Twisted Games(Ryeji ver)

RYUJIN[CHAPTER 41]

MY FIRST TASTE OF ALCOHOL BURNED. SO DID THE SECOND. BY THE time I made it through half the bottle of whiskey, however, it'd stopped burning and started numbing, which was the best I could've hoped for.

In the two days since Yeji ended things, I'd spiraled. Hard. I hadn't left my hotel room since I returned from the hospital-partly because I had nowhere to go and partly because I had zero interest in dealing with the paparazzi. I had enough problems without getting charged with assault. I lifted the bottle to my lips as I watched The Daily Tea.

The hospital discharged Sunoo yesterday, and now that the king was no longer in mortal danger, the press had dived back into breathless speculation about me and Yeji. If they only knew. The whiskey seared down my throat and pooled in my stomach.

I should turn the show off because half the shit they came up with was utter crap-like their claims Yeji and I had an orgy with a certain pop star couple in the south of France-but as masochistic as it was, their video clips of her were the only way I could get my fix.

I wasn't addicted to alcohol, not yet, but I was addicted to Yeji, and now that I no longer had her, I was going through withdrawal. Clammy skin, nausea, difficulties sleeping. Oh, yeah, and a giant fucking hole the size of Alaska in my chest. That wasn't listed on the Addicts Anonymous website.

I can't be with a bodyguard. I'm meant to be with a duke. Days later, and the memory still cut deeper than a serrated hunting knife. Yeji hadn't meant it. I knew that. The words were cruel, and she was anything but cruel.

But they mirrored my doubts-about how I wasn't good enough and how she deserved better-too much for them not to affect me. I hit the bottom of the bottle. I tossed it aside in disgust, hating myself for sinking so low I'd turned to alcohol and hating myself even more for leaving things the way I had with Yeji.

I'd walked out on her in the heat of the moment, when the anger and hurt had overridden everything else, and I'd regretted it before I even hit the lobby. She'd done what she thought she had to, and it fucking broke my heart, but it wasn't her fault.

As if on cue, the camera cut to a shot of Yeji exiting the hospital with the king and her sister. She was elegant and polished, as always, but her smile looked empty as she waved to the press. Sad and lonely, two things I never, ever wanted her to be. My chest burned, and it wasn't from the whiskey. At the same time, something hardened within me: determination.

Yeji wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. And it was about damn time I did something about it. I didn't give a fuck what the law said. She wasn't marrying Rei. I'd visit every minister in Parliament and force them to rewrite the law if I had to.
Someone knocked.

"Housekeeping." My spine turned rigid at the familiar voice. Two seconds later, I threw open the door with a scowl.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Yunjin arched an eyebrow. "Is that the proper way to greet your boss?"

"Fuck you." the bastard laughed, but the sound lacked humor. "Charming as always. Now let me in so we can clean up your mess." I gritted my teeth and stepped aside, already regretting this day, this week, and my whole damn life.

She walked in, her gaze skimming over my half-unpacked suitcase and the remains of my room service dinner on the coffee table before resting on the empty whiskey bottle. Surprise flashed across her face before she covered it up.

"Well, this is sad," she said. "You're at the nicest hotel in Athenberg and you couldn't spring for the filet mignon?" On the surface, Yunjin looked like the stereotypical charming, good-natured playgirl she portrayed herself to be.

Even though she was thirty, she could've passed for her mid to late twenties, and she used it to her advantage. People looked at her pretty-girl face and tailored Italian suits and underestimated her. They didn't realize she was a wolf in expensive clothing until it was too late.