Chapter 9: My Boyfriend, Ko Tae-min

"There's a party tonight," Seo-won said into the phone.

He was sitting on his rooftop in the afternoon sun with his laptop shut, locked out of his own building.

"It's the tower preview, on the thirty-eighth floor. Investors, partners, the owner's people."

"Pyo made it mandatory for everyone but me, and I still have the invitation."

"You want me to come to a party at the tower."

"I want you next to me when I walk in."

There was a pause on the line.

"Is it the tower you want me to see," Tae-min asked, "or me?"

"Both."

"That's the first honest thing you've said all week." But his voice had softened.

"I'll be there at eight. After the party, you tell me everything. All of it."

"I promise."

Tae-min wore a charcoal suit that did not fit his shoulders.

He stood outside the lobby of Daon Tower at five to eight, hands in his pockets.

He looked like a man about to be inspected.

Seo-won saw him from across the plaza and forgot for a moment how to walk.

"You came."

"I said I would." Tae-min glanced up at the shining glass. "It's much bigger when you know where the stairs are."

"Tae-min-ssi."

"Before we go in." Tae-min stopped him with a hand on his sleeve. His face was calm and his fingers were not.

"I want to say something. I want you to hear it, and I don't want you to fix it."

Seo-won waited.

"Two years ago," Tae-min said, "I came to the Daon holiday party with Ga-ram. Do you remember it?"

He did.

It was the one thing from before that he could never pretend he had forgotten.

"Yes."

"You came across the room. I thought, finally." Tae-min looked at the ground and smiled, a little crooked.

"And you told your boss I was Ga-ram's cousin. That I fix things."

"Tae-min."

"Then you went to the bar. I stood by the coat rack for an hour."

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