His Obsession: Chapter 6
-
I saw the gap again today,
while you were begging me to stay.
Take care not to make me enter,
If I do we both may disappear.
-
The plan worked almost like a disease; it consumed her day and night until she could no longer sleep. Her eyes constantly open, her brain always working, her conscience always weeping. She did not like the plan one bit, but she kept reminding herself that he deserved it. He had toyed with her, and now she was going to toy with him.
So when the next morning rolled around, Julia showered and got dressed and welcomed the day ahead. Steve was not bad company when he was sober, so maybe she really would have a good time. Who knows? You're pathetic Jules, she thought morbidly.
She had just changed intokhaki's and a white button up shirt when the doorbell rang, her hair still wet. She cursed and rushed to answer the door, a little alarmed to find Hwoarang standing on the other side. If she wasn't mistaken, he looked lost almost.
"Hey.." He said unsteadily, running a hand through his long hair. "Can I come in?"
Julia honestly wanted to tell him to leave, but she didn't want to seem too harsh. She just had to pretend that she was not at all affected by the news that he was with someone else. "Yeah, sure." She said slowly, opening the door fully and letting him step through.
She watched with curious brown eyes as he paced back and forth on the carpet, throwing her quick glances every few seconds. He obviously had something big on his mind, and she was just waiting for him to share.
Finally after what seemed like forever to Julia, she had enough. She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from pacing back and forth. He looked at her, and she almost gasped at the emotions she found in his stormy orbs. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, actually.
"Hwoarang, are you alright?" She asked softly.
He immediately broke eye contact, but surprised her by grabbing her hand and enclosing it in his large one. "Julia..." He began, his voice slightly hoarse. "Yesterday, when you called.." Her face immediately darkened, but he did not notice. He looked up at her then, "What did Nina say?"
She felt like exploding into millions of fireworks, angry beyond belief at the question. She expected him to apologize, explain himself, slight 5 percentchance he'd confess his love and marry her - but... that? It was like a slap in the face. Did he only care about his own half-assed image?
"Nothing, really. I just asked for you, and she said you were in the shower." She shrugged nonchalantly, hiding the anger she felt.
He seemed to let out a breath at the statement, which only made her even more furious. "Oh." He said, giving her a slight smirk.
"So, you and Nina are a couple then, huh?" Julia said, more as a statement rather than a question.
Hwoarang studied her closely. He was almost surprised to find her so calm. Actually... he was more like disappointed. Was she not angry? Did she not care that he had fooled around with another woman? Did she not like him?
"No.. well, I don't think so. Does that bother you?" He asked quickly.
Julia merely shrugged, "What you do with other woman doesn't involve me."
Now he was officially baffled. He could've sworn she liked him, so why did she not care that he was involved with other women? He felt like screaming, she was so confusing! "Julia... if you have a problem-"
"No." Julia silenced him with her hand. "I mean it. I misjudged you at first, I thought you were just some rude, arrogant jerk. Well, you still are." She threw him a smile. "But now you're almost like a friend to me."
Friend?! Hwoarang thought outrageously. That couldn't be! She had to like him. He was crazy about her, so why wasn't it like that the other way around?
Then again, he did have sex with another woman, so maybe he wasn't all that hung up over her. Hwoarang felt himself feeling nauseous.
"Is that all you wanted to come over for?" Julia asked monotonously. "Cause if so, I must be going. I'm going to be late for a date." Actually that wasn't true, she was just going to head to the library and drop off her books, but since she had the opportunity to spill the information with him now, why not exaggerate?
When Hwoarang's eyes looked at her in alarm, she inwardly smirked. Things were working out so smoothly.
"A date?" He asked, his mouth suddenly going dry. "With who?"
Julia gave him a fake smile, "Steve."
"What?!" Hwoarang all but screamed, wanting so badly to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. "Steve? As in Steve Fox?!"
"Yeah." Julia said slowly, playing the part of the confused, innocent girl. "Is there a problem?"
"Of course there's a problem!" Hwoarang burst out. "If I recall correctly, the bastard almost raped you last time you two were together!"
She almost went blind with the red she was now seeing, outraged that he had not said what she had hoped him to say. "He was drunk!"
"That's not a good excuse!" Hwoarang shot back.
"It's good enough for me!" Julia yelled, now nose to nose with a fuming Hwoarang. Sure it wasn't the best comeback she's ever said, but it would do for now. Besides, he looked cute when he was angry. She wanted to kiss him.
He could feel her breath on his neck, and a part of him silently wished to take her in his arms and ravish her right then and there. The more violent part wanted to throw her into the wall to knock some sense back into her brain. But the rest of him knew that he was just jealous; that part he just tried to ignore.
"Fine! You want to go off and get raped, go ahead. Except this time I won't be there to save you." Hwoarang spat, eyes blazing into her own.
"Fine! I don't need your help anyways, I'm fine on my own. You can just go back to your girlfriend and forget about me!" She gritted out, clenching her fists tightly, the nails digging into the palm of her hand.
Hwoarang, now at a loss for words, silently stormed out of the apartment, heading down the street, not caring where he ended up. He figured he'd need to go back to his apartment and take a cold shower. That argument really heated up a lower region, and he didn't want to think about it now.
-
Now with Hwoarang gone, Julia quickly gathered her composure and picked up the phone, dialling Steve and praying he would pick up.
It rang endlessly, and finally when she thought her ears were going to ring off, someone picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, Steve." Julia replied.
"Julia?" The deep masculine voice sliced through the phone.
"It's me. I was just wondering if you wanted to start the plan today, if you know what I mean." She questioned, grabbing an Advil from the kitchen when she found a migrane forming. Or make that two, rather.
"Yeah, sure. Xiaoyu told me you'd call anyways. She wants us to meet her and Jin at the club tonight." Steve replied, sounding rather sluggish.
Julia had to hand it to Xiaoyu, she was pretty crafty, planning the entire thing out. She figured she could handle one night at the club, just as long and she and Steve kept away from the alcohol. That was the last thing she needed.
"Sounds like a plan." Julia said, fiddling with the phone cord unconsciously. "Pick me up at 8, then?"
"Sure thing." Steve replied nonchalantly, giving a quick 'later' and hanging up the phone. Now that that was all settled - she needed to return some overdue books. Grabbing the two hardbacks that sat on her coffee table, she grabbed her purse and keys and headed outside, locking her apartment door effectively. Last time she forgot to lock her apartment, her stereo and all the CD's got stolen. And for that, she took more precautions.
"I thought you were going on a date." A familiar voice, not 3 feet away from her, muttered quietly. Julia was so surprised by the unexpected voice that she literally jumped into the air, giving out a squeak of horror. That is, until she saw him sitting there casually, his back against the wall, cigarette smoke lingering in the air.
"What are you still doing here?" Julia asked quietly, not quite sure why he'd stuck around. Honestly Hwoarang himself had no idea why he walked an entire block, did a complete U-turn, and walked back to her apartment. He lit a cigarette to calm his nerves, and was about to leave when she came out, with 2 books in her hand.
Hwoarang had the now growing suspicion that Julia was in fact not going on a date. Unless it was with some scrawny, little virgin boy with glasses and a shaggy hairdo. In which case, he'd be a little less jealous, and a little more put out.
"I was going to apologize." Was the first thing Hwoarang said, until he mentally cursed himself for saying such a thing. Hwoarang hardly ever apologized, simply because he was so stubborn. And he in fact wasn't going to apologize to her, now, or possibly ever. Because he felt that she didn't deserve it, playing with his feelings like this. Pretending she liked him, and then pretending she didn't. It bruised his ego.
Not that he'd ever admit that he too was sending off confusing vibes to her; with sleeping with another woman and all. He stopped his wandering thoughts and continued, seeing Julia's suprised expression. "But I don't think I'm going to now, seeing as you lied to me."
"What?" Julia asked, dumbstruck.
"You said you were going on a date." He said smugly. "Which, it's obvious you're not."
Julia rolled her eyes, "You're such a baby. My date was rescheduled for tonight, for your information. Steve and I are going to the club and are going to hang out with Ling and Jin. Right now though, I'm going to the library."
Was it just him, or was the heat outside suffocating? Not to mention he could practically feel his face growing red. Not only did the woman manage to piss him off beyond imagination, she just had to mention the words 'date', 'Steve', 'club', and 'Jin' in the same sentence. Bitch.
His eyes narrowed and she couldn't figure out if he was trying to believe her lie, or trying to imagine hundreds of ways to kill her. Either way, it was completely unnerving. She couldn't stop fidgeting.
And within a moment, the steely glare was gone, replaced by a mask of indifference. Though she could've sworn she saw something flash in those teal eyes, what she did not know. And then he let out the smartest comment yet.
"Oh." He so stupidly uttered. And... that was all.
"Oh?" Julia mimicked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I just said oh, okay?" Hwoarang snapped, sounding rather irritated. "I've gotta go, meet a few friends. Have fun at the library, and on your date." He snickered, sounding a little too much like the Hwoarang she remembered.
Hmm... and I thought he had changed.
Nodding her head numbly, Julia brushed past Hwoarang without another glance and headed to the library. Whatever they had exchanged back there was beyond discomfort; it was suffocating. She was starting to get the doubts back in her head; this was not a good idea.
If Hwoarang found out about Xiaoyu's little 'plan', she was dead.
-
Seven long, insufferable hours rolled past for Julia. She went to the library, and then to the grocery, and then went home and watched 4 painful hours of the Home Decor channel; why, she did not know. Probably because her remote was yet again missing.
Thankfully Xiaoyu showed up at her apartment - actually she wasnt so sure if she'd rather be watching TV or suffering the wrath of Xiaoyu's fashion makeover. Or, in her opinion, complete disaster.
"Julia! Quit moving or I'll poke your eye out!" Xiaoyu demanded, holding a pouting Julia by her chin, black eyeliner levelled dangerously close to her eye. She wasn't helping the situation by squirming around in her seat.
"Ling, I think I can do this on my own. I really don't trust you with sharp objects near my eye." Julia whispered, afraid that if she talked loud enough the pencil would slip. Or Xaioyu would.
Xiaoyu rolled her eyes, "Oh be quiet, I've done this millions of times on other people. I only accidentally stabbed Christie in the eye once, and that was definitely not my fault!"
Julia yanked her face away from Xiaoyu's iron grip as fast as lightning, and bolted out of the chair, making sure to keep herself far away."What?!"
"You need to learn how to take a joke," Xiaoyu murmured, shaking her head slowly. "I was only kidding, geez! Now come here right now!"
Julia really would've protested, had Xiaoyu not glared at her so menacingly, her eyes reminding her of one of those psycho serial killers that were about to attack their prey. So she grudgingly sat back down in her seat and let Xiaoyu finish.
The Home Decor channel was definitely better than this.
"There, all done!" Xiaoyu shouted triumphantly, letting Julia see herself in the mirror finally. "I'm telling you, I'm the master of make-up."
Julia inspected herself in the mirror, strangely satisfied. She did not have on her glasses, and her big brown eyes were outlined with eyeliner, with mascara on and dark eyeshadow that made her eyes stand out and gave her a smoky look. Her cheeks shimmered slightly and her full lips were glossy. She definitely looked different.
"Steve and Hwoarang are going to freak when they see you tonight." Xiaoyu squealed, jumping up and down excitedly.
Now that got her attention. "What?!" Julia asked, now alarmed. "What do you mean Steve and Hwoarang?"
Xiaoyu's bright face lit up with a smile, which no doubt freaked Julia out even more. "Ling..." She warned.
Her friend rolled her eyes, "Chill, Jules. No big deal. Lets just say I pulled some strings tonight and Hwoarang is going to melt into a puddle of love at your feet."
Julia folded her arms across her chest, "Clarify."
"Well, I needed a way to get Hwoarang to the club, right? So I kind of.. well.. begged him." Xiaoyu explained.
"You what?!" Julia screeched.
"Calm down! All I said was that you, me, Steve, and Jin were going to the club and asked if he could come." She explained, shrugging her shoulders carelessly. "At first he said no, but I kind of talked him into it. He seemed eager to see you tonight." She winked.
"He doesn't know about the plan, right?" Julia questioned suspiciously.
"No idea. What do you take me for, Jules?" Xiaoyu replied, putting her arm around her friends shoulder.
"A psycho." Julia muttered, in which she recieved a hurtful look from Xiaoyu.
"That hurts, Jules. It really does."
Julia rolled her eyes and finished getting ready for that night, and Xiaoyu couldn't help the grin that crossed her face. Things were working out well. As long as Julia doesn't find out what I said to Hwoarang.
Yes. She expected tonight to be one they'd all remember.
A/N: Dun dun dun. What does Xiaoyu have up her sleeve now? Hehe. Thanks to my lovely reviewers, as always! Love your awesome feedback. And don't worry if I take a little too long on some chapters, it doesn't mean I'm giving up. I don't really like to do that, especially if I actually have people reading my story ;)