Main Characters in the Story:

*Kim So Hyun as "Athena" Myung-hee Park

*Tom Hiddleston as Himself

*Jake T. Austin as Michael De Soto

Minor Character in the Story:

*Emma Hiddleston as Herself

Chapter XIV: Why Did You Come Back?

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I pick up a handful of clothes from the pile I made on top of the drying machine and toss them into the washing machine. When I reached for more, my phone starts buzzing loudly against metal. I grab if quickly, blushing from how loud the sound was. I look at the screen and smile at the sight of Tom's name. I accept the request and stand my phone up against the large "Start" button on the drying machine.

"I'm sorry we kept you waiting, Myung-hee." Emma says as their screen loads up and focuses on each other.

"I thought you guys were never coming back." I say with a smile. "Don't worry about it."

I hear a ringing on the other end of the chat. Emma looks down at something, probably her cellphone. She makes a face of disappointment. "We just started talking. Damn it. I will be right back. I'll let you talk to Tom for now." She turns the screen, and the camera now focuses on Tom's face.

"Hi Tom." I say with a soft tone. I ended up surprising myself; that sounded really flirtatious.

"Hello, darling. What have you been up to?" He moves closer to the camera.

"Oh, you know." I grab a shirt from the pile and hold it up. "Fun laundry time. Living in that poor life."

"Is that a lace underwear I see?" He says, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh?" I look at the article of the clothing, confused. Then I notice exactly what he is talking about. My pink + black polka dot lace underwear is in my hand! "Eom-ma-ya! Geugeon syeocheuga aniya! {Oh my god! That's not a shirt!}" I throw it forcefully into the machine, desperate to get it out of the camera.

"Aw. You don't know how much that was turning me on."

"I thought it was a shirt. It looked like a shirt when I picked it up."

"Well, maybe it is a shirt. Let's see it again."

I roll my eyes. He thinks he's slick. "What are you? A teenage boy? And they are in the water already. Too late." I put in another handful of clothing.

"Eighteen will come, love and I will have you." He says it low, quietly, with a rumble in his voice that made me blush madly.

"The more you talk to me like that, the longer this year is going to feel to me." I toss in the last of the clothing and shut the top of the laundry machine. I pick up the phone.

"That's the fun of it. If I tease and torture you now, you will have to get revenge on me when you're eighteen."

I place my index finger below my lips like a curious virgin girl (from which I really am). "Ehhh… Revenge, huh." I smile innocently. "Maybe, I will be looking forward to it."

He thinks about everything he just said. "You know what? I'll cut back on the teasing. I'm not liking what I think you have in mind."

I shake my head. "No, I didn't think you would."

He smiles and gives a breathy laugh.

I can't help but do the same. His smile makes me smile even more. It's like an enchanting spell, or charm, or something I can never explain.

"If you start the baby-talk with whoever that is, I'm out." Michael says, tossing his cellphone aside.

I feel my cheeks heat a bit, and I laugh to cover up my embarrassment. "I forgot you were here," I say to Michael. I walk around the couch to sit next to Michael and I move the camera over until the both of us are in the picture. "Michael, this is Tom. My boy-"I quickly cut myself off. I can't let him know he's my boyfriend. Damn it, I forgot. "My little boy-of-a-friend. Most kid-like guy I know, yet closest friend I could ever have." I look at Tom. "Tom, this is Michael. I met him not too long ago. He goes to school with me."

"A pleasure to meet you here." Tom says, though he doesn't sound too enthusiastic.

"Same here. Hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are you? You look twenty-something."

He snorts. "You're too kind. I won't tell you my age, but I am older than Myung-hee."

"Oh, okay. Where do you live? You don't seem like the type from around here."

"England. Other side of the pond."

"Whoa." Michael looks at me. "How'd you meet him?" He asks me.

I raise my eyebrow. "All these questions, though." I say jokingly.

"Well, how else am I gonna get to know him. I can't read his mind."

I sigh. "He stayed in Stamford for a while. I met him for an interview for the school paper."

His eyes widen instantly, as if he already know what I am talking about. He looks at Tom, then at me, then at Tom, then back at me. I assume he has something put together, because the realization washes over his face. He looks back at Tom. "What the hell—you're Loki."

Tom inhales with a little hiss. "I prefer to go by the name 'Tom', but yes. I am Loki, of Asgard-"

"Don't you dare do it, or I will lose my mind." I warn Tom. I always been swoon at that line, sometimes without knowing it, and I will not let him or Michael see me do it. No one knows that side of me, and no one… ever.

He laughs. This whole teasing thing is going to drive me nuts. "I'm more commonly known as Tom Hiddleston. Expect for my sister, who refers to me as Tommy, sometimes 'idiot'."

"Because you are one, Tommy." Emma re-enters the picture. She smiles kindly. "Hello again. Hopefully we'll be able to continue this meeting without any more interruptions. Who's your friend?"

Michael waves to her. "Michael de Soto. I guess you're his sister."

"You guess right. I'm Emma. You're Myung-hee's friend?"

"Yep." He sounds almost disappointed. He tries to cover it up, but I can hear it in his voice. Geuneun nae chingu gat-eun geos-eul joh-ahaji anhseubnikka? {Does he not like being my friend or something?}

"Ah I see." Emma says.

The chat lasts for two hours, but it feels like all day. Tom and Michael got to know each other. Emma and I got to know each other. I like Emma, she is sweet, and she is a lot like Tom's personality-wise and in physicality. I just hope this isn't fake, like she secretly hates me or something. We have a few things in common. But, after a while, I got a little interested in hearing Tom and Michael's conversation. At some point in their talking, they started… I don't know. I guess you could say comparing. Intelligence, knowledge of comic books, achievements. It was almost like they were battling each other. It was amusing yet worrying, but I didn't think too much of it. I assume it's just a guy thing.

"Okay. My mom's upstairs. She will let you out."

He leans in and gives me a hug goodbye. "See you tomorrow." He says. He stands up, goes up to the staircase, and disappears up the steps.

"I should get going as well." Emma says. "I'm sure you and Tom would like some alone time together."

"I would like that." Tom gazing at me.

I half-smiled at him. "It was nice to meet you, Emma."

"Likewise. I'll talk to you soon." She waves goodbye and exits the screen. A few seconds later, a door opens and closes, then Emma is gone.

"So what would you have done if I finished the line?" He ask curiously.

"Ended the call." I raise my eyebrows.

He laughs. "You know, I was thinking about something."

"What?"

"I bought you a beautiful present, had it packaged and ready to be sent… and it's still sitting in my bedroom."

I roll my eyes. "Nice going, Tom."

"I forgot about it! I've been so busy with filming and interviews, a couple of Q&As too, that it must've slipped my mind."

I shrug. "It's alright. As long as it's nothing too expensive."

He opens his mouth to say something, but his eyes are the first to tell me.

"It's expensive, isn't it?" I say to him.

"Maybe."

"Tom." I whine.

"I'm sorry. I can't help myself. I just want you to have the best things."

"You can't keep on spoiling me. I am not the kind of person. I mean, obviously I like those kind of gifts. But I like getting them once in a while. You know?"

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to have it. After all, it was your seventeenth birthday."

"Well. One year farther from childhood."

"One year closer to going to public."

I take a deep breath. I think about that for a moment. We could go out in public together. I can kiss him. I can be with him. We can go on real dates that are not in such quiet, remote places (though I really don't those places). The camera can see me. The press can see me. The fans, the photographers, his co-stars. "Do we really want that?" Why that suddenly came out, I don't know. But it's a good question, and I am not taking it back.

"What do you mean? You wouldn't want to make this a public thing?"

I shrug again. "Part of me does, but… so many celebrities' relationships have ended because of too much publicity. And you are obviously a rising star very quickly in the tabloids. I would hate for those paparazzi pricks to be the end of us."

He considers everything I have to say. I wonder if he's even thought about that before. "No cameraman, or movie, or magazine, or anything will break us up, because I won't let it. Let the paparazzi be pricks, as you kindly put it. This relationship is about us, not them. And believe me. I would never let it go that far. I'll try my best to maintain my privacy more than publicity as much as possible. I just want to be able to show you off to the world."

"Possibly piss off a few fan girls while you at it." I giggle.

"I can't help that. I love my fans dearly, but I have to live my life here. And that means finding a Mrs. Hiddleston at some point."

"That's true."

"I just want to know something. Why are you so worried about this," He gestures between himself and me with his index finger, "ending? I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. How many times must I say it until you understand that nothing will happen to us? Unless you're looking to end it between us."

"Ani-yo! {No!}" I say instantly. "Of course not! I just… I mean… I… I really don't know how to explain… I never saw myself as someone's girlfriend. And whenever I tried. It would always be them leaving me because of something I did. Whether it's not being good enough, or not making them happy, or how depressed I really can get, it's always my fault. I keep on feeling like I'm going to push you away. I tried pushing you away after the whole 'tell the police' incident. Remember? I ignored you, never saw you again. It hurts me, but not as much as it should have. Yet you still came back." I'm staring at the floor, right into the vast space of my painful mind, connecting to the draining emotion that is my depression. "Why did you come back? I cut you off in the blink of an eye. What made you come back?" I feel my chest and throat begin to tighten, and I know this is going to get emotional.

"To be honest, I sort of… I didn't want to. I knew I messed up. I hurt you. I thought it would be better if I left you alone, but it was too late. You, and everything about you, were burnt into my mind."

Tears begin to run down my cheeks. I wanted so badly to take them back. I don't know why I am wasting them. I'm such a child.

"I was already falling for you. You are so rare. You're… you're perfect. I was driving past the school on my way to meet a friend, and without realizing it, I was walking into the main office, asking for a visitor's pass. I remember you had told me what period of the say you were in the auditorium, so I went there. I told myself I shouldn't, but my heart was pulling me."

"I'm such in pain, Tom." I whisper through my silent sobs. "My mind is destroyed. I'm such a downer. I'm falling apart. I can never see what about me makes you want to stay with me, but you always do. I'm rude, sarcastic, a failure at school and at controlling my feelings."

"Because I. Love. You. I love everything about you. I looked past your mask, and I saw the most beautiful woman in the world, and also the most hurtful woman. Yet you are still strong, because I almost see a smile on your face always. And I know you're falling apart. You've been broken too much. And every day I wish I was there to help by holding you together until you're fixed. I don't care about what the tabloids say, why my parents say, what anyone on this planet says. I am in love with you, Myung-hee, and every day I fall deeper and deeper in love with you. Do you still have my ring?"

I sniffle and wipe the tears off my face. "Yes. It's in my room."

"When you get a chance. Look at it however long you'd like, and remember that it's my promise to you, my promise that I am yours. I am that ring. Believe it or not, you've got me wrapped around, you would've been living here a long time ago. I bought you a ticket to live here for the summer, didn't I? Because you wanted to be here."

"That's true." I wipe the rest of the tears with my fingers to clean them off. I clear my throat a few times. "Talk about emotional, huh?" I say.

He smiles. "I know it's still early, but perhaps you should get some rest. I'll talk to you when I get the chance. Alright?"

I nodded before I smiled him in return. "Sarang haeyo. {I love you.}" I say.

It took a few seconds to be silence between us until he says. "Judo sarang haeyo. {I love you too.}" Just before he logs off, I notice his eyes. They were pink and moist. He was about to cry. I Ileon, {Oh God,} I made him cry. I'm terrible.

Feeling drained from crying, I decided to lie on the couch and turn on the television. I don't feel like going all the way towards my room. I will just relax for the night. I lay my phone on the floor next to me and put on Criminal Minds on the DVR.