"Euijoo," Nicholas says my name crisply, with a hint of frustration and anger. “We need to talk.” He looks at me dead in the eyes from two feet away. “Now.”

The tables of customers surrounding me turn and look at us.

Why is he here?

Why now?

Minje, who’s working in the section next to mine, is suddenly beside me. He must have gauged the situation and hurried over. "Eujioo, go," he whispers to me. “I’ll cover your tables for you.” He looks at me solemnly. He hasn’t been working here long—he just took over for someone who just left for the basketball season. I feel bad about this but grateful all the same.

I nod and put the customer's order on their table before heading closer to Nicholas.

“Follow me, Nichol," I say. His dark eyes are boring into me as I brush past him.

He follows me through the back of the restaurant and out the back exit door.

After making sure no one else is out here, I turn, glaring at him. “Did you really have to come here to talk to me like this, Nichol?”

“I’m not letting you get out of having this conversation anymore, Joo.”

“Nichol...” I start but don’t know what to say. He’s right. I can’t keep running from this anymore.

“For how much longer?” I rasp out, cutting him off. “For how much longer, Juju, are you going to keep me in this torturous agony?”

His face changes from being frustrated to sad, guilty, and regretful all at once. I’m not going to stop talking, though, until I get to say everything I’ve been wanting to say but have been too afraid to.

“You won’t let me kiss you, but you crawl into my bed every night.” My emotions kick in, and my voice becomes more desperate. “And now we’ve crossed a line. Is it just going to keep going? Am I going to turn into your fuck buddy? You know I don’t want that. You know I love you," I plead.

Joo looks away.

The silence stretches so long that my chest starts to hurt.

"I can't yearn for you forever."