Wicked Fox (Gumiho #1)(52)

Miyoung leaned back, too. “It’s easier if I sit out here. Away from temptation. Too much gi is in that cafeteria. Plus if kids are going to use food as a weapon, I shouldn’t go where all the ammunition is.”

Jihoon glared toward the windows of the lunchroom. A few students peered down at him and Miyoung curiously, like people staring at animals at the zoo.

“You should go inside before they get ideas about covering you in flour.”

“I don’t care what they think.” Jihoon gently turned her gaze from their spectators. “And neither should you.”

“I can’t wait for the day you realize you should run away from me.”

Liar, a voice said in her head.

Everything felt like it was shifting, creating a break in her shields, a crack in her heart. She had to be strong, but a part of her started to doubt this was strength. Why did she think depending on others meant she was weak? Because Yena said so?

Nara’s words echoed back to her. She forces you to be alone because she doesn’t trust the world. Did you really have a choice at all?

They were silent as they finished their milk. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For trying to protect me from Hana. And for lying and saying I’m your girlfriend. I know you hate lying.”

Jihoon faced her. “Then maybe we should make it the truth.”

His words scared her because she realized she wanted to say yes. “Listen,” Miyoung began slowly, trying to find the right words. “I never knew people like you existed. Someone who could know so much about me and still want to know me. It’s scary. I’m not used to people liking me.”

“What’s so wrong about me liking you?” Jihoon asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, except it’s making me want you right back and I know I can’t have you.”

“Why not? I’m right here. Do you still not trust me?”

“It’s not you. My mother and I never stay in one place long. I always make a mistake eventually. People are already suspicious of me now that Hana’s told them what happened at my last school.”

“What if you didn’t leave this time?”

“We will,” she insisted.

“Okay, but let’s just imagine, what if you didn’t?”

She didn’t want to play this game that already made her heart ache, but she gave in because that was his power. He made her want to hope. “If I didn’t leave, then maybe we could go on a date?”

“Yeah?” He smiled and that damned dimple folded in his cheek. She wanted to kiss it, place her lips right on top of it. And because of it, she pinched her lips tight, as if she thought they’d go rogue.

“What kind of date?” Jihoon asked.

“I don’t know,” she mused, using the guise of thinking to settle her speeding heart. “Namsan?”

Jihoon let out a laugh, then stopped when he saw her frown. “Namsan Tower? That’s kind of a cliché, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been,” Miyoung bit out, suddenly embarrassed. She started to turn away.

“Okay, okay,” Jihoon said, grabbing her shoulders so she faced him. “We’ll go to Namsan and I’ll buy you one of those giant hot dogs with the fried potato around it.”

“And an ice cream,” she said. And then she realized that she was really starting to hope that they could go on this ridiculous, cliché date. “The bell is going to ring.”

“Okay, but don’t forget that you owe me a date now,” Jihoon said, letting her shoulders go. And her skin felt suddenly cold where his palms had been.

“Sure, when we can be two regular human kids, we’ll go on this date.”

“Good,” Jihoon said with a smile.



The bell rang and Miyoung stood quickly, rushing to make it back inside. Her chest was hurting, like something was pressing against her ribs. Or as if her heart was swelling because it was suddenly so full. A feeling she was so unused to, it hurt.





25





MIYOUNG STARTED BRINGING a change of clothes every day. As predicted, the favored attack of the kids was food. Miyoung could make a whole Chuseok meal with the ingredients she’d been plastered with.

She was lucky Yena was still away. It gave her privacy to stew in her humiliation.

Miyoung walked toward class after gym. It had been a particularly harrowing hour of avoiding flying objects that “accidentally” slipped out of kids’ hands. Which wouldn’t have been such a problem if her balance wasn’t constantly thrown off by the ghosts that plagued her. It was almost like they’d coordinated with her human bullies to bombard her all at once.

And she couldn’t forget Nara’s words. The ghosts weren’t new. They’d been following her like flags of shame ever since she stole their lives to prolong her own. They were her punishment.

The late bell rang, letting her know that the extra-long shower she’d taken to avoid the other kids after gym class had been a mistake.

She was hurrying down the hall when an arm shot out, blocking her path. Miyoung glanced up at Jung Jaegil. She could make out a fading bruise over his right eye and remembered his anxious face as he searched the dark, dirty road for his father. Guilt pricked along her skin.