerned with such pretenses judging by his extra onions carne asada.

Once they had their lunch, they found a bench under a tree around the corner where the shade was just right to block the noon sun. A few other coworkers buzzed by with waves for them, but Vi was happy to note that she had Henry totally to herself. They chatted through their first bites before he downed his final taco in one big chomp.

“Okay, I can’t wait anymore,” said Henry the second he swallowed. “I know you’re still eating, but I have to ask you something.”

Vi blinked at him, and her oversized eyes had never been bigger.

Henry laughed. “Relax. It’s a good thing—no, a great thing, even.”

She gulped down her bite and smoothed the edges of her skirt as she gnawed on her bottom lip. It took her a second to calm the jumping beans in her stomach, but Vi said, “What’s up?”

“You know, I mean I think you know, that you’re my best friend in the office, right?”

“Oh, um, cool. For sure,” she mumbled as she brushed her buoyant curls forward to hide the nervous expression on her face. “You’re mine, too.”

“Which is why I trust you more than anyone else here. I know you’re a few years younger than I am, but I swear you know more about everything than I do, and you’d never steer me wrong.”

Vi’s excitement fumbled for a minute though she clung as best she could to it. “I try. What’s going on?”

Henry squared up to her then, and at last, her fantasy seemed within her reach. When he swiveled, his knees bumped hers, and he patted the swath of her bare thigh apologetically, sending a rush through her body like someone had blown a huge head of dandelion seeds along her skin. He leaned in a little closer with a dopey grin. He rubbed a hand on the back of his head as his coffee skin glowed in the filtered sunlight.

Here it was, Vi’s favorite trait of his. Henry might be menacingly hot, but he was also a geek at heart, so after he railed into her, she pictured them drifting off to some anime in the background.

Henry cleared his throat. “How soon is too soon to call someone after hooking up?”

What was left of Vi’s quesadilla slipped off her lap and tumbled upside down on the sidewalk. She was too stunned by his question though to pay attention to it.

“What?” she managed through a slack jaw.

Henry glanced at her food and frowned. Since she didn’t make a move for it, he picked it back up and put it between them on the bench. “Uh, Desiree and I hooked up last night, and even though I know you’re not a hook-up kind of girl, you are a girl and I trust you. I’m sure your friends have talked about this kind of stuff before, so you would have the inside track. I mean, I definitely want to hook up again, but isn’t it, like, sending the wrong kind of signal if I ask her to meet up again already? I mean, it’s not like either of us want a relationship, so I don’t want to scare her off.”

“You and Desiree hooked up?” Vi asked hollowly.

She pictured their other coworker, a bombshell of a woman if Vi had ever seen one in real life. Desiree was one of the company’s lawyers on staff, who was very successful at what she did, though Vi was sure that was due at least in part to the fact that she was so attractive, it made people want to give in to her regardless of their legal arguments. Desiree was tall and slender, with sleek ironed hair to the small of her back, which she always flaunted at the exact right moment with a full-body twirl to swing it over her shoulder. She was never without a pair of stilettos, a pencil skirt, and her signature ruby lipstick that made her warm nutmeg skin shimmer.

In one fell swoop, Vi had been ground to a pulp under the other woman’s pointed heel, and she wasn’t even here.

“Yeah, finally,” Henry beamed again, “after, what? The sixth time I asked?”

“I didn’t know you were into her…”

“Isn’t everybody?” he laughed. “She’s crazy hot.”

Vi did her best to keep her voice measured. “But you don’t want to date her?”

Henry shrugged. “I don’t want to date anyone. Too much baggage, I guess. This is so much easier. No feelings, no problems. Just fun, you know?”

She let out a long breath and sagged with it. “Yeah, I know. That’s sort of my best friend’s M.O., too.”

“See? I knew you’d know what to do. So, how soon is too soon?”

Vi pictured Changkyun now. Like Desiree, he was irresistible. With his black hair long enough to tie up in a little ponytail and sharp chin and even sharper cheeks, he cut an imposing figure, especially when he was sporting his favorite leather jacket and cologne. Vi called him catnip for women, and he never argued. He went through them like bottles of wine—savored for a night and tossed aside. The feminist side of her had, at times, wanted to be angry about it, but she’d never met one of his girls who had a complaint. Besides, the girls knew what they would be getting out of their night with him. Vi had always been the perennially out-of-touch one.

She toyed with the hem of her skirt as she answered, “I don’t think he ever repeats hookups honestly, so I don’t think he ever calls any of them back. I guess I’d say wait a few days though because, you’re right, if it were me and you hit me up the next day, I’d think you really liked me.”

Vi couldn’t help the stiffness in her voice, but Henry didn’t seem to notice. He was listening to her words, not to her, and nodding along.

“That’s what I thought. Is it okay if I ask her closer to the weekend? She’s not going to think that’s a date since it’s the weekend, right?”

“I don’t know, Henry. For someone who wanted something simple, you’re sure making this complicated.”

Her coworker did a double take at the barb in Vi’s tone, his full brows raised high. “Whoa, you okay?”

“Fine.”

Henry eyed her but said, “I get it. You’re right. I should just roll with it. Who knows? Maybe she’ll come to me.”

“Maybe.”

Vi stood and walked her quesadilla to the garbage can as he called, “Going in already? We still have twenty minutes?”

“Yeah, my lunch is ruined anyway. Thanks for paying. I’ll get you back someday.”

“You don’t need to—”

But she waved him off. “That’s what friends do. I’ll see you inside?”

Henry nodded slowly. He was obviously confused, but Vi needed to get back to her office before the sun exposed the heartbreak lurking under her skin.

“Sorry, I’m late,” came the cool voice as the door to her apartment opened and shut. “Work ran over, but I stopped by the liquor store to make up for it. How’d it go with Henry?”

Changkyun turned toward the kitchen and sighed.

“Oh shit. The depression hoodie.”

Vi slouched at her breakfast bar, wrapped up in her oversized Eeyore hoodie, the hood itself cinched tightly around her cherub face with its yarn mane fluttering every time the oscillating fan craned its head her way. She looked up at her best friend from under the curtain of her curls and pouted her bottom lip.

“Hey,” she said pitifully.

“Hey. You okay?”

“I’m okay.”

Changkyun pulled out a stool opposite hers and sat down, his eyes trained carefully on her.

“So…” he said. “I’m a little confused.”

Vi rolled her head on her hands to stare at him. “Why are you confused?”

“I thought that you said this guy was smart? Like, some big-time analyst or something.”

“He’s both.”

“Well, he can’t be that smart if he rejected you.”

“He didn’t reject me,” she grumbled. “At least, he didn’t know he did. He asked me to lunch just so he could get advice from his ‘cute’ office buddy about his ‘hot’ office hook-up.”

“Come again?” Changkyun said as he glared into space.

Vi sighed. “Seems he’s taking a page out of the Im Changkyun Friday-night playbook—fun and done. Well, maybe not quite. He wanted to know how soon is too soon to make another booty call.”

“Hey, you know that’s not my playbook. Repeats are too complicated. This idiot just wants— You know what? Fuck him.”

Her head sank to the counter, where her forehead rocked against the cold laminate.

That’s what I was trying to do, she grumbled to herself.

“At least I was psychic enough to grab your favorite booze on my way over.” Her best friend thumped a bottle of peach schnapps on the counter and petted the mane on her hoodie encouragingly.

She sighed resignedly. “See? You knew I was doomed to failure.”

“Oh, knock it off, Viola. Now, we’re going to drink this together, and we’re going to toast to Henry’s inevitable STD.”

At this, Vi shot back up. “Kyun!”

Her friend just shrugged a shoulder along with an eyebrow as he rooted through the cabinet over the refrigerator and pulled out two shot glasses. Liquor sloshed in the cups as the smell of boozy peaches tickled their nostrils.

“Down the hatch, Flowers,” he instructed, and together, they tossed back their first shot.

The liquor burned a little though the sweetness dulled that quite a bit, and not a second later, Vi shoved the shot glass across for a refill. The second shot went down even easier than the first, and by the third, it was just like taking shots of juice except she could wallow less.

“In retrospect,” she said as she scrounged through her cupboard for something salty to snack on, “shy librarian was maybe the wrong way to approach a guy these days.”

Changkyun’s brow scrunched. “What’s wrong with a shy librarian?”

“Nothing. She’s just not the girl who catches the attention. We’re living in the era of Instagram models. A guy like you is not taking a girl like me home. I have to face that.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he challenged, “and I resent it.”

“I love you, Kyun, and you can resent it all you want, but I have never seen you with a shy librarian on your arm.”

He scowled, but he couldn’t argue because facts were facts. “That’s not because I don’t find them attractive.”

“No, it’s because you assume they all want to tie you down. Sometimes we just want to get railed.”

Changkyun nearly spit his drink across the counter, but instead, he choked it down and finished out a coughing fit. Between wheezes, he managed, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m tired of being the cute girl that has to settle for vanilla sex in a long-term relationship. I’ve had plenty of that, and it was fine for a while, but maybe I want some meaningless hot sex, too. Why not? I’m single.”

“No, I know that, but—”

“See? I can tell from that ‘but’ that you would never expect a ‘cute’ girl like me to want something like that. Cute girls like fuzzy sweaters and stuffed animals and those teeny little pastries that you eat in one bite.”

“Okay, but you do like those things,” Changkyun reminded.

“Yeah, I know, but I also like sex, and I want more of it.”

“Are you seriously trying to tell me that my best friend since second grade, who once invited me to her My Little Pony party, oh, and made me wear matching onesie Christmas pajamas last year, wants a—” The bottom fell out in his voice and, despite his casual appearance and even more casual attitude to relationships, he whispered, “—fuck buddy?”

“Or a few one-night-stands. I’m not picky.”

Changkyun stared blankly across the counter. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“See? This is my point. No guy like you is going to even consider sleeping with me because you assume I’m going to bring the baggage of a relationship. Well, I want a break from that shit, too. This is where you come in.”

“Whoa, Viola, I know that—”

“Shut up for a second, would ya? I’m not trying to guilt you into sex, Kyun, but I do want your help.”

At this, her best friend cocked his head. “My help?”

She leaned across the counter and locked eyes with Changkyun. She could see his nerves in the hard press of his lips, but she knew he was the only guy she could trust with this, so she soldiered on, emboldened by a bad fucking day and good fucking alcohol. “You’ve done this a lot. This is your wheelhouse. Teach me, sempai. Show me how to be a hot girl.”

He sighed and rolled his head back. “Why do you want to be a quote-unquote hot girl, Viola? They’re a dime a dozen.”

“Because hot girls get laid,” she said frankly.

Changkyun scoffed. “You’re not a virgin, and you’re hot as is.”

“You have to say that as my best friend, but also, you’re not trying to sleep with me. You and I are in two different leagues of attractive, Kyun. You’re made up of all kinds of sharp angles—you’re objectively hot. I’m a freaking circle. Don’t say it—don’t say it. I know I’m not ugly, okay, but the fact of the matter is I want to be less Shirley Temple and more Naomi Campbell. You can show me how! All you do is interact with people who ooze sexiness. So, just walk me through the things that clue you in that a girl just wants to sleep with you and we can move on.”

“I don’t think I’m comfortable with this,” he admitted.

“Because you think I’m a hopeless case?”

“Because I think you’ll get hurt.”

Vi’s apartment had never felt so quiet. It was like a vacuum, where all sound and light had been siphoned away. She felt the irrational urge to cry, but she wasn’t exactly sure why, and she pulled her hoodie tightly over her head again.

Changkyun frowned apologetically. “I’m worried you’re only saying this because you’re a little drunk and a lot hurt already. That’s a bad recipe to start making new life choices.”

“Thanks, Dr. Phil. It’s fine. Forget it. You don’t need to say anymore.”

But he refused to leave it at that. He laid his head on the counter so he was back in her sulky line-of-sight, and he smiled reassuringly. “I don’t think you’re a hopeless case, by the way. It’s just that you’re already so beautiful. You deserve more. I want more for you.”

“Okay, but you don’t get to make that decision for me, just like I can’t make you help me with this.”

Changkyun growled. “You’re doing all this because of stupid Henry?”

“No!”

“Really? Because you’ve never said any of this stuff before today.”

Vi leapt up from her seat so she could lean back against the sink and stuff her arms across her chest. “Maybe I was embarrassed to, but after the humiliation I suffered this afternoon, I’m done caring about that. If everyone else can just go after what they want, why can’t I?”

“I get it. It’s just… What’s so great about hot girls?”

“You tell me. You bed one a week.”

“‘Bed one?’” he laughed.

“You’re only making my point. I’m hopeless without you, Kyun, see?” she whined. She darted back to the breakfast bar next to him as she sensed the first hint of caving.

“Viola, is this what you really want? Some guy who just sleeps with you and doesn’t call you ever again?”

She ran her fingertip around the rim of her shot glass as she considered Changkyun’s words. “I know you think I’m just saying this because of today, but what do you think today was about in the first place? Yeah, maybe I had a crush on Henry first, and that’s probably the exact wrong way to start something casual, but it wasn’t like I wanted to marry the guy either. You know I’ve only done the committed thing. What’s so wrong with wanting to explore something new, especially when I see you having an endless good time?”

“It’s really not like that,” he asserted as he took another shot.

She waited for him to finish his thought, but, typical Changkyun, he held back the full breadth of his feelings, and even though Vi knew him better than anyone else, some days it felt like she only knew the tip of the iceberg.

“Yeah, I’m the guy you fuck, but I’m not the one you end up with. Just so we’re both clear, I know jack shit about love.”

“Exactly! You’re perfect. You know what guys like you are looking for. You can be my tutor and my wingman.”

“It’s just a little weird that I’m your best friend. My job has always been to keep you away from guys like me.”

“You’re doing a terrible job then, bestie,” she teased as she nudged his knuckles with her own.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, so for now, let’s just change our title to friends with benefits, okay?”

Changkyun rolled his eyes. “That’s not what that means.”

“I know. I’m trying to be clever.”

He stood up from the bar and waltzed into the living room, hands in his baggy jean pockets. Vi could tell from the way his iris tattoo flexed on his forearm that he was balling his fists, but at least he seemed to be taking her seriously. He paced behind the back of the couch before he leaned on it. His head whipped toward her as he said firmly, “If I do this, we need ground rules.”

“You got it, teach.”

Vi shucked off the Eeyore hoodie and tossed it on the counter as she raced into the kitchen and started rifling through her junk drawer.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Getting a pen and paper?”

Changkyun laughed. “Of course you are.”

“Hey, organization can be hot, too,” she objected. “And everybody likes a good listener, right?”

At this, her friend paused, stone still as he stared at her. Only when she waggled the pen at him did he blink and nod.

“You said I’m the expert,” Changkyun began, “so I expect you to listen to everything I have to say whether you want to hear it or not.”

Vi scrawled a quick note as she said, “You got it.”

“That means I go with you to clubs and bars when you want to meet guys so I can vet them.”

“Makes sense.”

“And if I don’t get a good feeling about somebody you’re pursuing, you drop it instantly.”

“Fair enough.”

Changkyun cleared his throat to lift her attention from her notes. “Instantly, Viola. I mean it. I know how headstrong you can be when you think you’re right, but I know the players and the game.”

“I know you do, and I’m not arguing, am I? See? Good listener.”

Again, he gave her a funny stare, and she felt that same sense that he was keeping things from her despite their current conversation.

But then he let out a breath and leaned forward, his hands falling to steady him on the back of the couch. “If you’re uncomfortable with anything, you tell me. You don’t have to do things just because you think it’s what you think you should be doing.”

“I get how limits work, Kyun,” Vi said, a little annoyed, but he shook his head.

“I’m not just talking about bedroom stuff. If something doesn’t feel like you, then I don’t want you to do it.”

“I said okay…”

“I’m serious. Write it down. It’s the only way I’m agreeing to this.” Changkyun stared hard at her notepad until she finally got over her shock at his force and jotted his words down.

“I hear you, I hear you,” she grumbled.

“You trust me, right?” he asked with an intensity that Vi had rarely heard from him.

“Of course I trust you.”

There was a shift in the room now. Somehow, the temperature both seemed to plummet and soar at the same time, and Vi felt very disoriented. She was glad for the wall behind her or she might have tripped over nothing.

“Good. I want you to trust me enough to tell me absolutely everything,” said Changkyun. Despite how intimidating the man’s aura could be, right now, he was drawing her in closer and closer with those black hole eyes and bittersweet chocolatey voice. “I don’t want you to be afraid to tell me all the things you want or like. You know me, I’m the last person in the world who would judge you, but that doesn’t mean it might not surprise me.”

“You mean like I already surprised you tonight?” Vi ribbed lightly.

“Yeah, but now that I know this is what you really want, I’m going to make sure you get it all.”

“Ah… Oh…” she fumbled and hoped she didn’t give herself away at the unintentional innuendo. If she wanted him to take her seriously, she didn’t want to look like a preteen in front of him. “Thanks, Kyunnie.”

He smirked. “You sure you want to give up your whole cute schtick? I’m pretty fond of it.”

“I mean, I don’t have to give it up? I just want to shove it aside for a few hours while I get railed.”

That wiped the smirk right off his face. “How can I have known you my whole life and you still manage to have secrets?”

Vi shrugged. “Not going to lie, I kind of love the fact that my international man of mystery still thinks I can surprise him.”

Changkyun pressed his lips tightly and crossed his arms as he stared at her until sweat nearly started to bead at her brow. She had always trusted that he would help her, but the way he was examining her motives felt far too penetrating.

“We’re clear on the rules?” he said at last.

Vi nodded and showed them to him just to reiterate how seriously she was taking him. At this, he relaxed into his usual cool slouch.

“There’s one last thing,” he said.

She brought her pen up to the paper and waited eagerly.

“I don’t want this to come between our friendship.”

Instead of writing it down, Vi looked at Changkyun. He didn’t crack a smile or show even a hint of softness; he just met her gaze for gaze.

“Why would it?” she pressed.

“Things like sex usually do,” he said with a shrug of a shoulder.

“Yeah, but we’re not having sex…”

“I know.”

“So what are you worried about?” she asked.

“You,” replied Changkyun. “I’m always worried about you.”

Vi lowered her notes and came to sit beside her best friend on the back of the couch. Sincerely, she said, “And that’s why I knew I could trust you with this.”

“You can trust me with anything.”

“Because you’ll take care of me,” she finished with a smile.

“Because I’ll always take care of you.”

Changkyun’s words hung before he stood up, stuffed his hands back into his pockets, and headed back to the booze. He poured himself another shot and then one for her and brought it over. With glasses in hands, he raised his and said, “A toast to our unholy alliance.”

“To the new me,” she added. At this, he scowled, and Vi amended, “To a more adventurous me.”

“Better. I’ll drink to that.”

With another shot down, Vi felt the best she had all day. She let out a quick victory squeal before she announced, “I’m going to go get cozy real quick, then we’ll dig in.”

“Already? You don’t want to sleep on this first?”

“Carpe diem!” she called over her shoulder, and when she came back, she was cocooned in her favorite silk pajamas.

Vi crisscrossed her legs underneath her as she settled onto the sofa, notepad in her lap.

“Okay, since I’ve been thinking about this all afternoon, I’m going to grab the list I already came up with, and then the resident sex expert can chime in, ‘kay?”

Changkyun raised an eyebrow. “If I didn’t know any better, I might think I’ve been played.”

“So, maybe I’ve been thinking about this for a while more than I let on, but since everything went to absolute hell on my own, I had to fess up. And lucky for me, I have the greatest guy in the world for a friend.”

“A better friend would talk you out of this,” he objected.

“No way. You’re supporting me and backing me up? Best friend in the galaxy.”

“You don’t need to keep buttering me up. I already said yes.”

“Nah, I’m being serious, Kyun. Thank you.”

He nodded and emptied the last drops in his glass before he sidled up behind her on the couch and leaned over her shoulder.

Notepad still out, this time on the coffee table, Vi flipped back a page and stared at the list she had been jotting down the past week whenever the thoughts had occurred to her.

Hot girls:

• Don’t wear underwear
• Don’t wear glasses unless they’re sunglasses
• Flaunt their assets (short dresses, body-hugging, glitter???)
• Get manicures

“Should I get hair extensions?” she pondered as she studied the bullet points.

“Absolutely not,” Changkyun said firmly.

“All the babes on Instagram have them.”

He sighed. “Long hair doesn’t automatically make you hot, nor does any of this insanity you insisted on writing down.”

But her friend’s words barely registered as she scrunched the tips of her curls idly. “I feel like my bob says school girl or Karen or probably, definitely, librarian, and we all know I’m sick of that fate, so maybe?”

“I love your hair on you.”

At this, Vi lowered her pen. “Are you saying that as Kyun my best friend or Kyun the lady killer?”

“I’m saying it as a man to a woman. Don’t change it unless you genuinely want to change it.”

“Maybe I should just stop wearing it curly then? Too Shirley Temple. Maybe I should iron it or something.”

Changkyun fell into silence back as he munched on a bag of snacks he’d pilfered from her cupboard. He stared off into space while her brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

“You’re supposed to be helping me,” Vi complained.

“What do you want me to add? You’ve vetoed everything I’ve said so far.”

“Exactly. So what does that tell you?”

Her best friend shot her a stern glare as he said, “That you’re awesome exactly the way you are?”

“I don’t just want to be awesome, Kyun. I want to be hot. I’m just going by the girls I’ve seen you take home. Don’t even try and pretend I’m just making this stuff up either. I do have eyes, sir.” She waggled her list at him, but he didn’t say anything. “Come on! Give me one thing you look for in a girl you just want to sleep with.”

Changkyun pressed his lips together as he considered. After a moment, he said, “The way she looks at me.”

At his first helpful answer, Vi sat forward, elbows on her now-pajamaed knees. “Ooh, how’s that?”

“I guess it’s kind of hard to describe. Each girl has her own way of doing it, but it all translates the same.”

He left it at that, and she growled. “And? What way is that!”

“I don’t know,” he said through a crunch of a cracker. “Like she wants to fuck me.”

Vi choked a little at his frank words, and she thumped her chest with her fist hoping to dislodge the knot there.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she wheezed and held a few deep breaths to right herself. “Just wasn’t expecting you to say it like that.”

“Hey, if you want to try casual sex, you’re going to have to get used to being direct about it.”

“Hm,” Vi considered as the wheels in her brain began to spin again.

This time, she wrote down “Serve sexy eyes” on the page and then tapped the pen against her lips before she added “Talk dirty” underneath.

“You’re pulling your weight at last, Kyun,” she said triumphantly. “Give me one more thing, and I’ll stop twisting your arm.”

Changkyun sighed in relief. “Perfect. Then I’ll say dancing. I narrow down my options from the way she moves her body. That tells me all I need to know.”

“Sexy mating dance, got it,” Vi repeated as she wrote it down.

Her best friend let out an incredulous laugh. “This is going to go over like a lead balloon.”

“Hey!”

“You’re the one who said it like we’re some nature doc or something. Looks like it’s going to be harder to shed your librarian alter ego than you think.”

Vi launched up from the couch and leaned on the counter shoulder-to-shoulder with Changkyun. “That’s why my best friend is going to Cyrano De Bergerac me through it.”

“Nerd.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll stow the literary references for after the sex. I suppose they could be a mood killer in this particular scenario. So, let’s say I give them the right bedroom eyes and do the mating dance and then add the sexy, flirty talk to seal the deal. Do I bring them back here then, or…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Changkyun. “Walk before you run, okay?”

Vi shrugged. “It’s just, wouldn’t it make sense to bring them here? I’m in between roommates anyway, so I have the place to myself, and it wouldn’t bother any—”

This time, his hands clapped against the counter, and it resounded in the tiny living room. “Viola, you’re not bringing a strange guy home to an empty place.”

“Huh… Yeah, I didn’t think about that. So his place?”

“Shit. Okay, you’re already in high gear, and we’re not even out of the garage yet.” Changkyun yanked the notepad toward him and grumbled tightly as he scrawled each word, “Hot girls stay alert.”

Vi popped an eyebrow as she echoed the sentence. “Yeah, I don’t know if that’s really a thing.”

“Well, it’s about to be this hot girl’s thing,” he insisted. “You need to think with your head and not—”

“Not my downstairs, got it.”

Changkyun chuckled in spite of the serious turn in their planning.

“What about after a couple of hookups?” she asked, but he sighed.

“Again, you need to slow down. I don’t think you want to jump headfirst into a fuck buddy relationship.”

“Why not? What if the sex is really good and we want to keep going?”

Changkyun shook his head. “You catch feelings way too easily, Flowers. No. No way. The point is sex, not strings, right?”

“Yeah, but what if it really is just mind-blowing sex with no strings?”

“Look, you said you wanted to feel hot and have fun. I’m going to make sure that happens, but if you’re looking for something more to come out of it, I can’t help you. The guys we’re looking at aren’t going to be the kind of guys that I want you to repeat. My goal is to get you laid, not break your heart.”

“Okay, okay,” she said as she added a new note.

• Keep it simple.

Changkyun glanced at it and gave a subtle nod. “Good. That one’s going to be tough for you.”

“You’re so wrong about that,” Vi challenged.

“How’s that? Even your pajamas require a Masters degree to put on or, more importantly, take off.” He gestured toward her two-piece set, the collared top featuring a full row of buttons and the matching bottoms tied with a quaint bow.

“What do you sleep in then, hot shot?”

Changkyun raised an eyebrow. “I sleep naked. Doesn’t get much simpler than that.”

The image hung, and Vi could feel her whole body heating.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll get new jammies, too, if it’ll make you happy.”

“I’m teasing you, Viola. I’m happy so long as you’re happy, Fort Knox pajamas or not,” he added with a hooked grin.

“Moving on!” she sang. “Back to these girls you take home. They probably know a lot of cool tricks and stuff, huh?”

“First of all, we don’t always make it back to a bedroom. Depends on the moment. You’ll get a sense pretty quickly where the night is heading one way or another, so just trust that feeling. Second, they’re not really tricks. It’s just… stuff you pick up from trying new things. If you’re feeling it, you can try it. A man worth your time is going to be open to experiencing them with you. You can just ask, and if he’s a dick about any of it, you can leave. If he gives you shit, you let me know. I’m already on your speed dial.”

Vi didn’t say anything and his eyes narrowed.

“Right?” he pressed.

She laughed. “Of course. You’re my first. Just don’t tell my mom.”

Changkyun softened and nodded once. “Okay, good.”

She smiled gently at her best friend before she turned back to her list to add one last item.

• Try new positions in new places

When she was done, she studied it a few times over as she switched to pacing the living room.

“Okay, so looking at this, my plan of attack should be: new wardrobe, makeover, dirty talk lessons, and you should probably show me this fancy mating dance you mentioned. Ooh, do you think I should read the Kama Sutra, too?”

Changkyun laughed even as his head dropped into his hands. “You are going into this exactly like I thought you would. How about we just do a little at a time to ease you into all of this because, otherwise, it’s going to feel like you took a dive headfirst into an empty pool. I want to build your confidence naturally, okay? We’ll do it together like I promised.”

Vi nodded and practically collapsed under the relief she felt. It was overwhelming. Her whole life, despite her careful planning, she had taken everything two steps at a time, like running up stairs, but she’d also wiped out more than a few times that way. At least with her best friend by her side, he could catch her.

“Why don’t you go shopping first for some new clothes. Buy something that makes you feel good.”

“Cool, okay. That’s actually a really good idea. You can tell me what guys will find hot.”

But Changkyun shook his head. “Take Nijah or Tara.”

“No, Kyun. Come on. Nijah knits her own turtlenecks, and Tara is an actual librarian. I adore them, but they’re not the people I want to go to for hot girl fashion advice. You are.” He considered for a moment, and Vi didn’t want to miss out on her chance, so she added with a soft smile, “I know you won’t just tell me what I want to hear, but I also know that you’ll hype me up better than anyone else could. If you want me to build confidence, I need my best, most trusted friend in the whole world. Besides, didn’t you just say we’d do things together? Pretty please?”

She batted her eyelashes cartoonishly, and, with a roll of his eyes, he caved. “Fine.”

“Ha ha, I knew it. You can never say no to me when I beg,” she gloated.

Changkyun nodded once and dropped his eyes to his lap. “As long as it’s for you and not just these dumb guys.”

“Man, Kyun, if you ever decide to wife up, women everywhere will cry themselves to sleep. They broke the mold with you.”

“You keep this up, and I’m going to get a big head.”

“That’s just another way of saying you like it.” He said nothing, and Vi reveled in her little triumph. “So when can you go shopping with me? Tomorrow after work?”

“Wow, how hard up are you?” he laughed.

She sneered at him, but it was true. It had been months and months since she’d gotten laid and even longer since she’d had an orgasm that wasn’t of her own making; she hadn’t been exaggerating about the boring sex. Someday she would find the guy she could have as much fun with outside of the bedroom as in it, but for now, she needed to break the dam of frustration and self-doubt so she could clear her head enough to focus on the other things.

“The sooner the better, hot shot,” she retorted.

“I can do tomorrow.”

“Sweet! I’ll google some trendy places.”

“Of course you will.”

But as Vi scrolled through search results on her phone, her friend shuffled around her apartment. He stuck his head into the spare room and mumbled, “I would feel better about all of this if you picked a damn roommate already.”

“Yeah, I know, but the last girl I interviewed gave off that party animal vibe, and even if I am looking to loosen up, I’m not losing my deposit. I did really like the guy though, but he said he won’t know if he can move in for a couple more weeks.”

“What guy?”

“You know him. Minhyuk’s cousin.”

Changkyun scowled as he leaned in the bedroom frame. “Isn’t he a lot older?”

Vi shrugged. “Not really. Like, five years. At least it sounds like he has his life together, which is more than I can say, so I think I’ll just wait to see if he can do it. I can afford another month here alone.”

“Are you sure? It’s Vancouver. There’s got to be lots of people looking.”

“Oh, yeah, there are, but I’m not rooming with someone I don’t vibe with.”

“And you vibe with this guy?”

Vi nodded as she jotted down a few store names on her list. “Yeah, he’s about as chill a guy as I’ve ever met, and he gives off that safe, responsible vibe. That’s who you want to room with, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Come to think of it, he might be the perfect roommate for me then. He’s big and sturdy-looking. Maybe he’ll be my bouncer,” she laughed.

Changkyun did not join her.

“If you want, I can ask him to come back and hang with us? It’s probably good anyway that you vibe with him, too, considering how much you’re here.”

Her friend shrugged a shoulder. “That’s okay. You’re right, I already know him.”

“Okay, cool then. I’ll give him the greenlight if he’s down. Man, I’m feeling doubly productive now. Checking all the things off my list! The next time Henry sees me, he’s not going to know what hit him.”

At this, Changkyun’s brow furrowed. “We’re not doing this because of that dickweed.”

“No! No way,” Vi assured. “But there’s nothing wrong with seeing a guy regret ignoring me, right?”

“Mm,” was all her friend said.

“So we’re on for tomorrow?”

“We are.”

“You staying the night tonight?” she asked.

Changkyun’s eyes darted to the spare room, but when he looked back, they were uncharacteristically flat. “I’ve got practice early. My show’s in just a couple weeks, and we can only meet a few times between now and then.”

“Okay,” Vi said cheerfully over her shoulder as she reviewed her notes. “So, you just tell me when you’re free.”

He was quiet for so long that she had to turn around to be sure he hadn’t left, but he was still there, leaning against the wall and staring out the window.

“Kyun?”

His eyes shifted to hers, and that weird little light he had inside switched back on. “I’ll call you before lunch. We’ll figure it out.”

“Cool. Then I’ll take you to dinner after to say thanks.”

From behind the soft, Changkyun leaned over and kissed the crown of her head. “Sounds good. I’m taking the booze, so you can’t get any ideas.”

“I don’t need it now. I have you.”

“Always,” he assured. “Lock the door behind me, all right?”

“Hot girls stay alert!” Vi shouted with a thumbs up, and her friend left a moment later.

When she got up to lock the door as promised, she caught a shadow through the peephole. Changkyun was still there, waiting in the middle of the hallway, though as soon as the click of the deadbolt thundered, he disappeared.

Vi smiled. They really had broken the mold with him.

Chapter Text

It was late afternoon by the time the pair arrived at Gossamer, a boutique store in Gastown that Vi had found online. It was far hipper than any place she had ever shopped, and she would have found it too intimidating to enter if her best friend hadn’t been at her side, hands in his pockets and shrewd eyebrows up.

Everything inside was pink or black—pink walls, black racks, pink chandeliers, black couches. One wall was studded with pink neon signs with sassy sayings like “Bad Bitch” and “Flex on Your Ex” and, below them, they featured full-length mirrors and sample outfits. The racks were color-coordinated and tarted up with nothing but dresses and bodysuits, each one chicer and more daring than the last.

It was exactly the right vibe. Unfortunately, Vi brought the world’s pickiest critic.

“I know it's your personality,” grumbled Changkyun from his chair across from her dressing stall, “but would you please quit trying to floor it? Go the speed limit for once.”

Vi scowled, knuckles whitening as she gripped the hem of the current dress’s miniskirt. “What’s wrong with this one now?”

He tilted his head, his temple resting on his fist as he propped up his arm on the bolster. His tongue raced over his teeth behind his lips before he let out a slow breath. “You don’t have to show a ton of skin to be hot, Viola. I mean, okay, sure, it doesn’t hurt, but what you really have to show is confidence. I need you to start thinking about this like a fisherman.”

“Like a fisherman! What the hell does that mean? You want me in a slicker and boots?”

After twenty minutes of shooting down every damn look, Changkyun rose from his chair and approached her. Vi got the uneasy feeling that she wasn’t a fisherman at all but the bait for the sharks as he circled her, hands in his jean pockets. He sized up the gaudy royal blue chainmail fabric, the too-low cowl neck, mirrored thigh slits, and, finally, her exposed back, but his face revealed nothing as usual.

“Think about it,” he said in his low gravel. “You need the right gear for your intended catch, but you have to know what you're fishing for. This dress is a net, Viola. It's going to pull in everything, including the stuff nobody wants.”

Her best friend’s aura was always intense, but right now, his condescension took over. Viola’s bare back bristled. “What are you talking about? I saw this exact dress on a girl you took home.”

He snorted. “Yeah, okay, maybe, but the one thing she had that you lack is experience.”

“Low blow, man,” Vi pouted and stacked her arms across her chest.

“I'm not talking about sex even though you're the one who said as much the other night,” he pointed out. “I'm talking about one-night stands. She knew how to pick out the bites she'd like best and throw back the ones that would disappoint or, more importantly, be dangerous. You haven’t learned those things yet.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sounds like you’re just giving yourself a backhanded compliment.”

“Viola.”

Changkyun’s stern voice penetrated the quiet salon’s air. Her hands fell limply to her side at once.

He narrowed his eyes. “You get my meaning now?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“Look, we can work our way up to this. Remember what I said. Baby steps. You don't think this was the dress that girl chose for the first time out, do you?”

“How should I know?”

“Exactly,” he said with a pleased smile. Suddenly, Changkyun turned and as he walked back to his chair, he said, “Don't get me wrong, you look incredibly hot in it.”

“Really?”

He smiled at her again, but this time, there was something different in it, and once again, Vi was reminded of that shark. “Absolutely, and if you weren't my best friend, I would one-million-percent approach you in the club, but I would be one of a hundred guys, and most of them won't see you in the dress. They'll see an opportunity—a checkbox. So until you learn how to spot the users, we’ll find you something that will make you feel hot and secure. Besides, a little mystery is good.”

“Hasn’t worked for me the last 25 years,” she quipped.

“No offense, Viola, but you are charmingly easy to read.”

“Well, I don’t like keeping secrets…”

Changkyun pressed his lips together. After a moment, he nodded. “I know. I know. But I’m not talking about keeping secrets. We’re just talking about one-night stands, right?”

“Right.”

“So you don’t need to know everything about each other. Maybe you won’t even know each other’s names. Does that bother you?”

“N-no.”

“You don’t like secrets, remember, and I won’t let you have them with me for this to work. You know that.”

Changkyun was right—this dress exposed far too much, but Vi had nowhere to retreat except behind her crossed arms. She chewed her bottom lip before she answered again, “Yeah, I know. I’m really fine with it. I guess it just hits different when you say it.”

“Okay,” he said. “Just know you can back out at any time if you need to.”

She huffed. “Is that what this is? Are you trying to make me back out of this?”

“As if I could.”

“Good,” she said, her arms at last dropping to her sides, her chest thrust out as proudly as her chin. “Because I’m not going to back down. I’m going to take this all the way.”

“Then I’ll stay by your side like I promised.”

Something about the way his chocolate eyes met hers made Vi’s heart shift in her chest. She glanced at her sandaled feet as she replied, “I know. Thanks, Kyun.”

Changkyun sighed and rubbed his palms along the armrests. “Okay, then let’s get you into something else. You need something that makes you feel hot while looking mysterious.”

She scoffed. “This is way more strategy than I thought. Fine. You pick something out for me.”

Her friend nearly did a double-take. “What?”

“You don't like anything that I've picked, so why don't you pick something? Just remember what I'm going for here. Not something I might have worn before but something I need to wear now.”

“Viola—”

“We’ll be here for another three hours if you don’t,” she warned.

With a sigh, he stood up and paced the racks, his calm eyes scanning a rainbow of mini dresses. After several minutes, he came back to the dressing room, a perfectly blank expression on his face.

“One dress? Really?” she said with an eyebrow popped.

“The dress,” he corrected.

“Cocky.” Vi was about to head into the room when she furrowed her brow. “Kyun, this is something my grandmother would wear.”

“You know I know Grandma Viv, and I love her, but nobody wants to see her in this dress.”

“Hey!” Changkyun stared at her and, finally, Vi relented. “Fine, maybe not, but come on, this is like a parka compared to what I picked.”

“And your point?”

She scowled. “I’m trying to get laid, remember? I’d wear something like this to a wedding.”

“First of all, you would not. I’ve been your date to a dozen weddings by now, and I’ve never seen you wear something like this. Second, this dress will one hundred percent get you laid. I guarantee it.”

Vi turned her gaze back down to the tangerine number in her hands. It was the same stretchy bodycon material as many of the things she’d tried on, but apart from a halter neck and some satiny ribbons at the back tie, it looked about as plain as something in this store could get. She looked back at her friend dubiously, but Changkyun was unrepentant as he returned to his chair and sat down for what he clearly considered the last outfit of their fashion show.

“You seem awfully sure of yourself,” she said.

“I am. Look, the color will make your skin tone shine, and the cut will flaunt your assets.”

“Which are?” she prodded with a cheeky smile.

“Your assets, Viola,” he repeated stubbornly, but his eyes slid to her curvaceous hips and thighs, and she grinned, victorious.

“Fine, I’ll take your word for it, but I still think it’s a little boring. There’s no cleavage at all, and there’s a freaking bow at the back. I’m trying to get away from cutesy, remember?”

Changkyun folded his arms in a way that smacked all too hard of an unswerving CEO. “I promise you, you will look anything but cute in it.”

“I’d better.”

“Put it on, Viola,” he ordered, and it made her mouth go dry.

She retreated behind the saloon door and reluctantly swapped her “open 24/7” dress for what she was convinced would be more “help wanted”, but after she’d shimmied the vibrant fabric over her full thighs and fuller hips and then tied the bow behind her neck, she turned toward the mirror and her jaw dropped.

Damnit. He was right.

She looked hot. She looked damn hot.

The orange did amplify the exotic warmth of her skin and, like a buttercup beneath the chin, reflected attention to her face. A little notch on the skirt she hadn’t noticed before gave a sultry window to more thigh, and though there wasn’t cleavage on display, the snug of the dress across the curves of her chest was just as provocative.

She pivoted and glanced over her shoulder to find her ass looked just as round as a tangerine itself, and her back was far more exposed than she expected, allowing the halter ribbons to sway tantalizingly against the bare flesh there.

Vi smiled at herself, once in triumph before she tested out a few other versions that ran the gamut between coy, seductive, and hungry—or perhaps they all looked the same. She’d have to practice a bit more before she was confident she was nailing the hot girl vibe.

Finally ready, she swung open the door.

“That’s the one,” her best friend said, those cat-like eyes thin and stealthy as he regarded her from his seat.

“You think?”

Before Vi could step out of the changing room, Changkyun was out of his seat and in the dressing room beside her, the door swinging shut behind him. Trapped in such a small space with her best friend made things… weird. Through the thin fabric, should could feel his body heat, and it carried with it notes of leather and vanilla. She had spent much of her life by his side, but she swore she’d never smelled his skin so clearly.

“Do you love it?” he asked.

Vi bit her lip and nodded sheepishly. “I love it.”

“Mm.”

He surprised her by grabbing her bare shoulders and whirling her around so she faced the mirror, him behind her. His sharp chin hovered near the crook of her neck as Changkyun continued, “Do me a favor.”

“Uh, okay?” she hedged.

“Close your eyes and picture the man you want to fuck.”

Her head whipped back as she readied to argue with him, and she realized too late that it all nearly ended in disaster. With his face so close, only a piece of paper could have fit in the space between their lips. Vi recoiled. He did not.

“Im Changkyun!” she scolded as she hurried to return her attention to the mirror.

“You said you’d listen to me,” he reminded matter-of-factly, and her temper evened out.

“Yeah, okay, fine.” She was all too happy to close her eyes now anyway.

“Picture him,” he said lowly. “Everything about him. Not just his looks but the kind of lover you need him to be.”

Resentfully, Vi squeezed her eyes shut. It took much longer than she expected considering she’d been fantasizing about this exact thing night after night for months, but she blamed it on Changkyun’s use of the word “lover.” Finally, though, the haze of her mind began to solidify into a silhouette. The shadow man moved closer, and though she couldn’t make out any of his features, his body began to take shape. Lean, defined, strong. There were tattoos there, though nothing specific besides the fact that there was a sheen of sweat glazing all of them from the hard work he’d been putting in to please her. His movements were confident and intentional from plenty of expertise.

A sliver of light illuminated a pair of lips. Soft. Delicious. The bow just a bit sharp to hint at how wicked they could be but the bottom fuller and smoother with the promise of the sweetest finish.

Vi licked her own lips.

“Good,” hummed Changkyun, and the ice water of reality washed away her fantasy.

“What’s the point of all this, Kyun?” she said both exasperated and desperately eager to move on.

“I want you to see how a dress like this will do more for you than those other ones from before.”

“Okay, but why?”

“When you know what you want and how to get it, you won’t settle for less. Dress for the fuck you want.”

Vi scrunched her nose. “You wouldn’t think it to look at you, but you also go from zero to eleven real quick, man.”

“You have no idea.”

Now she was scrunching her eyebrows.

“See,” Changkyun continued, directing her gaze back to herself in the mirror, “no man’s going to miss this dress even in a crowded club. Everyone knows how sweet a tangerine is, and they’re going to want a piece.”

“Man, you silver-tongued—” Vi cut herself off with a shake of her head. “Okay, yeah. Fine. I’m feeling you now.”

“Good because that dream man you just pictured? This is how you reel him in. There’s no shortage of selfish, lazy fucks out there, but you need a man who understands and appreciates a woman’s body. A dress like this will make him appreciate it. It’s a tease. He’ll have that sweet first taste, and he’ll find himself imagining what more is waiting for him. See the way it cinches your waist? It’s inviting hands to grab right here.”

His hands hovered at the first swell of her hips. Through the fabric, Vi could feel his residual heat like a steam from a mug, but Changkyun kept his distance, and after a moment, they fell back to his side.

“So, you’ve changed your mind about this dress?” he said with a smirk.

“You were right,” she admitted sulkily.

“Mm. And you were worried you’d only be cute… See, with the bow, now you’re something special to unwrap,” he said as he swung her around again, back to the mirror, his fingertips glancing across the tails of the ribbons and, inadvertently, her spine, “but if he’s too desperate to manage that, it’s a short detour to pleasure no matter where you end up.”

Vi imagined for a split second that her best friend’s fingertip had grazed the back of her thigh where the hem hugged beneath her ass, but she knew that had to be a byproduct of the image he’d painted. After all, Changkyun had always been good with words, especially for the kind of sultry music he wrote.

“So we’re done here?” he prompted.

“Yeah, teach.”

“Perfect. Now, take it off.”

It wasn't like the order he had given her to put it on. This—this was quiet… breathy…

Eager.

But when he spoke again, he added flippantly, “I want to get going.”

Vi crashed back down to earth like a payload of bricks. “Fine, then get out.”

She shoved her friend bodily through the door and let out a heavy breath the second she had the space back to herself. She hadn’t realized how heavy and close the air was until she was alone again.

Fast as she could, Vi dressed back in her shorts and oversized hoodie and returned with the orange dress on her arm.

“Okay, okay, we’re done,” she said.

“Actually, not just yet,” corrected Changkyun.

She popped a lush eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t even want to do this part. What else is there?”

He hummed. “I want you to start thinking 4D.”

“As in ‘four dicks’?”

“Jesus, Viola. I mean dimensions. Four dimensions.”

“Well, I don’t know! After all that ‘dream lover’ talk or whatever, I wasn’t sure what channel we were on.”

“Your dream fuckboy has four dicks?” Changkyun asked with a smirk.

“Oh, shut up. I’m eager, but I’m not that greedy. What the hell does four dimensions mean anyway?”

“There's a beauty store around the corner. I'll show you.”

Vi bought the dress, both associates eyeing her and her friend suspiciously, and the realization that they assumed something had happened in the changing room made her wince, but if Changkyun noticed, he didn't acknowledge it.

He took her bag and headed out the front door with her in tow. Her best friend was rarely chatty—usually he left the course of conversation up to her—but Vi had run out of things to talk about. Though it had always been the point of this mission, her mind was fixed on the fantasy Changkyun had ruthlessly conjured, and she couldn't unstick it.

She was so busy riding that sweaty, shadowy tattooed man that she ran right into her best friend's back as he stopped.

“You all right?” he asked.

“Sorry. Daydreaming.”

He studied her for a second before he shifted his attention to the sleek display featuring a rainbow of bottles in the window. “We're here.”

“Hey, this place is fancy,” Vi observed as she looked up at the black-and-white Parisian awning over a gilded double door. “How did you know about it?”

“I buy my cologne here. Here's your next lesson: if you want to be a lure, make yourself a sensory experience.”

“A sensory experience? And you call me a nerd.”

“That means it’s not just visuals, Viola. Your smell, your skin, your—” Changkyun stopped. His lips mashed together as he considered, but after a rough swallow, he continued, “—your taste… this is what will ensure you have the best time because he’ll work harder for you because he’ll want to.”

Vi quirked a brow. “Damn, Kyun. Sometimes it sucks that you're my best friend.”

“It does?”

“Hell yeah. Otherwise, I’d be all over you.”

While Vi fiddled with a few bottles, Changkyun watched her. After a minute, he blurted, “Viola—”

“Can I help you two find anything?” An elegant blonde woman sidled up behind them with a polished smile that twisted into something much more seductive when her eyes caught Changkyun’s face. “Oh, it’s you. Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon. How are you?”

He nodded and gave the other woman a polite smile. “Good, thanks. We’re all good.”

The associate’s smile faltered as she glanced to his companion before she echoed his polite nod and retreated behind the register.

Vi leaned up to her friend's ear and whispered, “Do I spy the next Mrs. One-night-only? Am I going to get to study the master in the wild up close? Ooh, I feel like Steve Irwin.”

“You know my rules,” he replied as he picked up a bottle and idly sniffed it.

Oh yeah, she thought. No familiar faces. No sleepovers. No repeats. How could she forget, especially after her disastrous go at Henry?

Changkyun had a lot of rules for his personal life and perfectly logical reasons for most of them. He wasn't shy about sharing them either. In fact, he laid them out for every woman he'd been with so there were fewer misunderstandings when their time was up. The only thing he refused to explain was why Vi had never seen him with a girlfriend—their entire lives. She had probed plenty of times, but the only thing he'd ever said on the matter was “There's no point.”

Unsatisfied, Vi said, “What if you ran into her at a club first and then saw her here?”

“If I did, you know I’d have to stop using this store.”

“Man, Kyun, I forget how strict you can be sometimes. Am I expected to do that, too?”

“These my rules, Viola. I don’t expect you to follow them the way I do, but you should consider some of your own. If you want to stay unattached, you need rules and the determination to stick to them.”

“You’re right. But I’m not letting some guy run me out of a store I like.”

Changkyun hummed. “That’s my girl.”

Vi returned her attention to the shelves and, more specifically, the price tags underneath. “Oh, man, these are expensive.”

“Real perfumes are,” he replied. “Don’t worry about it just yet, okay?”

“Guess my Vicki Secrets Honeysuckle Apricot body mist isn't cutting it anymore. What's wrong with my signature scent?”

“Nothing,” he assured. “It's perfect for making a man fall in love with you, but that's not what we're going for, is it?”

“Falling in love? Hell no.”

Changkyun smiled that special tight smile, the one that always told her he was holding something back, but it also meant that even if Vi asked, he wasn't going to tell her what it was.

Instead, she directed her attention to the array of glass bottles spaced far enough apart that it drew the eye one by one. Each bottle was an experience, though she expected that came with the price tag. Some were faceted like jewels and others were shaped elaborately like high heels or hearts or even hot air balloons. “Okay, so what is my cheap ass looking at here?”

“Think of the bottles the same way you thought of your clothing,” said Changkyun. “They give you a hint of what’s inside. Dark and seductive. Bright and lively. Deep and powerful. Let your eyes guide you the same as they will in a club.”

Vi looked up and down the rows where four bottles caught her attention. She wanted to grab the quirkier sculpture bottles, but she remembered her best friend’s lessons from the dress shop, and she decided she needed to think more sophisticated. She went for bottles of ruby and sapphire, black and gold, and she lined them up in front of her.

“Okay, now what?” she asked.

Changkyun appraised her choices, though his face didn’t reveal whether she’d done a good job or not. He reached down the line to little cotton strips propped up in a dish and grabbed several. He chose the ruby bottle first and brought the nozzle close to the strip as he said, “We'll spray them on some paper first to see if you like them.”

A quick spritz and then a brief fan of the paper in the air, and he offered it to Vi. Before it even got to her nose, she scowled.

“I don’t like it,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Ugh, it stinks?”

Changkyun shook his head. “No, what’s the note that you don’t like?”

“Kyun, I live my life in fruity body sprays. What do I know about this?”

He glowered at her. “Too flowery? Too powdery? Too masculine?”

“No. It smells like an old lady.”

Changkyun brought the paper to his nose now and breathed. His eyes rolled back as he considered before he said, “Mm, hints of iris and amber and definitely some rose. You’re right, it’s not the scent for you.”

It was Vi’s turn to glower at her friend. “You know, you really know how to flex without looking like it.”

They tried the sapphire bottle next, but this time Vi was clear on why she didn’t like it.

“Too flowery,” she blurted as she recoiled and rubbed her nose.

Changkyun smiled. “You’re a quick learner.”

Unfortunately, neither of the next two bottles were a fit either, and Vi was startling to feel a little defeated. If the goal was for her to be able to make the right picks to reel in the right guys, she was failing miserably, first at the clothing and now at the scents. All her planning showed how little she really knew about the waters into which she was trying to dip a toe.

“You’re doing fine, Viola,” Kyun said, reading her instantly. “It’s not a test. It’s a new experience. You can’t get it wrong. You can just learn from it.”

“Easy for you to say.”

Her best friend studied her furrowed brow and, when she didn’t shake herself out of her funk, he suggested, “How about this? I’ll pick three scents that I think might suit you, and you tell me what you think.”

At this, Vi perked up. Curiosity overwhelmed her as she wondered how Changkyun could possibly sum her up in a fragrance. Only he would propose such a thing.

“Yeah, okay,” she said. “Bring it on.”

He nodded and headed down the row and then another and, in a blink, came back with three bottles as though he knew exactly which ones to grab.

She squinted at him. “That didn’t take very long.”

“Just try them,” he said dismissively.

Vi stared at him a minute longer, but he wasn’t budging and her curiosity was only increasing. She crinkled her broad nose and relented.

The first bottle was shaped like a poison apple, and after a quick spritz, her eyebrows raised. “Okay… Yeah, I actually like this one. It’s got some fruity notes. You know I like those.”

“I do,” Changkyun said with a smile.

“What is that I’m smelling? It’s sweet.”

“Vanilla. That’s a favorite scent for a lot of men.”

Vi bit her lip. “Tasty. I dig that.”

“Leave the paper there for a minute while you try the next. It’ll give the scent a little time to unfold. A good perfume changes over time.”

“Damn, okay, Mr. Nose. I’ll come back. Now, what’s this one?” She picked up a much less dramatic rectangular bottle in a translucent cherry red. It wasn’t one she would have picked up herself, but on first spray, the burst of cherry and almond hit her immediately, and she hurried for a second whiff. “Oh, this one smells delicious! But it’s not like my usual fruity stuff.”

Changkyun nodded. “This one’s darker. That’s the liquor in it.”

“Ooh, yeah? I like that. The guys will want to take a bite.”

Her friend didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to. Another whiff of the paper, and this one had definitely moved to the top of the list for now.

“Give it another minute,” he said and reached for a bowl of coffee beans sitting nearby. “Smell this.”

Vi popped an eyebrow. “Why?”

“It resets the nose. It’s easy to get the smells confused after a while.”

She shrugged and huffed the beans only to find it didn’t smell nearly as strong as she expected, but on second sniff, the coffee scent came through clearer.

“Ready?” Changkyun asked, and she nodded.

The last bottle he’d chosen was shaped like a diamond laying on its side. The black bow and smoky liquid inside gave Vi speakeasy vibes, and something about her drew her in from first sight. She sprayed a fresh paper strip, but she could smell it before she even brought it to her nose.

“Wow. Okay, wow.”

In a rare flash of brightness, Changkyun leaned forward and beamed from ear to ear. “You like it?”

“A lot! Definitely feels like nighttime. Maybe it’s ‘cause of the coffee beans, but I smell coffee in there somewhere. And there’s lots of fruits, too. And flower? Rose maybe? Okay, I don’t know what I’m talking about, but it’s super sexy.”

“Mm. If you want to know if it's a good match, you have to apply it to your skin though,” he said. “Fragrances wear differently on skin. It may smell good on paper, but there’s only one way to know if it will smell the same on you.”

Her friend grabbed her wrist and lifted it up, turning it over in his hand so the back of hers rested in the palm of his, his tan fingers curling around her toffee skin. Changkyun grabbed the bottle, the sultry liquid sloshing inside the glass facets, and he spritzed briefly across her pulse point.

“Give it a minute to dry down,” he instructed.

The first few seconds ticked by quickly, but somehow the next ticked by slower and slower, as though time itself had been trapped in molasses. Maybe it was because she was eager to smell her skin. Maybe it was because Changkyun was still cradling her hand and he’d never done such a thing before, and it was new.

In fact, today, things just felt a little weird between them. Most likely, it was the strain of their mentor/mentee relationship. They’d never had a dynamic like that before; not to mention, Vi had been out of school for several years now, so she hadn’t really planned for assignments and exams and, well, obvious failures of both this late in her life. It was more stress than she’d anticipated, even if her mentor was the person she trusted most.

But Changkyun remained just as unbothered as he usually looked. When he judged the time right, he raised her wrist to his nose and inhaled. Vi waited for him to comment, but he said nothing. Instead, he pushed her hand back toward her and said, “Here. What do you think?”

He guided her wrist to her nose this time, and she breathed in deeply, once, then twice. She closed her eyes and breathed in a third time.

Suddenly, she wasn’t in a store at all, but a crowded club. Strobe lights winked, skirts rolled up thighs, steam wafted off rolling bodies. It was intense, warm, and incredibly intimate all at once.

“Mm,” she murmured, “there’s the fruit and the rose again, but there’s something deeper. Reminds me of something from college. Incense, maybe?”

He hummed. “Patchouli I’d guess, yeah. I’m getting a lot of creamy caramel, too.”

Something about the way he said it made Vi’s brain flatline same as it had in the changing room when he was coaching her. This was the hardest she’d worked on anything since college. No wonder she was stressed out.

She sniffed her skin again and scowled. “You think it's a little strong for me?”

Changkyun stared at her. “Viola, you can pull off anything you want to. You just have to want to. A fragrance like this will give you that aura of confidence that you want.”

“You think?”

“If you let it,” he insisted. “Do you like it?”

“I do.” She paused. “Do you think guys will like it?”

“Without a doubt, but it’s important you love it, too. Just make sure it doesn’t give you a headache. You come first, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Changkyun narrowed his eyes. “I mean it, Viola. Deep-ending things can drown you.”

“I know, Kyun.”

Vi sniffed her wrist again and smiled. She smelled powerful and alluring, and she felt it, too. Her best friend was right. At the end of the day, this was about her and the woman she wanted to be, and she’d never been more grateful to have a man like Changkyun in her corner to remind her of that.

“But it's only for night time, okay?” he said abruptly, and it jerked her out of her thoughts. His back was to her as he returned the other bottles to their sections, though he said over his shoulder, “Don't go wearing that to work.”

Vi laughed. “Why not?”

“Just… don't.”

“Okay fine, man of mystery,” she agreed with a smile.

“Again with the sass,” he scolded. “I’m not trying to be mysterious, you know. I thought I was being pretty transparent.”

“Nothing about you is transparent, Kyun.”

He returned his attention to her long enough to study her face, and then he let out a sigh. He held the bottle in his hand, his thumb polishing one of the facets as he said, “This perfume? It's a love spell. Cast it wisely.”

“I thought we were avoiding love?”

“Different kind of love,” he clarified. “This kind only lasts as long as this scent does.”

“Sounds like you've got a new song in the making,” she teased.

But he remained serious as said, “Don’t waste it on your coworkers.”

With that, Changkyun turned toward the register and the lengthy blonde waiting behind it, who perked the second he headed toward her. Vi hurried to catch up, and when she got there, the associate was already in the back fetching a fresh bottle.

His card was already out of his wallet as he said, “I’ll buy it for you.”

“No, Kyun,” she said waving her hands, “you don’t need to—”

“You weren't expecting to buy it, so I'm not going to make you.”

“But I already owed you dinner to thank you for today.”

“You can take me out another night this week.”

Vi’s eyebrows scrunched. “What about band practice?”

“It’s not every night. Besides, I have to eat, right? You could just swing by one of the nights. The guys would like to see you, too.”

“Okay, fine. I can bring Chicken Box for them,” she suggested.

“And what about for me?” he said with an uncharacteristic pout.

Vi laughed. “All these years, and I’ve rarely seen you jealous. It looks cute on you.”

“I wasn’t going for cute,” he retorted. “I was going for hot.”

She snarled and gave her best friend a shove to his shoulders. “You ass. Maybe I’ll just feed your friends, and I won’t bring you anything at all now.”

“Fine,” he said, hands on his hips as he leaned in with a smug smile. “Then you’ll owe me a private dinner later.”

“Fine,” she responded just as childishly.

For a minute, they stared each other down like it was high noon in the Old West, but Vi broke first, the corner of her lips twitching, and then her best friend followed until they were both laughing as the saleswoman returned.

As soon Vi’s perfume was bagged, Changkyun paid the bill and nodded toward the door. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Kyun, no more, okay? I don’t know how other people do this much shopping. I’m exhausted.”

“So am I. Now, I’m just hungry.”

At this, Vi perked. “Good. What do you want to eat? The ramen shop Hoseok’s always rambling about is a couple blocks down if you want, or we can get some Vietnamese or Indian. It’s my thanks to you, so it’s your call, but nothing too greasy if you don’t want me falling asleep at the table.”

“Ramen’s good.”

Though Vi was decidedly more extroverted than Changkyun, she loved their easy silences, especially ones like this one. They strolled down the sidewalk under breeze-shaken maples, cars ebbing and flowing like the English Bay. The sun was warm between the skyscrapers, and nearby, silverware clinked in cafes. Sometimes, she would randomly lose her walking partner only to find him stopped somewhere behind her, squinting through storefront displays at Balenciaga or Burberry. Changkyun never said why, but she like to imagine he was dreaming about what he would buy if he made it big with his music someday. He'd always had expensive taste though he rarely splurged.

They stopped at an intersection a block away from the restaurant when a car pulled to a stop at the light, blasting some club pop remix as the driver and passenger scream-sang the lyrics, and a light bulb lit in Vi’s head.

“Hey, that reminds me,” she blurted as she swiveled to face her friend. “What’s the timeline on this mentorship because Tara texted me this flyer that on Wednesday, there’s this DJ—”

Her friend shook his head swiftly. “Wednesday? Viola, no. You’re not ready. You’re nowhere near ready.”

“Not ready? Kyun, we’ve got the bait,” she said as she waggled both handfuls of bags. “Now, we just need a fishing hole.”

“Look, do you just want sex or do you want good sex?”

“Obviously the good stuff…”

“Then pump the brakes,” he said, exasperated. “I feel like you’re not listening to a word I say.”

“That’s not true. I’ve listened to at least five of them,” she replied with a smirk, and Changkyun rolled his eyes.

Just then, her phone rang, and she groped through her hoodie pockets for it. She didn’t have the number in her contacts, but she could have sworn she’d seen it before, so she answered.

“Hello, is this Viola Flowers?” said a rich baritone on the other end.

“Yeah, this is. Who’s this?”

“Oh, hello. This is Son Hyunwoo, from your room. Oh, apologies,” he said immediately. “I mean, I’m the one who looked at renting your spare room.”

Vi pulled to a stop, a big smile on her face. Changkyun stopped, too, watching her with squinted eyes.

“Oh, hey, yeah! I was just talking about you last night,” she said, and her friend tipped his head like a cat unraveling a curious sound. “I’m glad you called. I thought it over, and, yeah, the room’s yours if you want it.”

“Really?” Hyunwoo asked.

“I mean, Minhyuk tried his best to ruin it for you, but if you help me keep his unannounced visits to a minimum, we’re on.”

“I think I can manage that. That’s exactly why I need to move out of his townhome actually. He thinks he’s the lord of the land. I have no room in my life for it.”

Hyunwoo’s tone was so even and serious, it took Vi a lot longer to process his words, and when she did, she brightened. “Was that—was that a pun?”

“I just mean some time apart is meant to be,” Hyunwoo continued unflinchingly. “I need a new sublease on life.”

“I guess it’s not normal wear and tear on your nerves, huh?” Vi prompted, and she could hear the man on the other of the line let out a short, friendly laugh, which made her burst out laughing. She bit her lip to temper her laughter before she trumpeted, “I knew it! It was a terrible pun! And then another? And another? Wow. Just wow. Bad puns are my life blood, but some people don’t really appreciate them.”

She cast a pointed side-eye to her friend, though Changkyun was decidedly unamused. In fact, something about his naturally sharp body lines looked cold and wicked as the steel of a blade.

Vi forced her attention back to her caller and said, “It’s nice to meet another aficionado for the craft of world play. So, you still want to rent the room, right?”

“I do,” Hyunwoo said. “My lease goes through the end of the month here, and I know last time we talked, I said I wouldn’t know if I could even move to the end of the month, but now I’d need to be out by then. Is that okay if it’s a month sooner than I expected?”

“Sooner’s better for me anyway,” she replied.

“Good then. If you have a sublease, can you email it to me so I can review it?”

And he’s responsible to boot? Vi thought to herself, relieved. This was a huge step up from her last disaster of a roomie.

“I’ll send it over when I get home,” she said, and her eyes narrowed. Changkyun had out-paced her now by half a block, hands in his pockets, iris tattoo flexing restlessly. “Hey, Hyunwoo, I’m out right now, so I’ll message you later once I’ve sent the lease, okay?”

“Sounds good. Have a nice day,” said the older man. He had a way of saying things as though he were twenty years older than she was instead of just five.

They said their goodbyes, and Vi jogged lightly to catch up with her best friend, who had already pulled up at the entrance to the noodle shop.

“Okay,” Changkyun said when she got there.

Her brows pinched. “Okay what?”

“Okay, let’s go to this thing on Wednesday.”

Vi dropped her bags to hug her best friend. “Really? Hell yes! Thanks, Kyun.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he mumbled as she crushed him in her embrace. “We're going to have to work through a lot between now and then to get you ready for the real thing, and I’m warning you upfront that you will not be ready by Wednesday, but we'll go and at least practice.”

“Okay, yeah, that sounds good,” she said as she let him go.

“But we're only doing it if you commit to it this week. We've got a lot to cover, so we'll have to meet up most nights.”

“I can do that, but can you? What about your practices?”

“We can work around them.”

“Yay!” Vi squeaked and then quickly tempered when she remembered the whole purpose of today. “I mean, yeah, sure, sounds good.”

Her friend popped one cool eyebrow.

“We can use my place while it’s still just mine,” she suggested as breezed by him into the restaurant. “Oh, yeah, that reminds me. Hyunwoo said he'd take the room. Sounds like he’ll actually start moving stuff in toward the end of the month.”

“That’s faster than you thought,” said Changkyun. “Didn’t you say he wouldn’t even know if he could move before the end of the month, and now, he’s already moving in?”

“Yeah, but at least that means I won’t have to pay the full rent again next month. My bank account will be happy.”

He hummed and returned his attention to the menu.

After they’d ordered, Vi asked, “So what do you want to cover this week?”

“Priority is safety. It always is,” Changkyun replied immediately.

“Of course,” she said though her annoyance was clear in her voice.

Her friend watched her carefully. “I know that's not the fun stuff, but we have to do it, Viola.”

“You sound like my dad,” she pouted. “But there's lots of other fun stuff on my list.”

“I know, and I'm sure you have it all organized in order of importance.”

Vi squinted at him. “Sass is my thing, not yours.”

“Is it sass if it’s factual? I’ll bet you have it typed up in your phone notepad, too.”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. How’s that for mystery?” she said coyly. Changkyun raised a brow, and she sighed as she pulled out her phone again. It only took her a second to pull up her “hot girl” list, and she read, “We’ve covered the clothes and accessories. I won’t need you for the other day-of prep, so I guess what’s left is logistics and technique.”

“Technique?” he asked through a slurp of noodles.

“You know, the sexy eyes and dancing and dirty talk stuff.”

Changkyun choked and thumped his chest with his fist before he gulped down some water. After he recovered from his cough, he said, “You expect me to teach you how to dirty talk?”

“I didn’t say that. You asked what’s left. I’m telling you. I’m not going to make this weird for you. I’ll just learn some lines from porn.”

Thankfully, this time, his chopsticks were halfway to his mouth, and he was spared a second round of choking.

“Please don’t,” he said. “I don’t want you picking up insane or bad habits.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do? You know this is not my wheelhouse, and I want to learn. I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

Changkyun smiled at her in his gentle way, his soft parentheses dimples bracketing it. “I understand, but what’s wrong with just trying a few new things at a time? If it’s a little awkward, so what? It happens. Sex isn’t perfect, Viola. Embarrassing stuff happens. Bad dirty talk isn’t a big deal compared to some of the stuff I’ve seen.”

At this prompt, Vi propped both elbows up on the table and set her chin on her fists. With big eyes, she asked, “Really? Like what?”

He frowned lightly and looked down at their food. “I don’t know if this is—”

“Come on, man, you can’t start a thought like that and not finish it. Make me feel better.”

“Fine,” he relented but lowered his voice. “One girl sneezed right into my mouth when she was riding me.”

Vi reeled back, barely missing knocking over her bowl as she cringed. “Oh my god!”

“And another was deepthroating me, gagged herself, and threw up on me.”

“That’s possible?” she squealed.

“Shit happens,” he said with a shrug.

“New fear unlocked, holy shit.”

Changkyun shook his head. “It was messy, yeah, and kind of gross, sure, but I still got them off before they went home.”

“Are you serious?” she gaped. “How are you so calm about that? I’d die. I’d probably never attempt sex again.”

“Like I said, shit happens. They were working hard for me. I had to make them feel better.”

“I swear to god, Kyun, there’s no other man like you.”

“You’d be surprised what a guy can forgive for the sake of sex.”

Vi deflated. “If there’s anything to make me want to stick to your code to the letter, it’s this. I could never see a guy again if I threw up on him. Catch me under a river rock, bye.”

Changkyun resumed his soup slurping as though he hadn’t just traumatized his best friend for life, leaving her to gnaw on the edge of her lip.

“Food’s getting cold,” he nudged as he took another drink.

“I’ll never eat again,” she swore.

“Hot girls eat well, come on.”

“I can’t stand you and your cool guy schtick. Okay, fine,” she said twirling some noodles into a bite. “So this week, I guess I’ll let you be safety officer first, and then maybe you can point out some hot girl dances moves at the DJ thing? You can be my living mirror.”

“Living mirror?” he echoed.

“Yeah, you know. You can reflect my successes and failures. Point out stuff other girls are doing and then give me tips when I try.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Vi nodded as she gulped down a bite.

“And what about the dirty talk lessons?” he asked.

At this, she pursed her lips. “I’m really not trying to overstep your good will, man. There’s, like, Cosmo articles and shit, I’m sure.”

Changkyun laid his chopsticks across his bowl and narrowed his eyes at her. “No, Viola, I know you. If I don't help you, you'll help yourself, and I don't need you shouting ‘Choke me, daddy’ to a stranger.”

It was Vi’s turn to choke. She banged her fist against her collar bone and downed her entire glass of water.

“Shut up,” she hissed, eyes scouring the restaurant. It wasn’t too busy, but that only made it feel that much louder. “I’m not trying to ruin everyone’s meals.”

“Then I suggest you accept my help.”

Vi glowered at him. “All this time, I didn’t realize you were a blackmailer at heart.”

“Comes in handy in the bedroom, too,” he added.

“I have so much to learn, sempai.”

Changkyun smiled that secretive smile once more. His voice dropped in octave as he promised, “Good because there’s so much I want to teach you.”