âitâd be sending the wrong signals if i drop by unannounced with no underwear onâwhich, by the way, your mentor stole from meâso no, i donât have any other dick to please tonight.â she hardly bothers to suppress the eye roll.Â
âbesides, i already have my hands full right now dealing with you and your shitty no heater car.â
by that, she did mean, yes, he was a dick.
âyeah, totally, like my internal car heater is going to be any help to a cold car battery.â his eyes narrow, ill humor manifesting in the form of a sardonic frown. âyou wouldnât know how cars work because itâs always someone else driving you, right?â
then, a quiet sigh parts his lips. âbuying you things, doing your laundry, spoon-feeding you â wonder if youâve ever done anything yourself.â he gives her a spiteful look, scrunching his nose at the rather off-putting fruity smell. itâs an almost involuntary move to roll the windows down; he canât afford to have his car smelling like vape juice for the next week, even if it meant frigid air kissing their cheeks and disheveling their hair. not that he cared much.
âand, thatâs probably because iâm not?â jongin laughs â genuinely, this time, in the full-throated way he usually did. it carries for a solid twenty seconds; he couldnât have begun to imagine what type of person heâd be if his dad was like his dad, growing up. âi was referring to my father. heâs the uh, the military son. meaning, my grandpa was the one who hung out with americans all the time, back in the fifties. hence, the old music cassettes everywhere. do you like sgt. pepperâs lonely hearts club band? the beatles album?â he fumbles around with the compartments, just to show her, before realizing: âchrist, why am i telling you this? you donât care. just â just could you stop vaping in my car?â
deliberately, slowly as if with exaggerated courtesy jongin turns his head to look at her when they hit a stoplight, shades of red hitting the wider planes of their faces. âyou know i hate him, right? my thirty-something boss you just fucked. iâm just doing this internship for the money. like, iâm legitimately broke. and god knows anything but corporate law wonât pay you the same. you know that.â
âso sorry you think iâm a dick or whateverââ he got the reference. ââbut itâs really too much of you to expect me to prince charming when i have to go to work in four hours and iâm still here with you.â