Lips Red As Blood

24 |

For a moment, disbelief hovers through the air and Cora isn't even sure she heard right, because there is no way that he can be confessing his love — but then she sees Kai's expression, and suddenly, everything feels too stifling. 

It feels like she's burning up, skin flaming like it's on fire. Her heart falters, and then starts thrumming violently as if it's not sure what it wants to do. Emotions pierce her body, its rose-gold shards stabbing repeatedly, hitting its target every time. Incredulous. Conflict. Panic. 

Oh yeah, and the very thought that keeps running through her mind: Holy shi— 

Cora exhales. Stop it. There's no use in dwelling on what a half-delirious devil is saying. 

Yet as Cora and Kai locate a hotel, rent out a room, gently place Asher on a bed, and go to a supermarket to locate ingredients to cure Asher... her mind keeps wandering. 

I love you, you know. 

His voice was soft, broken, genuine. His eyes were sad, dripping with something almost like regret as his lashes dragged down. Despite that, Asher bit down on his lower lip in such a seductive and hypnotizing move, Cora's insides practically explode— 

"Stop thinking about that," Cora snaps loudly, slapping her own face. People on the supermarket aisle turn to gape. After nodding to them and pasting on a fake smile, she continues walking. "Ugh, pull yourself together. He probably wasn't even directing that to you. It was probably for that Leticia person. And even if it was for you..." 

Her stomach turns, butterflies threatening to appear. "Oh my God, stop it," she groans, smacking her head against the shelf. "He's suffering and this is what you're thinking about?" 

Kai's head pokes out from the shopping cart, as he stealthily sneaks a can of black jelly into the car. "If you're done with all that bodily harm you're inflicting on yourself, can we talk about the more interesting details?" he asks, smirking at Cora's discomfort. "You can't stop thinking about him, right?" 

Cora flushes, her heart igniting once more. "Shouldn't we be talking about something  even important?" asks Cora, feigning indifference. "Like the fact that instead of gossiping, we should be finding ingredients to help said person?" 

"As I said before, the ingredients are easy to find." His dark eyes glitter tauntingly. "So while we find one more ingredient, we can talk about Asher." 

She sighs, the air conditioner that lingering through the air not helping, because all she feels is fire. Cheeks on fire. Thoughts on fire. Heart on fire. 

Kai takes Cora's silence as an invitation. "You like him, don't you?" he prods mischievously. 

"What?" Cora lets out an incredulous laugh, though for some reason, her heart is pounding too fast. "Are you kidding? Of course I don't like him!" 

He stares pointedly. "You're overreacting," Kai coos, before cackling like a creepy little monster who just scared a child. "You totally like him." 

In truth, Cora thought about it before. What if she and Asher were more than friends? What if they were in a relationship? What if they could be in a world together filled with butterflies and mysteriousness? 

He's plenty attractive, all tempting green eyes and beautifully tousled brown hair and alluring mouth that twists between sweet and wicked smiles. Not only that, he's sweet and ridiculous and just has this magnetic pull that drags Cora to him. 

But there are too many obstacles. He's a devil who has a life from tricking people into signing contracts, he also admitted that he's dangerous, and... the biggest thing of it all? 

The haunting thought that keeps ringing through Cora's mind: and then what? 

If they ever start dating, then what? At first, it's all happy memories and flirtatious whispers, but then the relationship starts losing its chemistry. It starts pooling into a place where there's no reason they should be together — and finally, after months of miscommunication and boredom, they break up. 

Every relationship Cora ever had ended with a breakup. No matter how happy they were at the start, how long their relationship lasted, how they could bring a smile to the others' faces, it always ended even when they desperately clung to the relationship. 

There's no reason to start a relationship if it's just going to end the same way. 

"I like him as a regular person," Cora finally sighs. "Besides, even if I like him, Asher's made it clear that we should just remain as partners. No friendship, no romantic stuff, just two people using each other for a certain benefit." 

Kai plucks something off the shelf, smiling in delight. "We're eating tteokbokki for dinner," he declares, completely ignoring what Cora said. "I don't care if you like it or not. Also, Asher-boy definitely doesn't care about the 'remain as partners' part because if you saw what I saw, you wouldn't think so." 

That piques her interest. "What did you see?" 

A secretive grin, meant to ensnare its prey. Unfortunately, Cora is already trapped, curiosity bubbling through her body. "Tell me," she says, a hint of pleading in her voice. 

He dumps a whole bag of sugar into the shopping cart. "It's not anything big or anything." A full-bodied shrug. "When we all jumped out of the plane, it looked like he was focused on making sure you weren't hurt." 

Cora scoffs, though she's slightly disappointed. "That's all?" 

"Dang, lady, you have high standards. What else do you want me to say? That he looked like he wanted to kiss you?" 

She turns around, trying not to dwell too much on the word "kiss" since it made her thoughts jump too much. "Well, yeah. If you said that, then maybe I would consider there's a possibility — like, a ten percent chance — that Asher might like me more than a random person." 

Kai considers that with a nod, before clapping. "Okay, we're done buying stuff. We'll finish this discussion later, promise?" 

Cora grumbles, pushing the cart forward to pay. She doesn't answer, because if she promises, then they would be discussing about liking Asher — and if that happens, then the thoughts of what if would grow stronger. 

Author Note: 

this is a random question for the future chapters, but what is your ideal hotel room?