Better here | Sim Jake

Chapter 22

The knock on her apartment door came at an hour that made no sense.

Hyeonju glanced at the clock hanging above her small kitchen counter — 8:47 p.m. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Her groceries had already been delivered, her mom never showed up unannounced, and none of her friends were the “drop by without texting first” type, and Sangwoo... he was in prison...

Her phone didn’t light up with a message either. Just silence.

She hesitated, her hand hovering over the door handle.

Another knock. Firmer this time.

She frowned and cracked the door open, prepared to tell off a delivery person for choosing the wrong apartment — but the words froze in her throat.

Jake stood there.

Luggage bag pulled behind him, hair flattened from hours of leaning against airplane seats, wearing a plain hoodie that still looked unfairly good on him. His eyes were rimmed with fatigue, but the way they softened when they landed on her was unmistakable.

“...Jaeyun?” The word fell out of her mouth like she didn’t trust her own eyes.

“Hey.” His voice was quiet, a little hoarse — travel-worn but warm.

She blinked rapidly, her brain scrambling. “You… you just landed. Didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” His lips tugged into the faintest smile. “Came straight here.”

Her breath caught. “Why?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he dropped the handle of his suitcase, stepped forward, and before she could process what was happening, his arms wrapped around her.

Hyeonju stiffened in shock, the door swinging wider from the motion. His embrace was solid, firm, like he had been holding it in for years. She inhaled sharply — his hoodie smelled faintly of airplane air mixed with laundry detergent, familiar and foreign all at once.

Her hands hovered awkwardly in the air for a beat before instinct kicked in and she let them rest against his back. His heart was pounding. So was hers.

Neither of them spoke. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, though — it was weighted, heavy with everything they hadn’t said, everything they couldn’t put into words over phone calls and late-night messages.

Jake let out a breath, his forehead pressing lightly against her shoulder. “I needed this,” he muttered.

Her chest tightened. “You literally just got off a plane.”

“Exactly,” he said, pulling back just enough to meet her eyes. “Fourteen hours of waiting just to be here.”

The corner of her mouth twitched. Typical Jake — dramatic without realizing it. “You should’ve at least dropped your luggage off at your dorm first.”

He shook his head, his arms still locked around her like he wasn’t ready to let go. “No. I wanted to see you before anything else.”

The words slipped into her like warmth on a winter day, and she hated how much she needed to hear them.

Finally, she managed to laugh softly, pushing gently at his chest. “Okay, fine, come in before my neighbors start rumors.”

He smiled, letting go reluctantly. She stepped aside and watched him roll his suitcase into her small apartment, the space suddenly feeling both too cramped and too quiet with him standing in it.

“Looks cozy today,” Jake commented, glancing around at the tidy living room with its stack of books on the coffee table and blanket draped messily over the couch.

“Don’t say that like it’s code for tiny.”

He grinned sheepishly. “I mean… it is. But it suits you.”

Her heart betrayed her with a skip. She busied herself with shutting the door. “You’re impossible.”

Jake sank onto her couch like he owned the place, stretching his legs out with a groan. “I swear I’m never flying economy again. My knees are destroyed.”

“Bet you say that every time,” she said, crossing her arms but unable to hide her small smile. “And then you still do it.”

“Because humility builds character,” he quipped, then tilted his head. “You gonna stand there scolding me all night or sit down?”

Rolling her eyes, she dropped onto the armchair across from him. “Fine. Happy?”

“Almost.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I missed this.”

Her breath stuttered. “You just got here.”

“Yeah,” he admitted softly, “but I missed you.”

The words lingered in the air.

Hyeonju swallowed, unsure how to respond. It had been three weeks — three weeks of late-night calls, joking texts, comforting each other through distance. But hearing it out loud, in his voice, while he was sitting right in front of her, was different.

To fill the silence, she got up and headed for the kitchen. “You want tea? You probably need it after traveling that long.”

“Tea sounds perfect.”

She busied herself with boiling water, grateful for the excuse to turn her back on him and let her cheeks cool. Still, she could feel his eyes following her every move, like he was memorizing her all over again.

When she set the mugs down on the coffee table, Jake’s fingers brushed hers as he took his cup. The touch was brief, accidental, but enough to send a jolt through her.

“Thanks,” he murmured, blowing gently at the steam.

They sipped in silence for a while, the quiet settling in comfortably this time. The only sounds were the faint hum of the kettle cooling and the city muffled through the window.

Eventually, Jake leaned back, stretching again. “I can’t believe I’m finally here.”

“You make it sound like Seoul’s some mythical place,” she teased.

“It kind of feels like it. I mean…” He looked around, then back at her. “I’ve been thinking about this exact moment the whole flight. Walking through that door, seeing you again, wondering if you’d slam it in my face.”

She raised a brow. “That was an option?”

He chuckled. “I guess not. But still, I didn’t know what to expect.”

Her lips pressed together. “Neither did I.”

They fell quiet again, but this time, it wasn’t heavy. It was… tentative. Like finding a rhythm after a long pause in a song.

Jake set his mug down and leaned forward. “Can I ask you something?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Did you… miss me?”

She froze. The directness of the question made her want to crawl out of her own skin. But his gaze was steady, hopeful, a little vulnerable.

Hyeonju looked down at her tea, swirling it gently. “Of course I did.”

A slow smile spread across his face, the kind that reached his tired eyes. “Good. Because I missed you like crazy.”

Her chest tightened again, but this time, she let herself breathe into it.

“Jake,” she said softly.

“Yeah?”

“Welcome back.”

He grinned, and before she could blink, he leaned over and pulled her into another hug. This one was softer, less desperate than the first, but no less grounding. She sank into it, letting herself feel the steady beat of his heart against her cheek, the way his breath evened out as if he could finally relax.

And in that quiet, Hyeonju realized — she didn’t know how much she had needed this too, until he gave it to her.

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double update as promised