The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (39 page)

While the silence and the grace of the snow suspended over them, Tae Hyun made sure to keep his enrapturing eyes locked with her for the entirety of the time they laid there. Seconds later, just when more snow began to descend upon them, he lowered himself, stopping only when his lips lingered above her yearning ones.
 

His warm breath hummed around her lips, leaving her breathless. She fought to keep her mouth from puckering up in anticipation. No matter how hard she tried though, she couldn't control herself. She was losing. She was losing to Tae Hyun's charms.
 

He dipped lower for her lips.
 “Have I stolen yours?" 

Lost between a world of acting and a world of desire, Yoori's mind was entirely blank.
 All that she cared about were his lips. His amazingly gorgeous lips that were now descending down to claim hers. 

Nothing mattered anymore.

Nothing mattered but him.

She parted her mouth right when their lips were ready to meet. She finally uttered words that would no doubt drive Tae Hyun insane.

"Every inch of—" 

She was about to finish her sentence when something startling occurred.

Cracck
.

Their eyes enlarged in sober urgency when they heard it.

Craccccck.

The sounds of wood cracking apart…

Craccccccccccccck.

The bridge was breaking apart!

"HAUL ASSSSSSSSSS!" they both shouted, awoken from their little dream world.

Tae Hyun grabbed Yoori's hand and without delay, they scurried off the deteriorating bridge like bats out of Wonderland Hell.
 Yoori screamed for dear life as they jumped back onto solid ground. Regaining their balance, Yoori and Tae Hyun watched in horror as the deteriorating bridge broke apart. The Christmas lights attached to it blinked in terror while the rose petals on it dove into the awaiting water. Shortly after, the sound of rumbling filtered into the sky and it was followed by a loud splash!

In a matter of seconds, the once solid bridge collapsed into the pond, splattered a billion drops of water into the sky, and submerged into the abyss before Yoori and Tae Hyun could even blink in disbelief.
 

It was long moments later, as the snow continued to peacefully frost over their heads and the pond remained as calm as ever with rose petals swimming above it, that Yoori parted her shocked lips.
 

“I think that this is a sign that we shouldn't hang out over a slew of water," Yoori said listlessly, clearly recalling the leaky boat incident at the lake house.
 

"One of these days,” Tae Hyun provided mindlessly, his face pale from what just took place.
 “The world is going to drown us."

When Yoori gathered her senses and rationale, she turned back to Tae Hyun. He seemed to have
also gathered his senses. 

"I can't believe you took me out on a
 faulty bridge," she accused, the drunkenness returning to her eyes. 

He gaped at her, the drunkenness also returning to him. "This is
 
my
 fault?" Cursing in disbelief, he turned around and started to venture out of their secret garden. "I can't believe this…" he groaned to himself. 

"This is the last time I lay
 anywhere with you!" she declared, following him as he travelled back out into the trees. 

Apparently their little Winter Wonderland was more than over.

"As I seem to recall, the breaking occurred on your side. Why didn't
you
notice?” Tae Hyun accused. 

"How could
 I notice anything when your drunken self was leaning over me? You were my distraction!" 

"Distraction?" He nearly tripped over a tree branch when he shouted back at her. "Who the hell was running a freaking
rose petal down my chest?" 

"You
 dared me to be flirty!" 

"I
 dared you to flirt. I didn't dare you to tease me!" His pace accelerated.

She jumped over a bush and snorted rudely. "I wasn't the only one teasing, Mr. Touch
y Fingers!" 

"Oh, here we go again,
" Tae Hyun stated, already running up a small hill. 

Yoori was ready to yell something else at him until she saw that once he reached the top of the hill, he tumbled over slightly.
 

"Tae Hyun!" Yoori shouted, eyes wide with worry.
 Running up the small hill, she rushed to Tae Hyun, who was lying on his side on the ground. "Tae Hyun! Tae Hyun! Are you okay?" she cried frantically, turning him onto his back and gently slapping his face awake. "Tae Hyun!” she called, trying to shake him awake. “Are you okay? Wake up, wake up!"

Opening his drowsy eyes, he groaned. "Sh
it…I think I drank too much."

Her concern for his safety was mixed with lividness.
 

"You…you idiot!" she screamed, shaking him with worry still pulsing within her. If he couldn't handle the damn alcohol, why the hell did he force himself to drink so much? "Why'd you drink so much to the point where you can't even stand now?"
 

"I wanted to get you drunk," he slurred, his eyelids seemingly becoming too heavy for him.
 

"
Why
?" 

"‘Cause you lie too much when you're sober."
 

"I lie too much?” Yoori was flabbergasted. “What are you talking about?"
 

Rather than answering, Tae Hyun merely groaned in weariness. She realized then that he was a lost cause. She wanted to win and get the guy drunk but she didn't want to take care of him.

Damn it. Damn the shittiness of her luck.

"Let's go home," she whispered, still trying to shake him awake. She made the effort to lift his arm up and wrap it across her shoulder. While holding him close to her, she stood up and allowed him to use her as a crutch to stand up.
 

"Can I sleep on the warm bed tonight?" he asked meekly, nearly tripping over when they began to walk out onto the pathway.
 

"Yeah, your punishment ends at midnight," she replied, finding it difficult to hold onto him. It didn't help that she was faintly drunk herself.

"Good,” he conceded, his hands digging into his pocket for his car key. “Let's go home."

"You're not driving!" Yoori said at once, grabbing the keys from his grasp.
 

"I'm fiiine!" he slurred, trying to hold onto the key
s but to no avail. 

She made sure the keys were out of reach. "
No! Friends don’t let friends drive drunk!" 

"What'd you just call me?" he screamed, his face grimacing when she referred to him as a “friend.”
 

"I'm going to call Kang Min," she declared, ignoring him. Still holdi
ng on to him as best as she could, she took out her Blackberry and began to dial. 

"
Why?" Tae Hyun asked absently.

"So he can come pick us up…
duh!" She grimaced at her usage of the word “duh.” Apparently she had too much to drink as well. It wasn't enough to get her drunk off her ass, but it was enough to mess with her vocabulary and apparently give her mood swings with Tae Hyun. 

"Oh…" Tae Hyun nodded before saying, "Well
, call Jae Won too! Someone needs to take the Mercedes back!" 

"Oh ho, ho, ho, yeah,” she agreed, pressing the Blackberry closer to her ear.
 “I don't want to leave my poor baby here."

Tae Hyun narrowed his drowsy eyes onto her. "Hey Santa Claus, did you just call my car
 your baby?" 

She p
aused before nervously laughing. "Err, I meant yours."

No, she loved his car and she definitely meant
 her baby. 

Before Tae Hyun could call her out on her blatant lie, Kang Min had already picked up the phone.
 

"Hi Kang Min?" Yoori asked excitedly. She flinched at the sound of her own high-pitched, tipsy voice. She had never been drunk, but she could only imagine what an annoying drunk she'd be if she ever became one.
 

"Hello?" Kang Min's voice was groggy, like he just woke up.
 

"Honey, who's calling at this hour?" a soft voice asked in the background. It was Hae Jin.
 

Tae Hyun’s brows drew together when he heard that voice.

"Who's that in the background?" Tae Hyun hollered, alarmed that the voice was so familiar to him. 

"No one, no one!” Yoori said urgently, not forgetting that Tae Hyun didn’t know that Kang Min was seeing (and sleeping) with his baby sister. Struggling to keep him standing, she led him toward the bench that lay on the pathway.
  “Go sit down, Tae Hyun."

"Yoori?” Kang Min asked, his voice more awake after hearing Tae Hyun in the background.
 “Are you still at the park with boss?"

After leading Tae Hyun to the bench, Yoori took a couple of steps to the side to speak privately with Kang Min. "Yeah, we're a little bit tipsy. Can you come pick us up?"
 

She heard him groan over the phone. "Ahhh, but I'm so lazy. Can you just call Jae Won? He's new in the gang. He should get hazed."
 

Yoori stifled a smile at Kang Min's readiness to throw his older brother under a bus. "Well, he'll actually be coming too because I need him to drive my baby—
err
—Tae Hyun's Mercedes back." 

Kang Min laughed. “You’re already staking your claim on his car?"
 

"It's a fine specimen," she whispered, gazing at Tae Hyun as he rested his entire body on the bench.
 

"Is that Yoori?" Hae Jin's voice asked, breaking Yoori from her momentary distraction. "Can I talk to her?" Hae Jin's voice was soft and excited.
 

"Not now, hun," said Kang Min. "I need to go pick her and your brother up."
 

"Aw, tell her I say hi," Yoori whispered, giggling as she made sure her voice was soft enough so that Tae Hyun couldn't hear while he rested on the bench.
 

"She says hi," she heard Kang Min relay the message. There was movement on the other line. Kang Min was already getting ready to leave. "Alright Yoori, I'll go pick up my fat ass brother. I'll see you and boss soon."
 

"Thanks so much!" she shouted, hanging up.
 She tucked the Blackberry back into her pocket and casted her gaze back to Tae Hyun.

He was sleeping peacefully on the bench.
Damn, he looks so cute sleeping like that
, she thought distractedly when she made her way over to him. She wondered what she would do with a drunk Tae Hyun while they waited to be picked up. She anticipated that she would've just sat there and chilled with him. Yet when she reached him, a wicked thought rippled in her tipsy eyes. 

Tae Hyun was drunk and she
 
wasn't
. 

Tae Hyun had lost control and she
 
hadn't
. 

These two thoughts alone were enough to bring a crafty smile upon her face.
 

Screw watching Tae Hyun sleep!
 She was going to take advantage of him in his drunken state and she was going to enjoy it.

“You’re merely at the end of your rope.”

18: Borrowed Time

“Hey, you alright?” Yoori asked Tae Hyun, her voice purposely loud so that she would wake him up. She was so excited to take advantage of him that she didn’t even know where to start. Perhaps she’d make him talk about his embarrassing memories? Or maybe she’d have him do something stupid? Oh the possibilities were endless! 

Pulling up the hood of her jacket to block off the continuous cascade of snow, she hid a smile when he stirred from hearing her voice. The snow sleeping on him fell when he did this. Not fully asleep yet, Tae Hyun lifted his drowsy lids and stared up at her lethargically. There was anticipation in his riveting brown eyes. It was like he had been waiting for her to come back.

“Are you just going to stare at me all day or are you going to sit down?” 

Yoori grimaced in annoyance. It was official. Tae Hyun was still mean as a drunk. No surprise there.
 

“Well, make room then,” she ordered fiercely, waiting for him to lift up his head.
 “You’re hogging the entire bench.”

Silently heeding her command, he lifted himself up to give her room to sit. Beckoned by the free space that sprung up, Yoori sat down on the snow-covered bench. She watched as Tae Hyun continued to lift himself up. She thought he was planning to sit up straight beside her or something but instead, before she could even register what occurred, he fell backward. The back of his head gently landed on her lap. His eyes were closed but there was a coy smile spread across his face.