Oh my god. Nora nearly laughed though it wasn’t funny at all. The other guys obviously had some background on Seok she didn’t, but their recitation of wh-questions was ridiculous. Ryan cut a look toward her, then quickly away and it was her turn to freeze.
Cai ran his fingers up and down her arm. “Give him a chance.” The words were so low, she barely heard them over the sounds in the neighborhood.
“I am,” she replied. He’d given her more info today than she expected, but she also didn’t know what she didn’t know. Ugh. Nice reasoning. In other words, he could have told her the extent of his past, or he could have skimmed the surface.
She studied the man who had just been inside her. From the way he was acting, she had a feeling there was a lot more to the story.
Chapter 8
Seok: Eighteen Years Old
Seok stared at his reflection and winced. Some colors just didn’t work with his coloring and the gold of Saint Martin’s blue and gold was… off-putting.
The blue was good, but the streaks of gold had come out more orange and he had the distinct impression that all the bleach was going to cause his hair to break. He’d probably end up having to shave it.
Chuckling, he turned away from the mirror to trudge back to his room. Imagine the look his parents would have if he returned with a bare skull. His father would have a coronary.
It was raining today, not unexpected for this time of year in Vancouver, but the gray, heavy clouds gave the entire campus a feeling of being closed in.
He grabbed his umbrella, slid his cell phone in his pocket and left. Dylan, Jace, and Bai were already gone, but they had crew before the sun was up. Seok had done that for about a month, but all it took was one regatta through a tiny channel around Raccoon Island and he was done. Not worth it.
Outside it wasn’t raining so much as spitting water. Despite his umbrella, Seok was immediately damp. The hem of his pants. His socks. All of him just felt mushy.
Head down, he hurried across campus to his class. The few times he lifted his head, the other students—even ones he didn’t know—greeted him with big smiles. It was the hair. He was getting a lot of badass points for this hair.
At the stone steps leading to Campbell Hall and his advanced English course, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Later on, Seok wouldn’t know why he decided to check it. He had about a minute to get to class and there was no reason to linger outside in the wet and cold, but he pulled it from his pocket.
It was his brother.
A call from home wasn’t unexpected, but there was about a sixteen-hour time difference between here and Seoul, which meant it was around one in the morning. Sure, his brother could have been up, but why would he be calling Seok?
“Hello?”
Seok flicked his bangs out of his face. How did his hair get wet? What the hell was the point of an umbrella if the water was going to come up from the ground?
“Seok.” His brother’s voice was quiet. “I need to ask a favor.”
He couldn’t have heard him correctly. Seok had nothing his brother could want, but what he did have Baek could take. “Sure. Whatever you need.”
“Your trust.”
“I trust you.” Was this a joke? It suddenly all made sense. Baek had had too much champagne. “But I have to go to class.”
There was a quick, humorless laugh on the other end of the line. “No. I need to go into your trust. I need money.”
Seok’s stomach clenched as all the reasons his brother needed money flooded his brain. Drugs. A woman. An accident. “Are you all right?”
“I can’t tell you,” his brother said. “Not now. But I’m going to empty it. I need your signature. It’s the only account I can’t access.”
Something about his brother’s words sent the alarm bell already ringing in Seok’s head to a ten. Empty his trust?
“I’ll pay you back.” Baek’s words spilled from his mouth, tinged with desperation. “I promise.”
He didn’t have a choice. This was his brother. His family. He owed them his loyalty, so whatever they needed… “Take it,” Seok told him. “Send me the paperwork. It’s yours.”
The rest of the day passed, no different than any other, but his world had shifted. His brother’s call signified a change, but of what, he had no idea. He knew the revelation would come. His father, or Baek, would call. He hoped it was something easy, something fixable, but to want his entire trust?
His trust… Seok had been raised knowing the money his grandfather and father had put into his name had a purpose: the family business. It was a safety net to keep the business running, or God forbid, start up a new one.
That money was gone now. If Baek needed it, then he would take every penny. There were millions of dollars in there.
Gone.
He had never counted on it, never thought of using it for himself, but the idea of not having it to fall back on quite honestly frightened him.
Safety. Responsibility. Loyalty. Those were the ideas drilled into him. While he’d certainly lived up to two by transferring the money, he was left without the first.
“Seok!” Bai, his roommate, hurried after him. It was their last class, and Seok hadn’t even noticed his friend was there. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “Sorry.”
Bai, an international student like Seok, studied him. “Are you ill?”
He shrugged. It would depend on Baek’s explanation. “No. Just tired. I have a lot of work to do.” He turned and began down the cobblestone paths back to their dorms. Bai strode next to him, but didn’t say a word. Of all his roommates, Bai was the easiest to get along with. His quiet steadiness was a relief compared to Jace and Dylan’s exuberance.
“There’s a senior class meeting this afternoon.”
He’d forgotten all about that. His brain just wasn’t capable of thinking of anything besides his brother right now.
“I’ll tell everyone you weren’t feeling well. They’ll give you way more leeway since you became the school mascot.”
Stopping abruptly, Seok glared, but Bai only shrugged before laughing.
“You’re the one who said it!” Bai held out his hands. “Not me.”
True enough. “Thanks.”
Bai elbowed him before turning down the path that led to the student center. “Don’t worry about it. See you tonight. I’ll bring you soup.”
“Ha.”
Seok stood, watching his friend run away. The rain had stopped, but the air still held a dampness that chilled him. Shivering, he jogged back to his dorm and ignored everyone who waved.
The best way, he discovered that evening, to pretend everything was fine, was to bury himself in work. Unfortunately, the work he had to do only took half his concentration.
Headphones on, music turned up, he did his best to distract himself. He tried to drown himself in calculus and the Russian revolution, but then he’d remember Baek’s call and all the things he’d read flew out of his head.
Then he’d buckle down and try it again. By the time his roommates stomped back into the suite, Seok’s nerves were frayed. He’d given up homework and was shooting Nazis in Call of Duty.