“Relax, Jay,” he murmurs.

His voice is low. Careful. It vibrates through the space between us, charged and restrained.

“You’re safe with me,” he says. “I won’t touch you. Not unless you want me to. I promise.”

Safe.

Want.

The words pull at something in me. My thoughts spin faster, overheating, searching for structure.

“Do you want to feel them?” he asks.

A whisper. An invitation. A challenge.

Do I?

Yes! God, yes! I want to know the texture. The raised edges. The contrast between ink and skin.

“Tattoos,” I blurt, grasping for facts, “were invented around 3300 BCE in Europe. In 2000 BCE, women in ancient Egypt were tattooed during fertility rituals. Later it spread to Asia and—”

I trail off. Lost in my own noise.

Jiwon chuckles. Low. Warm.

“Useful trivia,” he says. Then he shifts closer, making me back off subtly to avoid contact.

The movement sends a jolt through me. 

“Come on,” he murmurs. “I don’t mind.”

The space between him and me hums.

I stare at the gap.

My pulse pounds. My head says danger. My body says curiosity.

Slowly, carefully, I reach forward.

Just as my fingertips hover a breath away—

A sharp vibration buzzes between us. My phone. Back pocket.

Shit! 

Jiwon freezes.

I fumble for it, study the lit screen. It’s a message from Dae. “You,Ok?”

Jiwon’s eyes flick to the screen.

Then back to me.

Waiting for my answer. 

Was I? OK?

My fingers move. “I’m fine,” I type in slowly, then press send, fingers trembling slightly. I tuck my phone into my back pocket like it’s a bad memory. 

I sit, unmoving. Hands on my thighs. Breathing shallow. 

The room feels smaller. Like the air has been pulled tighter.

Jiwon studies me. Not my body. My face.

“You Ok?” he asks.

I nod. Once. Too quick.

“Fine,” I mumble. The word sounds thin.

What now? What next. I’d brought this upon myself. Was I ready for what was coming? 

But he does nothing. He waits. Waiting is worse.

My gaze drops to his arm again.
The vines twirling.
The lines leading into it.
Order hidden inside chaos.

Silence stretches.
Charged.
Crackling.

Then he moves.

His left hand lifts, hesitates, his index and middle fingers stepping forward first. A slow walk across the mattress. Tap. Tap. Unhurried. Intentional. Playful in a way that assumes I am watching—because he knows I am.

Each step tightens something low in my chest.

When his fingers reach the edge of my space, inches from my hand, they stop.

He waits.

Then his whole hand follows, settling on the bed. Palm down. Open. Close enough to make me shiver, far enough that nothing touches.

A tease.
A boundary.
Both held perfectly.

“You decide,” he says.
Quiet. Certain.
“You’ll always decide.”

My throat tightens.

No one ever has that kind of control..
and gives it back to me.

I release the breath I’ve been holding.

His invitation lingers, slow and intentional. I watch his face soften into something that feels like a promise. Being near him makes my edges blur. I’ve been resisting since the club, holding the line for so long it’s led me here. I decide before my mind can catch up, before resistance has a chance to return.

“Don’t touch me,” I warn, even though I’m already leaning forward. Saying it makes me feel safer.

“I won’t,” he replies. Immediate. Absolute.

I start at his shoulder, cautious, respectful. The first thing my fingers meet is a raised scar worked into the ink—a jagged lightning bolt, sharp and fractured.

Force. Impact. Survival.

“You like to lead,” I murmur. “To take charge. To break through.”

His breath stutters.

I follow the lines across his chest. The maze reveals itself the longer I trace it. Not chaos. Design. A logic shaped by pressure.

A dragon coils along his ribs, scales etched with surgical precision. Not decorative. Defensive. Its body curves inward, protective, its head lifted toward his collarbone, eyes set in permanent challenge.

“Stubborn,” I breathe. “Strong. You don’t bow easily.”

His heart is racing now. I feel it under my palm, fast and contained, like something caged on purpose.

Below that, blades appear. Interlocked. Bound by chains so fine they almost disappear unless you look closely. Control layered over violence. Power restrained by choice.

“You learned how to hold yourself back,” I say. “Not because you’re weak. Because you want to.”

A muscle jumps under my fingers, save for that he stays perfectly still, every ounce of him focused on where I touch.

I move left.

A city burns across his side. Buildings collapsing inward. Smoke frozen in ink. Not Seoul. Not Stockholm. Something imagined. Something lost.

Exile.

“You were uprooted,” I say softly. “You learned early that places don’t keep you safe.”

My fingers brush a scar near his hip, absorbed into the design instead of hidden. An old wound. Stitched clean. Gunshot, stab? I can't tell. Deliberately remembered.

He makes a sound then. Low. Unguarded. His eyes flutter shut, jaw grinding tight. But I can't stop now.

I trace upward again, leaving the pain he's recalled. I follow a single bold line that leads me to his jaw. My fingers move back and pause beneath his ear.

There.

An inverted teardrop. Stark. Intentional.

Not grief.

A vow.

“You remember every betrayal,” I say. “Even though you pretend not to.”

His eyes open.

Dark. Focused. Stripped bare.

The air between us vibrates. His chest rises and falls hard now, control visible in the way he holds himself back.

I should be overwhelmed.

I’m not.

My mind is calm. Clear. Pattern complete.

He let me read him.

He trusted me with the whole story.

“You’ve been hurt a lot, Jiwon.  Are you okay now?” I ask quietly.

The door slams open.

“—Oh.”

Dae freezes. Eyes wide. Smile forming too fast.

I jerk my hand back like I’ve been burned.

“Oh, sorry,” she says, laughter already there. “Am I interrupting?”

“Perfect timing,” I squeak, standing too quickly. “We’re leaving. Now!”

I brush past her, heat flooding my face, heart pounding, her giggle trailing behind me down the hall.

Behind us, Jiwon pulls his shirt back on.

I don’t look back.

But I feel it. The smile he doesn’t hide.

I am mortified. 

And underneath it—

Electric.

For once,
I was the one in control.