arrangement

"It's gone. Anyway, give me your number." He chirped and before she knew it his hands were reaching into her pocket, fishing her phone out easily. His intentions were now very obvious and she watched him in stunned shock as he blatantly used her phone.

She didn't have a password, so he swiped quickly and keyed in his number before she could even blink. He finally tossed her phone back into her hands and Amber blinked in confusion at his name saved on her phone.

Your Sieon

What kind of couple phone-name was this?

What was this guy trying to foreshadow?

"What?" She managed to stop the swear word from escaping her lips. Her mouth went into autopilot to use the one word that she used the most when it came to the Korean language. "You lied about the cockroach didn't you?" She gave him a small glare.

He chuckled, sticking out his tongue, an evil grin on his lips.

"Why? Were you scared?" He said, drawing her closer to his body. His fingers were wrapped around her midsection, and each brush of his skin against hers elicited a burn of fire that spiralled down to her core.

"N-No!" Amber stammered. She was. She hated flying insects. When she was younger a cockroach flew right into her shirt. It scared the crap out of her so much so that she'd peed her pants.

"I figured we would be seeing each other more often." He shrugged a naughty grin on his lips. His eyes were flickering with emotions she didn't know him well enough to understand. "And I wanted to be able to text you."

That was surprisingly honest. She stared at him, wide-eyed. She came here to seduce the pants off her soulmates. Why was this so much easier than she expected?

Or maybe this was just how Sieon made friends, by confusing every person to think he was in love with them. Maybe after flirting and convincing girls that he liked them, he would then reveal that he just thought of them as nothing more than friends.

If that were true, Amber wouldn't be able to take another heartbreak. She swallowed thickly. She should proceed with caution when faced with a dangerous subject. She should stay guarded, protecting her heart from butterflies that would leave when they had their fill of nectar.

On that note, maybe Kim Sieon was after her nectar. Then, her job would be to keep him lusting for more.

"You confuse me but okay..." Amber stared up at him with huge eyes and a frown as she cocked her head to the side trying to read him again.

He simply smiled fondly. He was holding her like how an enamoured suitor would hold their shy lover, and it was very strange. What was he doing? She was confused and her heart was equally baffled. But her newfound resolve to protect herself and push this behaviour as his odd expression of friendship kept her heart from falling too hard.

"Go out with me," he replied, without a moment of hesitation as if he were talking about grilled cheese sandwich and eggs.

His cheeks were pressed against her shoulder and when she looked at him, her breath caught in her throat. His eyes were wide and he stared up at her, a soft hazel swirl of colours that covered the hints of a darker dilating pupil.

With that one sentence, he single-handedly ripped through her heart, piercing it with a gilded arrow. There went her protective barrier.

Amber's eyebrows vanished into her hairline. She swore her heart stopped for a whole minute as pink travelled up her skin. And her eyes...

They decorated him in a golden shimmery filter. A filter from a young maiden in love. It was one that engulfed him and highlighted his beauty, focusing on those warm tender chocolate eyes and the pink of his lips.

He smiled, looking kind of cute and oddly squishy on her shoulder. He was showing her a vulnerability that she'd never seen before in the usually smouldering hot Kim Sieon. She wanted to poke that cheek.

Hold on.

"You...You don't do this to every female, do you?" She sobered.

Was this how he charmed everyone's pants off? Give everyone confusing signals? Telling a thousand girls to be his girlfriend so that he can fuck a different one every weekend?

"Hey! I don't just pick anyone you know?" He pouted. But under his ease, Amber could see the desperation and sudden panic in his eyes. He was worried, and Amber could actually read the questions on his face.

Was he being too forward? Shouldn't that be Amber's own question to herself? What was Kim Sieon after? Money? Boobs? Sex? She frowned. He could have any girl he wanted as long as he asked, so maybe not sex.

Food? Her eyes moved over him. He did look a little hungry, there was a longing in his eyes when he looked at her.

"I just want to get to know you! I get to know every single staff in AirSound because I have to be grateful for their hard work—" He tried to save himself, flourishing his hands as he spoke.

"Okay. We can eat together." Amber interrupted his rapid-fire excuses. "But, I'm a part-timer." She might as well make use of the situation to seduce him.

"How about Tuesdays excluding the days I work?" He chirped, taking her hand as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Amber let him because it just felt so fucking good to let him touch her. And her half-destroyed soul could never say no to the medicine for its pain.

"Okay...But, do you even know my name?" Amber glanced at him. He stared at her, blinking owlishly. Stupid boy. She gave him a funny look.

He let out a loose bark of awkward laughter and she watched as a pretty red tinge trailed down from his ears to cover pretty skin. He didn't know her name.

Amber wanted to laugh at the incredulous situation. She would if not for the sad kicked-puppy expression he was giving her after her comment. He snatched the tag around her neck before she could even blink.

"Cute," he giggled, tongue rolling over the English word. Aw shit. He saw that ugly ass photo. "You're not Korean?" He frowned. "A.M.B.R." He started to read the English print, automatically pulling her close to him with the pull of her tag.

"Cheater!" Amber huffed.

"Ambrosia?" He raised a brow, jutting out his bottom lip thoughtfully, his voice playful.

"Yeah, I know it's a stupid name. My parents are romantics—"

"Let me have a taste of Ambrosia~" He hummed out the last words of MinJae's song in a low seductive whisper. His eyes darting to hers slowly. They were steady and bore into hers with heated emotion and so so much—

What?

Amber didn't want to even consider the possibility.

He smirked. The sudden switch from his previously playful expression to that sultry dark grin was a duality that Amber could never comprehend. The look in his eyes reminded her of a predator, the deep wanting and yearning burned in his eyes as he watched her. It created a tension in the room, a heated aura poignant with something sinful.

"Amber. Call me Amber, Ambrosia is a mouthful," she said.

"Mm Amber." He breathed, playing with her name on his tongue, coiling it over his lips as if he were saying something dirty. He was still giving her that look. Whatever look that was. Amber was suddenly afraid of Sieon. Confused and afraid.

"Fitting, I like it." He hummed, looking as if he were a thousand miles away, deep in thought. Then he switched back into a wide smile, placing her lanyard into her hands. "I'm Sieon. You can call me anything you want."

What in the world of all pickup lines was that? He coloured, probably realising the weirdness of his comment. It was weird that he only found this comment the one that was too forward.

"Um, you don't have to use formal speech to speak to me or call my name. I want us to be close—"

"Cockroach?" She automatically replied.

Oops. Maybe that was a bit rude. He blinked giving an 'are-you-kidding-me' expression with a raised eyebrow. Then his brows knitted together, his lips turning downwards.

"Sorry." She blushed, putting up a hand, her fingers absentmindedly resting on his chest. She was starting to get used to his proximity. Or at least only when she was ignoring her racing heart and avoiding his gaze.

"Sieon...Si? No...Eon?" She hummed. "Eon?" She glanced up at him in question.

He looked surprised at that name, eyes round as he watched her carefully.

"Okay." He smiled and he took her hand, lacing their fingers together. He was radiating, his lips spread into a wide smile that consumed his entire body. He was practically buzzing with his happiness and God—

Amber didn't understand why.

She didn't realise that his thumb was gently rubbing against the rose print on her pinkie, causing it to glow softly. Nor did she see the quirk of his lips when his eyes trailed to their entwined hands, respective tattoos glowing softly in the shadows of their figures.

She only noticed when he brought her fingers to his lips and pressed her fingertips to his lips, softly kissing the pads of skin. He closed his eyes, letting his lashes fan across his cheeks like the tips of butterfly wings.

"It's lunchtime, Ambrosia. We can start our arrangement today."

Oh Shit. What did she just sign herself up for?