TOUGH ROMANCE || scoups || BOOK ONE

28

Instead of going home like I'd planned, I pretended to check a few things off my list. I played bar back for Kazuha while Yujin took her dinner break. Then I answered the two dozen or so emails I'd been avoiding. I even ducked into the shop's supply room and cut down cardboard boxes for the recycler.

The fourth time I caught myself heading in the direction of the poker game, I decided to remove myself from temptation and headed for the keg room. I hoped the chill and the physical labor of moving full kegs around would take the edge off my annoyance.

I had a whole list of reasons to pissed off at the world. And most of them revolved around Lee Hani. Every conversation with her ended in me having a headache and feeling unbelievably hot and bothered.

Watching other men trip over their tongues when she was around only made it all worse. I didn't want her. But I wanted to claim her as mine just to keep every other asshole away from her.

I needed to get drunk and laid. I needed to forget she existed. My hands were fucking frozen and my temper had cooled by the time I finished re-stacking the kegs. It was almost eleven. I figured I'd check in at the bar, then go the hell home.

When I hit the bar, Kazuha glanced up from the moonshine she was pouring.

"Mind checking in on the private party?" She asked.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "It's been a while since I've seen Hani."

My temper reignited like someone had thrown a gas can and a lighter on it.

I didn't exactly kick the door open, but it was a more dramatic entrance than I usually made. Taemin, the crazy idiot who partied too hard to hold on to his money, fell out of his chair.

Hani, however, didn't bother looking up. She was squeezed in between Lisa and Demos, tongue poking out between her lips as she studied the cards in her hand. "Okay..tell me again what beats a pair." She said.

Xiaojun launched into a lecture while Demos leaned over to look at her hand. "Raise them." He advised.

Tentatively, she picked up a blue chip and looked at him. He shook his head. She added two more chips and, on his nod, tossed them into the pile at the center of the table. "Raise." She announced.

I rounded the table and leaned in. "What exactly do you think you're fucking doing, Hani?"

She finally looked up at me, bemused. "Learning to play poker."

"Fold." Lisa sighed. "Never trust a rookie's luck."

"I'll see you and raise you." Minghao decided, dropping a fistful of chips onto the table.

"Leave her alone, Choi." Xiaojun told me. "Our drinks are full, and she's never played."

I bared my teeth.

"Relax, Choi." Lisa said. "We all staked her some chips. It's just a friendly hand."

Minghao and Hani were engaged in a stare down.

I leaned in again and whispered in her ear. "Do you know what those chips are worth?"

She shook her head, watching as the action turned to Xiaojun, who folded. "They told me not to worry about it."

"That's twenty thousand in the pot, Hani."

I'd pushed the right button. She stopped staring at Minghao and looked at me as she started to come out of her chair.

Demos put a hand on her shoulder to hold her in place, and I fixed him with a cold glare.

"Fucking relax, Seungcheol." He said. "Lisa's right. It's a friendly hand. No loans. No interest. She's a quick learner."

"Twenty thousand pounds?" Hani squeaked.

"I'll call." Taemin decided, throwing in his chips.

"Show them." Demos muttered, shoving a matching stack of chips into the center of the table.

Taemin lay down a shitty two pair. Minghao took his time arranging his cards before revealing a nice little straight.

"Uh-oh." Lisa hummed under her breath.

"Your turn, sweetheart." Demos said, his face unreadable.

Hani dropped her cards face up on the table.

"I believe this is a bigger straight than yours, Minghao." She said.

The table erupted in cheers. "You just won £22,000!!!" Lisa told her.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!?" Hani looked up at me, and the joy on her face was a sucker punch to my windpipe.

"Congratulations. Now get your ass up." I said, still capable of being an ass.

Minghao groaned. "Suckered in by those innocent eyes. Every damn time."

I didn't want him looking at her eyes or any other part of her. I pulled Hani's chair out for her.

"Hani. Now." I said, hooking my thumb towards the door.

"Hold up, Lion." She carefully counted out equal shares of the chips and started returning them to their original owners.

Demos shook his head and covered her hand with his tattooed one. "You won fair and square. You're keeping the winnings and you can have my stake."

"Oh, but I couldn't." She began.

"Oh, but I insist. And when I insist, people do what I tell them."

Hani didn't see a scary biker sort of criminal making the proclamation. She saw a cuddly, tattooed fairy godfather. When she tosses her arms around his neck and gave him a nosy kiss on the cheek, I saw the man actually.. smile?

"For that reaction, you'll keep mine aswell." Minghao said. Hani whooped and rounded the table and kissed him loudly on the cheek.

Xiaojun and Lisa did the same and laughed through Hani's stranglehold hugs.

"Get that niece of yours something pretty." Lisa told her.

Oh my fucking god, exactly how much of her autobiography had she shared with them?

"I'm, uh, just gonna hang on to mine." Taemin said, pulling back the chips he'd loaned her.

The rest of the table glared at him.

"Cheap ass." Lisa said.

"Come on. Its been a rough week." He whined.

"In that case, here's a tip from me." Hani said, handing over a 100 pound chip.

The woman was a sucker. And it looked like Taemin was officially in love.

"Ladies, gentlemen, what do you say we call it a night? I hear there's a band out front tonight. We could steal one or two of Seungcheol's private bottles and reminisce about the good old days." Xiaojun suggested.

"Only if Hao promises me a dance." Lisa said.

I waited until they'd cashed out and exited the room, leaving Hani and me alone.

She looked up from the pile of cash they'd left in front of her. It was one hell of a tip. "Can we leave the lecture for tomorrow so I can just enjoy?"

"Fine." I said through gritted teeth. "But I'm  driving you home tonight."

"Fine. But you're not allowed to yell at me on the drive."

"I can't make any promises."